# How the heck do you go about making 20k tbt? And why are collectibles so expensive???



## xSuperMario64x (May 7, 2017)

Okay, so I noticed that some of the collectibles on here are like crazy expensive  which is also crazy ridiculous  and I was wondering how someone goes about making enough tbt to even get them??

I mean, it can't possibly be selling stuff unless they sell them for OUTRAGEOUS prices. Or maybe they just spend every waking hour selling stuff for TBT in ACNL.

And why are collectibles so EXPENSIVE? I mean, come on, 19,000 TBT for a POKEBALL??? Are you kidding me???

Is there no one else out there as baffled as I am??


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## Bowie (May 7, 2017)

The richest people I've met here got their TBT Bells from selling graphics, though that isn't really popular anymore. Artists still have a good shot at it, though.

I have so much just because I hardly ever buy anything.


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## PizzaTotinoBoy (May 7, 2017)

xSuperMario64x said:


> Okay, so I noticed that some of the collectibles on here are like crazy expensive  which is also crazy ridiculous  and I was wondering how someone goes about making enough tbt to even get them??
> 
> I mean, it can't possibly be selling stuff unless they sell them for OUTRAGEOUS prices. Or maybe they just spend every waking hour selling stuff for TBT in ACNL.
> 
> ...



Just as baffled as you are that people would waste so much on a jpeg of a feather instead of getting something useful like shiny pokemon.


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## Bowie (May 7, 2017)

Ash Q. Scrumfleton said:


> Just as baffled as you are that people would waste so much on a jpeg of a feather instead of getting something useful like shiny pokemon.



In fairness, you could argue that either one would be completely useless. A shiny Pok?mon is just a 3D model in a video game.


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## xSuperMario64x (May 7, 2017)

Bowie said:


> In fairness, you could argue that either one would be completely useless. A shiny Pok?mon is just a 3D model in a video game.



But it in a sense is still more useful than a 20x20 JEPG image below your avatar.


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## PizzaTotinoBoy (May 7, 2017)

Bowie said:


> In fairness, you could argue that either one would be completely useless. A shiny Pok?mon is just a 3D model in a video game.



Well, yeah, but in comparison at least a shiny Pokemon does something in a game and has more interactivity. I mean hey, if the shiny is competitive you could win a tournament and get something out of it. But hey thats just me. Who knows someone may value tiny jpegs unlike me or something.


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## Bowie (May 7, 2017)

Ash Q. Scrumfleton said:


> Well, yeah, but in comparison at least a shiny Pokemon does something in a game and has more interactivity. I mean hey, if the shiny is competitive you could win a tournament and get something out of it. But hey thats just me. Who knows someone may value tiny jpegs unlike me or something.



Certain collectibles mean a lot to me. My trophy collectible is like a big slap in the face to all the folks here who got salty at me for pounding them in _Smash Bros._ as Bayonetta, the Valentine's Roses that show up on Valentine's Day remind me of all my closest friends, and I have a bunch that were randomly gifted to me by generous folks here.

For me it's more about the personal connection than the visuality.


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## PizzaTotinoBoy (May 7, 2017)

Bowie said:


> Certain collectibles mean a lot to me. My trophy collectible is like a big slap in the face to all the folks here who got salty at me for pounding them in _Smash Bros._ as Bayonetta, the Valentine's Roses that show up on Valentine's Day remind me of all my closest friends, and I have a bunch that were randomly gifted to me by generous folks here.
> 
> For me it's more about the personal connection than the visuality.



I see. I guess I just never really had a personal connection to any of them, but I can see that. I dunno though I just dont get working towards 8000 just for an egg with a galaxy pattern if you just wanted one and had no personal  connection.then again people collect everything, including me with stuff like Pokemon cards  so who am I to talk?


