Well, I have seen some costumes being re-sold for inflated prices before and have spoken out about the advantage being taken of desperate masqueraders, with sellers asking for more than the costume cost if you purchased from the band .
However, THIS advertisement on
Carnival Junction just blows my mind at the outright insanity! I am thinking this must be a joke right?
I HAVE 2 TRIBE COSTUMES FOR CAGED CANARY MALE MEASUREMENTS 32WAIST FEMALE MEASUREMENTS 34b , hips 32 bikini bottom with hot shorts male costume is going for $7000.00tt or $1,112.00us female costume is going for $7,500.00tt or $1,191.00
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52 comments:
That is soooo f*cked up!! I didn't tell you. We were flooded with e-mails yesterday afternoon for the costumes. F l o o d e d! People even tried to sweet talk us.
AT WAT POINT SHOULD THIS PERSON GET A BEATING
alll i can say is if there is someone stupid enough to mak up this price for a COSTUME there will be someone equally stupid enough to pay it! this person didnt hear about the credit crunch??? i could never pay that much for hype!
No way can that be for real. Naaahhhh, no matter how much yuh want a costume should you consider paying that...is not even ah blasted Individual costume!
Please people, do NOT be suckered in to this absurdity. I doh think is hype as such...is people feeling they could ask any price 'cause some a$$ would pay it.
I just saw that ad and I really had to wonder what that person is smoking.
I didn't know Sir Richard Branson wants to play in TRIBE! I guess there is always a Virgin around ;)
Oh Hell to the NOOO>. thats crazy!
those had better be individual costumes. not even frontline could cost that much.
My guess if as good as yours Onika.. Both are regular costumes...
I hope those persons have TLC cards, so TRIBE can put them under review and retract their loyalty benefits.
Also, I am convinced they will feel the effects of karma at some point in the future. You cyah do dem kinda ting to people so, man.
That's not the first one I have seen like that...I am looking for a costume for my husband so I have been browsing regularly...I have had two other ppl try to sell me a male regular costume for $1000 US...these ppl are ridiculous...its not that serious. I sincerely hope no one is stupid enough to pay those prices. I did notice that fineahban put a possible scalper warning on one such costume listed on their site. Kudos to them.
all one has to do is wait till the field gets flooded in February...I know many people who know dayum well they aint goin dis year but still aint sell dey costume yet...I feel come Feb 10 there will be about 500+ costumes for sell there...and then it's a buyer's market...
lmao!!!! this is utterly ridiculous!!! sad that there are asses out there still wiling to take advantage even in this sad climate of an economy. tribe needs to revoke their tlc's and carnivaljunction needs to flag for scalping. then again, there are asses out there willing to pay....
I think some of you all all are Being Ridiculous, I currently Have My MALE Costume Up For $1000 US dollars Not Because Im Trying to Make a Dollar OF My Costume But Quite Frankly I Put My Deposit Down Since THe Band Launch x amount of months ago, Not TO mention I waited 7 hours In line At Cascadia to even get it. So i think i am entitled to Call a Markup For MY TIME AND MONEY Invested. and BTW If I dont GET IT SOLD IM QUITE HAPPY TO REMAIN WITH MY COSTUME AND JUMP UP....I think I am Offering an Opportunity To Someone Who DID NOT HAVE THE TIME AND RESOURCES to Get a Costume. Furthermore i think Anyone who Sells their costume at cost now for what ever reason is foolish Because you DEPOSIT JUMPING UP SINCE JULY. Money That Not Working For YOU. So If you want to LOSE MONEY FOR LOYALTY TO TRIBE You Should Just Forfeit The Deposit.. Tell Meh If I Talk BS.. Anybody?
Oh And One More THING, I also Think Some of the people Who look for costumes on CarnivalJunction and Find a Band ARE ALSO Trying to Take advantage DESPERATE PEOPLE Who CANT PLAY MAS Because of THE "FINANCIAL MELTDOWN" that Came After They Deposited their Money, AND ALso DESPERATE Foreigners who Cant REACH TO TRINIDAD TO PLAY AGAIN. So Take That! all You Who Fell Yuh Better thank Me.. I think They call People like that "vultures" Better a "Scalper" Than A Vulture eh People.
