Choose not to sell to certain buyers?

I've run into some problems with re-sellers. They'll buy several models, then re-sell them with a crazy markup (6-8 times more than original cost) on ebay and etsy. I'm really not sure how to proceed. I can flag him on etsy- his item isn't handmade by himself- but etsy doesn't respond to reports. It seems useless and unwarranted to proceed to work with ebay(as no ebay rules are violated). So what should be done? Should I embrace this as competition and compete with him on ebay? Can I choose not to sell to him on Shapeways?
This particular seller has also re-sold IPhone "Settings" Earrings made by Noesis.

I'm not sure what you should do, if he's making that much profit off your item, you could move your mark-up higher. You could add an inscription to the item that says designed by extrudedqwerty or what ever you wish. I'm surprised Etsy allows him to sell your items after you notified them. And you can set you item to not be for sale publicly, but if he has the link already, you may have to reupload the items or contact support@shapeways.com to see if they can change the link for you. Either way I'd contact support to see what Shapeways can do.

If people are willing to pay this guy 6 or 8 times your selling price, then they will be will to pay you the same or more. One of the most difficult lessons that makers have to learn is that produce are very easy to underprice, and that by raising the price towards what customers think is fair can often increase sales.
So I would watch this guy of the next few weeks and see how well things go for him then adjust your prices accordingly. Of course this may mean you have to do more marketing, but that is a cost that should be included in your retail price anyway.

Well, according to his ebay history, he's sold more in a month than I have in 2 years, which is extremely discouraging. I find it hard to believe that people would pay so much more and think that an influencing factor is the convenience of ebay.

Then put your prices up, he has shown you what the market price of your pieces is, so it's much better that you get the money for your work, than some other guy.
You will be surprised what people will pay for something they like and is out of the ordinary.

How has he sold more than you when he's buying them from you?

err, I meant profited more, not sold more units :blush: . So, I guess I just need to adjust my prices. Thanks for the suggestions!

i would go even further- talk to this person and strike up a deal... maybe do an exclusive thing with him... sell to him exclusively or combo an item- every time he wants a popular thing- sell him something else and if he balks- remember that you have the upper hand. you are the supplier and you can always pull the design...

boy i love capitalism.

oh and if you are still not satisfied- send him my way... ill make whatever he wants...(within reason of course, i won't copy a design)

chris

Well, this somewhat brings up an old issue, that I can't communicate with my buyers, unless they contact me first.

Hey all,

This is the first case that we are aware of that a third party buys up stock and resells without the designers participation.

It does sound like the price you offer is too low if the market is willing to pay a higher price.

This is a good problem to have.

Up the price a little and see if he increases his margin too?

It is like having a personal marketing and distribution department outside of Shapeways. Congratulations.

The problem is that he's FLEECING people on eBay. He puts up his items as "limited editions" and "one of a kind!" to entice people into buying them. This obviously isn't the case as I could buy a dozen of the item in silver if I had the money to do that. When people see something on eBay that is billed as being limited or one of a kind, they tend to go for the high price without realizing where the item is coming from.

EDIT: I was the one that first brought this to extrudedqwerty's attention.

@extrudedqwerty
After that you have raised up your markup for silver so that your object on Shapeways is more expensive than the price proposed on ebay, why not buying one on ebay to see what happens...

Why not ?

Open your own ebay store, use the same auction titles as your reseller, but be cheaper... charge Shapeways' shipping fees, use a phrase like "will ship the item (insert Shapeways normal lead time here) after payment", and send it direct from SW to the bidder. ^^

You could also write something like "You can save X $ if you order this item in my Shapeways shop" in the description, and add a link.

Two remarks:
- you cannot advertize Shapeways in eBay (competing shop)
- you cannot use Shapeways to deliver items outside your own country (so you will have to take care about the shipping)
But I agree, if your items are successful on eBay, you should open your own shop there.
You will have no difficulties to compete with your "non-official reseller"...

Wuuups. That's right. :blush:
Sorry, I'm not familiar with ebay's terms for shops.

Isn't this just a problem for people who pay by credit card?

As a few people have said. Compete with him on EBay. According to you even if you double your SW price (to cover your cost for printing and then re-shipping) you will still undercut the other guy and make money.

Jeez, I wish I was in that position....

Im definitely agreeing with Shadowknight1 here, the guy reselling sounds very dodgy, and is more than likely taking advantage of people on ebay, and its potentially less about the possibility that shapeways shop version is under-priced.
Therfore competing with this guy does two things,
1 - it means you have to (to some degree) think about taking advantage of people as well, by charging several times more for something which was in fact much cheaper to print. I wouldnt rule it out however that the original models being sold on shapeways could be underpriced. But still... Unless you advertise them as unique and rare objects to deceive people, your already not able to compete with this guy.
2 - Doesnt solve the fact that this guy is making money (and will continue to make money) off a product you spent time and worked on making available to sell to people.


Id be doing everything possible to get rid of this guy.
Ive had a case like this in the past (not related to shapeways) where someone credited themselves with work Id done, then started selling said work. I sent a warning email as soon as someone informed me of it, and was a matter of hours away from talking to my legal contacts about options, when the guy backed down and did as I asked.
I feel as if I got it easy though, this ebay seller could be more of a challenge.

I agree he's making money off re-selling items bought here, but apart from the shady way he's doing it (advertising as unique and one of a kind) he's perfectly entitled to do that. Unless you specifically put on the model page "Not to be re-sold" then he won't stop. And I doubt he would stop even then.

This is the whole nature of retail - Buy Low and Sell High. If there are people willing to pay those prices (without being deceived) then it will continue.

Glenn

What??? No, it doesnt work like that.

Straight from the SW copyright info.
Note that this is regarding using other peoples work, let alone going the step further to misrepresent someone else's work and then sell it.

Its not acceptable.

Nope. What they are talking about is using someone else's DIGITAL FILE. This is what "Make available to all" means. If, indeed he has taken the file and re-used it then I agree. HOWEVER, this was not stated in the original post - simply that someone is buying a product and re-selling it. Again, this is the way retail is done, right? If I buy an Apple iPad for $500 I am perfectly within my rights to re-sell it for $1000 if I can find a sucker to buy it. BUT I am NOT allowed to MAKE my own iPad based on Apple's designs.

There is NOTHING in Shapeways "rules" that states someone can't buy one of my printed models and re-sell it.

Your point re mis-representing I agree with, as I said earlier.

Glenn