This is an op-ed style piece written by a fan of Jellycat.
As Jellycat has shot into popularity, fans have starting seeing issues that have plagued other popular brands. One of the biggest is resellers buying the product at MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) and flipping it to turn a profit. Electronics, shoes, and items from limited collaborations with designers are some of the most recognizable ones you might see on popular resale sites.
Inflated Prices
In the last years, I have observed an influx of newly released Jellycat designs that are still available at retail posted to resale sites for at least 23% more than they would be if bought by a customer from a stockist. After looking at 26 sold listings on Mercari for Skeleton Bob, I calculated that the average listing sold for $47.23. The retail price for this design is normally $32.50, with the flipped listing selling for 45.35% more than MSRP.
The problem with this practice is that it creates a cycle that is difficult to break in the resale market. Resellers buy the products when they are released, making it more difficult for those who intend to purchase the product for themselves to buy them. The product sells out. In the meantime, customers who want the product now are faced with a decisions: wait to buy the product at retail OR buy it from a reseller. With supply chains and production changed by Covid, we haven’t quite recovered to a point where it is easy to get products quickly. This has a greater effect when one store or site gets a product in before other retailers.
Although there may be more coming, the scarcity of the item causes the buyer to scramble to get their hands on it. Desperation can cause consumers to buy the desired at inflated prices from a reseller until more come in stock.
The effect is that other people think the item will go for more than it might. This can cause those who may not originally have thought to buy the item to buy to resell or even manipulate our brains to believe it is valuable because it is scarce and increase our desire to own it.
Personally, I frown on the practice of buying items that are available at retail price to resell. In the end, it makes it harder for consumers who want the product to get their hands on it and I detest feeding into the cycle of buying an item to sell for profit. I would like to note that my feelings around this do not include retired products.
Creating scarcity for other buyers and collectors helps no one. Yes, some may turn a profit in the short term, but if we all held off of buying the items at an inflated price, it would eventually get lowered.
Backdoor PMs
The second unfair practice is what I would call “backdoor pm-ing”. This is where a person privately messages a seller to let them know they are selling their item for lower than the value AND / OR asking to buy at a higher value than the seller has listed. This can happen before or after the item has been sold, but is considered worse when the item has been sold because often the seller will cancel the order to the original buyer and re-list or sell to another buyer.
While the person who messages the seller MAY (saying that here is really being optimistic) have the best intentions, i.e. making sure the seller doesn’t lose out on potential earnings, keeping them from being scammed or taken advantage of, the end result is usually that the original buyer ends up with a canceled order. It should be noted that the person who messages is not always the person who ends up purchasing the item in the end.
As a person who has resold a variety of items, I believe that it is up to the seller to research the item and price it accordingly. If it ends up being underpriced, that’s on them. But if the item has sold, you should honor the sale and cut your losses.
While many of the Jellycat Facebook groups have rules against sending PMs to sellers and some have rules about selling items at retail price or less if they are still in production, it is impossible to police all transactions.
Other issues
Scams are another issue that plague most collectible communities. Most people have gotten a message about an item them are searching for or a comment on their post that seems too good to be true. Scammers end up trying to sell an item they do not possess, sometimes successfully. It creates distrust and leads to many people asking for proof that the seller has the item.
Conclusion
While there is now way to force anyone to be an ethical seller, I do believe that it is important for us to be aware of what unfair selling practices are and what the ramifications can be.