more importantly, how do you find buyers like this?
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BarrieJ
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My son in law toyed with the idea of opening a cycle shop (post London 2012 Olympics when the interest in cycling was rising).
If he was prepared to commit to bulk purchasing, bikes were available from China from between £5 and £15.
You weren't going to win the Tour de France on one but then people who shop at Halfords rarely do.
He saw what he was up against and sensibly decided against it.
If he was prepared to commit to bulk purchasing, bikes were available from China from between £5 and £15.
You weren't going to win the Tour de France on one but then people who shop at Halfords rarely do.
He saw what he was up against and sensibly decided against it.
Wallace
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Priced and pitched correctly, perceived as a bargain and instantly available.
roofman
Purveyor of fine English buckets and mops
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Makes us question what is the REAL value of stuff without men in suits getting hold of it and making us pay for there £30,000 company cars. Fancy marketing hikes prices across the board. The Iphone being a perfect example and given its origin of manufacture
Morrisman
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Makes us question what is the REAL value of stuff without men in suits getting hold of it and making us pay for there £30,000 company cars. Fancy marketing hikes prices across the board. The Iphone being a perfect example and given its origin of manufacture
I heard that a iPhone 7 actually costs less than a tenner to make, yet retail at £700. Must be the cost of shipping that bumps it up....
J.B. Welding
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Several years ago I was in Cairo and running around in the aunty-in-laws fiat 128. The clutch was slipping horrendously so being on my hols and with time on my hands I offered to sort it, knowing I could buy the basic tools needed for a few quid and do the job on the street- up for a challenge as usual. Well she got a quote from the local mechanic for the job and in the end I decided to let him do it. The clutch, unit and bearings was £8 and labour the same, total £16. The guy picked it up at night and it was back the next morning running sweet again with the old parts in the boot.
That was a big eye opener for me-you will pay what the market will stand. I'm sure that there were several middle men doubling the price of the clutch each time, plus import taxes etc and shipping. What did the factory sell the unit for?? No idea. I'm sure that here the same clutch kit would cost 10 times the Egyptian street price, plus VAT!
I've bought helmets for £20 that have exactly the same auto lenses as a Parweld helmet that retails at more than double that cost and come to the conclusion that in the range of £15-£70 you are buying basically the same level of protection with a different sticker on it, the running gear is the same. £70/80 and up the units start to change and there is noticeable difference in the quality of the optics. Below that you can choose the one with the replaceable battery, or the one without.
That was a big eye opener for me-you will pay what the market will stand. I'm sure that there were several middle men doubling the price of the clutch each time, plus import taxes etc and shipping. What did the factory sell the unit for?? No idea. I'm sure that here the same clutch kit would cost 10 times the Egyptian street price, plus VAT!
I've bought helmets for £20 that have exactly the same auto lenses as a Parweld helmet that retails at more than double that cost and come to the conclusion that in the range of £15-£70 you are buying basically the same level of protection with a different sticker on it, the running gear is the same. £70/80 and up the units start to change and there is noticeable difference in the quality of the optics. Below that you can choose the one with the replaceable battery, or the one without.
Gareth0123
You'll need 16 pigs to do the job in one sitting!
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Gareth0123
You'll need 16 pigs to do the job in one sitting!
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[ QUOTE="bourbon, post: 1438454, member: 31020"]more importantly, how do you find buyers like this?[/QUOTE]
Rather simple. Yesterday I was working for a local steel suppliers where the public wanting just a foot of this and few inches of that are always welcome and always catered for with politeness and a smile.
I just hung my cleaned and sort of shiny used auto shield up next to the bandsaw with the for sale notice underneath it.
After serving him with 4 X 1 metre lengths of 5 x 50 MSF needed to repair his van he asked who Gareth was. I said it was me, he enquired about the shield, I offered him a go with it on the Mig. He said he'd never used an auto darkening shield before and by goodness that was good (or some similar Anglo-Saxon phrase) and thrust a tenner and a fiver in my hand and left. Location, Availability and Marketing were the secrets in this instance.
Rather simple. Yesterday I was working for a local steel suppliers where the public wanting just a foot of this and few inches of that are always welcome and always catered for with politeness and a smile.
I just hung my cleaned and sort of shiny used auto shield up next to the bandsaw with the for sale notice underneath it.
After serving him with 4 X 1 metre lengths of 5 x 50 MSF needed to repair his van he asked who Gareth was. I said it was me, he enquired about the shield, I offered him a go with it on the Mig. He said he'd never used an auto darkening shield before and by goodness that was good (or some similar Anglo-Saxon phrase) and thrust a tenner and a fiver in my hand and left. Location, Availability and Marketing were the secrets in this instance.
