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Do you think this would be a runner?
 

In my short time on the forums I notice many people want to sell on other venues - particularly the UK.

The problem with selling into the UK is that delivery times from 'offshore' can be horrendous - resulting in lost sales, low DSRs and ultimately suspension.

We have an empty building on the farm and I am thinking of starting a fulfillment service for offshore sellers. This could include listing, collecting payments and disbursing back to the sellers. Or just simply packing and posting out. The ultimate in stealth I suppose

Do you clever stealthers think this would:

a) Be useful to stealthers
b) Be financially viable
c) Something that would be wanted.

I really would appreciate anyones views. No decisions have been made but if I am going to do it I would need to convince my other half and your arguments, either for or against, would help us decide.

I agree on your point about the DSR's - they can be considerably damaged on the delivery time and charges when exporting.

GTran, aren't you busy enough? Ha

But no seriously, a fulfillment center is a good idea but you would have to screen your clients VERY well. You do NOT want to be stuck with an article of dangerous nature. Yes, it would be useful to stealthers and something that could be marketed but it is dangerous unless you do a lot of proper diligence.

Not to mention that it would be very close to home...

It would be useful to stealthers who have alot of money and need alot of shipping done. It will be financially viable if you guys offer cheap service for many packages and not make the service expensive. It probably would be wanted if sellers have a way of knowing your legit. Good luck!

Nice idea. I would like to see it develop.

How big is this "empty building" out of interest?

!83' x 32'

We could also put 20' shipping containers in the old stock yard

I'm talking to a couple of Chinese sellers that sell on EB UK

The 1st thing that comes to mind to me is insurance. You have a great idea but what about loss due to anything that can come up. also insurance on whether or not you do what is stated. sounds like a legal mess of contracts, etc. Not that it isnt worth looking into. just sayin...



As for what was said above, I was reading that the DSR's were not affected by international sales. is that only from US to other countries? just curiousl

There are certainly a lot more conflicts than at first sight.

He has raised the issue of counterfeits and the legal implications.

There must be a market but I just cannot see my way through it right now


Oh well, back to sourcing, listing and selling LOL
:pop2:

Im not sure how it works in the UK but here there are places locally you can call for questions like this. Small business associations, etc

I thought about a similar thing, as I have an out building away from main house, I was going to be a trading assistant or go for a mail forwarding/pobox company, I thought and went thru it all and decided the former was just too much hassle/meeting weirdos and the latter was alot of work and as you say some of the legal implications, I could end up with, In the end I decided, that I preferred regular selling on ebay, on multiple accs, I can take a break and go on holiday when I want, or if I am ill or dont feel like it, I can take a break, more privacy too.

However it is a good idea, particularly if you are short on ideas of what to sell on ebay. If you are prepared to put in the work, and of course it steers you away from pitfalls of paypal.....

I mean there are a few issues of how the address gets used eg, can someone register their paypal in it or use it as a return address for goods, in which case, I would set it up probably set it up so you are not liable for anything, eg get them to sign a contract and have the address registered as a packing business for clients, eg the old barn, make it seperate address from your residential one..

let me know how you get on, Im still interested in the possiblities of it too - but you FIRST..!

LOL sneaky LOL

We've actually done a deal today with a Chinese wholesaler. We are going to post out and pack for him. It means he can call himself a UK seller. (Not sure if he can or not on that one)

For me it's no risk as I go to the post office everyday at about 4.00pm so it's just a case of sealing up his envelopes and putting them in with mine. He has his sales emails sent to one of my email boxes and I print off the labels. He's shipping stock to us tomorrow so I guess we will see in a month or so if it works or not. It's a bit more income on the farm - god knows we need it.

We're talking to a couple of other sellers as well. My other half is still not convinced though.

I'll let you know how it pans out. If this thread dies I'll pm you

:pop2:

Good luck GT.

Be interesting to see how this works out, all the best.

From what I know, if we in the USA sell overseas then the DSR doesn't count. It only

counts for the USA. Should be like that for the UK as well?

A lot of sellers are registered on Ebay UK but are actually based in China - sneaky I know but it isn't difficult to find them. They are the ones who are having trouble with DSRs. They also lose a lot of sales because they quoting long deliveries - at least that's how it is for the people we have been talking to.

I do realise there is a lot more to this than first appears. I think we will just be going for the packing & posting element rather than the listing, selling and collecting money parts - at least for the time being. We could leave ourselves open to all sorts of scam merchants so we need to be careful. We are marketing it through a limited company and we rent the building to the company. We have been assured that will protect the farm.

It's interesting to say the least and the views I'm hearing are really important to me.

Even if you think it's a stupid idea I would value your input as it may well develop into all sorts of things. Receiving imports? Fulfillment? Web development? Trading Assistant? any other ideas?

there is a glodal one now as well.

What's a glodal one TizWoz?

I like your idea grannyT, it's something I was considering myself for a while now. :)

New global standards are in effect to help you monitor and manage your performance with all buyers from around the world, not just local anymore

Even though it's not related 100% to your situation GTran, this from the chatbox is a good read:

little-house-secrets-great-plains-reuters: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

provided by Sell4More3456464645digitsetc

Yes, I read that LJ - that is one hell of an operation. I can just see it now

The Stealther Corporation
Suite 101
The Empty Poultry Shed
GrannyT's Farm
Scamalot
RIP OFF

Tel: 911 911 999

What do you think? :D

Haha, grannyT and her stealth corporation. $hit whatever works and if you keep it legal it

can make millions $$

Oh honey - it has to be legal - we are both too old to eat porridge!!:D