Quoted from Luckydogg420:I’m going to assume most of your business is handled through remote transactions, and that you don’t have a lot of foot traffic into a storefront
You absolutely do not want to deal with storing a persons 16 digit credit card number. The security and liability involved is to high for the average small business To deal with. You pay a $25 monthly fee to have a professional company handle transactions. Online payments should not be written down and processed manually in 2020
It’s closer to 1%-3%. You don’t want to raise your prices by 5% to support an online Marketplace, but you will sell wholesale to other retailers who add more then 5% and still stay in business. If you’re leaving enough money on the table that the competition can buy from you, sell at a profit, pay all these exorbitant fees, and still stay in business; then you could sell to your retail customers at a retail price and also cover those fees. If you prefer to sell at wholesale prices to everyone and not get that extra profit that’s ok too (I guess).
Think about auto parts suppliers they sell to a garage for less then they sell to the general public, not only so the garage can resell it for a profit, but also to pay for the parts suppliers store. Not everyone pays garage cost, that’s no way to run a business, retail markup exists for a reason a lot of people are ok with it, and every sale your competitors make from one of your products is less direct profit for you.
Run it to the ground if you want, but get off your high horse and have a look at the landscape. There’s virtually no other industry or retailer that hasn’t improved their business practices in 50 years. (I can’t think of one) Don’t think for a moment your sales are the strongest now because of something amazing you’ve done, it’s the pinball industry as a whole that’s improving. All those beaters and barn finds are coming out of the woodwork and they need parts. You just happen to be the place they need to go.
There’s a reason I don’t buy Gottlieb anymore. They’re enough other games that are good, where I don’t need to add extra steps in purchasing.
If we want pinball to not feel like an old boys club then we need to get rid of these silly initiation rituals and rights of passage for new members of the community
It may be your business to run into the ground, but pinball will be around a lot longer then you will be, and I just hope there’s something prepared for the next generation.