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Frequently Asked Questions

Have a question you want to e-mail me? Have a look at this page to see if your question has already been answered! These are questions that, over time, have been asked the most, so I decided to create this FAQ page and save you 5-10 minutes.

Collection FAQs
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Q: How long have you been collecting?
A: I've been collecting seriously since October of 2010.

Q: Is _________ for sale?
A: I'm sorry, but none of the items displayed in this site are for sale. You are very much free to ask me where I found a certain item as I don't mind helping you in the right direction to getting the item you want, but as far as selling an item I own, I'm afraid not.

Q: Are there any bootlegs displayed in this site?
A: No. Every single item displayed in this site is either a 100% genuine product or a custom I had either specifically commissioned an artist to create or received as a gift from a friend. Now, genuine doesn't mean good-looking and high quality in all cases, but it does mean that these items were officially licensed to certain companies to be created and sold at the stores or venues they were meant for.

Bootlegs, or counterfeit merchandise, can be a licensed item with numerous defects that were meant to be destroyed at the factories they were created at, but sometimes factory rejects can be stolen and sold for a profit, which doesn't benefit the companies that make these items and some of these items have defects to the point where they can be hazardous (needles embedded in plush, toxic paint, etc.). Sometimes figure molds and plush patterns from companies and even certain custom artists are stolen to mass produce items to be sold on eBay for a profit. Sometimes you have an entirely new plush mass produced by a company who doesn't have the license to create these toys. Bootlegs are illegal in every sense of the word, but as far as buying them is concerned, that's a whole nother story that I'm not going to discuss.

I also just want to throw this out there because it's a common misconception that bugs me, but know that it isn't only China that sells bootlegs. They can be found anywhere you buy items from fellow consumers and private businesses (eBay, Yahoo! Japan, etc.). There are quite a few Chinese sellers on eBay who sell authentic items. What I would be wary of is how cheap an item is, especially a rare item sold in mass quantities.

Q: You mentioned you owned bootleg figures. Do you ever plan on displaying them in this site?
A: Short answer: no.
 
Long answer: While it is true I do own a few bootlegged items of my own, I have a self-imposed rule of not displaying any bootlegs on my website. Now, I don't want to get into the discussion of ethics. You may have your opinions of bootlegs and I am not here to change that. It should be known, however, that I do not buy from bootleggers directly. All the bootleg items I own were purchased from second-hand sellers who acknowledged their inauthenticity.

Now, the biggest reason why I don't want to display any bootlegs on this site is because I feel it would be more interesting to show what is authentic. While it would be entertaining to show off some of the crappiest as well as the most well-made bootlegs I own, I'll just leave this site to 100% authentic items and one-of-a-kind custom items I paid someone to make for me.

Q: May I sell you something that you may be interested in?
A: Yes, you may. Please know there are a few requirements I ask for before I exchange money:

1.) I do require pictures of what you want to sell. No stock pictures, please. I want to see photos taken from your camera. Take pictures of any blemishes or damages the item may have.

2.) I need an accurate description of what you are selling. Is the item mint in box/package? Is the item mint but the box damaged? Was the item displayed but looks good as new? Is there any damage to the item? Yes, I do want this in conjuction with photos. Please be as thorough in your description as possible.

3.) I only exchange money through PayPal. No money orders. No concealed cash exchanges. No transfers through Western Union. PayPal only.

4.) I am not going to come up with a price for what you want to sell me. YOU need to come up with the price. If I know the item you are trying to sell and you give a price that is too high and I can get the same item at a better price on eBay, I may haggle with you.

If that is not okay with you, you don't have to sell me anything. If I do not have the money for a rare item you are willing to part with, I will either politely decline your offer or ask for a payment plan.

Q: Do you accept trades?
A: I'm sorry, but as of December 20, 2014, I am no longer accepting trades due to bad experiences. I only trade over the mail with very close friends.

Q: Do you accept freebies? I have an item I no longer want and was wondering if you wanted it.
A: No, I'm afraid not. Unless you are a close friend of mine, there are numerous reasons why I feel this is a bad idea. The thought of accepting freebies from random strangers has always felt unsettling to me.
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I should clarify that my wants list isn't there to say "Hey, care to buy me what I have here?" *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* It's more of a personal reference to what I MYSELF want to buy in the future for my collection. That, or buy something off your hands should you have an item I am after that you want to sell.

Q: There is an item in your collection that I want to know the size of. Could you e-mail me a picture showing a size comparison?
A: It really does depend. Normally, this is not a problem for certain items. However, there are some items that are displayed in a way that would be more trouble than it's worth to do a comparison shot. I will politely decline if that is the case.

Keep in mind, for this, I don't use the professional camera to take reference photos. I use the camera in my phone instead, so the quality will not be nearly as good.

