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**Azazelx**

Here's the thing - Aecus Decimus may be being a bit of a dick about it (or terse - you choose) but what he's saying is actually quite correct. He's also spending quite a lot of time replying to your post. Overread is also saying a lot of valuable stuff. I couldn't help but notice that you're really not engaging with Overread's points at all and are simply choosing to joust with AD.

Your website is ...not good. It looks very amateurish and I'd personally be cautious about buying from it if I simply stumbled onto it. And by that I mean I'd just avoid it, for fear of losing my money or going through a PayPal nightmare to get a refund. My gakky little hobby blog looks more professional, and I'm not even selling anything. That's the first thing to fix. Look at successful retailers and copy them, though scaled down to represent your own much smaller product line.

As noted, you've got a picture blown up beyond it's native resolution with 4 boxed sets on it. It also looks like it was photographed on your bed. Either use the sexy product images from retailers, or buy a nice shelf of your own and use it as your "studio" so you look a bit more professional.
3 sets of 3d rendered shields on your front page is 3 sets of shields too many. If you're doing POD and want to showcase that, use something much more sexy.

Have all the ranges with their own banners on the front page, along with the discount %. Looking at the store, I can guess that you probably sell Fireforge models and Caballero shields.
No Mantic.
No Armada - Mantic are doing a promotional push with Armada this month - why is it not on the front page in a prominent position?

Get a banner each for Shieldwolf, Mantic, Fireforge, Wargames Atlantic. Pay someone on Fiverr to do them for you if you're not confident. (yes, I'm serious). Use those as the basis for clickthroughs for each product line. Mantic is the biggest of those, so maybe even separate banners for your biggest sellers as well as whatever they're promoting - Kings of War, Armada, Warpath, etc Even one for their boardgames - that you can order in.

Perhaps look into a retailer-level pledge of a 3d print Patreon (or a couple more). Something that will attract more attention than the relatively sedate LotR models that Medbury designs (I'm one of his Patreon backers myself). Have a few of the most eye-catching designs on the front page with their own banners. if I don't know Medbury already, I'm probably not going to click on it. Get the Valkyries and Amazons and Not-Tomb Kings on the front page. GW proxies will always be the most popular, so look into something like Atlan Forge https://www.patreon.com/atlanforge/membership and get some armoured space warriors up on that front page as well.
if you have any kind of non-40k-proxy-biases for your 3d printed stuff, please do remember - if you're running a business that you want to have keep the lights on and feed you, then it's more about what the customers like than what you like. it's also cheaper than trying to suddenly carry Reaper's range or meet GW's minimum orders.

As an Aussie, I have basically written off US retailers entirely after the USPS hikes of several years ago. Put your limited time into effort with local US customers before worrying too much about internationals. We're also a lot more hassle with declarations and the like.

Bob made several points - I think the first three bear some space on your website's frontpage.

I'd also suggest looking into some low-cost, high margin smaller items that you can add to your shop. Dice, cheap brushes, paint, empty dropper bottles, generic plastic bases, magnets, movement trays, etc. Things that people can just throw one or six onto an order while they're on the page. it may well just mean you order a ton of cheap bases (or dice, or whatever) from Amazon/eBay/Aliexpress and then slowly sell them over time.

Hope this helps. If you respond in a substantial manner, I'll respond again as best I can. If not, good luck with it either way!

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also - fix the link to your store in your sig. Make it a hyperlink, like your dakka thread is.

**Slipspace**

McDougall Designs wrote:

And that people would rather support ruthless capitalism than someone who wants to better the hobby by trying to interest people to take on interesting projects and creatively express themselves

Here's the thing. You're an online retailer, not a local store, so "bettering the hobby" is kind of a tricky thing to do. One of the stores local to me is run by an absolute hero of a hobbyist who knows how to engage with his customers, puts a lot of effort into making his store welcoming and works hard to engage with various tournament and event organisers all over the country so he has a steady stream of events happening all the time. He's adding real value to the local scene and making it better. I'm not sure how an online store does anything similar. Blogs and videos are nice, but I can get them at plenty of places online, usually not attached to a webstore where I'm always going to be wondering how much of the content is genuine and how much is marketing schtick.

For your original question, the real answer is you have to spend some money. You're trying to do everything on the cheap. If you want a successful business you need marketing, especially if you're online only. That means paying actual money for proper advertising, either through Google Ads, FB, or by sponsoring a website like Dakka or a YT channel. Again, many physical stores can get around this by running events, which many FB groups have no problem advertising, but you don't have this option.

Your website, to be blunt, sucks. I have no idea what the blurry image of 4 boxes of models is there for. It looks unprofessional as hell. You then have 4 products below that (which many people will never scroll down to see) that make it look like you're purely a 3d sculptor rather than boxed retailer. You mention your big USP is having the entire Mantic Range but there's nothing on the homepage that even hints at that. For some reason Shipping Information is a main navigation item, rather than just being listed in the footer and your main menu is after your contact and shipping info and a message about how I won't get my 3d printed item for the better part of a month. On top of that, your logo is white and green but your banner is black, which looks pretty amateurish. Speaking of amateurish, you have words that are not capitalised in the menu and sub menus which doesn't look good and there are several instances of pages which ask people to e-mail you that don't have a clickable e-mail address. You should also consider a web design that keeps the main menu pinned to the top of the screen when scrolling for ease of use.

You need to change the storefront a lot. Judging by your menu, the areas of your business you want front and centre are 3d printing, boxed models and bits. Those should be the first things I see instead of that blurry box image. You need big icons/images representing those and then a separate page for each category with further images/icons to signpost people to the individual producers/game systems.

**Azazelx**

Overread wrote:

Custom 3D print stuff is also something that can be time consuming per customer, worthwhile, but also trickier to scale. Considering his website already says he's got a 20 day backlog it seems his 3D print end needs scaling up even if just for regular models let alone custom services. 20 days wait for 3D printed models means many customers will go elsewhere and the majority of people will want your standard models anyway. This is where a business loan might be needed to help purchase more printing machines (eg Elegoo Saturn or Saturn 2) to allow an increase in production and get that backlog overcome and keep it down.

I didn't notice that. yeah, buy more printers and make a concerted effort to kill that backlog ASAP.

**Illumini**

A concrete suggestion to improve your website is to focus more on the use I can get from the minis, rather than the 3d designer.

I have no idea who medbury miniatures are, but I know if I need LOTR style dwarfs for example. I would do more like a standard e-retailer, and categorize by miniature "type", for example "LOTR easterlings", and the 3d designer would be the "brand", which I can click to see all their offerings.

That would make the site much easier to navigate, and more likely to trigger impulse / more purchases. Very probably better for search engine optimization too.

I think your prices for 3d printed minis look very reasonable. Would purchase if I was in the states

**Azazelx**

He does need to be careful with that sort of thing, as Medbury aren't licenced LoTR/ME models, they "just happen" to look a lot like those particular designs...

I'd suggest some images on the front page so people inmstantly see what they are, but hitting "counts-as" tags in text can be a bit harder for SEO.

**McDougall Designs**

Overread wrote:
BobtheInquisitor wrote:
So, I am a regular customer, and I can explain why. I would like all of your thoughts on if these are reasons that make his shop unique and should be capitalized upon, or if they just don’t matter to most wargamers.

Well I said earlier that his site needs to push the mantic supply stuff on the front page in the banner and suchlike so that people really know he's got that up for sale.
Otherwise a lot of your comments are on specialist services - bits and custom 3D print parts. There's certainly a niche for that, but its also very hard to scale it up. Bits from sprues requires sprue that have lots of popular bits to make them worthwhile to stock; meanwhile its also a service that can generate a lot of waste material very quickly so he's got to consider sorting and storage.

Custom 3D print stuff is also something that can be time consuming per customer, worthwhile, but also trickier to scale. Considering his website already says he's got a 20 day backlog it seems his 3D print end needs scaling up even if just for regular models let alone custom services. 20 days wait for 3D printed models means many customers will go elsewhere and the majority of people will want your standard models anyway. This is where a business loan might be needed to help purchase more printing machines (eg Elegoo Saturn or Saturn 2) to allow an increase in production and get that backlog overcome and keep it down.

Considering it looks like most product lines are ordered once a month that's a risky thing for a store. It means if anything is out of stock you could be looking at over a month to get your product. That's fast going to send people to other sites. Many stores make weekly orders so that, on top of popular items they hold in stock, they can get products quickly to their customers. Gone are the days of "please wait at least 14 days" when you've the likes of Amazon who have pushed for next day delivery services as standard. People today in general expect faster postage.
Now as some are overseas once a month might be the best, esp with the bulk ordering and discounts and such. As a result I'd be looking around for some standard US model lines to stock so that you've got products that you can order once a week.

I advertise that i place a standard stock order once per month. The reality is once my sales volume picks up weekly orders can be a thing for everything BUT Mantic, as Mantic requests only 1-2 orders per month for trade partners to deal with invoicing.

The big problem with having a store built on niche markets and such is that it can take a lot longer to grow and get the word out. Having solid stock lines that are common and standard can help provide a base-line income. Much in the same way that many highstreet stores stock magic the gathering and wargames side by side. The MTG generates a healthy continual steady income whilst the wargames sell slower.

I have solid stock in all the lines i carry. I just don't carry the full range on my ready-shelf. Because I only had so much capital and had to prioritize. The intention is to roll sales into more product until larger swathes of the product line is available for immediate shipment.

Mantic orders normally take 3 days to ship to my location after ordering. Slower if Mantic is behind the 8 ball.

Actually 3 day turnaround for most of my distribution options has been standard.

Edit - I also see the website has a new image showing more FF models. However its still a freaking huge image. I have to scroll to get past it . Half the size or even a third the size would be good enough to show that you're stocking it.

So I fixed the blurriness but the size of the image is a concern now?

**McDougall Designs**

Azazelx wrote:
Here's the thing - Aecus Decimus may be being a bit of a dick about it (or terse - you choose) but what he's saying is actually quite correct. He's also spending quite a lot of time replying to your post. Overread is also saying a lot of valuable stuff. I couldn't help but notice that you're really not engaging with Overread's points at all and are simply choosing to joust with AD.

I'm attempting to be engaged. I apologize if it's seemed otherwise.

Your website is ...not good. It looks very amateurish and I'd personally be cautious about buying from it if I simply stumbled onto it. And by that I mean I'd just avoid it, for fear of losing my money or going through a PayPal nightmare to get a refund. My gakky little hobby blog looks more professional, and I'm not even selling anything. That's the first thing to fix. Look at successful retailers and copy them, though scaled down to represent your own much smaller product line.

It....is amateurish. I understand that. I'm also upfront with it being a work in progress.

As noted, you've got a picture blown up beyond it's native resolution with 4 boxed sets on it. It also looks like it was photographed on your bed. Either use the sexy product images from retailers

The first, blurry image, was the one I received from my distributor. I am not actively running it through any programs to blow it up. Thats its native size or how my back end system is displaying it.

, or buy a nice shelf of your own and use it as your "studio" so you look a bit more professional.
3 sets of 3d rendered shields on your front page is 3 sets of shields too many. If you're doing POD and want to showcase that, use something much more sexy.

point taken, images need updating.

Have all the ranges with their own banners on the front page, along with the discount %. Looking at the store, I can guess that you probably sell Fireforge models and Caballero shields.

Did the drop down menues at the top not show the range collection names?

No Mantic.
No Armada - Mantic are doing a promotional push with Armada this month - why is it not on the front page in a prominent position?

Because I'm not selling the all-in-one kits mantic is pushing this month. They are mantic direct and it would be cheaper for a prospective customer to buy army sets from me at my standard catalog discount of 20%

Granted, I could have this on my front page, and I agree the front page needs improvement.

Get a banner each for Shieldwolf, Mantic, Fireforge, Wargames Atlantic. Pay someone on Fiverr to do them for you if you're not confident. (yes, I'm serious). Use those as the basis for clickthroughs for each product line. Mantic is the biggest of those, so maybe even separate banners for your biggest sellers as well as whatever they're promoting - Kings of War, Armada, Warpath, etc Even one for their boardgames - that you can order in.

