Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: antigrid on June 25, 2012, 09:34 am

Title: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: antigrid on June 25, 2012, 09:34 am
I am curious as to what the current state of the SR market really is. I am trying to assess whether or not it's even worth it to become a seller, I am not talking about whether it's worth the time / cost / etc, but whether or not there are enough buyers even on SR. I am new to this, so please forgive me if I seem naive, that is why I am asking in this thread. On the actual SR marketplace it appears that people are buying and that there is a good profit margin there. But if one was to base the decision based on what is said on the forums you would think it would be hard to get customers due to the prices that need to be charged to make selling on SR worthwhile. For instance, there are about 3-4 threads on the first page of one of the forums complaining about the price of adderall on SR and asking if anyone will sell for a certain price (all well below the going rate on the actual marketplace). Is this a bad way to guage the potential worth in spending the $150 to become a seller?

Upon closer inspection on the actual SR marketplace it seems that there definitely is not an enormous amount of buyings going on. Unless I am looking at something wrong. For instance, there are a few people that sell a certain product, so I would think the combined amount of recent feedback left on a certain item would be a good way to gauge how much of a certain product is being sold. Am I looking at this the wrong way? Are there more sales then it appears based on the way I am looking at it? I do not mind spending the $150, and I think that it is a good deterrent for weeding out people who are not serious, but to pay $150 and then rece4ive no buyers simply because the demand is just not there would be a real bummer. Based on a thread I made awhile back this is not the case.
One other thing I noticed is that it seems there aren't any new sellers, all the sellers I saw had a decent amount of feedback (I may have looked at this wrong). Also, would it be better to give out a few free samples to certain members to drum up business or have the initial price a bit lower? I am not so sure regular buyers are also regular users of the forums, I am basing this on the fact that there are a lot of complaints about the price of rx drugs, such as adderall, yet the prices stay the same on the marketplace which would lead me to assume that they are selling.
Not trying to be negative, just hoping for someone to enlighten me.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: chiefrogan on June 25, 2012, 09:46 am
be specific and youll learn what you need to know... what product you intend to sell and for what price... create that thread in the rumor mill and watch the feedback.

if youre trying to sell adderall when school isn't in session - goodluck

and i think its safe to assume the forums might vaguely represent say 1/4 the actual market buyers... i dunno its hard to tell, cause of forum participation of stalking (not posting, just reading) and those actions affect their market decisions.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: eJ3k1 on June 25, 2012, 09:53 am
I'm considering becoming a seller too, but the fee is kinda steep and it's hard to tell if there is actually demand for your product. I think that's why there are so few new seller.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: sabteria14 on June 25, 2012, 11:01 am
if your product is as advertised and at a good price, there will be customers lining up
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: eJ3k1 on June 25, 2012, 11:17 am
if your product is as advertised and at a good price, there will be customers lining up
That will definitely be the case for some products. For other types of products, there is no way to be sure. And the high fee makes it hard to test the waters.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: RxKing on June 25, 2012, 11:54 am
I can't even believe I read this. But I did so I will comment...

I'm considering becoming a seller too, but the fee is kinda steep and it's hard to tell if there is actually demand for your product. I think that's why there are so few new seller.
.

$150 is steep? If you believe this then you really should not vend. I don't even agree there are so few new sellers. But lets assume you are right, there are few new sellers ...the reason is simple, there are very few people with the access to product for sale. Just like irl there are always fewer vendors then buyers. Most people are not gangster enough to sell illegal drugs. I think that is a fact.

I am curious as to what the current state of the SR market really is. I am trying to assess whether or not it's even worth it to become a seller, I am not talking about whether it's worth the time / cost / etc, but whether or not there are enough buyers even on SR. I am new to this, so please forgive me if I seem naive, that is why I am asking in this thread. On the actual SR marketplace it appears that people are buying and that there is a good profit margin there. But if one was to base the decision based on what is said on the forums you would think it would be hard to get customers due to the prices that need to be charged to make selling on SR worthwhile. For instance, there are about 3-4 threads on the first page of one of the forums complaining about the price of adderall on SR and asking if anyone will sell for a certain price (all well below the going rate on the actual marketplace). Is this a bad way to guage the potential worth in spending the $150 to become a seller?

