Bad luck with balloons!?

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  • SuTeKh
    Member
    • Sep 2018
    • 90

    Bad luck with balloons!?

    So im starting to think i have bad luck when it comes to balloons and was curious if anyone else goes thru the same thing? I dont make much money so i rarely ever if at all can afford to buy the good balloons so when i do have a few extra bucks i settle with store brand loons. Every time i buy some they usually all have weak spots or severe defects like just yesterday i bought 2 bags of 15 12 inch balloons from my job and out of the 30 1 was able to be blown up to roughly 10 inchs with no visible issues the rest would have popped very easily with almost no inflation. Does anyone else deal with this as well or am i the only one who has to suffer with cheap crappy store balloons?
  • palloncino90
    Senior Member
    • Jan 2018
    • 391

    #2
    Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

    I feel you, when I wasn't able to buy balloons online, balloons from stores were very bad, except a kind of balloons that I found in a discount, they were 17" , standard colors but with a round shape. They were so good , not my favourite shape though, and nothing weakspots. Unluckily that discount closed.
    I want to live surrounded of big and colorful balloons

    Comment

    • bubblesNdragons
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2019
      • 103

      #3
      Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

      I'm not sure if it's bad luck or if I'm still learning to identify weak spots. I felt that a little more often back then than I do now. I think my unluckiest haul was when I bought some Tuftex unicorn prints from Balloons United. I grabbed two random balloons and both looked weak around the neck, so I started thinking I got an expired batch. Although, I gave my girlfriend one of those unicorn balloons and she said the one I gave her was perfectly fine. There are still three more from that batch that I haven't touched yet.
      *notices bulge*

      Comment

      • Kiltieman
        Member
        • Jan 2014
        • 86

        #4
        Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

        I can understand your frustration if balloons burst while you blow them up. Being a non popper but one who needs to blow balloons up right to the extreme limit I test the balloons before I blow. I hold my hand tightly over the bulbous part and blow up the neck of the balloon first then let it deflate and hold the neck just where the balloon widens into the bulb and blow that up a bit to cjheck for any flaws or leaks. I then stretch the balloon all ways and blow it up normally. Ive been pretty lucky with that as far as unexpected pops goes but the problem is detecting them before you buy is impossible. Ive had a few bad batches too.

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        • PBK
          Senior Member
          • Mar 2019
          • 372

          #5
          Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

          I very much understand your frustration. I'm a non-popper but I like my 'loons blown up to the absolute max with a long neck.
          Most store brand balloons are made in China junk but sell widely to the masses because most people that buy them inflate them to a moderate size for the day for say, a birthday party and just pop them and throw them away at the end of the day.
          With balloons there are good quality balloons for cheap in retail out there but you really need to shop around and when you do find a brand that works for you, try to stick with it. Now, I have the crappy luck of finding something I like only to have the store discontinue it or change to a crappy brand a few months later. I really find this with punchballs.
          Balloons really are a "get what you pay for" product. I've had failures with expensive balloons, too. I've bought bags of Tuf-Tex and Qualatex balloons that weren't stored properly and have had to throw away the whole bag.

          Comment

          • EthylTheAardvark
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2016
            • 143

            #6
            Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

            I've never had good luck with store bought balloons. They're already cheap crap when they arrive at the store and you have no idea how long they've been sitting there before you buy them.


            If you're in the USA, it's worth checking the Qualatex wholesaler's page (https://us.qualatex.com/en-us/purcha...-distributors/) for an out of state wholesaler that will work with you. Most of them will establish an account for internet orders. Frequently they'll ask for a wholesaler ID number, but if you Email them and tell them you're out of state, they'll usually work with you anyway. I usually order from MSR balloons (https://www.msrballoons.com/latexballoons.aspx.) They don't have some of the more interesting shapes you can get on the European looner sites, but their prices are always better. Their prices are also always better than amazon.com for Qualatex balloons, too. It's almost impossible to unintentionally pop the larger Qualatex balloons, and I've had a couple of the 19 inch ones sitting around for a couple of months without getting too oxidized.

            Comment

            • EthylTheAardvark
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2016
              • 143

              #7
              Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

              Oh, I should also mention, you could go the wholesaler route and then try your hand at reselling through amazon.com. There's plenty of room for competition there, and a career as a balloon salesman might not be terribly bad for someone with our particular interests.

