DSF

Matt Quinn;25220 wrote:'moving on' isn't unusual

I'm having a difficult time equating "moving on" to something else with "reducing your range to one product", which is what they seem to be doing. If you're still going to sell one product, you may as well sell them all. What supplier supplies just one product?

I wasn't aware that there was such a big demand for metals over and above all other products.

They also say in their email that you may as well buy your mugs boxes from the other company at the same time as buying your other items. That logic also applies to metals - so who's going to buy metals from them anyway? They may as well not supply anything and just concentrate on training if they're "moving on".

Except, is there that much money in training? Judging by this forum, most newbies just want to spend tuppence ha'penny on equipment and then start making money. Are they really desperate to spend money on training?

JSR;25226 wrote:I'm having a difficult time equating "moving on" to something else with "reducing your range to one product", which is what they seem to be doing. If you're still going to sell one product, you may as well sell them all. What supplier supplies just one product?

This might be a bit of a 'toe in' strategy... Keeping a toe in the water as it were.

Could be they're simply keeping a presence to hold a line of supply open; or perhaps have some sort of contractual obligation in relation to an enterpise grant, soft loan or similar...

If say you can get a 30% price break on 1000 units of some item you use in one of your own ventures, but only use 500; it can often make sense to take the 1000 units and pass 500 on with a markup - Back in the days of VHS video tape we used to do exactly this.

JSR;25214 wrote:Seems odd to me.

Getting rid of your loyal customer base and reducing what was a very successful online shop into selling just one product... This must be a new way of running a business that I wasn't previously aware of.

Forgive me JSR but you seem to have a bit of hostility to these guys before they've even started, without even thinking things through properly. Why so harsh about this anyway?

Firstly although the business was good, they were struggling an awful lot to cope with just two of them (well one really as Nicci is practically a stay at home mum from what I can gather). I understand completely why he would want to wind himself down a little in his situation. Secondly yes you're right he probably would have been better off just closing up completely as he wont make much money out of metals, but for some people letting go is hard - again completely understandable. He's keeping hold of the part of the business he feels comfortable with until a point comes where he can either expand once again, or until he finds something else to do. What's wrong with that?

JSR;25214 wrote:
Who are Meshtex? According to their website, they've been around for 40 years - but this is the first I've heard of them. They've been around for 40 years with a logo is very reminiscent of the Superman diamond, and DC/Warner haven't been in touch with them? Does anyone believe that?

Again think about this - Meshtex don't have a logo that looks like the superman logo? there new subli.co.uk website does, which is brand new (as obviously it would be, considering they've just taken on the new sideline). Meshtex have been registered since 1972, which you can see for youself if you check at companies house.

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/abd63 ... ompdetails

You have no reason to have heard of them until now as there main business has nothing to do with giftware...

The part of there business that is to do with giftware however has been registered since 2005, by MeshTex! Seems genuine enough to me...

JSR;25214 wrote:
I'm having a difficult time equating "moving on" to something else with "reducing your range to one product", which is what they seem to be doing. If you're still going to sell one product, you may as well sell them all. What supplier supplies just one product?

I wasn't aware that there was such a big demand for metals over and above all other products.

They also say in their email that you may as well buy your mugs boxes from the other company at the same time as buying your other items. That logic also applies to metals - so who's going to buy metals from them anyway?

Again, just because he's narrowed his range down to one thing does not make it the most popular, just the most comfortable for him to cope with. It's what he knows, it's what he's most familiar with. Also as for the other company, they're not selling metals at the moment - and if they do surely logic follows it will be metals supplied by him anyway (as he custom cuts it, coats it etc), so he'll still be making money from it regardless.

---

Overall I think its a good move. A new supplier as far as I'm concerned is always a good thing. SubliSupplies was never the cheapest, fastest, supplier and there customer service was more 'when they felt like it' in my experience. Having spoken to them on several occasions recently though I did get the sense they were struggling immensely and this came as no surprise to me at all, as I'm sure it didn't to anybody else that spoken to them recently.

