Would the following model work for this company and selling on Amazon?: Sell gift cards for speakers on Amazon. Fulfillment of customized speakers is handled directly by the manufacturer/seller. Returns and issues with the speakers are handled directly by the manufacturer/seller.
Goodbye Amazon
31–40 of 139 posts
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#32Seems like the company made a mis-aligned decision to go with Amazon for distribution when it is not the right fit for the product.
Basically what the currently top-ranked comment says.
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#33>Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, [...] If all goes smoothly, this process takes about six weeks. >Amazon relentlessly pushed us to accept lead-times that were typically only four days, and sometimes demanded fulfillment of orders in as little as 24 hours--including delivery. Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week c…
And the risk of keeping inventory value that you're never going to sell. Amazon takes their speakers, but will never send the unsold units back. Making expensive speakers according to MRP projections with no reliable demand is a time-bomb for a small company like this one. Especially if they're already unsatisfied with Amazon's performance, why would they risk thousands of dollars worth of product for no reason? It d…
But that would also be true if they were selling their speakers through Walmart, Best Buy, Sharper Image. This is a laundry list of complaints that boils down to "Amazon is a retailer." And who didn't know that? If you want to sell at retail you need inventory.
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#34>Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, [...] If all goes smoothly, this process takes about six weeks. >Amazon relentlessly pushed us to accept lead-times that were typically only four days, and sometimes demanded fulfillment of orders in as little as 24 hours--including delivery. Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week c…
As a customer of Amazon I think Amazon should definitely be an appropriate distribution platform for anything. They have digital downloads, monthly subscripts, extremely large items; I don't think it's unreasonable to allow items with long fulfillment times (especially items handcrafted based on customer request).
I've been very fed up with Amazon's selection, the number of scams and reduced quality on Amazon has seemed (at least anecdotally) to have skyrocketed. I think this article shows that Amazon's quality control issue is at least partially an issue with Amazon themselves, and not just the reseller market. Disallowing high quality products because they can't be made fast enough just smacks of poor planning on Amazon's part. I don't think anybody wants a market with a million crappy items, they want a market with as many quality items as possible, but no more.
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#35This is one of those posts that would be more impactful with the Amazon emails embedded in the post. When you can have the bad guy in the piece playing their own part it really resonates, if you're reading PA consider just putting in their responses to your questions.
The only nit on this is this bit: "The only way to meet their demands would have been to mass-produce huge volumes of speakers featuring no customizations. And the only way to make that economically feasible would have been to sacrifice our high standards of quality across the board. Needless to say, we're not going to do that."
I find I can't help but react when someone presents a problem as unsolvable (it triggers my 'hey solve this!' button). And so when they state that this is "impossible" my first question is, "How have you tried to solve it?", "What do you consider as constraints? How do you verify those constraints?"
I agree completely with the idea that being craftsmanship to bespoke products is an excellent goal, and if we can come up with ways to do that effectively we can enable a manufacturing renaissance in places like the US. As a result I see calling this problem 'unsolvable' as a challenge (it may be unsolvable but if it truly is, then it may mean that bringing back this sort of work to the US will never be economically feasible and I am not ready to accept that yet)
In terms of worthwhile startup projects to pursue, I consider this one of the big ones. Creating the tools and infrastructure around craftspeople to enable them to economically apply their craft at scale.
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#36Aren't these guys better off with shopify or something?
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#37Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, using their preferred tonewoods, choice of hardware, as well as other unique customizations. ... The only way to meet their demands would have been to mass-produce huge volumes of speakers featuring no customizations. How is Amazon even possibly a good place to sell this kind of an item? People overwhelmingly go…
Actually, it looks like they are making nice wood cabinets for cheap low-quality parts:
- a "full range" 3" speaker is about $7, quantity 1.
- a 20W at 10% THD class D amplifier with bluetooth input is $25, retail. (Yes, that's a terrible spec. It's what Princeton claims.)
- a battery is $8
- a few dollars for a fancy knob and grille.
So they are charging about $300 for their cabinets and integration of all the above. Nice work if you can sell it.
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#38When I read sentences like this: "We steadfastly refuse to be purveyors of cheap, plastic, mass-produced, craptastic speakers made on an assembly line in China that contribute nothing of value to the lives of our customers or the town we call home." I'm always amazed how much subtle racism seems to be acceptable when it comes to talking about China. This sentence contains so many hidden assumptions, e.g. "product fro…
Many Chinese goods traditionally have had a reputation of low quality. Maybe that reputation is outdated or perhaps it was never quite accurate (?), but either way I don't think it's reasonable to label a reference to that reputation as racist. Nor is wanting to build businesses that benefit your local community racist or particularly wrong.
I'd say they're not crap because they're Chinese.
Cheap is top of most peoples wish list when shopping and China can do cheap. Cheap tends to be the enemy of quality.
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#39>Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, [...] If all goes smoothly, this process takes about six weeks. >Amazon relentlessly pushed us to accept lead-times that were typically only four days, and sometimes demanded fulfillment of orders in as little as 24 hours--including delivery. Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week c…
> Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week custom-made-to-order products. Maybe there's another well-known retail site that caters to that type of vendor but it certainly isn't Amazon (or Walmart).
Perhaps Etsy would be a better platform for that product?
Re: Goodbye Amazon
#40If Amazon had let you control their retail pricing wouldn't that be price fixing? You can set a recommended price, but once you've accepted the wholesale price, you live with it. If the retailer decides to dump your product at a loss, that's their choice no?