#AND NOT ONE FROM A RESELLER WHO’S SELLING IT FOR $500

[spelllingandthemysteryschool]

tried the mitski presale with a friend & it all sold outlike instantly. it’s so over

[petewentzisblack1312]

any beginners advice for flight rising?

the number one rule of flight rising is have fun and be yourself. the number two rule of flight rising is the economy is out to get you.

because of the way the loot tables work if youre low level in scavenging you seemingly have a much higher chance of getting unhatched eggs that way, just because there arent that many other things you can get at that level. they sell for a lot of either currency on the auction house so if you get one a good way to get money is to sell it. a lot of people, myself included, are quite sentimental and hatching unhatched eggs is fun bc its like a gacha but what constitutes a good pull is completely subjective. hatch or dont, do what you want.

that being said, if you hatch an unhatched egg and get a double, or if youre insanely lucky, a triple (that is a dragon with 2 or 3 of the same colours) because of how rare that is and how easy it is to make an aesthetically cohesive dragon with 2 or 3 of the colours being the same, theyre very very valuable. i once got a one off triple charcoal and sold it in an auction (different from the auction house) for 25kg. however. thats incredibly unlikely. if youre hatching unhatched eggs to make money off of what you hatch, you will make a loss. just sell the eggs. hatch eggs for the thrill of the chase.

people generally prefer unbred dragons, especially unbred g1s. however, you can breed your dragons if you want. i do! its your dragons, do what you want with them. itll tank the resale value but how sad would that be to have something that you love that you never really get to love because you might make money on it some day. breed any dragons you want if you want to. dont breed any if you dont. and i recommend not breeding anything you have as an investment.

maxing out your lucky streak in the fairgrounds every day is a solid way to make money. i used to do that when i was new, stopped, and started again when achievements were introduced. 75k treasure a day is really nothing to sneeze at. glimmer and gloom is the fastest but i know some people have trouble learning the algorithm or otherwise cant stand it. pick your poison!

the number one piece of advice i ever got in flight rising is to avoid any trades with crim worth more than 500 treasure. i would tack on 'unless its a battlestone other than one used for popular coliseum builds'. if shes offering more than 500 its probably apparel or something that you could sell on the auction house for more.

this really depends on what type of player you turn out to be, but i personally wish i thought a little harder about breeding my dragons. i take their ancestry into account in my lore but when i started i used my permas (dragons that you intend to keep) for fodder breeding and boy do i regret that. im attached to these dragons but they have a long list of offspring that are exalted. id say dragons you think are cool and dragons you want to breed should be a venn diagram that is almost two circular tangents unless youre sure you dont care. but also. lifes short. breed your progens 50gazillion times if you really want to. exalt them even. who give a fuck.

someone tricked a friend of mine this way so just so you know leveling to 25 is for dragons that you plan to grind with it is strategically not a good idea to level dragons to exalt to 25. ive already explained the value of doubles and triples so i dont think youll end up randomly exalting one of em.

if you can use the coliseum and you dont hate it i do recommend investing in a team to train fodder to exalt or to grind the coliseum and resell materials. one of the biggest flaws of fr is actually how dependent it currently is on the coliseum for gameplay. theres new gameplay in the pipeline. but its not imminent.

theres more. i cant think of it. keep asking questions if you want

[atlanticwraps1]

How Paint Protection Film is Revolutionizing Auto Care: Benefits, Costs, and Installation Tips

How Paint Protection Film is Revolutionizing Auto Care: Benefits, Costs, and Installation Tips

If you're a car enthusiast or a new car owner, you know how crucial it is to keep your vehicle looking pristine. Enter Paint Protection Film (PPF), a revolutionary solution that's transforming the world of auto care. This article explores the numerous benefits of PPF, breaks down the costs involved, and offers essential installation tips to help you make the best decision for your vehicle.

Key Benefits of Paint Protection Film

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One of the most compelling reasons to invest in PPF is its ability to protect your car's paint from scratches, chips, and fading. Whether it's from gravel on the road or minor dings in parking lots, PPF acts as a shield, preserving your car's original appearance for longer.

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Initial Investment

The cost of PPF can range from $500 to $2500, depending on several factors:

· Type of Vehicle: Larger vehicles like SUVs will generally cost more than smaller cars.

· Quality of the Film: High-end films with advanced features like self-healing and enhanced UV protection will be more expensive.

· Areas Covered: Covering just the front bumper will be cheaper than a full-body application.

Long-term Savings

While the initial investment may seem steep, the long-term savings are significant. By preventing damage and reducing maintenance needs, PPF can help you save on costly paint repairs and frequent waxing sessions. Additionally, the increase in your car's resell value further offsets the initial cost.

Professional Installation vs. DIY Kits

Proper installation is crucial for optimal performance. While DIY kits are available and can save you money upfront, professional PPF installation ensures the film is applied correctly and offers better durability. Professional installation can cost anywhere from $200 to $500 extra but is often worth the peace of mind.

Warranties

Most high-quality PPFs come with warranties ranging from 5 to 10 years. These warranties can cover issues like yellowing, peeling, and cracking, providing additional value and satisfaction. Be sure to factor in the warranty when considering the overall cost.

Installation Tips

1. Choose a Reputable Installer

If you opt for professional installation, make sure to choose a reputable installer. Look for certified professionals who have experience and positive reviews.

2. Prepare Your Vehicle

Before applying the film, ensure your car is clean and free from contaminants. This will help the film adhere better and last longer.

3. Follow Instructions Carefully

If you're going the DIY route, read the instructions carefully and follow them to the letter. Even a small mistake can result in air bubbles or improper adhesion.

