Obviously, it would be great to get $10.00 instead of $5.00 for the Svengali + 2 Card Monte but getting it consistently is the trick. What if you simply add another deck to the package? 2 Svengali decks with the 2 card Monte for $10.00? The pitch is: "After showing the tricks, sell one to a friend for $10." I can see how this may de-value the deck in the tip's mind. If this is the case, at least give a bonus 2 Card Monte for them to sell. Change the price printed on the packaging to $5.00 instead of $3.50. The tip can see themselves selling a friend a 2 Card Monte easier than betting with it. It's like getting a $5.00 rebate on the deal. I have Don's dvd, I'll be hitting the flea market for first time mid-July, can't wait. Looking forward to replies.

Well, there's one sure way to see how this idea works -- give it a try! We'll be interested to see how you do with it.

But if I was a spec, I'm not sure that I would want to buy something just so I could sell part of it to someone else in order to recoup the cost. Either the purchase has value in its own right, or it doesn't. I'd be buying it to have fun with, not to make more work for myself.

If I wanted to do a twofer, I might sell the first deck for $10, but offer two for $15, you still come out on top. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens, also to have Don Driver and others weigh in in this. Good Luck! SETH

That might work, but it could affect your pitch too.

I don't really like the idea of giving the b****ds a second deck for less than the first deck. Seems immoral to me. Instead, why not throw in a DVD with "demontrations" of the trick.

I like the dvd idea but can't find for less than $6 each.

I used to carry the "101 Tricks" booklet, and sold it along with the Svengali Deck. I would guess that I sold one booklet for about every dozen decks, maybe less. After I went through a few dozen booklets, I didn't reorder them and don't carry them anymore, I just sell the deck alone. It's less stuff to cart around, less inventory to store, and less money tied up in inventory, too.

I think the basic problem was that good instructions already come packed with the deck I sell, and most people figured they didn't need any extra information. Besides, the booklet basically just gave you 101 ways (with some duplications) to disclose the "chosen" card, and frankly had no real earth-shattering stuff in it.

So at least in my experience, I don't know that a DVD of the same thing would add all that much to the package, and would certainly cost more to carry than the old "101 Tricks" booklet, even if the DVD was self-produced. As I've said before, I think the deck is good enough to stand alone. I say that the included instructions teach you eight different tricks (which is true), and that seems to be plenty for most people. Just my two cents. SETH

Makes a lot of sense. Thanks

BTW, I should clarify that I did not sell the Svengali Deck and "101 Tricks" booklet together as a package, which I guess was the original idea here -- how to give some "added value" to the deck itself. I sold the deck and booklet separately, you could buy either one alone. As I said, I had very few takers on the combo.

At one flea last year, there was another vendor selling various toys, which happened to include a Svengali Deck/booklet package for $10. He was not getting many takers either, but that may have been because his "booklet" was a homemade production consisting of a couple of Xeroxed pages stapled together. The manuscript was wrapped around the deck and tied with a ribbon. It may have been the greatest Svengali routine since Don Driver's, but the whole thing looked very cheap and amateurish.

I easily outsold him 5 to 1 on Svengali decks that day, getting $8 for the deck alone. I didn't have a chance to see his pitch, so I have no idea how it compared with mine. But I do know that after seeing both pitches and both products, most of the kids came back and bought my deck. So the perception must have been that mine was the better value, even if (or perhaps because) it didn't include the booklet. And many paid with $10 bills, so they did have the extra money for the other set. SETH

And of course, SOMEONE is a PRO and someone ISN'T!

I'm still adding the DVDs when I take the time to make some. It is easy to get $10 with them but the diff is...many times the kids don't have $10 to blow. They have to go get the parents (who have usually left me to baby-sit) to ask for the $10. Frankly, I'd rather take the $5 immediately than $10 MAYBE. . Never tried it for $8.

Jon

Hey, Jon, you do know how to make a guy feel good!

I'd like to get $10 for the deck, which I do think is worth it. It's a good quality deck, just a notch below the Bikes, and far above the thin, junky Chinese decks that often float around. But I just have a feeling that it wouldn't fly in my area.

I know we have gone through this before, and even if I lose a sale or two at $10, I'm still coming out ahead that way, instead of selling them for $8. But I figure if something's not broken . . . .

And at least for me, $5 is not feasible -- I'd just be working for the show fee, the distributor, Uncle Sam and the sales tax guys at that price. So I went with $8, even though I have to make change, carry around 1's, etc.

But when gas hits $5 a gallon, I may think about it! SETH

I had a guy the other day that thought I was going to sell him two decks and two montes for $5!! What a cheapo!!

Shane