MinusWorlds.com debuts Tuesday- Thank You!

[Dan64 | 66]

 Hello Video Game community,

 

 I am happy to announce that MinusWorlds.com,  the video game anonymous fixed price marketplace, is ready to debut this Tuesday!

After over a year of hard work, we are ready to share our vision with you.

I started this journey out because I saw a void in our hobby. I spent a long time telling others someone should start a fixed price marketplace because I have seen how great it helps a hobby. In time I realized that it would probably be years if I did not step up and create it.  Over a year ago I set on this mission. I write to you to say we thankfully we are ready to debut. I did not realize the mountain ahead of us to do this right. But now I could not be prouder of where we are today and the future ahead of us. 

While bugs will happen and we will evolve, this is just the beginning. We have so many great additions to the site in the works that this just the start.

 

But reason I wanted to write here before we kicked out:

Thank you to the people that have been in this hobby before it was cool, countless hours poured into figuring out variants and piecing together knowledge. The unsung heroes that help share knowledge and build this community because they believe in it. 

Knowledge is the foundation in which people can collect. 

If you are raw cart collector, neo geo, modern, sealed, and anything between- most of us are here due to a shared passion in video games and excited to be part of this community. I know video games have been important part of my life and many others here.

 

Thank you to those who came before in this hobby, are here now, and that will come after, this site is dedicated to you. 

 

a video game collector, Dan Allegra

 

 

[RH | 4,903]

Can we get some more details on this?  What, exactly, is an anonymous, fixed price marketplace?  I can infer, but I'd like some more details, if you don't mind.

[Dan64 | 66]

Sorry, I wrote that without wanting to post an advertisement but looking back I should of explained a bit for those who do not know me or the project.

 

Minus Worlds is a fixed price anonymous marketplace.

 

Sellers can list a game from the convenience of their home, snap a a few pictures of their graded game, and post for sale without the game leaving their possession or having people know its their game.

If and when the game sells, the seller gets a prepaid FedEx label that the game is shipped to our office in Santa Clarita, California. We get the game, inspect, and verify its the game sold. Seller is all set for most part, they fulfilled their order. Paid 14 days after delivered. 

We mail the game in a custom shipping box to the buyer. 

All set!

The convenience for the seller is really something I think many will come to enjoy. List a game for whatever price they choose and not have to deal with the buyers and 99.9% of problems.

Buyers get the item they purchased clean and quickly. Shop a marketplace 24/7 that will have a massive selection.

We hope to expand to signage, trophies and other items. Our reason for starting with graded games only besides a few testers is that we want to ensure the process is right. It really comes down to having processes that are best for buyer and seller. 

We have a knowledge center in which we made short videos on different factory seams, articles in collaboration with members of this community like Greg Pabich Action 52/ Cheetahmen II article. 

If you have knowledge and want to collaborate on an article, reach out. We take care of design. so do not hesitate, I look forward working with many of you to share knowledge. 

I personally look forward to feedback and hope you enjoy the site. 

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

.

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by JamesRobot

[glazball | 168]

So every single game sold goes through you (or your office's) hands?  That sounds like a recipe for dishonesty and/or disaster.  What protections are you offering the seller?

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

On 8/28/2021 at 11:06 AM, MinusWorlds said:

@MinusWorlds You seein' this.  Are you affiliated? 

Edited November 18, 2021 by JamesRobot

[RH | 4,903]

2 minutes ago, glazball said:

So every single game sold goes through you (or your office's) hands?  That sounds like a recipe for dishonesty and/or disaster.  What protections are you offering the seller?

This but assuming all goes smoothly, I'm more worried about the fees and double-shipment fees.  Put differently, this sounds like a "high end" way to sell.

Curious, what is your pricing structure?

[Dan64 | 66]

We insure every game for full value. 

Shipping, we charge exact rates so shipping currently is $25-30 total for both labels.

Sellers we charge 0%. How we do this is the seller puts the "net" price they want to get. Say $500. Well they get paid $500, no worrying about doing math etc.

We add 15% to this so when it shows on the site, it will list at $575. This covers credit card fees, custom boxes/handling etc. This way the buyer has no surprise fees during checkout besides calculated shipping and local taxes. Resellers can submit their resale license and be tax exempt. 

 

Please do not hesitate to ask any questions, I am 100% transparent on all of this and always like feedback.

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by Dan64

[Dan64 | 66]

Also forgot to mention a note on security and such.

All packages are opened under camera. We have multiple cameras etc. 

 I hold ourselves to a high standard and we will do right by buyer and seller. Just wanted to throw that point in.

Thanks-Dan

[Mega Tank | 960]

1 hour ago, Dan64 said:

We hope to expand to signage

How would signage be handled if you end up expanding to include that in your marketplace? I don't think I'd trust FedEX with a heavy sign.

