If you were a cuemaker......
- Thread starter blucollar
- Start date
Price
I would make sure that there would be enough room in the price that the oringinal buyer would have some profit margin.To do that you can not flood the market with cues and you can not price your new cues at the price you see one sell for on the secondary market. One year at the US Open a cue maker came up to me and told me what a broker sold one of his cues for, instead of being happy about it he was sick over it,to the point he was actually getting depressed.He told me " the guy who bought it from me made more on it then I did" Now I would understand if he wanted to adjust his prices after that but he did more then adjust them he priced them out at the high point the secondary market would bring.That killed off the secondary market on his cues.When buying a home it is always nice to buy it at a price where you start off with some equity in it, it should be that way with a custom cue you ordered and waited for.
I would make sure that there would be enough room in the price that the oringinal buyer would have some profit margin.To do that you can not flood the market with cues and you can not price your new cues at the price you see one sell for on the secondary market. One year at the US Open a cue maker came up to me and told me what a broker sold one of his cues for, instead of being happy about it he was sick over it,to the point he was actually getting depressed.He told me " the guy who bought it from me made more on it then I did" Now I would understand if he wanted to adjust his prices after that but he did more then adjust them he priced them out at the high point the secondary market would bring.That killed off the secondary market on his cues.When buying a home it is always nice to buy it at a price where you start off with some equity in it, it should be that way with a custom cue you ordered and waited for.
- Build a quality cue
- Make a limited number of cues each year
- Adjust pricing to make a good profit
- Utilize social media and word of mouth to create demand
- Put out the word that I have a waiting list whether I do or not
I would build just 5 to 10 cues a year, but be so careful and take my time to build them and make them 100% perfect, I will use materials that I know for sure that are unique and solid, no cheap material will be used, and I will try hard to make a new generation of how the cue should look like, something new in design, not necessarily painting, but everything. I would try as hard as I can to diminish the pointers and remove them from the cue designs, pointers are so pre 1980 in my book.
That's easy! Build cues no one wants to sell, but everyone wants to buy. Then die .
Larry
That has def been the case for some makers
Wow Chill.
Depends on if there is a wait list. Then there kinda needs to be some equity or why would anyone wait. Better yet, the perceived equity is really the difference between the cost from the maker and the increased price for delivery now(secondary market). SW and Joel Hercek are a great
Example. No real increase in price from maker to market for a diveney BCM. Nice cues but no 12 year wait list.
Because
Because to get a quality cue you are investing more then $ you are investing your time (the waiting period to have it built ) why should you then sell it at some point in the future at the same price or lower. Some cue collectors do not want to sit on a stock pile of cues and like to rotate their collection, most of them that I know reinvest the profit back into a new cue.The cue collectors that do not have the patience to wait for a cue to be built which may take years depending on the cue maker do not mind paying a fair market to get the cue today vs. years from now.If the original cue is priced out to high everything comes to a complete halt, which is happening to a degree in collecting.I know most people just want to purchase one cue to own and play with, I am referring to collectors who like to own a collection and enjoys buying , selling and trading.
Because to get a quality cue you are investing more then $ you are investing your time (the waiting period to have it built ) why should you then sell it at some point in the future at the same price or lower. Some cue collectors do not want to sit on a stock pile of cues and like to rotate their collection, most of them that I know reinvest the profit back into a new cue.The cue collectors that do not have the patience to wait for a cue to be built which may take years depending on the cue maker do not mind paying a fair market to get the cue today vs. years from now.If the original cue is priced out to high everything comes to a complete halt, which is happening to a degree in collecting.I know most people just want to purchase one cue to own and play with, I am referring to collectors who like to own a collection and enjoys buying , selling and trading.
Absolutely
I would absolutely care...
I would be anal about my cues, not just quality, but design, I'd build cues that I personally love...and hope that my taste is sale able.
I would always make sure that I have a waiting list...I would put more effort into marketing the cues to build demand, than I put into making the cues.
This will keep demand higher than what I can build, therefore, creating a wait.
Once you've got a waiting list for builds, you can raise your prices...and profit isn't a dirty word.
My cues would be unique and distinct, They would have a certain signature thing that would be present and identifiable in every cue. It's the little things, like having your OWN joint pin like sw or bender or omen.
It's believing in a certain thing and being able to market and sell it. Like I would have a proprietary handle taper that's the deal. I could then market how it reduces ...and provides X% more -------...that sort of thing. Have some proprietary edge. Pay for the technology from someone in another country if I had to. I just think that when its unique and proprietary, it puts you in a league of your own, and people can't price shop you.
I would study the art of shaft building, and I would make a shaft for my cues that had nearly the same deflection as a low def shaft...it can be done and I'd find the secret.
I'd have my tips made and packaged for me as my own trade line with a special disc glued to the back of each tip, making it distinctly identifiable as one of my tips...like a blue disc. He tips would of course be made by a great reputable tip company.
I would toy wih things like using a longer pin in the but, to create more front weight, and more solid hit, etc.
I would be anal about e blanks I start with, I'd do the drop, sound test thing, and as long as I believed that I'm making a better cue, I wouldn't care what the nay Sayers said about me not being able to tell a piece of woods quality by sound. ...if I believe in the cue that I'm building, I can sell it !!!!!
So it's about making ME happy with the cue. My prices would go up cause I'd fall in love wi every cue that I built. I wouldn't want to sell em, and demand would make me
I wouldn't build a cue under...say...700 ...for any reason. I would sit on my inventory instead of selling them cheap, and get my but out to some tournaments where I can market them.
I'd work my way into jump and break cues, and build blanks in bulk twice a year, customizing them as necessary. I wouldn't take custom orders, as it would slow me down answering phone calls all day about questions, changes, etc. I would take custom orders only on blanks that have veneers already, and are ready to customize.
