for a while now I have this thought in my head: I ask myself if yoyo collectors are a good thing or a bad thing for the community. Before I go into the pros and cons, here’s what I think is a collector: someone who buys lots of brand new yoyos either from stores or directly from manufactures. Often times they focus on a specific theme or manufacturer but they share the hunt for new yoyos, especially rare or limited ones. And it’s likely that they have multiple of the same kind of yoyo.
Now for the pros and why collectors are good for the community:
Collectors support the manufactures and shop owners and make sure that part of the cost of producing and selling special yoyos is covered. If a manufacturer can count on a few collectors to buy a limited run, it makes the decision to produce said run in the first place easier because some of the cost will be covered for sure. That benefits all because we get a chance to get more cool yoyos.
Also, when collectors showcase their treasures, we get a chance to look at them from different angles and even after the store images have been removed.
As for the cons:
Collectors take away from the rest of us because they constantly hunt for special yoyos making it harder for the rest to make casual purchases. They might even be in close contact to store owners and manufactures and get a chance to buy yoyos before anyone else which makes it even harder for the rest to buy a specific yoyo. And even when they already have a model, they will still buy multiple versions and therefore reduce the total amount of a yoyo available in any given run.
Finally, collectors establish a certain feeling of an insider club because they can get their hands on yoyos that others can’t which might frustrate some of us.
What is your take on the pros and cons of yoyo collectors?
I agree with all the points you made. The hardcore collectors as a whole do have a majority stock on old rare throws. That can be disheartening when looking for something special. Good luck finding an OG Torrent or Peak.
At least the collectors that are active on forums are still appreciating what they’ve got though.
What is more disheartening to me is looking for old throws, even ones that weren’t particularly rare/limited/special back when they were new, and knowing that a bunch of them are probably owned by people whom no longer appreciate throwing. They’re just sitting in a box somewhere, never to be available, or even seen around the community, ever again.
I don’t have a problem with collectors as long as they don’t make that subtle turn from “I got something new, lemme show you” to “I have it and you don’t.” Enthusiasm is one thing, acting smug is another. This applies to anything I’ve collected.
From what little I’ve seen on here, and compared to the last cutthroat collectors circle I was around (Neo Geo stuff), “hardcore” yoyo collectors are far more reasonable.
Anyone buying yoyos at any time in any number, is helping the community. It doesn’t matter if it’s collecting or throwing, or even collecting and throwing. Many collectors don’t use the items they collect, they enjoy the collecting. Hunting an object, pursuing the elusive, the unobtainable, then one day “BOOM” there it is! That moment of discovery has a great deal of value to collectors.
You should know, I’m not a collector. However, the fact that many yoyos sit in boxes under beds or in the back of closets doesn’t bother me because one day, sometime in the future those boxes are going to be discovered and appreciated again, maybe not by me, maybe not by you, but some kid, some young at heart adult is going to have a very good day! My grandparents and parents have had boxes of items stashed away that were rediscovered and those items had a great second life!
Getting new toys is always fun but sometimes we forget how to be happy in our own world. I think that being happy with what you have or what is within your means, is a very under rated attribute.
In closing, we all take away from each other if you look at taking a yoyo off of the market as one yoyo less for someone else. However, it’s each and every yoyo taken off of the market, that encourages the production of many more special and unique yoyos. Is your glass half empty or half full?
I don’t mind collectors. I’m guilty of it in fact. But as skitrz said, I eventually decided I didn’t need all those yoyos and shared them with many in the community. And since money isn’t an issue for me, I didn’t try to parlay my collection into a fortune. I purposely sold them for 50% or more below their worth. And as a collector, I made sure they were in great shape. So people who bought from me got a practically new yoyo. ;D
There’s absolutely no Cons anymore. And Here’s why: There’s a plethora of excellent throws available in a plethora of different colors, shapes, response systems ect. Nobody can legitimately say, “I really wanted a good throw, but they’re all sold out.”
Even CLYW now is extremely easy to get ahold of.
Didn’t get the exact throw you wanted? Chances are good it will pop up on the BST or the maker will make another run.
Want an older throw that’s no longer made and hard to get ahold of? You’re probably a collector yourself–which would not be a con.
Even now, i had to miss the release of the steampunk Caesars because I can’t afford it, but I’m not making a thread that questions the value of collectors. I was just like, “darn it. Guess the world will keep on spinning, and I will have to hope one pops up somewhere.” not, “stupid collectors buying 1 of the 8 globally available yoyos in that anno. People should not buy rare things because I can’t!”