Q: Are you going to collect ________?
A: Whatever I collect is up to me to decide. Every single item I display in this site is here because I want to have them. Well, you wouldn't know that with my Plamo figures and certain Zukans because of how much I complain about them, but despite that, I am happy to have them in my collection. The thing is, there is a hierarchy to how I buy things: absolute favorite characters always come first, and they are usually not the main character of whatever game or anime I am collecting (with one or two exceptions here and there). Second on the list are big name stuff like Tomy figures, Pokémon Center charms, and Zukan figures. They are must haves when it comes to my collection!

Game and anime titles are another thing. Every property you see displayed is from stuff I am a big fan of. I am a fan of a lot of things, but I want to take things slow. I can't collect everything I like. I'd be flat broke if I decided to do that!

​So yeah, I collect what I like. If you don't see what you like here, I'm sorry? Different tastes and all that.

Q: You said you were going to collect _________ in 2015/2016/2017. What is the holdup?
A: As answered above, I collect what I want. There were outright blurts of me mentioning that I did at one time wanted to collect a certain character from whatever game or movie/television program. Sometimes, if I lose interest, I put those items on the backburner and cancel what I intended to collect or put it off until I have the funds and will to collect what I had planned to collect. Again, I cannot collect every single thing out there, which blows, but I have my priorities.

One of the biggies was that I wanted to start a Five Nights at Freddy's collection with the character Bonnie. The problem with that was that the toys were unbelievably overpriced and the merchandise focused more on the flagship character, of course, along with Foxy. I like Foxy, but I like Bonnie more. Also, there is only so much enjoyment I can get out of the games when their concepts aren't anything too special. I enjoyed watching them from people like Markiplier, but I didn't enjoy playing them too much, myself.

Eventually I lost interest and decided it wasn't worth going out of my way to buy something I didn't have my heart set on. I have a few Bonnie toys in my collection, but they aren't displayed on this site because there isn't really any point.

I'll entertain an idea for a new collection and sometimes it takes off, other times it doesn't.


Site FAQs
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Q: May I use a few of your images for my wants list?
A: Feel free to use my images for your wants list if you'd like! Though I have a few rules on using them:
  • Do not hotlink. Save the images onto your own computer and upload them from there.
  • While not mandatory, it would be nice if you could credit me for the use of my images. A link back to this site would also be well appreciated!
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Q: May I use your images for (something else that isn't a wants list)?
A: No. They may only be used for wants lists purposes only.

Q: What made you decide to make a collection site?
A: Back in 2010-2011, when I used to browse Pkmncollectors every single day, I would come across personal web pages of members showcasing what was in their personal collections. Many would post on Pkmncollectors to show new gets, but a good number of them also had personal websites where they catalogued everything they had.

There were three people that inspired me to start my own collection page. Those three people and their sites are Sui Kune with Sacred Field, Pannsie with The Sunny Clearing, and although their website is no longer active, I still credit orangegarchomp as being an inspiration. I would spend hours looking at what they all had to show off, and to say I was captivated would be an understatement. I wanted a website of my own to show off my collection just like them.

In 2013, I made a site called pantherotter's den showing what was only in my Pokémon collection (pantherotter was my old username used between 2008-2014 before I changed to snowlioness87 and ocelotlrama). The name was changed to 87 Toys temporarily as I expanded to showcase more of my collection that wasn't just made up of Pokémon toys, to finally settling at Big Cat Collections in early 2014.

Q Why felines as site mascots?
A: Like big cats in the wild hunting for their favorite prey, I am hunting for my favorite toys. I prowl online on various sites to add items to my collection, and when I see something I like, I pounce. Due to the light-hearted nature of this site, the cats are goofy cartoons who just love to hunt for new toys.

Q: When is picture day?
A: Picture day, as of 2019, will always happen on the last Saturday of February, June, and November of every year.

In 2019, the dates are:
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February 23
- June 29
- November 30

Q: Why do you have a "picture day" instead of updating with photos whenever you get a new item to your collection?
A: There are two big reasons why I do not update the site with photos right away whenever I get new items.

For one thing, the camera that I use to take these pictures does not belong to me. I borrow it from my brother. His camera is fantastic and takes wonderful pictures. It isn't a cheap camera and I haven't purchased one for myself because of how expensive they can run. One of these days I will be investing in a professional camera, hopefully refurbished so I don't have to spend too much on it. I would love to get the same model just so the pictures I take can remain consistent.


The second thing; even if I did have my own camera, picture dates will still be a thing because I also use a backdrop for my images and I have to set it up for each date. It isn't anything fancy as it only consists of a gray blanket you can buy at any Target or Walmart along with anything to hold it in place. However, the backdrop is big and takes a while to set up.
I also do not want to have that thing out all the time. There is no other place I can have this set up other than my room, and since my room is filled to the brim with my collection, I also need a place to walk around and place other items I get in the mail, so yes, the backdrop setup cannot stay up and is stored away until a photo date arrives.

Q: Will you link/affiliate my site.
A: Big Cat Collections does not have affiliates and I do not plan on affiliating in the future. All links in the links page were placed there of my own accord to help with any collection endeavors. I am also not linking to other personal sites at the moment.

