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I guess feeling like I had any handle on dealing Windstone, was erroneous. I have so many customers that can’t wait to gather enough information on an item to find the website, and buy there. I spend the bread to rent,light,insure a store and work 60 hrs/week, so it can be show room for Web shoppers. Oh goody;..now I’ve lost Windstone too. This happens to be my FAVE. I had arguments with my wife because of my overspending on Windstone, when sales didn’t support that action.
I really love so much of this great work by Melody.
Recently I’ve had to move some of our inventory on e-bay;…so I completely understand what has gone on.
Yes the WOLVES at the door are very large, hungry, and many. I’m right there with y’all.
BUT, this hurts.
I’ve been able to do business with companies that sell on line, usually they had slightly higher prices. We’ll see what time has to say.
Thank you for reading my Rant.It probably would have been far more appropriate to send this to John directly (if I am understanding correctly) however I will leave it here unless told otherwise as I claim to have no authority (and indeed hold none) in this matter.
Best wishes!
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My art: featherdust.com*hugs* My sympathies to you. I know that sometimes the cruel margins of profit and loss can be the killing strokes to what was a dream. Take care and feel free to rant all you need. You can always pm me if you want to talk. Take care. 🙂
Maybe I’m missing something? Do you tell them about the Windstone website? Are you talking about tourist drop ins or regular customers?
The store I used to frequent (40-some miles away) had a few Windstones on display and a catalog of Windstones that you could look through and they would order for you. It used to pay me to go pick them up. With the price of gas now, it’s a different story. If you are dealing with locals, why would they want to pay shipping from California, instead of having you order something for them and pick it up? If they are tourists, maybe they don’t have room in their luggage, etc.(been there, done that). Maybe you need to push your online store, too. Maybe it doesn’t come up in online searches and people only find it by accident?
I shop online constantly…I swear I would buy groceries online if I could (and that’s coming). I found the Windstone website and Forum from the Windstone auctions….selling your stuff on eBay can lead to all kinds of sales. I have never bought a production anything directly from Windstone. I follow Windstone’s advice and support brick and mortar stores. They just aren’t in my area (I tried to get local stores to carry them without any success). My favorites are the ones that offer free shipping or have sales once in a while and keep their online store updated.
This all my 2 cents…but the fact that Windstone has an online store doesn’t mean people will buy from it.
I think you covered it for me. I used to buy from brick and mortar stores, but I’ve searched everywhere in my area and there just aren’t any, anymore. 🙁 I generally buy production pieces from online dealers who carry Windstones on a regular basis or from dealers who are a part of our forum family. I don’t want them to stop supporting Windstone. The items I’ve been buying from the Windstone store are those that I would’ve previously bought off ebay….. limited production items. 🙂
lamortefille wrote:Maybe I’m missing something? Do you tell them about the Windstone website? Are you talking about tourist drop ins or regular customers?
The store I used to frequent (40-some miles away) had a few Windstones on display and a catalog of Windstones that you could look through and they would order for you. It used to pay me to go pick them up. With the price of gas now, it’s a different story. If you are dealing with locals, why would they want to pay shipping from California, instead of having you order something for them and pick it up? If they are tourists, maybe they don’t have room in their luggage, etc.(been there, done that). Maybe you need to push your online store, too. Maybe it doesn’t come up in online searches and people only find it by accident?
I shop online constantly…I swear I would buy groceries online if I could (and that’s coming). I found the Windstone website and Forum from the Windstone auctions….selling your stuff on eBay can lead to all kinds of sales. I have never bought a production anything directly from Windstone. I follow Windstone’s advice and support brick and mortar stores. They just aren’t in my area (I tried to get local stores to carry them without any success). My favorites are the ones that offer free shipping or have sales once in a while and keep their online store updated.
This all my 2 cents…but the fact that Windstone has an online store doesn’t mean people will buy from it.
Windstone is selling the same thing he is at the same price. Sometimes, buying direct from the creator is more expensive, and this encourages shoppers to use retailers. Not the case with Windstones since the retail price on here is the same as most websites. His post makes me think he is upset about this and holding against the company.
A lot of webstores sell for the same price as retail. Lego’s webstore is a good example. And look at Amazon….they sell most things at a discounted rate, not that they make the items, but still I don’t hear a lot of complaining.
Lamorte, dealers are not allowed to sell current pieces on Ebay. That’s why I only sell the retired pieces I have. If Art Slinger doesn’t have any retired pieces in stock, then he is stuck. Since he is getting out of selling Windstones, he can sell all his pieces now, but he will no longer be a Windstone dealer (in order to do so), so he can’t buy more (so using ebay to generate business is not an option).
I do sympathise with this a bit. It’s fortunate that I have other incomes (teaching, hubby) or I’d not make it either. However, I do a few conventions a year, which means I travel instead of having a store in one place. I go to the customer, instead of having them have to find me and come to me. I think this helps me a lot. And you all on the forum have been very supportive to me and help keep me in business.
There are other websites (Topland, Summit, etc) whose product I now carry that sell on their sites too, but the prices are much higher than what I charge. This helps, but I really don’t sell much of those pieces online. Those items do better when people can see them in person. And the shipping gets expensive because the pieces are big (in big boxes) but not heavy (most of them), so USPS charges a higher price to have the box in the truck. It’s complicated. People get discouraged by the shipping costs, so I sell more of those in person too.
