To VIP only or not to VIP only..... now that is the question

[Former_Member]

Seem like a lot of shops are offering VIP only deals lately.... i'm crunching the numbers myself at the moment to see what would actually be a good deal for my shop.


I'd love to see what you all have to say......
especially thoes of you with lower priced items and the fellow B&B/ candle makers.

[Former_Member]

I am currently in negotiations and I asked for a VIP-only deal. I just couldn't make the numbers make sense with the extra $10 for VIPs--they wanted $10 for $35 credit to VIPs. Instead we are talking about $9 for $20 to VIPs only.

[Former_Member]

thats the same kinda ball park i'm thinking of too
i just can't do the extra $10 credit

[Former_Member]

I did the vip only - 9 for 21 - it's the only way I would do it.... and it went well!

[Former_Member]

Glad to hear that, Hartley! How many vouchers did you sell and did many of your customers go over the voucher?

[Former_Member]

I sold 48 vouchers though all have not been redeemed so far most have have gone over the voucher amount. I just wish my packages were not so heavy.

[Former_Member]

how many vouchers did you offer hartly?

[waterwaif]

i offered 250 VIP only and only sold 57. if your deal is offered at the same time as another in the same category, the VIP's will obviously gravitate towards the other because they've gotten used to and expect the extra $10 credit.

if you're the only one in your category on your featured day, you'll do much better.

[Former_Member]

I offered 75 vouchers, and all of my items were mailed the following day after the order was placed - on day 2 another real popular B&B went up and my sales stopped!

[Former_Member]

good to know
i haven't set a date yet and the heartsy people seem really nice so far :o)

[Former_Member]

We just heard back that we got in! :) Anyway, from what you're saying Heartsy doesn't seem to give much thought about placing sellers in the same category on the same day (not sure if they know or care how much that competition impacts the sellers). But have any of you tried asking them to not place you on a day that will have a seller from the same category? If yes what did they say?

[WonderLightJewelry]

I have done both a VIP and regular deal and I think my VIP deal did much better. Not only did people spend a lot more over their amount with VIP only but I didn't have to eat the extra $10 and when I did a regular sale, I only sold 30 more vouchers than when I did a VIP only and most of those were VIP's where I was having to eat the extra $10 for every order. Of course, it depends on a lot of variables like other people were mentioning. What other shops are featured, what your price point is, etc.