codemonkey
Shared on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 11:53As my wife and I try to find ways to make our little business stand out from players like Eb/Gamestop, walmart, bestbuy, we've found many challenges and even a few reliefs.
It is obvious that pre-owned games is the way to make your cash. I'm not doubting that because I've seen how much margin you get for new games. However, I also believe that we can offer competitive re-buys and cheaper pre-owned games. Two reasons: lower operating expense and it stands us out from others.
In the defense of the Eb/Gamestop powerhouse, they've got to make their numbers at each store. They don't want to post any type of loss and they're each expected to bring in some number of $$ a quarter, right? Well, consider they're operating expenses. First, they hire many employees to push their products, they have a brick & morter store inside malls and such and they have to stock as much product as they can fit. That is expensive. So, at the end of the day, they may screw a few people out of pre-owned sales but they also must make profit after all the expenses.
An online only store that is run by one or two people have less expenses. Sure, e-commerce game stores may only capture 7% of the market online and not every single price will be better than other online stores if you dig deep enough - but we only have to make enough money to live. EB stores have to rise to make more than enough to live. That's their challenge.
Secondly, by offering better prices there may be a better reason to make an online transaction over an in-store transaction. If we can pay out a higher price for pre-owned games it may be worth a customers time to try our system. If we sell pre-owned games for less, you will have more reason to shop there, right? That's the theory anyway :) Buy buying/selling at a real online store you remove some of the "risk" invovled with bidding on products at auction. You can trust the online retailer (else they'll be out of business fast with bad comments and issues).
I think eBay is a good help as well. People are buying and selling games and products all the time. Wouldn't EB make more cash if they bought out half the stock of used games being sold on eBay? Seems reasonable. My hope is that I can get some great deals on used games online by offering to buy them at a price that the seller wants to sell them at. More of a bartering system "I'm willing to sell CoD2 to you for $20.00" and we say "I'm willing to buy it for $20.00" while another person is willing to sell that same game for $25.00 we'd be willing to buy it for that. Of course, there is a point where we'd not be willing to buy it - but each person is asking a unique price. One does not have to say "you want to sell it? I'll buy it for $14.00, take it or leave it." That is what makes eBay a nice play to shop for pre-owned games.
Of course, there is the hassle and the unknowns. You may never get the game, you may get a game that's scratched to hell, etc. However, if the person as a fairly good rating you may be ok. I think, if you plan to win some and lose a few, you've got a chance. Not everything will be perfect and sure it will be a hassle, but if it makes you money in the end, that's all that really matters. After all, it's a job.
Lastly, I've found you can get some cool old stuff on eBay. Pallets of NES/SNES systems, games, PS1's, Dreamcasts, etc. So, perhaps we can have a "bargain bin" of products and old school retro stuff for a cheap price. I think that would be cool, anyone think they'd buy a NES again?
CodeMonkey
It is obvious that pre-owned games is the way to make your cash. I'm not doubting that because I've seen how much margin you get for new games. However, I also believe that we can offer competitive re-buys and cheaper pre-owned games. Two reasons: lower operating expense and it stands us out from others.
In the defense of the Eb/Gamestop powerhouse, they've got to make their numbers at each store. They don't want to post any type of loss and they're each expected to bring in some number of $$ a quarter, right? Well, consider they're operating expenses. First, they hire many employees to push their products, they have a brick & morter store inside malls and such and they have to stock as much product as they can fit. That is expensive. So, at the end of the day, they may screw a few people out of pre-owned sales but they also must make profit after all the expenses.
An online only store that is run by one or two people have less expenses. Sure, e-commerce game stores may only capture 7% of the market online and not every single price will be better than other online stores if you dig deep enough - but we only have to make enough money to live. EB stores have to rise to make more than enough to live. That's their challenge.
Secondly, by offering better prices there may be a better reason to make an online transaction over an in-store transaction. If we can pay out a higher price for pre-owned games it may be worth a customers time to try our system. If we sell pre-owned games for less, you will have more reason to shop there, right? That's the theory anyway :) Buy buying/selling at a real online store you remove some of the "risk" invovled with bidding on products at auction. You can trust the online retailer (else they'll be out of business fast with bad comments and issues).
I think eBay is a good help as well. People are buying and selling games and products all the time. Wouldn't EB make more cash if they bought out half the stock of used games being sold on eBay? Seems reasonable. My hope is that I can get some great deals on used games online by offering to buy them at a price that the seller wants to sell them at. More of a bartering system "I'm willing to sell CoD2 to you for $20.00" and we say "I'm willing to buy it for $20.00" while another person is willing to sell that same game for $25.00 we'd be willing to buy it for that. Of course, there is a point where we'd not be willing to buy it - but each person is asking a unique price. One does not have to say "you want to sell it? I'll buy it for $14.00, take it or leave it." That is what makes eBay a nice play to shop for pre-owned games.
Of course, there is the hassle and the unknowns. You may never get the game, you may get a game that's scratched to hell, etc. However, if the person as a fairly good rating you may be ok. I think, if you plan to win some and lose a few, you've got a chance. Not everything will be perfect and sure it will be a hassle, but if it makes you money in the end, that's all that really matters. After all, it's a job.
Lastly, I've found you can get some cool old stuff on eBay. Pallets of NES/SNES systems, games, PS1's, Dreamcasts, etc. So, perhaps we can have a "bargain bin" of products and old school retro stuff for a cheap price. I think that would be cool, anyone think they'd buy a NES again?
CodeMonkey
- codemonkey's blog
- Log in or register to post comments
Comments
Submitted by Em on Fri, 09/22/2006 - 02:54
Submitted by NoGame22 on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 12:00
Submitted by codemonkey on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 12:03
Submitted by Gatsu on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 12:10
Submitted by Pooka on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 12:19
Submitted by codemonkey on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 12:25
Submitted by Pooka on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 12:38
Submitted by SirPoonga on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 12:49
Submitted by codemonkey on Thu, 09/21/2006 - 12:54