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– Auctioning a custom young to match a baby that the winner already owns (more realistic than a general commission, but not sure if Melody would go for it; still, it would be fun to do as a regular thing if she was ok with the idea, like maybe once every month or two).
I like this idea better….
Agreed
Just a thought to raise a little extra money. On facebook there was photos of the factory. And there was some already painted stuff there that was damaged in some way so that it wasn’t going to be sold. It looked like a shelf of ebay or GB things(a lot of poads). In the comments everyone was writing that they would buy them anyway. And people buy the copper ones knowing that they are damaged. So why not make an area like the special items area and sell them. You would get them out of there and make some money.
– Auctioning a custom young to match a baby that the winner already owns (more realistic than a general commission, but not sure if Melody would go for it; still, it would be fun to do as a regular thing if she was ok with the idea, like maybe once every month or two).
I like this idea better….
Agreed
Also agreed.
Deep pockets already have control over the special items section and ebay, lets not give them control over our GB’s too… a LOT of Windstone collectors don’t have the deep pockets, they’re just the unnoticed ones… and auctioning off a GB starts to really screw with the already iffy aftermarket values.. if later on someone decides to sell the uni they paid $500 for, for the $500 and its only titled “GBB” and no one says they bought it in auction, then half of everyone is going to think their GBB’s are valued at $500.
Someone decided on ebay $250 is what they wanted for their safaris… and even though those safaris barely sold at the time, people followed, and now it seems to be the ‘average’ price for GBB’s.
There should be a consistency from the factory, GB’s are random, no picking… 100% fair for all. We all take the risks, it’s the point!People are always seeking out the ‘twin’ to their GB’s… if I had the money, I’d definitely participate in an auction to get a young painted like my fawn GBB, Youngs are higher valued as well, so the auction would probably go even higher.. and if Mel agreed, she’d only be painting a couple… with youngs, I wouldn’t be surprised if 2 maybe 3 would cover the cost of a monitor (shouldn’t cost more then $200 to replace) and a camera (if its dslr, get the same brand as what you already have, that way you’re not investing in lenses… this is going to be the pricy one, though)
Another option you might consider? Start a “new monitor & camera” fundraiser kind of thing where people can donate.. and have a special piece to give the highest donation.. put that on instead of a quest. Plenty of people here don’t want Windstone to suffer, but also aren’t fond of the GB pick thing.. this gives those with ALL levels of funds to be able to help, whether is $1 (which can add up quickly enough) or someone with deep pockets that wants to donate $500 for a chance at the prize piece..
I also like the idea of opening up donations or painting special young unicorns to sell or auction. Or what about another batch with grab bag young unicorns for more money? Or if you need the funds right now what about pre-selling the grab bags? I would pay right now for one even if it wasn’t made yet. I do wish there was a way for Windstone to get more secondary profits from these but if they were all more money, many wouldn’t be able to afford them.
Many of us I have seen from an age poll are young or students with loans and trying to save for a house and family and don’t have a lot of income. For the ones who can afford to pay more I think doing a poll of what they would want and making specific pieces with a higher price would be something they would go for. Or take out 5 of them to auction before anyone sees the class picture and gets their hopes up. The only problem with that if 5 pieces sell for a lot more, it will drive up the secondary prices of the other ones even more and make most of them unaffordable in the future. For me, it’s the luck of the draw. I am very thankful to have the opportunity to buy a grab bag. I got a poad but was sad I missed the unicorns so as long as I can get one this time, it doesn’t matter to me which it is. I know I will like any one.
Looking for rainbow or pink & teal grab bags!
I don’t think we are looking for donations, but thank you very much for the though! 🙂 I was more or less thinking about how to get some extra cash from some of the GB babies we already have painted 🙂
End of the day – this is a business and if they need to sell off 5 unicorns through a means other than random draw to make sure at the end of the month the bills are paid, then they should go for it. There will still be at least 135 left for us.
I agree! And it should not end in Melody having more work than she already does by doing commissions.
I think what windstone and especially Melody does for us with these GBs is awesome and it would only be fair if they get a little bit out of it as well!
They way it goes these days the most popular from a batch will be either traded for a much more expensive piece or sold for a very high price. I personally would rather see that money go to windstone than somewhere else. 🙂 And if they can auction off a few here on the forum and avoid the high ebay fees I´m all for it.
I´m pretty sure I will never be able to catch one at an auction like this but just the fact that with the GBs we have the chance to get a very special piece at all (that most of us could not afford if it was put on ebay!) is incredible!Since I thoroughly dislike the whole Grab Bag thing, and prefer to know what I’m putting out money for, I really like this idea. Especially as it benefits Windstone with a bigger profit margin on a handful of pieces that took quite a bit of time and effort to create.
Besides, 5 out of such a big group? Surely the whole lot remaining will have plenty of desirable ones left. But then, I never win drawings or things of that sort, so I wouldn’t even risk buying from a batch unless 50% or more are appealing to me.
I think taking a few out for something special is a good idea.Donate what you can,all names go in the hat and get drawn.Some people can afford $5.00 some $105. so if it would be going to the highest donation then might as well just sell it in the store at an inflated price.I am sure we will help in whatever way Windstone decides and in the end they will make it fair.I’m in. 🙂
Every act matters.No matter how small💞
(Wanted......Brimstone Lap)
Male Hearth....one day🤞Dream on.I don’t mind any of the ideas that you have put out there Pam, I think they’re all great for Windstone.
