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November Meeting - Table Sales, No Auction

Becca

Members
Sorry to say, but our next standard meeting marketplace may not be until April. December is the holiday party, January would be a standard auction, February is BFD so we'll have a Sunday Marketplace, likely standard auction in March...

The next few months are going to fly by with all of that going on!
 

huuvinh88

CCA Members
I’m totally agree with this. Sometimes I went in the meeting . There are provided speaker, food ,and drink . You should know the club need a fund to keep it up. Sometimes auctions $1 for 1 item .LOL. I didn’t know how to help for the club fundraiser , I always bought raffle tickets although I never win .
 

MarkK

CCA Members
I think this is a change headed in the right direction. I had recently changed my approach to monthly meetings only bringing one bag per species that I've been keeping just in case someone wanted some.

I don't understand the alternating Auction / Table Sales month by month unless it is just to wean the club off the auction income.

I also don't see how we can fund the club solely on monthly meetings auction sales, especially the way the sales have been going.

But I have nothing against this new format. Maybe it could be run similar to how PVAS runs the tag sale at its larger auctions. Items have fixed prices and everything goes through a clerk, unsold items are taken home.
 

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
I think the plan is to run it like the BFD marketplace. CCA needs funds as in money to pay for rental of meeting place and bringing in speakers. So for mini-marketplace sales at meetings income must be generated. This could be as a dollar amount per bag sold or a percentage of total sales based on the seller giving an actual amount sold. This first table sales is a trial run.
 

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
I don't understand the alternating Auction / Table Sales month by month unless it is just to wean the club off the auction income.

I also don't see how we can fund the club solely on monthly meetings auction sales, especially the way the sales have been going.

But I have nothing against this new format. Maybe it could be run similar to how PVAS runs the tag sale at its larger auctions. Items have fixed prices and everything goes through a clerk, unsold items are taken home.
Alternating auctions and marketplace is just a way to introduce some variety, without completely changing our model, and still maintaining a revenue stream. Auctions are good for donated items, BAP entries, and also make sure that everything sells if the price isn't an issue.

We can't fund the club solely on monthly meeting auction sales, so this is a trial to see if we can improve the revenue. Honestly, if it weren't for BFD generating revenue, we'd be meeting in someone's house with donated food/drink, listening to a local speaker.

The PVAS tag sale format is an interesting suggestion, something we'd discuss, but for now we're just trying to keep it simple. After this month the BOD will discuss future implementation/improvement, but for this month we're just hoping several people bring cool stuff for sale.
 

JLW

CCA Members
As far as I'm aware, there's no formal plan yet. What my inclination to do is:
Every other month, we'll have auctions as normal. This will encourage people to save items for the auction, increasing the number of items in the auction, and hopefully the quality.

On the alternate months, we'll do the table sales. Eventually, we'll likely charge a nominal fee for the table, and/or some sort of informal percentage (e.g., request 20%, 25% of sales from sellers, likely 'on your honour'). This should be for larger sellers, people like Cichlids are Special, Aquatic Life Farm, Very Fish-E Hybrids, etc. If this idea catches on, and we can get more of these guys, it should also really drive people to the meetings.
 

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
I like the marketplace sales model versus the PVAS tag sale model because I can negotiate prices on my stuff while interacting with buyers and as Becca says, you can tell the good stuff/details about the fish or plants.
 

MarkK

CCA Members
I like the marketplace sales model versus the PVAS tag sale model because I can negotiate prices on my stuff while interacting with buyers and as Becca says, you can tell the good stuff/details about the fish or plants.

Maybe a nominal table fee would work, how much money is the club looking to earn in a monthly table sale?

People can pull their past monthly sellers reports from MyGroupAuctions to see what they have been giving to the club through the auction, I just don't think the club should get more than I do.
 

Becca

Members
I think right now the club gets the first $2 of any sale, plus a percentage. Giving a percentage of sale prices to the club would certainly be an improvement for sellers, particularly those who've been getting nothing because stuff is going for $1 or $2 at the auction.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
I think right now the club gets the first $2 of any sale, plus a percentage. Giving a percentage of sale prices to the club would certainly be an improvement for sellers, particularly those who've been getting nothing because stuff is going for $1 or $2 at the auction.
If the point is to get more revenue for the club, how would charging a lower fee help? It only works if people pay more table sales than they do at auctions. Unless you're getting more people to the meetings who are willing to spend money, I don't see why the table sales will generate more revenue.

It seems to me a little bit like suggesting that Daylight Savings Time makes the day longer.

I hope the table sales work, because I care about the future of the club, but it's not clear to me why they will improve things.
 

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
The point is trying to make it better for sellers, while still maintaining revenue for the club. Sellers are more likely to bring more/nicer stuff if they know they only have to sell it at a price they believe is fair.

If the point is to get more revenue for the club, how would charging a lower fee help? It only works if people pay more table sales than they do at auctions. Unless you're getting more people to the meetings who are willing to spend money, I don't see why the table sales will generate more revenue.

I hope the table sales work, because I care about the future of the club, but it's not clear to me why they will improve things.

Sellers can now determine their price based on what the club fee would be. For instance if you know that you want $8 for a bag of fish, and the club split is 20%, then you'd need to set your bag price at $10, and you'd still get your $8, and the club makes some money. In this sense, the club makes the same amount as if your bag sold in the auction for $2, but this time you're actually happy because you're making some money. Because of that, maybe you bring several of those bags instead of 1, and both you and the club make more money.

