Silk Road forums

Market => Rumor mill => Topic started by: danconia on January 26, 2013, 11:16 pm

Title: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: danconia on January 26, 2013, 11:16 pm
I have been noticing a bit of a paradox occurring on the Silk Road due to the nature of our dealings here.  When I am satisfied by a vendor I give 5/5 feedback, a good detailed review, and even recommend them to other people on these boards.  The problem is that if a vendor is really good and keep getting good reviews, they will receive more business their business cannot grow perpetually.  Even the biggest sellers can and do eventually get bogged down by too many orders.

It's almost becoming cliche at this point:
1.) New vendor starts selling, is willing to take a hit up-front and possibly send out small samples to start getting good feedback
2.) Good feedback is coming in, buyers are willing to take a chance on the new vendor with good feedback
3.) Vendor grows slowly and starts to pick up some of the buyers from the other vendors who have eventually gone "in over their head" and are losing customers
4.) Vendor continues to grow rapidly as rave review are occurring in their feedback and on their review page on the forums
5.) Vendor starts to fall behind because a.) they are getting too many orders and not taking down their listings to catch up or b.) something goes awry with the chain supply or shipping process
6.) Vendor continues to fall behind until no one is receiving their packages, if they receive their packages at all
7.) Poor reviews come in (although all the people Finalizing Early can prolong the vendor's success)
8.) Vendor eventually disappears or stops selling.  Their large fan-base of consumers then  move on to some other relatively new vendor who is currently in stage #3

How do we fix this problem?  There are very few vendors (based on my 7-8 months of experience here) who have been able to maintain a large buyer base for more than a few months.  The smart vendors either seem to take breaks every month or two, or switch to private listings.  Is there anything we can do as a community to prevent or limit this cycle?
Title: Re: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: farmer1 on January 26, 2013, 11:38 pm
The answer is that the vendor should raise their prices after 4 and before 5.
Title: Re: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: maybejustonce on January 27, 2013, 12:14 am
Law of supply and demand.

However, idk how long it will be until sellers in stage 3 catch up, and it makes vendors in stage ~4/5+ have to stay competitive, which means the market will level out if vendors decide to stay. Now, if the vendors at latter levels decide to take breaks/go private, that could help ease the burden of a flood of demand.
Title: Re: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: danconia on January 27, 2013, 12:40 am
The answer is that the vendor should raise their prices after 4 and before 5.

I don't know if you're a vendor but you have an excellent point.  I suppose the reason some vendors are "super-popular" or people's favorites is because they are keeping low prices for high quality product.  If they raise the price they might not stay as everyone's favorite but they can still remain a reliable (in the honest sense of the word) vendor that can actually survive in the long-run.  It's gotta make me wonder why these vendors don't raise their prices a bit like you say.  Perhaps they like being everyone's "favorite" or cave to the pressure of the buyers (who, let's face it are incredibly *needy*)?

I remember a few weeks ago people begging Dutchaanbod to not raise his prices by even paltry amounts.  Now where is Dutch?  Gone along with his good deals (that still weren't good enough for some selfish and near-sighted bastards).
Title: Re: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: organon on January 27, 2013, 01:07 am
I think alot of it is time and resource managment because i know a couple of really big vendors here that still offer lightning fast shipping with great product and competitive prices, one is a little higher but shit he deserves it he's set the standard and there has been no drop off in turnaround or communication
Title: Re: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: PrettyinGreen on January 27, 2013, 09:59 am
For one thing, vendors should never have listings for items they don't actually have in stock, on hand, at that very moment.  For another, there's nothing wrong with building up a good base of customers and then switching to private or stealth listings once a vendor is getting enough orders to consistently sell through his or her inventory.  I've sold online in the past(not on SR)and much as we have favorite vendors, I am sure the vendors have favorite customers.
Title: Re: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: RxKing on January 27, 2013, 10:58 am
For one thing, vendors should never have listings for items they don't actually have in stock, on hand, at that very moment.  For another, there's nothing wrong with building up a good base of customers and then switching to private or stealth listings once a vendor is getting enough orders to consistently sell through his or her inventory.  I've sold online in the past(not on SR)and much as we have favorite vendors, I am sure the vendors have favorite customers.