Trinibears>>> STUEPS with a big fing S to u yes....
Aye Aye>>> Thats all? a Steupes..Come on.. That could Only mean You agree with what i saying is True.
Anybody else want to take a Jab?
True Story:
Last year someone sold their cosutme on Carnival Junction for 6000.00TT.
This year same person by some drama did not get into TRIBE and is now looking for a costume....
guess what?
Everyone selling theirs for MORE than the original price ....that person is now bawling!
karma is a bitch!!
I agree with You saucy.
Karma Is a Real Bitch.
but you have to admit, Me selling my costume at a markup has far less Karmatic consequences, than me trying to take a costume for less than it's worth from someone else.
So I put a question to You Saucy? (and the rest)
Would You Sell your costume RIGHT NOW at cost price If something happened to you and you couldn't play mas Next month?
and
Would you prefer to Be a "scalper" Or a "vulture"
If you were selling your costume.
Yes I would Trinibears because I have done it before.
The year I switched sections (2007)I had to sell my Fireman cosutme and I sold it to a young lady for just the deposit I put on it.
Oh and I switched sections the year before that, 2006, (see a trend here) the year TRIBE sold out in two days... I sold my costume then at the price only of the deposit then bought a cosutme from someone who was selling theirs (in another section) and that person sold it to me for the same price she paid for it.. no markup.
It is your costume, you can do with it as you will and if someone is willing to pay the price well what can I say.
Just know though that there are people who do sell their costumes without making a profit.
Ahh But saucy You did Profit somthing In Both those situation..
You got another costume to your satisfaction. So even though you didn't make a Monetary Profit, You got more value for you money with a better costume...
So "satisfaction" Is your Profit. and you didnt LOSE anything in both those situations either..
and we Both know Satisfaction Is "Priceless"
and even if I had kept the original costumes I would have "profited" because I did like my original costume and if I had no choice but to play in it I would have still had an excellent time... it was a win/win situation for me either way really.
Same thing With Me.
If i offer the costume At a Markup and someone buys it = Win For Me! I get $$ + Win For somebody who can afford it.
IF I Keep Costume and jump up = Win For me! I enjoy the Carnival +Lose For Person who didnt get offer the costume.
If I forfeit costume = Deposit Win + $$ profit resell Win For TRIBE + lose for me + win for Vulture..
And You Know How I feel About Vultures :) aka (cobeau)
Interesting discussions between Trinibears & Saucy... but I think some of the other comments were a bit emotional and rediculous.
To ans the question from Trinibears, if I had to sell my costume now, I would do it at what ever price the market would bare. That could be a mark up of 1000% (although I doubt someone will buy), at breakeven or even at a loss.
Everyone seems quick to criticize, and quick to suggest Tribe should take away the persons TLC, what if they didn’t have a TLC, and were one of the few people to get a costume on the day of open registration, what if they had to borrow the money for the down pymt from a credit card at 30%, what if they loss wages going up to Cascadia or where ever the registration was.
I’m also certain that some off you buy and sell stocks, and I’m sure you don’t buy it at one price in the hope of selling it for that same price, and I’m positive that price would not have been what the company sold the stock for.
People please let the free market work, no one has to pay anyone there asking price, you can negotiate, shop around, move to another band. If the man want to sell he costumes for $7,000 and somebody willing to pay let them be.
Now with all that said I would NOT be buying it, but more power to those that put that much value into it. Oh and in 15yrs if Tribe or whoever the band of that time is, is selling there costume for $7,000. I’m sure it would be sold out too. Oh and don’t think I’m ridiculous because in 1995, I remember paying $530 for one of the most expensive sections in Babarossa.
>>>Thanks >>>DSpirit<<<
You have spoken with so Much objectivity ah want tuh cry...
This is CRAZY.
How do you think selling something that is not even in your possession yet fair. You just paid the deposit and you want to mark that up. Come on. I think people who are asking for more then the costume is priced is just being GREEDY. If you have to resort to getting money by spending $250 on a deposit for a costume than marking it up than you need to find another means of an INCOME.
I myself have lost deposits on costumes b/c I changed bands, or could not make Trini but that was my lost. Just as if you put a deposit on anything, if you decide you don't want it you LOSE.
I hope Tribe and other bands are seriously keeping track of these Scalpers.
