PlaymoFriends
General => News => Topic started by: Hadoque on September 24, 2019, 16:49:04
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I noticed very strange mass-buying of Playmobil figures and figure-parts (or figure-accessories, like f.e. hats) on ebay the last few weeks/months.
Some examples:
A seller puts 150 legs of one specific klicky in his shop, all stock is bought up within a few hours by 1 or 3 people who each have a total feedback of only between 0 and about 25.
Another seller puts 100 hats of a specific klicky in his shop, all stock is bought up within a few hours by 1 or 3 people max who each also have a total feedback of only between 0 and about 25.
A third seller puts ... etc etc.
I got curious and contacted a few of the sellers.
Result:
Since about July-August, there are indeed a lot more people buying up whole stocks of klickies and/or klicky-parts.
And now it comes:
I have been told (almost) all of the buyers who buy up (almost) entire stocks, have Chinese (sounding) names and the purchased Playmo has to be shipped to China or to mailboxes in Europe/USA owned by people with Chinese names.
One seller told me he experienced an increase of Playmobil being bought up by Chinese of about 200% to 300% over the last 2,5 months.
There are about 7,7 billion people on Earth. About 18% of them are Chinese.
Not sure yet how many of them have (recently) started to collect Playmo, but I think it will have (big) impact on prices and availability.
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Interesting topic and well spotted Sherlock Hadoque :lens:
Do we know if Playmobil is big or not on the Chinese market at all ?
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I sell a little bit on the German site and can confirm. I do not appreciate it at all: they use German delivery addresses but pay with oversea PayPal accounts, meaning that hefty currency conversion charges are levied against the seller. Bad with my minimal margins. And I cannot block them as the delivery address is the discriminative feature! :doh:
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they use German delivery addresses but pay with oversea PayPal accounts
Real German (street/house) adresses or German Post Office mailboxes?
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Real German (street/house) adresses or German Post Office mailboxes?
Murky businesses with street addresses in Frankfurt/Main, etc., not post offices or mailboxes.
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Murky businesses with street addresses in Frankfurt/Main
Hmm... so right at the doorstep of one of the biggest international airports in Europe :sherlock:
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I think it is also happening in "Mahahalta".
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the Asian Dragon theme was a mistake in more ways than one! ;D
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I think it is also happening in "Mahahalta".
Would you care to elaborate? I've been buying almost exclusively from Malta-based sellers, is anything going on?
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Real German (street/house) adresses or German Post Office mailboxes?
There are mail forwarding services, I've used one to order from German DS before. Though I imagine the postage to China would be pretty high.
I've just moved to China, and Playmobil is available though expensive compared to Europe.
If I was very cynical I'd wonder if we were about to see a copy cat brand. If you're not aware, you could Google Lepin to see the Lego knock offs, though I wouldn't have thought Playmobil is high profile enough.
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Would you care to elaborate? I've been buying almost exclusively from Malta-based sellers, is anything going on?
People with "Chinese" (sounding) names buying up rather unusual big amounts of specific parts on ebay.
Payments usually done from overseas, but shipping mostly to addresses in Europe like Germany, though not always.
The shipping-address they use f.e. in DE are from several rather obscure import/export-companies and/or courier-services, which seem to deal mostly in/with cars and (real or fake) cosmetics, medications, etc. These companies all linked to one another and owned & operated exclusively by a bunch of Koreans. Could be legal, could be a little (il)legal, could be linked to Mafia or Triads.
Or maybe "Rocket Man" is a huge Playmo-collector too ;D
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Triads involved in klicky collecting? This forum just got a lot more exciting! :lol:
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Understood – thanks for your explanation, Hadoque! I'll keep an eye out to see if klickies show up at the next parade in Pyongyang. ;)
If I was very cynical I'd wonder if we were about to see a copy cat brand. If you're not aware, you could Google Lepin to see the Lego knock offs, though I wouldn't have thought Playmobil is high profile enough.
