DSF

i think the points being missed, joe public who has never bought a mug of this sort cant tell the differance between a £3 mug or a £8 mug, until they recieve the mug (obviously we're talking distance selling rather than shop bought). the damage done is two fold first he thinks i'm glad i didnt pay £8 for the crappy mug he recievedthen he thinks im not gonna risk £8 on another supplier, why would he? hes already had his fingers burnt. I value my designs and work far more than £5 but at the end of the day if they dont sell then they are worthless no matter how good they are. i need to sell my stuff its my living i cant afford the luxury of sayin my mugs worth more so im not sellin for less. A small profit is still a profit, and its gonna get worse as more ppl are made redundant more will venture into the buisness.
brett

purpledragon;14991 wrote:i think the points being missed, joe public who has never bought a mug of this sort cant tell the differance between a £3 mug or a £8 mug, until they recieve the mug (obviously we're talking distance selling rather than shop bought). the damage done is two fold first he thinks i'm glad i didnt pay £8 for the crappy mug he recievedthen he thinks im not gonna risk £8 on another supplier, why would he? hes already had his fingers burnt. I value my designs and work far more than £5 but at the end of the day if they dont sell then they are worthless no matter how good they are. i need to sell my stuff its my living i cant afford the luxury of sayin my mugs worth more so im not sellin for less. A small profit is still a profit, and its gonna get worse as more ppl are made redundant more will venture into the buisness.
brett

So are you saying that everything comes down to the lowest common denominator. One guy sells a crap mug so I have to reduce my price even though I am selling quality. How about educating people to expect decent quality products by advertising and promoting. In a different life we introduced a product to East Anglia (Cibachrome if anyone is familiar with the old process) and qualified our confidence in the product by offering a money back guarantee if the customer could get a better quality print elsewhere.Never had a return. We had a firm in our locality that started offering the same thing at a fraction of the price we were charging and a customer of theirs came in and asked what I thought of their £1.50 print. I answered that it was fine for £1.50 but if they wanted the best from their image we would print it and it would be £7. We kept that customer. Make sure you are confident in getting the best from your work and sell it at a price that is reasonable. Not just because some guy on ebay is offering something for a fraction of what you charge. They will go under or give up eventually as did our cut price competitor.

i take your point regarding the competitors who sell sub standard items going under sooner or later the problem is while im waiting for him to go under im not earning ,if im not earning i too will go under, on the whole i have a good name with my existing customers but while the quick buck merchants go under another takes their place, id be interested to know how you educate the good people of ebay on expecting decent quality you can lead a horse to water but you cant force them to buy a decent mug for 8 quid to remind them of their trip to the water hole especially when arfur daley is there selling them for 3 quid. Im not sdaying you have to reduce your prices to match the next guys if you're selling well then carry on but if you're not selling an item so well then something is obviously wrong,Im sorry but the general public want something for nothing thats life im afraid.Being more expensive but far better quality than 1 competitor in your area is one thing being more expensive than hundreds of others is totally differnt

Brett's spot on. In a former life I was an assistant camera operator and we would all have words with anyone who sold themselves too cheaply on a job. Too low, you look cheap and probably for a reason, too high you won't get hired no matter how good you are. A happy medium is in the middle where all the good guys can wet their beaks, the cream always rises after all. Its just a bitch waiting for it to happen!

smitch6;14900 wrote:Anyone got any black polo shirts in Large and X-Large they want to sell?

i only need about 5 of each

thanks

Hi Smitch try here, I buy Ts from them and find them quite reasonabley priced
http://www.polo-shirts.co.uk/Polo+Shirts?es=&cs=2&ss=&bs=&ns=&t1=&t2=&t4=&t5=&x=1

thanks for that Dave
i've signed up on their site so will be having a look about on there