Silk Road forums
Market => Product offers => Topic started by: Thurgood Jenkins on May 20, 2013, 03:51 am
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Hey guys,
I have a good problem. The demand for bulk--especially qp's-- is more than I can deal right now. I don't have the money to buy the amount being demanded and as such people are just waiting. I've received tons of messages so I've been thinking of the best way to handle it. These were what I had in mind:
Go on a waiting list and just wait
Go on a waiting list with the option to pay to move up on that list
Pay more than the listing to get it sooner
Just wait
I'll now explain the details behind each.
Go on a waiting list and just wait: I would create a list and go back and find the first who asked and would create a list from that. I would use a fake name or something for each user and post this list on my vendor page so people could see where they are, expected wait times, make sure they haven't been skipped etc.
Go on a waiting list with the option to pay to move up on that list: The same as the above applies with the added option of paying a fee. I was thinking the fee would be $15 dollars to move up the first spot and $10 dollars each subsequent spot. Ex: You're number 19, pay $15 to go to 18 and another $10 to go to 17, another $10 for 16 so on and so forth.
Pay more than the listing to get it sooner: Pretty much the same would apply from the first but the lists would be corresponding to the prices. For instance, there would be an $860 and $850 listing. Those who buy the $860 will get there's shipped sooner than any of the $850. An $870 listing would get shipped out before any $860 or $850.
Just wait: Same as normal.
For any of these options one would NOT have to pay until their number came up and the product was shipped. The only payment that would be made for the option of moving up the list would be payments made directly to my wallet, or through a listing at the desired time of moving up. So this $10 or $15 would need to be paid before you number came up.
Let me hear your thoughts SRF,
Thanks,
Thurgood
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Hate to say it, but from an economic stand point but I would say raise your prices until you can deal with the work load. I wouldnt advise charging people to move up the line atm because that will just piss off your current customers. Just my 2 cents and I hope the best for you as a vendor.
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Currently I have no customers for Qp's so I guess it's a completely fair/even market. The thing I don't like about raising my prices is that, as a new vendor I don't want to scare people away with prices like $915+ a QP. Do you think that would be an issue? But, I do suppose according to the law of supply and demand that would be the correct route to take.
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I'd say keep to low quantities til you can support a larger market. As a new vendor it would be in your best interest to stay open so you can reach out to more people. If you had to take down listings because you run out early you wont be able to reach as many people and gain as more trust and loyal customers. If you go that route, write in your vendor profile that you are planning to do more bulk in the future so you dont deter people just looking for bulk.
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TJ - don't let your eyes get bigger than your stomach.
Crush your current level and then reevaluate down the road.
No sense in risking a good thing by getting overwhelmed too soon.
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As much as i would absolutely love to begin purchasing QP's from ya brotha! Id have to side with qwerfdsa because id rather have ya around long term with both of us profiting. Take your time and only move into larger quantities when your 100% ready so you don't become overwhelmed. I also agree with ytabletrash that allowing people to expedite their order by tipping you may frustrate some customers. Also you may lose some business because customers cannot be sure when their order will be shipped because it is posable everyone who orders after them may pay a higher fee and move above them on the shipping list.
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I also agree with ytabletrash that allowing people to expedite their order by tipping you may frustrate some customers. Also you may lose some business because customers cannot be sure when their order will be shipped because it is posable everyone who orders after them may pay a higher fee and move above them on the shipping list.
Yep - same concept as the "line passes" at amusement parks. The people who buy them are happy, but the majority of the folks would like nothing more than for them to all die a fiery death.
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Consider rationing.
Every week put up the amount you can handle in one week. If it runs out half way through the week increase the price for the next week slowly until your weeks supply lasts a week.
We are currently selling at about 90% of our capacity to resupply. If our sales increase much more this sort of rationing is exactly what we are going to do.
Don't take orders unless you can fill them quickly, don't be afraid to run out for a few days. By only putting up a weeks worth per week and letting it run out you are allowing the customers to decide the price without scaring any of them off.
A nice side effect is that when you ration something in this way people tend to want it more and want more of it.
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IMO waiting to order > waiting for an order, ya know?
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Alright thanks for all the info guys.
I did the rationing this week and it still went real fast. I only made 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8oz listings and just poof, they were gone.
I think I'll just keep people waiting to order, not an order as was put so eloquently above.
Thanks again,
Thurgood