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 Marketplace / Theory / 1709
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Subject: 
Re: Streamlining the parts selling process
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.market.theory
Date: 
Fri, 24 Nov 2000 19:49:54 GMT
Viewed: 
706 times
  
In lugnet.market.theory, Larry Pieniazek writes:
In lugnet.market.theory, James Brown writes:

I'm thinking of moving to a more "bulk" method - similar to how Mike Stanley
runs his shop - and I was wondering about the pros and cons of that.  The
obvious pro is eliminating an extra counting step, and all the complications
that come with it. • <snippage>
But those of us that want a part or two for their individual projects will
hate "bulk" selling. If you switch, and drop your prices to reflect, you'll
get a little biz and lose some. Someone else (who didn't switch) will lose
some and get some.

The one thing I'm not, *not* going to be able to do is drop my prices.  The
vast majority of my parts are $0.10 - already below retail.  If my prices
dropped, I would either have to start selling parts I want to keep, or give
up on the whole thing as not worth my time.(1)

I really wish Brickbay allowed buyers the option of sorting the stores by
something other than country.  (lowest price, most variety, most parts -
these all come to mind)  I'll admit I'm biased, because I'm *positive* that
I would be at or near the top of a 'sorted by lowest average price' list.
It would encourage more competition, too.

I think the way to have a lot of sales if you're a parts seller is cater to
the big buyers. Actively seek them out, find out what they want, and sell it
for less than everyone else does. Either that or go the Jon Kozan route...
have some of everything and charge so much that it's economical to sell
someone 3 parts. But do we need more than one of those? I dunno.

I'll confess that I don't care if I have a lot of sales or a few sales.
Heck, the ideal arrangement for me would be one person willing to buy all
the parts I don't want.  I also don't want to go the Baylit route - I want a
fast turnaround, which is a large part of why my prices are so low.  I don't
like keeping inventory around, if I can help it.

Some of the other things I've been thinking of doing to encourage larger
orders (which makes my life easier) is offer free shipping on large orders,
or just flat out raising my minimum order.  (currently $5)

What you see when you go to Mike Stanley's store is what's left after all
the big buyers in GoB have picked it over. A lot of the good stuff doesn't
make it out to the public because we snap it up.

Similar to me, I suppose.  What you see in my store is what's left after
I've picked it over.  Typically, I'll only sell what I have to from a set to
break even.  Everything else, I keep.

James

1: The only reason I'm blowing out stock right now is to clear out a fair
number of parts that aren't madly sought after, so I can start with a mostly
clean slate for my next round of selling.



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Streamlining the parts selling process
 
(...) Something that occured to me the other day (with respect to BrickBay): a 'Clearance' category. Or perhaps it should be called a 'pseudo-category'. I would like to see a 'clearance' attribute on the item record. When I get to much of a (...) (24 years ago, 27-Nov-00, to lugnet.market.theory)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Streamlining the parts selling process
 
I took a break from my LDrawing up my latest Milton Train Works creation, (coming soon!) to answer this one... (...) Those of us that buy bulk will love it. That includes me... when I want a part, I want ALL of that part that is available. Right now (...) (24 years ago, 24-Nov-00, to lugnet.market.theory)

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