How to release new puzzles

On my last blog entry, I wrote about predatory resellers and after that, we received lots of opinions and suggestions about the matter. Thank you for your ideas, thoughts and consideration.

Almost all the puzzlers who sent us do not welcome predatory resellers and flippers. Only a few people told us that resellers can increase their chance to acquire rare puzzles. Though they are also not happy to pay for a puzzle two or three times more than the original price. People who can pay two or three times more for a puzzle is limited as well.

Now, I have been thinking of releasing the next SD puzzles in the following way. For example, let's say I have 150 puzzle products to sell at the regular price of $500.

1. Sell the first 10 puzzles at the price of $750, meaning each buyer pays an extra 50% to purchase the very same puzzle.
2. Sell the next 70 puzzles at the price of $500 twelve hours later.
3. Sell the next 65 puzzles at the price of $500 another twelve hours later.
4. The last five puzzles will be kept and sold depending on situation.

Maybe, we could put one of the last five puzzles up for auction when we notice someone is trying to sell the same puzzle on an auction. Thus, the winning bid will be decreased, the auction winners will pay less and the flipper gains less.

We can also contact a person who is willing to pay an extra 50% for a puzzle. If the person who doesn't mind paying two or three times more than the regular price at an auction, an extra 50% is a bargain. The person who accepts our offer doesn't have to join an auction and it might help to reduce the winning bids on future auctions. I can also choose who should get one of the last five puzzles. We often find that the released puzzles at popular web shops are sold out within minutes and people who don't have good reflexes or IT skill may lose the chance all the time. Giving an opportunity to those people wouldn't be unfair.

To hold a competing auction to discourage the resellers, the best way will be to set up an auction by ourselves adding an app to our server. It will cost an additional USD $360 annually, but the cost will be covered by extra income. Or use eBay auction like we occasionally do. Although we will lose an extra 10% as the eBay fee, it will be covered as well.

We, again, appreciate your thoughts about the above plan. If the idea is supported by the majority of our customers, I will take this option. If not, we will release the next puzzle splitting the total amount into two batches.

I should mention about the ideas that were sent from several customers. Putting serial numbers may discourage the intention to resell the puzzle. It also helps to track who is selling the puzzle but I will make lots of mistakes by doing so. Why I made the branding iron is I don't have confidence with hand writing. I might spell Juno as Jumo. There is a good chances I would write the same serial number twice. Adding non essential information to the puzzle is also not to my taste.

I totally agree that determining the predatory reseller is difficult and misjudging can cause a problem. I still think that a sort of three strike rule is plausible. If three or more people tell us and pinpoint who is the predatory reseller, the reseller might be eliminated from purchasing our puzzle products.

At last, there is good chance that we can release the next SD puzzle this July. It was a long journey and a bit more to go.

Juno

Puzzle reselling

A question.

Do you want me to refuse selling our puzzle products to the obvious resellers?

One of the most common emails that we receive is about our limited productivity. Unfortunately, the time is limited and we can not increase our productivity dramatically. Many of our customers are not happy to see our products put on auction immediately after they are sold out at our official web shop, and the winning bid of the auction sometimes ends up two or three times higher than our retail price. I also don't like the activity to purchase our puzzles just for reselling purposes.

We often receive suggestions about a membership option on our web shop but there are several reasons that I don't want to take that option.

• It increases our work load thus we have less time to produce puzzles.
• There are more chances to make mistakes taking that option, like over selling, miscalculation for the shipping cost and so on.
• Since our productivity is limited, if the demands on the puzzle are larger than our stock level, we have to chose who can purchase the puzzle. A lottery option increases our work load as well.
• The resellers may pay for the membership and just add the cost for the reselling value. A membership option won't stop purchase for reselling.
• If we have only 20 puzzles and sell all of them to the members, we can not appeal to new customers.

So, how about the idea to refuse selling our puzzles to the resellers? If many of our customers prefer the option, I might take that when we start selling our new SD puzzle boxes. Please tell us your opinion through the contact form. If you like the option, please also tell us your idea in which way it can fairly be executed. It is disastrous to misjudge the genuine customer as a reseller, so it has to be applied carefully.

I'm aware that sometimes puzzle collectors have to part with their collection. Selling puzzles that are not to their taste is also understandable but buying whichever puzzles that can attract many collectors and then make a profit reselling them is a no no. Although we try to maintain our retail price as reasonably low as possible, if the majority of the products are taken by resellers and can not directly reach our genuine customers, it is very disappointing.

Quick update.
Our new SD puzzle is coming to shape and is close to the finishing stage. We will probably have around 150 puzzles to sell and that means an additional 5-minute work for each puzzle and up to a day's work for all. I hope I can tell you good news very soon.

Juno

Two kinds of new burr puzzles

We have started selling our new puzzles, Beauy Kruse, and 6 Board Burr 5x8 #02 (2 colors - American Cherry and Amoora and 3 colors - American Cherry, Sassafras, and Amoora). Sassafras has a bit of a greenish colour but it does not look very different to the colour of American Cherry, especially on the photo images.

This time we had no second-grade puzzles, and we did not hold an auction.

I know there are lots of puzzle lovers who are waiting for a sequential discovery puzzle. The next puzzle after these burr puzzles will probably be a sequential discovery puzzle box. We have been working hard to complete the puzzle. Please wait for news of the release.

Yukari