Post by Ray (Flock Man) on Mar 5, 2011 4:46:18 GMT -5
An email I received through this forum and one of many kind of like it. I don't mean to jump on the guy/gal (really not sure at this point). It's just on the surface things may look one way and they are not really. I see people say, “Just charge the flock with static and spray it on… easy enough!”
I see this in my real life job, “Just go up on the roof and slap a few patch shingles down!”
“Just knock out that wall and expand the room!” “That price is outrageous… just to slap on some joint compound and toss on some paint.” I tend to blame these home makeover shows for most of that because it’s easy for a TV contractor to come in and say what was done wrong on a house, but what he doesn’t factor in is the price it costs to do the job right. He doesn’t have to worry about that because he’s paid by the network. The home owners never say, “Well I was too cheap to have the work done the right way so I looked for a hack…” but I’m drifting off topic really… The point being things seem simple from the outside. We always hear about city workers “three men, but only one in the hole and the others are standing around.” The reason is only one fits in the hole swinging the shovel….lol! We need to look at the big picture!!!
Re:Challenge
Hello,
First I think I will post this on our forum. I get this type of email many times and my answers here may help others with the same or similar questions, but one of your statements sticks out to me and I don’t mean to harp on it because I really don’t feel it was directed to me, but it gives a false impression none the less.
Yes, I do sell heads from time to time. I sell them for around $25.99 to $29.99. I know I’ve gone into this before, but it does need to be said again. The pricing is math work.
An example is (and this I’ve done recently), Say I pay, $9.99 for a batch of 3 balding heads and it’s $3+ shipping (which I’ve just done).
That’s my base. Now you may say, “wow you made like $20 on those heads.”
Not so… and here is why.
Base $12.99 paid for the 3 heads.
Ebay fee/charge to sell those heads reflocked $4.20 total (listing fee/sold for fee)
Paypal fee $1.50 to $2.
Shipping fee $2.75 to $3.50
Packing materials .50 to $1.
Then say I only charge myself $3.50 to do the reflocking
The total on the low end is $25.44
Subtract $25.44 from $29.99 and the profit on those 3 heads is $4.55.
Now that’s a windfall profit if I sold 5000 lots at a time, but I only sell a batch here and there basically turning over the same money. Again I’m not picking at you, but your statement about “greedy” caught me.
Now you may say, “why do it?”
I do it because;
1.) Advertisement/marketing for our kits and reflocking service.
2.) It’s great to see these beat up heads get a new life in someone else’s collection.
3.) It keeps the ball rolling with new pictures for people to see and comment on (again marketing). Plus the buyer gets some great reflocked heads for a great price.
Now to you other questions. If you have 30 heads and plan to “shakin’ bake style” flock them- you are basically going to end up selling them as “heads that need reflocking” and I wouldn’t recommend flocking heads like this. Maybe if you have a price in mind with some pictures for me to see, I’ll buy them all from you- if I can swing it- cash wise.
Other than that either sell them as is for someone else to do the reflocking or learn the correct way to reflock them (learning curve, time, effort, money) involved. Will it be worth it?? I would say yes, but not if your goal is only profit.
If you shake them in a can the flock will be flat all the way around and look like crap. The reason electro-static’s is used is to charge the flock fiber so it stands on end giving your Joe a thick buzz cut finish. Flock every which way doesn’t do this finished look.
As far as your challenge (which forgive me I really do not see clearly). Once you start taking more steps, i.e., buying parts and learning how to build some type of unit… then I can help you, but to just fill you with information at this point isn’t going to help you much. Read through our forum. Get a handle on the whole concept and then go from there. This is the best I can do for you right now. If you want you can buy a single pack of flock for your testing and then once you get the process down- come back and buy more or buy from one of the suppliers on our links page. At this point you have no time or money invested so soak up the free information and decide if you want to continue. You can do it, but how well is up to you.
Thank you for the interest!
Ray
Flock Concepts
I see this in my real life job, “Just go up on the roof and slap a few patch shingles down!”
