Sell your records in Vinyl Collective's store

[devilstrombone]

Perhaps, if you are thinking of using the money on records anyway maybe there could be an option to get instant store credit.

[Duff]

considering this is a new thing, and you dont have the traffic that ebay or half gets, i would maybe lower it down to 5 or 10% as a start off, as there are also paypal fees to keep in mind.

i agree with this. 15% is the same as ebay's fees for fixed prices. if i'm aiming to avoid ebay and their fees i would go the route of trying to sell something directly to a person and cut out the middle man, not use an alternative marketplace that takes the same comission.

i also think store credit should be an option.

[mattisr1984]

honestly, i wouldnt do this. i can definitely appreciate forward-thinking ideas but theres a number of reasons this isnt worthwhile to the seller...

--payment is held for 30 days - even half pays every 2 weeks if we want to compare.

--15% commission really isnt any better than the ebay listing/final value fees (if at all, admittedly i didnt crunch the numbers)

--lets be honest -- there a number of places online (even here or otherwise) that you can sell records on for free and get your money upfront.

and lets face it, VC is opening themselves to a number of headaches the second somebody skips out on shipping a record or packages it like shit and it comes damaged, etc.

the best recommendation i can give anyone who wants to sell records (on ebay or otherwise) is go out and buy a scale for like 15 bucks so you can weigh your packages yourself and print paypal labels (maybe you need a premier account -- not sure -- but its free either way) and DIY. your buyers get delivery confirmation straight in their email and you can walk into your post office right pass that real long line and just drop it off. easy. easy. easy.

[fueledbymike]

i think a good idea

but this is going to be VERRRRRRRY big undertaking

[scottheisel]

The only way for this to work is for theseller to ship his/her inventory to VC and VC handles shipping the records out to the buyer. Just being the middle-man for money means people could skate all the time on sending records and leave you, Virgil/VC, holding the bag and having to give refunds.

[xlovecolouredx]

this is an epic project such co-op, virgil.

i believe our dudes who live in the states wanna give you selling fee more than give it to ebay.

let's make it.

your idea is awesome, virgil....

[alertthemute]

I'm not sure how great this would work for the same reasons that others have previously brought up. What happens if the seller doesn't ship something, or waits till they get paid from VC to ship? Thats a legit reason to not ship immediately IMO. Why should VC get to hold onto your money for 30days if you have to ship it out right away? If you go through eBay you get it right away and it's not like the buyer doesn't have to pay up front.

I do like the idea of giving store credit instantly, but it seems like you'd have to change how the user accounts work so that you could see your store credit balance all the time or whatever. Although I guess you could just give sellers discount codes instead.

Finally, the 15% commission is a bit much considering how long you want to hold onto sellers money. I think that maybe giving an option to opt out of the commission if you agree to be paid in store credit could work. It works out much like a commission but instead the seller would get to use their used records to try to get money to use in the VC store. Sounds decent to me.

[controlthebleeding]

cons: sellers would take a 15% cut, when they could otherwise just sell on the sales thread. money would be help up, etc. Most of us who sell on here are usually in some form of financial bind and need money asap. waiting a month wouldn't do a good chunk of us any good. I'm sure it'd be a headache for anyone at VC to partake in this as well. Maybe that's where the 15% comes in. The flooded emails if someone doesnt ship, etc etc. (which im sure might be minimal though). I can imagine the headache if vinyl isn't exactly what they were expecting as far as the condition.

Pros: a month wait, would keep people from ripping off others. or at least holding the money till the receiver received it would keep people from pulling a ronnie on them.

i'd really like to see how this implemented after the kinks are worked out. because selling this idea is hard for sellers who can easily sell on the sales thread with no cost to them.

[jordan999]

what percentage of customers to the VC store haven't clicked over to the Message Board and seen the Sales/Trades thread?

it seems like that is already the alternative to ebay utilizing traffic from the store, with only the Paypal fees........

