First of all, have you found the answer of my quiz the other day. The answer is the same guy who is selling a Yujin tank for $20 or a New Millenium tank for $8 is the same person complaining the ebay price too high. I do sell on ebay myself but as long as no-one force you to buy anything, I think you can't complaint. I also remember he is the one bought a rare tank from me for $80 and then put it back on his ebay site the next day for $160.
Anyway, I posted more pictures of my Sturmtiger and this time I added
a few figures from CGW which I bought couple months ago. Hope you like them.
First of all, have you found the answer of my quiz the other day. The answer is the same guy who is selling a Yujin tank for $20 or a New Millenium tank for $8 is the same person complaining the ebay price too high. I do sell on ebay myself but as long as no-one force you to buy anything, I think you can't complaint. I also remember he is the one bought a rare tank from me for $80 and then put it back on his ebay site the next day for $160.
Anyway, I posted more pictures of my Sturmtiger and this time I added a few figures from CGW which I bought couple months ago. Hope you like them.
8 comments:
At least that seller is honest about his prices and does not charge excessive handling fees as a certain bay area seller. Careful about calling the kettle black.....
Panzer place, I think you mean the bay area seller is me. Don't use anonymous if you're so honest. Although you sell a lot of stuffs in ebay but you never read the policy. Please check the ebay policy and it mentioned handling charges is ok (unless it's excessive which you can also ask ebay to review if you think it's excessive). I never said I only charge actual postage charges. If you disagreed with my handling, just ask before you place any bid and you can place order somewhere else if you think I charge too much. You didn't say a word when I told you the total S&H and you only complained and asked for further discount after receiving the product (you are the first and the last one I have seen doing this way in my last 2 and a half years selling experience in ebay). If you read my bidding policy, I make it clear I'll charge $2 more for each additional item if I follow my rule. I have already given you a discount on top of the calculation above as you bought more than one. Regular buyer should know I always give S&H discount to people place orders for couple items (and to you too). I don't feel sorry as everything is according to the rule and I stick to my word.
If you are so honest, don't tell people you are a collector just selling for fun and help other collectors and then buy a tank from me and then double the price to resell it the next day and on the other hand condeming people jack up the price. I'm not condemn the way to do business like this as most ebayers will do the same if they think a price is too low and they may sell it higher later. I just feel sick someone speaking one way but doing things the other way.
I can say it loud here the reason why I sell in ebay is to see if I can get a profit to subsidise my hobby. Not for charity. Can you? If you insist you are just trying to help other collectors, how about lower all your auctions to your purchase price? If you can do that, I can say "Sorry" to you as I may have mistaken you.
I wish you had read the whole discussion thread and you would have understood the comments in their proper context. Later on you would have seen that I make only a dollar on certain NMs because I bought all of my NM tanks on ebay not at Walmart with some at unflattering prices. The discussion board was explaining how auction bidding for new items can get out of hand. Myself included.
To be fair, I really had no intention of getting into a mud slinging contest. As I saw you and another 1/144 rival IHS getting into a exchange of negatives and both have now lost their 100% ratings for something that likely cost pennies. I simply just wanted to point out that selling price is only one of the costs of buying an item on ebay, as many sellers use handling fees, unflattering shipping fees, additional charges and even paypal surcharges on their auctions on ebay ....
So I will try to state my disucssion points are for the 1/144 industry in general and not just this blogger.(ie not a personal attack but my philosopy on the state of things) First of all there are some great HK, Japanese, European and NA sellers (too many to list) out there that offer great shopping experiences but than there are the others and those are the ones I would like to focus on today.
You are quite correct that I run my business as a business. My whole business model runs around great selection(800+ items) and low shipping. When I started collecting again about 2 years ago, i found sellers had low pricing but charged high shipping and used handling fees to make money. To be honest putting another tank in a box does it really cost 2 more and if the tank is 4-5 dollars that means the price is 50 or 40% higher before shipping. I have a professional shipper and his cost are included in the tank and I use lots of tape and styrofoam, not newspaper in packing. So for example adding your blog NM hellcat scenario into an existing order would imply 4.5BIN + 2 = 6.5 before shipping based on your own store pricing.