4. Maintain Your PPF

Even though PPF reduces maintenance, it still requires some care. Use a gentle soap and water solution for cleaning, and avoid harsh chemicals that can damage the film.

Conclusion

Paint Protection Film is revolutionizing auto care by offering unparalleled protection, enhancing resell value, and simplifying maintenance. Whether you're a car enthusiast or a new car owner, investing in PPF is a smart move that pays off in the long run.

Ready to give your car the ultimate protection? Learn more about our PPF options and book a consultation with one of our experts today!

Atlantic Wraps, located in Charlotte, NC, specializes in premium vehicle wraps, paint protection film, and custom vinyl installations. With a focus on quality craftsmanship and attention to detail, the company serves individuals and businesses looking to enhance their vehicles' aesthetics or branding. Atlantic Wraps also offers commercial fleet wrapping and personalized design services to meet diverse client needs.

[zamanahmed]

Best Ai Video Creator Tools- Ai Video Creator Review

Best Ai Video Creator Tools- Ai Video Creator Review

Creating videos can be a lot of fun! But sometimes, it can be tricky and take a lot of time. That's where AI video creators come to the rescue. Today, we're going to talk about one of the best tools out there: AiVideoCreatorFx. This tool can help you make awesome videos super fast and super easy!

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[gaykarstaagforever]

I won't post a link to what happened at Davos this year, because news links don't get any notes on here unless they're outdated and misinformation.

But suffice it to say, the world's richest people hanging out in that criminal banking enclave known as Switzerland talked about AI a lot.

The "good" news is they seem to be aware that the peasants are upset about robots making shit art based on stolen art, so they're pivoting away from that and going back to just replacing all of HR, customer service, accounting, and half of engineering with it.

One guy said he predicts AI will design, manufacture, and sell most products by 2030. So they will inevitably still be stealing and reselling people's art, it will just be at such a scale, like with the current Amazon stolen book situation, that no one will be able to stop them unless they are associated with a giant company that ALSO uses an AI, specifically to threaten other AI about copyright infringement.

Another guy said something ominous about how "the AI can lean into being AI, which frees up humans to be more human." Which sounds like something Elon Musk would say before he puts a chip in your brain.

Oh also the analysts bouncing around the place said the future of work is "constant up-skilling," which is an innocuous buzz-phrase for hiring someone with no job title and no set salary who is forced to constantly learn and relearn whatever skills the company declares they need to have, whenever they declare that needs to happen. So the future focus won't be on applicant education or qualifications, it will be entirely on how high you jump when your boss calls you at 2 am and orders you to become an expert robot babysitter in a week. And you have to pay for the training. Which will come from a Chinese AI that wants your social security number.

The only positive with all of this is that if you're a high school grad with just enough programming knowledge to fuck with a chat bot, you can probably wiggle your way into a $300,000 a year "AI consulting" job. And you'll also be able to hack into every Fortune 500 company just by asking the customer service prompt to show you how much the CEO's girlfriend is making.

Mixed bag, really. Of trash.

[loomsolarblog]

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Loom Solar is a leading solar company in India, a manufacturer of solar panels and lithium batteries based in Faridabad, Haryana. It is an ISO 9001 - 2015 certified company and recognized start-up by Govt. of India. It is present in 500 districts across India having 3500 resellers, hundreds of employees, 2 offices, and 1 Manufacturing unit.

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They have a wide range of products such as solar panels, lithium batteries, solar inverters, solar wires, solar panel stand, solar charge controllers, etc.

Through an enterprising program, the company seeks to generate a monthly business of 25 Lacs a month with an investment of 3- 5 Lacs and provide multi-layer support, which includes making Entrepreneurs in each district across India.

For individuals who are pursuing business ideas, it could be a great deal for him. As becoming a dealer and distributor of Loom Solar, they will get several benefits such as:

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After full fill these requirements you will be eligible to collaborate with loom solar for success. To register as a distributor or dealer of Loom Solar, you can fill up the form on their website or call their sales team at 011-4013 02022. You can also locate the nearest store of Loom Solar using their store locator feature- Click here to visit

[pokeheros-drama]

Nuggets and other strange things

'Ello drama blog! I'm back with your daily state of the union address... (oh wait, wrong speech.) Hello, mod. How's it going? Okay? Oh, you're still putting up with these people? Yeah, I'm so sorry.

AHEM. Anyway, it is I, AnonymousEconomist, back with another economic discussion. Yes, today's topic is #secretnuggetsociety. I'm sure you've all seen Yako's post about how they want to "start a Black Market for cheap Nuggets, and people with a ticket could join it, Like a secret society lol, I guess Nuggets prices are really making me think about this!" Heck, 68 of you all have liked the post at the time of my report.

And this is a very interesting notion from an economic standpoint. Let's first review supply and demand. Now in lesson one, we discussed the tax in the item market, and I basically explained the way around the tax was to actually hold your goods. As the seller, you want supply to decrease (so you have less competition), and demand to increase (so more people buy the goods). But in this scenario, it's a little different.

Now on pokeheroes, we have two benchmark currencies: the pokedollar, and the nugget. Their value is determined in relation to each other. As the nugget appreciates (becomes more valuable), the pokedollar MUST depreciate (become less valuable). Since pokedollars are infinitely more common than nuggets, a depreciation in pokedollar HURTS EVERYONE. 

So the solution to regulation of the economy is for these prices to remain constant. The actual number is arbitrary: it doesn't matter whether or not the nugget equivalates to 1500pd or 2000pd. So long as the nugget price is stable, the economy is stable. 

