It looks like they are buying up thousands of packs in bulk, getting the 10% discount, and selling off the cards they find in those packs in order to get a profit buffer. Then turn around and use that momentum to offer a larger discount to us. And if I may add, they have "more coming," which means this is a marketing strategy to bring in the masses. And I think it's clever. And I'd like to see what they have to offer. And I hope (and anticipate) it will be in keeping with the integrity of the game.
Judging by their excellent graphics, the clever business model, and the delegation of votes, I imagine they will be around for awhile. Let's see what they have to offer. I'm curious as to who they are, and if they might be interested in appearing on the Steem Monster Show and have a chat at some point..... :D
They use the 10% affiliate bonus to offer pack prices no one can compete with. Why would they get a 10% affiliate bonus whilst the rest of the world gets 5%?
It's the sole reason they can offer this and I really don't get it.
The 10% you're talking about is the merchant bonus, as @smartmonsters (@smartsteem) is a registered merchant.
Regards,
Smart Monsters
Correct. What exactly does that change?
Besides @smartmonsters, multiple other businesses are utilising the merchant bonus: @peakmonsters, @steem-plus, @minnowmarket.
This bonus is obviously reserved for businesses/merchants, instead of individuals.
Regards,
Smart Monsters
I believe that is an affiliate program peakmonsters offers. It is their business model. It has nothing to do with the consumer. There is no favoritism or special perk than you or I couldn't also get. They want to encourage larger players to trade on their market so they can earn the 5% on each sale. So you have to earn the status by turning around a certain volume I believe. And frankly, it's a brilliant model. And kudos to them. And @steemmonsters seems fine with it. Whatever sells cards, yo. And whatever each person decides to do with their discount is up to them. Everyone has the same offer on the table. a 10% discount by buying in bulk, and another 10% discount by buying affiliate through peakmonsters. So if they wanna use their initial bulk investment to turn around and generate business for themselves, then I applaud it. But I don't really know. I'm just speculating as to what is actually going on. As I said earlier, I really hope these guys have integrity in their enterprise. Because if so, this is exactly what matt and shane were hoping for with the game. To see dapps and biz offshoots.
No, the reason they are selling so much is because they can offer a discount that others can't (for reselling packs). That is an unfair market advantage.
Of course they are free to use it, but the way it's done is kinda sketchy in my very honest opinion.
Just because you, as a single individual, aren't able to take advantage of an offer for merchants (businesses) doesn't mean it's unfair.
Your behaviour reminds me of this.
snipI heard you are reworking SmartMonster's mechanics, so this discussion is irrelevant. Thank you, sir.LOLZ
Right. I know that. They are selling a bunch cuz they can.
What's wrong with that? I mean, I'll hear you. I'm open to your perspective. I haven't made my mind up about these guys to be honest. I just can't see anything wrong with it yet. I don't see how it's an unfair advantage if anyone of us could do the same thing. You could just as easily buy in bulk to get a bulk discount, and participate in the affiliate discount.
In fact, people do it every day! If you go look at the peakmonsters market, you'll see that the majority of the sales are coming from people who have purchased in bulk and have affiliate discounts. The difference is, they mark UP their cards, and make a profit that way.
smartmonsters is marking DOWN their cards. And their profit comes from the SLIVER margin from the non-bulk sales they hope to make. In fact, they are doing us a favor by offering us the combined affiliate and bulk discount, without the fuss! Maybe I can't afford to buy in bulk, or get an affiliate discount. These guys are offering it AT COST. They aren't even making a profit on the 20% off. Their profit comes from the other sales. What they are doing is offering something, as bait, to make a margin on their lower sales.
And honestly, it's very clever. And the people who should be worried are the other markets like Peakmonsters, as they'll basically be pulling away activity from them by offering discounts not given on the other markets.
If smartmonsters succeeds on a larger scale, they may drive the price of the cards down for awhile because the other markets will have to compete. And by other markets, what I really mean is individual people, seeing that their cards are not selling as fast, so they'll need to drop their prices to compete. And if that happens, then the affiliate program may have to be reexamined. But that will be up to Peakmonsters how they wanna handle that.
Again, this does not affect mine and your buying power. It affects the market. And as with any market, healthy competition will always drive the prices of a product down. That's how free markets work.
I told you in my earlier reply that I would stop discussing, as I considered it pointless. However, I believe you slightly misunderstand some things about this particular case.
The thing is that they are "merchants", which allows them to get a 10% merchant bonus, whilst us, normal people, get a 5% affiliate bonus. We most definitely can't offer what they are offering without losing money (unless we use the packs we got through playing, of course, which is the only reason you can still buy packs for so cheap on the SM-Discord)
Incorrect, they are definitely not offering it at cost. They are making a profit, even on packs they're selling for $1.60. I can show you, if you wish.
Yeah, Healthy Competition is good. This, however, is not healthy competition. This is just a merchant getting a twice as big affiliate bonus without any proper explanation for how one would become a "merchant", which is literally nothing more than an affiliate with a higher affiliate bonus.
I was unaware of this fact. Please illustrate to me so I can be informed.
As you can see in block 27407018, SmartMonsters sends 1,281.314 STEEM (at that time worth $1000) to buy 575 packs (500 regular + 75 bonus):
A couple blocks after, in block 27407022, SmartSteem gets its Merchant Bonus of 128.131 STEEM (at that time worth $100), exactly 10% of the funds sent to purchase the packs:
That means they sent $1000, got back $100, so it cost them $900 to buy 575 packs.
Dividing the cost by the amount of packs gives: 900/575 = $1.565/pack. Selling at $1.60 gives them $0.035 per pack sale.
For smaller pack purchases, their profit margins only go up of course.