JC

as above
just a bit miffed at how much i took on the day there seemed to be a lot of people there but not many buying
i have been doing shows for years now and ford fair has always been my best show but i took more money at santa pod rday than yesterday
gutted really as spent alot on stock had loads of blingy bits ,made an effort with stall
has ebay finished the shows off ?
personally i like doing shows but from a buisness point of veiw i may no longer do them
i have spoke to fellow traders and they sem to feel the same
the cost of my stall on the day was
£500 + vat wages £300
food and drinks £50
so spent over a grand before i started
looking at these figures i havent broke even on the day


so who bought parts from the show


and who bought parts off ebay this week


it will be a sad state of affairs if no traders attend the shows
thanks jc

frog

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you, I've heard this a lot from stand traders in the last few months.

As for you poll, I didn't buy anything at FF, or on eBay, so I can't vote

Markb_s1

bought a mint mk2 escort passenger door so my race car can finally be painted...

tried looking on ebay and spoke to several other people about getting one but the phrase "rocking horse shit" springs to mind.

Arfur

eBay is fucking everything up.

I hate the site and can't wait for the Inland Revenue and the VAT man to dig their claws into it.

Sticky.

iTrader: (4)

I noticed there was a few traders not here yesterday that always do Ford Fair.....

Tim Finch for one & PJ Motorsport.

space hoppers

didnt seem as many traders as past shows there were a lot of nothingy stands if you no wot i mean.
JC you gave me a good price for some AP rotors which i will get soon. are you at nat day

JC

times are changing
sorry car wasent ready simon ran out of time bying stock etc.
thanks jc

Markb_s1

if i'd have found anything else i wanted i would have bought it, but to be honest i didn't see any of the other stuff i need for my cars..

SapphyMike

i have to agree with Simon, eBay is causing massive issues, as some people who trade in their bedroom are happy to make 20p an item if its new.

i may use ebay to buy stuff, but generally speaking lately, alot of it isnt just car parts, as people now want silly money for stuff, yet when i sell on ebay, it doesnt sell or fetches nothing

Versus_Creations

iTrader: (1)

I think that even the traders want to have fun every now and then..

Many companys didnt have trade stalls there as its not always about making money..

I know of a few people, companys, traders who would rather have a look around and talk with customers and freinds than stand on a stall trying to make a killing.......

I had a great day as did two other traders who i was with most of the day..

Cossie Helen

iTrader: (1)

I bought some stuff off Auto Specialist.


But never really saw anything else i wanted or needed for my car

TheBishMan

I bought a few little bits at FF but nothing major, did have a look around your stand JC looked really good but not enough Foci bits!! I do agree that eBay is killing the trade at these sort of shows, they used to be one of the best ways to go and buy your bits and people would save up and wait for the trade stands to find the parts they needed. Now we can just browse eBay daily and see what's about

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Its a sign of the times sadly John, and the main reason Kenny and i dont get involved in show stands anymore, the overheads are just too strong compared with the amount your likely to make.

E-Bay hammers all legitimate traders nowadays as its full of people with virtually Zero overheads who can easily sell a £100 item with only a £5 mark up.

I remember the good old days about 5 years ago when you would see people strugging to walk about the shows with all their goodies. Nowadays they cant even buy a fooking ice cream without taking out a loan.

And your right, you had some great stuff there at sensible prices mate, i didnt even know you did all that kind of stuff so may be in touch in the future when i need some of your warez.

Sorry you had a poor day mate, a lot of effort to arrive home with less cash than you started with.

JC

i got to the show not to make a killing but a living
i personally like talking an meeting people at the shows
but personally whould not go to any show just to chill because none of them are ever near to me and the money it costs to get in buy food and travell to them i whould rather play foot ball or do a track day
thanks jc

JC

stu did you grt my pm ?
sadly if you carnt beat them then join them i am now going to start listing as much stuff as i can on ebay
ebay alwasys seems a little anti social to me though
thanks jc

Lloyd

sorry you had a bad day jc,i went past your stand about 5 times,and it was allways packed out with people,i couldnt get near to see if you had anything i wanted.

Anonymous

I didnt buy anything at ford fair but ive recently bought on ebay.

discodenkelly

I bought some HT leads yesterday and a disklok. My mate spent all day looking for a mk2 escort back panel. There was only 1 and it was tatty so he wasn't chuffed. I didn't think it was as good as previous years on the trade stand front. But after what JC has said I can understand why. Oh and I haven't bought on eBay in weeks

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

i bought a bias pedal box off dangerous reyland - cheer mike

but you are right, ebay is a killer

BlueSmoke

Personally, although I will buy stuff off ebay, if I was going to a show I'd rather wait and see if there's anything there as I could get a good look at it. Would have thought most would take that view TBH.