Obviously there will be some fluctuations. Riako may feel generous and sell nuggets at 1700pd, Domodoco may try to scam someone with 2000pd nuggets. All is fair in individual economic transactions. But the site has regulators for a reason. If Riako MANUALLY overrides the price generators in the item market, and affixes the "fair price" of nuggets in the item market as permanent, the economy would be in a lot better shape.

Here is my opinion of Yako's initiative: it is admirable, but it won't work. The users who have large amounts of nuggets are looking to trade them instead of selling them. Just check out the GTS... you'll see them offering nuggets for gems (cough, Bun-Bun, Nika~). And that's fine! But Yako will need to convince these people to sell their nuggets for pd in the item market. These users will need to take a loss on their profits. 

Yako also needs to control 80% or more of ALL GTS nugget transactions. And they will need to do this for a month at least. At this point, those listings of 50 nuggets matter, because if they deviate from the target price too much, they can hurt the average more than a sale 200 nuggets on target. From a mathematics viewpoint, it's difficult.

It's hard, and users on this site are selfish. Besides, their club is ridiculously exclusionary. 500 hours and one year of PH membership... this completely discriminates against users who have quietly been accumulating their daily rewards, or those new users that splurge on nuggets with real money. You have to be accessible for all. It has to be a community effort.

Then of course, there are the users I mentioned in my first post who have a lot of pd to kill. They might just buy up all the cheap nuggets and resell them a month later for 2000pd. Yako is inadvertently consolidating all of the site's nuggets into the hands of those rich enough to purchase them. Even at 1500pd per nugget, a user has to have 75kpd handy to buy some. And bulk order nuggies are all the rage.

I wish I could be more optimistic. In my limited capacity, I have even thought of liking the post and helping the initiative... but perhaps I am too pessimistic. 

@Yako, if you read this, you don't need to make the nuggets cheaper. You only need to hold the price within a constant from here on out. 

I hope this helped, young economists. Keep educating yourself, keep learning, and stay sharp. If someone tries to lowball you, just say no. Unless you are part of the nugget black market. Then let the lowballing begin.

-Anonymous Economist

[friday11econlive]

The Nintendo Switch Market

Kelly Le

Friday 11:00 - 11:50 am

ID 45829472

During the pandemic, people, including myself, shifted towards a much more virtual world, whether that be through Zoom for distance learning, Discord for calling with friends, or video games to spend free time. Personally, one notable factor for me that was affected by the pandemic was the market of video game consoles, specifically the Nintendo Switch. Around this time, I had decided to browse the market for a Nintendo Switch since I had exhausted most of the games on the Wii U and Wii for the time being. This original equilibrium quantity demanded and equilibrium price can be represented as Q1 and P1 respectively. However, the demand for this console had increased overall during the pandemic due to the spare free time people had as they social distanced and the desire to play with loved ones online. Consequently, this shifts the demand curve to the right, and the quantity demanded increases, leading to a higher price as shown below by equilibrium quantity demanded Q2 and equilibrium price P2. 

However, Nintendo kept their prices at $300. The price increase, in reality, took the form of scalpers mass buying out supply and reselling that same supply of Nintendo Switches at a higher price. When I had looked at the prices for the console during the pandemic, the Switch had increased from its original price of $300 to $500, even sometimes $800. These were all by unofficial sellers, selling them used or new for extremely high prices due to the increase in demand for the console during the pandemic. As a result of the high demand, there were people who were still willing to pay the high amount for the console, as shown by the reviews below from people who had purchased it for $400 or $500.

Consequently, I had to decide if I should buy the console for an extremely high price, leading to an opportunity cost of the hundreds of dollars that could be used for food or even more video games on my other consoles or computer. Ultimately, I had decided to wait a couple of months in which it then returned back to normal price, using the money to buy other goods.

Today, demand has decreased as the Switch has been out for a relatively long period of time and is no longer as much of a fad. However, supply has also decreased due to a semiconductor chip shortage. As a result, they are not able to make as many Nintendo Switch consoles, thus shifting the supply curve to the left along with the demand curve shifting left. Consequently, the equilibrium quantity decreases to Q2 as shown in the graph below while the price remains ambiguous since the equilibrium price depends on how far the demand and supply curves shift leftward.

[garudabluffs]

Ticketmaster cancels Taylor Swift general sale ticket sales set for Friday                     NOV.17,2022

Surging demand overwhelmed a presale of tickets for the 2023 tour, and Ticketmaster said there wasn’t enough tickets left for the general public. Many fans have expressed outrage at the tour rollout.

“Tickets have been reselling for as much as $28,000, Reuters reported.”

READ MORE https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/17/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-presale/

Comments 714 

"...resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests” — four-times its previous web traffic peak."So almost half the earth's population tried to buy Swift tickets?

‘He said that a competitor promoted (?)) Swift’s show and chose Ticketmaster to sell the tickets because “we are, in reality, the largest and most effective ticket seller in the world.” '  Ummm, isn't that what a monopoly is?” Reply:”No, there are other ticketing companies they just don't have capacity to sell 2.5 million tickets.”

FYI - the Taylor Swift tour is not being promoted by Live Nation.  Her promoter is Louis Messina, whose company is owned by AEG.  AEG is Live Nation's largest competitor, and has their own ticketing company (AXS.com).

“Ticketmaster is the only DIRECT 1ST PARTY ticket sales company which makes it a monopoly.  Their connection with/to LIVE Nation which bought up and continues to buy up most of the venues which after purchase only sells tickets through Ticketmaster makes it a monopoly. Unless tickets are sold directly by a venue ( and there are very few that still do) any ticket selling company other than Ticketmaster is a scalper ticket seller who is using algorithms to get the best seats and who in turn jacks up the prices to make a profit. Only way to resolve it is to STOP selling tickets online. Make people provide ID in person to buy the tickets and to show the same ID for the same tickets at show time.