I do understand why people utilize this practice, especially as ebay continues to raise store fees and s/h are not included in the final value calculation so its it saves money instead of just charging 6.5 in the first place for every additional tank sold.. I am aware of handling charges in ebay policy and it is a gray (subjective) area for the most part what constitutes excessive and ebay concerns in this matter in my opinion are more about fee avoidance and not customer experience on that one.
I see people adding special fees for international orders(not this blogger but others), and 90% of my orders are international and there is no reason for it.
I freely admit I am normally not the cheapest for selling price alone but my pricing is transparent and once you add my actual shiping without any additional charges and the convience of one stop shopping without having to buy from others and their shipping makes a very compelling value proposition. The proof, I get nearly 60% repeat business according to ebay and I sell an average of 4+ items per feedback.
I am a collector and a history buff too, I am not going to tell you that I do this for charity but I enjoy this business and it is like christmas here all year round with new items arriving all the time. However I do try to promote 1/144 awareness as well, not just to grow the market but also to share with others my joys of 144 similar to your blog. I have links to my manufacturers who are also in some cases direct competitors on my me page and I have link to an outside blog too. Some of my customers and myself even started a disussion board to educate 144 consumers, I do not sell on the board, I disclose any financial relationship with manufacturers, and it is free as I pay all the costs involved and even a trade section for members. I allow members to talk about other sellers and products as it is an open board. I believe you followed suit later with your own board ( I quickly provided a link to it and your current blog later too), so there is a value in providing one.
What I mean by honest is that I simply have a transparent pricing system and I simply think you have missed the whole value proposition by just focusing on selling price in your blog. I hope this clears things up with you. For the record, the items that I recieved from this blogger came in good fashion and in good time and I provided +ve feedback but did mention the s/h charges.
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to express my views on the 1/144 industry(beyond my own discussion board) and my own store vision. Hopefully when my me page is redone later this year I will be able to add this blog to my list. I have enjoyed your articles in the past and look forward to more in the future!
Not sure how to choose an identity as I am not member and I am new to this blog so I will put my name here.....
cheers
Jay
Ok. Thanks for your reply. Jay. I think it's ok for each person has his own style to do business. I agree many ebay sellers they do charge huge handling. As long as it's still within the rule and it's stated clearly in the aution, I think what you can do is not to buy from them if you think the shipping & handling is excessive. I clearly state my S&H is $2 addtional fee for each additional item. Given what ebay and paypal charge us today, I don't think it's excessive. If someone buy for a couple items, I always give additonal discount even they don't ask. I still don't think what you said I'm charging excessive handling is a fair statement. I think you disagree with me and I disagree with you so there is no need to come to an agreement and I think we can never convince each other.
Let me show you one example on why I think your ship and handling statement does not stand. I just bought a small diorama from CGW direct. It costs me around $11 and the shipping from HK is $8 for 5 items so it's $1.6 for one. Total for that item should be around less than $13. What you are selling for that single item is over $15 and that's before adding the S&H. To me, what important is the end price you pay no matter you put it in handling or the bid price as long as you state it clearly in your bid. Again, you need not agree with me.
Regarding my issue woth any seller, I have yet received the replacement item yet. He said he shipped the product to me at least twice but I have yet received it today (8/7). I think he may just overlook the issue but I'm not happy he is still selling the same item in his site but claimed he didn't have the stock so he need to find it somewhere. Not convincing to me. I can retreat my comment to him if I receive it one day, may be in 2007.
I agree with you that all sellers have a right to set their own prices and policies and we have different methods of dealing with pricing and ebay.
Actually the shipping that my buddies at CGD are using right now is a special retail promotion, when I buy I do not get that rate. Plus you are forgetting that 1)your assuming I have no profit margin at all as a distributor 2)that seller is may or may not paying listing or ebay fees depending on whether you bought from their site or ebay store
anyway best of luck with IHS
I see. Sounds like you got burn then. But as a distributor, you should have a price break from the seller and normally you should get some kind of price protection if there is a price move to be a distributor.
In all fairness, CGD is a first rate and classy outfit and their distributors were warned well ahead of time that they would be selling directly. In addition they have been very accomodating by allowing their distributors to ship large dioramas directly to avoid the cost of double shipping. I have been with them for years and I cannot say enought about Rijk, his people and their products.
Just let you know I received the replacement today. The post date is 8/3, 8 days after I posted the negative feedback. I think if I don't send a negative feedback, the replacement will never be sent.
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