Hi, So, I've been working on my game for more than a year now and I should be done with it and have it ready for sale in January. I've been thinking alot about sales and distribution, and I've done alot of research at gamedev.net, indiegamer.net and gameproducer.net and I've realised that I can't compare my game with any other in terms of sales and distribution, even publishing deals. I've decided to throw my marketing, distribution and sales strategy here for your comments and criticisms. My game is a 3D action adventure game (visit www.gwimgrafxstudios.com). The main character is contracted to find some rare African artifacts-each with a story behind it. It has 10 levels. In addition to guns and health packs, I will have letters in the scene that contain some wise sayings that the gamer can pick up and read. According to me and people who have checked out the game here are some pros and cons: PROS: 1. Good graphics (good enough for fixed function OpenGL) 2. Guns for a lil' bit of action. 3. Selling price is $9.95. CONS: 1. Lacks a little in the gameplay as the main character is just moving around in a vast world looking for the artifacts. There are plants and a few buildings. I would have added more buildings for the character to enter and explore but I don't have the money. 2. Because of keyboard masking/ghosting I will make the controls fixed, so I need to choose the best controls. I plan to advertise on websites like gamedev.net and indiegamer.net, and esellerate.net will handle the credit card transactions. Well what do you think? Thanks.

Have you looked at Garage Games? They seem to be doing pretty well with the whole indie-publishing thing, might be a good avenue to check out.

esellerate.net seems to charge an exorbitant amount (from what I could see). Are you sure you'd want to go with them charging about 10%? Most merchant accounts for credit cards are between 3 and 6%. You may want to shop around.

Quote: Original post by ellis1138
esellerate.net seems to charge an exorbitant amount (from what I could see). Are you sure you'd want to go with them charging about 10%? Most merchant accounts for credit cards are between 3 and 6%. You may want to shop around.

Unless you do a very large number of transactions, expect 3%-6% plus a base of $0.20 to $0.50 per transaction.

Paypal has pretty good transaction rates and is quite trusted. They take all major credit cards, international currency, e-checks, and of course other Paypal accounts. They have pretty good tools that will help you when it comes time for taxes, and can even collect taxes at their different rates if necessary.

Given your $9.95 pricing, it would break down like this:

• Under 300 sales per month would be $0.30 + 2.9%, or $0.59 per sale, or 5.9% of the total transaction. This will probably account for all or nearly all of your sales. You get $9.36
  
• 300-1000 monthly sales would be $0.55 per sale, 5.5% of each transaction. You get $9.40
  
• Over 1000 monthly sales would be $0.52 per sale, giving you $9.43, but at that volume you could probably find slightly cheaper rates.

That's almost 50 cents more money per sale than esellerate, or about $100 unnecessary expenses for every 200 sales.

If you have a high volume of transactions you can find even cheaper rates.

Thanks alot for your input. I'm checking out paypal.