Your first sentence is so right on. I am shocked how many vendors do not have supply or ways to get product IRL and actually make purchases off SR and then resell. Nothing wrong with that in theory..but there is a lot wring with not having what you have listed.

I think the problem with going in stealth ..like full stealth .... is the exact problem you are talking about with vendors.. Let me explain.

So you start off and you get going and you build up your favorite buyers and enough buyers for your monthly supply...so you go stealth. Well by doing that you no longer get "new" customers. And what happens is that the customers you do have fall of. They just do not all stick around. Of course some will but the % is small...I would say 20% at best. And when you go off stealth and go public you are essentially a new vendor as the vendors that came out after you get the business. And the people that are around are new and do not know who you are and they have their trusted vendors.

Now of course their are exceptions and some vendors have pulled it off. But very few.

And your original post is not taking into the account of what we do. We sell drugs. And it is hard to stay consistent and sell drugs. It is just something that has a high turn around. I think that is the main problem. People start out and stay around for 3-4 months and in Silk Road time...that is a long time. For those who know USA football (NFL) we are like running backs. And the simple fact is it is rare for drug dealers to last a long time. And on Silk road what has happened in the past is vendors get going and in truth they are not really drug dealers. For those that sell pills...they get their own scripts and sell their own supply. And after a couple months they fizzle out. It is not easy to be a vendor on SR. it takes a lot of work. And doing it at a high level takes a lot of work. And most people can not handle it. Also they run into supply and demand. And they try to sell what they do not have.

And on other fields what they have done (coke,heroin,weed,E, ect) is they have a certain supply, they sell it.. They then re up and they sell again..though this time not as good as the first batch...and they get worse and worse in vending and they end up pulling a scam or selective scam before quitting SR all together. When last year the vendor form Canada(I hate Canada) Tony76 pulled his big scam..everyone talked about at the time what a trusted vendor he was...he was here 3 months!!!! And he used the timing of SR's 1 year anniversary sale to make everyone FE and he took off with a 6 figure score. And after that (and before) vendors went out that way...they figured why not?

So in general it is just hard for a vendor to keep supply and stay on top of their game for more then a few months. When they started they knew they were not going to last. They start making a good score(if smart) and they realize it is a lot of work being a vendor when you have to ship more then 10 packages a day.

So I totally agree with your observations I just think the reasoning is wrong. It is just what happens and it was going to happen no matter what. And with a lot of vendors they do not have the supply chain or in fact their supply chain is flaky too. I in fact think the buyers have it good on SR as it is like being on a street corner with 100's of vendors and you can not get that IRL. If any of you have been to a major league game in any of the big 3 sports you have seen the scalper area of a venue.  And the beauty of it is in a 30x30 foot area there is 20+ guys all competing with each other..yet all get along for the most part and it is great as a buyer  because all their scalpers are in one area.And although it is illegal it is basically not targeted by the local police. And that is how SR is.

As a buyer you will have your favorite vendor...but you should always have a few. As you never know when that vendor is going to go out of business. Because there are a lot of factors that come into play. And some drugs the vendors stick around...example Rx...and others (coke) they barely last a month. In fact that is the one drug where no vendor has quality shit and is around for a while. I know this from what I read and I am always asked if I know a good coke guy on SR. And it is the only  drug( other then Opium) that after being here 10 months I can not recommend a vendor.

And the same is to be said for the buyers. They cycle through....Some have been around for a long time..but very few last 6+months. Not to many people can handle buying the same amount of drugs over a long period of time. Others are great at it.

Title: Re: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: sbmafia on January 27, 2013, 12:18 pm
If you want a perfect example of raises prices BECAUSE of feedback... look at supreme smoke...
JUST raised his prices once again
Title: Re: Good Feedback Sometimes = Losing Your Vendor
Post by: danconia on January 27, 2013, 07:32 pm
Yeah you guys are right.  Ultimately I think it must be a supply chain thing.  If a vendor went private and started eventually losing customers (for whatever reason), all they'd have to do is put the listings back on public for a week and they'd get an influx of new customers so I don't think that's issue.

I think you guys are right that it's just the nature of the "industry".  Even if you have a chemist making shit the chances are your guy won't always consistently be making it.  And if you know more than one then you're the rare guy who has hit the drug lottery jackpot.

I guess we just gotta get good at sniffing out the scammers.  (*ahem* don't finalize early)