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## xSuperMario64x (May 7, 2017)

Bowie said:


> Certain collectibles mean a lot to me. My trophy collectible is like a big slap in the face to all the folks here who got salty at me for pounding them in _Smash Bros._ as Bayonetta, the Valentine's Roses that show up on Valentine's Day remind me of all my closest friends, and I have a bunch that were randomly gifted to me by generous folks here.
> 
> For me it's more about the personal connection than the visuality.



I could see something like that being worth a lot of money. But an egg?


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## PizzaTotinoBoy (May 7, 2017)

xSuperMario64x said:


> I could see something like that being worth a lot of money. But an egg?



Well yeah buying an egg isn't worth the 8000 when you could get something more useful on a game like pokemon or a.c. but earning something without buying it for a better reason can warrant personal connections. Such as my full art lele you've heard so much about. I would not spend hours getting one on fhe ptcgo, I already hate that program but pulling it made it priceless somewhat


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## Duzzel (May 7, 2017)

I was interested in the methods people employ to earn an incredible number of tbt, but the discussion on collectibles is interesting. I do wonder why people are so tied to collectibles but I think people who've been here for a long amount of time are more likely to find value in them. I just think they're neat and are another method of personalization, but I am more likely to spend them on something I can use in other games (igb, pokemon, etc)

I don't think reductionism is really important when discussing a currency developed for a niche forum.

But I'm just the person who wasted all their money on pears, hahah ~


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## PizzaTotinoBoy (May 7, 2017)

Duzzel said:


> I was interested in the methods people employ to earn an incredible number of tbt, but the discussion on collectibles is interesting. I do wonder why people are so tied to collectibles but I think people who've been here for a long amount of time are more likely to find value in them. I just think they're neat and are another method of personalization, but I am more likely to spend them on something I can use in other games (igb, pokemon, etc)
> 
> I don't think reductionism is really important when discussing a currency developed for a niche forum.
> 
> But I'm just the person who wasted all their money on pears, hahah ~



Oh hey I did that too once. And then instantly regretted it realizing I could have gotten a decent amount of shinies with it lol


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## xSuperMario64x (May 7, 2017)

Duzzel said:


> I was interested in the methods people employ to earn an incredible number of tbt, but the discussion on collectibles is interesting. I do wonder why people are so tied to collectibles but I think people who've been here for a long amount of time are more likely to find value in them. I just think they're neat and are another method of personalization, but I am more likely to spend them on something I can use in other games (igb, pokemon, etc)
> 
> I don't think reductionism is really important when discussing a currency developed for a niche forum.
> 
> But I'm just the person who wasted all their money on pears, hahah ~



Yeah, I guess so. 

I still can't grasp how someone thinks an egg could be worth 3,250 tbt. Or how a feather can be worth 23,000 tbt. It just doesn't make any sense.


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## Duzzel (May 7, 2017)

I suppose the pricing is very troublesome. If that's what you were referring to I unfortunately missed it.

You're right about the feathers and eggs. I don't judge people for getting them, but their willingness to fork over that amount of tbt is interesting. Usually prices are determined by supply and demand, but I'm not entirely sure if economic theory is so predictable on an online forum. I can imagine some people go to great lengths do get the rarer collectibles and their value will steadily increase over time. It feels like collectibles themselves are their own currency, but also back tbt, haha. 

I'm still unsure how people come up with the tbt/igb conversion, but apparently there's a rate people can just find somewhere. But I don't think anything that can be used outside the forum has any real influence on tbt or collectible worth. I imagine it's sort of like different countries trying to find ways to discern the value of things between different games, but collectibles aren't concerned at all, only with social standing or personal economic priorities. It would be neat to see what happened with the eggs if there were very few won and compare to a scenario where many people got them. Or if the eggs weren't particularly well-designed...

but again, I don't put much weight on these ramblings.


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## Alolan_Apples (May 7, 2017)

It's actually a supply and demand problem. I know that 20,000 TBT seems pretty excessive, but the price is high for a reason. The collectible is highly rare, either because most users owning some have left or refuse to sell theirs (like the Pokeball), or because the staff didn't stock many (like the black feather). Another reason why is because the currency is high supply. If the combined wealth of the entire site was like in the lower 6-digit numbers (including the TBT shop), Pokeballs would've been as cheap as 2,000 TBT, which is excessively high by those standards.

