the snooper
getting older by the day
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three vacuum cleaners 
they must have though you was one big sucker 
they must have though you was one big sucker 
- Thread starter brightspark
- Start date
brightspark
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lol cant stop laffinthree vacuum cleaners
wasnt a dyson was it ?? no bag no loss of suction
the snooper
getting older by the day
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no the reason it didnt turn up is
they couldnt decide which one of the three was yours
you'll probably get a full refund and told to order again
rtbcomp
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.......
you'll probably get a full refund and told to order again
Hope so, I'll draw the cash and go down to Makro, sometimes jumping in the car and doing a 10 mile round trip is less hassle than waiting in.
the snooper
getting older by the day
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makro now there is a story in its self they advertise really good offers but when you get there they have either sold out or never had any to sell
what a coincidense
brightspark
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me nephew worked for them part time on a nite the offers were there but had a limited amount to sell probably about 50 at a knock down price then they were gone .anything else that was normal price they had thousands
items sound cheap but dont 4get to ad vat 
Cris B
Every day welding is a school day
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There is nothing more frustrating than buying something online for it to be 'wrong' when it arrives. For example my wife wanted some boots for Christmas, they arrived from the online store of a high street retailer in plenty of time, but it was only after she'd tried them on that it was discovered that they were the wrong size so have been returned (via the high street store local to us).
Buying online can give you some good deals, but where you want to be able to check the quality or condition of goods ( e.g. Fresh foods), sizing and fit (e.g. clothing) or have it now (rather than wait for it to be delivered) the physical shop wins. Shopping is also a social activity a lot of people enjoy - although as a man I find this hard to understand, I always go to the shops on a mission to get what I need and get home ASAP!
Having worked in retail for over 12 years in my previous career, the small Independents can still be competitive against chain stores, but the key is retaining a skilled and knowledgable sales team. I don't work there any more as I earn five times as much doing an IT job. High turnover of staff and loss of the skilled and competent shop staff is a major headache as it can make the difference between customers having a good experience and returning to the shop or not.
Buying online can give you some good deals, but where you want to be able to check the quality or condition of goods ( e.g. Fresh foods), sizing and fit (e.g. clothing) or have it now (rather than wait for it to be delivered) the physical shop wins. Shopping is also a social activity a lot of people enjoy - although as a man I find this hard to understand, I always go to the shops on a mission to get what I need and get home ASAP!
Having worked in retail for over 12 years in my previous career, the small Independents can still be competitive against chain stores, but the key is retaining a skilled and knowledgable sales team. I don't work there any more as I earn five times as much doing an IT job. High turnover of staff and loss of the skilled and competent shop staff is a major headache as it can make the difference between customers having a good experience and returning to the shop or not.
Cris B
Every day welding is a school day
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The cost of running a shop are very high once council rates and rents are factored in, let alone business utility costs! Profits have to be made just to keep doors open, very different to an online retailer operating from home as many eBay sellers do!
rtbcomp
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Checked Comet's online tracking - gave a phone number to ring. Encountered the dreaded menu system, entered my order number - not recognised.
Got through to a very helpful person, who gave me the Porcelfarce tracking number. She said it was due for delivery today (Saturday) or Monday. Not really too helpful as I potentially now had to wait in another day and a half. Just as well I work from home.
Got through to a very helpful person, who gave me the Porcelfarce tracking number. She said it was due for delivery today (Saturday) or Monday. Not really too helpful as I potentially now had to wait in another day and a half. Just as well I work from home.
rtbcomp
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I used to run an online business on Ebay until the local Post Office closed! It was great while it lasted, easy to organise my time because I wasn't interrupted by customers turning up or the phone ringing.
Scamp
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I work for a mail order motorcycle parts company and we are the sole UK imports and distributors for 2 worldwide known major brands. The company has always supplied to the retail and also the trade and as such we have to have a 2 tier price structure.
We are always getting asked by retails customers if we can do a better price as they have found it cheaper on the internet. Now, obviously as a wholesaler we have the capability to undercut any of our trade customers prices but as our trade sales are the golden goose it would be unethical, and probably suicidal, to start doing this. Also, most of the time that we are asked to sharpen our pencil the cheaper internet price will be from one of the few trade customers that we have operating from home and getting us to drop ship for them all the time - therefore zero overheads and no problem for cash flow, so they can afford to cut their margin.
Because we are a wholesaler we have to carry substantial stock levels and so our our financial outlay to have parts sat on shelves is quite high, even though we try to keep this to a minimum some of our suppliers are on an 8 week delivery schedule so we have to hold higher stock levels for these parts. So cash flow will have an effect on a final price. You then have to take into account the fact that very few businesses pay their monthly account on time and may even try to stretch it to 2 months - again - cash flow. If everyone paid on the nail from the raw material supplier to finished, supplied item, then all prices would be cheaper. But everyone works on credit, and credit cost money.
Five years ago we introduced our first online shop, but unlike other firms our RRP is set - we will not undercut it. But we can deal with internet sales far faster than telephone orders, so it would not be a huge leap to cancel all but one of the telephone lines and process all orders via the website and halve the number of staff on our sales team and in doing so reduce overheads and so be able to reduce either the RRP or increase the trade margins. But this would not work as our most of our customers, both trade and retail, rely on our product knowledge and most of the time need us to find the part numbers for them. And they also like to have a chat and chew the fat - it is this personal service and product knowledge that makes us so well known.
Another factor is currency exchange rates. We buy some parts in Euros, so if the exchange rate has been consistently bad then this affects our pricing for the following year. Conversely, we are currently processing a higher than normal number of orders from Australia as we are cheaper, including shipping, than the Australian distributors RRP - exactly the same problem that we have suffered from in the past with an Italian webshop supplying into the UK cheaper than we can do the parts.
Now I like a bargain just as much as everyone else, but I do try to support local shops. In fact I have been out this morning and got a few bits from one local independent tool and consumables shop, then onto a local timber yard for some wood and then to another local independent tool shop for some bits the first one didn't have. There is even a little DIY shop within walking distance that most of the time is cheaper than B&Q, but doesn't always have what you want. I personally like to try and strike a balance between the internet for the much higher priced stuff that I don't need immediately and use local shops for the 'I need it now' items and on the whole I would say I tend to spend more in shops than on the net.
Rant mode 'off'
We are always getting asked by retails customers if we can do a better price as they have found it cheaper on the internet. Now, obviously as a wholesaler we have the capability to undercut any of our trade customers prices but as our trade sales are the golden goose it would be unethical, and probably suicidal, to start doing this. Also, most of the time that we are asked to sharpen our pencil the cheaper internet price will be from one of the few trade customers that we have operating from home and getting us to drop ship for them all the time - therefore zero overheads and no problem for cash flow, so they can afford to cut their margin.
Because we are a wholesaler we have to carry substantial stock levels and so our our financial outlay to have parts sat on shelves is quite high, even though we try to keep this to a minimum some of our suppliers are on an 8 week delivery schedule so we have to hold higher stock levels for these parts. So cash flow will have an effect on a final price. You then have to take into account the fact that very few businesses pay their monthly account on time and may even try to stretch it to 2 months - again - cash flow. If everyone paid on the nail from the raw material supplier to finished, supplied item, then all prices would be cheaper. But everyone works on credit, and credit cost money.
Five years ago we introduced our first online shop, but unlike other firms our RRP is set - we will not undercut it. But we can deal with internet sales far faster than telephone orders, so it would not be a huge leap to cancel all but one of the telephone lines and process all orders via the website and halve the number of staff on our sales team and in doing so reduce overheads and so be able to reduce either the RRP or increase the trade margins. But this would not work as our most of our customers, both trade and retail, rely on our product knowledge and most of the time need us to find the part numbers for them. And they also like to have a chat and chew the fat - it is this personal service and product knowledge that makes us so well known.
Another factor is currency exchange rates. We buy some parts in Euros, so if the exchange rate has been consistently bad then this affects our pricing for the following year. Conversely, we are currently processing a higher than normal number of orders from Australia as we are cheaper, including shipping, than the Australian distributors RRP - exactly the same problem that we have suffered from in the past with an Italian webshop supplying into the UK cheaper than we can do the parts.
Now I like a bargain just as much as everyone else, but I do try to support local shops. In fact I have been out this morning and got a few bits from one local independent tool and consumables shop, then onto a local timber yard for some wood and then to another local independent tool shop for some bits the first one didn't have. There is even a little DIY shop within walking distance that most of the time is cheaper than B&Q, but doesn't always have what you want. I personally like to try and strike a balance between the internet for the much higher priced stuff that I don't need immediately and use local shops for the 'I need it now' items and on the whole I would say I tend to spend more in shops than on the net.
Rant mode 'off'
Would be great to be able to support local business, IF, you can afford to !
That is a luxury I don't have though, increasing prices, particularly fuel, food and clothing, has severely restricted my disposable income so it's essential that I stretch every £ as far as it will go. Doubtless this applies to a large proportion of the population now.
That is a luxury I don't have though, increasing prices, particularly fuel, food and clothing, has severely restricted my disposable income so it's essential that I stretch every £ as far as it will go. Doubtless this applies to a large proportion of the population now.
