Phoenix Trading - Hints and Tips

Wibblywobbly14

allIcouldwishfor wrote: »

200 cards?!! :eek: Wow, I was thinking of around 20!!! Is it going well for you wibblywobbly? (love the username)

Well, as I said, I've only just started doing the basket drop offs! I don't know what everyone else does! I've been a Trader for over two years now, and I like to sell from stock rather than samples, as I feel it is a chance to get impulse purchases. I do sell from the brochures too, of course! As a consequence, I always have a few hundred cards in stock, ready in case I do a sale. (I bought a load of cards from an ex-Trader too last year) My theory is that I will always get rid of them someday!

I do wonder whether they will get stolen if I leave them at a drop off, but so far have felt ok about doing this at the places I have left them.

I first left a basket at my son's school staffroom and got no takers after a week, but now have a small basket of 50 cards in there all the time for the staff to buy cards as and when, and I do sell a few this way. Recently I left a basket of 200 cards at a different school for a week and sold £50 worth. I think if you are going to sell from stock in this way, you need a bit of a selection. Having said that though, lots of people sell very successfully from samples only!

Sorry to have shocked you!

Earthengirl

Blimey 200 cards!!! that's a huge amount of stock to leave somewhere! What happens if they get damaged or god forbid stolen!! that's over £200 pounds worth of stock gone!
Wibblywobbly you must spend a fortune on getting the stock in.
Personally I'd never leave that volume in a basket, 30 prehaps along with a brochure and order forms.

Wibblywobbly14

Earthengirl wrote: »

Blimey 200 cards!!! ...
Personally I'd never leave that volume in a basket, 30 prehaps along with a brochure and order forms.

Mmm...maybe I should rethink! It doesn't look that much in the basket, but on paper or on this screen, yes, it does sound rather excessive!:rolleyes:

Money_maker

lozenge wrote: »

whereabouts are you?

Lozenge, have PM'd you.

Lalaladybird

I am having trouble working out potential profit, can anyone tell me if this is correct.....

If I order 20 cards from phoenix, that would be £11.80 + VAT £1.77 + delivery £6 = £19.57. I sell 20 cards for £20 therefore 3p profit!!!!

Is that correct?

allIcouldwishfor

Lalaladybird, someone mentioned earlier in the thread that they rang Phoenix with a very small order and they got a postage rate based on the weight of the order. I can't find the post now though.

Lalaladybird

Ok thanks, I'll try that.:T

Money_maker

#396 I think was one

liveandlearn_2

Lalaladybird, I could be wrong here,but wouldn't it be best to wait a bit and place a larger order to offset the cost of delivery? That is if getting the headoffice to post it out to you isn't possible/cheaper, of course. Fair enough you might not know when the next order is coming, but you coud always buy in all your birthday/wedding/christening/retirement/easter/mothers and fathers day cards for the year, if you can afford it. That's what I'm going to do, hopefully, so that I have a bit of stock on hand. That way, if the cards don't get sold at least I know that I, personally, will use them, so the money hasn't been 'wasted'.

So, wibblywobbly, would you say that selling from stock is easier/more profitable? What about the rest of you?



LL

Wibblywobbly14

liveandlearn wrote: »

So, wibblywobbly, would you say that selling from stock is easier/more profitable? What about the rest of you?
LL

The thing is, it all depends on you and what you've got coming up. I try to do a few events; parent and toddlers etc, so I like to have stock in to take to them, but I would say that most of my sales are from the brochures to people who have bought from me before. I am still learning, and this year am trying to really maximise my profits by ordering only once a month. I tell my customers when to expect their order, and they seem happy with that. If the orders I have do not reach the £125 pre VAT, then I choose extra stock that I think I will be able to sell to get to the 'magic number'!