Barrister and Mann

Well handled Will and thanks for the note/update.

Another option that I haven't seen bantered around is creating a Barrister_N_Mann soap "club" whereby your VIP community pays some sort of annual fee which entitles them to either first right of refusal or actual LE product.

The users are not paying for the product itself per se but the ability to be within the VIP program for LE access, product update, etc.

Just a thought and I am aware of other artisans who have similar.

Regardless, you have far more supporters than detractors. Keep up the great work!

That's an interesting though. Release it to them first and let them have at it. I have a feeling that might upset people a bit, though.

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Will, I have three of your soaps; two were gifts and one I purchased. Every one of them is outstanding. Your open way of keeping in touch with us only makes your products that much more worthwhile and valuable. Problems will pop up from time to time and limited editions will come and go. However, honesty and quality will always see you come out on top.

Thanks Freddy.

I think this idea could work. As part of the VIP Club membership members would commit to purchase 1 of every limited release scheduled throughout the year - you'd have members payment info on record to avoid issues and members would only be charged for the product on the release. Then you will know what the VIP base load demand is and you could then add whatever number you feel is necessary to serve the regular demand. Membership signup would have to happen once a year so that you can forecast accurately. And members would get a cool t-shirt too. You could also add some other sweetener like maybe double bonus points on one purchase per month or some such thing. If everyone who really wants a soap is able to get one it would take away any incentive that the bot/script tricksters might have to go in and game the system - if they can't re-sell at a higher price they shouldn't be interested.

I think its kind of fun trying to conceive of ways to solve this challenge - if enough minds work on the problem, eventually we should stumble on the ideal solution.
Mark

I can't see too many people voluntarily paying a subscription VIP fee in order to gain access to pay for soap. As for having it set up so you are committed to pre-purchasing the soap in a way, the moment one comes out that people aren't keen on, they'll all be complaining.

Maybe that's just me being a Negative Nelly.

There has to be a happy medium to allow consumers access to the product without putting the maker out too much, I just don't know what it is. I guess a lot depends on how complicated and manually bases Will wants to make it. RR Joe has something for his loyal customers but not sure how exactly he works it or how much work is involved to keep it running and updated etc.

All evidence has been buried, all tapes have been erased.

I wouldn't join anything like this. It's creating first class and second class customers. Obviously, in the world in which we live, there are some who relish being an insider, and willing to pay for the image of superiority they hope to cultivate. I wouldn't be one of those, and would reflect my distaste for the caste system by completely ignoring any vendor who would refuse to sell to me because I didn't pay for the privilege over and above the purchase price. If someone's product is so wonderful that people compete for the right to buy it, it can be  reflected in the price without offending wackos like me.  

Agreed brothers

I don't even pay my favorite bands for VIP ticket or access to music, there is no way I'd pay any soap maker for the right to buy soap.

All evidence has been buried, all tapes have been erased.

And this has been my concern; the "pay-to-play" model is interesting, but it seems like it would have a lot of pitfalls as well.

I can't see too many people voluntarily paying a subscription VIP fee in order to gain access to pay for soap.  As for having it set up so you are committed to pre-purchasing the soap in a way, the moment one comes out that people aren't keen on, they'll all be complaining.

Maybe that's just me being a Negative Nelly.

There has to be a happy medium to allow consumers access to the product without putting the maker out too much, I just don't know what it is.  I guess a lot depends on how complicated and manually bases Will wants to make it.  RR Joe has something for his loyal customers but not sure how exactly he works it or how much work is involved to  keep it running and updated etc.

All evidence has been buried, all tapes have been erased.

Hey @Bruce, I don't think I was clear enough to connect the dots...

The complication is Will can't legally pre-sell soaps. The suggested resolution allows people to join a club, VIP program, whatever it is called that helps folks sleep at night. The "membership" provides LE soaps, delivered to your home. What you say? Sounds like pre-selling soaps! Well, no. Just membership dues. Soaps show up because I am a member of the Greatest Egalitarian Gentlemen's Soap Club.

Nobody has to do this but it gets Will a forecast for those that do, soaps in the hands of people interested in committing to LE release(s) and the balance can order as per usual and fight it out while hitting F9.

Another vendor does something similar but further segments with the highest level participants, also including the cost of shipped samples in the fees on top of finished goods; they then receive and offer feedback on the same to help actually influence LE releases and participate in the process.

Not elegant but somewhat holistic.

Food for thought but don't believe there is any easy answer.

And this has been my concern; the "pay-to-play" model is interesting, but it seems like it would have a lot of pitfalls as well.

I could see doing something like giving an advantage to customers who's account has made a purchase in the past few months. The Limited Edition would only be visible to those customers as a sort of pre release. A few days later, it is available to the masses. Just a thought. This would allow your loyal customers to get first dibs on the LE products.

We can come up with all sorts of ideas on how to solve this issue but I think it boils down to two things:
1. Make more soap;
2. Use a more robust storefront than Shopify seems to think is adequate.
As Will pointed out, Shopify was of the opinion that their system worked as designed.  As a vendor I suppose my response would be WTF? So every time you want to have an "event" type of release your system will crash and antagonize your customers.  I suppose it remains to be seen if the combination of more product spread across more vendors will solve the issue.  I hope it does.  

Another approach could be to do away with the whole limited release concept and just add the soap to the regular product line up and keep it there as long as it meets the sales targets.  If demand drops off then drop the soap.  B&M already does this with its regular lineup.  I have several soaps that I like that are no longer in the lineup either for sales related reasons or ingredient availability.

Will, which soap is your top seller?
Mark

we dropped shopify a long time ago and switched to magento. FAR better all the way around imo. i know for a fact magento can do anything you want it to. my wife designs our sites in magento and it just works and has so many more capabilities. they do (or still should) offer a free version as well.

as well as i have to check with my wife but with shopify there are a ton of "workarounds" with custom code. im just not sure if they still allow this to be done. last we used shopify was a few years back. i know for a fact magento can do what you want and a ton more.