Subject:
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Thoughts on Brickbay fees (Re: Brickbay problems........again)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade
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Date:
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Sat, 30 Jun 2001 16:29:05 GMT
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Viewed:
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407 times
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This thread is a month old, but I've had a few thoughts on the subject and
believe its a good time to toss them up for discussion.
I will start off by saying that the current fee of 2% of sales is a legitimate
and valid fee and should not be changed. Having said that, I think there are
better ways to raise the cash flow necessary to keep BB running smoothly.
In lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade, Brett A. Antaya writes:
> I just have 2 cents to add to the discussion. Cent 1 would be to charge a
> store opening fee in the neighborhood of $25. There has been aprox 120 new
> open & active stores since November of 2000 at which times there was only
> 110 open & active stores (will the number of stores continue to double every
> 6-7 months?? making this a substantial income potential). Of course a fee
> very well may deter new stores from opening but from both a buyer and a
> sellers perspective I really dont see this as a bad thing. The bottom line
> is that a store with substantial wares is A)the kind of store I am more
> likely to buy from and B) more likely to be willing to pay a fee in order to
> offer their wares to the public. Lastly I like this idea because of the
> greater number of minors who are finding themselves active in Brickbay
> transactions as both sellers and buyers and would hope they cannot overcome
> the $25 fee without at least the active consent of a parent who is willing
> to be involved etc.
I did a little 'back of the napkin' checking of brickbay's main page. Of the
several hundred seller's present, 13 (!) control approx 60% of the total parts
listed (as viewed by item count per shop). One seller appears to have a large
number of items, but on closer examination, the vast majority of the quantities
listed are 'services' available to be performed (on true lego parts though).
Having said this, implementing such a fee (such as the one described above)
would place an unequitable burden on the small sellers. Heres something that I
believe would be a might more fair:
1) Charge the seller 1-cent for each lot when added to BrickBay (batch upload
or manual)
2) On the last day of the month, for any lot which has been listed for more
than 3 weeks...
2a) Charge the seller 1-cent for each lot present on the last day of the month
(for lots with quantities less than 2000) *or*
2b) Charge the seller 1-cent for each lot present on the last day of the month
(per whole multiple of 1000 units, when the quantity is at least 2,000 units)
This would have several effects... it would place the burden more equitably on
the sellers with 1) large number of lots, 2) large quantities on individual
lots, 3) sellers who have listings, but little or no sales. I do not think this
type of charge should be assessed on the price that a lot is offered at
(something that I consider very eBay-esque). This would also have the effect of
encouraging a few sellers, who have somewhat sloppy habits, to clean up their
lots/inventory. I have observed more than a few instances of one seller offering
the exact same part in 5-10 lots (small quantities) with varying prices. It
would also have the effect of getting sellers to flush out very small quantites
(1s and 2s) of parts which have a low resale price point. Small quantities of
rare parts should be unaffected.
This type of fee structure should generate $700-$1,000/mo in immediate revenue
increase to BB. I think that would be sufficient to cover the immediate issues
with reliability.
> Cent 2 falls in the hands of the buyers. Though I agree a membership fee
> for all Brickbay users may initially be too strong a deterent for growing
> membership I think it is reasonable to charge a one time or even a yearly
> fee for everyone who has completed 5 transactions (First 5 transactions
> therefore being 'free' or on a 'trial basis' after which purchase of
> membership would be expected.) I believe that a substantial number of
> Brickbay members only buy once twice or three times and then their attention
> is diverted elsewhere and they are seldom heard from again and so the 5
> transaction policy would not hinder this sort of customer/market. I also
> believe that anyone who has completed 5 transactions on Brickbay A) Values
> the service enough to pay a small fee and B) Is likely to want to make more
> purchases or even become sellers and therefore will pay the fee. Of course
> thought will have to be given to patrol those individuals who simply create
> new member names to escape the fee but I think those people will be few and
> far between as Lego communities tend to be highly respectful and honest people.
Charging the buyers would be a difficult proposition to enforce. eBay does not
charge the buyers, I do not believe that Brickbay should either. If brickbay is
an open market, it should welcome all prospective buyers. The only issue I have
in this arena, is that a new buyer needs to have some kind of 'proof of intent'
that is more than merely having a functioning email address. I'm not sure how
to do this, but something that helps to seperate the real buyers from the ones
out on a joy-ride.
> Have a great weekend!
>
> Brett
> Pyrite's Plunder
Ray
<brickbay://Cosmic Toys>
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Message has 4 Replies:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Brickbay problems........again
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| I just have 2 cents to add to the discussion. Cent 1 would be to charge a store opening fee in the neighborhood of $25. There has been aprox 120 new open & active stores since November of 2000 at which times there was only 110 open & active stores (...) (23 years ago, 19-May-01, to lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade)
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