There’s been quite a bit of discussion this morning in #Active-Members on Discord, I figure it could be worth bringing the discussion over here as it opens up to a wider audience and won’t get so easily lost in a chat.
As a bit of context, off the back of the Community Edition online sale which sold out in 15 minutes, there are a few listings online for the device already! Someone will have purchased intending to then sell it, it’ll be intriguing if we see yet more listings after the store sales. But also to see what they sell for! How much demand is out there?
I love the concept of the community edition, it was such a special opportunity and chance that Nothing has taken with the community. Work was put in beyond just a base limited run, with everyone submitting ideas and voting, the Nothing team then engaging with external people, designing and iterating to produce something that the community had a hand in. This wasn’t just a limited run, but a reflection of submissions/decisions of the community/company as a whole.
Personally, the CE’s final design isn’t for me, while I love the concept, I didn’t desire the product. I got an invite but didn’t pull the trigger instead thinking it could go to someone who would enjoy having the product more than me. To now see these eBay listings is disheartening to me, should I have made the purchase simply to ensure it was in my, a community member’s, hands and not someone else taking the chance to sell it on?
I see the business of reselling, all manners of justification and arguing about it can be made, if it happens to limited runs/editions, that’s a shame but that’s life, I think it’s something we see in all consumer areas. But with it happening to CE, those doing so are more than likely a part of this community and not someone simply driving their own business.
I’m not opposed to reselling as a thing, I think it’s a force for good and preserving the life of a product after its initial enjoyment/usage, I often buy second-hand to get a discount and don’t mind doing what I can to breathe new life into a product (be that changing ear tips, new cushioning, even going as far as to custom cerakote a coffee machine!). I do think purchasing to resell limited items is where I have an issue, it exacerbates the limitations for those who truly want the device; while someone who wants a limited device may well pay more than the selling price, why should a third party be an intermediary to profit further from a sale? Especially when it relates to a community-driven item. Perhaps in a year or two’s time, when someone had the CE for a while I’ll pick it up second-hand to experience it.
CE changes the landscape of this discussion to me and makes it interesting to consider all sides, ultimately for me, it’s a shame to see them being resold so early. The limited run of 1000 limits what sales can be made by Nothing, indicating to me that this was intentionally for the community as opposed to sales which could be maximised in other avenues.
I hope we see more CE’s in the future, I’d have loved a shadow drop of CE Buds to pair with the phone, or perhaps we will see another project like this to take a limited edition product to the next level.
Some discussion questions: How could Nothing have handled the sale of CE differently? Would a pre-order system where the number of items produced is dictated by the number of orders help? Am I alone in not desiring the result of the CE, even though I love the concept? What other Community Editions would you like to see?