Eric Church tried to play venues not connected to TM or LN he found it  was impossible. Eddie Vedder and others tried yrs ago to stop the sale involving TM & LN and no one listened then.Hopefully this TS ticket mess will bust open the scam that is TM! “

“The venues have an exclusive contract with Ticketmaster. If you want to have a concert at a large venue, you must use Ticketmaster.”

“Taylor Swift is a well curated marketing initiative in which PR teams, publicists and make up artists seem to play a bigger role than music.”

“The company is the one who sold to the bots. I joined the verified fan list the minute it opened and was placed on a waiting list. The company is known for scalping it's own tickets and it's a problem when all of the large shows less than 10% are actually made available to fans. Now they are also using the dynamic pricing, when a Bruce Springsteen show the cheapest ticket was $5000 it's a monopoly that needs broken up. Tickets were being listed for $35,000 for this show and the company charges ridiculous fee's twice for every ticket. Anyone who thinks that she was the one getting all of this money is a fool.”

“I was lucky to get tickets during the verified fan and Capital One pre-sales, but d*mn, that dynamic pricing is brutal!  Floor and pit seats in Chicago were like $500+!  The nosebleed seats were going for $109!  I get to spend the next year paying off my CC now for our tickets :/  Most of the decent seats are way too pricey for the average fan..... “

BAN  THE  BOTS “The president of Ticketmaster just said on CBS Evening News that they knew their queue was full of bots not just legitimate individuals and did and apparently do nothing to filter them out.  This is where the super massive secondary market of tickets comes from.  Authorized scalpers and price gougers should be ILLEGAL ! “

“ Bollocks.Most of the tickets were dumped onto Stubhub by TM (owned by TM) with the artist’s approval. She takes a cut off the upsell. Happens all the time.” Nonsense. StubHub is not owned by Ticketmaster.

Tix were $119 each...so $55 in fees on a $238 purchase.  Ridiculous.

“What we were trying to say was: this could get worse if someone doesn’t fight it now,” Vedder told me in 2009, just as Live Nation and Ticketmaster were set to merge. “And apparently it looks like we predicted the future.” (Independent, 2019)

[khajamdraihan]

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[dojae-huh]

I am not familiar at all with merch sales be it within the kpop community or not, but of course, I heard a lot about Doyoung's merch or related things that were sold out. It makes me wonder a lot about Dozennies. What are their average age, their professions and their schedules. Because things have been sold out quite frequently recently, I would always imagine that most Dozennies are working young adults who are probably around the same age as Do. You gotta be able to have financial means to buy these things. Most are not expensive but some are not that cheap either.

And they are always updated on Do's because they were so fast in buying all these. Sometimes, I also wonder if it's just the same people buying his products because most of these are sold online. Like I do read that some fandom do bulk orders to help the idol. Honestly, the only thing I'm concerned with with bulk ordering is what do they do with it. Resell it at a higher price? I guess better than just shoved into a corner collecting dust. I just don't have the experience of buying merch, so I don't really know the competition to get these things. My friend's an Army though and I've seen the immense struggle when buying albums (that's the closest experience I have). Is it possible that for highly competitive fandom, these purchases are kinda like gambling because you'll never know if you get to check the items out and that makes people addicted in some way? (at this point I'm just rambling but interesting tho)

And one thing I always wonder about kpop merch is that the products are more frequently released compared to other fandoms I think? Like not just companies merch, they also have collabs like sanrio, nr, etc. How do fans keep up with this constant release of merch and collab? Because I think when you become an ambassador for brands, it is to increase the sale of the brand itself. And when you pick nct as ambassadors, the market is most likely the fandom right (or no?) If it is, how can the fandom keep up with all the sales or am I underestimating fandom purchasing power? Or perhaps I overestimate the quantity of the products they plan to sell.

Idol companies don't earn with music. They earn with merch and concerts. Btw, SM is a company that produces very little merch in comparison to others.

I'm a book illustrator, but the books I illustrate have very low number of copies. From 500 to 3-5k. Maybe some had more, I don't have author copies for all and not all have the data. And publishing companies still spend from half a year to two years to prepare such a book. The trick is to put out something on the shelves all the time, to gain from the volume. K-pop groups have millions of fans. And almost all fans buy merch in one form or another. 1mln will buy an album, 200k will buy a poster, 20k will buy a mug, another 20k will buy Sanrio stickers, yet another 20k will buy a magazine.

A fan doesn't need to know and buy all merch released, I doubt it's feasable even for the most rich and crazily commited, it's enough for him/her to buy from time to time. Fanclubs help to keep up with the info and make collective orders. There are k-pop merch shops that work as middle men as well.

I'm a pretty merch resistant person, I don't like to spend money on things that collect dust, but even I fall to "I want to treat myself" and "I want to have fun". I can buy well produced merch or cheap merch. Especially if it's sparkly, haha. I don't need a plastic standie even for free, but a clear file is a product I'll take. Smart companies diversify their offer.

To sell merch companies invent different strategies and fuel the competition among fans. Fans buy merch to show off (look how rich I am, I have hundreds of lightsticks), to show dedication to their bias (look what a big fan I am, I made a shrine), to satisfy human's innate instinct to collect (idol cards, the hunt for limited editions), to support their bias (buying the endorsed stuff, taking pictures of it, posting on socmed and tagging the company), to win the race with other bands (this applies to the albums mostly).

