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New product sneak peek photos...
OSCAR:
Okay, here is where I stand on the DOT spinners. My only holdup right now is the tempered spring steel springs. I have sent them all over for pricing and they came back all over the map, some as high as $11/set! As I was sifting through the quotes, I noticed that not everyone was quoting the correct material, or thickness, or whatever. What a nightmare. I can't figure out why that happened, the RFQ & drawings clearly state this info, but anyway...
I'm tentatively setting the price of these at $99, knob not included. To be totally honest this is 5% above my cost, 3% of which will get chewed up by the credit card fees. If I work it out just right, I might just be able to keep one out of the first batch for myself. :) I'm still in the process of beating up some of my suppliers for lower pricing, but I'm not having much luck so far. Obviously my goal isn't to make a load of $$ off of these things, I just want to get them out there because the BYOAC'rs have been asking for a DOT spinner solution before I ever made my first post on these boards. If I start bleeding cash too badly, then I may have to increase the price. However I am doing everything I can to try to keep it at $99.
Another alternative I'm looking at to bring the price down is to have all the flat stock fabricated by the older technology panel cutter/forming machinery in lieu of laser cutting. Many of the old arcade controllers, like the Tempest spinner bracket, are made this way. I am still investigating this (possibly) cheaper fabrication process, so I don't know what cost impact it will have. I can say that the laser cut pieces are a higher quality and more precisely fabricated part, so I will have to weigh the pros/cons before I make a final decision on that.
shmokes:
$99 + the price of the knob, eh? My wife is going to be piiiiiiisssssed when I order this ;D
Wienerdog:
--- Quote from: OSCAR on April 18, 2003, 01:33:23 pm ---To be totally honest this is 5% above my cost, 3% of which will get chewed up by the credit card fees.
--- End quote ---
There is a way to accept paypal payments without getting charged processing fees, isn't there? I beleive if I pay you from an existing Paypal balance, you are not charged processing fees.
I'm sure that many of the people here would be willing to make a payment a certain way if it meant that you would double your profit. It is possible that you would have to set up a second paypal account that did not allow payments from credit cards. If you say it doesn't matter to you, then I would probably pay by credit card. However, if you say that paypal is making more money on this spinner than you are, I would be mad. :)
If the fees are different, you might also want to list what your prefered method of payment is (on your order.htm page).
I know you don't need advice from me, but I thought I would give it anyway.
Nice spinner! I assume shipping would be cheaper if we wait for a spinner + DOT knob, right. (lol, I don't want UPS to make more than you either!).
OSCAR:
--- Quote from: Wienerdog on April 18, 2003, 03:01:39 pm ---There is a way to accept paypal payments without getting charged processing fees, isn't there? I beleive if I pay you from an existing Paypal balance, you are not charged processing fees.
I'm sure that many of the people here would be willing to make a payment a certain way if it meant that you would double your profit. It is possible that you would have to set up a second paypal account that did not allow payments from credit cards. If you say it doesn't matter to you, then I would probably pay by credit card. However, if you say that paypal is making more money on this spinner than you are, I would be mad. :)
If the fees are different, you might also want to list what your prefered method of payment is (on your order.htm page).
I know you don't need advice from me, but I thought I would give it anyway.
Nice spinner! I assume shipping would be cheaper if we wait for a spinner + DOT knob, right. (lol, I don't want UPS to make more than you either!).
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the suggestion. I had briefly considered something like that, but I don't want to add to the complexity of placing orders. Believe it or not, but sending payment via PayPal is actually the #1 source of emails I get asking for help, not tech support for spinners! This was one of the reasons I added a standard internet CC processing shopping cart to compliment the PayPal shopping cart. I'm afraid that adding an extra step or complicating the ordering process by requiring certain stipulations would actually cause me more headache than just sucking it up and paying the CC fees. Besides, I'm used to not even seeing a good chunk of my so-called "profit". :)
Regarding the knob purchase, I agree that if you would like to also purchase the DOT knob to go with the spinner, then it would be cheaper to wait until they are available together to avoid double shipping costs.
Xiaou2:
Hi Oscar,
You may wish to put up instructions for something like western union.
I had heard that there were troubles with paypal service... so in a recent ebay winning, the seller directed me to use 'Bidpay' @ www.bidpay.com Is a service of western union.
Basically, the payee gives the information via creditcard on the net via thier site - which in tern they end up charging the buyer a small fee of like 5$ or less. They then send a money order (and a confirm incomming email) to the seller - as soon as the transaction has been settled.
I was lazy and didnt want to go to the post office... and the 5$ fee wasnt going to kill me... so it turned out rather nicely.
Was alo good because I didnt have to wait for the seller to actually get the money order via mail. As soon as the email was sent to him that I had paid... he sent out the merchandise - thus illiminating a much longer wait time : )