[Dan64 | 66]

There is a few different angles to go. We could arrange a service to pick it up and deliver it that handles this specific process or we can allow for delivery for pick up from our office if the seller chooses to leave it with us. 

 

We do allow sellers to send us bulk games in which we take pictures and put in their account for them only to have to price. This service is free at no additional charge

[Jeevan | 8,910]

You said graded.......

[a3quit4s | 4,097]

So stockx for video games?

for god sakes buy a ssl cert. don’t see many people out there using Google Cloud Platform!

Edited November 18, 2021 by a3quit4s

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

@Dan64Where is your companies profit coming from then?  Youre obviously not going to do all this work without being compensated...

[Dan64 | 66]

1 minute ago, SilverspoonGaming said:

@Dan64Where is your companies profit coming from then?  Youre obviously not going to do all this work without being compensated...

 

 

Our margin in the 15% (really closer to 10%) margin we markup the price from where the seller lists and where the buyer sees the price

 

 

[RH | 4,903]

57 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

So stockx for video games?

for god sakes buy a ssl cert. don’t see many people out there using Google Cloud Platform!

I tooled around in "Google Apps", as it was called, when it launched. I liked it, but I never made anything beyind the free tier. It was a good motivator to learn Python because Java is goss.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

3 hours ago, JamesRobot said:

@MinusWorlds You seein' this.  Are you affiliated? 

Beat me to it!

[OptOut | 8,884]

Oooof...

@Dan64 right now:

"The secret to our success is we cut IN the middleman!"

[Jeevan | 8,910]

On 11/25/2020 at 9:26 AM, Dan64 said:

NEVER! Cremate me with the games!

Starts a website for selling games

[OptOut | 8,884]

52 minutes ago, OptOut said:

Oooof...

@Dan64 right now:

"The secret to our success is we cut IN the middleman!"

You know, the more I think about this, the WORSE it seems to get from a business perspective... (I mean disregarding how SCREWED the buyer gets out of the deal, having to foot basically ALL your unnecessary fees and extra postage costs.)

Let's think about this for a second:

So you are making your money on a pretty meagre 15% charge on top of the games you sell, out of which all other business expenses are going to have to be paid. You don't hold the stock yourself UNTIL it is sold, at which point an unnecessarily convoluted chain of shipping, processing, checking and packing, and reshipping needs to occur, before the transaction is fully completed and you can actually BANK the money.

If only ONE link in this relatively complicated chain breaks, your VERY fine profit margin is going to be COMPLETELY wiped out...

• If either the buyer OR the seller backs out of the sale before the transaction is complete, you are screwed.
• If the item arrives at your warehouse in a different condition to that described, by the seller, after you have already sold it, you are screwed.
• If the item arrives at your warehouse and it is subsequently damaged or misplaced while in your possession, you are screwed.
• If the item gets lost in transit, or damaged by the courier, (and remember we are at LEAST doubling the amount of postage involved compared to other sale methods), you are screwed.
• If the buyer simply wants to return an item after they bought it, which they have a LEGAL right to do, you are screwed.

I really don't see where the business logic makes sense, you are assuming practically ALL the risk of very large sales, while leaving a TON of extenuating circumstances to fate, and then taking a really small cut of the overall sale to make it all worth it!

It's no wonder you are hoping to start by offering items in the multiple hundreds of dollar range, boost the raw numbers you are taking in revenue... But, those items sell slowly and irregularly and in small numbers, and honestly you are just MAGNIFYING the risk when something DOES go wrong.

Ebay and other sales sites make up for the inevitable losses of business through sheer SCALE and riding the odds of most transactions being successful. Smaller businesses tailor their products and their pricing to mitigate the harm losses can do to their bottom line. You have NEITHER scale, NOR direct control of your products and pricing...

I mean I could go on... the environmental costs alone of perhaps adding a couple THOUSAND MILE round trip on to the journey of an item sold between two other people doesn't seem right to me either, but I would imagine I've made my point by now!

Erm... Sorry! Good luck? 

[Dan64 | 66]

1 hour ago, OptOut said:

You know, the more I think about this, the WORSE it seems to get from a business perspective... (I mean disregarding how SCREWED the buyer gets out of the deal, having to foot basically ALL your unnecessary fees and extra postage costs.)

Let's think about this for a second:

So you are making your money on a pretty meagre 15% charge on top of the games you sell, out of which all other business expenses are going to have to be paid. You don't hold the stock yourself UNTIL it is sold, at which point an unnecessarily convoluted chain of shipping, processing, checking and packing, and reshipping needs to occur, before the transaction is fully completed and you can actually BANK the money.

If only ONE link in this relatively complicated chain breaks, your VERY fine profit margin is going to be COMPLETELY wiped out...

