Hacking How much should I charge?

[thejellydude]

Anyways, I'm selling AceKard2's at my school, pre-formated, Kingston Japanese 2 gig, with homebrew and cheats already installed. Anyone have suggestions on price? (Fair ones, as I've already got offers over 90, but I feel that's a ripoff)

 

[Swip]

They wont feel its a rip off. They're paying for 2 games at retail.

 

[tinymonkeyt]

a ripoff for them or for you?
cuz acekard2 cost about 30 (only at dealextreme. others 40 i guess)
and the 2gigs (kingston also) about 10-20
thats like 50-60 ish
well i mean
if you wanna make a profit go ahead and sell at 90
just dont let them find out they could gotten cheaper lol
and yeah, its not really a ripoff since theyre gonna ripoff the game companies anyway

 

[Bri]

Now, now. thejellydude doesn't know that they'll be using his carts to rip off the game companies. He's only installing homebrew on them. I'm sure he makes them all sign a disclosure saying that the carts are only for homebrew and backups, and that he isn't responsible for any other use of them. Mmmm hmmm....

@thejellydude: how much time does it take you to order everything, download the homebrew and firmware, and put everything on the carts, and how much time do you spend helping everyone when a game doesn't work right or when they want to update their firmware, etc.? How much risk is involved with purchasing the hardware with your own money? Your cost should be around $40 - $45 each all said and done, so figure out how much your time and risk are worth on top of that and add it in. I agree, $90 (which is double your cost) is probably a bit high, but perhaps somewhere between $45 and $90 would be fair.

-Bri

 

[Urza]

Now, now. thejellydude doesn't know that they'll be using his carts to rip off the game companies. He's only installing homebrew on them. I'm sure he makes them all sign a disclosure saying that the carts are only for homebrew and backups, and that he isn't responsible for any other use of them.

Because that argument totally worked for all the modchip dealers that have been shut down over the years.


More on the topic, the correct answer to your question is "the most they're willing to pay".

 

[JSalcedo]

I easily sold some SCDS1's and TTDS's for 110 each before lol. Most people in high school don't have access to internet shopping.

 

[Bri]

@Urza: I was of course being facetious on the first point. As for the second, I suppose that would depend on how likely he is to get beat up when they find out how much the carts actually cost. He specifically asked for suggestions on what a fair price would be.

-Bri

 

[xenon]

Well, hardware value is about 40$, value of time spent 10$ tops, fair markup 10$. 60$.

 

[arsehat]

Well, hardware value is about 40$, value of time spent 10$ tops, fair markup 10$. 60$.

What about the risk? It'll also depend on what thejellydude does with regard to warranty and repairs and RMAs and all that.

If he's planning on keeping a few on hand for replacements or replacing/upgrading to something else for a reasonable period of time (say, at least 3-6 months - possibly longer) and absorbing the cost of dead units and memory cards himself, he could legitimately get away with charging more to cover that contingency. If buying the things from DX it's worth remembering that it'll probably be cheaper and faster to just absorb the cost of any that go faulty after the first month and factor that into the price he charges.

If he's putting a working card (whether it's repaired or replaced) back into someones hands a day or two at most after getting a duff one, and doing that for six months or maybe a year, for people who don't know where to go or don't want to take the risk of looking for themselves, then he's filling a market niche. Not everything is about price alone - sometimes its about service, and as in many other "industries" there's probably a niche in the ecosystem for competent backyarders who offer a premium service that the box-shifters can't. That's worth something to some people - just like buying from a retailer in your country is worth more to some people than the price savings of getting it from DX or similar.

Besides, there's another risk thejellydude's running - it won't happen often at all with quality cards, but there have been sporadic reports of fuses being blown even by fair-to-good quality units (and far more often with stinkers like the R4 clones)... his buyers are getting a fully-tested item that has been shown to work and not to kill a DS, and that has to be worth something too. I've heard of one R4 that's killed a DS, a couple of DSTTs and a metric arseload of n5/e7/"R4-Upgrade II" carts that have done that, so like it or not it's a real risk that he's insulating his buyers from. Provided his value-adding and follow-up service are appropriate, urza's "the most they're willing to pay" is spot on. The price can also help limit sales to what he can reasonably expect to be able to support - just to pluck a few figures out of my arse, it's probably better to on-sell five units per month at X margin than 15 at a margin of X/2 if he has to cram all that work in between school and family and other commitments. Fifty percent more gross margin for three times the work and three times the risk exposure doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and at a reduced margin there would be a temptation to drop service levels too.

 

[xenon]

Err... I thought the discussion was less serious-business-oriented than that. If you do pure business, the "fair" price is the highest that will not shrink your market (this thing has a name, but fortunately I don't remember it

).

 

[Bri]

Supply and demand.

-Bri

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

More precisely, equilibrium price: The point where the price the average consumer will pay matches the price the dealer is willing to sell for.

 

[Narin]

Eh, just don't get caught. Many schools would suspend you for selling goods on their property without going through the school for their permission first. My friend got suspended for a month for selling various playing cards on school grounds.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Pfft. For the last 5 years running my little brother's been making cash off of selling candy and drinks on school grounds- sometimes by his locker, but mostly on the bus. The only time he ever got in trouble was when he tried doing it during recess in 5th grade, and all they really did was talk to him.

Really, I'd try selling flashcarts, but I'm like one of 5 people in my school with a DS. Seriously.

 

[Giangsta]

i wish i could sell flashcarts but im way to honest, everytime ppl give me money to buy them a flash cart i always give back exact change because i'll feel rotten if i cheat them of their money.

Then again, these are all close friends anwyays.

 

[Topfragger]

He isn't running a bussiness he is selling cards to people, he is basically offering them a service.
he has done all the startup work of formatting the cards and ordering them setting them up, testing them etc.

and giving the buyer the convenience of getting a card on the spot no waiting no hassle.
if they care more about saving their money then thats their business to order one online, so basically at the end of the day, he needs to make some profit for the time he puts into it.

Lampoil? ROPE! Bombs?! you want it? it's yours my friend as loooong as you have enough Rupees!

 

[Bri]

My guess is that a lot of people who are potential buyers don't know anything about flash carts and don't know how much they're worth. Therefore, if he rips them off and they find out how much they really cost, they might decide to beat his ass. Something to consider.

-Bri

 

[Sinkhead]

I would suggest:

Price of the card (for the card)
One fifth of the price of the card (for replacements)
$10 for service charge
$10 profit

So if the AK2s are $40 this is

$40 for the AK2
$8 for replacements
$10 service charge
$10 profit
$68 total (round up to $70?)

 

[Topfragger]

My guess is that a lot of people who are potential buyers don't know anything about flash carts and don't know how much they're worth. Therefore, if he rips them off and they find out how much they really cost, they might decide to beat his ass. Something to consider.

-Bri

If it were me, nobody would be able to beat my ass, there had better be ALLOT of them taking me on at one time.

besides buyer beware.

 

[NeSchn]

Man, I probably would have gotten more offers for my DSTT. I sold it for $40. Oh well.