Would you buy nearly new goods for your baby?

ben500

bylromarha wrote:

Hey Ben...I AM the OP!!!!

Perhaps a nappy laundering service is in line?

You could call it

!!!!!! and run:rotfl:

TAG

From personal experience, it involves ALOT of hard work and you'll find that you have more people wanting to get rid of stuff than you have room for.

BUT the one most important thing for you to bear in mind is...location,location,location. If you get that right you'll fly.

PM me if you want.

loopylass

Hi

My friend and i ran a second hand baby shop we went on a business course and got a grant from the princes trust

It was really good to start with but as there are so many shops that sell new clothes and even branded new clothes at very reasonable prices(sports world etc) people didnt want to pay much for them we had designer names etc and all the clothes were in superb condition but as they can buy new the business soon dried up

our shop was in a good location and the things what kept us afloat were prams,pushchairs,stair gates etc we couldnt keep up with the demand
one thing we did do which worked well was instead of paying for second hand prams people bought theirs in we agreed a price and we put our mark up on it and we agreed to put in the shop for 4 weeks if he didnt sell then we agree another 4 weeks or they take it back
that way your not losing out by paying upfront and it not selling and being left with it

we made quite a bit of profit on the equipment but sadly didnt make much on the clothes even though they were in tip top condition
Sadly we only managed to keep the shop going for a few years because lack of people and equipment(people were going to car boot sales and getting things cheaper)

I really hope you do well with your shop good luck

andycarmi

I wanted all new with baby number 1/ But think your opinion changes after you 1st well has for me.

gravitytolls

Most certainly. In fact, all donations gratefully received.

There is an extremely successful nearly new shop ina local town. She started with a small shop on a back street, and within just a couple of years, she moved to bigger premises just off the high street, as she was so popular.

Carmina_Piranha_3

the shop we used to have here didn't pay upfront for the goods, you left them (and kept a receipt) and if they sold she paid you, if not you collected them after a few weeks or she disposed of them for you (after calling you with a reminder of course!).

i would definitely use a shop like this if we had one. i look in the sales ads in the paper for a stairgate every week and probably won't get one until the NCT sale. they always sell as soon as the paper goes out. same with fireguards.

TAG

bylromarha I've PM'd you.

Daisies

I looked at the link in the first post on this thread. What is this Baby Products Association? On the surface it looks laudable as it's ostensibly promoting safety but it seems to represent a lot of baby product manufacturers who are obviously interested in keeping people buying their stuff!

http://www.b-p-a.org/general.php?r=12ELUXYKAJ


Depending on your area, you might find a market for the pricier clothes - I mean the ones made from organic cotton, or cut4cloth that are really lovely and last ages (they're the sort of things that don't "date" either, not that that really matters for a baby).

bylromarha

Carmina_Piranha wrote:

i would definitely use a shop like this if we had one. i look in the sales ads in the paper for a stairgate every week and probably won't get one until the NCT sale.

£12.50 for Lindam ones in Asda at the moment!

bylromarha

Daises-bpa are the trade body that represent sellers of baby stuff so they are biased, which I can accept. i emailed them asking why they were so against 2nd hand given the recycling agenda we needed to adopt and the reply made me laugh

Thank you for your email. Firstly may I say that if a parent does intend to utilise second hand baby goods it is very important that they can track the history of the items and ascertain whether they have been abused or misused, whether they have been subject to wear and tear that could render the safety features less effective or indeed in the case of child safety seats whether they have been involved in an accident.

Unfortunately many used baby products sold on the likes of eBay are not in this category. They have no instructions, no track record or history and simply would not comply with the safety standard that product may have been been made under a number of years ago let alone the much improved safety standards of today.

...there are countless examples where children have been injured or even killed due to the sale of and/or misuse of unsafe baby goods.

Some of the products on our own website were bought at a car boot sale and each one of them is a potential death-trap. (just included for that phrase...i loved Lynn Faulds Wood on Watchdog using that!)

We agree with you with regard to recycling and are lobbying government to provide recycling facilities for baby goods.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions