Welcome, Guest Login
You must login or register to post.

Advice order for high volume (Read 2210 times)
Valerie_136021
GCU Newbies
artist
*



Posts: 50
Advice order for high volume
Oct 30th, 2009, 1:15am
 
Hi i just received a request for 75 of my Christmas card.  She'll order 75 if i can give her a deal.  Now i don't know what a deal is for her.  I only know on here the price which is 2.29 plus tax and shipping.  Can you advice how much i should charge?  Is there a cheaper way of printing high volume?  I gotta have this sale it'll be my first real order.
Back to top
 
 
Email   IP Logged
Tom_133317
Gold Member
artist
*****



Posts: 2169
Re: Advice order for high volume
Reply #1 - Oct 30th, 2009, 1:53am
 
I love these little math puzzles.
 
Leaving out taxes, here is the situation.
 
If she buys them directly she will pay $171.75 for the cards and $15.25 for S/H for a total of $187.  You make 45.8 cents/card, therefore $34.35 profit.
 
If you buy the cards, your pay $120.49 for the cards and $15.25 S/H for a total of $135.74 (zero profit).  This gives you a potential profit of $51.26 if you then sold them to her for the same price she would have to pay directly ($187).  This is equal to a 68 cents/card profit for you.
 
The difference is $16.91.  If you buy them yourself, you can save her up to this amount and come out even as far as your profit goes, so $170.09.
 
You can certainly buy them and sell them to her at even lower than $170.09.  $135.74 is your zero profit number.  
 
One note - if you do buy them yourself, your per-card cost is $1.89 but that includes a commision of $0.2835/card (15% of the $1.89 artist discount price).  Therefore you will pay $141.75 for the cards and receive a commision of $21.26 at the time you purchase 75.
 
This somewhat assumes you can deliver them yourself too, btw.  You didn't say if she was a friend or if this was a online buyer request.
Back to top
 
 
Email   IP Logged
Jeff_135713
Gold Member
artist
*****



Posts: 620
Re: Advice order for high volume
Reply #2 - Oct 30th, 2009, 5:21am
 
An additional note:
 
The downside of ordering them yourself and delivering them is that it complicates returns if the customer is not a friend of yours.
 
GCU has a great return policy that would be hard to duplicate and still make money if there was a problem. The shipping from the customer to you then becomes problematic.
 
It sounds like a great sale and I hope you can work it out.
 
-Whisper-
Back to top
 
 
Email   IP Logged
Valerie_136021
GCU Newbies
artist
*



Posts: 50
Re: Advice order for high volume
Reply #3 - Nov 2nd, 2009, 9:07pm
 
Hi and thanks Tom and Jeff for your responses.
 
When i put in a fake order it goes like this: $171.75 plus tax $15.89 and ship 15.25 total 202.89. If i charge her this and put my discount in i get $30.00 profit.  
 
If i understand correctly,  i also get commission of .2835 per card equaling 21.26. Total profit $51.26.
So i tell her the price per card is $2.29 plus tax and shipping?
If i reduce it to $2.19 ++ then profit reduced to 41.26.
Is that right?
What do you think.  
 
Thanks for your help.
Back to top
 
 
Email   IP Logged
Tom_133317
Gold Member
artist
*****



Posts: 2169
Re: Advice order for high volume
Reply #4 - Nov 3rd, 2009, 1:15am
 
Pretty close Val.  To be accurate, one needs to use a spreadsheet to take into account the positive impact of you being charged a lower total tax since you would be buying them at a lower total cost, but then offsetting this savings with the fact you only get 15% commission at your price vs. at the normal buyer's price.
 
The total you came up with of $202.89 includes a 9.25% (OMG!) sales tax.  Divide this by 75 cards and she really is paying $2.705/card effectively.  It took me about an hour, because I can be THICK at times, but I was able to generate a table of equivalents for you.  The first column is the equivalent of a reduction from the normal retail card price, if that is the way you want to present it to her.  Like in your example, an equivalent reduction to $2.19 really would cost $2.62 with tax and shipping.  In this case, you'd charge her $196.50.  You'd make $47.65, well above the normal commission of $34.35 on 75 cards.
 
The colored column is your profit if you bought 75 cards and needed to discount them further in order to close the deal with her.  You can negotiate to as low as $2.05/card equivalent before you end up making less profit than if she just went and bought the cards directly.  By the way this comes at an 11% "discount."
 
The last line represents a case where you make nothing, which matches the $1.61/card (or so) artist price with commission removed.  <Some rounding effects in the spreadsheet>
 
There is a lesson here for everyone.  There is a wide profit range possible doing what Val is doing here.  You can still make $ as long as you resell above your total cost.  In her case, her break-even cost is $1.98/card at qty 75, well below the $2.705/card a normal customer in her area would effectively pay/card.  (That's a 26.6% discount window to play with)
 
Make sense?  Seems you have a good opportunity there Val!  GOOD LUCK!
 

 
Back to top
 
« Last Edit: Nov 3rd, 2009, 2:15am by Tom_133317 »  
Email   IP Logged
Valerie_136021
GCU Newbies
artist
*



Posts: 50
Re: Advice order for high volume
Reply #5 - Nov 4th, 2009, 6:33pm
 
Oh my God!  Shocked what an answer.  Your deserve a gold star  Smiley
 
Well it took me a while to understand the first paragraph.  Now i get it.  How on earth are we supposed to know this.  You are a valuable member.
 
Its not fair that GCU is in California Sad  Where's a good place to move to? undecided
 
Anyway now all i have to figure out is what i deserve and how low her discount is.  
I don't get this bit:
 
[If you buy the cards, your pay $120.49 for the cards and $15.25 S/H for a total of $135.74 (zero profit).  This gives you a potential profit of $51.26 if you then sold them to her for the same price she would have to pay directly ($187).  This is equal to a 68 cents/card profit for you. ]
 
When i look at your chart  the 68 c profit has a different price she pays, $199.50?
 
This is not a difinite order.  She didn't give me her number just took my card and said she'll be back next week (tomorrow).
 
 
Back to top
 
 
Email   IP Logged
Tom_133317
Gold Member
artist
*****



Posts: 2169
Re: Advice order for high volume
Reply #6 - Nov 4th, 2009, 11:31pm
 
The first response did not include the tax.  The final response/chart includes it.  That's the "dif."
Back to top
 
 
Email   IP Logged
David_134612
Full Member
artist
***



Posts: 231
Re: Advice order for high volume
Reply #7 - Nov 5th, 2009, 10:49am
 
Tom deserves at least 4 gold stars for his excellent spreadsheet calculations Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy Cheesy
 
One of the great things about GCU is the options and details they provide, and Toms stats and analysis makes them far more understandable.  
 
We all owe Tom a sale or 2 to say thanks (maybe thats where he gets his sales)
He deserves our thanks for his calculatins and i always read his postings
Back to top
 
 
Email   IP Logged

About Us     Artists     Artist FAQ     Blog     Card Sellers     Contact Us     Content Disclaimer     Forum     Paper Card Categories     Privacy Policy     Shopper FAQ     Holidays 2011

Click to verify BBB accreditation and to see a BBB report.                        
© Copyright 2000- Greeting Card Universe - Powered By Bigdates-Solutions.com   

GCU Forum » Powered by YaBB 2.1!
YaBB © 2000-2005. All Rights Reserved.