Designer goods are okay, but sometimes the fakes are better. Like Louis Vitton. Nothing could be uglier, including a dried bear turd that's been hollowed out and shellacked.

Some people just know how to take all the fun out of Xmas.

Don't buy laser pointers from a dollar store. They will randomly explode.

Lars The Canadian Viking: £76 for candles?

It's actually 76# of candles. They were REALLY big.

Even if you did it by mistake, your kid is going to know right away if you got them a knockoff DS, and they are going to be pissed.

As for cheap stuff on eBay ... it's kind of funny. I'm selling some little scrolling LED message badges there right now. Long story, mostly involving using the one I had for an ad for my website business, having people want to buy it instead of a website, and when I finally decided to get some, needing to buy a whopping minimum order. Anyway, I've got the fancy kind -- rechargeable instead of eating an endless stream of watch batteries, USB programmable instead of requiring the endless pushing of buttons, etc. And I rewrote the instructions (because the ones on the CD that comes with them were in Engrish). As far as I know, I'm one of only two people selling the rechargeable ones, and the other one wants 21 business days for delivery (and has that Engrish manual).

So ... am I selling out of the things? Like hell I am; I've sold one.

People buy the cheap ones. They don't care if the person they're giving it to has to put in a $4 watch battery every couple of days, or if the glamor of "I can put any text I want on this thing!" fades quickly in "...if I spend half an hour doing it, scrolling through the whole alphabet for every letter." They're hoping the first impression -- "wow, I got this cool glowy message thing!" or "wow, I got these cool headphones!" or "wow, I got this cool bracelet I've been wanting!" -- will last longer than the product, or the appeal of the product, will.

From their point of view, so what if the headphones fall apart a week later, or the bracelet turns the wearer's wrist green? By the time Christmas day is over, the blame will go to the gift, not the giver. It's "the Dr. Dre headphones fell apart," not "the headphones Gramma gave me fell apart." When the recipients are being inundated with Christmas gifts, so that one will be just a drop in the fire hose anyway, I suppose it doesn't matter. "It's the thought that counts" ... giving junk with a famous name on it (whether real or fake) is what matters, so long as it has the right name; not being junk, not so much. Or, in my case, whether it's a glowy LED message badge, because they figure the recipient will lose, break, or forget about it before something like the battery appetite becomes an issue. It's not even that the givers don't care about the quality of their gifts; the recipients don't care either.

Though I do have a problem with them saying they're protecting people from "potential" hazards that "might" exist. It's the big companies they're protecting, not the individual citizen. We've seen enough recalls of toxic products sold by big names to know that. Hypocrisy irritates me. But in a situation like this where you have name-enamored recipients wanting the "right" product (the one with the most advertising, not the best one), cheap gift-givers wanting to give it to them without actually paying for the advertising in question, and big companies that want the market to themselves and the government to be their enforcers, it's hard to root for any side. You've got your choice of the gullible, the cheap, and the bullies. It's sad, I suppose, that I find the last of those to be the least objectionable.

The eBay thing has been a learning experience for me, certainly. I couldn't figure how people could be selling the junk LED badges when there were good ones available. But apparently it's all about the price, rather than the quality. Given two items that look the same, people will buy the junk if it's cheaper. They don't care if it's junk. If they're giving it to someone else, they don't care if it breaks; if they're using it themselves, they don't care if they have to buy another one. Admittedly the fact that I spent last weekend at a table at a flea market might have biased me a bit here, but I think the article confirms it. I suppose this is the natural outcome of the fixation on quantity over quality, and superficiality over substance, but It's kind of depressing.

(oh, and if you've got an insatiable urge for an LED message badge, mine are the only ones on eBay that say "rechargeable" in the title and have a Great Wall of Text description, just like my Fark posts)

On one had, some places do put expensive shiat on cheap, while on the other hand, there are a ton of knockoff products out there, and if you're too stupid to not research something before you buy it, it's your own damn fault you got hosed.