I'm currently working with an artist on these. Hence the current click through ads like the one I run here on dakka.

Perhaps look into a retailer-level pledge of a 3d print Patreon (or a couple more). Something that will attract more attention than the relatively sedate LotR models that Medbury designs (I'm one of his Patreon backers myself). Have a few of the most eye-catching designs on the front page with their own banners. if I don't know Medbury already, I'm probably not going to click on it. Get the Valkyries and Amazons and Not-Tomb Kings on the front page. GW proxies will always be the most popular, so look into something like Atlan Forge https://www.patreon.com/atlanforge/membership and get some armoured space warriors up on that front page as well.

You are talking deeper investment into 3D printing when I need to move the stock on my shelf and am already strapped trying to get art together.

if you have any kind of non-40k-proxy-biases for your 3d printed stuff, please do remember - if you're running a business that you want to have keep the lights on and feed you, then it's more about what the customers like than what you like. it's also cheaper than trying to suddenly carry Reaper's range or meet GW's minimum orders.

Can't market non-40k options, or non-AoS options, or non-LOTR options as that wording.

I'd get sued by GW if I used anything like that wording

As an Aussie, I have basically written off US retailers entirely after the USPS hikes of several years ago. Put your limited time into effort with local US customers before worrying too much about internationals. We're also a lot more hassle with declarations and the like.

This is exactly my issue and what I have been trying to say I'm dealing with. I'm getting reported on facebook because i'm advertising, when I'm simply trying to get word of mouth out there to potentially interested hobbyists in groups centered in the US or local regions.

Bob made several points - I think the first three bear some space on your website's frontpage.

I'd also suggest looking into some low-cost, high margin smaller items that you can add to your shop. Dice, cheap brushes, paint, empty dropper bottles, generic plastic bases, magnets, movement trays, etc. Things that people can just throw one or six onto an order while they're on the page. it may well just mean you order a ton of cheap bases (or dice, or whatever) from Amazon/eBay/Aliexpress and then slowly sell them over time.

I did this with warmaster bases for the 10mm stuff. I can look into others.

Hope this helps. If you respond in a substantial manner, I'll respond again as best I can. If not, good luck with it either way!

It does. As stated before, I appreciate the candor i get from Dakka. I want to improve, and I know things are a bit wonky.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also - fix the link to your store in your sig. Make it a hyperlink, like your dakka thread is.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Illumini wrote:
A concrete suggestion to improve your website is to focus more on the use I can get from the minis, rather than the 3d designer.

I have no idea who medbury miniatures are, but I know if I need LOTR style dwarfs for example. I would do more like a standard e-retailer, and categorize by miniature "type", for example "LOTR easterlings", and the 3d designer would be the "brand", which I can click to see all their offerings.

That would make the site much easier to navigate, and more likely to trigger impulse / more purchases. Very probably better for search engine optimization too.

Every product page has substantive tagging. If you search dwarves, you should come up with 95% of the dwarves I carry, for instance. I can always add tags manually as well.

As stated above, I cannot name things as not-lotr alternative or use naming conventions of that manner for legal reasons.

Currently I'm engaged in fixing the image situation on the mantic special orders tabs.

**Overread**

If 3 days is your standard turn around that's fantastic, and a big reason why you shouldn't be suggesting so strongly that customers might have to wait until the 10th of each month for you to make an order. 3 days vs 1month plus is a world of difference in when a customer will choose to shop with you.

Ideally if you're holding stock have an active inventory system - show how much of each item you've got on the product page.

I mentioned a few stores before
https://www.waylandgames.co.uk
https://www.firestormgames.co.uk

Go look at their storepages, Go look at Amazon and a whole bunch of other wargame stores. What you want to do is see what all the other stores are doing and then aim to emulate what they are showing.
Your image is huge, you're filling more than a whole screen with the image on your front page. That's a vast amount of front page that's being eaten up. Plus its so big the actual links for it are almost lost at the bottom.

Smaller images that are clear and sharp are best - heck just use the product box shots like you do for standard listings.

Your front page is your first place where you sell to your customers. It's the first place they will land and come too; so make sure its advertising as much of what you offer as you can.

**McDougall Designs**

Overread wrote:
If 3 days is your standard turn around that's fantastic, and a big reason why you shouldn't be suggesting so strongly that customers might have to wait until the 10th of each month for you to make an order. 3 days vs 1month plus is a world of difference in when a customer will choose to shop with you.

You misunderstand. 3 days is the turnaround from my placing of an order with a manufacturer or distributor and that product arriving at my location. I then ship any actionable orders by close of business the next day.

Ideally if you're holding stock have an active inventory system - show how much of each item you've got on the product page.

The stock system is active. It allows for over-ordering, granted. If an order ever goes over my active stock cap it triggers an alert and i will send out an email to the customer immediately afterwards to discuss such an event.

I mentioned a few stores before
https://www.waylandgames.co.uk
https://www.firestormgames.co.uk

Go look at their storepages, Go look at Amazon and a whole bunch of other wargame stores. What you want to do is see what all the other stores are doing and then aim to emulate what they are showing.
Your image is huge, you're filling more than a whole screen with the image on your front page. That's a vast amount of front page that's being eaten up. Plus its so big the actual links for it are almost lost at the bottom.

Smaller images that are clear and sharp are best - heck just use the product box shots like you do for standard listings.

Your front page is your first place where you sell to your customers. It's the first place they will land and come too; so make sure its advertising as much of what you offer as you can.

I'll put some time into tidying the front page and fixing images today. Anything like a major redesign can wait until I can find a competent designer/developer I trust.

**Overread**

When I say active stock I mean that when someone looks at a product page it should show either the number of products you've got in stock for that item or a simple red/green light system for showing if you've got it in stock or not.

https://mcdougalldesigns3d.com/products/kings-of-war-northern-alliance-ice-trolls-regiment-no-box

Right now I don't see it on the page, so I've no idea if you've got stock of that model nor how many. If I order 1 will I get it fast or will I have to wait. If I decide to order 4 will I suddenly have to wait because you've only got 2 in stock.

