GK World ads at QCDN

S

Sculli

Guest
As you may have noticed, the GameFly ads have been replaced with GK World ones. If those of you who know about that kind of stuff (anime, posters, soundtracks, console games, etc.) could have a look at their site and provide some feedback as to whether GK World is a reasonably good deal or whether their prices are no good. Thanks.
 
Skimmed through it, and there is really nice stuff on there at very reasonable prices, especially considering that some of that stuff isn't easily found anywhere I've ever looked in stores for some of it.

Come to think of it, I didn't know half of these items existed, gonna have to blow a paycheck or two there XD

Edit: Had to point out a couple of those items I didn't know existed ^^
Army of Darkness engraved lighter!

Engraved Moogle lighter!

now those are two lighters I'd be glad to show off on my smoke breaks at work :P
 
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Gatttsu said:
Come to think of it, I didn't know half of these items existed, gonna have to blow a paycheck or two there XD
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Glad to hear it. I wasn't sure whether this was a good move to make, I wouldn't want to place ads that sucker people into some bullshit.
 
I was pleasantly surprised at the change in ads as well. I'm always looking for FF import memorabilia - got stuffed cactuars, pins, posters, etc. If I can help the site by buying the stuff, I'll have to give the ad a click. I'm not sure what it has, but it could be cool.
 
Army of Darkness! <3

Haha, I tried clicking a couple of those adds, then they just went blank and didnt do anything. =(
 
I hate you Sculli, my next few paychecks are going to be nil because of you!!
 
GK World sells "bootleg" stuff imported from China/Taiwan. I remember one of my Final Fantasy soundtracks that I brought from there (via eBay) has the "Everanime" logo on it (well known bootleg brand) a while ago. Although I'm not sure if the company still exists or whether or not the company name has changed, NO CDs are this cheap. An official imported CD from Japan could cost as much as $50~70. Whether or not people here want to support "bootleg" stuff is entirely up to them, although if there's one thing, is that you don't really notice a quality difference, BUT, from my experience DVDs could skip in some cases, really depends on luck whether you get a good batch of CDs or not. From my experience CDs have never skipped on me.

Sure, the prices are good. But the CDs NEVER look as good as the original. However, they appear to copy all the artwork and stuff you get in the original Japanese CD over, so it's kinda like a bonus. But the CD artwork will always look terrible.
 
Some of the stuff is real (its hard to bootleg Posters/figures) but the CDs are all fake. I bought some of those CDs directly from stores in Japan, and thier shelf price is way above that. So if they are, i have no idea how they obtained them.

But much of the collectable things are genuine.
 
I fixed the ads so that they now open into a new page.
QCDN will receive 10% of your purchase total, no cash for clicks.

Re: Bootleg
GK is a U.S. based company that has been doing business on the Internet since 99. If they were selling illegal copies the FIBI would have knocked their door in by now. Perhaps the CDs are re-imports. I have seen that with PC games quite a bit. Lots of games are much cheaper South East Asia, actual legit retail copies. Then people re-import them to the US, pay customs fees, and still come out ahead.
 
Sculli said:
Re: Bootleg
GK is a U.S. based company that has been doing business on the Internet since 99. If they were selling illegal copies the FIBI would have knocked their door in by now. Perhaps the CDs are re-imports. I have seen that with PC games quite a bit. Lots of games are much cheaper South East Asia, actual legit retail copies. Then people re-import them to the US, pay customs fees, and still come out ahead.
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It's not quite that easy. Just because they're based in the US, selling this stuff, and the FBI hasn't hassled them doesn't make their stuff legit. Stuff like Ever Anime CDs, SM Records CDs, Smile Face, Alion, all that crap is unlicensed. There are some good resources for learning more about what's on the level and what isn't.

http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html

http://members.iimetro.com.au/~mwhitley/bootlegfaq.htm

Looking over this GKWorld's site, I'm seeing bootleg CDs, bootleg DVDs, bootleg posters, and I'm guessing there's a lot more that's not legit that I'm not seeing because I don't plan to spend the rest of my day looking for it. What I'm not seeing, either, is any legit stuff in with the bootlegs.

It's possible to get less expensive, legit SE Asian versions of some things. Places like http://www.yesasia.com will show you what I'm talking about. I've bought some Korean versions of Fantastic Plastic Machine albums there, for example, but the price break was only maybe $5 to $10, tops. CDs in Japan are typically $25 to $35 each, not like in the US.

Some immediate red flags:

- CDs for $10 or less
- DVDs of 26 episodes of a TV series for $50 or less
- "All Region" or "Region-free" discs
- Chinese subtitles

Those aren't absolute rules, but when nearly everything in their catalogue falls into those categories, you can be pretty sure.

Sorry, man, but these guys are just plain ripping people off. With the wholesale price on bootleg CDs, they could sell those things for $2 per disc and still make a profit.
 
Sculli said:
I fixed the ads so that they now open into a new page.
QCDN will receive 10% of your purchase total, no cash for clicks.
Click to expand...

If you are looking to go more of the pay for referral route I know Chris Beveridge's site www.Animeondvd.com has a similar system set up with his sponsors. Here are some other companies with great anime stuff you might want to contact for additional revenue through the same method:

www.rightstuf.com
www.bestprices.com
www.dvdempire.com

It has been a couple years since I have been a regular there but when the site was smaller and just starting to grow I remember Chris mentioning how the click through to buy stuff worked and sounds like exactly what you have set up.
 
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Arturus thanks for the suggestions, I will definitely follow up on them.
The GKWorld ads only show up when Google AdSense can't figure out what to display in that spot. There are really no reputable advertisers who would want to run a pay-per-click campagin on QCDN as Google AdSense replacement only.

Filling that spot with ads that work on a percentage-of-final-sale basis is the best workable option at this time.
 
tauromachine said:
Sorry, man, but these guys are just plain ripping people off. With the wholesale price on bootleg CDs, they could sell those things for $2 per disc and still make a profit.
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That's true for big labels too though, it's not like Sony wouldn't make profit selling you a CD for $2, and I don't see anyone calling them out. Not trying to stick up for GKW, just saying that one should apply one principle to all or none.

I'll think about what to do, this is an unforeseen development, GKW came highly recommended and I am surprised that the person I received the recommendation from would have recommended it if there was something not legit about it.

I am curious how this works from a legal perspective though. It is my understanding that GKW is a big name in the business. If they were engaging in illegal activity, someone would have pointed that out to authorities over the years, we are talking 7 years in online business.
 
What they said.

I've only cruised 2 categories and seen something like $200 in crap i want.
 
Sculli said:
That's true for big labels too though, it's not like Sony wouldn't make profit selling you a CD for $2, and I don't see anyone calling them out. Not trying to stick up for GKW, just saying that one should apply one principle to all or none.
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True that, but by the time they get to stores, the prices are higher, if I'm not mistaken. Granted, I'm a scientician and not in business, so I just hear second- and third-hand about what wholesale prices are for stores.

I also find the prices of CDs in stores to be too high and expect that has more to do with the decline in sales in that market, but that's an entirely different discussion.

The problem is that CD bootlegging is often tied to organized crime efforts in places like HK, Russia, and Ukraine. There's little difference between organized crime and multinational corporate business, I'll admit, but there's usually some measure of oversight and responsibility on the part of the corporations.
 
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