One might only hope we'll not see the rise of a Playmobil knock-off. On the other hand, if it were more like an off-shoot (like, say, COBI for LEGO), it might – in an admittedly cynical perspective– be an opportunity to get some diverse, Playmo-compatible parts.
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I've got the occasional LEGO item in the fire fighting range and quite enjoyed building them and I must say the COBI site looks interesting for its range of themes in general. I like the range Vickers Wellington and the DH Mosquito kits, both aircraft my father was involved with during WW2, although the Mosquito unfortunately is not the photo reconnaissance version.
An interesting, if limited selection of cars, too; I could build a model of my Skoda Fabia estate!
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I was considering getting some Lepin actually - but other thing (I suspect) driving the sales of Lepin is the relatively high cost of Lego along with the fact that (so far) they've not reissued highly collectable sets.
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I was considering getting some Lepin actually - but other thing (I suspect) driving the sales of Lepin is the relatively high cost of Lego along with the fact that (so far) they've not reissued highly collectable sets.
Their geography is a bit suspect!
https://lepinworld.com/
Scroll down to market distribution state
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I like the range Vickers Wellington and the DH Mosquito kits, both aircraft my father was involved with during WW2, although the Mosquito unfortunately is not the photo reconnaissance version.
Couldn't agree more, there are plenty of WW2 vehicles which look great in brick form – and if they hold sentimental value, all the better!
As for Lepin – I know nothing about copyright laws and I can't help wondering: how do they get away with producing Star Wars sets? I truly doubt they have a license to do so.
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I'll keep an eye out to see if klickies show up at the next parade in Pyongyang. ;)
They do every time, didn´t you notice their arms & legs never bend? ;D
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:lol:
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Btw, at the time of writing this thread has now been viewed over 100 times in less then 24 hours.
Total views have already surpassed f.e. the thread-views about the new FAU-exclusive Frederick III figure.
I thought the forum was going (very) "slow", but apparently there are MANY more lurkers then (active) members around. :sherlock:
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Currently 20 'guests' and 1 user (me). It's often like that.
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Yes, I know, that´s quite usual.
I just wanted to say imho this thread has been read very much in less then one day (and much more views then I expected it might attract) and in relation to the number of signed-in members and guests at any given moment, and also in relation to other topics.
Another "btw": The number of guests on the forum suddenly dropped from 27 to 16 within a few minutes after my previous post in this thread. Thereafter it went up again slowly over a few hours to about 20. Life is full of coincidences.
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[quote author=PlaymoCollector link=topic=17027.msg306490#msg306490 date=1569691094
As for Lepin – I know nothing about copyright laws and I can't help wondering: how do they get away with producing Star Wars sets? I truly doubt they have a license to do so.
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They don't, they just ignore copyright law, and Lego are constantly battling them in court.
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Probably use poisonous plastic too.
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I thought the forum was going (very) "slow", but apparently there are MANY more lurkers then (active) members around. :sherlock:
Yes, that is the issue. And people get tired talking to themselves, and so less posts. And people come here and there are not new posts, and so they come less.... it's a cycle.
Though we do have some pretty active new members now! :love:
As for Lepin – I know nothing about copyright laws and I can't help wondering: how do they get away with producing Star Wars sets? I truly doubt they have a license to do so.
They don't, they just ignore copyright law, and Lego are constantly battling them in court.
I had never heard of "lepin", but I was shocked at the sets on their site. I agree with PlaymoCollector - how in Hades is that possible?!
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I had never heard of "lepin", but I was shocked at the sets on their site. I agree with PlaymoCollector - how in Hades is that possible?!
I had never heard of "lepin" either, so I looked it up and it is very disturbing, but I am not surprised. The Chinese stole (and copied) f.e. top-secret aircraft-technology from "Lockmart" several years ago, and that is just one tip of many icebergs.
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I hadn't heard of them until I was in Vietnam, and I actually initially assumed Lego traded under a different name in South East Asia until I looked them up. It's completely blatant, but it's no different to books and trainers and bags in SE Asia.