**McDougall Designs**

Overread wrote:
When I say active stock I mean that when someone looks at a product page it should show either the number of products you've got in stock for that item or a simple red/green light system for showing if you've got it in stock or not.

https://mcdougalldesigns3d.com/products/kings-of-war-northern-alliance-ice-trolls-regiment-no-box

Right now I don't see it on the page, so I've no idea if you've got stock of that model nor how many. If I order 1 will I get it fast or will I have to wait. If I decide to order 4 will I suddenly have to wait because you've only got 2 in stock.

the listing you linked to is in the Mantic games ready-shelf section. Its in stock. I believe I have 2 units in stock but that's off memory and not checking inventory.

As i said, if anything ever takes an order to the point where it wouldn't ship next day, it triggers an email chain. If the customer would like to remove the item that is an issue, that is possible.

**Overread**

McDougall Designs wrote:
Overread wrote:
When I say active stock I mean that when someone looks at a product page it should show either the number of products you've got in stock for that item or a simple red/green light system for showing if you've got it in stock or not.

https://mcdougalldesigns3d.com/products/kings-of-war-northern-alliance-ice-trolls-regiment-no-box

Right now I don't see it on the page, so I've no idea if you've got stock of that model nor how many. If I order 1 will I get it fast or will I have to wait. If I decide to order 4 will I suddenly have to wait because you've only got 2 in stock.

the listing you linked to is in the Mantic games ready-shelf section. Its in stock. I believe I have 2 units in stock but that's off memory and not checking inventory.

As i said, if anything ever takes an order to the point where it wouldn't ship next day, it triggers an email chain. If the customer would like to remove the item that is an issue, that is possible.

Yes but my point is the customer wants to know before they place the order.

**McDougall Designs**

Overread wrote:
McDougall Designs wrote:
Overread wrote:
When I say active stock I mean that when someone looks at a product page it should show either the number of products you've got in stock for that item or a simple red/green light system for showing if you've got it in stock or not.

https://mcdougalldesigns3d.com/products/kings-of-war-northern-alliance-ice-trolls-regiment-no-box

Right now I don't see it on the page, so I've no idea if you've got stock of that model nor how many. If I order 1 will I get it fast or will I have to wait. If I decide to order 4 will I suddenly have to wait because you've only got 2 in stock.

the listing you linked to is in the Mantic games ready-shelf section. Its in stock. I believe I have 2 units in stock but that's off memory and not checking inventory.

As i said, if anything ever takes an order to the point where it wouldn't ship next day, it triggers an email chain. If the customer would like to remove the item that is an issue, that is possible.

Yes but my point is the customer wants to know before they place the order.

its in the ready shelf section. Is it a jump in logic to assume that means the product is in stock ready to go? Stock is live with an immediate email if overages occur. I leave it open for over-ordering because i have the rest of the product range on special order.

**Overread**

McDougall Designs wrote:
Overread wrote:
McDougall Designs wrote:
Overread wrote:
When I say active stock I mean that when someone looks at a product page it should show either the number of products you've got in stock for that item or a simple red/green light system for showing if you've got it in stock or not.

https://mcdougalldesigns3d.com/products/kings-of-war-northern-alliance-ice-trolls-regiment-no-box

Right now I don't see it on the page, so I've no idea if you've got stock of that model nor how many. If I order 1 will I get it fast or will I have to wait. If I decide to order 4 will I suddenly have to wait because you've only got 2 in stock.

the listing you linked to is in the Mantic games ready-shelf section. Its in stock. I believe I have 2 units in stock but that's off memory and not checking inventory.

As i said, if anything ever takes an order to the point where it wouldn't ship next day, it triggers an email chain. If the customer would like to remove the item that is an issue, that is possible.

Yes but my point is the customer wants to know before they place the order.

its in the ready shelf section. Is it a jump in logic to assume that means the product is in stock ready to go? Stock is live with an immediate email if overages occur. I leave it open for over-ordering because i have the rest of the product range on special order.

Yes but if a customer orders more copies than you have in stock then its not shelf-ready.
The point is if the customer wants multiple copies of the same model and you don't have multiple copies the customer doesn't know that until after they've ordered. Having it "shelf ready" suggests that you're sitting there with maybe 5-10 of each item in stock. Ergo a good healthy stock that would let you ship out most orders a standard customer would make on most models

Again look at your competition
https://www.waylandgames.co.uk/warhammer-the-horus-heresy/92162-leviathan-dreadnought-with-ranged-weapons?nosto=frontpage-nosto-2

Lists that they've 10+ in stock. I can order 10 of those and know they'll be shipped out fast

https://www.firestormgames.co.uk/age-of-sigmar:-warrior

Here again, they've 2 of those in stock. I know just how many I can order before I have to wait.

**The_Real_Chris**

I suggest going on facebook and finding 'Gary Ray, author'. Also his blog
https://blackdiamondgames.blogspot.com/2022/08/frosthaven-kickstarter-analysis.html

but most posts are on the facebook page.

He has detailed stuff talking about these issues (lots!), and a great book.

**Azazelx**

McDougall Designs wrote:

The first, blurry image, was the one I received from my distributor. I am not actively running it through any programs to blow it up. Thats its native size or how my back end system is displaying it.

Az: I'm suggesting thst you use images taken from here instead:
https://fireforge-games.com/
etcetera - use the promo images taken from Manufacturer's own websites as your promo images. It's standard retail practise. I think your website template needs to change to one more appropriate so you can slot in many more images of products/lines rather than having one giant "home" image. You should be able to preview any changes to the webpage before making them go live, right?

====

Az: Have all the ranges with their own banners on the front page, along with the discount %. Looking at the store, I can guess that you probably sell Fireforge models and Caballero shields.

Did the drop down menues at the top not show the range collection names?

Az: My point is that's the "at a glance" impression a new customer gets. Before clicking away. You need to grab their attention with something much more interesting.

====

Az: No Mantic.
No Armada - Mantic are doing a promotional push with Armada this month - why is it not on the front page in a prominent position?

Because I'm not selling the all-in-one kits mantic is pushing this month. They are mantic direct and it would be cheaper for a prospective customer to buy army sets from me at my standard catalog discount of 20%
Granted, I could have this on my front page, and I agree the front page needs improvement.

Az: I'm talking about their normal starter set, normal ships, etc. You may not be stocking their little starter set - that doesn' t actually matter - the important fact is that they're doing a marketing push on this product range right now - which means you should/could be hitching your wagon onto it for some bonus interest to get people interested in a new product range and benefit from Mantic's current marketing money without having to have a huge outlay. Are you on their "find a retailer" thingy on their website?

Get a banner each for Shieldwolf, Mantic, Fireforge, Wargames Atlantic. Pay someone on Fiverr to do them for you if you're not confident. (yes, I'm serious). Use those as the basis for clickthroughs for each product line. Mantic is the biggest of those, so maybe even separate banners for your biggest sellers as well as whatever they're promoting - Kings of War, Armada, Warpath, etc Even one for their boardgames - that you can order in.

I'm currently working with an artist on these. Hence the current click through ads like the one I run here on dakka.

Az: That's good to hear. The website needs a total overhaul. It's how customers see you, particularly if you want to move beyond a small but dedicated following on a single thread on a forum. I love forums, but the format is shrinking. So, eventually it's how most of your customers if you're successful in this enterprise will see you. It's the single biggest problem I can see. Once you have a good website, you can promote it. I'd even go so far as to suggest that most marketing/advertising with the current website is wasted money, because as I said, I'd be scared off by it. And I was buying crap online pretty early on.

Az: Perhaps look into a retailer-level pledge of a 3d print Patreon (or a couple more). Something that will attract more attention than the relatively sedate LotR models that Medbury designs (I'm one of his Patreon backers myself). Have a few of the most eye-catching designs on the front page with their own banners. if I don't know Medbury already, I'm probably not going to click on it. Get the Valkyries and Amazons and Not-Tomb Kings on the front page. GW proxies will always be the most popular, so look into something like Atlan Forge https://www.patreon.com/atlanforge/membership and get some armoured space warriors up on that front page as well.

You are talking deeper investment into 3D printing when I need to move the stock on my shelf and am already strapped trying to get art together.

Az: These are all things that will help. You obviously need to do them in some sort of order - specifically, the website needs to be first, because if you want to sell on your existing stock it needs to be able to be found by potential customers and look like a safe purchase.

Again, the key point is that if 3d printing is a part of your business you probably want to maximise that investment and not have it hidden away as it currently is. The way to do that is to show Not-marines of the quality of Atlan, etc on the front page and then print as many as you're able to for maximum fun and profit, because they WILL sell.

Also, look into things like Fiverr for art if you're strapped, worst case scenario is that you're not out all that much.

====

Az: if you have any kind of non-40k-proxy-biases for your 3d printed stuff, please do remember - if you're running a business that you want to have keep the lights on and feed you, then it's more about what the customers like than what you like. it's also cheaper than trying to suddenly carry Reaper's range or meet GW's minimum orders.

Can't market non-40k options, or non-AoS options, or non-LOTR options as that wording.
I'd get sued by GW if I used anything like that wording

Az: OBVIOUSLY you don't call them space marines. You call them whatever the STL maker called them, and mention them as proxies for popular sci-fi gaming systems, etc. There's an endless series of names for Power Armoured Wolfic Space Viking Warriors or Evil Space Warriors of Disorder that people have been using for a long, long time...

====

Az: As an Aussie, I have basically written off US retailers entirely after the USPS hikes of several years ago. Put your limited time into effort with local US customers before worrying too much about internationals. We're also a lot more hassle with declarations and the like.

This is exactly my issue and what I have been trying to say I'm dealing with. I'm getting reported on facebook because i'm advertising, when I'm simply trying to get word of mouth out there to potentially interested hobbyists in groups centered in the US or local regions.

Az: Yeah - don't worry about o/s customers until you need to. Not worth the extra hassle and time/effort that you don't have spare.

====

Az: Bob made several points - I think the first three bear some space on your website's frontpage.
I'd also suggest looking into some low-cost, high margin smaller items that you can add to your shop. Dice, cheap brushes, paint, empty dropper bottles, generic plastic bases, magnets, movement trays, etc. Things that people can just throw one or six onto an order while they're on the page. it may well just mean you order a ton of cheap bases (or dice, or whatever) from Amazon/eBay/Aliexpress and then slowly sell them over time.

I did this with warmaster bases for the 10mm stuff. I can look into others.

Az: Good. See what your existing customers would *actually* be interested in purchasing and go from there - but remember the point of this stuff isn't to be a one-stop for someone's hobby needs, and alongside things like, say, Renedra trays, to also find cheap, relevant stuff that you can sell for a decent profit on impulse or "while I'm here" purchases. Buy 300 dropper bottles for 5c each and sell them in packs of 10 for $5 or whatever. It's the equivalent of candy bars at the checkout of the grocery store and can be a cheap way of almost artificially increasing the range of items that you stock - so people don't only see 4 manufacturers' kits and 3d printed stuff that will take 20+ days.

It does. As stated before, I appreciate the candor i get from Dakka. I want to improve, and I know things are a bit wonky.
...
Every product page has substantive tagging. If you search dwarves, you should come up with 95% of the dwarves I carry, for instance. I can always add tags manually as well.

Az: Yep, fully agreed that you can't have "Iron Hills Dwarves", etc on your website. The bigger issue is that there's no reason I'd search for Dwarves from looking at the front page of the store because there's no way I'd know to think of looking for them. Are there elves? Orcs? there's the same impetus to search either of those - that is to say - none. Hence the importance of frontpage images showing examples of each range that you sell.

You CAN say that you carry ranges of Dwarves (and elves, etc eventually) that are compatible with the most popular high fantasy/sci fi/whatever tabletop wargames.