You should also remember that the TBT Marketplace doesn't work like the shop, at least in pricing. At all conditions, you'll need as many as 20,000 TBT to buy one Pokeball from another member. When they were in stock back in 2013, they were 74 TBT each (yes, the price was that low).

It's true that a lot of the richer members on the site actually sold art and graphics, but there's an increasing trend that they'll ask for real money to draw anything you ask for, which is the only real-money transaction the site will allow. I think they're charging real money because of how TBT Bells got worthless (and because college has become very expensive while it has become an expectation rather than a bonus). So basically, the even richer members got their TBT bells from selling collectibles.


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## LambdaDelta (May 7, 2017)

you've been here far longer than me, why are you of all people questioning this skewed economy


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## xSuperMario64x (May 7, 2017)

It just seems farfetched that something that once costed less than 100 tbt  (which is already a lot of money on here) now costs 19,000 tbt. I just can't seem to grasp that concept. It's like buying a candy bar at the store for $1.00 and when the store stops selling it, it's value goes up to $190.00. It just doesn't seem right.

And it's too bad that there isn't a really good way to make tbt anymore, besides selling your collectibles. Makes it hard for the rest of us, who didn't have the opportunity to make a lot of tbt,  to get the collectibles we want.

Honestly that scenario is giving me serious deja vu...


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## TykiButterfree (May 7, 2017)

It is pretty annoying. I make my tbt by posting on the forum, sometimes selling AC patterns, or selling collectibles. My advice is to buy event collectibles if you can even if you don't want them because then you can sell them later. I don't know how users have thousands of tbt though. I currently have 854, and that is a lot for me.


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## That Marshal Fangirl (May 7, 2017)

As a lover of collectibles, I agree that prices are insane.  The most TBT I've had at one time is about 4,000, and that's only because my extremely generous friend was leaving this forum and said I could have all of his TBT.  Even when I had that much, I gave some away to my close friends.  The TBT quickly drained away when I bought only a couple of collectibles I wanted, like a Peach and a Pink House.  Some of my collectibles I wouldn't even have, like my birthstones, my Popsicle, and my Blue Balloon if members here hadn't given them to me out of the kindness of their hearts.  So I'm forced to just stare in jealousy whenever I see someone with rarities like the glow wands and the feathers, because I know I'll never be able to afford them.


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## Xandra (May 7, 2017)

A normally-valued galaxy egg for about 8,000 TBT would be 1,600,000,000 IGB. (200k IGB = 1 TBT) THAT IS INSANE!


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## That Marshal Fangirl (May 7, 2017)

Can we just point out that you can only have a maximum of 999,999,999 Bells in your bank?


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## Xandra (May 7, 2017)

Multiple towns/characters?


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## That Marshal Fangirl (May 7, 2017)

Yes, but that's like emptying your entire bank account and then taking out half of another character's just for one collectible.


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## Chicha (May 7, 2017)

I would also have to agree the prices on particular collectibles are a little crazy to me. I personally have my spending limit as 10k for a collectible, but even that amount is too much for me to justify it. I got almost all the collectibles I want at this point (maybe another star glow wand).

People have to realize the economy changes. I can barely think of anyone who has more than 15k, let alone 20k. The majority of the richer members are inactive and so those collectibles are hard to come by. I imagine the economy will change again with the fair. I hope the staff brings back the glow wands.

I mostly use tbt to buy art. I gain it by posting, sometimes selling acnl stuff, and occasionally from selling other collectibles. I recommend making a reviewing town thread will easily stack up TBT as long as you go in depth. Everyone wins.


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## UglyMonsterFace (May 7, 2017)

I have a villager shop and a furniture shop for making tbt. I wish I could justify spending it all on a collectible like the galaxy egg or the wands. However, I don't see the point. Sure they look nice, but are they worth hours of my time? Because that's what my tbt is to me. I'd rather spend it on art, which is the main reason why I even want tbt.