Of course that only works if enough people come who want to buy fish and that sellers sell what they bring, but it will be trial and error for everyone. But eventually if word gets out that the quality and quantity of fish available at the meeting improves, maybe more people start coming again.

Also, just because I can get a bag of fish in the auction for $2 doesn't mean I wouldn't spend $10 on it from the person who brought it, but sometimes people just aren't bidding. I've ended up with bags of fish I didn't plan to buy simply because I was 'starting' the bid and nobody else countered. I've also bid on fish that I expected to go much higher than it actually did. I've seen bags of BNP go for $2, but if I found a bag of them for $5 or $10 tomorrow I still might consider buying it. Plus you might find stuff tomorrow that you'd never see in an auction because the people won't bring it knowing they wouldn't go for an appropriate value. I'm sure Josh will have stuff I'm interested in that doesn't go to auction, but I still might end up buying.

Anyway, we figure this is worth trying, and we're looking forward to hearing feedback from everyone after the meeting. We'll never know if it works better if we don't try though. And we're always trying to figure out how to get more people to the meetings, but there doesn't seem to be an easy solution, and its a common problem for all clubs in the area, we actually seem to be one of the more highly attended clubs.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
The point is trying to make it better for sellers, while still maintaining revenue for the club. Sellers are more likely to bring more/nicer stuff if they know they only have to sell it at a price they believe is fair.



Sellers can now determine their price based on what the club fee would be. For instance if you know that you want $8 for a bag of fish, and the club split is 20%, then you'd need to set your bag price at $10, and you'd still get your $8, and the club makes some money. In this sense, the club makes the same amount as if your bag sold in the auction for $2, but this time you're actually happy because you're making some money. Because of that, maybe you bring several of those bags instead of 1, and both you and the club make more money.

Of course that only works if enough people come who want to buy fish and that sellers sell what they bring, but it will be trial and error for everyone. But eventually if word gets out that the quality and quantity of fish available at the meeting improves, maybe more people start coming again.

Also, just because I can get a bag of fish in the auction for $2 doesn't mean I wouldn't spend $10 on it from the person who brought it, but sometimes people just aren't bidding. I've ended up with bags of fish I didn't plan to buy simply because I was 'starting' the bid and nobody else countered. I've also bid on fish that I expected to go much higher than it actually did. I've seen bags of BNP go for $2, but if I found a bag of them for $5 or $10 tomorrow I still might consider buying it. Plus you might find stuff tomorrow that you'd never see in an auction because the people won't bring it knowing they wouldn't go for an appropriate value. I'm sure Josh will have stuff I'm interested in that doesn't go to auction, but I still might end up buying.

Anyway, we figure this is worth trying, and we're looking forward to hearing feedback from everyone after the meeting. We'll never know if it works better if we don't try though. And we're always trying to figure out how to get more people to the meetings, but there doesn't seem to be an easy solution, and its a common problem for all clubs in the area, we actually seem to be one of the more highly attended clubs.
I think it's great the board is trying something new.

In addition, to increasing supply, I think you've got to do more to increase demand. I gave some suggestions earlier in this thread.

Matt
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
Has anyone suggested alternating the type of meeting altogether? As Matt C. stated, maybe a change in meeting format would be fun to try. Have one month be a speaker and auction month, and the next month could be just announcements, marketplace tables, and then end it with a raffle drawing.

Just suggestions of course.

You could put the marketplace on a three month rotation and make it basically the entire meeting instead of paying a speaker. Pair that with a monthly group buy from one of our sponsors to drum up business for them. Could be fun.
 

JLW

CCA Members
Honestly -- and maybe I'm in the minority here -- but, speakers are one of the things I most look at with clubs. If the speaker is completely uninteresting, I'm less likely to go. I would hate to see us cut speakers in any meaningful way.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Has anyone suggested alternating the type of meeting altogether? As Matt C. stated, maybe a change in meeting format would be fun to try. Have one month be a speaker and auction month, and the next month could be just announcements, marketplace tables, and then end it with a raffle drawing.
I wasn't intending to suggest a change in format, just speeding up the meetings. Have the talk start by 2:15 and last no more than an hour (ideally 45 minutes). Move quickly to the raffle and the auction. Be finished by 4 or 4:30.

I think having a speaker is important.

My other ideas are putting a notice about the next meeting, with a description of the speaker and topic, on the CCA home page at least two weeks before the meeting, and sending out email notices to all registered folks on the forum a week before the meeting. These aren't hard things, but will bring in more attendees.
 

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
I think the topic that a speaker presents is the most important factor in how many show up for a meeting. Sometimes if the speaker is well known, what he or she talks about is not as important, the reputation is what brings in the people. I also think a format with three or four short talks by members is good and brings in people particularly if the topics are varied and interesting.

I think the marketplace experiment at the last meeting (yesterday) was a success. At auction for many of the few months I had sold at auction 4 or more bags of items and received less than 20 dollars and CCA got from these items even less because the auction prices were so low. Just selling a couple bags at the marketplace brought in more than double this amount. I am more than willing to give 15% of my receipts to CCA. In addition the marketplace format at the meeting is really nice in that it promotes discussions with many different people about all sorts of fish related topics. After the talk was over and the raffle was done, the atmosphere was really conducive to discussions and many people stayed even after they had bought what they wanted, just to talk.
 
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