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Hi guys ! I'm new here ! View my first project and tell me what the wholesale price should I put ?

To sell all copies of the decks cheap, but fast
1 (100%)
To sell parts retail, but more expensive
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 1

Voting closed: December 21, 2017, 02:18:51 PM

Heroes of the Nations playing cards

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Heroes of the Nations playing cards
« on: November 21, 2017, 02:18:51 PM »
 

Konstantin

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Hi guys !

I'm new here ! View my first project https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timothykremer/heroes-of-the-nations?ref=user_menu

and tell me what the wholesale price should I put ? Asked to sell all 1000 decks for $5.5 and it's really normal? I think not..... I was typing the deck of USPCC, the artist painted the picture manually every 2 years, do you think? what is the price for wholesale ?
 

Re: Heroes of the Nations playing cards
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2017, 05:30:38 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Welcome to the forum, we're glad to have you aboard.

Regarding your deck and what you should sell it for at wholesale...  Well, that's up to you, really.  It's not the kind of thing you should be discussing openly on a forum, at the very least.  Try contacting other artists, privately, and ask them - especially deck artists you may already have a relationship with.  Some will not want to discuss it with you, but some might be more open and willing to offer you some advice.

What I can tell you is that some decks are never offered at wholesale at all.  The artists might be concerned about people undercutting their own suggested retail price (SRP) - I've seen it happen.  I know of a few artists that started off offering wholesale but later stopped completely, insisting that retailers pay full price, because they were being undersold - and the retailers, having been forced to buy at retail if they wanted to sell those decks, then rose their offering prices, which in turn raised the market value of the deck once it was no longer available from the artists at their SRP.  You can't insist they sell you deck at any given price - it's prohibited by law in the US - you can only suggest what it should be sold for.

What it's going to boil down to is this: look at what's being offered for how many decks and what it cost you to produce that many decks.  You have to decide for yourself, "Is it worth it to me to accept this offer?  Will I be losing money?  Will I not be making what I think my work is worth, once I've added up the amount offered and subtracted all of my costs?  Is it better to sell all these decks at a discount for a tidy lump sum right away or to hang on to them, selling some here and some there, but getting more money for them in the long run?"  There may be other factors at play - for example, if you had a debt or major expense that you needed to deal with right away (for example, you might require seed money for starting your next deck project if your artist insisted on being paid up front), it's possible that you need that lump sum and can't wait for the larger payoff that will come in a longer period of time (and which is never guaranteed - no one says the market has to buy all of your decks)!  You might instead decide that your work is worth more to you so it should be worth more to anyone buying your decks, or you might not be under any real time pressure to sell out your stock quickly and can afford to take your time with it and get either full retail or something closer to it.

What is a given deck worth?  It's worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it, period - no more, no less.  You have to keep in mind that, when selling at wholesale, you have to give the retailer a decent-enough margin of profit to make it worth their while to bother with stocking your product while at the same time not cutting your price so deeply that you undercut what it's really worth to you and what profit you need to make on it as well.

I would seriously recommend that you find someone, a friend, to help you negotiate your sale.  It's a sad and unfortunate fact, but in this country and many others (and I'm assuming you're trying to sell it in the US, or at least somewhere in the Western world), if you're not a good communicator in the buyer's language, some people will look at you as a "rube" and will try to take advantage of you or will not consider you seriously in negotiations.  It's pretty clear from your post that English is not your native language - and I'm not knocking you for that; not everyone grows up in the English-speaking world and there's hundreds of languages out there.  But when dealing with someone you're trying to sell to, it's best to deal with them using someone to represent you who knows their language, preferably a native speaker who will understand the subtleties of communication and might perceive if your buyer is trying to take advantage of you.  If that person has sales experience, all the better.

Good luck to you in your endeavor!
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Re: Heroes of the Nations playing cards
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2017, 03:04:11 PM »
 

Konstantin

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Thank you ! That much was clear...I thought about as well, no need to hurry, good design and art will still be in demand. And what about the English language you are right, you need to look for a partner! Thank you
 

Re: Heroes of the Nations playing cards
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2017, 02:10:08 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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Thank you ! That much was clear...I thought about as well, no need to hurry, good design and art will still be in demand. And what about the English language you are right, you need to look for a partner! Thank you

Another thing to consider.

Let's say that, using the slower, more profitable method, you take a full year to sell all the decks.  Let's pretend that's worth X dollars in terms of profit to you.  We can call it 1.0X, to make it more mathematical.

Now, let's imagine that someone's willing to offer you a deal that nets you only one-half of X, or 0.5X.  Your expenses are paid, but you make only half as much profit.  Now let's consider this: you might have other projects in the pipeline.  You might be able to crank out a project every four months - and your buyer might be willing to get in at the same deal.  If he's willing to pay you 0.5X for each project and you make three projects in a year, that's 1.5X.

Slow route: 1.0X
Fast route: 1.5X
The fast route does require more work overall, but nets you more money in the end and gets your decks out at a faster pace.  It's something to consider, though of course, there's never a guarantee that things like this will work out exactly as planned.  I can say, though, that establishing a good working business relationship with a retailer who's dealing honestly with you might be worth taking a little less profit on one project if he or she is willing to send you more business, helping to insure you have a steadier income stream than the "wait for them to come" method of selling all your decks.

There's an entire school of thought in economics that talks about how warehousing of merchandise is one of the least profitable things you can do with it - it's not on display to the public, not being sold and the warehouse in which you store them costs you money to rent and/or operate.  There are some retailers in the US that have done away with warehouses and stockrooms completely, shipping all their merchandise directly from the factory to the store and placing it on the sales floor, where customers can see it and buy it.  Now, the Internet mail order method does upend this a little bit, but if you have a way of selling a lot of decks all at once, you might find it more profitable to simply make decks at a faster pace and sell them for less than to wait for what you have to sell out at full retail.  It depends on the amount of work you're willing and able to put into the enterprise.
Card Illusionist, NYC Area
Playing Card Design & Development Consultant
Deck Tailoring: Custom Alterations for Magicians and Card Mechanics
Services for Hire - http://thedecktailor.com/
Pre-Made Decks for Sale - http://donboyermagic.com/
 

Re: Heroes of the Nations playing cards
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2017, 08:10:59 AM »
 

Konstantin

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Yeah right, bout to do projects more often and do not store the product is right.

Now 1 day ago I launched a new project ANCIENT EGYPT - ART PLAYING CARDS
Collectible deck of playing cards handmade artist inspired by the GODS of EGYPT
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timothykremer/ancient-egypt-art-playing-cards

 and I was thinking to find new wholesalers on a previous draft.....Based on this project.....No tales ! And life is a business.
Well you're right, it is more profitable to sell quickly and move forward
Thank you