Ads, Sponsors, & JediDefender

[JediJman]

Sorry Jeff, I wanted to do it but Dorkside was $5 cheaper.

That's all?  Not going to tell other people how to spend their money, but I'll pay a few bucks more for a sponsor site.  I'd consider it a $5 investment in keeping the lights on at JD...

[Jeff]

I'd consider it a $5 investment in keeping the lights on at JD...

Considering the fact that we get 10-13% return on our sponsored clicks, in this case spending your extra $5 on a $165 case would net JD $16.50-$20 to help us keep the lights on!  As always, thanks to you all for your support!

[McMetal]

Well, I was going to say I would rather give the $5 straight to Jeff than EE, but I didn't realize you guys got that big of a cut...my bad. 

Mostly just irritated me that they were randomly gouging people for an extra $5 for no reason, while a much smaller e-tailer like Dorkside prices them for the standard $20 each.

[Dave]

I can handle the random price differences with EE, but get frustrated with their high shipping charges.  For some of the companies I've worked for I've seen the corporate shipping rates with UPS and EE isn't likely paying more than $5 to ship a standard sized package.  Its pretty hard to keep shipping under $12 with EE.

[JediJman]

Considering the fact that we get 10-13% return on our sponsored clicks, in this case spending your extra $5 on a $165 case would net JD $16.50-$20 to help us keep the lights on!  As always, thanks to you all for your support!

I actually spent $200 since I nabbed those basic figs and a 6" Chirrut.   

I wouldn't have known these were available to order without JD, so well worth the extra few bucks!

[Nicklab]

Sorry Jeff, I wanted to do it but Dorkside was $5 cheaper.

I feel like the Tusken would have been a better choice since you can't really army build the DSC, but I guess since he is in the Lando wave too that makes the DSC a compelling option as well.

A case of wave 2 at Dorkside was the same price as the set from EE, and DS also offered free shipping.  I get the affiliate relationship between JD and EE.  But I do want to get some value as a customer.

[Jeff]

A case of wave 2 at Dorkside was the same price as the set from EE, and DS also offered free shipping.

Not sure what you mean - 40th Anniv 6" Wave 2 at Dorkside is $160 for the case of 8 with free shipping; EE is $165 for the case of 8 with free shipping.

Everyone is free to shop where they choose.  I'm not going to de-friend or ban anyone for choosing to save a few bucks since this stuff is more expensive than ever these days.  It's just in my job description here at JD to remind everyone once in a while that shopping from our sponsors helps us keep this place up and running.

[Jesse James]

Like Jeff said I wouldn't defriend anyone here over it but buying from our sponsor helps the site stay open plain and simple.  If it matters to you,it's important.

When I buy ARW or Aliens stuff I go to EE and usually I'm ordering enough to use a free shipping code.

Sponsorship is tough to get and maintain, especially with the line being in the general rut it was in for so long.  Now things are picking up on the online ordering front so hopefully so goes the sponsorship $.

[Nicklab]

A case of wave 2 at Dorkside was the same price as the set from EE, and DS also offered free shipping.

Not sure what you mean - 40th Anniv 6" Wave 2 at Dorkside is $160 for the case of 8 with free shipping; EE is $165 for the case of 8 with free shipping.

Everyone is free to shop where they choose.  I'm not going to de-friend or ban anyone for choosing to save a few bucks since this stuff is more expensive than ever these days.  It's just in my job description here at JD to remind everyone once in a while that shopping from our sponsors helps us keep this place up and running.

I originally ordered the wave 2 SET from EE.  And they charged $139 + tax and over $20 for their least expensive shipping option.  And that's been one of my gripes with EE for a long time.  They're on the west coast, and shipping to the east coast gets prohibitively expensive for me.  Their user interface also makes it that much more difficult to modify an order without the help of customer service.

When I saw the DST options for wave 2?  Their sets were more reasonably priced, as was the wave 2 case.  And DST also didn't selectively say "you can only get free shipping ON THIS ONE ITEM".  I liked having more options.

As the old saying goes, "business is business".

But on the topic of keeping the lights on?  I appreciate the affiliate/advertiser relationship, and I also understand the costs involved in server hosting fees, etc that go into operating a site.  However, I am far more inclined to show my support through a crowdfunding option.  I think those relationships are a little more transparent and I feel like things are much more upfront between the party that's conducting the crowdfunding and their fans/audience/users, rather than through a retail advertiser that may or may not appreciate my business.  And I also have concerns because I tried the link to EE in this thread and didn't see anything in my browser's address bar that would indicate that EE was tracking my traffic from JD to their site.

For the record, if all Star Wars collecting sites started doing crowdfunding instead of advertising, JD is one of only two or three that I would contribute to.


EDIT:  BTW, EE has pulled the listing for the Star Wars Black Series 40th Anniv. 6-Inch Figures Wave 2 Set.

[Jesse James]

The affiliate link "changes" automatically just a heads up.  If Jeff posts it I guarantee it works.  If I post it, I hope it works (I suck at internetting).

