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Thoughts on a service Similar to Gamefly


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What do you think?  

21 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think?

    • Great Idea, I'd go for it.
      16
    • Waste of time/money, I wouldn't bother.
      5


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I know the majority of users here are from other countries, but I had the thought of starting a service similar to Gamefly in Australia.

 

I had the thought while reading This thread.

 

I did a pretty in depth search and found only 1 company in Australia who offers this service, but they are based in Perth (probably the furthest capitol city from any other in Australia - Might as well get games from Malaysia). There was another one that I found, but it seems as though they've stopped trading as the most recent game I found on their list was Modern Warfare 2 (released November last year).

 

My thoughts were offering a service setup in the following manner:

- Monthly membership fee of $24.95 per month for a 2 game membership.

- Keep the games as long as you want (provided you haven't canceled your membership).

- Included Postage costs utilizing Australia's Registered Post.

- Free game swapping up to 8 times per month (maybe charge $1 for each swap within the month after that)

- Option to purchase ex-rental games.

- Option to take payment via Pay-Pal (probably only 1 game membership for $15.95 until you've been a member for a set amount of time on pay-pal accounts).

- A reduced cost for the first month for new members.

- A "Queue" system similar to that of gamefly.

- And lastly, a guarantee of sorts whereby if we can't provide a game that's in you're Queue for any more than say, 2 weeks, you dont have to pay your membership fee for that month (provided you don't have any other games out and your queue list is more than 3 games in size)

 

For those here in Australia, would you go for something like this? those outside of Australia, please feel free to provide your thoughts on it.

 

I'm aware that the initial cost would be pretty substantial and it probably wouldn't pick up for a while, but I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on this to see if you guys think it would be worthwhile doing.

 

If you do like the idea, I encourage you to have others look at it if possible to get their thoughts too.

Edited by disinformation
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I'm currently on a O k a y service, but their from QLD and im from NSW which takes like forever to arrive, Good idea mate.

 

 

what service are you on?

I want in!?

 

I didn't know such a thing existed in AUS.

 

and as for your idea, it would be AWESOME if you could, but it would require a lot of start up capital, so, a small business loan would be your best bet, but, I am unsure as to whether or not a bank or financial institution would loan you the money, they might see it is too risky.. but, I mean, if you personally want to get it started, you have to think, it would be a business, a full time job.. very hard and a very risky to start, but seeing as there are little to no similar things in AUS that I am aware of, you'd have a niche market and could make a lot of money.

 

there are steps to creating a small business, I personally have no idea, but i'd assume you'd need some sort of business plan, and I am sure there would be places to help you out if that was the path that you wanted to take. But I mean, go for it, we need a service here like gamefly, and i'd sign up day one if you or someone else started it.. and i'm sure a lot of others would too.

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I'm a business major and I would agree with what people have said here; you will need a lot of start up capital, it would be a full time job (or close to it) and it will be very risky.

 

However, if it is true that there is no such service in AUS and there is a demand for it (which there seems to be) you should do quite well as long as you stay on top of it.

 

Good luck if you attempt this!

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Well comparing prices to what he wants and the service i am currently with, he wants 25 dollars for 2 games rental, and i am on 20 for one games rental, and they ask 30 for 2 games (if i remember correctly) so hes already out front there.

 

Yeah, i looked at the other guys and figured I'd have to do better than them in order to succeed, hence why I put these prices - having said that, i've yet to look into postage costs on such a venture, but I imagine, that should cover costs and turn a profit (once it picks up and I have a decent catalog of games).

 

I'm in Melbourne, but depending where you are, could do a sort of secondary shipping point from where you are (if it started doing well) ;)

 

I'm a business major and I would agree with what people have said here; you will need a lot of start up capital, it would be a full time job (or close to it) and it will be very risky.

 

However, if it is true that there is no such service in AUS and there is a demand for it (which there seems to be) you should do quite well as long as you stay on top of it.

 

Good luck if you attempt this!

 

Thanks for the good luck! Im sure it would be a fairly big cost, but I may be able to talk a supplier/distributor into retailer prices if they see it as a viable business.