Again you are already in bad shape if you think 150 bucks is a lot of money. In your example above it should tell you how great the market is not how bad it is! When someone makes a post or in this case multiple people making multiple post asking for a cheaper price for a product then one could assume the vendors are not willing to lower their price for these particular drugs because they are selling them for the "high" price already. These post were not from vendors trying to sell product. They were from buyers looking for cheaper pills. A lot of post are made about the prices. The crazy thing is the buyers make the prices. If vendors were not selling at the "high" price's you pay then they would have to lower the price to sell. The fact is there is a market, a great market for Rx. As a vendor you can name your price and you will get it. I think that is a sign of a great market.... if your a vendor!

Upon closer inspection on the actual SR marketplace it seems that there definitely is not an enormous amount of buyings going on. Unless I am looking at something wrong. For instance, there are a few people that sell a certain product, so I would think the combined amount of recent feedback left on a certain item would be a good way to gauge how much of a certain product is being sold. Am I looking at this the wrong way? Are there more sales then it appears based on the way I am looking at it? I do not mind spending the $150, and I think that it is a good deterrent for weeding out people who are not serious, but to pay $150 and then rece4ive no buyers simply because the demand is just not there would be a real bummer.


You didn't get close enough in your inspection ;) It is just the opposite of your first sentence

"Upon closer inspection on the actual SR marketplace it seems that there definitely is not an enormous amount of buyings going on"

There actually is an enormous amount of buying going on. I know this from my own sales and from the sales of other vendors I know. Again as chiefrogan said.. it really depends on what you are planning on selling. But if it is  good Rx or coke,weed or H you will have a HUGE market. The questions you should be asking is not about the demand but about how to be a vendor and all the stuff you need to know. Also you will have to get the buyers to trust you so that you can vend your product. That is the first hurdle and the most important one you will have to get over. If you have any of the products I mentioned earlier , they will sell themselves. Your issue is going to be your shipping and packaging. You (in this post) are asking all the wrong questions. Getting product sold on here is maybe the easiest part:)



Based on a thread I made awhile back this is not the case.
One other thing I noticed is that it seems there aren't any new sellers, all the sellers I saw had a decent amount of feedback (I may have looked at this wrong). Also, would it be better to give out a few free samples to certain members to drum up business or have the initial price a bit lower? I am not so sure regular buyers are also regular users of the forums, I am basing this on the fact that there are a lot of complaints about the price of rx drugs, such as adderall, yet the prices stay the same on the marketplace which would lead me to assume that they are selling.
Not trying to be negative, just hoping for someone to enlighten me.

This paragraph is exactly the questions you should be asking IMO. You will get a lot of vendors giving you different answers. The fact is a lot of successful vendors have done everything you asked about. There is no "perfect/correct" way to start vending. I can tell you from my point of view and the majority of vendors.... that you should NOT give samples. All you will get is a bunch of dirtbags that beg for free shit and tell you that you need to give out samples to get their feedback. It is 100% bullshit.

You are way  better off as an example selling Adderall and if they buy 10 you give 5 for free for a total of 15. That way you get actual buyers. Of course you are going to stay in escrow so there is no risk for the buyer in dealing with you. And you will actually attract actual buyers. So this will get you sales. But the most important part will be what comes next.

 How you deal with them, your shipping methods, your stealth packaging, how long it takes you to process there order, what shipping options you choose, how long it takes you to return messages. That's the hard part. The first part of your post, you asking about demand, would have been the last part because that is the easiest part.

Most buyers do not post in the forum. In the vendor only forum we have guessed it is about 5% of our actual buyers that post in the forum. And for me it is even less. The customers I have that have the most buys (30k+ in last 6 mo) do not post at all. They will read some stuff but they do not post. There are a lot of great posters in the forums. There are some great buyers that post. But for the MOST part the people posting are not going to be your customers. Also there is a whole group that just stalk new vendors and have there hand out asking for free shit. You will see..it is pathetic.

