How I sold the games ...

It was a long time ago and it is not true ... Please consider it as an essay. The story is fictional.

It all started with the fact that in December N, just before New Year, friends began to ask what to donate? I honestly did not need anything, so my friends donated an envelope with 7000rub and I began to think what to buy.
I was a simple unemployed student, without a lot of money, but with the desire to earn something.
Often, when I went to the computer store to buy some kind of nonsense, I stared at the Xbox360, and thought that it would be nice to come home after a hard school day and wallow on the sofa in front of a zombie box to play some kind of game. My home computer is weak, on which no games except simple games are played. Finally, with free 7000rub, I went to the site of one computer shop in search of some other rubbish that was unnecessary to me and was shocked, because of the Christmas holidays, the price of Xbox360 was reduced to 6999rub! Without thinking twice, I found a forum on the Xbox360, I learned that it can be flashed from a good person any day, that pirated discs can be bought near the nearest metro to the house, and that evening I went to do the clever purchase and firmware quest.
')
Almost immediately after the purchase, I learned that the discs can be recorded by yourself at home. Friends after watching me, too, got X-boxes. Having learned from the same good person where it is possible to buy discs cheaper, I began to record games myself while sharing images of games in LAN. To my surprise, people from LAN have started asking if I can write down some games for money, and an idea was born.

I decided to sell pirated games for the Xbox360 ...


Business preparation has begun:
1. Bought a good SONY cutter for DVD + R DL (2500rub.)
2. Bought paper for 50 sheet covers (100 rub.)
3. Bought self-adhesive knurling 50 pcs. ($ 100)
4. Bought 50pcs. disks Mirex Printable DVD + R DL (2100rub.)
5. Purchased refillable cartridges for the printer (1500 rubles.)
6. Bought paint for the printer 4th colors of 100 ml. (800rub.)
7. Bought boxes for discs 50pcs. (500rub.)
8. Purchased a sim card (100 rub.)
Total costs were: 7700 rubles.
The cost of one game: ~ 60 rubles.

It was decided once a game costs me about 60 rubles, I will sell for 120, and make delivery to the subway free. Placing ads on the websites of newspapers, VKontakte, forums on the Xbox360, word of mouth and leaving everywhere the number of the sim card (which by the way is registered to a nonexistent person) sales went.

By the way, I didn’t have my 8,000, so I borrowed it from my friends in pieces, and returned everything from the first sales.

In the first month, 3 people called me and ordered a total of 30 games. Within a week, all the games were delivered to customers, customers are satisfied, and I earned 1,800 rubles. clean.
Honestly, even then I realized how hard I started. Games on the 4-megabit channel swayed for a long time because the image of 7GB, but gradually the base of the games was formed and it warmed the soul. Making the game itself took me 30 minutes of which 20 minutes the game was recorded, and in the same 20 minutes the cover + knurling was printed, and another 10 minutes after recording the knurling was applied, the disk was checked, etc. At 30 games I spent the whole day, of course, with tea breaks, smoking, lunch and so on. In general, it is difficult, but 1800 in one day.

The following month I sold already 50 discs. These were mainly orders for 3-5 discs. A lot of new customers, in general, word of mouth has had an effect. I earned about 3000rub.
Since I was making free delivery to the subway, such a number of orders and only 3000 rubles for all I just began to annoy. I had already thought of abandoning this whole undertaking, but decided to try to bend the price of 200 rubles per game. By the way, the guys in the stall at the subway sell their games for just such a price tag. I did not care, I can not compete with them and thank God. But oddly enough, the orders went further. As one of the customers explained to me, only he can buy games from me that ended in a store, appear in the store in a couple of weeks, etc.
Of course, some part of the clientele disappeared, and there were fewer orders, but nevertheless the business continued.

In the 3rd month I sold about 40 disks, again, 2-5 pieces each. at a time. Clean it turned out about 5600.
I learned how to distribute the load, I recorded the games no longer for days, I made appointments when I was more comfortable, I got used to it. A few more months went by in the same vein.

Toward August, I finally got tired of doing this, I wanted normal money, and probably normal work. And then one friend suggested that I move the “workshop” for manufacturing into his garage, let the migrant worker sit there and let him write games. It was decided to sell the products in similar stalls near the metro.
After some negotiations with the guys from the stall, we agreed on the price of 100 rubles per disk, I mean 40 rubles. By the way, as it turned out, all these stalls are usually ready to take products from anyone, as long as it is cheap and profitable. They have no problems with law enforcement agencies, they pay rent to a person, this person solves all the issues with the authorities.
In short, having considered that they would buy about 100 games a month from us, I decided that 4000 rub was not worth it. Plus, investments in a separate comp, in several cutters were needed, and the hired migrant worker was no longer remembered ... There was also an option to supply games to several such stalls, but then, frankly speaking, it became absolutely scary.

There were a lot of ideas at the end, there was even a person who was ready to invest in a workshop where many pirated games, films, etc. would be produced. There were even people ready to give a separate stall and the seller for this business. There were even options for hiring the very guys who walk the subway and download databases. But I decided that I would not participate in it.

In conclusion, I will say that you should not repeat the experience. Firstly, it is not worth it, the money is still not large, and secondly, you can very well put yourself in front of law enforcement agencies. The case is so bent, more sales, I was not engaged.