**Azazelx**

Overread wrote:

Yes but if a customer orders more copies than you have in stock then its not shelf-ready.
The point is if the customer wants multiple copies of the same model and you don't have multiple copies the customer doesn't know that until after they've ordered. Having it "shelf ready" suggests that you're sitting there with maybe 5-10 of each item in stock. Ergo a good healthy stock that would let you ship out most orders a standard customer would make on most models

Again look at your competition
https://www.waylandgames.co.uk/warhammer-the-horus-heresy/92162-leviathan-dreadnought-with-ranged-weapons?nosto=frontpage-nosto-2

Lists that they've 10+ in stock. I can order 10 of those and know they'll be shipped out fast

https://www.firestormgames.co.uk/age-of-sigmar:-warrior

Here again, they've 2 of those in stock. I know just how many I can order before I have to wait.

Overread is completely correct. I ordered paint yesterday:

Spoiler:

None of those horribly-formatted copypastas are supposed to be a weird flex because let's be real - noone else gives a gak how I waste my money. I'm not unique, though.

The point is that all of those substantial orders would have read as shelf-ready on your store but potentially be held up for god knows how long pending resupply, or partial shipments, or a bunch of other headaches - just because I ordered 2 of something you only had 1 in stock of. Let alone when I order 7 or 13 of something. It's not a risk I personally take.

**The_Real_Chris**

Example of quantities in a store would be dark sphere in London. They try and list how much and where (shop, mail order, etc.). Though if you check out Gary's posts he has a lot of 'realism' when it comes to this type of stock counting.

**Overread**

It's something that Wayland Games were plagued by for ages because they'd have a confusing stock system that meant a product "might be in stock or ordered fast". The problem was you could then end up waiting a week for their order to come through; or even two weeks as they'd sometimes not get everything in that one order.

So customers went from buying something that appeared to be in stock to waiting two weeks or more. Which in today's market is a huge length of time to not know up front.

Today they've active stock displays; the customer knows how much wayland has on the shelf

As a customer this means I can place two orders - I can get everything I want to arrive fast from the in-stock stuff and then place a second order for the rest. It might also mean that I shop around if I'm after lots very fast so I might get from two or three stores. This might not sound good to you, but you could be store two or three on that list - IF you're showing me how much stock you've got and I know I can get it from you right then and there.

**McDougall Designs**

Ok. I'll take the ready shelf items and make them stock on hand only. And then make special order pages for the same relevant items.

I frankly think thats more confusing, but I understand where others would see differently.

**Overread**

You don't have to move things around on the shelves on your store. Just add a stock counter to what you have. If anything moving stock around on multiple different shelves cna be confusing. When I look at a store page I want to see all of the range you stock in one place. I want to see all of 1 faction/army/force on one page or area so that I can make choices.

Look at the GW store - last chance; made to order; shelf; direct only etc... are all in the same place when you look at the Ork army. They use symbols mark things and you can use search tags to find all the last chance etc.. at once. But when you're viewing a faction you can view the whole faction and all its myriad of supply types.

**Slipspace**

McDougall Designs wrote:
Ok. I'll take the ready shelf items and make them stock on hand only. And then make special order pages for the same relevant items.

I frankly think thats more confusing, but I understand where others would see differently.

I think the way you split things up is very confusing as is. The phrase "shelf-ready" isn't one I've come across before so I wasn't really sure what it meant. Your current set-up also splits up stock that, form on outside perspective, is all the same company/system, which makes it harder to browse. Putting everything in one place with real-time stock indicators is a much better solution.

**McDougall Designs**

Slipspace wrote:
McDougall Designs wrote:
Ok. I'll take the ready shelf items and make them stock on hand only. And then make special order pages for the same relevant items.

I frankly think thats more confusing, but I understand where others would see differently.

I think the way you split things up is very confusing as is. The phrase "shelf-ready" isn't one I've come across before so I wasn't really sure what it meant. Your current set-up also splits up stock that, form on outside perspective, is all the same company/system, which makes it harder to browse. Putting everything in one place with real-time stock indicators is a much better solution.

Except then, due to limitations on the backend system I use, all the special order items will come up as out of stock

Which, frankly they are, but that is also the point of those listings,

**Aecus Decimus**

McDougall Designs wrote:
Except then, due to limitations on the backend system I use, all the special order items will come up as out of stock

Which, frankly they are, but that is also the point of those listings,

Then you need a new backend system. If a customer sees "out of stock" on the item they want that's usually the end of them being a customer, they're not going to click around to find out that "out of stock" really means "available but with a slightly longer shipping time".

**Aecus Decimus**

TL;DR version: yes, there is value in these things. If they are true then OP needs to do a better job of marketing them. Lead with "we provide stock of stuff our competitors don't have" or "we're the only Mantic discount seller that ships to the US", not meaningless fluff about wanting to help the community and loving the hobby.

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
1. The sprue service. He provides a great selection of plastic sprues from many non-GW companies. Most of the bits and sprue sellers I’ve seen fixate on GW, sell only on eBay, have crazy price and stock issues, or don’t have items I really want, such as Mantic.

This is definitely of value. Selling products that nobody else has is an obvious competitive advantage, with one disclaimer: these products need to be ones that are actually in demand. A lot of stuff doesn't get sold because there isn't enough demand to justify keeping individual components in stock. It's great for the customer but the business isn't getting much out of the deal and may even be losing money on it. OP should be careful not to fall into the trap of being the store everyone loves vs. the store that is a successful business.

2. Mantic has been mentioned already, but it bears repeating that in the US, feint able to order and buy Mantic at a discount is rare. Miniature Market Carrie’s only a fraction of their range, Amazon charges ludicrous prices, and the FLGS can order it, usually for less discount and more waiting. And they don’t provide sprue service.

I don't buy Mantic stuff myself but, assuming this is true, this is also definitely a competitive advantage. Though, as with the individual bits/sprues, beware of the trap here. Does Miniature Market only carry a fraction of the range because they're failing as a store, or because that fraction of the range makes up 95% of demand for Mantic products and trying to supply the remaining 5% of demand (spread across a huge range of products) is a losing business.

3. The 3D print service. Max sells lot of useful conversion bits, such as helmets, steeds, shields and weapons. I don’t tend to buy a lot of these bits, but I will add them to orders or add sprues to bits orders. For example, I ordered some of the Panzerjagers and some printed Sallet(?) helms to make not-Sororitas. I’ve used Egyptian swords and shields with plastic kits to make fantasy Egyptians. He sells printed demigryphons and plastic cavalry of many kinds.

Meh. I guess there's demand for printing but it seems like running two separate businesses, especially given what people have said about how long it takes to get printed orders done. I'm not going to throw in some printed conversion parts if it means waiting a month longer to get the rest of my order. And if OP is running a separate printing business what is their selling point vs. all of the other printing businesses?

4. One stop shop for fantasy conversions. If I want to make a Frostgrave crew or Stargrave crew, I can buy a couple plastic sprues and some printed bits to make them even more unique, all for a very reasonable price. His store seems perfect for people looking to convert rpg or skirmish minis without having to buy in whole boxes or from multiple sources. Is there a market he should work to tap?

This is addressed by the previous points, but yes, it's a desirable service. The question is whether it's a viable business. Let's say I want one particular sprue out of a Mantic box because it has a really cool sword. I buy the sprue, leaving the rest of the box. Now someone else wants that same cool sword and does the same thing. Repeat a few more times, and OP is paying full price to get the box but selling the only desirable sprue at way less than full price. Losses add up as OP generates a pile of wasted sprues that nobody wants to buy. And because the selling point is a massive range to pull from that's a ton of partial boxes to manage. Even if demand stays reasonably well balanced instead of focusing on a few popular components will this business model scale up well? A service that works fine for one customer per week may not scale up to hundreds of customers per week.

This is the reason why even GW bits shops struggle to stay in business. There's rarely equal demand for the individual parts so you end up with a few high-demand parts being out of stock forever while the other 90% of the kit never sells. Everyone wants the plasma gun, nobody wants the flamer.

5. Service. I have had him personalize some of my orders (mostly printing helmets and such at slightly different scales), and always had great experiences. Any time there was a problem, he made things right. Good service should be standard…but I’ve felt that I received better care than I have from, say, Miniature Market.

This is less a value point and more a bare minimum. I expect that the only reply I get if I contact a store about an error or damaged product will be "sorry about that, here's the tracking number for the replacement we're sending" and it had better be sent within a day or two of me contacting them. Fail to do that and you have failed to provide even the bare minimum of service and I will not be back (and will be contacting my credit card company to reverse the transaction if you refuse to cooperate). Maybe there's some value here if other stores are failing that badly but it's hard to imagine a business that can't provide basic customer service surviving for long.

As for personalization, sure, that's of value. But it also scales very poorly. In the early slow days of a store the owner has plenty of time to do stuff like that. If the store is making enough money to survive that's a lot harder to do. Beware of using stuff like this as a selling point, customers won't like it when you discontinue a service.

**McDougall Designs**

Aecus Decimus wrote:
McDougall Designs wrote:
Except then, due to limitations on the backend system I use, all the special order items will come up as out of stock

Which, frankly they are, but that is also the point of those listings,

Then you need a new backend system. If a customer sees "out of stock" on the item they want that's usually the end of them being a customer, they're not going to click around to find out that "out of stock" really means "available but with a slightly longer shipping time".

If the item is in a section titled "special order" and tagged as a "special order item" then I would assume the fact that it is not in direct stock is readily apparent, no?

Hence my current system and the way I have it set up.

**BobtheInquisitor**

Aecus Decimus wrote:
McDougall Designs wrote:
Except then, due to limitations on the backend system I use, all the special order items will come up as out of stock

Which, frankly they are, but that is also the point of those listings,

Then you need a new backend system. If a customer sees "out of stock" on the item they want that's usually the end of them being a customer, they're not going to click around to find out that "out of stock" really means "available but with a slightly longer shipping time".

Perhaps “X in stock” and “available in 4-6 weeks by special order”?

I might be biased, but I feel like a lot of customers are okay with a delay in their order if they know it’s coming.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
My understanding is that the sprues he sells are usually the only sprues in the box. For example, WGA Irish have 5 or 6 of he Irish sprue in the box, and that’s it. For the Mantic kits, last time I checked he sold them in sprue units such as the Halfling or Northman sprue pairs you need to make complete halflings and Northmen—more expensive as a double sprue but still cheaper than buying a whole box.

I don’t know how long the heads take to print compared to whole miniatures, but if they are much quicker, perhaps the items can each have their own print time listed to make smaller bits more attractive.

Adding a photo to describe what I mean. These printed heads allow a lot of variety to the same old sprues, for not much extra cost. Especially effective if one buys a box of 30 minis (discounted with the bits basically taking the remainder of the discount) with unique heads for little more than MSRP of the original plastics.

**McDougall Designs**

Aecus Decimus wrote:
TL;DR version: yes, there is value in these things. If they are true then OP needs to do a better job of marketing them. Lead with "we provide stock of stuff our competitors don't have" or "we're the only Mantic discount seller that ships to the US", not meaningless fluff about wanting to help the community and loving the hobby.

meaningless fluff? I'm assuming that actually wanting to grow the hobby and bring new blood (while simultaneously advertising my webstore) in is meaningless?

I appreciate your unfailing bluntness but it's slightly depressing.

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
1. The sprue service. He provides a great selection of plastic sprues from many non-GW companies. Most of the bits and sprue sellers I’ve seen fixate on GW, sell only on eBay, have crazy price and stock issues, or don’t have items I really want, such as Mantic.

This is definitely of value. Selling products that nobody else has is an obvious competitive advantage, with one disclaimer: these products need to be ones that are actually in demand. A lot of stuff doesn't get sold because there isn't enough demand to justify keeping individual components in stock. It's great for the customer but the business isn't getting much out of the deal and may even be losing money on it. OP should be careful not to fall into the trap of being the store everyone loves vs. the store that is a successful business.

it's 20 minutes of extra book keeping, and perfectly fine margins. But I also can't offer every single sprue currently in production immediately. That's frankly an unfeasible ask.

2. Mantic has been mentioned already, but it bears repeating that in the US, feint able to order and buy Mantic at a discount is rare. Miniature Market Carrie’s only a fraction of their range, Amazon charges ludicrous prices, and the FLGS can order it, usually for less discount and more waiting. And they don’t provide sprue service.

