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Hello everyone,

I wanted to talk to the community at Large about my new business venture and branch of my Etsy store, McDougall Designs.

For about a month now I've been updating my thread in the news and rumors forum when I add new products. I've even started to do discount bundles like the one linked below.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/518902740/dark-imperium-base-bundle

To date, I've only gotten a few sales out of my efforts. This is despite having recieved almost 1300 views to the news thread.

I've also begun working on a plan to provide stores around the country with bases for tournament support based on sales. Essentially making a $20 or more purchase, if that customer mentions the store they would like to receive support, that store will get bases for support.

I'm not trying to solicit business advice, merely attempting to understand, from the community I am trying to sell to, what is holding them back.

Any response or commentary will be read and replied to. I am greatful for anyone taking the time to respond.

Regards,

Lord Marcus
McDougall Designs

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
From your pictures they are not anything I would want to use. Your examples are poorly painted and some of them don't look very well cast. One of them seems to be chipped and another completely malformed.

I would greatly suggest picking better casts and having them painted to a much higher level to show off your work. As they are they don't look like something that couldn't be done by the people you're trying to sell to. Customers buy things they can't easily do themselves. Even better if they can't even figure out how you did it!

So, get a crisper more professional looking example and you're sAles may go up.

1. The pictures are going to be replaced. The photos are of proof of painting variations. (This is noted in the item description on the site.) The new photos of much crisper basis will be up soon.

2. This is the level to which these will be painted as I am not charging extra for my paint or my time to provide this option.

3. I am aware that my customers could most likely do something close to this themselves however I am marketing these based on the fact that they are ready made and you do not have to spend time making bases for your army. This is because it is a time-consuming process and a lot of people I know did not want to take the time and wanted to get gaming with splendidly based models quickly.

4. Thank you for your thoughts. I really appreciate them.

 Illumini wrote:
I agree with the above posters, the sculpt quality looks really poor on most of the bases. Only the cracked base looks like a decent sculpt. Some of them look like they have run out over the size the base should originally have.

The paintwork is also shoddy on most of them. The ice and wasteland bases look ok, and the lava (not the rest of those bases) is good, but all the rest look poor. I think it should be possible to find techniques that would be time-efficient and would look much better, some of it is a simple scheme change away from looking ok.

Price is not low enough to entice a purchase, with the current quality, you need to go really low.

Also, is Etsy the right place for selling wargames stuff?

You would be surprised. I get alot of primed bases ordered.

As to price, these are literally the lowest I can go with materials, fees, and just a sliver of profit which is just enough to make the Enterprise worth the time, other than my want to see better based armies.

Honestly, the catylst for all of this was a guy in my local basing his army with coffee grounds when I walked into the shop one night.

 Elbows wrote:
I've seen some excellent coffee ground bases...albeit painted, etc.

I'm sorry but the possibility of mold and or decay is just too possible imo.


Either way, I was simply explaining my catylst