One of these days I would love to link to other personal collection sites, but there is a snag. I want to showcase a variety of stuff, but it seems like the only sites dedicated to personal collections are Pokémon related. If I'm going to do this, I want to see more than just Pokémon stuff. More than likely, I will also only be linking to sites that collect the same stuff I collect, so as to not go off-topic (any Pokémon collection site is fine; DC merchandise sites are not since I do not collect DC universe items).

Q: Will you ever include ads or monetize to the site in some way?
A: Short answer: no.

Long answer: this is my hobby, not a job for me. I am grateful to have a job that lets me enjoy my hobby and I am content with that. Sure, I can monetize the site and make money off of it along with my job, but there's a list of reasons why I don't want to do that.
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Does this mean I will never monetize an idea if it becomes big enough? If that were to happen, it wouldn't involve Big Cat Collections. If I were to hit it big on say, FurAffinity, and I made an art website that allowed me to quit my job and make a decent living off of what I produced, then yes, I would take advantage of ads to monetize the site. It has more to do with the subject matter of the sites.

I can produce art and regard it as a commodity, but Big Cat Collections isn't an art site. It's a place where I can showcase what is in my private collection of toys and to monetize that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't make the toys nor am I technically reviewing them.

Also, ads are freaking everywhere. There isn't a place where they don't creep up. At their absolute worst, ads can actually slow down a browser to a screeching hault thanks to malware and AdBlock has to come into play just to alleviate the symptoms. I do not want people to see ads and turn away at the sight of them. I want my site to be one of the few places left where people can venture without having to be bombarded with advertisements.

Q: Your site has cookies enabled. Why is that?
A: Unfortunately, as I use Weebly for site building and since Weebly acts mostly as a web builder for e-commerce sites, cookies are enabled and there is no way for me to disable them. I have no use for cookies. The only thing that I get out of it is knowing what keywords are used to find my site and the numerous pages I have uploaded. Other than that, I do not have access to any other information.

If cookies are an issue, you can clear them from your browser after visiting the site. Again, I do not have access to any sensitive information so you do not have to worry about that if that is what troubles you about cookies.


Q: Why don't you just link your e-mail address? What's up with having it all broken up like that?
A: I learned the hard way that having your e-mail address directly linked onto a website can generate lots and lots of junk mail and spam. To this day I come to an inbox full of spam all because I posted my address on a website without thinking of the consequences. It doesn't even have to be on your own website for this to happen. Having an e-mail address posted wherever web robots are not blocked from entering is a sure fire way of making something like this happen.

To combat this, the address itself is broken up to prevent these robots from reading the address and sending junk mail my way. Only a human can read it and correctly format it to send me a proper e-mail.

​Misc. FAQs
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Q: Who are you, the person behind the site?
A: I am who I am. Just a bundle of atoms in this massive universe.

​If I were to say a little bit about me, besides collecting, I also love to play video games, listen to video game music, watch fun movies, hang out with my friends, and making people laugh. I have two cats that are huge pains in the asses but I absolutely love them with all my heart. I'm also an artist who works as an art teacher along with displaying and selling art at local shows. I'm not out to make it big, I just want to live life. Of course, if anything bigger were to come, I'd take advantage of the moment!


​Q: Why did you name the jaguar "ocelotlrama?" He's not an ocelot!
A: First off, he's a she. All of the cat characters in this site are female. Second, I don't blame you for asking that. She isn't an ocelot, after all.


I guess an explanation is in order for those who are genuinely curious. I first came up with the username before coming up with the character to be what I call my "purr-sona". It is a combination of the words "ocelotl" and the suffix "(o)-rama"; Ocelotl is the Nahuatl word for "jaguar," a language spoken by the ancient Aztecs and other indigenous groups in central Mexico. In English, "ocelot" came to mean the smaller, spotted cat that is not closely related to the jaguar; well, at least in terms of not being in the same subfamily.

Still, I liked the name and decided to use that as my username. Unfortunately, it was taken in a lot of places I liked to frequent and since I will NEVER use my real name online, I decided to go with ocelotlrama (or ocelotlrama jaguar when a last name is needed). I added the rama suffix because it had a nice ring to it. That's pretty much it. The jaguar you see came as a result of the username.

As of January 2016, an actual ocelot character, named Ocelot, has been added to the Big Cat Collection gang! She is the official friendly rival of ocelotlrama.


Q: Do you have a Deviant Art, Furaffinity, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter... (pretty much any account/ social networking site that is not here).
A: I have a Furaffinity. Click here to see it. I have a Facebook that is only available for friends and family to see, so I will not be linking that. I also have a Livejournal but I haven't logged in in ages. If I do log in, I only use it to browse Pkmncollectors. You can find me under the username "snowlioness87" on Livejournal. Another place you can find me is on the Bulbagarden forums.

F
or everything else, no. I have no Twitter, Tumblr, Deviant Art, Instagram... none of that. Really, I'm not much of a social media person. I gave Twitter a try and it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Q: Where do you live?
A: I live in the US.