New Trader

[stevey_d20]

Hello Everyone,

I have recently set myself up as a Sole Trader after a few years re-enacting. Any tips/advice will be warmly welcomed.

I have a website setup if anyone would like to have a look: http://www.re-enactmentsupplies.co.uk

Thanks,

Steve D

[houseoffreyja]

Hi,
May I suggest that you have the text on your website in a darker colour. White on a pale blue background is not easy to read, esp. for us oldies.
good luck trading.
Elaine

[stevey_d20]

Hi,

Thanks for the input. Will have a look into changing the font colours etc. Maybe a higher contrast could help.

Watch this space

Thanks again

Steve

[Kate Tiler]

Hi Steve - the email address is spelt wrong on the main page & one of the others! The m & the t are the wrong way round

[stevey_d20]

Oh Dear!!! Just testing really!!!

Will correct it now! Thanks for letting me know!!

Steve

[Neibelungen]

You don't have a registered business address on the website.

Legal requirement as there has to be an actual physical address of where the business can be contacted at for legal purposes.

Additionally it has to show the country that the business is being conducted from as this determines the applicable consumer laws.

Though not usually neccessary, it should also have details of terms and conditions, In this case distant selling and relevant UK consumer law.


Even if your not actually selling directly through an online shop (eg catalogue site) it's still applicable.

Sole traders have to put the persons name (and or partners) and trading address (usually home or workshop) unless registered company, then the registered address and can add the trade address if desired.

VAt and and company registration numbers if applicable too.

[Skevmeister]

Can I just query, you page on Helmets states that all your helmets are re-enactment quality, and are made out of 18 Gauge steel. Unless this is sprung steel, I would be suprised if many groups would allow helmets to be made out of such a thin metal. I would have thought 12 or 14 gauge would be the normal requirement.

I raise this as I wouldn't want you to have any problems if somebody bought a helmet of your site, and their society told them that they couldn't ware it 'Because it was of re-enactment quality'. This is a bit of a sweeping phrase, and one that I would be wary of.

[musket]

Also at least one of the pics is taken from another traders website.

[stevey_d20]

Also at least one of the pics is taken from another traders website.

Incorrect Sir!

All those pictures are taken by me and my colleagues.

Which websites are you talking about here?

Steve

[stevey_d20]

Hi Guy's!!


I now have a new E-commerce website up and running. Please take a look and any feedback is welcomed! Register if you like and I will issue you with a 10% Discount Voucher!

http://www.re-enactmentsupplies.co.uk



Thanks,

Steve

[Neibelungen]

Steve,

Quick look and it's Ok. Standard prestashop layout which is fine because it's a pain to theme that and the documentation for that is still pretty pore.

You still don't have a full name and address for the business owner, which you need to do.

You really need to look at your terms & conditions though, and your return policy. Legally you don't have to even issue a reciept, so making it a returnable condition is not the customers responsibility. Record keeping of sales is yours.

Unworn is very suspect too. Up to 6 months if theres a fault the onus now is on the shop to prove otherwise. So excluding a breakage from reasonable wear and tear or a fault is problematic. Legally you need to include the distance selling regulations details as well. 7 pr 14 days cancelation for any reason. etc. Cost of return postage etc. REad up on the web and you'll find a number of good guides to web selling and legislation.

Not knowing isn't a defence.

[stevey_d20]

Thanks for the advice. I have been looking at some help pages and so on to get a jist of what to put etc.

I have put the registered business address up on there now. Putting more items up on there this afternoon and so on.

Thanks again matey

Ste

[Grymm]

Also at least one of the pics is taken from another traders website.

Incorrect Sir!

All those pictures are taken by me and my colleagues.

Which websites are you talking about here?

Steve

You'd best have a word with http://www.medieval-weaponry.co.uk/ coz they've pinched your photo then.

[stevey_d20]

Those photos are actually Hanwei marketing photos, and acting as agents in the UK these are the images required to sell by. Nothing wrong with that.

But thanks for pointing it out, will have a nose around their site

Steve

[Badger]

musket wrote:
Also at least one of the pics is taken from another traders website.

Incorrect Sir!

All those pictures are taken by me and my colleagues.

Which websites are you talking about here?

Steve

Really?

[Fox]

All those pictures are taken by me and my colleagues.

Those photos are actually Hanwei marketing photos

Unintentionally or otherwise, those statements are contradictory.

You may think that's being pedantic, but obviously if you'd considered that before replying you could have seen what was at the bottom of the misunderstanding and given a more constructive initial response.

[Sir Thomas Hylton]

All those pictures are taken by me and my colleagues.

Those photos are actually Hanwei marketing photos

Unintentionally or otherwise, those statements are contradictory.

You may think that's being pedantic, but obviously if you'd considered that before replying you could have seen what was at the bottom of the misunderstanding and given a more constructive initial response.

Steve.

Then of course there is the 17th Century Tower Hanger
http://www.re-enactmentsupplies.co.uk/p ... product=33
advertised for £200
when the same photo appears on the Armourclass website
http://www.armourclass.com/Data/Pages/17Century_7.htm
which they list the re-enactment version at £130 the same as yours.

This is one of many items that can be chosen to show as examples.

Be very careful what you claim, as none of us are numpties.

[Fox]

Then of course there is the 17th Century Tower Hanger
http://www.re-enactmentsupplies.co.uk/p ... product=33
advertised for £200

That link was removed this morning at approximately 10:45am.

[Grymm]

On reflection it was unfair to put the prices up so I removed them.

[Fox]

Steve,

Can I ask if you are essentially a re-seller, so that when you say "all those pictures are taken by me and my colleagues", by "colleagues" you meant the original manifacturers?

If that is the case, then obviously those photos would then appear on your "colleagues" websites.
A less generous person might assume that you were trying to hide this fact.

[Redders]

Seriously fella, if you reselling?
No one will think any the less of you.

In fact, it's quite likely folk will have an increased opinion of you for being honest.

Might I suggest you contact the folk who products you are reselling and discuss trade terms?
This way you can at least become competitive and build a better reputation that what is currently happening.

[stevey_d20]

Some items are made by myself others not.

I am affiliated with another company who provides some of my stock.

Ste

[Neibelungen]

A good 50% plus of all re-enactment traders are seller's on of imported or others goods, so there's nothing different from any other kind of retail business than that.

Sticking up pictures and prices of somebody elses shop goods (even if they are the same ones) is a bit unfair, as markup is down to the individual and the customer.
High streets fight it out over the same goods all the time, just there margins are smaller because of the volumes they sell. Plus they can afford to run 'loss leaders ' to get the customers .

Traders reselling still have to tie up money in stock and often have to buy quantities to hold so they have to cover the cash tied up in unsold goods.
Again, even items obtained by special order, cost time and effort. Custom's duties, organising it, currency tranfers etc.

Personally I'd like to see traders marking up where the actual items are made originally, but theres not requirements for that.

Have a search for knee or shoe buckles and almost everybody sells the same ones from the same sources. Even buying directly from a bigger reseller who import them in the first place.

I make 99.9% of my own goods, but most of you wouldn't be able to afford it if I true charged real world prices (even of a commercial high streel level) for a lot of things.
100% markup on cost price for imported goods is pretty much the standard except high volume electricals and clothes, which are produced in the 1000's of units. Box Pc's and Laptops are almost cost price it's so competative and the net makes a £20 difference count.

[Grymm]

It's not the fact that it's made elsewhere or the pricing it's more some of the 'claims' that jarred.





p.s. Andy, I'm more than happy to pay the price if it's well made, accurate, right materials etc

[Fox]

Traders reselling still have to tie up money in stock and often have to buy quantities to hold so they have to cover the cash tied up in unsold goods.

Point of order: the items highlighted above were both special order only and so, presumably, were not held in stock.

I agree though, a trader obviously has the right to add any mark-up they wish to represent the value they add to the product, for instance, bringing a collection of items together in a specific online marketplace.

As with other purcahses in life, someone in search of bargin may be able to identify the same or similar items for less elsewhere.
But some people will choose to pay extra to deal with someone they know and trust, or for the convinience of not having to search.

I also agree with Grymm, I think the issues with the photographs is an unfortunate misrepresentation.