Bulk buying. Honestly, I think the majority of the albums get into the hands of fans. There are not that many fans who can buy 100 albums to pull out cards and then drop the photoalbums in trashcan. Cases like that just make news. Fans give out the albums to non-fans (to PR their group), give for free to the fans with no money or re-sell on forums for half the price. Think about it, Sticker sold over 2mln. Jaehyun alone has more than 10mln subscribers on IG.

As for working adults. Sure, "now I grew up and can buy whatever I want" exist, but the majority of merch buyers are teenagers who get their money from their parents or from part-time work. Studying in Uni/working adults need to pay rent, buy work clothes, pay off their college loans, buy textbooks. Teens, on the other hand, need to show off before their peers, be better, have the latest toy. Nowadays the "toy" is loads of k-pop merch.

Companies like NR win from selling directly to fans and from fans advertising the brand/products on socmed. Plus the idols simply work as pretty models who know how to appeal. It's not nesessary to know who they are to be pulled in and be affected. The ads are showed on screens in cosmetic shops.

Doyoung has a lot of younger fans, at least the ones that write/call him. But I agree that he should attract more young adults than, say, Mark. His core fans like him for the voice first and foremost, for his life advice/grounded personality/emotional support secondly.

[killian-whump]

I do think that artists who sell their pieces as NFT,as well as the genuine buyers there to appreciate them, are still doing it in hopes of the value "inflating" in the community. Because yeah, you could sell me a $500 painting and I'd own it and that's that, but if I wanted to resell it one day, the price is more subjective, no? The artist can't exactly trace it and its harder to claim new value. But if it was an NFT, that's like an open investment within their community. It's all weird to me

Oh, definitely. The vast majority of people buying/selling NFTs are doing so as investments and are hoping for big, inflated paydays.

But I do think that some people - particularly well-meaning celebrities, like say A.Hopkins or whoever - as rare as these people might be, sincerely see this as a great opportunity to "help out" the little people, you know, the poor commoners (for lack of a better term) who make nice art and, you know, are trying their best. Etc, etc, etc.

And I don't want to shit on anybody's good intentions, if they truly do have them... But it's like saying you're going to give to the homeless and then throwing dollar bills out your car window the next time you drive down a busy street. I mean, yeah, your intentions are good... but you're acting on them in the laziest possible way. There are so many other ways to support struggling artists that will not only be more beneficial to them, but also open the door to millions more artists for you to choose from since the vast majority of serious artists don't like NFTs and refuse to use the medium. That's why most NFT art sucks. The actual artists are all elsewhere, looking for financial support and wishing someone like A.Hopkins would notice them.

Patreon is literally BUILT from the ground up to allow people with means to financially support specific artists in a steady, reliable way. Sites like Etsy, Society 6 and Red Bubble are full of artists selling their work in various ways and on various items. DeviantArt allows artists to directly sell prints, as well as being a lively community where artists of all stages of skill are eagerly looking to do paid commissions. Artists are always setting up GoFundMe and Kickstarter campaigns for various projects - decks of cards, artbooks, greeting cards, toys, collectibles, you name it. Hell, if a celebrity is well-known and has a huge following, a simple retweet of an artist's work might be enough to generate them more supporters (and therefore more income) than buying a stupid NFT would.

The intentions might be good, but the means are lazy and smack of someone so out of touch with the community they claim to want to support that they don't even realize how lazy they're being.

Which goes back to what you're saying. They're either after the same potential payday as all the other crypto bros, but ascribing a philanthropic bent to their actions - or they've sincerely been conned into believing this is a great way to "support the arts" in this day and age. In case it's the second, I don't want to shit on their intentions or spoil their fun, but... I mean... 🤷‍♀️

[upcycleability]

A Response to a Commenter: Corperate Capitalism

I generally just try to put out good information on things we can do to help when and if we can (because corporations are not on Tumblr reading my blog), but apparently, this brought criticism of me and my shop, so I am going to address that criticism.

The article this is about is the only one out of 121 articles written so far that has somehow gone viral. You can read it HERE

The person who mentioned this had a few things to say about me, so let's start off with this:

"Corporations are personally responsible for the majority of all industrial waste including textiles. the og post is written in a way to make you feel socially guilty and obligated to do minuscule acts to "help" (just like all the cutesy water conservation tips that blind us to the fact that corporate farms and golf courses use more water in a week than a human uses in a year)."

I 100% agree that the main issues are a result of corperations and governments. I talk a lot about how we need systemic change and how the governments are to blame in my article on overpopulation.

"Living an eco-friendly lifestyle ourselves is a good starting point, but the governments and corporations make the majority of the trash and environmental harm. Do not harm minorities because you have an ignorant misunderstanding of how the world works. Do your part, and force the people who are causing this problem: rich folk, corporations, and governments, to do theirs."

I talk about this all the time, both here on my Tumblr, but also over on Medium. I am not trying to make anyone feel guilty about their life while giving corporations an out. I am calling out corporations, while also providing nifty tips that I have learned about myself to help in what little ways that we can. We need both systemic change and social change.

Hold companies and government accountable, but also live ourselves in a way that we want to see the world. This is how I personally live my own life.

op then punctuates the post with adverts for her shops: where she'll make money off of concepts that are supposed to help mitigate needless consumption. it doesn't take into account that interstate transport has a shitty "eco footprint" too and thus shipping via Etsy or Poshmark is adding in new pollutants.

Yes, at the end of most of my posts with links to my shops where I sell secondhand and salvaged materials. I do this so that if anyone is going to buy something anyways, they can buy it in a more sustainable way.