Sorry to hear you had a bad day, John. I think the traders need to to form some sort of group where they can then speak to show organizers collectively and negotiate pitch prices etc as it seems that unless these are lowered, you guys are going to lose out, and then it makes more sense for you all not to bother, which would be a big shame IMO.

~nomad~

iTrader: (4)

I bought yesterday - some bolts and clips to finish my engine bay off, 2 boxes of latex gloves (were nice and cheap) and the expansion pack for my irwin bolt extrators. I did look around the trade stands, but found most of the stuff to be pretty over priced tbh. Combined with there being very little there I actually need, due to my project being near completion.

COMEDY DAN

Ebay is killing off so many industrys and the only person whos winning are the share holders........

I remember the days at the shows where you saw people carying seats on their heads and struggling with gearboxes and exhausts in pairs, and now, people at the shows might buy a chrome rs badge, an escort cosworth model car or an rs owners club tshirt................

Times are changing and its killing the second hand parts trade off sadly.


My big question is however, are people running out of money?

Are people more restrained about spending at the shows nowadays?
Are people slowly giving up on the old fords, due to reliability and oil leaks...lol
Have people realised that the old rs's are not worth spending 1000's on any more?

I think yes............................

Anonymous

They way for traders to show they are unhappy is to not buy a pitch next time i guess mate.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

i spent:
£40 on fuel getting there and back
£9 on the ticket to get in
the best part of a tenner on food and drink and ice cream (because everyone else was even though i'd bought stuff from home and eaten it like a little piggy )
£20 on some manuals
£3 on a bit of wiring
£2 on some old ff mags

and i went there with about £500 spending money

thing is though, i've bought everything i need for my cars and a lot of stuff there was higher than i expected, even though i wasn't going to buy it myself, it might have put others off

i expect to go to shows and have a rumage through the auto jumble to find a bargin, not to pay more money nearly twice what i can from the shop
my mate pointed out a quickshift kit that was marked at £70 when you can buy the same thing (you have to add a bit pf p and p to it) for £43 from some where else
i know people have to make a living and i'm not knocking that, but this year the prices have gone up in proportion to the amount of stands going down, and i'm really not going to go to a show unless i can trawl through the boxes of ford stuff to find something that i'll never need

in saying that, the wiring i bought i don't evenhave a clue as to what it's for, i just wanted one of the plugs off of the loom

Gra

I SPENT £80 yesterday and only bought an Airfilter for £25, and thats not including £30 fuel, Whilst I agree with some comments about Ebay, if you take something for example I bought yesterday off EBAY, Cossie bailey breather second hand for £20, compared to £60 being asked for same item second hand at fordfair, ECU Cover when asked at fordfair was £75 compared to 45 brand new at Burtons, so some parts IMO were over priced or just cant compete, compared with the fact the whole day is overly exspensive then if i can save £40 on a breather I will. sorry if that offends

CJBear

i havent gone to a show in years, for me if i need something i will just go out an buy it like most people, cant be arsed waiting for a show to buy what i want ebay is a conveniance for people like me shopping at work I always thought shows were just oppertunities to market your biz any sales just a bonus.

Brookesy

Only bought a few bits this year as i wanted to see more track action instead of wandering around trade stands but still found time to buy a load of parts from that Wrights auto accessoried so got a big bag full of nuts, bolts & clips. Matt Lewis i thank for a fan sensor switch and Woodford for my cambelt. Any other parts came from other forum members so in all i spent about £100

mercury grey minter

JC.....I was your first purchase of the day FUEL METERING UNIT..SERIES 2..£50. A good price as it turned out,there were others for £60 or £70 and WESTMIDLANDS RS CENTRE had the cheek to ask £120 Need to be competative in your game,so would recommend E-BAY.

wildheart

iTrader: (4)

I took a bit of money along to buy somthing but i was disapointed with the traders this year to be honest.
Ended up spending £2 on 2 pairs of team rs socks lol.

gingeRS

i dont buy much SH stuff from ebay as it usually turns out to be old tat!

i went to the show to buy some hoses from roosemotorsport yesterday, but he was either well hidden or didnt have a stand there. i went to the samco stand, but decided against buying them (as i alreayd have the roose hoses)

some of the stands are a little overpriced, and some have some bargains.

i saw some group a coils for £25 but when i went back to find one they had all sold out

so i only came home with a disklok bag, and some valve caps for the missus car.