Finally, I would invent a new pin that was a snap, quarter turn, quick release stainless steel pin hat everybody wanted :grin-square:
I would also have garmin or somebody build me a proprietary GPS chip that I would install in my cues, so they can never be stolen...I'd patent the chip design and the process and people would pay more for my antitheft cues than they would for my competitors.
I would make sure I got my cue into the hands of a couple pros...at least for marketing sakes.
Anytime I saw one of my cues go up for sale, I'd talk the seller into keeping it tell him he's crazy to sell it right now, can't even get it made easily anymore, lol.
I would absolutely care...
I would be anal about my cues, not just quality, but design, I'd build cues that I personally love...and hope that my taste is sale able.
I would always make sure that I have a waiting list...I would put more effort into marketing the cues to build demand, than I put into making the cues.
This will keep demand higher than what I can build, therefore, creating a wait.
Once you've got a waiting list for builds, you can raise your prices...and profit isn't a dirty word.
My cues would be unique and distinct, They would have a certain signature thing that would be present and identifiable in every cue. It's the little things, like having your OWN joint pin like sw or bender or omen.
It's believing in a certain thing and being able to market and sell it. Like I would have a proprietary handle taper that's the deal. I could then market how it reduces ...and provides X% more -------...that sort of thing. Have some proprietary edge. Pay for the technology from someone in another country if I had to. I just think that when its unique and proprietary, it puts you in a league of your own, and people can't price shop you.
I would study the art of shaft building, and I would make a shaft for my cues that had nearly the same deflection as a low def shaft...it can be done and I'd find the secret.
I'd have my tips made and packaged for me as my own trade line with a special disc glued to the back of each tip, making it distinctly identifiable as one of my tips...like a blue disc. He tips would of course be made by a great reputable tip company.
I would toy wih things like using a longer pin in the but, to create more front weight, and more solid hit, etc.
I would be anal about e blanks I start with, I'd do the drop, sound test thing, and as long as I believed that I'm making a better cue, I wouldn't care what the nay Sayers said about me not being able to tell a piece of woods quality by sound. ...if I believe in the cue that I'm building, I can sell it !!!!!
So it's about making ME happy with the cue. My prices would go up cause I'd fall in love wi every cue that I built. I wouldn't want to sell em, and demand would make me
I wouldn't build a cue under...say...700 ...for any reason. I would sit on my inventory instead of selling them cheap, and get my but out to some tournaments where I can market them.
I'd work my way into jump and break cues, and build blanks in bulk twice a year, customizing them as necessary. I wouldn't take custom orders, as it would slow me down answering phone calls all day about questions, changes, etc. I would take custom orders only on blanks that have veneers already, and are ready to customize.
Finally, I would invent a new pin that was a snap, quarter turn, quick release stainless steel pin hat everybody wanted :grin-square:
I would also have garmin or somebody build me a proprietary GPS chip that I would install in my cues, so they can never be stolen...I'd patent the chip design and the process and people would pay more for my antitheft cues than they would for my competitors.
I would make sure I got my cue into the hands of a couple pros...at least for marketing sakes.
Anytime I saw one of my cues go up for sale, I'd talk the seller into keeping it
tell him he's crazy to sell it right now, can't even get it made easily anymore, lol.
well, actually, everyone profits off it, including you. The guy who buys it, and maybe there is 15% equity in it on a $3K cue, thus he can play with it, enjoy it, and then sell it to make his next purchase, from another cuemaker, and soon enough folks really "like" cues cause they won't take a bath after they buy it, heck, the might make a profit, but worse case, will at least break even... that helps you too.
But if he makes nothing, then he stops buying cues, and the secondary market dries up, and folks are not taking a "chance" with your cues cause the value drops more than a Lucasi cue....
I think it is win win for everyone.... I mean, we are the only sport where we pay thousands of dollars for our equipment that is NOT disposable, or even wears out, even though we don't "need" to pay thousands of dollars to shoot pool, because a nice Schmelke with a good tip is pretty much anyone ever really needs to play pool.... but not much business for the cuemakers if we all just shot with Schmelke's, except for Schmelke of course
I understand where you're coming from, but you've got to leave room for the middle man. A great product will never see the market without being properly marketed. Most cue builders don't know how to market. Nor do they want to. They just want to build cues. Having a great product means nothing if you don't have the buyers. The middleman brings buyer and product together, and are critical for success.
...and they don't work for free either ! There should be enough room for everyone to make a profit.
As far as a regular joe buying a new cue and being able to sell at a profit, one of the two things here must be true....1 the builder sold it too cheap and needs to be better in tune to the market...or 2... The buyer was better at selling the cue than he builder, in which case, the builder should hire that guy to sell all his cues :thumbup:
Honestly, I would not care about the secondary market. My goal would be to make quality cues that built for players, but also look good. I would try to build themnat a price that would make myself a decent profit, but would be affordable to just about everyone.
I definitely wouldst not build cues to sit in a closet. Cues are meant to be played with, as cars are meant to be driven. Jay Leno drives all of his cars.
I definitely wouldst not build cues to sit in a closet. Cues are meant to be played with, as cars are meant to be driven. Jay Leno drives all of his cars.
Well said-
_________________________________
Very few cue builders offer a price list when they construct a cue-
Chicago's own Joey Gold (Cognoscenti) Tim Prince, John Spitz, and
Joel Hercek are a few who do.
They make quality, precision, functional pieces of art
-A
_________________________________
Very few cue builders offer a price list when they construct a cue-
Chicago's own Joey Gold (Cognoscenti) Tim Prince, John Spitz, and
Joel Hercek are a few who do.
They make quality, precision, functional pieces of art
-A