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I know that arnies airsoft in itself is a non-profit making organisation, but is there a chance that we could have a sales forum for those who want to sell in bulk?

 

By this i mean instead of selling on 2nd hand airsoft goods, we could add a few extras to our bulk orders, and make a small profit on what we sell.

 

For example, selling stuff like speedloaders, batteries, cleaning gear, magazines, tac gear or even the guns themselves. They can be had in the east for a damn sight less that in UK. If we had a forum where some UK (or even global etc) guys could sell stuff, with a small profit then:

 

1) People would get a little "extra" from the hours they spend on here, a lot of the time, helping others...

 

2) We could get products off this site cheaper than we could from the UK retailers.

 

The users of the forum would have to acknowledge that a profit is being made, but that shouldn't be a problem. Surely? One thread for every sale would mean that people could occasionaly sell a few things to raise funds, without being dedicated full time ebayers or having their own hosting space.

 

I'm not talking about HUGE profit here, but take the example of say, speedloaders. They're what - £10 in the UK? £2 in the east, plus a pittance of shipping. Sold for say £4 on here, thats a small profit, plus people get gear at a much cheaper rate.

 

This is probably badly written and flawed, but is it doable?

 

cheers

LJ

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Good idea in theory but with some items its hardly worth doing.

 

The rules would have to be changed for that as well as buying to sell at a profit is technically comercial posting.

 

Also when selling you'd want to take into account

 

- buying the item

- paypal charges (if you use paypal)

- packing (really dont want to skimp on that in this case)

- postage

etc...

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I'd be interested, especially given the items that can't be easily bought in the UK. Problem is, as soon as you're talking about making a profit, however small, then people have a reasonable right to expect some aftersales service.

 

That said, as I think I may have said before, I think a forum area where people could discuss placing one large order amongst a group would be a good idea.

 

:zorro:

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Problem is, as soon as you're talking about making a profit, however small, then people have a reasonable right to expect some aftersales service.

Good point, for it to work the sellers would have to offer a certain amount of service if things go wrong, also it would probably be best to keep it to items where things breaking is a rare thing to happen (other than damage caused by normal wear and tear).

 

Also i can see a problem with competition and people not been able to have their prices low enough and getting stuck with a load of stuff they dont need.

 

So maybe a idea would be only have a set number of people being allowed to sell a certain item at the same time?

 

The idea is doable, and maybe worth a try but will need a lot of watching over (i would be willing to do that as this thread was actually inspired by me ;) )

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Do you mean like a whole new site? Now that would be awesome!

 

Not as such. See the UK sales and trades - Sales, trades and non airsoft... well i guess it would be another sub forum.

 

considered this in the HK order i just recieved. was gonna get some mini batteries (9 quid in hk), some speedloaders and other small things that are easily sellable.

 

even 15 quid for a brand new mini battery is good

 

It is indeed. I wasn't thinking of making huge amounts, i mean we're all mates here. More of a service than as a get rich quick scheme lol :P I guess that as long as it was at a price cheaper than in the UK, then anything goes.

 

Problem is, as soon as you're talking about making a profit, however small, then people have a reasonable right to expect some aftersales service.

 

Yeah, i guess that would be a problem. But as we're just normal people with smallish wallets except donnie :P - then i would imagine that nothing bigger than a GBB would get sold? I mean unless it get's knackered in the post, not much can go wrong with a speedloader or a battery, unless misused.

 

"That said, as I think I may have said before, I think a forum area where people could discuss placing one large order amongst a group would be a good idea."

 

Yeah i've allways been in favour of that. One downside is that the guy who makes the order has to stick around, and not be too busy to ship the stuff out.

 

People would have to have it made clear them that a profit was being made though, unlike the usual rule of "no commercial posts" etc. I guess things to be sold would be consumables in bulk and spare parts that are in high demand - like glock iron sights, magazines etc...

 

I think it could work if mod'ed well and if this doesn;t controvene any tax or import/resale law.

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Also i can see a problem with competition and people not been able to have their prices low enough and getting stuck with a load of stuff they dont need.