I hear ya, Ski. That’s what I thought he was saying, but I wasn’t sure.
Em, yours is one of the businesses I was thinking about when I wrote my positive website comments. There are a few others as well. You’ve had obstacles set against you, but you’ve done your best to overcome them.
My husband owns his own business, so I’m not in lala land regarding many of these issues, nor am I unsympathetic to Art’s plight. I think online shopping is going to continue to grow, though.
I have yet to buy from Windstone directly myself, but my personal use for it is in buying pieces that my local shop(s) don’t have, and/or pieces that will be going to family out of town/province, especially in Labrador where the one lead I had for carrying them said that “They already had too much type/variety of product to think about bringing in something else” (Retards, come on it’s WINDSTONE!!!)
Now how am I going to get my mom to buy me Windstones??? She won’t buy from anything on-line, because she refuses to get another credit card, especially just so she can shop on-line.And I still visit my local shop fairly frequently just to see what they got there that I can’t get from Windstone, like anything Ruby for my Male, and the other day I found the piece I coveted as a gift for my Aunt a Seajewel!!! I couldn’t believe it, but I got her the Mermaid!!! And I didn’t have to e-bay it,
Now however I have the reason I would buy direct for family happening I have to try and figure out how to carefully ship it, since it is just wrapped in a piece of paper, and I think (read hope) the original box, but just the box. With LOTS of sliding/moving room in that little box.The down side to shopping at my local store is that they don’t always (read don’t usually) keep the original boxes or packing, and will/have written on the Felt pad. And unless someone can clear up if the Seajewels had Numbers written on their felt pads for some reason or other, I have to believe they did(I have thought that maybe it was a “Rehoming” but they did not say that it was such to me, so I’ll take it as a piece that had been lost & Found in the stock room)
But then again I know not everyone feels the same, but with the exception of pieces that are going to be shipped anyway, and unavailable in store pieces (oh and there is one or 2 stores I don’t classify as a place to go because of how much they Jack their prices, remember the Black Male Griffin that they were trying to sell in ’99 for more than triple) there should be no reason to go else where. and I’d hope that all of your customers who find Windstone get on the forum and the are informed that they should be seeing you first!! And maybe that’s something Windstone Could do is include in with orders (especially of regular production pieces) the names and locations of stores in the area, maybe something like a 50 miles/same city thing(Hell even a “same Province/State” listing) Because if it’s there and offered, then you’ll go, but if you have to go and search for it, then why bother? And maybe that will also help get the Point across that Windstone wants you to buy from “Brick & Mortar’s”, well except to the most obtuse individuals anyway….
As a consumer I try to buy regular production from stores. There is one store an hour from me that had a few pieces or I buy from a really nice gentleman who has a regular store and sells online. I try to only buy the limited production pieces from the Windstone store (although I have to admit once or twice I may have pounced on a regular production piece that was offered not realizing the stores were going to carry it. I did show enormous restraint to wait and get the BG coiled mother from my regular source).
The problem, as I see it, is that there aren’t enough regular stores that carry Windstones and the company has to do what it can to generate sales/revenue. But if the company goes out of business ( 😯 the horror) there won’t be ANY Windstones for the stores.
I see this from an entirely different angle. I’m unable to get out of the house much; in all honesty it hurts to do so, and I am loathe to hurt.
I have, in the past, dealt with ‘real’ stores, and have (and will again) ordered online from dealers, but I’ll be honest– living so close to the Windstone factory means I get an order a day or so after I order it, and I rather like that. No delay in gratification.
Add in the customer service I get — the last piece I got from a “real” store was a flion. When I got home, I noticed it had a chip out of a wing, in the back I had not noticed at the store. When I returned to the store, I was treated as if I had gone home, chipped it myself, and then tried to come back and rip off the store. Compare that to my recent problem with a Windstone order — not only did I get a really wonderful apology (that I said wan’t necessary, as crap happens -g-) but I got a replacement and return help.
Personally, I *like* that Melody and company realized that some of us CANNOT get out, and offer many of the same products without a huge extra fee. I’m sorry that whatever shop the orignal poster made is not having a huge success, and have no idea why people living nearby it would choose not to purchase their windstones THERE and instead choose to pay extra for postage, and the wait for shipping. If it was internet only, I’m not sure why having Windstone sell online is a detriment — personally I shop online from those places that will get me my stuff fastest.
I’m loyal to good service, occasional deals, and fasy delivery. Most people I know who buy luxury items (this means anything you do not NEED -g-) online keep their loyalty the same way; we all have limited budgets, and want the most we can get for the dollar. Having the level field where Windstone sells for the same as a another online dealer means the buyer gets to find the place that best suits THEM and spend accordingly. It’s part of the whole capitalism thing. 😉
Nytetyger wrote:I see this from an entirely different angle. I’m unable to get out of the house much; in all honesty it hurts to do so, and I am loathe to hurt.
This is another completely valid and understandable reason to me, and (knock on wood) one that I am more than glad is not part of my current situation!!!
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