Scamp
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I totally understand what you are saying Tigler. Don't get me wrong, I too do not have as much disposable income as I would like or even used to have. Like you say, all the basics just to put a warm roof over your head and food in your belly are going up. And that is before you even start the car to go to work to earn the necessary cash to just that. And I can't see me or the missus getting a pay rise this year either.
But isn't it a bit of a vicious cycle? The less the small local business sells then the higher their price has to be because of limited turn over. I know that they will never be able to compete with the price of stuff over the internet and sent from Honk Kong or China and I also think that the big high street electrical chains that offer items off their website at a fraction of the in store RRP is totally wrong and proves that their margins are better than they would like us all to believe.
The town high street has already seen the loss of some of the big players over the recent years, the loss of Woolworths and fact that M&S have closed theri shops in Grantham, Skegness and Scunthorpe this week shows that it is only going to get worse. Maybe I am just stuck in an outdated mindset, but I do prefer to be able to actually go and handle the item I am buying before handing over my cash. I like that I can walk back in and talk to the same person that I made the purchase with should anything be wrong - case in point being a hole saw that I bought. Cut 5mm into some steel and it shed all its teeth, walked back into the shop and got a replacement - no questions and no arguments. Now, I do realise that this is an isolated case and should not happen very often, but I do like to have the option to talk to a person face to face.
I am not any kind of business guru, I just get paid to sell motorbike parts, and do not know what the answer is, but in my lifetime, and I am only just a child of the 60's, I have seen the death of UK car manufacturing (OK this was as much down to managerial short comings and employees that seemed not to want to work for their wages, as it was the buying public) There is hardly any heavy industry left in this country as companies find it is cheaper to manufacture abroad, and is it any wonder really when you learn that a large majority of the employees at Siemens here in Lincoln do a large number of 'Barrow Jobs' on the night shift. And that new employees are told to 'Slow down - if you go that fast then they will expect all of us to' This is common knowledge around town.
I know this is a bit of a rant, and I do appologise if I put anyones back up - it is not my intention. Maybe the best answer for me would be to put my spare time to good use and make a time machine to transport myself back to more halcyon days when the idea of a good night out was to get mashed on Mild at the local and petrol was 50p a gallon.
gavuk
artful-bodger
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Can i get my lads apprillia parts from you at a discount then ?
....sorry couldn't resist
rtbcomp
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I also think that the big high street electrical chains that offer items off their website at a fraction of the in store RRP is totally wrong and proves that their margins are better than they would like us all to believe.
Depends what you mean by margin - if margin includes overheads it has to be higher in a high-street shop than in an out-of town warehouse.
IMHO the way out of this is to levy local taxation on profits, not the nature of the premises a business operates from. This would be a great help to start-ups as they make little or no profit in the early years.
Depends what you mean by margin - if margin includes overheads it has to be higher in a high-street shop than in an out-of town warehouse.
IMHO the way out of this is to levy local taxation on profits, not the nature of the premises a business operates from. This would be a great help to start-ups as they make little or no profit in the early years.
Scamp
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Can i get my lads apprillia parts from you at a discount then ?
If he races in Superteens I suspect you already do
In reply to your question about my statement regarding the margins that the big electrical chain stores have rtbcomp. I was sort of refering to the reserve and collect system that other people have mentioned earlier in the thread.
I can't quite get my head round the fact that if you go in and buy it off the shelf you pay, say, £40. But if you go in, see what you want and then do the I-Phone thing and reserve it for collection the exact same item is £20. How can the same item, being stocked on the shelf have a store price and also a totally different internet price. It still has the same overheads as it is in stock in the store
Or am I being thick?
rtbcomp
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Gotcha, I thought you were comparing shops with warehouses.
Nomad
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In reply to your question about my statement regarding the margins that the big electrical chain stores have rtbcomp. I was sort of refering to the reserve and collect system that other people have mentioned earlier in the thread.
I can't quite get my head round the fact that if you go in and buy it off the shelf you pay, say, £40. But if you go in, see what you want and then do the I-Phone thing and reserve it for collection the exact same item is £20. How can the same item, being stocked on the shelf have a store price and also a totally different internet price. It still has the same overheads as it is in stock in the store
Had the same conversation with a mate yesterday
He found it worked out a lot cheaper to buy a Sat-Nav from Halfords on-line and have it delivered to his local store so he could pick it up ( no need to wait in for delivery drivers etc).Chap in the store explained "Halfords on-line" and "Halfords high-street" work as separate companies in competition with each other
Store manager then offered to reduce some extras from £25 to £5, was done without any prompting from my mate - I'm wondering if they can offer 80% that easily, what else could they do