 

Compeition drives down prices, and if that happens then theres allways ebay to turn to... but to be fair, if someones selling 10 speedloaders for £4 and someone else has 10 at £5, as soon as the cheap ones have sold, people will turn to the others. I wasn't thinking necesarily on a large scale. Putting 2-3 speedloaders onto an order isn't going to put yourself out of pocket etc. Not only that but i wasn't thinking of huge profits either. Making 50p on an item would justify me doing it...

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I wouldn't expect any after sales service if..

 

1. I was getting it cheaper than in the uk and avoiding import charges.

 

2. The profit you made was in line with the man hours and effort spent ordering, recieving, and advertising your goods.

 

I would not mind whatsoever.. because I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of ordering small amounts from abroad, and if I were to order from abroad, I wouldn't get any after sales care anyway.

 

I think it's a great idea, go for it.

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Compeition drives down prices, and if that happens then theres allways ebay to turn to...

Been there, done that, made a real wholesaler drop their prices by £6, made a few £ :)

 

Also a few other things i just thought of

 

- A required amount of rep and/or post counts before been allowed to use such a forum to stop people joining up and taking advantage or the forum and never giving anything to it, so to speak.

 

- Anyone who wants to sell having to submit various details (address, phone number) to someone before selling, a bit like you have to do when setting up a selling account on ebay.

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A required amount of rep and/or post counts before been allowed to use such a forum to stop people joining up and taking advantage or the forum and never giving anything to it, so to speak.

 

I think posts outside of the off topic/sales forums works best for that. I mean people win rep points for comedy value, but it doesn't make them good traders....

 

- Anyone who wants to sell having to submit various details (address, phone number) to someone before selling, a bit like you have to do when setting up a selling account on ebay.

 

Well they say on the forums that you should exchange all details before money swaps hands. But if that was made a rule...

 

Things to think of:

 

- Tax - who pays it? Plus declaring it if you make stupid amounts from this, although very unlikely to.

- Would the mods want to compromise the no commericial posts rule?

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I think posts outside of the off topic/sales forums works best for that. I mean people win rep points for comedy value, but it doesn't make them good traders....

Well when i say rep i mean sales rep, should have said i meant that :blush:

 

And on tax, i find it very unlikely that someone would actually make the amount of profit required before you have to pay tax on it. I could be very wrong though.

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I think a good sub forum idea (aswell as this) would be a 'I need/want blahblah part but its only $4 and only available as an import, is someone ordering from www.yadderyadder.com who wouldn't mind adding this to there order for me'

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Thats what sledge suggested already ;)

 

EDIT : On the tax front. just remembered that my dad actually sells stuff (pro photograhper) on a side line to his job. He doesnt actually have to pay any tax on what he sells unless he makes over a certain amount each year (£6000 iirc) from it.

Edited by Rob15
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Thats discussing placing one big order not 'can you add this to yours for me'

 

Same difference i suppose.

 

A tracer unit is a good example of what Lance is suggesting

 

UK: £60 approx + p&p

HK: £40 approx + p&p

 

Profit and savings to be made.

Edited by Hoppum
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Good idea i think but i'd change a few things to the idea of the selling.

 

I think we should all regard it still as any 2nd hand trade on here, you don't get warranties ect..

 

It wouldn't be so much commercial posting i think as they're not going to have a constant flow of items and neither are they going to have a vast product range. It's going to be 1 off items where profits can be made.

 

Good idea though.

 

I still vote for the Sales section to be split up aswell for each item category- Camo/Gear, Guns. so on :)

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I do think it's a good idea to be honest - I had toyed with the idea of buying goods from HK and reselling here, as some goods are bizarrely cheap over there.

 

The main issue as mentioned is that you do legally have a responsibility towards the seller as soon as it becomes a commercial business (which legally it has to be if you are doing on a large scale, regular basis). As a result I think if you want to go down that line, you would have to do it as a registered company and expect to recognise UK statuory rights and other such legal responsibilities. :mellow:

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If it does come to being big enough to be classed as a commercial business you wouldnt be selling on here to be fair ;)

 

Iirc from business stuides lectures you have to be making £60,000 per year before you have to be VAT registered.

 

I think it would work in a similar way to ebay where you can choose to accept returns and the responsibility is mainly on the buyer (other than accurate descriptions of course).

 

Only difference with ebay is it is a registerd business and has to collect VAT (comes from listing fees).

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