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World's largest community of heavy metal tshirt and battlejacket collectors.

New low % sellers fee? thoughts?

doctordeathSat, 30/10/2021 - 12:09

Hi guys

I'm thinking that a lot of guys are selling shirts on here that are like 300-400-500 eur, and it does not feel fair that the supporters are the guys that are keeping this place running

Even with the amazing support of the Patreon members, after hosting (we have a real server that cannot be simply taken off 'the cloud'), time I spend programming, admin, security checks, upgrade, adding new sections, etc it's still very 50/50 to keep TShirtSlayer running, the Supporters and I are only keeping the site running for the love of metal. It only *just* pays for all of the costs

So my idea is, when you buy something and enter in the trade-review, it will ask you how much you sold it for - then it will calculate some percentage (yet to be decided) and send the seller a small invoice via paypal

Yeah I know some guys will find a way around this, but it's on their consciousness and they are cheating TSS out of a viable future if they don't help out

so hmm... thoughts?

Some examples of other fees from other sites

depop - 10%
etsy - up to 15%
ebay - 12.55%

so.. yeah.. it's REALLY difficult to keep TSS running, we don't need to charge such big fees, I think something between 5% and 10% is fine, I would still want to keep it less than the other guys

maybe for existing supports it can be lower, except for a few of the really high-end premium sellers like the incredible https://tshirtslayer.com/user/benmvintageandmore

Lord Cthulhu on Sat, 30/10/2021 - 15:31

If people are using the site as a sales platform first and foremost, then it seems sensible that they should be encouraged to pay a small contribution to hep out with the running costs as they would have to using other online auction or sales websites. If it's left to people to be honest about the value of the sale though, I suspect many will not be as honest as they should (especially if sales are really hitting €300-€500 levels per shirt?!)

Bottom line for all of us who choose to use and support Tshirtslayer is that we need to recognise that the effort put into it by Dr Death is significant, and perhaps more of us should become Patreon donors to help out, spread the cost, and ensure the site flourishes?

@Dr Death - what percentage of registered members do actually contribute a regular monthly amount to you for running the site, out of interest?

doctordeath on Sat, 30/10/2021 - 16:03

actually lots! <3 _luckily_ most of the regular people are supporters AND even better is that most of traders are also patreons..

Comella77 on Sat, 30/10/2021 - 15:48

My two cents opinion :
Allow only Patreon members to enter TSS. it's the only reasonable way.
Sellers will continue to sell cheating on Trade/sale reports or make deals out of this Platform in order not to pay any fees.....that's OK , not my business.
Let's see how many users understand the meaning of being part of a community that helps and protects your trade and sale deals , trying to maintain a roster of honest members.
That's why I became a TSS supporter.
Fees upon sales ? it's reasonable though, because of what I written above.

doctordeath on Sat, 30/10/2021 - 16:02

> Allow only Patreon members to enter TSS. it's the only reasonable way.

No, many websites have died this same way, a walled garden helps no one, TSS is a gallery/historical collection of tshirts in the first place, that is the number-one priority here..

I dont think thats the solution

but yeah.. maybe you need to be a patreon to sell?

Comella77 on Sat, 30/10/2021 - 18:34

Maybe... fair enough.

kingdomofhannover on Sat, 30/10/2021 - 19:07

Beeing a patreon to sell is the right way!

Samppa666 on Sat, 30/10/2021 - 23:58

The 'only patreons can sell' sounds good but it should also mean only patreons can send messages to other users, respond to messages, comment to items and trade because non-patreon users would bypass the 'patreon only' selling rule by arranging sales as trades via dm's.

Well maybe im going too extreme with the thought here: non-patreon users shouldnt see other users nicks, locations, the item descriptions and stuff like that to deter new users to use tss as a 'for sale' window and make the sales through another website, forum, social media, et cetera.

Then again, like Doc already pointed out, this too might make tss crumple and die.

Edit: Well now i realize that is basically the same thing what Comella77 suggested about allowing only patreon members to enter.

BloodFireDeath on Sat, 30/10/2021 - 20:22

I think it's a solid idea that only patreon supporters should be able to sell here. If you're out to make a quick hundred from shirts and patches it shouldn't hurt to give just a couple bucks a month to the site you're using.

meaningless

on Wed, 03/11/2021 - 13:13

good point here! Only Patreon supporters should be able to sell stuff..., very good idea imo.

metal12 on Sun, 31/10/2021 - 13:33

Sounds fair and I REALLY appreciate what you are doing here keeping this sire going

kimo on Mon, 01/11/2021 - 06:36

Not that I have ever sold anything here but it sounds fair enough. I guess the big sellers will maybe just add it to the item price anyway.

Doomgarlic on Tue, 02/11/2021 - 14:43

I'm a member of a forum where you're recommended to donate 10% of the selling price towards the forum server costs, no matter if it's a direct fixed sales price or an auction in a forum thread. It takes some trust to work and does so for most sales and auctions but also, for better or worse, keeps some rare items and larger donations away since certain sellers are only interested in a large profit and not in making a donation. The forum has no patreon and you don't have to pay forfor membership/sales privileges. A counter at the top shows the all over donation amount for each month/year and counts towards the actual forum server cost etc.

If prices on shirts or whatver you're selling is mandatory to have out in the open, it'd be easy to determine the amount for donation and also to keep prices down and avoid price guessing/offers via pm. Ridiculosly priced items might not sell or the prices might be lowered over time until they reach something more realistic. The vintage metal merch market is so, so inflated. Then again, I think sales would decline and even more move over to Facebook with will result in even higher prices and more price guessing via pm.

meaningless

on Wed, 03/11/2021 - 13:11

Imo - fine for me. Im not the most selling guy here and not the super high price-items, but its ok for me. Im paying Patreon since day1, u know :)
Whatever u are up to do, im ok with it. And in case some ppl leave....well....we all will know then why they are here - not because they are collector, just business ppl. And if im not totaly wrong - TSS was created as a collectors page from collectors for collectors and not to be a business-platform.

But its up to you, Doc :) no idea if all the patreon payers are enough to cover the cost for hardhare AND your time/work..haha