I don't get too exercised about copyright infringement to be honest - I doubt it actually impacts hugely on Lego sales, especially since the AFOL seem ferociously loyal and the average consumer in the West isn't aware of it, and is unlikely to seek it out and have it imported. In the 19th century the USA famously did nothing to enforce copyright laws - Dickens went there in a (fruitless) attempt to stop pirated copies of his works being produced.
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I don't get too exercised about copyright infringement to be honest - I doubt it actually impacts hugely on Lego sales, especially since the AFOL seem ferociously loyal and the average consumer in the West isn't aware of it, and is unlikely to seek it out and have it imported.
You're most certainly right, yet it still surprises me that Disney itself isn't going after them in full force.
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Disney vs China, not sure I'd bet too strongly on a winner either way
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Good morning dear Friends :wave:
I looked a little further into the matter and found out that Ali Baba offers wholesale "Playmobile" fake figures made in a Chinese factory named Shenzhen Yongzhi Plastic Mold Co., Ltd., also called Shenzhen Dianman Toys Co., Ltd.
Their Ali Baba ad page features original Playmobil figures and reads :lens::
"Custom make your own mini Playmobile figure toys Kids Children Statue Landscape Model Toy
FOB Reference Price: $1.48 - $2.89 / Pieces | 1000 Piece/Pieces (Min. Order)
Color: customized
Quantity(Pieces) 1 - 1000 >1000
Est. Time(days) 25 negotiable
Material: PVC, PVC,ABS
Place of Origin: Guangdong, China, Guangdong, China (Mainland), Shenzhen,China
Brand Name: SRX, OEM/ODM
Model Number: 8AF015
Eco-friendly,Phthalate free
Sample: can be provided
Size as you demand
Color muticolors according to custom's requirement
Prototyping time 5-7 days for prototyping
Mold time 25-30 days
Export experience more than 14 years
MOQ 1000pcs ( minimum order )
Package 1.Inner: 1 pc /opp bag 2.Outer: Carton box Option1: 72*46*36cm
Payment TT/Western Union
Sample Have similar sample in hand, can be sent at any time
Sherlock Karim :gent:
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That's a stunning find! I am also into Star Wars collecting, and there are plenty of Hasbro knock-offs available on eBay. I've heard from multiple people that the best quality ones (which, I have to say, are indistinguishable from the original product if not for the suspiciously low price) are produced under the counter in the very same factories which make Hasbro products.
Since, if I'm not mistaken, Playmobil did produce some sets in China, does anyone more knowledgeable about the topic think it possible the same is happening here?
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Since, if I'm not mistaken, Playmobil did produce some sets in China, does anyone more knowledgeable about the topic think it possible the same is happening here?
Unfortunately, those sets (for the american market, I believe).. tell..
There's the chicken dragon whose wings fall off if you look hard at them.. And the vehicles. I only have the school bus - lousy quality and it shows... When I was trying to open/close the door.. it was hard.. THEN I remembered.. flipped it upside down.. BEHOLD... "made in china"...
So, hope they stop that. Gives them a bad name.
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I think they stopped producing in China - partly because of problems around quality control, and partly because making Playmobil isn't very labour intensive to make so it wasn't worth it.
Looking further into it, both Taopals and Aliexpress have Playmobil for sale at pretty high prices, and lots of them are rare
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I think this is an example of what George found;
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Custom-Playmobil-Plastic-Action-Figure-Anime_60568020107.html
Text says the figures shown are just for example, minimum orders are for 2000 pieces. There is also an add where minimum-order quantity is 1000 figures. Size is said as being 28 cm, but I assume that is a mistake (or something lost in translation).
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Since, if I'm not mistaken, Playmobil did produce some sets in China, does anyone more knowledgeable about the topic think it possible the same is happening here?
They did and the quality was poor so I would have thought that it was once bitten, twice shy.