Alibaba and Chinese knockoffs

Some of you may be aware that alibaba.com is getting ready to go public. They're an outlet that puts comoanies (mostly in China) in touch with wholesale buyers. I did a search for tiki mugs and was a bit disturbed by what I found. Anyone who knows what Tiki Shark is fighting with CafePress will understand the struggle these creators face:

An apparent ripoff of Johnathon Chaffin's wonderful Cthulhu mug:
http://m.alibaba.com/product/1667189519/2014_high_quality_wholesale_ceramic_Vintage.html

VanTiki should have a look at this, because I suspect these may be his designs:
http://m.alibaba.com/product/1497642159/Grotesque_christmas_magic_tiki_mug.html

And I hate to be the bearer of more bad news for Brad (Tiki Shark):
http://m.alibaba.com/product/1809731675/Vintage_Tiki_Mug_Ceramic_Mugs_Wholesale.html

Those were just within the first 25 listings or so. I was too upset to dig deeper.

Edit: I did a little more looking and also found designs by both Munktiki and Tiki Farm. :( :( :(
I contacted Chaffin, I'll contact VanTiki and Brad now. Sigh. :(

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-05-06 21:18 ]

Yup, those are designs belonging to whom you think (one of Brad's for Bodyglove!)

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=44350&forum=12&start=0&hilite=tiki%20farm

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=42557&forum=12&hilite=bar

There's a big difference between an individual selling a single copy on eBay and a wholesaler selling hundreds of them at a time for under a dollar each FOB. If the market gets flooded with knockoffs, there's no longer a market for the real thing. Why would anyone pay for one of Tiki Atari's mugs when they can buy it elsewhere for half the price? That's why no one complains when Gecko sells his "tribute" Frankoma War God mugs.

Gecko and Wendy Cevola have Joniece Frank's permission to recreate those mugs.

Here is the original TC post about them working together with the creator of the War God mug.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=25034&forum=12&hilite=Joniece%20Frank

Sorry, didn't mean to give the impression I was against what they were doing. I put the term "tribute" in quotes because a tribute is generally something similar to, but not a replica of. It wasn't a knock against them. They clearly mark the mugs as being by Gecko/Cevola, so it's not like anyone should be fooled. My point was that what they're doing won't affect the price of genuine War Gods, and certainly isn't hurting the artist—unlike the Chinese wholesalers.

So, yes, I'm agreeing with you! :wink: