I’m a bit confused now. You’re talking about dealing with retailers? You’ve got to think cost of goods and markup. The retailers certainly are. 50 - 80% is not unusual at all, and is even necessary to make a go of it in many instances, and you’re talking a percentage to charity out of this.
Amazon itself is a retailer. They’re not paying Borders or Barns & Noble for their product. They’re buying direct from the publisher or at least wholesale from a distributor. They can well afford to pay a percentage for clickthrough from the originating site that offered a given book, CD, whatever for sale and then “referred” the customer.
It’s going to be tough to find enough money to go around, if you’re not proposing to do something similar.
You’re not looking to warehouse any inventory, I take it, so you want manufacturers or distributors that drop-ship.
You start with smaller independent retailers. I know the mark up of clothing. If one is a manufacturer-retailer they have a lot to play with. Right now there are quite a few smaller companies hurting for sales. I have talked with many, they are ready to do what’s necessary to survive and prosper.
Of course different companies have different margins, but we can work with them on an individual basis. I advocate starting small and working up to the big boys. What I need to know is how to bring this together technologically. If anyone wants to help with that or has suggestions, I’ll be happy to hear them.