How significant are magazine sales as a part of total revenue? I know every little sale helps, but does it do alot of harm to your business if more people subscribe to MR [or RMC, or MrG, …] than buying directly from your shop?
Subscriptions help magazines determine the price of the ads in thier maags. That is considered the ‘gauranteed audience minimum’.
That’s why they prefer you to subscribe as opposed to just buy it in a store.
Just a business model. Been around for decades at least.
The profit on magazines is hardly worth the effort. What they do , however is draw customers back to the shop on a regular basis. Also they provide new product info and a source for customers to inquire about products
True, the profit is hardly worth it. To answer the question how much do magazine sales contribute to total revenue, I would have to say very little. I don’t think I want to get into actual margins here, but as a lot of you already know, it’s slim for magazines. On the other hand, it is also true that the magazines do drive customers into the store, the ads in the magazines help customers see what is coming, and any magazines that we don’t sell we can send back for credit…and we can pay for a dealer listing in the back which does draw in customers. On the other hand, I’ve lost customers thanks to all the internet and mail order companies advertising in the magazines. I have at times thought maybe I should quit carrying magazines, especially now that debit card fees take most of your magazine profit, but I still think it does at least as much good as harm to have them here. And some folks prefer to buy them here as they are kept in mint condition here, important for the collectors and (sorry) not every issue arrives in the mail in mint condition, from what I’ve been told.
Glad to answer any questions like this. I don’t have a computer at home, so I can only respond down here at work.
Thanx, I guess we should post the topics at the beginning of the workday when we know you’ll be there, so they don’t scroll back to Page 5 before you see them.
You could post a question or a comment any time. I usually scroll back about 24 hours or whatever and see what everyone is discussing. But yeah I am here during business hours, sometimes at night, sometimes on Sunday…but so far I’ve been reading the forum in the morning and on my, uh “lunch hour”…and I check it before I leave at night. At least that’s what I’m doing before the newness wears off. But I do look over the forums, including TRAINS and the other scales throughout the day. I would hope to respond to anything fairly quickly but if I have customers in the store, a reply would have to wait until later (of course)
You mentioned “debit card fees.” I know that the credit card companies charge a transaction fee, but I’ve also heard that the fee for debit cards is considerably lower. Can you give us a number on each of those? I think people would be surprised to hear how much of a hit a small business must take to “accept” a credit card payment.
I have taken to paying cash at my LHS. First, I’d rather give the money to the shop than to a bank, and second, cash doesn’t show up on the statement!
It seems that people would rather not carry cash. Aside from the small risk of losing it to theft, there is the environmentalist’s claim that the paper comes from trees, and the health professional’s claim that is is no cleaner than the door pulls and shopping cart handles at the local mall. Also, cash can be bulky in one’s wallet.
However, I am sensitive to the costs of using plastic of all varieties. Then again, the consumer pays in the end, anyway, since costs are ultimately borne by him/her if the business is sound.
Lots of pros and cons on debit cards, but for very small merchants, the fees eat you alive. It’s correct that the banks initially charge you less for a debit card compared to a credit card, but it’s all the tacked-on fees that add up. I may have the worst transaction company in the world, but last month I paid 69 cents to swipe each debit card, plus a 5.00 fee to take debit cards. You take a 5.50 magazine, your “profit” is a 1.10 at best, that leaves you with 41 cents out of the 5.50…and selector is right, I used to take 10% off of the magazines…but as you can see, then I would be losing 14 cents on the sale, so the price of a magazine went to full price to compensate. Debit cards kill you on small sales of short profit, on the other hand, if you spend 100.00 with a credit card it’s gonna cost me about 3.00…but with a debit card, doesn’t matter if you spend 20.00 or 100.00 or 500.00 it’s still 69 cents. And while I’m in a decent neighborhood…you can be robbed of cash but they can’t rob debit card receipts. And the money goes DIRECTLY in your account. Can’t bounce, not that that is ever a big problem anyway. But the bottom line is, banks make debit cards out to be this great thing, and it is for them and Wal-Mart…but not so much for a LHS. I’d rather be sick from handling germ-ridden ca***han give the banks and credit card companies any more money than they already get. People say “hey it’s a cost of doing business”…but regular cash can help keep prices lower. Ultimately I’m just thankful for the business no matter how a customer pays for it…but on those occasions when someone comes in and only buys a magazine with a debit card…you still gotta smile and say “thanks for the business!”
Grandson Of Sam if it helps at all, I know about the cost of debit cards and so I always try topay cash. My dad use to have a store so I know how tough it is for you guys.
As I recall with credit cards, Discover was the least expensive for the merchant , Visa/MasterCard as the next cheapest and American Express as the most costly from the merchant’s standpoint. As for cash, I think you stand a greater chance of getting a contact high from cocaine than germs. Cash is getting more and more interesting with the new bills, state quarters, etc. but debit cards are so much more convenient for we lowly consumers.
Will
Is there any fee for taking paper checks and depositing them? Other than your normal checking account items, I mean.
So far my bank, and to my knowledge I don’t think any bank, is charging merchants to deposit regular paper checks. Cash and checks don’t cost merchants anything in additional fees. Other posters have been correct on the info: American Express charges the most to take their card, MC and Visa about the same and Discover is slightly lower.
This I wanted to make clear about debit cards or any other card: yes the fees do eat into our profit…However, times are not so good that we can say we are unhappy with a sale unless you pay with cash. We are (or should be) happy to have business regardless of how payment is made. In the case of debit cards, there does seem to be some surprise when customers find out that merchants get charged a fee to take them. But again, they only really hurt on small purchases with a short profit margin…when it comes down to a 50 or 100 dollar sale and the choice is credit or debit, we always prefer the debit.
Bend over, you’re getting jacked.
I am paying 25c per transaction and $5.50 monthly.
(sarcasm alert) a small business getting ripped? That hardly ever happens.
Since this thread got pretty far off of the original topic, I’m gonna make a last comment on this debit card thing and then we can go on to other topics later if you want to. I’ve had suspicions that I could get a lower debit card fee, but at what cost? There are a lot of processors out there with a lot of different programs, if I get a lower debit card rate perhaps I would be paying a higher percentage on credit cards.
My basic point is, small businesses do get charged to take debit cards, whether it’s 25 cents or 69 cents or higher…but five years ago when the debit cards were not so prevalent we didn’t have these charges at all. OK my whining here is done.
Shop around. There are people out there dying to give you a better rate. I am probably a smaller store than you. I was just offered 1.69% with a .15 transaction fee on cc’s. If you want email me and I’ll send you the info. They will kill your debit card fee as well.