[Jeff]

I also have concerns because I tried the link to EE in this thread and didn't see anything in my browser's address bar that would indicate that EE was tracking my traffic from JD to their site.

For transparency, and since others may be curious as well, here is an example EE link:
http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HSC1688B&id=JE-405087801

This is the product link portion:
http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HSC1688B

And this is our referral code (so EE knows you came from a JD link):
&id=JE-405087801

The referral code drops off the link once you're on the site.

For the record, if all Star Wars collecting sites started doing crowdfunding instead of advertising, JD is one of only two or three that I would contribute to.

Not to derail this thread further, but this is something that we're investigating instead of the standard advertising model.

[Jayson]

If only everyone was so forthright in their advertising/plugging of their affiliations.

[JediJman]

I didn't mean to cause a stir or make anyone feel bad about this.  I just think sometimes it's easy to take sites like JD for granted.  I personally get a lot out of the site - networking, new information and pictures, a place to share my ridiculous ideas and opinions.  There aren't a lot of people I know outside of the site that remotely understand my SW collecting, so just building that community here is pretty important to me.  The handful of guys making all that possible don't ever ask for handouts or gripe about the cost and effort, so that makes it really easy to forget that someone is in the back room making all this possible.  I've volunteered for enough thankless jobs in my life to know most people have no idea what kind of time and effort goes into making a process or a team or a website actually work and sustain itself.

So, whenever I see links pop up for stuff I'd consider ordering online, that's a great reminder for me to support the site.  I'm not going to order if it's not something I want, but if it's a fair deal and something I intend to get anyway, then why not help out JD while you're helping yourself?  And yeah, you could probably shop around and find a way to save $5 or $10 bucks. I look at like this though - I probably wouldn't have known to order it without the site, so technically the sponsored links are saving me money on something I would have had to drive all over to find or hunt down later on Ebay.  If the site went away (and I'm pretty sure it would if no one ever bought through sponsors), then I'd probably end up paying a lot more and enjoying the hobby a lot less.  From that perspective, an extra $5-10 here and there feels like a pretty good investment to me.

If you want more rationale or maybe don't like the sponsors, then look at it like this:  If you spend an extra $5 and JD gets $15, the sponsor gets another sale, but for $15 less than they normally would have.  Your little bit extra means the sponsor is mostly funding JD, not us.  If JD had to crowd source, you'd probably have to pay the $5 or more and 100% of the funding would have to come from us users versus making the sponsors pay the majority.  You guys that don't like EE should delight in the fact that you're cutting into their profits. 

Anyway, the point was not to call anyone out, but rather to bring awareness to an issue that's easy to overlook without a reminder or an explanation every now and then.  Carry on.  Can't wait to see the Tusken and DS Trooper from this wave!

[JediJman]

EDIT:  BTW, EE has pulled the listing for the Star Wars Black Series 40th Anniv. 6-Inch Figures Wave 2 Set.

Not sure if the set was a different offering from the case, but the case is still available with free shipping.

Star Wars Black Series 40th Anniversary 6" Figures Wave 2 w/Free Shipping

They still have Baze and Chirrut 6" figures for $20.99 each as well.  I lumped mine in with the case to get the free shipping.

[Nicklab]

If only everyone was so forthright in their advertising/plugging of their affiliations.

+1

Thanks for being upfront about things, Jeff.  It's refreshing to see that.  As for the word "transparency"?  That might not have been the right word to describe what I was trying to get at.

I think many who have been around the online Star Wars collecting community for an extended period of time understand the broad strokes of relationships between fan/news sites and their sponsors.  Clicks and traffic lead to revenue for sites.  Most often those cover operating expenses but not much else.  I remember a time where people thought that ol' PW over at that othe(R) site was cleaning up financially, but that certainly doesn't seem to have been the case.  He was into the concept of making money via Star Wars, but he found other avenues to make that happen (witness OfficialPix).

I also remember a time when there were a lot more online retailers who were advertising on the better sites.  Some of the etailers are still around and have flourished, but a lot of others went bust... as did a number of fan sites.  The result has been consolidation in the etailer segment, along with the rise of Amazon.  Collectors still have choices, but with Hasbro making the prospect of someone becoming one of their direct dealers an expensive proposition, a lot of etailers dropped out of the game.

And now?  There's certainly a modern day business model for financing a site like this one.  The old advertising model is still one that can work, but there does seem to be less cash to go around from the advertisers (see the consolidation factor).  It's also less easy for readers/users to see how their contribution can have a direct impact in helping a site or project.  That's why I brought up the crowd-funding idea that's commonly in use on sites like Kickstarter or Patreon.  While I do have questions about the percentages that some crowdfunding sites receive for hosting these fundraisers, I also see a greater potential for readers and users to get motivated to help out a site that they visit on a regular basis.  And they can get a greater sense of the impact of their contributions.

Some kickstarters have gone far beyond their goals.  That may be the exception rather than the rule, but it does sometimes happen.  And a fundraiser that was originally intended to go towards server and web design services may also be able to do other things: like funding site merch, aiding in travel budgets for event coverage, etc.

/End tangent.