              Comment

              • LoonerPlanet
                Senior Member
                • Nov 2018
                • 144

                #8
                Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

                I also prefer buying balloons online. Typically, you get better prices, bigger selection, and better quality. The downside is that you may have to buy 50 to 100 balloons at a time.
                To avoid this problem, you can use European distributors that cater to us looners. In addition, I would suggest saveonballoons.com in the US. They sell bulk 17" and 24" tuftex, which means that you can pick and choose the colors you want and the amounts. They also have some Cattex balloons and the usual Qtex.

                Comment

                • SRider
                  Junior Member
                  • Jun 2018
                  • 20

                  #9
                  Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

                  This is a bit of a late response, but when buying sketchy balloons, the printed versions, if they exist, are usually a safer bet. Most balloons are printed whilst inflated, so the ones that were defective enough to pop on first inflation have already done so in the factory.

                  Comment

                  • BalloonBoyUK
                    Banned
                    • Dec 2018
                    • 500

                    #10
                    Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

                    For me, as a strict non-popper, quality far outweighs anything else. I want to know that my balloons won't prematurely pop on me. So, if it's not branded and I've not heard of (or don't have reliable information on) that brand, then I don't care how big, or how cheap they are, they're not going to be a part of my balloon purchasing history.

                    This is why I stick to Qualatex balloons. They're not too expensive. I can order them online easily. They come in a myriad of sizes that I'm happy with. The colour range is decent. They're reliable, and more importantly, their customer service is great, and I know I can trust them to replace or refund things, when I get a bad balloon (or bad pack of balloons) from them.

                    I will always avoid balloons that are unbranded, or are sold cheaply in toy shops and party stores. There will be a reason why a balloon is sold cheaply or sold in plain packaging, with no branding or reliable information of who made it, and - as we've all experiences at some point in our looning history - it's because those balloons were crap, and unworthy of purchase.

                    Originally posted by EthylTheAardvark
                    Oh, I should also mention, you could go the wholesaler route and then try your hand at reselling through amazon.com. There's plenty of room for competition there, and a career as a balloon salesman might not be terribly bad for someone with our particular interests.

                    Many wholesalers won't let you buy balloons unless you have a registered business, businesss name, or other proof of trade, sadly - at least not in the UK. I guess if you setup a balloon selling business, that would solve the problem, but to be honest, if you're willing to buy in bulk anyway, and can pay in cash, many companies would already be willing to do a deal with you, without the hassle of setting yourself up as a trader (and all the legalities that involves).

                    That issue, however, may not apply to other countries in the world. But certainly in the UK, I've found that the need to be a business, stops most balloon wholesalers from wanting to let you buy balloons from them.
                    Last edited by BalloonBoyUK; 19-01-2020, 13:33.

                    Comment

                    • Asclepio
                      Senior Member
                      • Sep 2018
                      • 457

                      #11
                      Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

                      Recently had problems buying loons from Unique.
                      I ordered 500 pieces of 16¨ balloons direct from the factory, and a lot of them were in bad shape. Or have defects that affect my trust in them. So currently I will stick to Tuftex 17¨, they almost never disappointed me.
                      Maybe from the 500 pieces I ordered from Unique, like 150 or more had very important defects, so, until they don't improve the quality I will wait to buy more of them.
                      A looner looking for fun, against violence or people with hightened moral idealism…. I just care about loons, so don’t ruin the fun.

                      Comment

                      • NEKOCC
                        Junior Member
                        • Mar 2020
                        • 25

                        #12
                        Re: Bad luck with balloons!?

                        Maybe living in PRC is a lucky thing for a looner.
                        Thousands kinds of cheap but have medium quality balloons show on shopping website. About $4 or less can buy 100pcs of 2.8 gram 12'' balloons(local brand, probably no mark on package,different online seller have different price). Most common kinds of local brand balloons is 10'', 12'',16'',18'',36'', and have few colors. I mean, basic kinds of colors can be easily found, but other kinds such as jewel, candy, fluorescent colors are very rare for local brand ballons.
                        These balloons are not as good as international brand, but they are cheap.Focus on sales data show on website is helpful, more buyer probably means better goods. Remember the name of the online seller that bought the right product.

                        Comment

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