A way for anyone to identify a particular yo-yo as a B-grade. I mean something simple, quick, and cheap and that can be done by hand by whoever packs the yo-yo. For example, etching a small dot or a star on the inside near the response pad. Something that isn’t visible outwardly but will distinguish it nonetheless.
I just think it might help to protect the community when so many of those yo-yos will end up being on the BST (multiple times in some cases) and perhaps misrepresented. Also, I’ve noticed a suspicious number of “new” yo-yos for sale on eBay (sometimes Amazon too) after a large B grade sale. I’m not saying someone is out there buying B-grades just to turn around and make a $20 profit, but I do think there are unscrupulous people who buy one to try, don’t like it, and think “Hey I can sell this as a new A-grade and make my money back and maybe even a few bucks extra.”
I know that some companies might say “Well if you want a guaranteed A grade then you should buy it directly from us or a reputable dealer.” And that is true, but I think we also need to consider that the reason a lot of us buy so many yo-yos is BECAUSE of the robust BST market. We pull the trigger on a purchase because we know that if it isn’t perfect for us it’s ok, we won’t lose all of our money, we can swap it for something else. And I can tell you that I for one have been burned on a trade like that.
And lastly some of you may say “Well if people want to be dishonest they will be dishonest, they will sell an old yo-yo as a new one or a counterfeit as a real one etc.” And that is true, but we can’t really prevent that. But we can prevent this. Some sort of small indicator so that a B grades cannot be falsely misrepresented as an A grades.
Lots of them already do. A “b grade” stamp on YYF, “fools gold” on CLYW, SPYY had “star grade”… I’m sure there are others I’m missing. That being said, I’d don’t know if all of the YYF or CLYW b grade/fools gold yoyos have the markings.
I think I’ve seen a few cases where b-grades dont get the laser engraving that all the a-grades get. For example a yoyo named potato would always have a potato on it unless its b-grade.
No, to be honest it seems I am uninformed because based on these replies it seems multiple companies do try to distinguish them.
I’ve bought one B grade before from YYF and it did not have a marking so I didn’t know they did mark some of them, but I guess that the one I bought was an exception to the rule.
That said, if the top companies are all going to sell B grades then maybe there could be a uniform marking, maybe they could agree on one. Because, for example, I would never have realized that the pickaxe on the CLYW means it’s B grade
This is unusual, but I own a Fool’s Gold Igloo with standard Igloo engravings. No pickaxe engravings like all of my other FGs. I thought that was super weird as soon as I took it out of the box. It’s dead smooth and the ano looks near perfect to me. It’s a Night Fishing colorway (aqua with black speckle), and there’s one black dot that’s a little smudged. Otherwise, I’d be convinced that they sent me a new one by accident. lol.
So if you ever see me selling a Night Fishing Igloo on the forum as new, just know that I’m lying to you. Mwuahahaha.
…of course this is joke. I would never sell my Igloo.
Well, if the CLYW is bought directly from them it’s stated on the site that the pickaxe is a “b grade” or defective product. The only time you may run into trouble is if you bought it second hand and the seller didn’t specify what the pickaxe meant. There really isn’t a solution to this as it’s always gonna be on the seller to disclose details. I mean all yoyo manufacturers could stamp “defective” on their products but I don’t think they’d want to do that.
YoYoFactory has a very much ‘branded’ mark they have always used (and was the first company to brand b-grades as b-grades as far as I can remember).
But honestly it is something they branded as such and have owned that branding - logo, etc. So I’m not sure a uniform mark would make sense across all brands… And not everyone sell’s b-grades (and they all have their own clever names too which is part of the fun!)