As far as lowering your prices at first just to get business... I think this is a bad choice. You should know the market for your product. Then you need to decide if you are going to stay with the market or undercut it.  I just think you should stay with your prices. Though if your honest about it and tell them in your listing that this is just a promotional price to get customers... that is good. The buyers will like that. They are always looking for a deal. It's just bad to sell to a customer a pill for $5 then the next month you raise the price to $10. The customer went with you believing you are a new vendor with low prices then they find out you are just like the rest of them...expensive. It's totally o.k to do that obviously.. but it will go over a lot better if you start off telling people that this is a promotional pricing  to get customers. And what will keep them after you go to higher prices(like the other vendors selling your exact goods) is your service and promptness of shipping. Again this is a major decision you will have to make. You need to figure out how you are going to vend. If you are going to be cheaper, faster, better service...or all of that.

Again depending on what you have to offer and how much you have that will determine how you will vend. For a lot of products we need more vendors. And you could come on the scene and charge less to get business or you could even charge more and still get business. It all depends on what you are selling. And where you are willing to ship to. There are so many things that come into vending. And I think the least important thing is what the title of this thread says. There is ALWAYS room on the road for a GOOD new vendor. Almost every product needs new vendors. There will always be buyers. There will always be a demand. What there won't always be is people selling the good's(vendors).

Good luck, I hope you decide to vend. I also hope you spend all your energy figuring out how to ship fast, always be honest with your buyers, ship fast, answer questions fast, ship fast, not asking buyers to FE, ship fast, not marking item in transit when in fact it is still on your table. Getting your item to the post office fast. Shipping fast, stealth shipping, fast turn around time from the the minute you get the order to you packaging up there goods. Not having the item(s) in processing for more then 12 hours, shipping fast.  ;D

Above is all that matters. People are here to buy drugs. They all want what they purchase yesterday. They will order at 7pm on a Tuesday and on Wednesday at around 3pm they will send you a message to track their package... LOL ...Yes it's true that really happened to me. Buyers are excited to get their goodies. And some get anxiety waiting for their packages, especially from a new vendor. 99% of my customers are awesome. Yes, I have had some shitbags. But it's like 1 for every 100 good ones. In the very begging I got bombed with the worst ones. They were all lying to me. And trying to get free samples and telling me I "need" them and the community they represent. In reality it was just a broke dick trying to get free drugs. When you get a vendor account and announce your goods in the forum you will get all kinds of well written post telling you all the benefits of giving them samples. It simply is not true. You could sell them sample sizes. That is perfectly fine. Just don't give free samples away to those that ask and tell you how it can help you. Take those same pills that you would give away for free and offer them to buyers. Make package deals that are too good to pass up. That way you will get actual buyers.

There is a lot of room for more vendors. If your product is Rx then you are golden. The road needs more Rx Vendors. ;D


RxKing
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: Barbijuana on June 25, 2012, 03:02 pm
You've got a lot of buyers here that are not just in the market for personal consumption - They are local distributors and have their own client base with regular demand. If you can provide a product that is quality and steady (which has to be proven for awhile) you'll get your own repeat consumer base. If the price is competitive you will create demand and corner a portion of the market.

It is also important for those resale buyers to get a price that allows them to turn a profit to risk ratio that is plausible. I think there is more risk involved for a street peddler than shipping. As far as number of transactions, Pfand had a 400+ backlog order for his MDMA while he was waiting to restock. He's in the top 1% of sellers but that is because he provides impeccable customer service and a great product that is extremely affordable.

If you can follow that formula of success you can quit your day job and live like a king.

If you have options of your sales, pop into the Product Requests sub forum and make a topic to gauge interests in your own options. Just state your country of shipping and ask what, domestically, people are gnawing at the bit for. There is always demand in the H and C vendor area for consistent and affordable product.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: eJ3k1 on June 25, 2012, 05:33 pm
I'm considering becoming a seller too, but the fee is kinda steep and it's hard to tell if there is actually demand for your product. I think that's why there are so few new seller.
.

$150 is steep? If you believe this then you really should not vend. I don't even agree there are so few new sellers. But lets assume you are right, there are few new sellers ...the reason is simple, there are very few people with the access to product for sale. Just like irl there are always fewer vendors then buyers. Most people are not gangster enough to sell illegal drugs. I think that is a fact.
Well, I was not talking about selling drugs. I was considering starting a downloading service, giving users the possibility to download an entire album for something like 0.05 BTC, encrypted in such a way that it would circumvent all harsh downloading laws that are on the books. However, $150 is more than I'd ever dream to make, so I abandoned the idea.