I can only think of two yoyos that i want that i can’t easily get right now for what i consider to be a reasonable price (RSL and Ti Walker). Heck i even had a Ti Walker at one point and traded it cheap, and saw RSLs available easily a few years back before their prices skyrocketed, so i don’t see the big deal. Releases are big enough and frequent enough, and honestly boring enough, that i actually feel bad for collectors sometimes sitting on thousands upon thousands of dollars of ultra-common yoyos that should they ever need to part with will be worth a fraction of what they paid.
Collectors don’t get the best loot because they have insider connections. They get it because they’re hunting all the time. If getting rare throws were a big enough priority for you, you could get them too. You probably just don’t care enough to spend an hour hammering the F5 key, or setting an alarm clock for late night/early morning launches, or checking every store multiple times a day; and that’s because you probably have better things to do.
As for contacting manufacturers directly, it’s not some exclusive good old boys network. It’s just a matter of finding the contact info on their webpage and shooting off an email. You don’t need any prior familiarity or personal references; these are small companies that are usually happy to accommodate their customers.
The obvious answer, for me on this one, is that the collectors help contribute along with everyone else, so there will continue to be investments in new projects, sponsoring contests, and everything positive.
I collect yo-yos, but don’t have many of the highly sought after yo-yos that people want. I have no Peak or OG Torrent, and I’m not looking for them either. It’s just not my way to collect what other people want. I just collect what I want. I have the same challenges finding yo-yos that everyone else has. One exception might be a YoyoExpert Edition, because everyone knows who to try to sell those to first. But, that is because I have promoted the fact that I like them and will buy them. But, anyone might give me a heads up, forum members might give me a heads up, and Instagram followers might give me a heads up. But, that is no different for a collector like me than anyone else who promotes what they like. As far as doubles and multiples, I can’t think of a double I have that everyone else didn’t have the fair chance to get.
I think that, before we blame someone else for not being able to find a yo-yo, we should consider that it might be our own fault that we don’t have it. There have been times where a yo-yo dropped that was not within my yo-yo budget that week, or I fell asleep before the drop, or I waited too long to buy, or I was not that interested at the time, or I never looked for it good enough, or I just wasn’t yo-yoing back then, and so on. But, that’s not a collector’s fault, who was ready to buy when it dropped.
I am a collector and aspiring thrower. I enjoy throwing but it is hard to find enough free time to keep learning new tricks when I enjoy just throwing the tricks I know.
That being said buying new and different throws allows me to experience different aspects of throwing. Being able to get a sense of what I like and what I don’t.
I enjoy collecting yoyo’s that are very different in play style. I also enjoy collecting old high end metals. I got out of yoyo right before the unresponsive revolution and I want to see what I missed out on in the late 90’s and all the 2000’s. I want to see how yoyo’s went from Yomega Firestorm to the latest and greatest stuff being cranked out by OD and others. The evolution in bearings, response, and shape is fascinating to me.
I don’t own very many multiples, in fact 2 Rally’s are my only duplicates. I collect what I want to throw. I throw everything I have. This is something we all do for fun. Some people enjoy having them, some enjoy using them. One is no more noble then the other if the buyer enjoys them.
Food for thought.
Collectors allow companies to sell more throws and make more money. More money means more yoyo’s and better yoyo’s.
One pro you left out is that, while it is true that as long as a collector keeps everything, then those often rare yoyos are out of circulation. However, most collectors by their very nature tend not to keep everything they have. It’s the thrill of the hunt that appeals, and often as their taste changes or whatever, they (we) will sell off portions of the collection.
The reason why this is good is that unlike other players, the collector’s yoyos are all but certain to be absolutely mint with all packaging intact. This means that even years after their actual release, rather than having been used up, some of the best stuff is still out there in the same condition it may have been in 2+ years after it was last sold at retail. That’s a major positive for anyone buying from the BST, especially for exceedingly rare throws, and it requires at least a few to be collectors.
But honestly, they (we) don’t really keep others from getting things. I always had the same chance as anyone else to grab something ultra rare. I might just have spent a lot more time than others were willing to scouring forums, emailing manufacturers, and being there every time there was a new release. The collectors prove that if you really want something, you can have it.
What’s wrong with that? Maybe the collector doesn’t see it as a toy. It actually doesn’t even make logical sense to spend hundreds of dollars on a very rare or collectible yoyo just to play it. The rarity and condition is the reason it’s so expensive. If the person just wanted to play, there are a million other choices that are way more cost effective and would play just as well, if not better.
Honestly, it’s not my business to decide how people spend their money. Collectors can do what they want, and im happy with that because, in the end, they’re just yoyos