Tangodeltasierra3

I bought a chrome actuator cover from AS - i also wanted a cam belt cover but they were same price as magazines - what happened to show special offers ? Any way John keep doing the shows or we'll have nobody to come and talk too

Rippers

I bought this little lot

Mr RS500

iTrader: (6)

This is the reason i havent done 1 show this year John

People just pick stuff up look at it and then tell you they can get it cheaper of e/bay Yes you poss can because as Stu says your buying from a bedroom trader with 0 overheads , but you also must remember you have 0 comback if its crap or goes wrong .

Quoted above is that prices for a fuel unit for a s2 were from £50 to £120 , And the bloke says £120 is a ripoff sorry but the £120 bloke must have bigger overheads than the others and is probs getting less proffit form his £120 than the others at £50 / £60

E/bay will be the downfall of this country and WHEN the tax man gets his head into gear and sorts it there will be lots of people in serious trubble , but until this happens there will be loads of companys go under

Paul

SapphyMike

i for one cant wait til that day paul.

im branching out and im going to be doing my company full time in a unit etc from April next year. i can buy stuff cheaper off ebay that i can some of my suppliers.

the other problem with ebay, is that some suppliers actually sell the products themselves on there, very cheap too!

For instance, one of my suppliers sells an item on there, for £xxx, i pay maybe £30 less for it. how can i make any kind of profit from that, if you can get it on ebay £30 dearer, straight from the manufacturer? i cant sell something thats say £500 for £530, its just not worth it.

eBay must be brought down or taxed!!!!

Anonymous

Sorry but i dont agree that he MUST have had higher over heads to charge so much for it, he probably just had the intention of getting every penny it was possible worth in order to maximise his profits, i bet if i walked up and gave him that sensor for nothing the day before he would still have sold it at the same price.

If i sold an escos to a trader for breaking for 5 quid cause i didnt know its value i wouldnt then expect him to sell everything off the car like the engine and shell at a fiver a pop just cause he had less overheads getting the parts that time, i would expect him to charge the market rate for them as its his business to know that.

If someone chooses to sell at a price so high that only someone desperate would pay it then they are less likely to get repeat business though, so a snesible price like JC charged then makes sense in terms of building up good will.


Seems like basic economics to me?

Anonymous

Or you need to change your business plan so it doesnt consist of simply buying things cheap and flogging them on to people at a good sized profit by hoping they dont know anywhere else to buy it.

I dont think you can blame the likes of Ebay simply cause you are trying to operate based on a business plan that doesnt really hold water these days now people can easily find things themselves on the internet?

ballin

iTrader: (1)

See your point Paul, but at the end of the day its not the buyers problem who has the biggest overheads is it.
We are all trying to make money, yes the traders charge what they need to live, but on the other shoe the buyers are not made of money either.

If you can buy something for £50 off ebay, or £120 off a trader, im afraid money talks

SapphyMike

im all for free will and enterprise chip, but when you purchase from the uncertain world that is ebay, you get your goods, or you dont, or you get something that wasnt what you asked for.

when you buy from a proper company, registered with the inland rev etc, you get piece of mind and also you're paying for a service that should anything go tits up, you can be assured it will be dealt with asap!

im not into ripping people off or charging them a fortune, but i am into making a living, legally and with a certain degree of satisfaction, knowing the the customer knows they have piece of mind from buying from a company, with a phone number / proper address you can visit, rather than the faceless person on the other end of ebay.

you pays your money, you makes your choices.

ballin

iTrader: (1)

the arguments from traders against ebay are very weak to be honest.

no comeback on ebay - ok true enough in some instances, but very often exactly the same from traders.
not getting what you asked for on ebay - come off it that doesnt happen!

ebay works, and works well im afraid

Mr RS500

iTrader: (6)

Chip

sorry mate but thats crap

Try running a business and see how it is in the real world

I wouldnt sell a fuel unit for 50 / 60 pounds as i would go bust , simple

If you gave me the unit i would still sell for the same price , yes , because the simple thing is you cant sell if for one price one day and another price the next depending on what you paid for it .

Some cars you make money on and some you dont ( thats business )

And as for telling people to change the business plan
Thats what he is saying , he buys from a manufacturer and sells at retail ,,perfect business plan , but when the manufacturer sells cheaper to retail than he does to trade how can we win