TheKingofAverage
patreon
I'm Selling Out!
🕑 Added 2020-06-15 16:00:04 +0000 UTCHey Rockstars! You heard right. I'm finally at long last selling out....of board games :D
There are a few board games I own that I got early on or just made mistakes with that don't end up getting played and I could use more room.
I think it's probably healthy to cull the collection every so often and it's been a few years so I'm due for it anyway. That being said, shipping seems to me to be a nightmare. I guess I'll need to get some big boxes and just bubble wrap the snot out of these things. Seems like such a hassle, but selling some would really help the channel out and re-coup some of the costs of the resent Pledge Manager wave that hit us all (you know, like Frosthaven, Arena, Conan, Dawn of Madness and more).
I still don't know what to do with my prototypes and they take up a nice corner of my closet currently. They can't just keep growing, I have to get rid of them somehow. I could do giveaways but I dislike the whole "chance" part of that and it ends up still being a cost as I'd have to ship the darn things out and they usually aren't packaged very well to begin with.
I could just throw them away but that seems like a huge waste and I struggle to even throw away empty boxes (all of my Deep Madness empty boxes are in my attic, don't judge me).
So what to do? I don't like the idea of straight selling them. I'd not know what to even price them at.
I thought perhaps some sort of auction which might work. Then the price is just whatever their perceived value is.
But at the end of the day, I feel I'll get annoying comments about "profiting" from game companies sending me stuff (like people just ignore ad revenue).
I think my best bet here is to finally make my tell-all video based on what I posted here on Patreon earlier for you guys about working with the industry and money and all that. (Read it here https://www.patreon.com/posts/reality-behind-30348857 ) The message is still the same: Use your head, think, and come up with your conclusions based on the evidence at hand.
But people will be silly no matter what. What are your thoughts? How should I fix this prototype accumulation issue? It needs to be some way that doesn't cost me a ton of money as I feel like that's a bad use of the money you put towards helping the channel out.
As always, you guys are amazing and I appreciate each and every single one of you. Have a great day!
Comments
Jacob Stacey
If you account for physical shipping, vat, and other costs; what is your average to ship 1-2 games per month? Then you can create a support level here that works like a raffle. Anyone who is interested in "winning" the monthly game(s) can sign up for that level and you have the funds to ship a game to a random winner. You'd need a minimum amount of people to be at that support level to cover the costs, but with a monthly poll of next month's game that should be covered, because you could see the amount of interest and likely support at that teir.
The King of Average
Yeah I do to, though probably not with a bid attached :) If the person that's getting the game wants to pay extra that's perfectly fine, but I'd like these to be available to anyone that can at least cover the shipping costs :)
I like the suggestions above: let us pay for the shipping costs and the bid system is nice. Personally I would probably need to pay import taxes which could double the price I would need to pay however it could be interesting for fellow petreon subscribers that do not have this issue.
The King of Average
You bet I will :D Heck I put my own musings on here to share with you all, so something like that would definitely get an update or 3 :D
Well keep us posted! I would definitely put my hat in the bucket for Oathsworn or Stormsunder to name my short list 😂. I’m sure I’d be interested in anything you put up though!
The King of Average
Thanks Andrew! With the other ideas people spoke of here I hope to perhaps send out more often :D
The King of Average
Incidentally I never even thought of charging you guys for it (which I imagine is a good mindset to have) but that could totally work. Of course any money I get from Patreon goes into it's own account used just for YT costs so no worries there. I'll need to take these ideas and think a bit on it. Need to figure out the structure. My initial thinking on the spot is to just charge shipping and get a list of those interested, then contact the person I'll be selling it to and they are free to pay above shipping if they so desire. It's always a fine line between wanting to give back to you guys in a cool way like this, and ensuring I don't give the impression (however false it would be) that I benefit more than I already do with prototypes. I've had enough negative reviews at this point where I've not heard that concern spoken in some time which is nice, but from a personal standpoint it's a goal I always keep.
The King of Average
I really like this idea! The hard part there is that you guys are all over the place shipping would range depending on I'd be sending it too. Perhaps I can have some "buckets" like what KS does, though takes a bit more up front effort to calculate that and ensure I get a good rate on each one.
The King of Average
Oooh that sounds good! Funny enough I never thought about charging any of you (a good thing I suppose).
Similar to what people have said before: put the games up one at a time, with a shipping cost price and a bit extra on top (of course you should make some money out of selling stuff, but that part is optional). Then everyone who is interested and agrees to pay the cost puts their name in the hat. Whoever is drawn wins the chance to pay the cost you posted and get the game.
If you still want to support the backers and “give them away as gifts” do so - in exchange for us covering the shipping costs. As an alternative to the earlier proposed option by Allan which requires frequent shipping, instead offer an auction value above and beyond the cost of shipping - where all monies from that purely go into your equipment fund and reaching your next goal? Ie - ex: I agree to pay $40 shipping and bid $45 for game X, Y or Z. I’m highest bidder, I pay for shipping costs so it’s free for you to “gift” the game and $45 goes into your camera or lighting fund.
Sounds like a good plan
I have an idea. Pass them around to you patreon backers. Someone who wants to play, say Stormsunder pays for the shipping and a small packaging fee. The commitment is that it has to be passed on to someone else within say 3 months. Plan that chain and it can reach 4 Patreon supporters a year. Shipping plus a little packaging fee. Everyone wins.
