Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: scopolamine on March 04, 2012, 04:26 pm
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Hi everyone :)
I just got my vendor account up and running and I'm about to set up some listings.
I'm going to be selling 2 products regularly, and want to make sure I establish my rep as best as I can.
Since I'm starting out with no feedback, what should I absolutely make sure not to miss out on doing for my first listings? (Finalizing, etc.)
I am going to set my prices lower than my competition, but I don't want this to deter potential buyers by making it look suspicious... so, should I price my items close to my competitors prices?
Should I make an announcement on the forum? On that note, I heard that I should link my listings with a PGP key... how does that work exactly..?
Any advice at all would be most helpful. This is an awesome place and I am looking forward to selling you guys some good shit very soon. :)
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forum presence and sending out free samples is the best way because then people on the boards can rate and review your wares and shipping/customer service.
Just make sure you are #1 Safe in shipping #2 have a quality product and #3 be as expedient as possible and people will love you here.
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Hello mate,
I was lurking in the forums 2 months before getting my vendor acct to get a feel for the place and etiquette e.t.c and ended up sticking around...
A forum announcement helps but I found it isn't necessary 90% of my customers don't even use the forums and despite my messages to them asking them to post up a honest review about me on the forums hardly any have bothered to post yet lol
Right, let start with PGP, pretty simple just download a program called "PortablePGP" generate a PRIVATE keypair (keep to yourself) and copy the PUBLIC key (this is what you give to other people so they can send you encrypted messages).
Whenver you want to decrypt a message, just copy and paste the message in the program click on "Decrypt" and that's that (check out tutorials online if you want but trust me using PGP is a lot easier then it sounds).
On your first listings, make sure you lay down the "ground rules" these are your rules of business, have a look at other vendors profiles and see what they demand from their customers prior to ordering, remember your new so you'll have to cut some customers a bit of slack but nevertheless this is a good starting point.
r.e pricing, I would say price it enough to make it worth-your-while + the Silk Road tax (check the "State of the Road Address" thread for more info). If the total price is still lower then your competitors then you'll do very well :)
Any other questions just let us know.
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my advice is read the security and shipping threads. and the buyer and seller guide. and wiki. but that should go without saying
If you want, make an announcement in the product offer section. many recommend free or discounted samples, but if you just offer reasonable prices within escrow you will eventually establish a reputation. samples just get it started more quickly and provide test runs so you can identify and correct any problems before charging people and having them label you as a scammer before you even get started for a simple mistake with shipping.
you definitely need to provide a public key for people to encrypt their addresses
make sure you learn how to package your goods to prevent them being profiled
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Well.... I put up my listings yesterday. I checked today and no sales... I don't get it... does it usually take this long? I lowered the price some more but this is as low as I can go... If anyone could check out my listings and offer some advice I'd much appreciate it..
http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/silkroad/item/d933f85233
http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/silkroad/item/e13e07a2d5
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Not interested in what you have to offer but just stick it out. Once you get one or two orders and reviews I'm sure you'll have more and more coming in. Those first couple of orders will be your hardest.
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Welcome to vending on SR. I started a month ago and it's been great so far. Just make sure to be smart on how you ship and wear gloves and no prints. Best of luck to you!