I agree with you that if you plan on selling a substantial amount of narcotics, the fee is no problem at all. If you are a small time seller, for example because you're selling niche products, or you're listing just a few items, then the fee is a big obstacle; it makes it a money-losing activity. And that's sad, because many big enterprises start as a small project.

(Also, you messed up the quotes, it looks as if I said some of the things the OP stated.)
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: vlad1m1r on June 25, 2012, 05:44 pm
I am curious as to what the current state of the SR market really is. I am trying to assess whether or not it's even worth it to become a seller, I am not talking about whether it's worth the time / cost / etc, but whether or not there are enough buyers even on SR. I am new to this, so please forgive me if I seem naive, that is why I am asking in this thread. On the actual SR marketplace it appears that people are buying and that there is a good profit margin there. But if one was to base the decision based on what is said on the forums you would think it would be hard to get customers due to the prices that need to be charged to make selling on SR worthwhile. For instance, there are about 3-4 threads on the first page of one of the forums complaining about the price of adderall on SR and asking if anyone will sell for a certain price (all well below the going rate on the actual marketplace). Is this a bad way to guage the potential worth in spending the $150 to become a seller?

Upon closer inspection on the actual SR marketplace it seems that there definitely is not an enormous amount of buyings going on. Unless I am looking at something wrong. For instance, there are a few people that sell a certain product, so I would think the combined amount of recent feedback left on a certain item would be a good way to gauge how much of a certain product is being sold. Am I looking at this the wrong way? Are there more sales then it appears based on the way I am looking at it? I do not mind spending the $150, and I think that it is a good deterrent for weeding out people who are not serious, but to pay $150 and then rece4ive no buyers simply because the demand is just not there would be a real bummer. Based on a thread I made awhile back this is not the case.
One other thing I noticed is that it seems there aren't any new sellers, all the sellers I saw had a decent amount of feedback (I may have looked at this wrong). Also, would it be better to give out a few free samples to certain members to drum up business or have the initial price a bit lower? I am not so sure regular buyers are also regular users of the forums, I am basing this on the fact that there are a lot of complaints about the price of rx drugs, such as adderall, yet the prices stay the same on the marketplace which would lead me to assume that they are selling.
Not trying to be negative, just hoping for someone to enlighten me.

Hi antigrid,

So far I've been doing a tidy trade selling Bitcoins to SR users so I think there is some demand but suggest you keep asking around.

All the best,

V.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: Limetless on June 25, 2012, 05:57 pm
LOL OP the SR market is most certainly not dead my friend. I sell less mainstream products but I have only been here just over 3 months and including the orders not finalized yet I have done over 200 sales and got a booming trade for ML work here. If you take into account that the Vendors here who sell more mainstream drugs like E, Bing, MDMA, Meth, Smack etc will be doing a far larger volume than myself.

Also without sounding harsh OP but you have absolutely no way to have closely inspected how many sales etc people are doing. The clock stops at 300 sales so after you reach that point the only people that know how many sales they have is SR and possibly the vendors themselves. Buyers or other vendors have absolutely no need to know these figures at all so it's futile to speculate. Also judging SR's volume of traffic by the amount of comments on this forum is pretty pointless too because only a small fraction of the vendors/sellers on SR use this forum.

This thread just smacks of either fishing for information or not being prepared to stump up for the sellers fee (which is ridiculously minor for the perks you get by selling on here rather than the street).
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: Limetless on June 25, 2012, 06:04 pm
LOL OP the SR market is most certainly not dead my friend. I sell less mainstream products but I have only been here just over 3 months and including the orders not finalized yet I have done over 200 sales and got a booming trade for ML work here. If you take into account that the Vendors here who sell more mainstream drugs like E, Bing, MDMA, Meth, Smack etc will be doing a far larger volume than myself.

Also without sounding harsh OP but you have absolutely no way to have closely inspected how many sales etc people are doing. The clock stops at 300 sales so after you reach that point the only people that know how many sales they have is SR and possibly the vendors themselves. Buyers or other vendors have absolutely no need to know these figures at all so it's futile to speculate. Also judging SR's volume of traffic by the amount of comments on this forum is pretty pointless too because only a small fraction of the vendors/sellers on SR use this forum.

This thread just smacks of either fishing for information or not being prepared to stump up for the sellers fee (which is ridiculously minor for the perks you get by selling on here rather than the street).