“Just knock out that wall and expand the room!” “That price is outrageous… just to slap on some joint compound and toss on some paint.” I tend to blame these home makeover shows for most of that because it’s easy for a TV contractor to come in and say what was done wrong on a house, but what he doesn’t factor in is the price it costs to do the job right. He doesn’t have to worry about that because he’s paid by the network. The home owners never say, “Well I was too cheap to have the work done the right way so I looked for a hack…” but I’m drifting off topic really… The point being things seem simple from the outside. We always hear about city workers “three men, but only one in the hole and the others are standing around.” The reason is only one fits in the hole swinging the shovel….lol! We need to look at the big picture!!!
Hey flockman,
Challenge
I have a challenge for you. I would like to learn to flock my GI Joes, but I don’t get how the and why the hair sticks out. Can I just put the head with some glue in a coffee can and shake it around? Won’t the hairs stick? I’d like to know this first before I buy some of your flock kits. I have around 30 heads to do. I’d like to flock them and sell them so I can buy some other GI Joe toys. I see you have some heads to sell? I am thinking I will sell mine for less money. I’m not greedy Ijust want enough to buy new stuff.
If you could teach me this it would be a big help to me?
Thank you
Peters
Challenge
I have a challenge for you. I would like to learn to flock my GI Joes, but I don’t get how the and why the hair sticks out. Can I just put the head with some glue in a coffee can and shake it around? Won’t the hairs stick? I’d like to know this first before I buy some of your flock kits. I have around 30 heads to do. I’d like to flock them and sell them so I can buy some other GI Joe toys. I see you have some heads to sell? I am thinking I will sell mine for less money. I’m not greedy Ijust want enough to buy new stuff.
If you could teach me this it would be a big help to me?
Thank you
Peters
Re:Challenge
Hello,
First I think I will post this on our forum. I get this type of email many times and my answers here may help others with the same or similar questions, but one of your statements sticks out to me and I don’t mean to harp on it because I really don’t feel it was directed to me, but it gives a false impression none the less.
Yes, I do sell heads from time to time. I sell them for around $25.99 to $29.99. I know I’ve gone into this before, but it does need to be said again. The pricing is math work.
An example is (and this I’ve done recently), Say I pay, $9.99 for a batch of 3 balding heads and it’s $3+ shipping (which I’ve just done).
That’s my base. Now you may say, “wow you made like $20 on those heads.”
Not so… and here is why.
Base $12.99 paid for the 3 heads.
Ebay fee/charge to sell those heads reflocked $4.20 total (listing fee/sold for fee)
Paypal fee $1.50 to $2.
Shipping fee $2.75 to $3.50
Packing materials .50 to $1.
Then say I only charge myself $3.50 to do the reflocking
The total on the low end is $25.44
Subtract $25.44 from $29.99 and the profit on those 3 heads is $4.55.
Now that’s a windfall profit if I sold 5000 lots at a time, but I only sell a batch here and there basically turning over the same money. Again I’m not picking at you, but your statement about “greedy” caught me.
Now you may say, “why do it?”
I do it because;
1.) Advertisement/marketing for our kits and reflocking service.
2.) It’s great to see these beat up heads get a new life in someone else’s collection.
3.) It keeps the ball rolling with new pictures for people to see and comment on (again marketing). Plus the buyer gets some great reflocked heads for a great price.
Now to you other questions. If you have 30 heads and plan to “shakin’ bake style” flock them- you are basically going to end up selling them as “heads that need reflocking” and I wouldn’t recommend flocking heads like this. Maybe if you have a price in mind with some pictures for me to see, I’ll buy them all from you- if I can swing it- cash wise.
Other than that either sell them as is for someone else to do the reflocking or learn the correct way to reflock them (learning curve, time, effort, money) involved. Will it be worth it?? I would say yes, but not if your goal is only profit.
If you shake them in a can the flock will be flat all the way around and look like crap. The reason electro-static’s is used is to charge the flock fiber so it stands on end giving your Joe a thick buzz cut finish. Flock every which way doesn’t do this finished look.
As far as your challenge (which forgive me I really do not see clearly). Once you start taking more steps, i.e., buying parts and learning how to build some type of unit… then I can help you, but to just fill you with information at this point isn’t going to help you much. Read through our forum. Get a handle on the whole concept and then go from there. This is the best I can do for you right now. If you want you can buy a single pack of flock for your testing and then once you get the process down- come back and buy more or buy from one of the suppliers on our links page. At this point you have no time or money invested so soak up the free information and decide if you want to continue. You can do it, but how well is up to you.
Thank you for the interest!
Ray
Flock Concepts