I only sell within my own country or the one country adjacent, and I only ship using longer shipping times (no 2-day shipping if I can avoid it), and I only use the US Postal Service as they are heading to your home to deliver your mail anyhow, so it is a greener option and easier for me to implement.

I also know that all things shipped has a carbon footprint, which is why I buy carbon credits, and donate 5% of my rather low income to intersectional climate activist group 350 dot org.

And as I often state: Don't buy from me if you don't need anything. I sell used clothing, destash fabrics, salvaged materials for crafts, and upcycled products that I make. If you are going to sew anyways, buying salvaged fabric and the like is far better than buying brand new fabrics that are often made using harmful chemicals and poor labor rights.

it's remarkably clever, the monetization of "wokeness", and OPs post is a fantastic example of it.

I am a trans woman, pansexual, disabled, neurodivergent, and live in poverty. I know very well what "wokeness" is, and I doubt what I am doing is anything close to that.

i'd be amazed if they didn't take any business or advertising classes because the setup of the OG post is nearly textbook... and I do mean textbook, as in "I personally have textbooks that describe using the methodologies OP is using in the OG post to make herself money".

I did not take any business or advertising classes at all. I suck at advertising. I have been writing blogs and the like for myself for over 15 years on a variety of different topics, and that is the only way I know how to promote my business. I write about something I am fascinated in and want to learn more about myself, or else share knowledge with people who don't know what I have learned via research, and then link my upcycle shop if anyone is interested in finding some things they may need without the impact of buying new.

And I love how they make it sound like I am striking it rich. On Etsy, over the last 3 months (after fees), I made about 235$, or about 80$ a month. On Mercari over the same 3 month period, I made 66 dollars, so 22$ a month. On eBay, 90 day total is 242$, or about 80$ a month. Poshmark has my most income, at 377$ since January 1st, or almost 4 months. That is, again, about 80$ a month. So for all of my "monetization of wokeness" I make about... 250 bucks a month. And that is about half to a little more than half of my monthly income. The rest I get through what few freelance writing clients that I get in a month.

I live off 400-500 USD a month in earnings. I get by with this, and I am happy to do what I love, such as dumpster diving, disassembling clothing, and selling or reselling what I make or find. It also allows me to work from home, as someone who is a trans woman, pansexual, disabled, neurodivergent, and in poverty.

I am not trying to trick anyone, I am simply trying to survive in a Capitalist hellscape. If selling salvaged handbags and scarves made from T-shirts is my sin, then burn me at the stake.

I will be writing a new article soon about more eco-friendly craft supplies.

[20dollarlolita]

Hi! I'm a Nooblita and I was wondering: How can I spot scalpers? Are all 2nd-hand items sold for more than the original price considered 'scalping'? Also, why do SO MANY people buy loads of items/dresses/KCs etc. (hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth) from a new AP release and then sell all of it new with tags immediately after buying it? Is this scalping? I see this behaviour CONSTANTLY on Lacemarket. (btw I love your blog, thankyou for replying to my previous replica sewing question!)

Let’s talk the “Are all 2nd-hand items sold for more than the original price considered 'scalping'?” question first.

Lacemarket is a free market selling luxury items, so it’s actually a very good case where you can apply the concepts of pure capitalism and not run into any ethical issues.

The idea of “the market will charge whatever is fair” falls apart when you’re selling stuff that people will die without, because that artificially inflates the prices. People will spend every dollar they have and sell all of their possessions if it means a loved one won’t die a painful death, and if you say “It’s fair for a pharmaceutical company to charge $600 for a dose of this medicine, because people will pay it,” then you’re ignoring that fact. I’m throwing this in here because all of us who work shitty jobs while our companies CEOs get richer, and spend huge amounts of money on keeping our bodies functioning so someone can make $900,000 a year, and have landlords who own 11-bedroom houses while charging each of their tennents $2500 a month for a 2-bedroom with a kitchen from 1991, like to say “fuck capitalism,” because it’s a system that treats us unfairly. We’re required to work excessively for very little just to buy things that we’ll die without, at exorbitant prices, while other people profit off our labor and need.

However, a marketplace like Lacemarket is actually a very good example of capitalism self-regulating, because generally everyone who is a seller there is also a buyer, buyers and sellers are open about information regarding the pieces and purchases, and the items being sold are luxury goods that absolutely no one will die without.

One of the basic concepts of a free market is that if the seller believes they got enough money for the transaction, and the buyer believes that they did not spend too much money on the transaction, then the transaction was fair, regardless of the price. If you don’t feel ripped off, and the seller doesn’t feel like they were cheated, it was a fair price. If you spent $20 on some Angelic Pretty or you spent $1800 on a headbow, if you and the buyer are informed about the details of the transaction and agreed on the price, it’s the right price.

Which means it’s completely reasonable to sell a dress in a garbage condition for more than the original price. There’s no price controls on Lacemarket; instead, there’s just people going “wow, that’s a rip-off” and not buying it. If your price is too high, no one will buy it.

Which gets us to the basic law of eBay: just because someone listed something at that price doesn’t mean they sold it. You find someone listing the Princess Diana beanie baby or a black diamond VHS of Beauty and the Beast for $3000 all the time, but you never find someone who sold it for that much. If you really need that beanie baby, you can find someone selling it for much less than $100 and buy from them, and their $3000 listing will not sell.

It’s really not uncommon for things to get more valuable with age, even as their condition deteriorates. An Action Comics #1 that’s in horrible condition is still worth way more than the 10 cents ($2 inflation-adjusted) it was in 1938. The fact that a threadbare Iron Gate might still sell for $500 isn’t really unheard of, though it is an extreme example.