Not sure I'm keen on Meshtek's quantity pricing strategy though...

http://www.subli.co.uk/shop/index.php?a ... oductId=95
[COLOR="blue]
4.5mm Mouse mat
4.5mm Mouse mat

Product Information

Superb quality extra length fabric mouse mat (many others are only 230mm long), polyester top - thick rubber base, for dye sublimation. 190 x 250 x 4.5mm

Price: £0.89

Quantity Discounts:
Quantity: 100+
Price: £0.99
You Save: -11.2%[/COLOR]

...And yes; the logo does look like 'Superman' to me too. :rolleyes:

Fidget242;25234 wrote:Forgive me JSR but you seem to have a bit of hostility to these guys before they've even started, without even thinking things through properly. Why so harsh about this anyway?

You don't know me well enough to know when I'm being hostile. This isn't it... :biggrin:

I've just seen too many suppliers go under after issuing a press release that it's a "positive move".

Subli Supplies took over from SubliNation when SubliNation went bankrupt. Home2Gifts vanished under press releases of it being great news. And now we hear similar murmurings from SubliSupplies.

I've been in this business long enough now to know that it's a sad day when any established supplier issues glowing press releases at the same time that they "downsize". The loss of suppliers isn't good for any of us - except for the remaining suppliers.

As for the owner being a "stay at home mum", well they put enough thought into taking over from SubliNation in the first place. If the business was so busy that they had too much work on, the logical step is to employ someone to run the business while taking a back seat yourself - rather than just palming your loyal customer base off to some "johnny come lately" and then telling that same loyal customer base to buy their supplies from their own competitor.

You say "new subli.co.uk website", but the domain isn't new. It was registered over three years ago by SubliNation (the same business that went bankrupt and SubliSupplies emerged from their ashes).

Maybe I just have a habit of questioning every announcement that comes wrapped in "positive news" accolades because history has demonstrated that these "positive news" are generally nothing of the sort for any of us.

At the end of the day, SubliSupplies' demise isn't something I'm going to impact the daily running of my business because I rarely bought anything from them anyway - either their prices were too high, their descriptions too ambiguous, or they were out of stock of key products all the time - but the loss of any supplier should be a cause for concern to us all. There are few enough suppliers in the UK as it is. We need more suppliers - both to help competition drive down prices and to bring in products that we can't get in this country.

The time was that dye-sub suppliers were springing up all over the place. Now they seem to be disappearing. What does that say about the industry?

JSR;25238 wrote:The time was that dye-sub suppliers were springing up all over the place. Now they seem to be disappearing. What does that say about the industry?

It's settling down into a professional discipline rather than being sold to every mug-punter in the street as a way to make a quick buck?

they were struggling an awful lot to cope with just two of them

Wow - they didn't actually make anything so it was just a case of ordering, receiving, keeping stock of the items and then despatch - how hard can it be. Cannot possibly see why they were struggling with that kind of workload, if they were, all they had to do was take someone on.

Matt Quinn;25239 wrote:It's settling down into a professional discipline rather than being sold to every mug-punter in the street as a way to make a quick buck?

I think it's probably more likely that newbies seemingly go for the cheapest option and buy from places like ebay. Suppliers probably make their best money from startups (selling equipment, expensive ink, etc), so if they don't get those newbies then they're more likely to struggle if they don't have a long-term plan in place.

But I'd hardly call having a small handful of suppliers, each selling the same items and none prepared to offer what's available in other countries as a "professional discipline". More likely a desperate one! :biggrin:

JSR;25243 wrote:But I'd hardly call having a small handful of suppliers, each selling the same items and none prepared to offer what's available in other countries as a "professional discipline". More likely a desperate one! :biggrin:

:rolleyes: Hmm, well... you may have a point there.

There is a pattern I've seen before... I've seen it with hot foil machines, vinyl plotters, windscreen repair systems, carpet cleaning systems... Video production kit even!

People make cash out of separating the unfortunately desparate from their redundancy money or savings; to greater or lesser extents... On a superficial level certain processes are easy to execute. And the 'business in a box' concept is too-easily sold as the magic bullet; particularly in times of high unemployment....

That market IS always likely to be a transient one!

As I've said before; I certainly can't make the numbers stack up on items such as mugs or placemats or coasters... And I can't make the process work at all financially other than as part of a bigger picture. Ebay is littered with what is obviously the fall-out of failed dye-sub adventures. And that's largely down to people learning the hard way that what is sold as an 'easy trot' actually requires a very high level of skill to do at a reasonably professional level...


