This is a water cooler post....as it just came to mind while staring at the screen.
What about finding folks here to be re-sellers for your games?
Example: If you have bought one of my games and thought you know a bunch of other people that may buy them if you were to show them, introduce them....you could make a little reseller fee in the middle?
MICRO RETAILING for indie games? Why couldn't that be a thing? Kind of like the KS multiple bundle level for retailers....but for anyone that wants to sell a handful of games in their local group / town etc.
What are your thoughts?
As a reseller, I would be looking to make something for my efforts promoting/selling your game. If I want 10% of MSRP, then the 10% is either taken off the price at which I purchase the game from you or added to the price at which I sell the game.
Or possibly, I trade X of my games for X of your games (plus enough money to even up the MSRP between the games) and then both of us have something to resell, but no one has taken on much additional risk
Personally, I am big believer in supporting local business, so the idea of micro retailing in a limited distribution region is somewhat appealing (assuming the game is published using local printers, designers, artists, etc). However, even in a large city, it may be difficult to sell even 50 copies of a game which it makes it hard to produce at a low cost. If I new I could sell them or trade them, it might be worth the risk to print more copies than I can sell locally.
I suppose with the right support this could work with a full website and marketplace for connecting people, but at some point, it would probably become a small business that someone manages. Hopefully, at a profit :)
Making something as the reseller - for sure. I have two ideas....
First to purchase a small amount at wholesale price...say 10 games. The reseller then sells on at advertised RRP to their gaming group, local shop, family or friends. If they have an online shop, that too.
Second would be product placed on the reseller's online store front, but no stock being bought or held. An agreed split price would be set and when the reseller takes an order via their cart, they then forward the buyers shipping details on and the agreed $ amount before the product is posted. There would be less margin in this approach than the first.
Products in kind could be placed on other indie designers sites under a uniform banner / logo....like "InD-2-InD" products to show that they are infact a different publishers product.
If they then jump over to your site...no problems. Some may prefer to bundle from one site