I agree, no ones trashing anyone, just pointing out some pricing differences. In some cases what is said to be true on quality and some versions having some differences, whether in their sayings, or whether it is animated or not.
I for one have the non animated Hex and it was almost just as expensive as having the animated one. I prefer him non animated.
I also bought a few of the gemmy fortune telling witches last year and have purchased the cauldron witch from last year. I think they were only sold in spencers or through amazon and these are exactly the same as my walmart witch.
I suspect the materials that build them are quite often the same, and if they are skimming costs anywhere, its usually a cosmetic difference. Such as quality of the clothing, how many phrases, and colors on eyes(or anywhere else). I have read some issues with gemmy props in general and I don't think its a reflection on the merchant who sells the product, its well know you can get some bad apples with gemmy products and just hope your lucky enough to get a good working one. I read how someone had an issue with some spirit balls and how one at one merchant had 3 phrases and what looked identical gemmy spirit ball said 5 phrases from a different merchant.
Unless your the buying agent for these stores its near impossible to know what version your buying. I can only hope that we can work together as we have been on the forum and get our comparisons here, whether it be the differences in quality and or price. Walmart I assume is cheaper because they are a much bigger corporation and can do these kind of prices, this is probably as close to what they paid while gaining only a modest profit. Smaller stores, even ones that specialize in these props, would absolutely need to have the markup to make some profit,they just cant sustain it any other way like walmart can.
Another reason Walmart is so cheap is that alot of vendors pay them just ti have their product in their stores, so its little problem if a product doesn't sell or if its sold cheaply. The way they do business is how they pushed the smaller merchants out of business. If the prices were close enough I would definitely buy from a smaller specialty shop, but if its a huge difference, unfortunaly Im going to have to spend more thrifty at walmart. Sad to say they have the best deal right now with no shipping charges. Spirits site has additional shipping on top of shipping unless Im reading my checkout page wrong when price comparing.
That's why I always look around before buying, too. Thanks for posting this.