 

what service are you on?

I want in!?

 

I didn't know such a thing existed in AUS.

 

and as for your idea, it would be AWESOME if you could, but it would require a lot of start up capital, so, a small business loan would be your best bet, but, I am unsure as to whether or not a bank or financial institution would loan you the money, they might see it is too risky.. but, I mean, if you personally want to get it started, you have to think, it would be a business, a full time job.. very hard and a very risky to start, but seeing as there are little to no similar things in AUS that I am aware of, you'd have a niche market and could make a lot of money.

 

there are steps to creating a small business, I personally have no idea, but i'd assume you'd need some sort of business plan, and I am sure there would be places to help you out if that was the path that you wanted to take. But I mean, go for it, we need a service here like gamefly, and i'd sign up day one if you or someone else started it.. and i'm sure a lot of others would too.

 

Thanks heaps, glad to know I would get some customers.

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I reckon it's a great idea. I've always envied those who can use Gamefly, as it is something I could see myself using quite a lot. If you could get everything organised for it, and got underway with it, then I could see it turning out quite well. Hope something comes together for you, not only to benefit you, but to benefit us as well :D

 

Oh and when you say $25/month 2-game membership, does that mean for $25 a month, you could rent 2 games at any one time, or does that mean you can rent 2 games every month? I'm slightly confused by that.

Edited by Dark_Raven666
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Oh and when you say $25/month 2-game membership, does that mean for $25 a month, you could rent 2 games at any one time, or does that mean you can rent 2 games every month? I'm slightly confused by that.

 

Any two games, if you wanna swap one of em out, you send you one back, we send the next one out. Hold onto the games as long as you want (as long as your still paying the monthly fee).

 

@DBZ:

Shipping would be included in the monthly fee (hence why the $25/mnth isn't yet set in concrete - but odds on, thats what it'd be)

 

I could definately also provide this sites aussie members a discount with a few conditions (like minimum x posts here and x amount of time as a member. I'll draw something up for that soon)

 

That and a refferal discount on exrental game purchases like game fly does probably.

 

I'll be asking the people I have to to sort out what I'd need to do Legally (Thanks Aidan) then look into the financial side and see how viable it is.

 

keep checking back for updates on it

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Also, try hooking up with a big non-retail corporation game rental store. They already have the connection to get many games at once, it would remove a step, and some people might recognize the name.

 

I was thinking of contacting the distributor/wholesaler of games in Australia and see if I could get my stock that way and pay what the retailers pay for the games (Or at very least, a hefty discount from retail anyway).

 

I've yet to hear back from anybody ive contacted, but I'm looking forward to seeing the responses

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I'm well aware of that one, because of the note on each of the booklets stating that you cannot "rent for profit" etc etc as such without express permission, which is what I'm currently seeking...

 

i see you voted "no" (cause it was all yes' 2 mins ago)...

 

May I ask why? Purely to see why it's not a good idea to you...

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I'm well aware of that one, because of the note on each of the booklets stating that you cannot "rent for profit" etc etc as such without express permission, which is what I'm currently seeking...

 

i see you voted "no" (cause it was all yes' 2 mins ago)...

 

May I ask why? Purely to see why it's not a good idea to you...

 

I never voted :)

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I voted no - only because I wouldn't use it.

I go through periods where I will play heaps and then times where I wouldn't play for months at a time so I couldn't justify an ongoing expense.

I'm sure you will do a proper cost analysis but It has been tried here in Oz and failed - to keep all your members happy you would need a shitload of the latest release games - hopefully you can get a good deal and make your purchase price back by selling ex rental after the initial rush.

Anyway I really hope that for the benefit of you and everyone else on the site it does take off and goes really well.

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There is probably a very good reason that there's only one firm in this market place.

 

Think about it, if there were massive amounts of profit to be made, there'd be more competition.

 

A few positive remarks on a trophy hunting forum shouldn't really be convincing you into starting up a costly financial venture.

 

Trophy hunters are a tiny minority and a lot of them are just cashless kids.

 

Stick to the day job mate.

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