• If either the buyer OR the seller backs out of the sale before the transaction is complete, you are screwed.
• If the item arrives at your warehouse in a different condition to that described, by the seller, after you have already sold it, you are screwed.
• If the item arrives at your warehouse and it is subsequently damaged or misplaced while in your possession, you are screwed.
• If the item gets lost in transit, or damaged by the courier, (and remember we are at LEAST doubling the amount of postage involved compared to other sale methods), you are screwed.
• If the buyer simply wants to return an item after they bought it, which they have a LEGAL right to do, you are screwed.

I really don't see where the business logic makes sense, you are assuming practically ALL the risk of very large sales, while leaving a TON of extenuating circumstances to fate, and then taking a really small cut of the overall sale to make it all worth it!

It's no wonder you are hoping to start by offering items in the multiple hundreds of dollar range, boost the raw numbers you are taking in revenue... But, those items sell slowly and irregularly and in small numbers, and honestly you are just MAGNIFYING the risk when something DOES go wrong.

Ebay and other sales sites make up for the inevitable losses of business through sheer SCALE and riding the odds of most transactions being successful. Smaller businesses tailor their products and their pricing to mitigate the harm losses can do to their bottom line. You have NEITHER scale, NOR direct control of your products and pricing...

I mean I could go on... the environmental costs alone of perhaps adding a couple THOUSAND MILE round trip on to the journey of an item sold between two other people doesn't seem right to me either, but I would imagine I've made my point by now!

Erm... Sorry! Good luck? 

Where to start...   

We are having items sent to us to ensure the the item for the buyer but also to protect the seller. 

With people backing out, lost packages, etc: We have insurances in place and procedures to ensure our default rate is microscopic. 

 

 We are a company to take on what you think is an impossible task. With all this, would say if we do perform as stated, heck of a service for the buyers and sellers right? That's the convenience and marketplace I we are. At the end of the day, it is a truly great service that is worth every penny. 

If we make a mistake, we will pay and not make excuses. I am writing this in a public forum because that is who we are and what we do. 

In total know we are here to make this a process in which we welcome new people and old in the hobby to an experience that serves them. I truly believe it will be a great service for those who choose to try our services and welcome you to try it.

-Dan

[OptOut | 8,884]

15 minutes ago, Dan64 said:

At the end of the day, it is a truly great service that is worth every penny. 

You are providing the service of inspecting a package before rerouting it to the person who purchased it? Where are you ADDING value???

A buyer can provide this service for themselves by simply buying an item from someone, receiving the item DIRECTLY, and then returning it if it's not what they expected. Even better they DON'T need to wait for an extra X amount of time as you take delivery or their item, repackage it, and then repost it back to where it SHOULD have gone in the first place!

 

What is your product? What are people GETTING for their money and time?

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

4 hours ago, OptOut said:

What is your product? What are people GETTING for their money and time?

If he's willing to ship internationally, he's opening up a viable option for me to buy shit online without having to use eBay's GSP scam.  I'd be willing to give it a go on that basis alone.

Essentially though, what he's doing is an alternative to eBay, where you can price things how you want and get every cent of your asking price when the listing sells.  He'll mark it up to pay the fees, rather than take a cut of the price you sold it for.  The result is more or less identical on the buyer's end, as the markup pays the shipping costs and fees, so they are only paying the price shown on the site.  So if the buyer wants $100, and the markup is $20, the listing will show $120.  The buyer pays $120, the seller receives $100, both are happy and aren't hit with extra charges at checkout.  It definitely has a place, but it remains to be seen whether the idea is as sound in practice as the theory seems.  I'd be willing to check it out regardless though, as y'all Yanks don't seem to like sending shit to the rest of the planet.

[jonebone | 1,307]

6 hours ago, OptOut said:

You know, the more I think about this, the WORSE it seems to get from a business perspective... (I mean disregarding how SCREWED the buyer gets out of the deal, having to foot basically ALL your unnecessary fees and extra postage costs.)

Have you ever heard of www.stockx.com ?  If not you should check it out.  This is the same exact business model except they do it for brand new (deadstock) shoes, and have expanded into other collectibles too (Cards, clothing, etc.)  I'm not for or against this concept but this business model has already worked before.

[a3quit4s | 4,097]

2 hours ago, jonebone said:

Have you ever heard of www.stockx.com ?  If not you should check it out.  This is the same exact business model except they do it for brand new (deadstock) shoes, and have expanded into other collectibles too (Cards, clothing, etc.)  I'm not for or against this concept but this business model has already worked before.

ha another sneaker head! I said stock X earlier in the thread but at least they add value by verifying authenticity of shoes and said collectibles. This person is only allowing games that are already graded to be sold. Probably just trying to cut out the high costs of fees when doing business with an auction house. Seller fees and buyer premiums are ridiculous.