And you have racked up 4k+ posts in 3months? That is enthusiasm right there!

Yeah lol. Posts are my Crack.  :P
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: blackend646 on June 25, 2012, 06:21 pm
$150 is steep? If you believe this then you really should not vend. I don't even agree there are so few new sellers. But lets assume you are right, there are few new sellers ...the reason is simple, there are very few people with the access to product for sale. Just like irl there are always fewer vendors then buyers. Most people are not gangster enough to sell illegal drugs. I think that is a fact.

Are you implying I'm not gangster?

>:(
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: Limetless on June 25, 2012, 06:49 pm
LOL OP the SR market is most certainly not dead my friend. I sell less mainstream products but I have only been here just over 3 months and including the orders not finalized yet I have done over 200 sales and got a booming trade for ML work here. If you take into account that the Vendors here who sell more mainstream drugs like E, Bing, MDMA, Meth, Smack etc will be doing a far larger volume than myself.

Also without sounding harsh OP but you have absolutely no way to have closely inspected how many sales etc people are doing. The clock stops at 300 sales so after you reach that point the only people that know how many sales they have is SR and possibly the vendors themselves. Buyers or other vendors have absolutely no need to know these figures at all so it's futile to speculate. Also judging SR's volume of traffic by the amount of comments on this forum is pretty pointless too because only a small fraction of the vendors/sellers on SR use this forum.

This thread just smacks of either fishing for information or not being prepared to stump up for the sellers fee (which is ridiculously minor for the perks you get by selling on here rather than the street).

And you have racked up 4k+ posts in 3months? That is enthusiasm right there!

Yeah lol. Posts are my Crack.  :P

It's all them fucking lines that you're doing with your copper mates  :P

Clearly.....  ???
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: Limetless on June 25, 2012, 06:58 pm
LOL OP the SR market is most certainly not dead my friend. I sell less mainstream products but I have only been here just over 3 months and including the orders not finalized yet I have done over 200 sales and got a booming trade for ML work here. If you take into account that the Vendors here who sell more mainstream drugs like E, Bing, MDMA, Meth, Smack etc will be doing a far larger volume than myself.

Also without sounding harsh OP but you have absolutely no way to have closely inspected how many sales etc people are doing. The clock stops at 300 sales so after you reach that point the only people that know how many sales they have is SR and possibly the vendors themselves. Buyers or other vendors have absolutely no need to know these figures at all so it's futile to speculate. Also judging SR's volume of traffic by the amount of comments on this forum is pretty pointless too because only a small fraction of the vendors/sellers on SR use this forum.

This thread just smacks of either fishing for information or not being prepared to stump up for the sellers fee (which is ridiculously minor for the perks you get by selling on here rather than the street).

And you have racked up 4k+ posts in 3months? That is enthusiasm right there!

Yeah lol. Posts are my Crack.  :P

It's all them fucking lines that you're doing with your copper mates  :P

Clearly.....  ???

I thought you sniffed it off riot shields, you said? why u grumpy? coming down...  :-\

I really can't be fucked to argue the toss with a troll, if you want to get into this though just carry on.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: Limetless on June 25, 2012, 07:17 pm
sorry man I was just joking, my mind is in a drug fuelled fucked up state so was being sarcastic in a harmless way. NM

No worries mate. :) I can take a bit of banter but I get a bit quick on that one because of Dank's crap lol.

What you on anyway? I've just cracked out the Meph lol.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: RickyRango on June 26, 2012, 01:06 am
It depends on what you're selling.  Drugs are obviously the biggest sellers, especially if you have high quality product.  If you have lower quality (like midweed), make sure the price shows it and you say so in the listing. 

There's also demand for stuff below market price, like stolen goods or "socially engineered" products.  If you can hack accounts or ripoff actual products, you can sell your services and make decent money here.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: antigrid on June 26, 2012, 09:49 am
I can't even believe I read this. But I did so I will comment...

I'm considering becoming a seller too, but the fee is kinda steep and it's hard to tell if there is actually demand for your product. I think that's why there are so few new seller.
.

$150 is steep? If you believe this then you really should not vend. I don't even agree there are so few new sellers. But lets assume you are right, there are few new sellers ...the reason is simple, there are very few people with the access to product for sale. Just like irl there are always fewer vendors then buyers. Most people are not gangster enough to sell illegal drugs. I think that is a fact.

