Pay what its worth business model

[WhatTheGox]

If i changed my ebay business/any business to a pay what i paid for the item type business model and then when i send the customer the item a card is included explaining my business model to the customer asking them to donate for the value i added if they liked the service.... could this model be successful?  - perhaps adding a suggested donation.  

Obviously most people would often choose not to donate but my sales would increase 3 fold is my guess from destroying competitors on list price.

People who disliked the product would be less likely to leave bad feedback due to the price being much cheaper originally.

[WhatTheGox]

Obviously most people would often choose not to donate but my sales would increase 3 fold is my guess from destroying competitors on list price.

We're losing on each one, but we're making it up on the volume?

Doing 3 times the volume with only 1/3 people donating as suggested after sale would make around the same profit as now.   All depends on the donation after sale ratio.

Anyway the thread obviously sucks since 1 reply in 100 views, bad ratio lol sorry guys, i still think the idea is kinda interesting.

[Q7]

I think your main objective is to offer price as low as possible in order to crush your competitor and then hoping that you build up your customer base from there. I think that is pretty much workable business model if you can sustain long term maintaining at that price. Only the most well run business will survive

[gentlemand]

It could go either way. I think it very much depends on what market you're in.

There have been quite a few pop up restaurants that have only worked on the model of paying what you think your meal was worth. In general they ended up making more money than having set prices.

That's a far more emotional situation than something you might obtain online. If it's online based, it's that much less personal so they're more inclined to think 'fuck it, not as if I'll ever deal with them again' and skank you.

There are thousands of websites devoted to getting things for as little as possible. If you end up on one of them then it might be game over.

[WhatTheGox]

That's a far more emotional situation than something you might obtain online. If it's online based, it's that much less personal so they're more inclined to think 'fuck it, not as if I'll ever deal with them again' and skank you.

There are thousands of websites devoted to getting things for as little as possible. If you end up on one of them then it might be game over.

Yeah good points for sure, trying to make an emotional connection with some random internet buyer is tricky.  Thats probably the key issue.

[countryfree]

How honest are your customers? This is the question.

[biggerbig]

If Your business is face to face then "pay what you think" may be the right way to go but if you are doing online stuff then forge about it. People don't want to fell guilty in front of other person , where in online business people don't see anyone around so they won't fill guilty if they pay way less for something.

[WhatTheGox]

How honest are your customers? This is the question.

hmmm a real mix, so all ebayers, most seem honest but they might actually lack in the intellgence to understand they should donate extra in order for the service to continue.

[WhatTheGox]

If Your business is face to face then "pay what you think" may be the right way to go but if you are doing online stuff then forge about it. People don't want to fell guilty in front of other person , where in online business people don't see anyone around so they won't fill guilty if they pay way less for something.

lol yeah, its kinda sad people lack the imagnation to realize the person on the end of the internet is real (usually) and they aren't just playing a computer simulation game.

[ObscureBean]

Something like that could maybe work if you have a huge customer base, like really huge especially if this is your main source of income. You'd obviously have to build up your rep, no less than top-rated seller with +99%. Even then it would be hard, ebay is just too crowded for a single merchant to truly shine above the rest. Also it'll probably be hard for people to ascertain that you have the cheapest price. I think the donation business model works best when you provide a free service that make people go 'wow can't believe this is free!!'. The best example I can think of is Linux, the Linux Mint team get some very nice donations but then the work they do is truly outstanding 

[WhatTheGox]

Something like that could maybe work if you have a huge customer base, like really huge especially if this is your main source of income. You'd obviously have to build up your rep, no less than top-rated seller with +99%. Even then it would be hard, ebay is just too crowded for a single merchant to truly shine above the rest. Also it'll probably be hard for people to ascertain that you have the cheapest price. I think the donation business model works best when you provide a free service that make people go 'wow can't believe this is free!!'. The best example I can think of is Linux, the Linux Mint team get some very nice donations but then the work they do is truly outstanding 

My customer base is huge is you consider its the whole of ebay, i dont get a high % of return customers. But yeah even if you are cheapest the ebay search ranking doesnt always put you at number 1 and perhaps a decent % of people wouldnt even bother to shop around for cheaper.