[WM] Setting up shop

[Lex]

In trying to co�rdinate a trade/sale from NWE Europe to Siberia, we discussed the possibility for me to host a "mini" (<-- all pun intended) shop on the Warmuster website, which would allow those sculpters that might be persuaded to trade a platform to show off, and would put me in as the middleperson in swaptrades and sales.

I am still not totaly sure HOW this would work (but I definitly DO have some working notions), but the main question is also, would you guys be willing to participate in a setup like that

[azrael71]

I am in.
Let's hope all our talented sculptors step up and help fill those gaps in the product line
Whilst covering their costs 

[Brutalrage]

Great notion I would "buy"

[David Wasilewski]

Great idea - I would buy.

It's all turning into a bit of an expensive nightmare trying to send money abroad from/to certain countries so if this was a way around this it would be great!

David

[BlackEd]

Lex,  I'm not 100% sure what you have in mind.  I like the idea of being able to display my sculpts somewhere in the hopes of getting buyers.

As I am in the USA, shipping costs to/from Europe are still going to increase the cost of what I sell/buy.

[David Wasilewski]

If it achieves nothing else it cuts out all the e bay and/or web site and advertising fees and also puts everything in one place.

Dave

[Lex]

Lex,  I'm not 100% sure what you have in mind.  I like the idea of being able to display my sculpts somewhere in the hopes of getting buyers.

As I am in the USA, shipping costs to/from Europe are still going to increase the cost of what I sell/buy.

Not if we can set up regular transits.........

[BlackEd]

Well, I think this is a grand idea.  If you are willing to give it a go, so am I!

[rcdenny]

would support!

[Lex]

OK...  I have had some time to think this over and am taking the first steps to actualy start up the trading exchange. For the moment I will restrict it to Warmaster and related items. We will set up shop under the name of "the BitzBox", for the time being as part of the Warmuster site. Cybershadow is goingto make some changes here, so we might find ourselfs wandering around a bit, but that should not interfere with the running of things.

I will take input on the operational ideas, before actualy creating the procedures/programming behind it.

First and foremost, the BitzBox will NOT function like an auction house in any way ! Material put up in the exchange will be freely available for all to swap for an agreeable portion of similar material. To give and example, recently DavidW and I handled a trade along these lines, where he requested certain bitz from the box and was simply asked to "restock"  the box with an aproximate equal amount of material. Those new bitz will find their way back into the BitzBox again. On (VERY LIMITED) occasions we might allow for some monetray exchanges, but those will be restricted to those Bitz that are ranked as RARE.

1) the BitzBox will have 2 kinds of usergroups
Stakeholders and Brokers

Stakeholders (of which initialy I will be the only one, unless others want to step in and join) will essentialy be the trading hubs of the BitzBox. As a Stakeholder I will put all Strips, Clips and Bitz (of which more later!) from my own stock in the exchange.
Stakeholders always have the right to pull back (part of their) stock.
Stakeholders agree (by majority) on the ranking of items in the exchange (see Ranking below)

Brokers are those whom are looking for specific items and are willing to trade from their own (private) stock.
Brokers need to be registered (with full shipping information etc.) with the BitzBox before they can trade.
Brokers are accredited for trading by the Stakeholders, and should expect their trades to be evaluated and rated.

Stakeholders are responsible for keeping track of the stock in the exchange, but will handle all trading requests based on actual availability of the materials. Stakeholders may freely decide to move stock to the various geographic locations they represent, to facilitate distribution.

2) of Strips, Clips and Bitz
In general we will NOT be moving blisters, but rather provide the elusive, yet needed strips, clips and bitz.
Strips are those genericly found in a Warmaster unit.
Clips are essentialy parts of unitstrips, most often encountered when people eg. pry apart cavalry or missile troops.
Bitz are most often parts of command blisters, or bits and pieces of artillery

In fair trade anything requested should normaly be replaced by the equivalent "weight" by the broker, unless the item was ranked

3) ranking will be established by the stakeholder on those items know to be more ellusive then other. eg. bits from the Storm of Chaos blister, etc.  For the moment if there are any ranked bitz involved in a potential trader, then the broker should contact the relevant stakeholder. I prefer (and expect) to eventualy establish a fair rate of exchange for Ranked items.

Ranking for now will be  Normal, Special, Rare, Legendary

Questions, suggestion etc welcome, so we can go into the next fase of this project !

[David Wasilewski]

It may be helpful to give a couple of examples of how the process might work at the end user point?

e.g. x send in Y bitz. They are ranked as "special" and requests "z" special bits back from the stock list. Moderators agree this is fair and send "z"

Then another example of where the mod disagrees with the rating of the rareness of the bitz swap being proposed and what happens next?

Dave

[Lex]

Well this is one of the things I think we need to find an aggreable sollution for. First off, I think that most of the stuff ending up in the BitzBox is going to be regular bits and pieces. In that area I would expect trades to be tit-for-tat.

One way of handeling anything "more coloufull"  would be to have the broker contacting the Stakeholder posting it, to agree upon a fiar exchange beforehand.

Look at the deal we did recently, essentialy you where looking for some specific items, but at the moment you need to post and hope that someone reacts, with the BitzBox up you could browse it, and maybe find what you like.

Part of the stuff you wanted was Special or even rare Rare, so we had mailcontact to confirm the trade, and as a BitzBox stakeholder I am not looking for specific trades (when I would, I´d become a broker too for that!). As my aim was building up more stock (for the moment) we simply agreed that any material would do.

Examples:

There are several strips of goblin wolfriders in the box, you´d indicate the ones you would want, and send an equivalent number of strips back.

You are one short on a chariot bit, which is in the BitzBox, trade it for just about anything else (strip,clip or bitz)

The BitzBox contains  around 20 squig°clips you want, to create some squighordes for your O&G,. They are marked a Special, as it is not an out-of-a-blister component. An equivalent number of strips. bitz and clips would be in order, and you´d rumage around you own spares to see if you can find anything special to put in

There is a miniature of Valen in the BitzBox, which I guess would be at the least a rare. You want to grab it before anyone else does, so you phone therelevant stakeholder to ask the price      
Well, maybe not that, but consider what you would be wolling to trade for it. There is one stipulation that I would personaly attach to THAT specific deal, and that is that it would NOT find its wat into the "market", but would be proudly presented (painted and based) on the forums within a certain number of weeks.......

[jchaos79]

Great idea, Lex.

I have one question, the bitzbox will only cover GW warmaster figures, or will be generic 10mm figures?

I mean, other manufacturers like pendraken, old glory, eureka, warrior, steve barber, irregular, obelisk, etc...?

In that case, will be only restricted to fantasy or historical figures could be found in the bitzbox?

[Lex]

Great idea, Lex.

I have one question, the bitzbox will only cover GW warmaster figures, or will be generic 10mm figures?

I mean, other manufacturers like pendraken, old glory, eureka, warrior, steve barber, irregular, obelisk, etc...?

In that case, will be only restricted to fantasy or historical figures could be found in the bitzbox?

Where I am concerened, anything 10 mm would be fine.

[Lex]

Right, the box is being setup. as you can see in the original post, and I am putting the contents of the box up in a Picassa album, so if you are interested in working the BitzBox, drop me a line with your personal data, and I will share the album with you. Currently it just holds two placeholder pictures, but I will start filling it up over the comming weeks !

And if there are people willing to function as Stakeholders on any other locations, please let me know !!