I've had to reduce my gelding army due to lack of real-life time to show, so I'm looking to get into member shows. I've tried them before but had no luck. Horses placing 1st in regular shows bombed abysmally in member shows.

So, how do I make a profit off of member shows?

You need to make sure that your horses are not only placing first, but are doing so flawlessly, and repeatedly. Member shows typically mean showing the best of the best against each other, so entering a horse that placed first in a dressage show with a score of 96% isn't going to cut it. You need to make sure that your horses are showing at 100%, or 0 faults, or 0 faults and 0 jumpoff faults, and they need to do so several times in a row. Even then, they're going to be showing against other horses who are showing at the same level, so the amount of experience that your horse/rider have will absolutely come into play.

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense.