Since the launch of the Stikeez promotion by Pick n Pay on 3 August, the craze has swept through the nation with adults and children alike scrambling to collect all 24 characters before the promotion ends on 20 September.
The hunt for these little toys has now moved online with people placing ads either to sell or trade them on Gumtree. At the time of writing there are two ads for people willing to swop/trade their duplicate Stikeez for the missing links in their collections.
While, technically, these little toys don’t cost you anything (you get one free for every R150 that you send at Pick n Pay), there are people selling them on Gumtree for an average price of about R10 per Stikeez, according to Claire Cobbledick, head of Gumtree marketing.
“The average seems to be about R10 per Stikeez, while completed collections are going for about R200. Many more users actually prefer to swop rather than sell,” revealed Cobbledick.
According to Cobbledick the popularity of these characters sees ads being placed on the Gumtree site and removed the same day as people purchase or swop their Stikeez in order to complete their collection.
Saving money and time
Cobbledick revealed that as a mother, she has experienced her children begging to go to Pick n Pay in order to get more Stikeez. However, having to pay R150 to get just one, and not knowing what the character it is until you open it, means that it can cost you a lot of money to get just a few Stikeez..
“Classifieds is a great way to quickly get your hands on that missing Stikeez, without spending the R150 and ending up with duplicates,” said Cobbledick.
She added: “[This] is a great demonstration of how you can use the web safely to network and source exactly what you want for less, rather than trudging to the supermarket every day and increasing your basket size unnecessarily. You can still enjoy the fun of hunting for them online, but it’s much easier on your pocket.”
This is not the first time that people have turned to the classifieds in order to help them build collections. In the 1990s, the Beanie Babies craze was sweeping through the United States, and saw increased activity on eBay, where people bought and sold these toys, with some of the rarer toys going for over R30 000.
However, the question still remains if these little characters are pollutants, gimmicks or worthy collectibles. To read Justmoney’s analysis of these toys, click here.