I am curious as to what the current state of the SR market really is. I am trying to assess whether or not it's even worth it to become a seller, I am not talking about whether it's worth the time / cost / etc, but whether or not there are enough buyers even on SR. I am new to this, so please forgive me if I seem naive, that is why I am asking in this thread. On the actual SR marketplace it appears that people are buying and that there is a good profit margin there. But if one was to base the decision based on what is said on the forums you would think it would be hard to get customers due to the prices that need to be charged to make selling on SR worthwhile. For instance, there are about 3-4 threads on the first page of one of the forums complaining about the price of adderall on SR and asking if anyone will sell for a certain price (all well below the going rate on the actual marketplace). Is this a bad way to guage the potential worth in spending the $150 to become a seller?

Again you are already in bad shape if you think 150 bucks is a lot of money. In your example above it should tell you how great the market is not how bad it is! When someone makes a post or in this case multiple people making multiple post asking for a cheaper price for a product then one could assume the vendors are not willing to lower their price for these particular drugs because they are selling them for the "high" price already. These post were not from vendors trying to sell product. They were from buyers looking for cheaper pills. A lot of post are made about the prices. The crazy thing is the buyers make the prices. If vendors were not selling at the "high" price's you pay then they would have to lower the price to sell. The fact is there is a market, a great market for Rx. As a vendor you can name your price and you will get it. I think that is a sign of a great market.... if your a vendor!

Upon closer inspection on the actual SR marketplace it seems that there definitely is not an enormous amount of buyings going on. Unless I am looking at something wrong. For instance, there are a few people that sell a certain product, so I would think the combined amount of recent feedback left on a certain item would be a good way to gauge how much of a certain product is being sold. Am I looking at this the wrong way? Are there more sales then it appears based on the way I am looking at it? I do not mind spending the $150, and I think that it is a good deterrent for weeding out people who are not serious, but to pay $150 and then rece4ive no buyers simply because the demand is just not there would be a real bummer.


You didn't get close enough in your inspection ;) It is just the opposite of your first sentence

"Upon closer inspection on the actual SR marketplace it seems that there definitely is not an enormous amount of buyings going on"

There actually is an enormous amount of buying going on. I know this from my own sales and from the sales of other vendors I know. Again as chiefrogan said.. it really depends on what you are planning on selling. But if it is  good Rx or coke,weed or H you will have a HUGE market. The questions you should be asking is not about the demand but about how to be a vendor and all the stuff you need to know. Also you will have to get the buyers to trust you so that you can vend your product. That is the first hurdle and the most important one you will have to get over. If you have any of the products I mentioned earlier , they will sell themselves. Your issue is going to be your shipping and packaging. You (in this post) are asking all the wrong questions. Getting product sold on here is maybe the easiest part:)



Based on a thread I made awhile back this is not the case.
One other thing I noticed is that it seems there aren't any new sellers, all the sellers I saw had a decent amount of feedback (I may have looked at this wrong). Also, would it be better to give out a few free samples to certain members to drum up business or have the initial price a bit lower? I am not so sure regular buyers are also regular users of the forums, I am basing this on the fact that there are a lot of complaints about the price of rx drugs, such as adderall, yet the prices stay the same on the marketplace which would lead me to assume that they are selling.
Not trying to be negative, just hoping for someone to enlighten me.

This paragraph is exactly the questions you should be asking IMO. You will get a lot of vendors giving you different answers. The fact is a lot of successful vendors have done everything you asked about. There is no "perfect/correct" way to start vending. I can tell you from my point of view and the majority of vendors.... that you should NOT give samples. All you will get is a bunch of dirtbags that beg for free shit and tell you that you need to give out samples to get their feedback. It is 100% bullshit.

You are way  better off as an example selling Adderall and if they buy 10 you give 5 for free for a total of 15. That way you get actual buyers. Of course you are going to stay in escrow so there is no risk for the buyer in dealing with you. And you will actually attract actual buyers. So this will get you sales. But the most important part will be what comes next.

 How you deal with them, your shipping methods, your stealth packaging, how long it takes you to process there order, what shipping options you choose, how long it takes you to return messages. That's the hard part. The first part of your post, you asking about demand, would have been the last part because that is the easiest part.

