Silk Road forums

Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: Miah on July 09, 2013, 11:15 pm

Title: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: Miah on July 09, 2013, 11:15 pm
Simple question to vendors or anyone..is it worth it atm with the current state of Bitcoins and I guess the increase in SR fees to be a vendor now?
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: ReD EyE on July 09, 2013, 11:39 pm
Depends if you have a plan?. only you can decide that next move, but is it worth it?.   YES.   

Don't rush it, nothing is going away anytime soon so i suggest you plan accordingly and all should be good.
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: goblin on July 09, 2013, 11:43 pm
It's just a matter of bearing down and sticking with it. If you're going to get desperate, that's when you start making big mistakes. What we need the least is a race to the bottom in setting prices; that way no one wins, cause many vendors will just call it quits and then buyers will be left holding the bag, and the bitcoins.
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: Miah on July 10, 2013, 12:51 am
I do have a plan but as any vendor knows there's a certain level of risk you need to be able to deal with. It's something I've been planning/thinking about for 6 months now. I think I have it figured out except the cashing out part which I'm not expecting anyone to give me there secrets so I'm doing some creative thinking in that aspect :)

Thx for input so far..anymore comments appreciated as always
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: Moonfaxx on July 10, 2013, 10:29 am
I dont think its worth it anymore.
Firstly, there is too much competition and its very expensive to get started selling stuff and people dont want to buy from you anyway cause buying from new vendors is still risky for personal safety and for the safety of ones investment.
With the current vending fees, no wonder that new vendors tend to scam customers. I mean how much does a new vendor have to sell to get those 600 dollars or so back? He would rather be discouraged and quit using SR anyway and do something that still gets him payed without him risking his life.
The big vendors get more and more wealthy, invest more into their business and someday get caught. There will soon be noone to replace those vendors cause who knows one country might get the rights to control bitcoin trade and no investment will be untracked by governments and small businesses cant rise cause of too much risk involved.
SR is killing itself, so it seems to me...
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: mcguire39 on July 10, 2013, 01:14 pm
I would think it would be tough to be a smaller vendor. This marketplace begins to approach pure competition. I would think it would be just as much work to make money here as in any other business.

First I'd say analyze your competition. Look at who else is selling the products you want to sell. Are they making a decent number of sales on that product? If you are going to go up against a highly rated vendor who has been around a few months, you're going to have to beat their price, at least initially in order to get customers to trust you. If you select a product no one else is selling, maybe first check in the product requests forum to see if there would be interest.

Building volume I think would be the key. For a low volume vendor you really have all the headaches and expenses of a large vendor but without the income of a large vendor. I mean you'd need stealth supplies, sealing equipment if your product requires it, and so on. Plus the time and effort of learning the business and how to make the drops safely and so on.
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: Cimicon-Rep on July 10, 2013, 03:37 pm
And be prepared to be scammed by buyers when you're a new vendor. There are those who use feedback blackmail on new vendors. Report them to SR vendor support if it happens and PM any vendor with a vendor title on their forum account so we can add them to the blacklist (vendors with vendor tag under their forum name have access to the private vendor only section). Use tracking for all orders or don't even bother starting. Otherwise you'll get a bunch of buyers claiming to have never received their order. Have a refund-reship policy in place on your profile. Doesn't have to be exhaustive - just basic. Blunt works best. Have actual pics of your product and not stock shots. Scrub EXIF data off your pics before uploading.

Be prepared to give away samples to start. Can be free, or free but pay shipping only, or sharply discounted. Pretty obvious which will get the most responses. But do so as a listing so you can get feedback in return and develop a vendor rating. Most don't leave forum reviews unless you use those on the reliable reviewers list: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=117957.0

And the fees have not changed drastically. It's people with no math skills who are running around with pitchforks. Fees range from 10% at the low end to a high of ~4% for bulk orders ($1000+).

Basically, if your profit margin is too tight, don't bother vending on here. You can lose to BTC fluctuations, buyer scams, and cash out fees(depending on how you do it).
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: BlueGiraffe on July 10, 2013, 06:00 pm
Depends if you know your game or not...

Every vendor here started at some point, and I think it's nonsense to presume a new vendor can't "break in".

Silk Road is actually the perfect circumstance if you're a professional.

If your gear is top rate (and it really has to be to succeed here), your pricing is sharp (enough), and your service to your clients is proper then you'll fly.

Natural selection is beautifully at work here - you decide if you make the cut...

BG
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: piratesam on July 10, 2013, 10:29 pm
 It may not be worth it for the new small time vendors, but for vendors like NorCalKing it is. If you want to be a big vendor then you are going to need to either supply something better then NCK, and provide better service (Which would be very hard to do).  But if you are dedicated to it then I'm sure you could pull it off, it's an investment though. Good luck.
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: joolz on July 10, 2013, 11:09 pm
maybe  :o
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: frankmacca on July 11, 2013, 12:16 am
Regarding volume of sales reflecting the overhead;

I'd say that if you can afford putting the money aside for non-perishable shipping supplies (sealers, packing mat, mbb, whatev) then the volume of sales is irrelevant.

One presumably has their previous income stream running at the same level as when said supplies were acquired and would be able to gradually adjust their funding accordingly.

It would likely IMO be of a new vendor's interest to not burdened with a taxing workload before working out the inevitable kinks in postage,pack,BTC exch.. etc before shiftinh into high gear

Every process, even the one's the seem the most simple, peel like an onion and reveal many sub-layers... if you whittle down every part of your plan to encompass as many layers as make sense to you and you are smarter than the average fox you will be fine

 
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: SOUTHPAW on July 11, 2013, 12:47 am

And the fees have not changed drastically. It's people with no math skills who are running around with pitchforks. Fees range from 10% at the low end to a high of ~4% for bulk orders ($1000+).

Basically, if your profit margin is too tight, don't bother vending on here. You can lose to BTC fluctuations, buyer scams, and cash out fees(depending on how you do it).

Kudos to you sir. I agree there are too many people with poor math skills. :)
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: The Missus on July 11, 2013, 03:31 am
Nah, I'm too chill being just a consumer. The fees, the LE, competition, it just doesn't seem like it's worth it. I was thinking about becoming a vendor, pushing my addy's and some other shit but I'm just too lazy. I also have a real job that I actually am quiet fond of. And I also have poor math skills, so I'd fail pretty hard.
Nah, I'm a happy consumer :]
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: flaxceed on July 11, 2013, 02:53 pm
Depends on the day!  :o
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: Miah on July 12, 2013, 04:46 am
Some really good points as to the pros and cons of becoming a vendor and agree with them all. It seems to me starting off the kind of income you could expect to make in the first few months would be the same or less than a regular job depending on your experience/skillset. Of course like already mentioned it depends on what product you are offering. But still the risks vs payoff doesn't seem like it's worth it. I mean I can understand the vendors that started a year or two back but now it's even more risky, bitcoins are a bitch to cash out. looking out for LE(which is not too worrisome if you don't deal in R/L as well), buyers trying to scam...list goes on. Oh nvm the fact if you have to try and hide the fact from a roommate, spouse or anyone that lives with you..lol..

hmmmm..yaaaaa  :-\
Title: Re: Is it worth it to be a Silk Road Vendor?
Post by: cthatpatrnovathr on July 12, 2013, 06:05 am
if you dont need to vacuum seal, say only sending needles.....where can you get priority envelopes and whatever is needed to send a priority package without proof that your the one who bought it?