Subject:
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Re: 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 18:07:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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454 times
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In lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade, Ray Sanders writes:
> 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.
Good idea, I hope many fellow sellers/buyers join this 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.
Agreed, 2% seems fair
> 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 think a shop opening fee is reasonable. It should not prevent a serious seller
that has something to offer to join Brickbay, but it may deter someone from
opening a shop, and listing just 1 simple $5 set available in stores. These
stores do not add to the value of brickbay anyway IMHO. Although $25 may be a
bit steep, it could be less, it could be a $5 opening fee with a monthly
maintenece fee of $2. This will over time get rid of shops that are not popular
and don't add to Brickbays' value (because of rediculous high prices, low
inventory, or whatever reason buyers don't like these stores).
> 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)
I agree with the first point, the listing fee, even 2 or 3 cents would be ok.
This should already prevent sellers from listing low quantities of very common
(and hence cheap) bricks.
I would not be in favor of the second point. I sometimes list 20 bricks at $0.25
(so a few cents listing fee is ok), but sometimes a buyer buys 23. I have now
only 2 of these bricks, that will only sell if someone is looking for anther
brick and happens to take these too. I myself would have to go through 1700
items each month to determine whether I want to keep them, this is a huge job.
I'd rather pay a flat 2-3 cents listing fee. At 500-1000 itmes added daily, this
is revenue in the order of $300-$900 monthly.
> 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.
My view on buyers fees is simple: The customer is King. Don't charge buyers.
> > Have a great weekend!
> >
> > Brett
> > Pyrite's Plunder
>
> Ray
> <brickbay://Cosmic Toys>
have a great weekend too, Paul
Although not pertinent to the discussion about revenue, I would like to see
under the shop listings on the "Buy Lego" page not only the number of items and
sets, but rather items AND lots. This would look like:
shopname (50.000 items in 500 lots) (15 sets in 6 lots)
This would give a better view of the store (large volume, or specific bricks, or
both).
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