You do get these utterly stupid ideas trotted out in magazine articles and via suppliers (across a range of products and services) about 'making easy money at home'... Tripe about making a living out of fiddling with greetings cards on your kitchen table or home knitting. - Even garbage on TV about becoming a driving instructor in your spare time!

The thing these people sell is half-assed kit and/or half-assed training that almost always leads nowhere!

For example - There's an HGV training school 'round here that advertises 'earn up to £60 an hour driving this truck' on it's vehicles... There are three trained and very experienced Lorry drivers living in my street. One fits tyres for a living, one's on the dole and the other is forced to live in a caravan 300 miles away from his wife and kid because it's the only way he can get driving work! - and he's NOT earning anywhere close to £60/hour!

Posters on lamposts advertise 'pyramid schemes' - meanwhile my office line is plagued with poor sods trying to flog me SEO services and networking opportunities...

As for these folks?

Well I've no idea who they are or what their direction is... It's not my business it's theirs. And I'm not going to criticise someone for quitting whle they're ahead. There's a danger of it becoming too personally directed at what seems to be a young couple trying to do what's right for their family...

To expand a business takes capital... You may have a full order book but it's no use if you just can't meet the orders; and if you don't have the cash in hand to do that well sometimes the best thing to do is sell the order book... And in the current financial climate I can fully understand why an otherwise credible business might be in that position.

Someone said this guy is doing the metal coating himself? Which tends to suggest his core business may not be importing/selling...

JSR;25238 wrote:You don't know me well enough to know when I'm being hostile. This isn't it... :biggrin:

I've just seen too many suppliers go under after issuing a press release that it's a "positive move".

Subli Supplies took over from SubliNation when SubliNation went bankrupt. Home2Gifts vanished under press releases of it being great news. And now we hear similar murmurings from SubliSupplies.

I've been in this business long enough now to know that it's a sad day when any established supplier issues glowing press releases at the same time that they "downsize". The loss of suppliers isn't good for any of us - except for the remaining suppliers.

As for the owner being a "stay at home mum", well they put enough thought into taking over from SubliNation in the first place. If the business was so busy that they had too much work on, the logical step is to employ someone to run the business while taking a back seat yourself - rather than just palming your loyal customer base off to some "johnny come lately" and then telling that same loyal customer base to buy their supplies from their own competitor.

You say "new subli.co.uk website", but the domain isn't new. It was registered over three years ago by SubliNation (the same business that went bankrupt and SubliSupplies emerged from their ashes).

Maybe I just have a habit of questioning every announcement that comes wrapped in "positive news" accolades because history has demonstrated that these "positive news" are generally nothing of the sort for any of us.

At the end of the day, SubliSupplies' demise isn't something I'm going to impact the daily running of my business because I rarely bought anything from them anyway - either their prices were too high, their descriptions too ambiguous, or they were out of stock of key products all the time - but the loss of any supplier should be a cause for concern to us all. There are few enough suppliers in the UK as it is. We need more suppliers - both to help competition drive down prices and to bring in products that we can't get in this country.

The time was that dye-sub suppliers were springing up all over the place. Now they seem to be disappearing. What does that say about the industry?

Sorry hostile wasn't the word I was looking for, I didn't mean you were being nasty towards them I was meaning you seem to be coming across as though these new guys are not to be trusted, and everyone seems to be dead set against them before they've even started

I admit I wasn't a huge fan of SubliNation, (now they did make my blood boil on more than one occasion) - but Nicci and Mark were a heck of an improvement over them and yes I did buy a few bits and pieces off them from time to time but not that much. As you say it probably won't effect to many businesses on here so it isn't really a big deal.

I apologise if I came across as a bit defensive, it's just that I've had experience of what they might be going through myself. I've had to give up a business in the past due to personal problems and the amount of small minded, naive and nasty assumptions people were saying about me and the business was unbelievable. I had my reasons but they seemed to pick at everything and anything they could think of as to why it happened, instead of just letting it be. I'm not saying anybody on here is being nasty or naive as obviously they're not, but I had an uneasy feeling that the thread was turning that way and it made me cringe that's all.

I like to just see the positives - we have a new supplier which may or may not turn out to be a good one, and we have somewhere that can print things for us when our equipment gives up or if a customer asks for something we can't do