Discussion: RS VIP Membership
 

Wouldn't it be great if RS had a VIP membership option?

The way I envision this is

-yearly premium of $10 paid by paypal/cash at meet(s)
- RS currently has 64k members. Lets assume only 1000 are active.
- roughly $9500 (after paypal fees)
- assume 15k a year for server costs - which leaves 5.5 from ad dollars (assuming RS is non-profit)

benefits to VIP members:
- varying levels of discounts at sponsors ( ie. 10% off labour at XXX ; 10% off food at XXX ; 15% off Service A at XXX; 5% off RS stickers/tshirts etc)
- sponsors are able to give discounts because their monthly ad bill would be lowered
- other stuff like large avtars/gif avatars (intangible benefits)
- more reason to shop local because of discount (shop in surrey selling part for $124 ; rs vendor in richmond selling with 15% off for VIP members sells at 140. cost to member $120 (or 130 if you include the membership fee))

benefits to advertisers:
- access to sustainable group of enthusiasts
- build up of trust and loyal/frequent client base
- one stop destination for advertising
- could be lower cost of advertising expense ( current $250/mo ; lowered to $150 - cost of discounts $50 - total cost per mo: $200 -- savings $50)


Maintenance
- would require a google doc setup by an admin/mod which includes first name / last name / user name / membership valid .
- this doc would be shared with all the vendors with view only access.
- when a member goes into the shop and says "hi , i'm a VIP member from RS , i like a cat back for my 98 integra my username is tiger_handheld" the vendor can pull up the doc, verify identity and process the discount.
- a google doc would also list out all the vendors taking part in the program and their specific services/benefits to VIP members


anyway this came up as i was looking for a splash shield for my mazda. bcmazda 3 has Premium membership which has a deal with Wolfe Mazda for xx% off on parts and also because i'm working heading up a similar thing at work for our advertisers.


feel free to build it up or rip it apart :) maybe it'll be a great idea or fail storm. OR does this type of thing exist but not publicized?

you have too much time on your hands.

Guess you didn't get the memo.. :inoutugh:

Wasn't it like 2 weeks ago that you were wanting to beat up sponsors for not being the cheapest options possible?

Maybe the sponsors could just continue doing what they are doing, advertise to the members that are free and paid and rake in all that un-entitled cash that they must be rolling in. :rolleyes:

does it include VIP to Happy Bubble? if it does ..

http://chrisboth.files.wordpress.com...ey.jpeg?w=1024

I'm already VIP and don't need a membership :cool:

^ supreme kai doesn't need more people going to CHB... it's full enough already

I think this is a great Idea.

A lot of other forums have paid members subscriptions. You get perks like a bigger avatar, I think some more upload space? and a badge next to your name, so that's kind of cool. I wouldn't mind.
ie. for badger and blade they have different levels. $5 gives you bronze member, $10 gold etc. I'm not exactly sure of the prices, but you get a little badge next to your user name to show you donated to their forum.

It wouldn't be a mandatory fee so it won't affect anything.
I would gladly do it if the option was there.
I was actually thinking about suggesting it

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

Your business proposal isn't going to fly. Yes there are a lot of members on RS, but the amount of benefits doesn't really help much with the overall mentality of the community. Revscene is supposed to be a free sponsored community by sponsors. I can see the good you want to bring to the website but a website is still a website. If Revscene was a store (perse) then the benefits could exceed more exponentially because most of them are tangible like discounts, free stuff, etc.

I get your idea but I don't think the community is going to be in majorly favour of this or even support it that much to a point where there is continuous demand. That's my point of view.

not your not

You're really passionate about this campaign of yours to have the sponsors offer lower prices, apparently.

Here's a novel idea, what if the sponsors are already offering the best price possible?

Stop being a cheap fuck.

For the record, you can already purchase a custom user title and larger avatar.
http://www.revscene.net/forums/40786...ours-free.html

Im already VIP as well as proven by my awesome gif avatar

I can foreseeing your next thread/campaign is for RS sponsors to Price Matching for RS VIP member.

FYI, some of RS sponsors are already offering RS discount when Revscene is freaking FREE~

I don't think its a bad idea. I'm sure the people paying for the server costs wouldn't mind if some of the dedicated members on RS can help out someway.

since when did you drive a 98 integra mr tiger_handheld?

I dont, but would like to have one as a weekender maybe in the future. always liked em but could never afford em.




anyways- i guess this is another fail storm idea. lets let it die and never speak of it again. playing like Dan Cloutier on RS lately.

You're basing this off the fact you can get a certain percentage off of one dealership?

Well honestly, I'd be frigging glad to give 15% off FULL MSRP like the dealership. In the end YOU would be paying more.

Or do you mean haggle a sponsor down to next to zero profit then throw the 15% RS discount on top so they can lose money to serve you?

Can't see it working unless we all had like set prices.

Most prices by the sponsors are already VERY low. Most the time there's not even 10% markup. It's not like we make $500 selling people a set of basic TEIN coilovers. What would be nice is if we could compete with the U.S. market. Mass majority of the time U.S. MSRP is lower then Canadian retailers cost (Hence canadian MSRP usually higher).

If RS needs money for server costs etc, they'll ask for it, and I'm sure the members will be willing to chip in. That being said, I highly doubt they're bleeding money, they have a lot of good sponsors that pay monthly for advert costs; and those sponsors already offer discounts to members.

Did someone say gif avatar...:fullofwin:

pfft pricematching is so 2003
these days you gotta have uber price beat :fullofwin:

i want a gif avatar too,
why are you so

...

ruthless about it

you lied to use about driving an integra, therefore, you cannot be trusted with your vip idea

So you want us to run some kind of SPC card for car shops?