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## ZetaFunction (May 7, 2017)

Collectibles on here are just like any collectibles irl; on release, you'll see them at "crazy low" prices, but once the stock is gone or it's retired, its value will skyrocket.  Amiibos are a prime example of this effect.  But in reality, the amount of TBT being generated each day is definitely a LOT lower than it was 2 years ago, what with welcome bells being removed.  There's rumors that's how people made enough to buy some of the more expensive ones awhile back, is by making alts and farming welcome bells.  I think it was around 500-1k bells per person?  But with that not happening anymore, and no abd interest, you _literally_ can't earn that much unless you manage to ****post on here a lot or somehow manage to keep a shop open and active for a few months.  Give it another year, with AC:NL becoming less and less popular and fewer players, the forums will slowly go inactive, and collectibles sales (if they even happen anymore) will be in the lower hundreds/thousands with mass deflation.  SELL EVERYTHING YOU OWN NOW BEFORE IT BECOMES VALUELESS  I mean, I'm seeing more and more trades as I'm collecting data and updating my guide, and less big TBT transactions, but take that with a grain of salt.


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## Twix (May 7, 2017)

I find the majority of the collectible prices ridiculous. I have no clue how some people manage to get over 10,000 bells for certain ones. It takes me at least a week of full activity in my Animal Crossing Item Shop to get even close to 2,000 bells, and I got my most expensive collectible, the Galaxy Egg, from the shop. I really hope prices will either deflate or more TBT will come into play. Hopefully we will even see a collectible restock in the shop in order to bring some of the prices down, because there are plenty of collectibles I really want.


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## Jacob (May 7, 2017)

It was way easier to make 20,000 tbt in 2015, welcome bells, more members, less collectibles and all around more tbt in circulation. Nobody wants to sell their pokeballs because rarity, and when people do want to sell, nobody can afford anymore because things have thinned out once poeple started leaving. 

No one wants to sell pokeballs for 10,000 because they would feel "cheated" out of a possible 20,000. So no one sells, the guide never updates and the prices never drop


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## pandapples (May 7, 2017)

collecting is a hobby for some people, which is why they'd pay higher prices for more rare ones. earning tbt though.. you actually have to work hard for nowadays. making art & graphics, item & villager shops, buying & selling collectibles through events or restocks, and posting. you can't just expect the tbt to be handed to you by doing minimal work for it. 

you can get lucky and have friends gift you some though (thanks ccj for the pokeball<3)


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## Nightmares (May 7, 2017)

Be a good artist or a collectihoe...then you'll get rich

- - - Post Merge - - -



Chicha said:


> I would also have to agree the prices on particular collectibles are a little crazy to me. I personally have my spending limit as 10k for a collectible, but even that amount is too much for me to justify it. I got almost all the collectibles I want at this point (maybe another star glow wand).
> 
> People have to realize the economy changes. I can barely think of anyone who has more than 15k, let alone 20k. The majority of the richer members are inactive and so those collectibles are hard to come by. I imagine the economy will change again with the fair. I hope the staff brings back the glow wands.
> 
> I mostly use tbt to buy art. I gain it by posting, sometimes selling acnl stuff, and occasionally from selling other collectibles. I recommend making a reviewing town thread will easily stack up TBT as long as you go in depth. Everyone wins.



I know someone who has 40k+ LMAOO


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## Cress (May 7, 2017)

Now, yeah there's not very many ways to get TBT other than posting a *lot*, or from selling art or collectibles. But a while back you were able to deposit your bells into a bank to get interest (like in Animal Crossing), but that was removed as it was essentially a method that made the rich much richer and the poor slightly less poor.
I got most of my TBT (I'm guessing around 6k?) when Club Nintendo was shutting down, I had plenty of unused codes since most of the rewards weren't appealing to me, and the other (interesting) rewards were ones I already had.
Plus I just don't spend much, in the last year I think the only things I've bought were a username change and the Mint collectible.

