I'm thinking of closing up shop

Lemony Vengeance

Mitt Romney's Hairdresser,
Joined
Jan 30, 2012
Posts
4,204
For me, if you have a sales thread on this website that sells mass produced products, I feel that those sellers should be paying Shawn a commission. I think it's morally wrong to have those kind of sales threads in this kind of community. Posting a unit for sale here and there like I have been is how the market place is supposed to be, not long running sales threads for mass produced items.

THIS. SO MUCH THIS.

As someone that makes and sells here, I agree wholeheartedly. Those that have "interest check" threads as a way to conduct market research for their websites need to give Shawn a cut for advertising here. Cut and dry.
 

KRiSX

King's Dry Cleaner
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Posts
376
this is a sad thread indeed... i'm sure you'll do what you think is best... hope to see you hang in there!
 

loegan43

I've served my time in the Dark Army., Have you?,
15 Year Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Posts
1,946
James, you've always been a great friend and member of the community. I hope you'll consider doing like a few have mentioned in this thread, and rework your site and increase it's visibility. You do outstanding work and make great products. This hobby would be greatly diminished without your presence here. Don't get discouraged, we all support and value you James.
 

wyo

King of Spammers
10 Year Member
Joined
May 22, 2013
Posts
10,108
Sounds like James is being squeezed by inferior sellers with superior marketing acumen. I totally respect not wanting to "sell out" but his time and skills are valuable and he needs to realize this and capitalize on it. The market is limited in size so time/money must be invested in selling himself and his products and services in order to remain viable and competitive.
 

theMot

Reformed collector of junk
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Posts
7,589
Sounds like James is being squeezed by inferior sellers with superior marketing acumen..

That's all it is. How many times do we see inferior products and services in every day life triumph just because of slick marketing. I really think you could make a nice little side income for your family James if you addressed this.

I know you think it's not what the community is about but if you think you're not gaining enough financially from the skills you offer then it's the way you have to go.
 

GhostSeed

Angel's Love Slave
10 Year Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2012
Posts
902
James I hope you figure out a way to stay open. The supergun you made me is great and the tech questions you answer are always helpful. You're one of the few members who's posts I'll always read if I'm skimming a thread.
 

ahcmetal

Super Spy Agent
10 Year Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2010
Posts
624
Sounds like James is being squeezed by inferior sellers with superior marketing...

Hmmm...indeed it does, perhaps it's time for the community to get the word out and educated all the noobs about who's selling quality and who specifically is selling CRAP. At higher prices even. Perhaps a page on who to buy from and who *not* to buy from ala the specific sticky thread about not buying from STV over on the shmups forum...

I (mistakenly) assumed you were too busy to take on jobs...

Yep...I've assumed this myself before too...

I know you probably don't want to, but you may want to raise those prices a little. If you can't keep something in stock (like those CD pads) and you make very little margin on them, that's a sure sign that you aren't charging enough. You don't want to rip people off, but there's nothing wrong with making some money. Your time is valuable.

There's nothing wrong with making a profit and putting food on the table and money in the bank. I'd rather pay higher prices and have you around. Raise those prices and lets get the word out. Your a nice guy, fair and even tempered with integrity and it'd be a total waste to lose your efforts to the shamless self-promoters because they don't mind peddeling junk at laughable prices when you're in the background with actually quailty.
 

aha2940

AH, A, COLUMBIAN!,
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Posts
2,528
Hi

I've only bought a couple little things from James (some BIOS chips and an Ironclad chips kit) but I do value his help finding these things, and his help with technical issues. Without him, it would have been impossible for me to find this stuff, and having the confidence that I'm are buying from a trustworthy person gives an even better experience. I also agree that he could raise his prices a bit and yet have fair prices. Also, I have noticed many of the items in the store are out of stock, is this due to the closure you are thinking, James?

Regards and please think again, do not leave us without your valuable help.
 

Nickrb

Angel's Love Slave
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
Posts
918
THIS. SO MUCH THIS.

I can say with experience that you both offer the best customer service there is in this community.


Marketing a capability in the 21st century is very much a beauty contest. I can empathize if you guys don't respect snake oil salesman style slick marketing, but dammit its important. Don't hate the player, hate the game.


If this is a hobby, you are sick of it, and you don't want to sell out, then OK. If this is a business, then it is time to observe, orient, decide, and act.


XX- I hope that you continue. If you put your mind to it you are capable of crushing the competition.
 
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Nickrb

Angel's Love Slave
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
Posts
918
it can be pretty frustrating when cheap ripoffs become the standard, but then, it's what's happening everywhere, just look at walmart. community vs profiteering.

View attachment 16539

Wal Mart is the perfect example of how to succeed as a small business. Sam Walton took a Five and Dime store and turned it into the worlds largest retailer.

I think Sam Walton has some good advice for a small business trying to compete.

Go in and check our competition. Check everyone who is our competition. And don't look for the bad. Look for the good. If you get one good idea, that's one more than you went into the store with and we must try to incorporate it into our company. - Sam Walton
 

Tyranix95

Chang's Grocer
Joined
Jun 30, 2010
Posts
4,593
I really like your analogy--JNXMART. :keke:

...

