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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | I think you would do yourself a favor if you set up your websites where you sell your lures with Pay-Pal.
I know it costs you a little profit but I'll bet it would make it up on volume. I only buy lures with pay-pal money I gather from selling stuff on ebaY. It is free to set up and it will allow you to also accept credit cards. How many people would buy 4 or 5 lures instead of 1 or 2 if they could just put it on their credit card? It also saves me the hassle of going to town to buy a money order and waiting for the extra snail mail time for you to recieve the funds before you can ship out the lures. Once I buy something, I can't wait for it to arrive. If I pay instantly then it can be shipped the same or next day. You also never get a bad check or have funds lost in the mail.
I know I get more bidders on ebaY when I offer pay-pal than if I don't. People in todays world want to do things from their computer and also want instant (or faster) results.
Think about it. | |
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| I think you are exactly right but I still allow guys to mail money orders if they prefer. The fees between Ebay and then Paypal are a bit steep, these folks must be making a killing!
RM | |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | I agree the fees can add up. I figure it is the cost of doing business..just like advertizing.
ebay fees added on top of paypal fees are rough, but for baitmakers to accept paypal from their site .. at least they don't have to pay ebay as well. I suppose by now everyone knows ebay bought/owns pay-pal.
Also for you baitmakers.. put one on ebay once in a while and include a link to your site. Advertize on ebay then lure them to your site directly!!  | |
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Posts: 2112
Location: The Sportsman, home, or out on the water | Honestly, as a Baitmaker, I would rather do check, m.o. or personal pick-up more so than a credit card order. Personal pick-up preferred, because i can let the customer handle each and every bait in the color pattern he/she is interested in, and let them make their choice, as well as the opportunity to talk Musky and throw a beer or two down their throat. I like the personal touch that we have with our customers, and wish that all the great folks I have done business with lived closer to me. Lori and i have met some AWESOME folks during the show season this last year. Other than parts orders, all of my on-line business has been done by personal check. I have enjoyed coversing with everyone through e-mail, or phone conversations that I have bought stuff from, or traded with. MUSKY FISHERMAN ARE THE BEST PEOPLE ON EARTH! | |
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Posts: 4266
| I have to get a web site if I'm going to continue making lures.
Everything is going up in price, and so is the price of my lures. I started out where I figured I could make a little money, but after selling 150, my wife and I went through the books and not counting my time, I make about $2 per lure. That boils down to less than a dollar an hour. It's not a business, it's a hobby where I let customers buy my supplies.
I don't mind checks and MO's from guys on this board, but if I get a site up and running, maybe I'd add another form of payment. I haven't had any guys not buy lures because they had to mail their payment.
Beav | |
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| That's pretty much the way it is Beav, you can make some money but you won't make a killing building lures that's for sure. You can see now why so many companies go overseas and let others make them for next to nothing. Building baits is a labor of love.
Jed
Bikini Bait Co. | |
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Posts: 4266
| I do love making them. I've been working on some 10"ers that will be available before fall. I've got less than 40 bodies left, so I'm going to do 10 of 3 different colors and number them and make them available for muskiefirsters. Iwent through 10 bodies until I got the balancing and weighting right, but now to see it come through the water, it was worth getting it right.
I gained a greater appreciation of the art of lure building when I started doing it myself.
It's lots of preperation, all in hopes that someone catches their biggest fish on it.
It's the time it takes that is the intangible. Drilling, weighting, sanding....all of the stuff that happens before they see one drop of paint. Then after the painting, 2 coats of Envirotex to protect whats underneath. I still make every lure as if I was making it for myself, and I'm not going to scrimp just to save a few cents......or in this case it would be dollars. So, you are left with the option of raising your price or just quitting. I think most of the guys here understand that "you get what you pay for", and that muskie lures are an investment (that's the line that I give my wife). I get lures to be redone that are scratched to hell and they are only a year old. One coat of sprayed on clear coat on a 15 dollar lure is what you get. A lure that won't last long. So like everyone else, I have to make some gain for my work, or I may as well just give up building them and just repair other ones.
So guys, when the cost goes up, don't get pi$$ed at me. It's either that or give it up completely. Retailers have to make money selling your lures, so they want you to drop the price so they can make more. If I do that, I'm still not making money....it's a Catch 22.
Now I'm going to go to the basement and drill and weight about 30 bodies.....that should take all of the morning. Then I get to go fishing for the first time. Of course the winds are 25-35 out of the NE and it's raining, but I don't care. I'm going to throw nothing but Castors for hours. I made 'em, and dammit I'm gonna use 'em.
All you other lure makers have my respect.
Beav | |
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| Part of the problem too is that we're making muskie baits. Don't get me wrong, if we we're making bass baits the market is so significantly bigger that the dollar potential is enormous. You're right though Beav, bait making a is a labour of love, not a for profit business - at least not enough to pay the mortgage. I'm doing it for the same reasons you are, but also with the hopes of building a business for when I retire from my full time job.