So yeah, there should be more ways to get TBT, even something like the Advent Calendar from the 2016 Holiday season would be nice (not 100 TBT every day you log in though, maybe like 10-20?).


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## xSuperMario64x (May 7, 2017)

Arize said:


> I have a villager shop and a furniture shop for making tbt. I wish I could justify spending it all on a collectible like the galaxy egg or the wands. However, I don't see the point. Sure they look nice, but are they worth hours of my time? Because that's what my tbt is to me. I'd rather spend it on art, which is the main reason why I even want tbt.



I completely agree with this. Why waste hour of your time, getting thousands of tbt, just to get a little egg beneath your avatar?

Like Ash said, you can get shiny pokemon for X/Y/Sun/Moon for WAY cheaper than some of these collectibles go for.


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## Alolan_Apples (May 7, 2017)

xSuperMario64x said:


> I completely agree with this. Why waste hour of your time, getting thousands of tbt, just to get a little egg beneath your avatar?
> 
> Like Ash said, you can get shiny pokemon for X/Y/Sun/Moon for WAY cheaper than some of these collectibles go for.



More than just that, a Pokeball collectible is a couple of pixels that costs a whole lot of TBT, but I got nine pop-up Pokeball toys (including a Master Ball) in my bedroom table that are just cheap to buy anywhere. Which was worth more? The pokeball toys would have to worth more. Plus, if I got a Pokeball collectible, it will not show up in my sidebar, as long as the apples are hogging it.


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## ZetaFunction (May 7, 2017)

Nightmares said:


> Be a good artist or a *collectihoe*...then you'll get rich



TBH this, besides events and restocks, is the only way of ever really achieving your collectible dreams.  Pray your friends have some good ones and sweet talk them, or find someone with one you want and never let them out of your sight.


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## Corrie (May 7, 2017)

Lucanosa said:


> Collectibles on here are just like any collectibles irl; on release, you'll see them at "crazy low" prices, but once the stock is gone or it's retired, its value will skyrocket.  Amiibos are a prime example of this effect.  But in reality, the amount of TBT being generated each day is definitely a LOT lower than it was 2 years ago, what with welcome bells being removed.  There's rumors that's how people made enough to buy some of the more expensive ones awhile back, is by making alts and farming welcome bells.  I think it was around 500-1k bells per person?  But with that not happening anymore, and no abd interest, you _literally_ can't earn that much unless you manage to ****post on here a lot or somehow manage to keep a shop open and active for a few months.  Give it another year, with AC:NL becoming less and less popular and fewer players, the forums will slowly go inactive, and collectibles sales (if they even happen anymore) will be in the lower hundreds/thousands with mass deflation.  SELL EVERYTHING YOU OWN NOW BEFORE IT BECOMES VALUELESS  I mean, I'm seeing more and more trades as I'm collecting data and updating my guide, and less big TBT transactions, but take that with a grain of salt.



You hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned. That is why you see people with the rare collectibles trying to sell them for the old sale prices and being surprised when nobody offers to buy them. The prices will go down, if sellers want to sell the rare collectibles because let's face it, most people here can't afford those prices.


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## PeeBraiin (May 7, 2017)

Corrie said:


> You hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned. That is why you see people with the rare collectibles trying to sell them for the old sale prices and being surprised when nobody offers to buy them. The prices will go down, if sellers want to sell the rare collectibles because let's face it, most people here can't afford those prices.



T H I S and what Luca said. Honestly, I remember when people were making alts to farm welcome tbt, it was about 700 tbt if I remember correctly. I can honestly see this forum becoming inactive if the mods don't do anything to help stimulate the "economy" here. The egg hunt helped but I feel liek they either need to let welcome bells come back or have an easier way to earn tbt. I don't mean like SUPER easy but something so we don't have to earn a 10 page essay in order to earn like 5 or 10 tbt. :/


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## The Pennifer (May 7, 2017)

Lucanosa said:


> TBH this, besides events and restocks, is the only way of ever really achieving your collectible dreams.  Pray your friends have some good ones and sweet talk them, or find someone with one you want and never let them out of your sight.