Most buyers do not post in the forum. In the vendor only forum we have guessed it is about 5% of our actual buyers that post in the forum. And for me it is even less. The customers I have that have the most buys (30k+ in last 6 mo) do not post at all. They will read some stuff but they do not post. There are a lot of great posters in the forums. There are some great buyers that post. But for the MOST part the people posting are not going to be your customers. Also there is a whole group that just stalk new vendors and have there hand out asking for free shit. You will see..it is pathetic.

As far as lowering your prices at first just to get business... I think this is a bad choice. You should know the market for your product. Then you need to decide if you are going to stay with the market or undercut it.  I just think you should stay with your prices. Though if your honest about it and tell them in your listing that this is just a promotional price to get customers... that is good. The buyers will like that. They are always looking for a deal. It's just bad to sell to a customer a pill for $5 then the next month you raise the price to $10. The customer went with you believing you are a new vendor with low prices then they find out you are just like the rest of them...expensive. It's totally o.k to do that obviously.. but it will go over a lot better if you start off telling people that this is a promotional pricing  to get customers. And what will keep them after you go to higher prices(like the other vendors selling your exact goods) is your service and promptness of shipping. Again this is a major decision you will have to make. You need to figure out how you are going to vend. If you are going to be cheaper, faster, better service...or all of that.

Again depending on what you have to offer and how much you have that will determine how you will vend. For a lot of products we need more vendors. And you could come on the scene and charge less to get business or you could even charge more and still get business. It all depends on what you are selling. And where you are willing to ship to. There are so many things that come into vending. And I think the least important thing is what the title of this thread says. There is ALWAYS room on the road for a GOOD new vendor. Almost every product needs new vendors. There will always be buyers. There will always be a demand. What there won't always be is people selling the good's(vendors).

Good luck, I hope you decide to vend. I also hope you spend all your energy figuring out how to ship fast, always be honest with your buyers, ship fast, answer questions fast, ship fast, not asking buyers to FE, ship fast, not marking item in transit when in fact it is still on your table. Getting your item to the post office fast. Shipping fast, stealth shipping, fast turn around time from the the minute you get the order to you packaging up there goods. Not having the item(s) in processing for more then 12 hours, shipping fast.  ;D

Above is all that matters. People are here to buy drugs. They all want what they purchase yesterday. They will order at 7pm on a Tuesday and on Wednesday at around 3pm they will send you a message to track their package... LOL ...Yes it's true that really happened to me. Buyers are excited to get their goodies. And some get anxiety waiting for their packages, especially from a new vendor. 99% of my customers are awesome. Yes, I have had some shitbags. But it's like 1 for every 100 good ones. In the very begging I got bombed with the worst ones. They were all lying to me. And trying to get free samples and telling me I "need" them and the community they represent. In reality it was just a broke dick trying to get free drugs. When you get a vendor account and announce your goods in the forum you will get all kinds of well written post telling you all the benefits of giving them samples. It simply is not true. You could sell them sample sizes. That is perfectly fine. Just don't give free samples away to those that ask and tell you how it can help you. Take those same pills that you would give away for free and offer them to buyers. Make package deals that are too good to pass up. That way you will get actual buyers.

There is a lot of room for more vendors. If your product is Rx then you are golden. The road needs more Rx Vendors. ;D


RxKing

Well put, I understand it seems I am not asking the right questions, I just wanted to get past this before I got to the more important questions. I have quite a few of these questions all written down that I need answered before I can move forward, but not sure if it's a good idea to be asking some of the questions, mostly about how to ship etc, on the forum, and not sure I am going to be able to get the best information that way either, because obviously people don't want to publicly reveal their methods. Any advice on how to go about getting specific info on shipping/packaging? Questions are mainly stuff like how to get postage without going in to post office, where to get non traceable package materials, how to choose drop locations , etc.

I have some other questions about security and BTC and will post in appropriate forums later today.
Title: Re: Is the SR market dead? How to assess whether there is a demand?
Post by: chiefrogan on June 26, 2012, 10:37 am
use the search bar in the top right! so much information that you are looking for is already been answered time and again somewhere on here... do your research outside of these forums too.

one suggestion you can have for free... monkey see monkey do- order from some good vendors here and anyalze how the transaction goes including shipping stuff and how its packaged.

goodluck