There’s also an element of scarcity. When the Sugary Carnival MTO was released announced in 2021, the resell value of the 2010 Sugary Carnival DROPPED, because people who wanted Sugary Carnival and didn’t care about the original release element of it now had a better option than spending $400 on a decade-old dress. If they ever rerelease Iron Gate, the cost of a used one will probably drop notably.

.

So, scalping.

Scalping is when someone buys all of a limited item (like tickets to a concert) so that it’s no longer available, which drives up the demand for the item. When there’s scarcity, there’s the ability to increase the prices, and when one person owns all the concert tickets, there’s no longer any competition that’s selling the tickets at a lower price. If you want to go to the concert, you have to buy tickets from this nutjob. This is not fair, and the rules of the free market don’t apply when one person holds all the tickets. It’s no longer a free market at this point.

Which gets to the point of, where does buying items specifically to resell fit?

If I owned a small storefront in my city, and we sold lolita dresses, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for me to get 5 of each item in an AP release. It also wouldn’t be unfair for me to sell them for more than I paid for them. I’m providing a service in addition to the dress, because I’m importing the dress from overseas, am providing a place where people can physically see it and maybe try it on before they buy it, and have provided matching items like headbows and socks for a buyer to see alongside the dress. A store buying stock of an item and selling it at a markup isn’t generally considered unfair. If my store also listed online sales, I might sell items NWT at a markup to people who’ve never been in my store. That’s not unreasonable, either. In fact, a lot of sites like Devilinspired actually just provide the service of buying things from other sellers and reselling them to people who want to navigate a site in English (and are willing to pay heavy markup to do so).

Scalping requires a single person or a coordinated group of people to create artificial scarcity by buying a lot of an item, specifically to resell at a greatly elevated price. One person buying $2000 of AP (which is, honestly, like four dresses?) and then reselling it at a price that’s only 10%-20% higher than the list price probably isn’t scalping. Some people will buy a dress and realize the color or shape of fit is wrong, and sell it immediately. If they know that the process of them bringing it into USA will make it more desirable to someone that doesn’t want to order from overseas, then they’ve provided a service that might make the dress more valuable and it would be reasonable for them to have an extra charge for the fact that they did provide this service.

So, when you see someone selling several of an item NWT at an elevated price, you just need to ask, “did this person (or several people doing similar things) cause an artificial scarcity when they purchased this many of this item?” Did they buy so many that people couldn’t get it from the original source at all? If they didn’t create the scarcity, they’re probably not scalping.

Different brands have their own different ways to prevent scalping. Some limit purchases to so many per customer. Obviously scalping is bad for the brand. First of all, if people would spend $600 on a $300 dress, it would be better for that money to go to the brand that made the dress, and not the person who bought a hundred of them to resell. Second, it damages the brand’s reputation. Even if buyers know they didn’t buy it from the brand, they will judge the garment by the price they paid for it. A dress that someone spent $600 on, but that was originally $300, will wear like a $300 dress but feel like it should wear like a $600 one. It establishes an idea that the brand isn’t worth the cost.

Oddly enough, “taking money from the brand” and “damaging the brand’s reputation” are the most common reasons people say to not buy replicas, so I’d be interested to see if the community tackles suspected scalpers the same way they tackle people wearing replicas. Just a thing to think about there. I have done exactly zero work into looking that up.

Anyhow, I hope I answered that question. If someone’ll buy it, it’s the right price, even if it’s not a price you’d pay, unless someone created an artificial scarcity specifically to be able to raise the price to an unfair level.

[skarsgard-daydreams]

The easiest explanation is that it’s a lot like what happened in The Producers, but I’ll do my best to explain in Skarsgard.

Rich people pay hedge fund managers to invest their money in the stock market and make a profit for them. There is a hedge fund called Melvin Capital that decided they would try to make a profit by placing a very risky bet that GameStop’s stock price would go down. This risky bet is called a short. Here’s how it works using the Skarsgards as an example:

Let’s say Bill owns a comic book and it’s worth $20.

Alex thinks that the value of the comic book is going to go down and he wants to profit off of this. He borrows the comic book from Bill and resells it to Gustaf for $20. Because he has borrowed the comic book from Bill, he knows he will have to buy it back from Gustaf at some point so he can return it to Bill. What happens next will determine if he makes a profit.

Scenario 1:

Alex is correct. The value of the comic book drops until it is only worth $1. He made $20 when he sold the comic book to Gustaf. He can now buy it back from Gustaf for $1, which means he made a profit of $19. Then he can return the comic book to Bill.

Scenario 2:

Alex is wrong. The value of the comic book rises by 200%, to $40. He made $20 when he sold the comic book to Gustaf. He now has to buy it back from Gustaf for $40, which means he lost $20. Then he can return the comic book to Bill.

Scenario 3: 

Alex is spectacularly wrong. The value of the comic book rises by 500%, to $100. He made $20 when he sold the comic book to Gustaf. He now has to buy it back from Gustaf for $100, which means he lost $80. Then he can return the comic book to Bill.

The third scenario is the reason why shorting stocks is an incredibly risky bet. These are the kinds of bets that brought down the economy in 2008. The people who placed those bets got out of that without consequences, and have continued these practices even though they’re risky. Which brings us to Valter.

Scenario 4: 

Valter learns about Alex’s bet and is pissed off that he’s taking such a risky gamble that could bring down the comic book industry once again. He’s young and internet-savvy and just crazy enough to spend money to take Alex down a notch. So, he starts buying up copies of the comic book left and right, driving the price up higher and higher. He tells the internet that he’s doing this, and the nerds unite behind him. Collectively, they buy so many copies of the comic book that the value of one copy rises 1700%, to $325.

