Just got word that Pete is closing his wholesale Magic Fuzzle (Magic Worm) operation.

That's a shame, as he always provided fast and reliable service, and a nice product that was well packaged. He also put out a great training video that demoed all the moves and bits of business that really sold the worms. He recommends that folks now use Carl Zealer and his Squirmles, which are also very good. SETH

Seth:

Doesn't surprise me a bit. They are hard to pitch! After having most of the marks come back to me to put strings on their worms they just bought from me, I DONATED the rest of my stock away to a Sunday school for their picnic, and ordered SQUIRMLES from Carl. Pre strung worms is the ONLY way to go for me. LESS HASSLE ALL AROUND


SQUIRMLES ALL THE WAY!

ROD

I have to agree with Rod.

They product was not of the greatest quality. Not pretied. Poor instructions. I have had a lot of the noses on them break. The noses were just too stiff.

Squirmles are much better for the price. However, I will be ordering my next batch from china. Even better pricing. I could sell them for a dollar and still profit.

Matthew:

You are right on! They had crappy instructions too. Let us know how the China models do you are getting. Sounds like the wholesale price on those are fantastic. Are they pre strung?

ROD

I got a sample batch from China to see what they are like from here http://tinyurl.com/sildyz

They are branded as Slidyz - my kids say the package looks friendlier than squirmles (because the worm is happier looking)
The cardboard packaging is flimsy
The worm was exactly like a squirmle - EXACTLY
They came pre-tied exactly like the squirmle
Took 7 days for them to arrive from china (with the expensive shipping option)
They are priced about .63 cents each
A lot of 200 cost 126.32 with free shipping
They come in purple - I've never seen a purple squirmle
On the back of the package in very small letters it says something about a string
They do not ship with IT for demoing like squirmles (i got a small supply with my first case of squirmles)
The little Santa on the front is creepy looking
Customer service is nothing like NOW-stalgic toys |Carl and his crew are AWESOME...and speak english

So in the long run I'm not sure if the trade off is worth the .36 cents you're saving by getting them from China. If you were ever in a hurry there would be no way to get them as fast as you can from Carl. I'll continue to get mine from Carl and the crew.

Matt can you PM me with your silly bandz supplier? thanks in advance

./sam

The ones I am going to get from china are branded as 'Magic Worm'. The packaging is similar to Squirmles. I will try one order of them and see if I like them.

I am sending you a PM now.

The worms are just as good as Squirmles. the only down fall is the thread is white and not black. the packaging is good. you get 6 colors instead of 5. I have been selling for about a month now and have not had a problem.

p.s. I tried 6 times to get intouch with Carl to place order, emailes and called with no luck and no call back. Need product and is much cheaper. I received them in 4 days after placing order. Have dealt with company before and rapid shipper.

Anyone interested in something diff. great moneymaker for pitching at nite and inside pm me. I have been selling a lot of them.

Although it's now academic with the demise of Magic Fuzzles, I thought they were superior to Squirmles in one important respect -- they looked and handled better. They were softer and more flexible, and really wrapped around your hand and fingers. The Squirmles are a little too stiff for my taste, and don't follow the curve of your hands as well. As a result, they often look like they are being dragged around by something (which of course they are, but it's not supposed to be evident!)

The Squirmles have neater wiggly eyes, a darker gimmick, very good packaging, and came pretied. But they didn't demo as well as the Fuzzles, so I stuck with the Fuzzles after selling plenty of both kinds. SETH

Just came accross this site. Same fuzzle diff site and name.
http://www.magicwormtoy.com/flash/

It's the same video demo, and the same info reworked from the original Magic Fuzzle site.

But there's no price info and no address or phone number. What's the story? SETH

I have had issues dealing with Carl as well, Chef, I would rather not do business with him.

I found the following website after some digging around: http://www.pockettoyz.com/home.html.

Based upon the video, the worm appears to be the same construction as a Magic Fuzzle (which is a little different and more flexible than a Squirmle). I couldn't tell if the eyes are paper or plastic. The packaging is pretty flashy, no word on what the instructions look like. I also wasn't able to determine what sort of gimmick is used, and whether it is pre-tied.

It's also unclear exactly what the minimum order is, or what the wholesale price is (it's not clear if they are retailing or wholesaling them for $2 apiece). A 300-piece minimum wouldn't be too bad if the wholesale price is right. I also wouldn't mind investing $5-10 on a few samples to make sure they were exactly what I wanted, before buying 300 of them.

PLEASE NOTE: I have never done business with this company and have never seen a sample, so I can't vouch for the quality of the worm or the service of the company. Just trying to locate an alternate U.S. source of supply without going directly to a manufacturer in China. SETH

Angela from pockettoyz.com has a nice packaged worm. Will sell for $1.00 a piece. Email her at awint@pockettoyz.com.
I just noticed Seth already posted this. Disregard.

There promo video I think is very bad. It shows the boy pulling the string and the worm doesn't flow easy, it looks like the worm is being pulled. Just my personal thoughts. The packaging is fantastic though.

Rick -- Have you seen the PocketToyz worm, and if so, what can you tell us about it? SETH

Not yet. Just viewed from the website. The packaging looks good enough. Angela is so nice to deal with. I only just placed an order for a gross from her. She said a lot of demonstrators are contacting her now. I want to offer a superior product but like someone posted previously in regards to inferior Svengalis, "they're for pitching not for using."

Rick -- I tried to email her at the address you gave, and it got bounced right back as undeliverable.

Just sent another email using the contact space on the website instead; we'll see if that one gets through. Maybe I'll have to make an old-fashioned phone call?

BTW, I agree that if I can't demo something sucessfully because it's junk, I won't sell it. I do a fair amount of repeat shows, and I can't sell something that self-destructs in five minutes. Like the FunTime worms from India and the "1847" Svengali Decks from China -- total crap!

While the deck and the worm aren't indestructable, they should last at least a while with a little bit of care. I know Don's motto is that "It only needs to last until the parking lot," but I'll settle for 10-15 days after purchase, which isn't unreasonable for a $5 magic trick.

I may sell slum magic, but I have my pride! SETH

I take it back, I just realized I had a typo in the email address. I resent it, we'll see what happens. SETH

Hahahahaha....Seth what I say and what I do are two different things.(that is a funny line don't you think)

Don

If you click on the Slidyz link, you find that someone else seems to be selling the same thing for $52.63 + $37.60 (China Air Parcel Post) = US $90.23 for 200 of them. Which, as you can figure, is less than $0.50 ea. I'm truly tempted to bet 90 bux to see.

At one point, years ago, I located the guy in Taiwan who made 'em for Pete--same package. He wanted only $0.25 ea, not sure of quantity. I gave that info to a couple of guys who were selling worms at the time. Of course, that was probably 5 years ago, even before I started Svengali cards. I'm gonna attempt to locate him again. If I find him, I'll post that fact here. Then you can PM me for the info. IF I find it.

Jon