Trinibears and Spirit... you both need to stop the BS and get real. what you're doing is SCALPING and no matter how you look at it... it's trifling. if you had to borrow the money for the downpayment on your costume... whose fault is that? if you lost wages going up to Cascadia... whose fault is that? you want someone to pay for your choices and that ridiculous. you're proposing that somehow you had to put in "work" to get registered for your costume when in essence... you made the CHOICE of whether or not to go to Cascadia to register. you made the CHOICE of whether or not to stand in line for any length of time to register for your costume. please spare us the "intricate" fluffled up justifications of why you're trying to milk people for money you didn't pay, just admit you're scalping and keep it moving.
Ms Hershey, that is exactly what I talking about. If you have to mark up a deposit for a costume to make some extra money on the side, something is wrong. I know we in a recession but DAMN, find a side job and stop tryna make a quick dollar off of people.
What kills me is that they don't even have the costume in they hand but want to sell you it for a higher price.
Ms Hershey & Highlites, With all due respect I do NOT have a costume to sell/("scalp") and I was registered 2 mins after registration began from the comfort of my office.
The reason I made these points is because I believe we are all entitled to our opinions and to act in what is in our best interest, so again if someone chooses to pay that $7k price for a costume because the experience is worth it to them, what gives you or anyone else the right to call them an "ass" they are paying it because they can afford it. Playing with Tribe or any band is not a necessity. Its not like its food, water, or gas.. As for the your point about CHOICE, you are correct potential buyers have a CHOICE... they can choose not to buy at that price.
And please note an item does not have to be in ones possession to own or have rights to it. I do believe a contract was entered into between the initial buyer and Tribe once money was exchanged.
In that is the case than you should be giving Tribe a piece of your EXTRA earrings you are receiving from Scalping the costume.
People like you take the Spirit out of Carnival.
Highlites fuh real!! If I or anyone sold their costume or contract for a costume why in the world should they give Tribe part of the proceeds. I'm sure Tribe already made their profit. And what if I sold it at a loss by your reasoning I should expect Tribe to compensate me for the difference?? (Not gonna happen)
Anyways no one is taking D'Spirit out of carnival.
Well
First> Mr Highlight and Hershey, You cant Claim People Taking The Spirit out of Carnival By Making A Profit. IF THAT WAS THE Case Costumes Would Be Much Cheaper...CARNIVAL IS A BUSINESS NOT A CHARITY..
Secondly > I NEVER PURCHASED MY COSTUME With the intention To SELL It. BUT IF Somebody Is willing to Pay a Marked up Price I Would HAVE TO BE A STUPID A$$ Not to sell it.
I am Sure Most PEOPLE IN TRIBE OR ANY BAND IF sombody walked Up to Them right now and Say "I Am Willing to Pay $10000 for your costume" They would Sell it...
Thirdly> D SPIRIT IS right! A Costume Is NOT a Necessity. If you cant afford it YUH AINT GO DED..If IT was Flour, Rice or F*ing Oxygen.
It wold be something different.
4thly, Me aint Milking NoBody Me aint Holding a gun and say Buy My Costume.. all I do Is advertise that I am willing to GIVE IT UP For a Stipulated price.
5thly> I NOT TRYING TO JUSTIFY selling My costume at a markup because i went and wait at cascadia.
But then again Why Must i give an easy time to Sombody Who Didnt, Why must give a Bligh to sombody who Procrastinate when time came to Register? IF YUH WANTED TO PLAY SO BADLY YOU shoulda Be there or on yuh Computer Registering then.
6thly> D Spirit made a excellent Point that Just Because You Dont Have somthing in yuh hand that dont mean you can negotiate with it. MY AGREEMENT IS WITH TRIBE.
If I have a Mortgage on a HOuse IT aint Mine till I PAY IT OFF...and I can Negotiate with that AT A HIGHER PRICE even though i aint Finish pay for it ....DUH!!! and If that is the case I NOT GIVING THE BANK MY PROFIT IF I SELL IT FOR MORE...
oh and finally IF YOU DO PAY DOWN ON A COSTUME AND FORFEIT THE DEPOSIT, Either One Of 2 things YUH RICH OR yuh is a D--B F**K .
first off Trinibears... who's talking about forfeiting anything? if you forfeit, that's the only way you're incurring a loss. but you're not talking about forfeiting and neither am i. i'm talking about inflating the price of the item in question when you yourself have only paid the DEPOSIT down for it.
you know what the costume costs and you're presenting the DEPOSIT at a price that is well above what the costume is even going for through the band. you're looking to make a profit when in essence, you haven't done anything to really warrant said profit. you didn't make the costume, you didn't negotiate the price of the materials to make it, etc. why would you think you're "entitled" to a mark-up? that's simple greed. period, no matter how you try to slice it and pretty it up with your "reasoning". it's greed and it's bad enough we have to deal with the greed of some bands, party promoters, etc. during carnival, we know have to deal with the greed of the patrons as well? good lord. *smh*
Ms. Hersheys, come on now, I know your more intelligent that that. It is irrelevant whether the person paid the deposit only or have paid off for there costume in full. There entitlement to mark it up is in the fact that they either own it in full or own the rights to it. Again to use Trinibears e.g. if you bought a house for $200,000, paid down $30,000. Does that mean you can't sell the house the next day for $300,000. Did you build it? Negotiate the price of raw materials?? What the said seller has done to warrant said profit is to purchase it when it was available.
"entitled"
ONe entitled to do any thing to which is yours... It you on the other hand have the other hand have the buying power.
When u go to the supermarket... The prices are marked up.. But you buy it because u want to and because you can afford it...
Thats a stupid statement.
Double sigh to you Ms. Hershey
Sorry Hershey The "forfeiting" Comment was meant For "Highlites"
Because He Quoted
"I myself have lost deposits on costumes b/c I changed bands, or could not make Trini but that was my lost."
Oh And By the way Hershey, to again Backup "D spirits" comment on House building , all property developers Place a markup on their Housing unit BEFORE they Deliver them And The Price Of Similar Units Usually INCREASE Closer to Completion. Can Anyone Say "#1 Woodbrook Place" Basic supply and demand with Benefits to early adopters.
And By the way I think TRIBE might have already considered the SCALPING Thing Seeing THE TLC only Allows For ONE COSTUME...
Its not like I had the ability to buy 100 costumes and force demand for costumes to Sky rocket because i was hoarding..
So In Summary I Have ONE COSTUME, I think if you want it from me You could Pay me MY Price to give it up. or Watch from the sidelines while im Enjoying myself..
Either way Im happy :)
STEEUPPPPPPPSSSSS.... You know half the that sh*t going on in the world today is because people simply refuse to admit their true motivation for doing the crap that they doing. They are always trying to rationalise or justify their actions. Just call a spade a spade nah. Nobody saying that you aren't entitled to be greedy. It's a human affliction. It happens to the best of us. But try yuh best and not cover the stink of it with big words and justifications nah...Cause at the end of the day,(at the most basic level, hifalutin words aside) it is still just whoever being damn SITNK!!!!
>>> Goddess If I was Greedy I would Have registered additional multiple costumes During "Open" Registration. and that would have blocked costumes from getting in the "NON TLC People" hands.
And you're right no one can Justify Marking Up the Price of items.
The Final Truth is I could TAKE DOWN MY AD Keep MY Costume Dont OFFER it To Anyone...
And Still BE happy.
(BTW PEOPLE THE AD THIS THREAD STARTED WITH IS NOT MINE)...
hi guys. quick question for trinibears - did you sell your costumes yet?
>>Nikkia...Nope
>>Nikkia.. After Sleeping It Over Last Night I think I will Retaract My ad, and Not Offer it Anyone.
Isn't this Triniunbearable's first time playing in TRIBE?
>>Afro chic...No it not the first time..
But you have Admit, By me being A bit "unbearable" in this thread, it made a interesting discussion.
aka a "Ah good Bacchanal" fuh the ones who cyar undastand "hifalutin" words.
I like whoever it was said that someone should be compensated if thety put their deposit on a credit card, or took out a loan for it. I completely agree with ms hershey and the rest. If you cannot afford $1000 for a deposit, then you shouldn't be playing mas...at least not in TRIBE or IP or any of the other expensive bands.