[Sir Thomas Hylton]

Then of course there is the 17th Century Tower Hanger
http://www.re-enactmentsupplies.co.uk/p ... product=33
advertised for £200

That link was removed this morning at approximately 10:45am.

Fox I could be quite evil and quote similar references to a good proportion of the site but the poor chap would end up with very little on display. More than likely reflecting how much stock he carries.

Sorry Steve, Nice looking site, but major re-think is in order.

[Neibelungen]

I think your being a little harsh with Steve over this. Although a lot of his pictures are stock import items my impression was that the things he makes hmself are his own photoes. Maybe his explanation wasn't very clear and gave a very wrong impression, but , especially from his original site, they were a lot of home grown images originally.
The new site tends to lack that a lot more which is what gives the bad impression from his statement.


Perhaps he needs to make clear the delivery times on the 'made to order' items as legally he's only got 30 days to deliver without falling foul of legislation.

Trouble is a lot of carts (especially cheaper or basic open source) aren't geared around that style of selling, being commercial retail orientated. They take a bit of extra codeing or plugins and some understanding to get that in them.

On my own site I've tried to make it clear that some items require extra time for delivery to assemble or add extra finishing requested, but occasionally one slips through the updating process. Even the delivery pages and terms make it clear, but most people don't read those or don't like being forced to signify they have read them (even if just closed the page again), and quite a few don't even read the product descriptions and notice what it says there.


If this discussion has done anything, it's outlined a number of details that need to be attended to and carefully thought about. Not just Steve, but anybody with a shopping cart engine selling stuff.
You need to read and understand the vagaries of distance selling legislation and the sale of goods act.
You need to look at the impression you give with what's 'stock', 'out-of-stock' and 'made to order' as these things give different meaning s and different aspects of legislation .

Something bespoke or commissioned to a customer design (eg. a one off etc) isn't cancellable without breach of contract.
Made to order : (bought in on request) isn't the same thing as commisioned to design though.

Buy something for yourself it's 'Sale of Goods' legislation. Buy it for a group who charge fees for attending events (even if they don't make money or only cover costs, and that covers a lot of groups and many individuals too) and your perilously close to a B2B business contract of purchase which is a different set of legislation. Sale of goods dosen't cover you in the same way for those.



Steve probably needs to spend a couple of days sitting down in front of the screen clarifying and making it a bit more obvious what's what on his shop. Where he gets them from and what pics he uses aren't strictly relevant , but maybe more of us need to make that clearer to people.

He needs to go over the legislation, his terms and his delivery to be more implicite and clear what's what as well.


That's the trouble with the net. anybody can set up shop and take money, without anybody looking over your shoulder and tutting appropriately, or untill something hits the fan.

[stevey_d20]

Your spot on.

I think this discussion has somewhat gone off course - we started originally by asking everyone what they thought of the site and not of the items.

I am still tweaking some pages and some items and rapidly learning all this jargon pretty darn quick.

The reason I started doing this was to help re-enactors out with decent kit that has been vetted for use in the specified period and so on. I have been un-employed for around a year and thought it was about time I did something constructive with my life.

the bottom line is i am trying to help people who re-enact out and not to be pulled to peices on a forum. Remember what your mommy taught you . . if you havent got anything nice to say then dont say anything.

[Hraefn]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

[Fox]

I think this discussion has somewhat gone off course - we started originally by asking everyone what they thought of the site and not of the items.

That's forums for you.
On this forum we have no ettiquette about staying on topic, we allow threads to wander.
On very rare occasions the moderators split a thread to allow two seperate conversations to go on, but I don't think that's the case here.

Remember what your mommy taught you . . if you havent got anything nice to say then dont say anything.

This forum does have an ettiquette of encouraging people to be nice to each other.

And while some of the feedback has been robust, I don't think any of it has been out of order or abusive.
I have no reason to think any of these people have an axe to grind, so if this represents how they percieve things then perhaps it's best you know that now.
As you say, you're learning fast, so it must be doing some good.

Speaking of which, I notice you have some items at Sale prices.
Are you aware of the requirements for marking items at a reduced price?
I think the law is that an item must have been offered at the old price for at least 28 days in the last 6 months.
It's certainly worth checking that out.