I don't buy Mantic stuff myself but, assuming this is true, this is also definitely a competitive advantage. Though, as with the individual bits/sprues, beware of the trap here. Does Miniature Market only carry a fraction of the range because they're failing as a store, or because that fraction of the range makes up 95% of demand for Mantic products and trying to supply the remaining 5% of demand (spread across a huge range of products) is a losing business.

which is why the vast majority of mantic listings are special order items. The ones I keep in ready stock are a gamble, but having the rest of the range available as special order alleviates most of the risk. Yes the mantic range is rather large and unwieldy.

3. The 3D print service. Max sells lot of useful conversion bits, such as helmets, steeds, shields and weapons. I don’t tend to buy a lot of these bits, but I will add them to orders or add sprues to bits orders. For example, I ordered some of the Panzerjagers and some printed Sallet(?) helms to make not-Sororitas. I’ve used Egyptian swords and shields with plastic kits to make fantasy Egyptians. He sells printed demigryphons and plastic cavalry of many kinds.

Meh. I guess there's demand for printing but it seems like running two separate businesses, especially given what people have said about how long it takes to get printed orders done. I'm not going to throw in some printed conversion parts if it means waiting a month longer to get the rest of my order. And if OP is running a separate printing business what is their selling point vs. all of the other printing businesses?

two facettes of a single business. Not two separate businesses.

4. One stop shop for fantasy conversions. If I want to make a Frostgrave crew or Stargrave crew, I can buy a couple plastic sprues and some printed bits to make them even more unique, all for a very reasonable price. His store seems perfect for people looking to convert rpg or skirmish minis without having to buy in whole boxes or from multiple sources. Is there a market he should work to tap?

This is addressed by the previous points, but yes, it's a desirable service. The question is whether it's a viable business. Let's say I want one particular sprue out of a Mantic box because it has a really cool sword. I buy the sprue, leaving the rest of the box. Now someone else wants that same cool sword and does the same thing. Repeat a few more times, and OP is paying full price to get the box but selling the only desirable sprue at way less than full price. Losses add up as OP generates a pile of wasted sprues that nobody wants to buy. And because the selling point is a massive range to pull from that's a ton of partial boxes to manage. Even if demand stays reasonably well balanced instead of focusing on a few popular components will this business model scale up well? A service that works fine for one customer per week may not scale up to hundreds of customers per week.

this is why I sell by the sprue, rather then clipping individual bits.

I used to work for a bits seller on ebay back in 2013. Small but operation out of the back of a local hobby shop. So much dross that people didn't buy.

Which is why I am selling full sprues. Less risk of dead stock.

This is the reason why even GW bits shops struggle to stay in business. There's rarely equal demand for the individual parts so you end up with a few high-demand parts being out of stock forever while the other 90% of the kit never sells. Everyone wants the plasma gun, nobody wants the flamer.

5. Service. I have had him personalize some of my orders (mostly printing helmets and such at slightly different scales), and always had great experiences. Any time there was a problem, he made things right. Good service should be standard…but I’ve felt that I received better care than I have from, say, Miniature Market.

This is less a value point and more a bare minimum. I expect that the only reply I get if I contact a store about an error or damaged product will be "sorry about that, here's the tracking number for the replacement we're sending" concierge service and gray areas where it's not just a simple refund case don't exist? Please clarify. and it had better be sent within a day or two of me contacting them. Fail to do that and you have failed to provide even the bare minimum of service and I will not be back (and will be contacting my credit card company to reverse the transaction if you refuse to cooperate). Maybe there's some value here if other stores are failing that badly but it's hard to imagine a business that can't provide basic customer service surviving for long.

As for personalization, sure, that's of value. But it also scales very poorly. In the early slow days of a store the owner has plenty of time to do stuff like that. If the store is making enough money to survive that's a lot harder to do. Beware of using stuff like this as a selling point, customers won't like it when you discontinue a service. point taken on time investment.

**Aecus Decimus**

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Perhaps “X in stock” and “available in 4-6 weeks by special order”?

That would definitely be preferable to "out of stock", assuming the 4-6 week special order time is guaranteed to be met and not just a hope that Mantic still has the thing in stock. But it does undermine the "we have the whole Mantic range" selling point quite a bit if a substantial part of that range is only available after waiting a month or more for a special order. At that point a lot of customers will just buy direct from Mantic.

My understanding is that the sprues he sells are usually the only sprues in the box. For example, WGA Irish have 5 or 6 of he Irish sprue in the box, and that’s it. For the Mantic kits, last time I checked he sold them in sprue units such as the Halfling or Northman sprue pairs you need to make complete halflings and Northmen—more expensive as a double sprue but still cheaper than buying a whole box.

Gotcha, that makes sense. If you have five identical sprues in a box to build a 50-man unit then yeah, selling it as five separate pieces ensures that you only ever have at most a single partial box of a given kit. As long as you are confident that all five sprues will eventually sell then parting out a $50 box into a separate sprue purchases adding up to $75 is a good deal. It gets riskier if you don't have reliable demand and can have partial boxes sitting on the shelf because only one person ever wanted to buy a single sprue from that obscure kit.

Adding a photo to describe what I mean. These printed heads allow a lot of variety to the same old sprues, for not much extra cost. Especially effective if one buys a box of 30 minis (discounted with the bits basically taking the remainder of the discount) with unique heads for little more than MSRP of the original plastics.

Yeah, I know the concept. I'm just not sure it's a great business plan. You're essentially running two separate businesses, a retail store selling another company's products and a manufacturing business making and selling your own products. You end up with a lot of potential for delays in one side delaying orders from the other, and trouble scaling up the manufacturing side to keep up with demand. It works now when business is slow but will it still work at 500x the volume?

**BobtheInquisitor**

Are customers generally that averse to special orders? I used to have to special order most of the items I wanted (Mantic, Frostgrave, Antares, Dropfleet, Victrix, Shieldwolf) from the FLGS, wait longer than a month, and pay full price. For a lot of products, that’s just how it is in the US.