Or, every once in a rare while, some bonehead (my own term self applied so it's ok) puts a whole set of rare house letters for auction in the tbt marketplace


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## oath2order (May 9, 2017)

Bowie said:


> The richest people I've met here got their TBT Bells from selling graphics, though that isn't really popular anymore. Artists still have a good shot at it, though.
> 
> I have so much just because I hardly ever buy anything.



Wait; graphics are fallen out of vogue? Wow.


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## Tensu (May 9, 2017)

oath2order said:


> Wait; graphics are fallen out of vogue? Wow.



We should really bring graphics back. They're much more impressive than collectibles imo


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## oath2order (May 9, 2017)

Tensu said:


> We should really bring graphics back. They're much more impressive than collectibles imo



RIP WonderK tbh.

I agree, they take more work and skill to make.


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## MorphiGalaxi (May 9, 2017)

Its a secret but if you sell your soul to the bell tree forums it gives you enough tbt to buy all the house collectibles.

Shh dont tell anyone.


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## Corrie (May 9, 2017)

I feel like for whatever reason, it's much harder to earn a handful of TBT at once. Art is basically the only way these days and your art has to be digital chibi style most of the time, in order to gain attention.


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## MorphiGalaxi (May 9, 2017)

Corrie said:


> I feel like for whatever reason, it's much harder to earn a handful of TBT at once. Art is basically the only way these days and your art has to be digital chibi style most of the time, in order to gain attention.



Yeah, I guess.


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## oath2order (May 9, 2017)

Issi said:


> Its a secret but if you sell your soul to the bell tree forums it gives you enough tbt to buy all the house collectibles.
> 
> Shh dont tell anyone.



Can confirm; have them all.



Corrie said:


> I feel like for whatever reason, it's much harder to earn a handful of TBT at once. Art is basically the only way these days and your art has to be digital chibi style most of the time, in order to gain attention.



Do what I do. Just mass-post.


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## Corrie (May 9, 2017)

oath2order said:


> Can confirm; have them all.
> 
> 
> 
> Do what I do. Just mass-post.



You're totally right. That's what I do nowadays to earn TBT tbh.


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## Flare (May 9, 2017)

It's a pain to earn TBT, I sometimes wonder how people earn like a +1000 TBT. D:

I had this curse known as 21 that lingered in my username and I barely earned all of that if it weren't for me having to sell some Pokemon. I got the rest from a user who was kind to give me the remaining, she had a shop. 

Unfortunately, it seems you can't expect to get the Bells without having to do some kind of shop or earn 20+ by typing in 3 paragraphs. D:

Perhaps if there were more events such as that Beach Party event that somehow happened long time ago or maybe if Welcome Bells were returned we wouldn't be having this crisis...


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## Brookie (May 9, 2017)

Looks like we're having...

*The Bell Depression*


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## MorphiGalaxi (May 9, 2017)

brookesierra7 said:


> Looks like we're having...
> 
> *The Bell Depression*


LOL OMG


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## Brookie (May 9, 2017)

Lol, i thought that was a bad joke


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## Senor Mexicano (May 10, 2017)

19ktbt for a Pokeball!!?? I remember buying one from a re-seller in 2013 for exactly 75tbt.


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## King Dorado (May 10, 2017)

Pokebub said:


> 19ktbt for a Pokeball!!?? I remember buying one from a re-seller in 2013 for exactly 75tbt.



prices for the pokeball actually dropped down to 19k...


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## LambdaDelta (May 10, 2017)

Pokebub said:


> 19ktbt for a Pokeball!!?? I remember buying one from a re-seller in 2013 for exactly 75tbt.



good scam, just like tingle would do


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