[Guest Admin]

Hey guys, all great suggestions. After reading the comments, here are some of my thoughts:

- I will waive the commission if the funds are used for store credit.

- I get everyone's criticism of waiting a month to get paid, but I want to implement something where people get paid after the recipient receives their record(s). Some ideas to remedy this include:

a. paying more frequently (maybe every 2 weeks)

b. paying when a tracking number has been produced (we might also implement insurance on every package to protect the customer)

c. maybe reimbursing for shipping immediately, then paying every 2 weeks for the records.

- 15 percent covers paypal or credit card fees and I am pretty firm in keeping it at that percentage because there will be a decent amount of work on our end.

- as much as we have considered us shipping the records vs the seller shipping the records, we think that the latter is a better idea in the event that the seller wants to take down their listings and having us receive the records would involve more work on our end (and maybe a higher percentage)

- People will still be able to sell their records for free using the message board, but understand that there are thousands of people who don't use our message board and even those that do don't always get around to seeing every thread for records for sale. If this idea cultivates and people know they can buy great used records through our store, it will become a great place to sell your records

- We realize that ebay draws lots more traffic and if it works for you, don't stop selling there. We are just offering an alternative. I have sold on ebay since 1999 and it seems that every year, ebay makes it more difficult and more expensive to sell your products. There is a lot of competition on ebay these days and if you list in the auction formt, you run the risk of your record selling for a lot less than you wanted it to.

I am not sure if I answered all questions, but we did get some volunteers. I hope to work out all the kinks and listen to all criticisms to hopefully make this a great option for selling your records.

We realize this option isn't for everyone, but we also realize there is a lot of potential for people to sell their records through our site. Keep the ideas coming and we will do our best to make it work for everyone. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

[controlthebleeding]

ok, you got me sold at the store credit.... that's a automatic in for me.. but i think the 2 - 3 week waiting period or until the receiver receives their record should be a must along with confirm like you said...

never thought of how people don't always check the threads for sales.. hmmm

[googlemyass]

looks like i wont be doing this.

[konsonant]

So, if I get it right, this is basically going to be VC's version of GEMM?

[ohiopride]

hey virgil, hit me up and maybe i can be one of the lab rats for you. i'll help out .

[Guest Admin]

hey virgil, hit me up and maybe i can be one of the lab rats for you. i'll help out .

shoot me an email please

[element101]

This is a great idea and i'd be into it. I'm not to crazy about the 15% but i'd definitely be into it!

[suburbanargyle]

I was just thinking how it would be funny if someone bought a really limited and quickly sold out record, and just told VC to put it right into consignment instead of shipping it to the buyer (at a higher price, of course). Would anyone have the audacity to try this?

[Guest Admin]

I was just thinking how it would be funny if someone bought a really limited and quickly sold out record, and just told VC to put it right into consignment instead of shipping it to the buyer (at a higher price, of course). Would anyone have the audacity to try this?

I would not put it past someone.

[scottheisel]

So then what? Do you tell them to fuck off or do you let them sell one of your records for an inflated price?

[element101]

So since people are going to be selling "used" or at least "pre-owned" records. Is there going to be a grading system, informative pictures, that sort of thing?

[refused]

very good idea, but everyones gotta wait till everything is sorted out, all kinks smoothed out etc before fully dismissing the idea

[eddieruckus]

Im not sure if I would do this

[pjaicomo]

My biggest concern is that this could potentially open VC up to liability/litigation.

[kurtz]

I am curious to see how many people do this since 90% of threads in the trade/sale forum are just people saying "make an offer" instead of setting a price like they will have to for the store.

I will likely browse the used section of the store often, but will probably never sell anything myself. Whenever I have had to sell records, I've had plenty of luck using the forum.

[casey]

I am curious to see how many people do this since 90% of threads in the trade/sale forum are just people saying "make an offer" instead of setting a price like they will have to for the store.

I will likely browse the used section of the store often, but will probably never sell anything myself. Whenever I have had to sell records, I've had plenty of luck using the forum.

This is exactly what I was thinking.