I agree with Kiya in the fact that I think We the collectors get the better end of the stick with the grab bags, in that if they were to be sold on eBay individually they would garner MUCH higher prices than what the store prices are.
So if Windstone selects 5 of the most detailed out of a large batch to auction, then that’s totally okay with me, because in reality, the detail in many of the Grab Bags I’ve seen have been worth much more than store price.Plus, it’s a large batch, even if some (including me) can’t afford to win one of the select 5, we can still get a beautiful one of a kind from the regular batch or future batches.
I love the idea too of being able to get a matching young or baby to match a young or baby we already own. I would love a baby uni to match my Strawberry Young 🙂
Just a thought to raise a little extra money. On facebook there was photos of the factory. And there was some already painted stuff there that was damaged in some way so that it wasn’t going to be sold. It looked like a shelf of ebay or GB things(a lot of poads). In the comments everyone was writing that they would buy them anyway. And people buy the copper ones knowing that they are damaged. So why not make an area like the special items area and sell them. You would get them out of there and make some money.
I am in total agreement with this! Have a special section for “lightly damaged or flawed” items with prices set a bit lower than if they went in the store or ebay. I’d definitely buy some of those! 🙂
I REALLY like the idea, and the idea of a matching Young of the winner’s chioce.
My favorite in a batch is usually not a very popular one anyway. 80% of the time my favorite one goes to someone who doesn’t talk on the forum so I never even get to see a darn picture of it. Out of a batch of 140, even after the top 5 are chosen, there will still be 134 that I would love to have. 🙂I think the idea should be given a chance this time around to see how it goes and to raise the quick funds.
As a reminder – I’m not an official Windstone employee. I’m a volunteer and nothing I say should be assumed to be an official Windstone stance unless explicitly stated as such (at least outside of the Quest forum!)
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Here’s the thing. I kind of think Windstone gets the short end of the stick on grab bags. They are a lot of work. They keep Melody from painting for ebay or sculpting. They are stressful for the service team due to the complications on the site, and they require the packers to put in lots of extra hours to put out a 100 items in the time they might normally ship 20.
Most of them resell for WAY more than the batch originally retails at. Windstone is quite generous to sell them at the prices they do when they could honesty put all of them on ebay or in the special store for way more money.
The monitors and the camera they need are both expensive AND critical for the business.
Saying that out of a batch of over 140 you would lose a chance at maybe five is not unfair or unreasonable. I’m pretty sure the whole audience won’t love the same five unicorns so it seems unlikely that enough people would be devastated at this decision that Windstone would lose any real money because that person doesn’t choose to buy from the batch because of it.
And, realistically, most people will buy from the batch ANYWAY. People still beg for a chance to buy grab bags from Susie even after the batch is sold out and some of their favorites show up in other homes.
Can I afford to bid on a first or even a fifth shot at picking my grab bag fav? No, I really can’t. Will I still buy one even if five of the ones I like are already claimed? Yes I would.
If Windstone doesn’t have the money they need to run the business, all of this becomes a moot point. If they can’t cover operating expenses, they can’t make grab bags at all.
End of the day – this is a business and if they need to sell off 5 unicorns through a means other than random draw to make sure at the end of the month the bills are paid, then they should go for it. There will still be at least 135 left for us.
HEAR HEAR!!
The monitors are quite expensive actually. If you saw John’s earlier post asking about color-correct monitors, he’s not looking for standard LCDs. He’s in the market for a special product that costs a good chunk of money.
Windstone is a small company on a tight budget. Think about how it affects YOU when you have an unexpected expense, whether it be a vet bill, or a tax bill, or your car breaks down. This is kind of the same thing. I’ve seen MANY of you, in the same situation, sell Windstones for as much as you can get for them (way more than store price!) to get what you need covered.
As Pam said, they have to pay for these items regardless because they literally cannot operate without a camera or monitors.
Also, as Pam said, she’s looking for a way to help them get the funds to help defray some of these costs quickly without putting an undue strain on the company that could be mitigated. While painting a young to match or special babies might have the same long-term affect, in the short-term, they need the monitors and camera now and I’m sure it would be nice to not have to juggle bills while they wait for other items to be painted.
If the majority is against Pam either selecting 5 unicorns from the batch for ebay or auctioning off top picks to help raise costs – then I think they should raise the price on the whole batch. Then they can still keep it completely random AND raise the extra money.
End of the day – this is a business and if they need to sell off 5 unicorns through a means other than random draw to make sure at the end of the month the bills are paid, then they should go for it. There will still be at least 135 left for us.
I agree! And it should not end in Melody having more work than she already does by doing commissions.
I think what windstone and especially Melody does for us with these GBs is awesome and it would only be fair if they get a little bit out of it as well!
They way it goes these days the most popular from a batch will be either traded for a much more expensive piece or sold for a very high price. I personally would rather see that money go to windstone than somewhere else. 🙂 And if they can auction off a few here on the forum and avoid the high ebay fees I´m all for it.
I´m pretty sure I will never be able to catch one at an auction like this but just the fact that with the GBs we have the chance to get a very special piece at all (that most of us could not afford if it was put on ebay!) is incredible!Yep.
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