Gearheads of the World-
UNITE!
Introducing the Two-Wheel Cooperative
This could be the start of something great.
What is the Two-Wheel Cooperative?
It is a group of people making products for both motorcycles and
bicycles, at home, with their small company, whatever. The Two-Wheeled Cooperative
will group all these people together into one co-operative.
The products will be for sale, here on this website, as well as individual's
sites. We intend to succeed by providing exceptional service to our
customers AND our manufacturers. We will be flexible to ensure that
everything is as easy and profitable to you as possible.
If you have a Two Wheeled
Product or a Better Idea, we want to help you sell it to the world!
More FAQ's:
How does it work?
Why a Cooperative?
Why not go it
alone?
What
are your plans for expansion?
What's in it for
me?
What's
in it for the Cooperative?
I
have a great idea, but no way to make the product?
What about Brands?
So
I want to sell my stuff through the Cooperative. Now what?
Can
I sell my stuff through my own website or store?
I
want to sell custom or large parts. How do we work that?
What
about liability? And what if we get sued?
Can
I work for the Cooperative to promote it, work on the site, etc?
If
I join, am I "locked in?"
ALL OTHER QUESTIONS
How does it work?
You have a product you make and you want to sell it to the
world. Maybe it's a special tool for working on Harleys, maybe it's a cool
new tankbag, maybe it's a wheelspacer, or a custom bicycle- whatever. You
contact us at the Co-op. We review it and put it on twowheelcoop.com, for
sale at your asking price. If it sells, we handle the shipping, billing,
etc. Then we pay you.
Why a Cooperative?
I started Stanley Alpine in 1998, building ice axes and ice tools
that I feel are the best in the world but, 6 years later, they still don't sell
well. Even with the internet, it's HARD to market your products against
bigger companies. Especially when you only have
one or two products in your lineup. It costs too much to advertise.
It costs too much to due credit card billing. Its costs too much to do
anything. And it's even harder to get the word out to buyers. With
this Cooperative, I want to bring together hundreds of people all making cool
stuff. Then we can pool together our resources for marketing, advertising,
billing, and other overhead tasks. Best of all, since so many people will
be involved, they will all tell their friends, who will tell their friends,
etc. It shouldn't take very long until everyone knows about us. This
process of friends telling friends does work with an individual, but it takes a
LOT longer- trust me on this.
Why not go it alone?
As I said above, it is just really hard to compete with the
bigger companies on your own. You can, of course, try to sell your product
to bike shops either directly or through a distributor, but that is harder than
it sounds and they will take a bigger portion of your products than the Cooperative
will. If you join, you will be free to sell your product
through other venues, as well. And you can leave at any time.
What
are your plans for expansion?
The first thing I want to happen is to bring in as many quality products as
possible. ThenI would like to begin a marketing campaign- mostly magazine
reviews since they are the best advertizing and cost nothing. And perhaps
a few well-placed ads in magazines and websites. Soon,
we would like to have a paper catalog (think Aerostitch). Eventually, we would like to see some brick-and-mortar stores, but it will have
to remain web-based for now.
What's in it for me?
You get to sell your products with a minimum of hassle and risk
while losing less markup to the retailer than through conventional retail venues.
You also get the marketing might of a large corporation. And you get the satisfaction of seeing your products in the
marketplace.
What's in
it for the Cooperative?
We expect to make a profit on your product. The percentage
of profit will vary with our involvement. If all we do is ship it and bill
it, the percentage is low (lower than just about anyone else). If we are
doing the manufacturing for you too, we will need to keep a higher
percentage. We will work all that out before the sales.
I
have a great idea, but no way to make the product?
We have a lot of small-to-medium volume manufacturing capability here at
Stanley Alpine. If you want to show us your idea, we can recommend a means
to make it. We might want to make it here, or source it out to someone
else- preferably someone in the Cooperative.
What about Brands?
As much as possible, we want each product to be under the Two-Wheel Cooperative brand name.
This allows us all to reap the benefits of marketing and branding.
However, we also want you to be able to put your own name on it, if you
want. I think the best solution might be to allow you to brand it as
"Bob's Wheel Spacers- Part of the Two-Wheeled Cooperative." I'm
open to suggestions, though.
So
I want to sell my stuff through the Cooperative. Now what?
Email us with your product or idea. We will review it and
decide if we want to sell it here. We will then reply with our
terms. Let's assume you make tankbags. You want to sell your
tankbags to the public for $100. You send us 5 of your tankbags, which we
will keep in inventory. A customer sees your tankbags on the site and buys
one. He sends us $100 for the bag and $10 for shipping. It costs us
$10 dollars to ship it. We want a 30% margin on the sale. That is, we
keep $30 of the customer's $100. So we send you $70 from the sale.
We also keep the $10 for shipping. Please note that most bike
shops would typically keep $40 instead of the $30 we are asking. Our margin of 30%
should be pretty typical for most things, but it will vary, depending on how
much work we have to do. Please note that we don't pay you until we get
paid (like a consignment). If you want your unsold tankbags back at any
time, no problem- just pay the actual shipping charges for the return.
Can
I sell my stuff through my own website or store?
Of course you can. The idea of the Cooperative is to help
out all the little guys, not to constrain them in any way. But we do ask
that you keep the Two-Wheel Cooperative brand on the item and that you not
sell it for less than the asking price on this website.
I
want to sell custom or large parts. How do we work that?
For big or custom items, we won't need to have it in
inventory. We would just give you the customer contact info and you would
arrange shipping directly from your shop. We would prefer to keep smaller
items in inventory, however, so that we can save our customers money on shipping
for multi-item orders.
What
about liability? And what if we get sued?
Make no mistake- if your product causes damages and the customer
sues, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. We will provide the customer with a legal
disclaimer that SHOULD keep him from suing. However, you will also be
required to sign a disclaimer stating that Stanley Alpine and the Cooperative are not liable for your product and will not help you in any way should you get
sued. You may want to consult a lawyer on this. He may recommend you
purchase insurance or form a corporation which would shield you personally from
liability. Stanley Alpine is an LLC (limited liability corporation).
The setup was quick, easy, and cheap.
Can
I work for the Cooperative to promote it, work on the site, etc?
Yes- that's why it's called a cooperative. Besides- we need
all the help we can get. Email us and we will try to work something out.
If
I join, am I "locked in?"
Absolutely not. You may leave at any time. And we
will return any unsold merchandise without penalty. Just pay actual
shipping to get it back.
ALL OTHER QUESTIONS
Email us
Since
1998