posted on September 27, 2001 07:39:23 PM new
(seeing as this post was locked in another area... I'm going to try it again here)
Auctionwatch,
Your new pricing arrangement does not make mathematical or economical sense. You state that the new Business plan is intended to be for "high-volume" sellers. You state in your original announcement 300 items a month or more... I say that number is far too low.
Okay... well lets start with that.... For a seller to make listing using the Business plan feasable they must list more than 549 auctions. This is because using the Standard plan you could list 549 auctions before exceeding the 29.95 monthly cost ((29.95 - (50*.10))/.05) + 50). So... yes... you DO have to be a high-volume seller with more than 550 auctions per month to even consider this as a feasable option.
HOWEVER, this does not nearly begin to cover the difference in percentage between the FVF of the standard plan and the FVF of the Business Plan. A .25% is not a large increase if you are a small-volume seller. Yet, we've already established that you should be a high-volume seller to consider using this plan. With just 549 auctions running at a low estimated final bid price of $5.00 each, it would cost you an additional $6.86 more than using the standard plan. You could list an additional 137 items on the standard plan for that!
Then... there's the instance when the Business plan will NEVER be more economical than the standard plan. If your items sell for an average of $20.00 or higher... the .25% difference in FVF will always be greater than $.05.
Therefore... it looks like you have a VERY small target market for this new product of yours. The way you are pricing it, it will only make sense for a high-volume seller of low-ticket items to use. Perhaps you will find some who will fit into that category. However, I doubt that I am one of them. If you have any findings that dispute this thread, or if I have made any errors in my logic, PLEASE post a response. In the meantime, I hope that this post helps other users who may be considering the new service. This new Business plan makes sense only if you fall in their small target market or want to pay extra for "complete SKU based inventory management system, the ability to import and export data to your own sales management system, reporting functionality,
an integrated HTML editor for faster listing creation, and more" (quote from original AW announcement).
posted on September 28, 2001 01:06:58 AM new
I am interested as well in a response to this from Auctionwatch about the new fee structure for the Business Plan. The NO comment in the same post under auction manager that was locked certainly bothered me some.
posted on September 28, 2001 02:09:36 PM new
I have posted a response that may answer your questions regarding the pricing of Business Edition functionality versus payment plans for large volume sellers in the following thread:
posted on September 30, 2001 04:30:35 PM new
barbarake,
I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed the irony! This whole thing makes you wonder if there has been a breakdown in the usually good communication between auctionwatch employees. Personally, I think they may just not like the blatently honest title I gave the thread. They are probably hoping that the threads will get buried and forgotten. On the positive note.... it does appear as though Mike is trying to come up with a better plan for us larger sellers. Keep up the good work Mike!
posted on October 4, 2001 06:57:56 PM new
FVF?????????
IF seller A&B are both on your new Power Seller Plan and both sell 1500 item per month and A's average sale is $8.00 and B's average sale is $22.00 then what extra service is AW ready to give to Seller B for the extra fees paid.
At this point there are no services mentioned that would justify or warrant Seller B paying you more than Seller A.
Please enlighten me as to why you deserve more from Seller B than seller A ???
This whole thing makes you wonder if there has been a breakdown in the usually good communication between auctionwatch employees. Personally, I think they may just not like the blatently honest title I gave the thread. They are probably hoping that the threads will get buried and forgotten. On the positive note.... it does appear as though Mike is trying to come up with a better plan for us larger sellers. Keep up the good work Mike!