The fourth scenario is more or less how this all started. At the beginning of 2021, a share of GameStop stock was worth less than $20. But Melvin Capital did not shore a single share of stock. They shorted all of it. People on Reddit began to buy up shares of the stock, driving the value up to $325 as of Friday night. So far, Melvin Capital has lost 4.5 billion dollars ($4,500,000,000). Rather than pull out of their extremely risky bet and cut their losses, they have stayed in the game and used a variety of tactics to try to manipulate the Redditors into selling their shares and driving the price back down. So let’s continue the scenario.

Scenario 4 continued: 

Alex doesn’t like what Valter is doing. So he uses his influence to contact everyone who is selling Valter comic books and get them to block Valter from purchasing any more. The next time Valter goes to buy a comic book, he is told that he’s no longer allowed to for his own good. He knows this is bullshit. He tells the internet what happened, and the nerds are collectively furious. Valter and the nerds declare that they will keep buying comic books from other people and that the comic books they own will have to be pried from their cold, dead hands. Their vendetta has become incredibly personal, and they want Alex to fucking pay.

That is essentially where things stand as of Friday night. On Thursday and Friday, popular stock apps used by average people started to prevent their users from buying GameStop and up to 50 other stocks. A lot of these apps insulted the intelligence of the people who were trying to buy these stocks by claiming that they were protecting the user. But their actions benefitted Melvin Capital because the price would have increased even more if people were allowed to buy GameStop shares freely. Now the Redditors are even more outraged by this manipulation, and many of them, determined to teach Wall Street a lesson, intend to hold onto their shares of GameStop and keep the price high until Melvin Capital dies or they do.

Now, Melvin Capital can’t hold out forever. Eventually, Melvin Capital will be forced to buy back the stocks they lent out and return them to the original owner. They have begun to sell off a lot of the other stocks that they own in order to foot the bill of their bet. That’s why the stock market as a whole is going down even though GameStop stock keeps going up, and why this could lead to a stock market crash.

If there is a crash, I think people will try to blame the Redditors. But the people who manage Melvin Capital are greedy billionaires who took massive risks in 2007 that put the US economy into a recession and faced no consequences. They were actually bailed out by the government at the cost of the taxpayer. They have no incentive to change their ways or try to be responsible because they know that if they bring the whole market down with them, the government will probably step in to save them again. I personally would argue that we should blame the people who saw this happen before and didn’t put rules in place to prevent it from happening again.

PSA: If you are feeling FOMO and want to purchase stocks, don’t invest more money than you are comfortable losing. Also, do not use the start up apps that blocked consumers from being able to purchase stocks. This is not financial advice. I know nothing and I don’t own any stock in GameStop.

If you want to know more about shorting stocks or what triggered the recession in 2008, I highly recommend the movie The Big Short. It’s funny and star-studded and explains everything in layman’s terms.

(Sorry to Alex for using him as the example of the greedy hedge fund in my scenario. I wanted to represent the age distinction between the hedge fund managers and the Redditors, so he wound up being the scapegoat.)

[writhe]

Hello! I hope you’re well and warm. I was wondering if you have any recommendations for where to buy a cheap starter banjo for an absolute beginner? I don’t really have the cash to desire to pay $300 for an instrument I’m not sure I’ll be committed to for very long, but I’ve also recognized that my desire for a $100 banjo is I’ll-informed. Oppositely, this is a stretch but do you know anyone who might be selling a banjo?

i don’t know anybody sellin’ one rn, sadly! 

i am biased by the banjos i’ve used and played before, there are lots of options to explore, but as for cheap banjos:

goldtone: these are about 200, you could almost certainly find one used for even less if you are diligent in your search. I don’t have a way of grading this professionally (i guess?) but a friend of mine had one of these for a while and i was pretty surprised when i learned they they’re pretty cheap. seem to be well made, all around quite decent and i found it comfortable to play. you’d probably be able to resell this 

gretsch: same deal as above, pretty much, though i might be tempted to say that you could get a gretsch banjo for a little cheaper and that goldtone might be slightly nicer. but again- speaking from limited and subjective experience 

jameson: i was uninformed on banjo quality and this banjo was my first one! it’s def sorta cheap-o and probably mass-produced but it was inexpensive (150-ish). it was perfect for learning on and i valued it a lot for being exactly what i needed at the time. it gets pretty decent reviews, too. i think the company aims to make affordable instruments which is cool of them. you might have a harder time reselling this since it’s not a big name but i bet you could get like 60$ for it

deering: biased to like deering because i have a deering americana. the deering goodtime open backs are (in my limited experience) generally understood to be, like, an affordable banjo for their quality (i actually saw this discussed in an old time music facebook group im in and i guess some old-timers consider, like, 500-600 to be cheap for an instrument which is....like, okay, yeah, maybe if this is your main hobby, but....i digress). it’s really popular model so the prices you’ll see vary, but it’ll likely run you a few hundred, but if you’re diligent you can get lucky (I think i saw one once for like 150, lol). they’re not hard to come by since they’re pretty popular. also as long as you don’t, like, somehow destroy it these are well-sought and you probably would not have a hard time reselling it if you wanted to 

(there are a ton of other makers and people should weigh in because i am not a wellspring of knowledge & this is not a comprehensive answer- there’s ton i haven’t tried out: recording king, kay, vega, luna, etc and these all vary in price and quality) 

i like reverb quite a bit for instrument browsing online but there are a lot of other sites, too

I think if you REALLY want a super cheap banjo for under 100 you should check out facebook marketplace (+ make wise choices about meeting people IRL)