The problem is that people like to hand they hat higher than they could reach, and when the crunch come, they expect other people to come and bail them out. Is YOUR fault you didn't plan properly to be able to afford your costume. Why should someone else come in now and pay for your mistakes?
Ok fine, you leave work early and went and stand up in line in Cascadia. Good for you. I stay up late over here to make sure I was online the very same minute registration open and was real tired at work the next day. Does that then entitle me to claim for 'lost productivity' or any other bollocks? No. I have friends who was waiting online to register and had the page crash and what not and they didn't get through in the end. So you cyah say people was lazy.
If I was on TRIBE's committee, I would be making a stand on this and making it very clear that anyone scalping a costume, who holds a TLC card, will have that card revoked.
And I find the buyers themselves stupid. As much as I love TRIBE, it is not the only band out there. Spice has some nice costumes and I see they not fully sold out, so they could be trying there, instead of lining the pockets of a seta wutless people. Steups!
I am surprised no one has mentioned the fact that if there are buyers out there willing to pay "whatever price for TRIBE" that this does not resonate well for other masqueraders when the bandleaders watching and saying "oh ho so allyuh willing to pay 6000.00 for a costume? We jacking up the price MORE for 2010."
Then the SAME people who saying it ok to sell the costume for 6000.00 will be saying TRIBE greedy and evil and wicked to charge 4500.00 for a costume.
I imagine they must be kicking themselves now thinking they price the product too low.. why should the scalpers be getting all the profit and not the band leaders?
You know Saucy, that same thing crossed my mind, but you phrased it a lot better than I was thinking.
Looks like the scalpers will end up shooting us all in the foot...
I done plan on buying a costume next year and selling it at a ridiculous profit. One each in IP and TRIBE.
>>Saucy Good Point..
I agree, Never thought of that.
But dont it go Up yearly anyway?
by i checked the Junction again, and realised is only TRIBE has this problem.
Do you all think is "Elitism", "Hype", "the size limitation of the band, "TLC", contributing to the Blackmarket???
Prices go up yearly,most significantly in 2006.. in 2005 my costume was 1795.00 and in 2006 it went up by $900.00. Since then we masqueraders have been bawling and prices have increased at about $200.00 on average, however this year some prices stayed the same as 2008. So seeing the "hysteria" to get into TRIBE is alive an well my point is what is to stop the bandleader/s from raising prices by $900.00 or more in 2010? On one hand we say prices too high and on another we have people paying DOUBLE the cost of the costume.. insane!
And yes, it is all the hype over TRIBE that has that select corner on the scalping market. I wonder if the girl who bought Silver Mist for 6000.00 and saw the costume she paid for thought it was worth it in the end?
Anyway, for comparison there are several people selling Spice costumes willing to take LESS than what the costume is worth... there is even one person who is selling for 2500.00 flat! (that one was sent via email) So yeah is only the hype surrounding TRIBE that is driving those prices!
I think this has been a very interesting debate, with some good points comming from both sides of the floor. Just to add my 2 cents on the one Saucy made about the Band Leaders ability or desire to jack up the prices. Recall one of my very first points being that about "market" conditions, well I pretty certain the market would not support such a drastic hike increase accross an entire band. Yes there are people with resources that once the band/(party) or what ever show promise then they will pay what ever to get in. But I don't think that they even amount to 5% of potential masqueraders. The owners and managers of Tribe no this, and I'm sure they wittnessed what took place with Island Events in 2005. In 2004 prob had more people than Tribe as part of Poision. They broke away in 2005 as well, but priced there costumes way above market, then had to give away the costumes. As for the additional comment about selling Spice costumes at a loss, well as I said... market, market, market.
mjs bunny,
To respond to your comment about not playing with Tribe or IP if yuh can't afford a $1,000 d/pymt. I think you missed the point and assumed that someone made mistake or planned poorly, that's why they are selling there costume. I'm sure in some instances that may have been the case, but what if someone planned it all from the start???
Anyway one other think that I'm curious about is how does the opposition (those against resale at a premium), feel about recouping say the cost of Senvia (money transfer) in their resale price?
By your arguments I'm assuming you all will reject this notion as well.
Oh BTW, to restate for the record. I DO NOT have any costume to sell. Mine is paid in full and I plan on wearing it on Feb 23rd & 24th.
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