UK World Tour - April 6th Release

The UK Trollbeads distributor has finally posted on Facebook that the big release day for the UK World Tour beads will be April 6th. As a bonus, they are posting a "polaroid" picture that will give a clue as to what the beads may be on their website for each day of the countdown. Follow the links to see for yourself by clicking the picture link above, or the ones below.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyTrollbeads?ref=ts

On the web: http://www.trollbeads.co.uk/

April 2011

April will be busy - if the rumours are all true. The UK World Tour beads are set to be released. No official release date or sneak peeks of the beads have leaked out yet. Speculation is thick though that the April date may tie into a Royal Wedding bead??? The jury is out on this one, as I'd imagine that the bead designs & production would have been completed long before the engagement was announced. But stranger things have happened.

Strange, like the Europe OOAK mystery, for example. After the recent price increase the OOAK glass price when up to 39Euro from 28. Then, back down to 28. Now the 2010 OOAKs are to be 28, but the "new" 2011 OOAKs will be 39. But, so far the "new" OOAKs have not appeared to be any different than the old. And then someone threw the idea in that the new OOAKS would have "universal" size cores, larger to fit other brands. So now we don't know just what the heck is going on. Will there really be "new" OOAKs so different & wonderful that we won't mind the 39 Euro price? Or will it just be more of the same? Will they all have larger core size? Gaaa! I'm going to leave this one alone for now. I'll believe it when I see it.

However the US now has access to the same beautiful OOAKs from TB Denmark that Europe has traditionally had. Which should mean more stable prices & more desirable beads. I don't know about you, but if any more uglies turn up the message really has to be sent to TB HQ to make the types & colors of beads the customers love & will buy instead of forcing the customers to collectively pay for unsold ones. Why punish the collectors? Nuff said on that topic.

Final tidbit - I have heard whispers that the People's Bead contest will begin in April of this year. I would look forwards to this change in the hopes that it would bring forth a different season of bead ideas and less of the "holiday season - winter - frigid cold" types of entries.

Oh, and later this year Trollbeads has their 35th Anniversary. In November 2006 they released the Anniversary Bracelet to celebrate 30 years of Troll. Let's hope they may have a little treat for us to celebrate this new milestone!!!

Rebuttal on OOAK pricing

A rebuttal, of sorts, was posted regarding my opinions on pricing of OOAK beads in the US. Here is the link for the curious. Everyone is free to post comments on here too using the comment link. I welcome open discussion & debate, as my uncensored title indicates.

http://blog.trollbeadsgallery.com/

I still stand by my opinion on pricing. The majority of sellers in Germany, Denmark, UK, and Netherlands maintain the suggested retail pricing of OOAKs irregardless of perceived beauty and they have sold OOAKs for many years and continue to do so, online & in store. If they can manage it, then others can too. Indeed I myself have about 125 OOAK beads purchased from overseas at regular Glass 1 pricing in their respective countries, and many of them are very desirable colors & patterns, dillos, scales, waves etc. I have none of the "old style uglies". So it is very possible for the average collector to obtain them without paying a premium.

Cheers!

Pigs Do Fly

After a successful appeal by collectors to Trollbeads through Facebook and other social media, it seems the distributor in German has listened to the people and the price of the OOAK glass have been reduced from 39 Euro back to 28! At least for now, not sure if this is permanent.

We are just waiting to see if the UK will follow suit and change the price back from the new 35 GPB back to 26 - which is standard Glass 1 pricing.

Japan

It's been hard to write anything about beads when my mind has been preoccupied with the gravity of the situation in Japan. Art & culture are sobered by these events, the very events that define a culture & how they respond to the world around them.

So I'd like to applaud Fable Trading, distributor of Trollbeads in the UK, for stepping forwards and making a donation to the Japanese relief through each sale of the recently released Kimono beads. https://www.facebook.com/notes/my-trollbeads/kimono-beads-to-support-victims-of-japanese-tsunami/205291846148880

A quote from their post: "...a donation of 50p from the sale of each ... Kimono bead will be made towards helping victims of the Japanese disaster." Donations will be made retroactively as well for the Kimono beads that have already been sold. Thank you Fable, let us hope that other distributors can step forwards and show their support as well.

A few other notes for this week: Rumor has it that there will be a price decrease in Canada on the glass beads to bring them closer in line to the US pricing. This change has come about most likely from the elimination of the middleman distributor system that Trendy Group & Lund Trading had in the past. The new distributor, Allura IBB, has been announced on Trollbeads.com and hails from Vancouver. They have a long history of distributing to the Canadian market and we hope to see some positive changes.

OOAKs have increased from 28 Euro to 39 Euro overseas. So if you see any at the old price that you love you had better get them now. There is also talk of preventing Europe from selling OOAK beads to the North American market. I think this would be a bad move for the simple reason that the logistics & shopping habits of collectors in North America are much different than overseas. The US and Canada are huge countries where many collectors rely on the internet to purchase beads. Geographically people may not have a dealer within driving distance at all. If the online market is controlled it opens up the opportunity for US dealer websites to abuse the prices putting them at a premium or for the ebay speculators to buy from European shops at regular price and then auction them on ebay for retarded prices. (Excuse my politically incorrect wording.)

Now I can guess WHICH U.S. dealers are probably lobbying for this. So can you if you do online shopping in the States. Several online dealers have had a history of jacking OOAK prices to unfair amounts. But if they'd just provide the beads & price them fairly the U.S collectors will come into the local shops. So I'm hoping this is just their talk and that TB New Jersey has the foresight to keep a free flow of beads worldwide. This is the global fun of collecting. A free exchange of beads worldwide.

Where to Buy Your S. Africa World Tour Beads

Are you all hyperventilating over the Kimono beads??? Only a few hours left until their official unveiling! A few trollies on the Forums have already been able to see the beads IRL. That is what happens when you grab your local shop person by the collar and scream, "I can't take it any more! SHOW ME THE BEADS!!!"

In the meantime I am going to share with you a shop in South Africa that is willing to sell the South Africa Tour beads individually and is accepting payments by our every-trusty PayPal. You have your choice of shipment options and are provided with a tracking number.

Alexandra @ preciousmetalsmith@yahoo.com

Tarquin Precious Metalsmiths
http://www.preciousmetalsmiths.com/

I have checked on the South African distributor's website and verified that they are an authorized dealer in the Kwa-Zulu Natal region. (You have to click on the region to see the anuthorized shops.)

http://www.trollbeadsza.co.za/RetailersPage.aspx?pid=4

Please account for the time difference when emailing, it may take a day or so for them to reply but I found them to be courteous & efficient. :) Happy shopping!

New OOAK beads on D4E

www.diamonds4ever.dk has just uploaded a plethora of colorful unique glass beads. Lots there so take a peek to see if there are any color "holes" in your glass collection that might be filled.

http://www.diamonds4ever.dk/system/applications/products_new.php