LEARN ABOUT THE INDUSTRY

Here are some of our thoughts about the lesser aspects of the Adult Toy industry. We passionately believe in creating a juicy oasis of sensibility in a desert of sketchy business practices!

Considering the serious health risks associated with glass dildos and those jelly rubbers, how can sex toy sellers get away with selling them?

Ever noticed the “Novelty Purposes Only” labels on these toys? They’re not selling you a sex toy; they’re selling you a novelty item. The fact that the item isn’t suitable for sexual use is irrelevant to your legal rights as a consumer. The use of a “novelty purposes only” designation excuses away poor quality sex toys. ). Read more here. <link to blog post>

Where Are the Sales and Bargain Pricing? Other sex shops have everything priced under $100, and tons of stuff under $20, where are your bargains?

Our bargains are in the details: top quality, best-in-industry warranty support, and every design detail vetted for suitability of purpose. We have tremendously strict buying policies that restrain us from offering you cheap tricks, bargain trinkets, and “wholesale” pricing. Not stocking outside of quality, high-end goods means we can’t subsidize our topnotch products with sales and deep discounts.

This problem in the XXX sex toy industry is related to a unique situation in the underlying pricing margins – in layman terms, the difference between the manufacture price and the ticket price. Unlike most consumer goods, in the sex toy industry you can pay a whole lot for something that is terrible and you can pay what seems like very little for something that still costs the retailer far, far, less than the norm. From entry level pricing to top dollar, you can’t equate quality with price.

Perhaps this missive on what happens with price from factory floor to XXX shop door will better explain what we’re trying to convey …<LINK TO BLOG POST>

Buyer Beware !

Not to fear-monger, but to bring awareness: The following is a short list of some of the objectionable merchandise, gimmicks, and trickery that far too often have run rampant in the sex toy industry. Buyer Beware is a collection of our “caveat emptors” regarding sex toy industry products we get asked about, but can’t recommend.

Gimmicks:

  • Self Lubricating Vibes. Limited lube choices, overpriced disposable cartridges. The Keurig of vibrators.

 

Pathologization:

  • “Tighten up” gels and creams like “Liquid Virgin” – There are no quick fixes for pelvic floor strength – just like all the other muscles in your body, you’ll have to do your kegels and squats. There is no magic pill or potion.
  • “Viacreme” and other “Female Viagra” arousal gels. There are none on the market that have been clinically proven. At best, you’ll get a gently mentholated vulva. At worst, you’ll be disappointed, and out of pocket.
  • “Desensitizing” lubes. Topical anesthetics have their place; we just don’t believe that that place is up your butt. Pain is a very valuable signpost on the road to anal pleasure. It indicates many things, the most important of which is that your body may not be ready for whatever is going on. It doesn’t hurt if you’re doing it right. We find it ironic that those companies who promote the misconception that anal sex is painful by *selling* this product are also the ones profiting “up the yin-yang” on substandard anal toys.

 

Unsuitable Design:

  • The Cone – Giant, loud, and shaped like a cross between a traffic cone and a 7″ record.
  • “Remote Control” Vibes that … don’t! Watch this category that don’t control anything! So far we have found only one remote control vibe that really works as advertised (The We-Vibe 4). Even some high-end brands have put out some “wishful thinking” products in this category. After all what good is a garage door opener that only works if you get out of the car and stand next to the garage door and point it at the sweet spot? Not much good at all.
  • Elastic Sex Slings: The whole point of the well-designed nylon or leather sex slings is to provide a weightless, but controlled suspension for sex. Bungees bounce. Everywhere. At random. Did you know that it is possible to break your penis? Well you can.
  • Anal Plugs with no base, or removable bases. Unlike the vagina, things can get lost in the rectum and the colon. Selling an anal toy without a proper base is like selling a car without seatbelts. Eventually, someone is going to wind up in the emergency room.
  • Disposable Vibrating Rings: Again – poor quality landfill.
  • Knockoff designs: Beware the myriad of knockoff products that look like the high quality versions but don’t perform like them! All the best manufacturers like Fun Factory, Lelo, Vibratex, and Hitachi have their imitators. We don’t carry them, but it does answer the question: “Hey, how come I saw something just like this for half the price across town?” Let’s call it the fake Rolex syndrome. When it comes to quality manufacturing, you do get what you pay for.

 

Unsuitable Materials:

  • Hard plastic. OK, we still carry one or two “iconic” toys for those hard-core retro cylindrical vibe fans, but by and large the industry has come so far that there is no need to endure the hard-to-clean, noisy, inflexible plastic vibe any longer!
  • Jelly Anything: Clammy, porous, impossible to clean, leaches toxic phthalates, and has a tendency to melt when placed next to other types of toys. The only reason this stuff is still on the market is that our industry is unregulated. Pardon us for shouting, but STAY AWAY from JELLY
  • Cyberskin or UR3 (aka Supersoft, Futurotic, SoftSkin, SoftTouch and RealSkin): See “Jelly” except add: Needs to be specially cared for and dusted with cornstarch or (dangerously) with talcum powder.
  • Silicone Imposters: Beware pseudo-copyright terms such as “silicone-like”, “organo-silicone” and “Siligel”. One would think that such terms mean that the product is made of silicone. Sadly, it means the exact opposite. To protect yourself from these scams, remember that the only acceptable generic description of “silicone” is “silicone”.
  • “Hygienically Superior” and other misleading labelling. Listen, if a manufacturer is on the up and up, they will label their products truthfully. “Hygienically superior” means nothing. “Hypoallergenic”, on the other hand, is very clear and warrantable!
  • Nonoxonyl-9: This is old news by now but it bears repeating: Nonoxonyl-9 (once sold in Canada as a spermicide) is a powerful detergent that has been shown to cause microabrasions that actually increase the risk of contracting STI’s. There is currently no Health Canada approved spermicide.
  • Glass: We’ve learned from speaking to glass artists that glass is a strange creature. It is very tough stuff, but it can also break in unexpected ways. Glass art sitting protected in museum displays for decades has been known to shatter for no apparent reason other than all glass has a tensile point where it may shatter at some time. That’s an accepted risk when the use of the glass object poses no real threat of physical harm (i.e. a flower vase) and an unacceptable risk when the use of the glass object might be substantially more intimate.