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China definitely just cut out the R+D costs by reverse engineering and it seems in market there is very little you can do, for the end user that element of it isn't much of a problem. What is a problem is the QA side, my assumption is that a 3M or Optrel mask will be designed in such a way that it definitely gives UV protection and that a sensible sample size is monitored. It will also have had long term durability testing and the effects of 10,000 hours of welding will be understood. You won't get any of that with a Chinese copy/fake helmet. Having said that, I still have a Clarke ADF as a back up and I doubt there's much difference in the heritage of that to the cheap Chinese ones.
northwest
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I really don't want to sound pompous but please be careful if you ever start in business.
One of the real issues here is Perceived Value. If Gareth had given the helmet away, it would have possibly been worth just that to the recipient, nothing. As it has a value, the buyer will (hopefully) respect that value and take care of it and get some use from it.
Many, many years ago a newsagent friend of my fathers bought a load of Bic Biro's when they were new to the market. He put them in his stationery corner at sixpence each and sold none. He then moved them onto the counter "latest thing, very new to market, limited quantity" (you know what I mean :-) ) at two shillings each and sold the lot. Perceived value you see. We often say "if it looks too good to be true it often is" and this is a reflection of value. If something looks expensive and feels expensive, you can charge a great deal more for it.
Quite often I will pay particular attention to finish, more than doing the actual job as when it comes time to pay I want the customer to feel he has got a good deal.
Why do you think, when you take your car in to *Name of Prestige or Wannabe Here* it comes back to you washed and valeted? Lets be honest, open the bonnet for most people and their eyes glaze over. But it has a sparkly Air Freshener in it, terrific, well worth the ££££'s spent. People who actually know what they are doing and could probably do the job themselves equally as good if not better than the person doing it are few and far between.
Well, there you go, I fixed the world in a couple of paragraphs and we are all the richer for it. I am off to get a bit of a reality check myself!
Mac168
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Rather simple. Yesterday I was working for a local steel suppliers where the public wanting just a foot of this and few inches of that are always welcome and always catered for with politeness and a smile.
I just hung my cleaned and sort of shiny used auto shield up next to the bandsaw with the for sale notice underneath it.
After serving him with 4 X 1 metre lengths of 5 x 50 MSF needed to repair his van he asked who Gareth was. I said it was me, he enquired about the shield, I offered him a go with it on the Mig. He said he'd never used an auto darkening shield before and by goodness that was good (or some similar Anglo-Saxon phrase) and thrust a tenner and a fiver in my hand and left. Location, Availability and Marketing were the secrets in this instance.[/QUOTE]
Location, availability, marketing and Customer Service in this case!
Parm
Respect The Sound System
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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WS-1000-...=401783503463a4b6928703354e11ac3d031322bf0ab4
would that be the one? loads of sellers with the same gear
would that be the one? loads of sellers with the same gear
LewisT
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Good example of it is the ifl https://www.inverterfusion.co.uk/WH9801-Welding-Helmet-Black-p/if123007.htm you see the same cartridge in helmets costing 3 times as much
I was listening to a program on the radio about solar panels and they discussed how prices had dropped. When they were fist installed on satellites they cost hundreds or thousands and generated a small amount. The relevant point to this thread is they talked about formulas for production costs. In simples terms the more that are made and the longer they are made the process improves and there were numbers like doubling of output dropped costs by 25%.
I fully understand that buying a £12 helmet could be a risk but people happily go miles into the sky with a plane ticket that cost £10
I fully understand that buying a £12 helmet could be a risk but people happily go miles into the sky with a plane ticket that cost £10
8ob
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If you go onto the Alibaba site you will see why some of this gear is so cheap, start buying things like these helmets in the thousands and they come down to a few quid a piece. Most of the sellers of this gear on eBay are just a shop front getting a bung from one main distribution depot somewhere not in the west.
Bob
Bob
This is totally true, one of my dad's old bosses used to laugh about it. He said he would take the pickup to dealer for a service, they have it for half a day, wash it and service it. He'd get it back and be moaning about the £200. A few days later he went the dentist with his family, they were there 30mins and kissed goodbye to £400 and think nothing of it
I am often amused when people roll their eyes because they someone sold something for too much. If you advertise something, someone comes round likes it and buys it how was it too much? Purchase price doesn't really have that much bearing on it.
Funny how you never see people living in terraced houses in London that are now worth £800k thinking they should sell them cheaper.
Something is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.
ronan
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I bought one of the lidl helmets and find it very good, and you have some peace of mind as to its safety. I used a similar one years ago, cost about 60 quid at the time, to get me through getting coded in mig, tig and stick up to asme ix standard, with no issues.
Even though i was welding full time, i could never justify the 200 and 300 quid plus helmets.
Even though i was welding full time, i could never justify the 200 and 300 quid plus helmets.
brightspark
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was a few years ago now from china on ebay worth a punt
That looks nearly identical to the one I bought in Lidl costing £30!