Raise your costs as you need to Beav, just let me get another Castor before you do  | |
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| Beaver,
I can't believe that you aren't making a mint on those babies. I know one thing for sure, that charity Castor that I pray for every night before sleep, you know the one I mean, the one in reverse, black back, pastel pearl, with the shad spot(that one), that bugger has never come through in the mail. In spite of every increasing volume and sincerity of my prayers for the special "Signed Southern Edition", it has never showed up. Now, if it did show up, along with 150 others that needed signing before selling, well, we could probably work something out. I do a passable Greg Thomas signature(better at doing his voice), an excellent Tony Grant signature(also can do some Tony Grant jokes, with mountain inflections) and it would be easy to do a Crash Mullins too. I would also number them as I sign them for you. Now this will work pretty good, because as far as I know, Greg is the only one that knows me by name, and he is up north fishing too much to worry about a little fraud.
As far as making money on volume, did I ever tell you the one about the two Egyptian guys who bought a load of basketballs in Stevens Point and then took them down to....
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| btw, just to prove I can do Tony Grant signature, here it is with his patented trademark mountain flourish added,
X_^^ | |
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Posts: 1243
Location: Musky Tackle Online, MN | If you're going to sell something on the internet, you have to have credit card payment options, whether it's through PayPal or another merchant account. That is, if you want to increase your sales. It will more than pay for itself, even though you're taking a hit on the profit for each sale.
I also agree with the fees on ebay in combination with PayPal. I use ebay to advertise my website, not to make money. Most things I sell on ebay are about a wash as far as my profit after you consider the fees I have to pay. But if it draws someone to my website that results in another sale, it was a worthwhile advertisement.
The good thing about PayPal now is that you don't have to have an account with them in order to pay through them. I have my website set up with the PayPal option so people can buy their musky baits from me now, and not have to worry about signing up for a PayPal account.
Aaron | |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Beav - maybe you can make up some of your profit margin with Team Castor t-shirts, hats, and other memorbilia!
"I Believe in Castors".
fine product, keep 'em coming, love the bucktails, too. m | |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | AWH..Thanks. You make my point very well. They guys who don't offer some type of online payment just don't get it or are happy just selling a few.
Muskienightmare.. I would love to meet you in person and talk "ski", feel the baits, and have a diet coke with you..However I'm in Michigan. We don't even have a Musky show here..ever. Too many of the baits I want I can only find on the internet.
I'm less than a mile from Bass Pro Shops & Cabela's but their musky bait selection stinks. They only have a few of the major brand mass marketed lures.
Have a Mighty Musky Year y'all | |
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Posts: 9
| And yet another lure maker. I use ProPay. It is a company that charges $35 per year fee and 3-1/2% of the totals sale charge. That's it, no other charges. It does operate through the 3 major credit card companies, VISA, MasterCard, and Discover. Early on I checked into doing business with the credit card companies direct and being a small business it was too cost prohibitive. Being close to being a not-for-profit business the use of ProPay helps me out. I agree with others that cash, money orders, and checks are best but ProPay is immediate also.
Jim Mentzer
Mentzer Lures | |
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Posts: 2112
Location: The Sportsman, home, or out on the water | Lobi,
If you are ever in the area.... or just want to place an order... lol.
Are you in upper or lower? If you guys get a show together there, and it does not conflict with the La Crosse show or the New london show, I'd be one of the first to pay for a booth. | |
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Posts: 2361
| mikie - 5/12/2005 6:12 AM
Beav - maybe you can make up some of your profit margin with Team Castor t-shirts, hats, and other memorbilia!
"I Believe in Castors".
fine product, keep 'em coming, love the bucktails, too. m
Mikie,
what happened to the other motto you told me about,"I used to fish lots of baits, but now I have been Castor-ated" ?
Didn't work, or just too close to home for all the married fisherman? | |
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Posts: 203
| Got a Question,
I recently purchased two fairly expensive lures ($20-$25)from a lure maker. Almost all the paint chipped off in the first two hours of casting. What is the proper lure maker response?
"repaint the lures for a small charge"
"tell me that it wasn't his fault and i bite the big one"
"stand behind his product and repaint the lures and pay for shipping"
"repaint for free and send a free bonus lure for the inconvienence"
Just curious - don't know if I'm getting hosed!
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Posts: 9
| That's a good question: If it were my product I would make sure that the lure had not been altered in any way. As long as it had not been altered I would either replace the lure or re-paint it at no charge. The postage could be negotiated depending on the situation.
Jim Mentzer
Mentzer Lures | |
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Posts: 4266
| If it was one of mine, I'd tell you to send it back and I would replace it or refund your money......since I have encoutered a bad batch during the last run that I did. I think any reputable lure maker would stand behind his product. We can also tell when people try to hose us...."I didn't hit anything, honest."
I've had experiences where I reported poor craftsmanship or a flaw, and was treated rudely by the builder, so I will never buy their stuff again.
It's as easy as that. If you want a good reputation and repeat customers, you better stand behind what you sell.
If it was one of mine, don't beat around the bush. Report the problem and I'll do my best to rectify it. If it wasn't one of mine....do the same thing.
You won't know if you are getting hosed unless you ask the builder....in an appropriate way.
Don't accuse him, just point out the problem and find out what he says. You might be getting worked up for no reason.
Beav
Edited by Beaver 5/15/2005 7:30 PM
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | If it were one of mine, you would be getting your money back, a replacement lure or a repaint and finish, your choice. Beaver summed it up perfectly. | |
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Bait / Lure makers...$$