I'm used to seeing assholes whine about the price of a Blu-ray, and go buy it from an Amazon Marketplace seller for half the price, only to find out it's the Canadian version that has French written on it, and they're a victim of Fraud or some damn thing. Maybe if people did more research before they bought shiat, weren't such cheap assholes, and didn't think the world revolved around them, they wouldn't get screwed over.

BohemianGraham: Maybe if people did more research before they bought shiat, weren't such cheap assholes, and didn't think the world revolved around them, they wouldn't get screwed over.

Then there's the ones who say "but I can get the crap kind for $X, so why won't you sell me these for $X too?"

Um ... because they're not crap?

I seriously do not get it.

Worldwalker: BohemianGraham: Maybe if people did more research before they bought shiat, weren't such cheap assholes, and didn't think the world revolved around them, they wouldn't get screwed over.

Then there's the ones who say "but I can get the crap kind for $X, so why won't you sell me these for $X too?"

Um ... because they're not crap?

I seriously do not get it.

I do, people don't have a sense of value and/or quality anymore, and a lot of companies that used to be quite reputable put out cheap shiat in hopes of getting people to buy more and more from them.

Also, this:

"I won't buy this Criterion film for 40 dollars, or even 20 dollars on sale, despite all the effort they put into producing it, restoring it, and giving nice special features, but I will buy it for 10 because Barnes and Noble have it on sale for 20, and they have a loophole in their 8 off of 40 bucks coupon, and I get another 10% off for my temporary membership. The disc is too expensive, and I would have never bought this Kurosawa film if it wasn't for this coupon loophole, and Barnes and Noble sell stuff for too much and totally suck, so the more money I screw them out of, the better. I would have never bought anything from them otherwise. Too bad for the guy who actually wanted the film, I bought the last copy."

Some people are selfish, greedy, assholes who will lie, cheat, steal, and defraud merchants to no end. It works both ways.

Worldwalker: I seriously do not get it.

I sold on eBay for YEARS & did pretty well for myself. I think I know why you're not selling. People who use those badges really only use them once or twice. I see them at cons for like $5. People wear them during the con & then toss them afterwards, if they haven't lost it by Sunday afternoon check-out. I occasionally see them at trade shows but, again, you're only talking a weekends' use. You're charging $19.99 for something people regard as disposable. It's a cute toy but it's not for everyday use. People will use those things for a specific function and then find the new bright shiny for the next one.

Tillmaster: Worldwalker: As for cheap stuff on eBay ... it's kind of funny. I'm selling some little scrolling LED message badges there right now....

snip

...(oh, and if you've got an insatiable urge for an LED message badge, mine are the only ones on eBay that say "rechargeable" in the title and have a Great Wall of Text descriptio ...

This is the time of year when large corporations attend conferences and trade shows. They're always looking for gadgets to give the attendees. They won't use cheap junk because it would reflect badly on the parent company. You might be able to come to some arrangement with the IBMs of this world.

Good idea, but not the IBMs of the world. Better that he hook up w/a promotional company & sell in bulk to them or to someone who can custom imprint a company's logo. Tchotchkes at trade shows are only good if a specific company's name is on them.

/Used to work for an office supply company that had a promotional arm
//That department was always looking for good suppliers.

brigid_fitch: Better that he hook up w/a promotional company & sell in bulk to them or to someone who can custom imprint a company's logo. Tchotchkes at trade shows are only good if a specific company's name is on them.

I'm sure the factory that makes them does that. I've just got a box of the things to sell, as a one-time thing. I really build websites. :p

I grew up in a "use it up, wear it out..." family, and that's stuck with me all my life. I can't imagine buying something that's really junk because it has a trendy name on it, let alone paying more for it. (seriously, if I'm gonna be advertising for them, shouldn't they pay me?) I've never been rich enough to afford junk. I'm not sure if I envy or pity the kids today who are.

(oh, and I'm not actually a "he")