Wal Mart is the perfect example of how to succeed as a small business. Sam Walton took a Five and Dime store and turned it into the worlds largest retailer.

I think Sam Walton has some good advice for a small business trying to compete.
 

KalessinDB

Mr. Big's Thug
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Posts
202
Just adding to the chorus man, you do great work and will be missed if you stop. You component modded my AES and my CD before I was even on this site, threw in a Unibios to the AES and a region switch to the CD and was very communicative and pleasant through the whole thing. I've got one of your superguns (secondhand I'll admit) and it's also an amazing piece of work, aesthetically as well as functionally.

Thanks for everything, whatever your end decision is.
 

Evilpoptart

Kula's Candy
Joined
Jan 18, 2014
Posts
293
The JNX website bill has always been footed by Matt aka xiao_haozi so I only pay for the domain every year which is only $12 so it isn't a big expense.

Understandable, I weren't sure if you were fronting the domain and server cost. Being IT guy I know how those costs can add up quickly. I do agree with the idea of maybe perhaps changing how you market JNX, I do like the simplistic nature of JNX but just like any website, drop down boxes, banners, logos, ect. can also be just as simplistic but adds a nice visual appeal.

I'm sure we have some people here that could get you a really nice logo, or banner made up for the website and for your forum sigs. Place them here and on shumps and the other websites you crawl from time to time, it would be a really be a nice start kinda give you some motivation to continue to move forward plus put your name out there. We can do this I would absolutely love see everybody ban together to get this done!

Hell gonna make few phone calls tomorrow I think :vik:
 

vaillian

King's Dry Cleaner
Joined
Nov 9, 2013
Posts
381
:( i hope you get more orders soon. I know some people wont like it what i will now say but maybe you should move on to another business model but still related to Neo Geo, like making AES conversions as i have read somewhere you also made conversions for Ironclad on MVS once. From what i am seeing on ebay etc people are willing to pay at least 150-350€ on each game thats much more than an CMVS would give. And i dont think the problem is that too much people are making CMVSs but its rather to less people want to buy as they already have one. Maybe the market is too much satisfied right now.
 

LegoSlug

Over Top Auto Mechanic
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Posts
864
:( i hope you get more orders soon. I know some people wont like it what i will now say but maybe you should move on to another business model but still related to Neo Geo, like making AES conversions as i have read somewhere you also made conversions for Ironclad on MVS once. From what i am seeing on ebay etc people are willing to pay at least 150-350€ on each game thats much more than an CMVS would give. And i dont think the problem is that too much people are making CMVSs but its rather to less people want to buy as they already have one. Maybe the market is too much satisfied right now.

Unless the AES carts are dead, probly not a good idea.
 

Jonmkl

Rasputin's Rose Gardener
Joined
Aug 29, 2012
Posts
715
For me, if you have a sales thread on this website that sells mass produced products, I feel that those sellers should be paying Shawn a commission. I think it's morally wrong to have those kind of sales threads in this kind of community. Posting a unit for sale here and there like I have been is how the market place is supposed to be, not long running sales threads for mass produced items.

I completely see where you're coming from, although I feel like there are many mass produced goods that can benefit this sort of community and deserve the visibility. Look at Undamned's Consolized CPS2, that thing is huge for the fighting game community, and EVO just used one for it's SSF2T tourney on Friday. I think it having a highly visible sale thread on SRK brings more to the fighting game and arcade game communities than it takes.

That said it's obviously not your style to run a big snazzy marketing campaign, and I don't recommend it. The most important thing you can do is be real and honest with your customers. I think simple write ups on JNX about who you are and what all you can do, with some pictures for reference, will be very effective and will attract customers who are more interested in the personal touch than the snazzy marketing, which is the type of customer you want.

"Nothing will ever beat a face to face match on real arcade hardware."

That's good stuff man, and as far as I'm concerned there's no marketing better than being a real person... As long as the customer can clearly see what you're actually offering that is :-P
 

Fox1

Bub & Bob's Bubble Buddy,
20 Year Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2001
Posts
3,169
Ah geez XX...you are one of the last people that makes quality products for the fans, by a fan. You also always help me with my billions of questions that I always have and for that, I truly appreciate it! Unfortunately , it's like you said...the hobby of arcade gaming in general is just a sad sight to look at right now with all the garbage that's out there from people who take and don't give shit back to the community. I hope people realize when they buy one of those "wooden coffins", they are basically killing a part of the scene.

Edit: Oh btw, I think I might try those wasabi macs lol.
 
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Normdog

Kula's Diamond
10 Year Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Posts
3,408
You do outstanding work and make great products. This hobby would be greatly diminished without your presence here. Don't get discouraged, we all support and value you James.

:upf:
 
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94TC

Hardened Shock Trooper
15 Year Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Posts
447
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you're hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!" Rocky Balboa (2006)

James, Thank you so much for helping me man. I appreciate all you have done for this community.
 
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Dark Sakul

Marked Wolf
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Posts
215
For me, if you have a sales thread on this website that sells mass produced products, I feel that those sellers should be paying Shawn a commission. I think it's morally wrong to have those kind of sales threads in this kind of community. Posting a unit for sale here and there like I have been is how the market place is supposed to be, not long running sales threads for mass produced items.

I agree with you and Lemony on this. This needs to happen.
 
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