Let's Talk Taobao

[banditpony]

I work for a very large company. They send in samples of things off the manufactoring line (to check). Employees are free to take them, otherwise they are thrown away.

But unless we know someone , all of our posts will be assumptions

[Starie]

I personally think Taobao is fine. They can get great products out early and cheap. The people selling the ponies are probably just some poor Chinese workers who can't afford a decent living.

I'm sure Hasbro won't miss mere pennies, being a multi millionaire company after all.

I agree 100% with what you said. While I understand the whole concept of supporting Hasbro, I will use TaoBao to order something I really want, or lets say a pony that may or may not come out for sale.


If it was something like plumsweet though I'd just wait for her release and buy it from a store xD


Chinese factory workers are hideously underpaid and if this is the way they can make money for survival then I can condone that, especially since the ponies being sold usually have minor defects and were probably just going to be thrown in the garbage anyways.

[saply]

Ok, first, Saply, lets make a run to china to go dumpster diving.

Heck yes! I'm down if you're down (and also if you're wealthy 'cuz I ain't gots no $$$).

[BrightIdea]

I love to buy stuff off Taobao! If I see a rare or odd pony that doesn't look official, I will buy it. Otherwise if I think it is going to be released worldwide, I will wait until it comes out in local stores. I am currently waiting for the Glimmer Wings (they are sooo slow coming out here).  Also, if the pony it is going to be released with a giant plastic playset that I don't need, I will buy the pony from Taobao.


I haven't seen any evidence of any of these ponies being counterfeit either. Perhaps some were created from unused or rejected pieces, but at least all of the parts of the ponies look real.


Yep, I am already dumping loads and loads of money in Hasbro's pockets, so I don't feel particularly guilty about buying a 2 dollar pony of unknown origins from China.


Its fun to see what is to come and find odd variant ponies.

[saply]

TaoBao is also good for finding things that were previously released but not in stores anymore/were never in stores in your country. I found one of the Brazilian light-up Happy Meal toys (Applejack) on there for only a few dollars!

[Rhini]

I work for a very large company. They send in samples of things off the manufactoring line (to check). Employees are free to take them, otherwise they are thrown away.

But unless we know someone , all of our posts will be assumptions

I also work for a large company, and all of our goods are made in china. I actually write the manuals for our products and receive prototype/sample stuff that isn't finished and often times has serious flaws. It's fairly common for a product to go through several permutations and therefore you end up with a few of it. We also have quality errors etc etc. While we aren't free to take most samples, I don't think anyone would really notice if they went missing either. I'm a little more skeptical of anything found in large quantities as this means they have moved forward with final production stopped production for some reason.


Personally I am happy to buy things off Taobao, I don't see much of a difference from ebay. If you actually lived in China you'd be privvy to easy access to these goods anyways. I know someone who used to live in the Philippines and he would go to the flea market buying slightly reject shirts for cents on the dollar. He could have very easily mass bought and sold them. if they don't get sold, they're just gonig to be thrown away and that really would be a shame.


I know my CEO also personally visits all the factories where our goods are made, and would object to any of our things being made in factories with inhumane conditions. I'm sure people from Hasbro do those kind of checks too. And despite the horrible conditions, most of the workers there still seem to stress that it is much better than being back in the rice paddies. I do feel bad for them still though, as it seems like they are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[ShortyBoo]

Some of these are rejects because of quality, others are prototypes. There are a lot of other scenarios, too, but I think these are the most common.

I find it hard to believe that any pony is rejected because of quality. If that's the case, then why are there so many factory error G4s out there? It doesn't seem like they reject any ponies, they just package them all up and hope that someone will buy the messed up ones without noticing.

[hathorcat]

Some of these are rejects because of quality, others are prototypes. There are a lot of other scenarios, too, but I think these are the most common.

I find it hard to believe that any pony is rejected because of quality. If that's the case, then why are there so many factory error G4s out there? It doesn't seem like they reject any ponies, they just package them all up and hope that someone will buy the messed up ones without noticing.

Just because we dont see any "surface" faults doesnt mean the ponies havent been rejected for other reasons - it could be that they manufactured a batch with a symbol [cutie mark] on the left side and then decided they wanted it on the right because of packaging or similar - or they were manufactured with a slightly wrong hair colour just a minor difference in shade - for the volume of order and what HB will be paying per unit...its pretty easy to simply dispose of ponies that we wouldnt consider "damaged" but which dont fit their requirements...

[Malicieuse]

I'm ok with buying from taobao if it's some wierd prototype/reject/whatever pony.
Simply because it's the only way to get them and because Hasbro will not be selling them anyways.

Buying from taobao when you know for sure that the product will be in stores soon...that's a different story.
Why not wait a couple of months and actually support the toyline instead? I never understood this whole "I'm the first one!!!"- thing some people have.

[Bergamot]

I can really only speculate on this stuff. I've never actually ordered from TaoBao... I did try to snag one of those Derpies, though.

I know that factory rejects and the like were a major point of contention on PKMNCollectors. (I spent a good amount of time there back in college, heh!) Grey market Pokemon toys are similarly mysterious, though the straight-up counterfeit products are obvious. They're usually terrifying, and you can smell the lead in the paint. I haven't seen any super scary ponies on TaoBao, yet!

Regardless of the product origin, I am very intrigued by the whole thing. You can find all kinds of interesting stuff on there!

[scarletjul]

I don't really have a problem with other people buying off Taobao if the item would be impossible to find otherwise (variants and the like.)

However, if it's a pony that's going to be released in stores, I'd personally rather just wait until it's actually released in stores.  It's not that Hasbro will miss my money but, like a couple of others have said, I'd like to show them that MLP is a toy worth producing - and that only happens if people buy the product. 

[apanda0622]

Speaking of Taobao, how do you pronounce it?

[Chi]

Speaking of Taobao, how do you pronounce it?

Tow-Bow
The "ow" like in "Cow".

[Malancaiwen]

Speaking of Taobao, how do you pronounce it?

Tow-Bow
The "ow" like in "Cow".

And it means "looking for treasure" indeed lots of treasures there ^^

[hathorcat]

Speaking of Taobao, how do you pronounce it?

Tow-Bow
The "ow" like in "Cow".

And it means "looking for treasure" indeed lots of treasures there ^^

New thing learned today! Love it!!!!