A bit of fun, I am making a virtual trip to the Phalanx wargame show that should have been on today. A bit of buying, selling, chatting, putting on a demo game etc and more to the point, a celebration of our show scene.

Blog link
http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2020/06/not-wargame-show-part-2.html

Excellent, Norm !! 

Yours was, by far and away, the best table.

Cheers - Phil 

Great report Norm and it made me reflect upon my view of wargames shows.

Excellent idea

Brilliant Norm! 

I enjoyed that Norm, thanks for sharing.

I too would normally have been heading off to Phalanx today. With the need to ferry children around, I would often get there around lunch time, which would tend to be when it was a bit quieter - but usually still hard to find anywhere to park.

What I tend to buy at shows are those odd interesting bits, that are quite hard to find online, as you aren't quite sure quite what you need until you see it. And of course those impulse buys when you see something to good to pass by. But by happy co-incidence I may well have my Pendraken Samurai arriving today - as a staple of any Phalanx visit is a Pendraken pre-order!

Thanks all - the AB WWII just arrived, so that perfectly rounds everything out.

Given that I have a free rail pass and it's next to a station I go on the train - usually early.

Heh, fun read. Of course a virtual show removes the problem of gamer "funk" . . .

Re: eBay charges - I believe in the early days people were avoiding the eBay "cut" by charging £1 for the item, and £48.99 for the postage. So eBay included postage costs in the total selling price.

That sounds about right, Martyn.

But......I won't use eBay or Paypal since one of the sellers I bought something off (years ago) got hacked, and the hackers got my credit card details and eBay a/cs from him.
Bless Mastercard.....They spotted it instantly.....and stopped three transactions 'toot sweet'.

I deleted both Paypal & eBay accounts that same day.....and I'd never want to ever use them again.

Cheers - Phil

Very rarley use ebay, but paypal - no way round it !    

Quote from: ianrs54 on 20 June 2020, 12:57:22 PM
Very rarley use ebay, but paypal - no way round it

Rarley ?

What's that then ? You complete muppet.
No way around  PayPal ?

In despair - Phil

Phil, if you by from Pendraken, Plastic Soldier, etc etc and usea credit card you use paypal.

Thanks Norm, a brilliant idea well executed

The smaller demo game idea at a show is a really good way to show what is possible for beginners

Quote from: ianrs54 on 20 June 2020, 03:37:32 PM
Phil, if you by from Pendraken, Plastic Soldier, etc etc and usea credit card you use paypal.

Yes.....ish.....But my credit card uses their paypal a/c.....rather than me having to have a paypal a/c myself.
I always used to think that their charges were exorbitant, if anyone paid me for making any wee men....That really was a rip-off, back then.

(And when did I ever BUY anything from Sir ?  )

Cheers - Phil....Now go away...I've got to try and mend my glasses.....There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.....and a lot of bad language !

And failure !

Nope.....They haven't fallen apart again yet !

(That won't last long, though.)

Specsavers better be open tomorrow....Otherwise I'll be even stroppier than usual.

Cheers - Phil

Quote from: Techno on 21 June 2020, 12:03:51 PM
Otherwise I'll be even stroppier than usual.

Quite IMPOSSIBLE !

This was a nice read Norm, it sounds like you had a good day at the show!  I hope you took a few lightbulbs out in your house to accurately reflect the Phalanx lighting...!

The eBay fees are a real nuisance and I've been surprised that they've not had to reduce them to compete better.  We pay an average 15% fees on the sales through our eBay Store per month, plus another 3% to PayPal as well, which is a ridiculous amount to lose.  It's one of the reasons we only sell selected items on there, as we don't have the margin on most of the ranges to make it work.

Thanks Leon, I should have just painted my camera lens an orange / yellow colour :-). I remember buying a specific blue paint I needed from your Vallejo stand and when I got outside into the real daylight, it was clearly the wrong blue, of course you kindly exchanged it for me.

I am quite shocked by those fees for a shop, I would have thought they would have given a shop a bit of preference to help with and encourage volume (which helps them) - as it stands, those fees must destroy margins.

The thing I really dislike is the soulless nature of the thing. I typically contact the buyer within minutes of the sale and state that on payment I will post at the next post office opening opportunity and I confirm the address I will send to. I then get payment and again e-mail to confirm I will send the following morning. I always do their feedback at the same time. Next morning I post the parcel and again contact the buyer to say it is mailed and to give them the postal number (I always use second class signed for service).  Invariably I usually stick a small extra in there as a small gift, a sort of wargamer to wargamer thing ....... and that is the last I hear, I only seem to get feed back off sellers, not buyers and if it was not for the fact that after several weeks I have not had a complaint that the parcel has not turned up, I would never know that it had arrived. It just seems very one way, thankless traffic, there is no joy to it, in the way that there is when dealing with 'real' people.

In truth  my e-bay sale on this occasion was simply to support and honest story line behind the blog post - I am becoming increasingly dissuaded from using it.