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Roll up banners on ebay!
Has anyone seen the price of these on ebay! In this ebay generation how can we compete!? This would make you sick!
I would love to contact these companies and give them a piece of my mind! By the time you take P&P, ebays cut, paypals cut and ebay listing fees out of their price they cant be making a penny for themselves!
Ryan
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25 Replies
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Tell me about it.
We had a lady in Friday asking about PVC banners, she had a print out from ebay. 10 x 2 £35 ish . and she wanted me to beat it….
Hormones kicked in and I said after electric/gas/water/council/wages bills I didn`t think there would be much profit it it, so I`ll pass…… She then said she couldn`t believe I was passing up trade!!!
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Ebay is full of people making quite literally ‘a buck’.
Best not to worry about them or try to compete…stick to what you are good at and leave it well alone…you’ll sleep easier at night!
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‘ OLOFSSUBY ‘
re-arrange letters
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quote Martin Cole:‘ OLOFSSUBY ‘re-arrange letters
I give up. 🙁
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quote Harry Cleary:quote Martin Cole:‘ OLOFSSUBY ‘
re-arrange letters
I give up. 🙁
try harder young man
😀
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"busy fools" what do i win? a free roll up?
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quote Dan Osterbery:“busy fools” what do i win? a free roll up?
😀 😀
Well Done Dan, You can go to the top of the class and hand the pencils out.
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never been a swat before! do you want an apple??
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it’s ok saying leave them to it you’ll sleep better David…..but i’m coming up
against these numpties more and more. It’s destroying our industry. 😕 -
quote Dan Osterbery:“busy fools” what do i win? a free roll up?
Smarty pants! 😀 (p.s. there was no gap Martin….that’s cheating! 👿 )
p.s. just throwing an idea out, but shouldn’t UKSB as a group not consider doing something about this.
For instance, why not run a competition on here for a poster campaign pointing out the pitfalls of using the dreaded site and the winning one could be downloaded by members and placed somewhere in your reception area or be mailed in a mail shot to your customers. It could have the UKSB stamp on it.
The music and film industry does it, why not the sign industry? Fight back, because a lot of the time customers aren’t aware of the issues. It might be time to fight back a little as a group? -
Sounds spot on Harry. You could even open mock accounts and place the poster in the listings on fleabay. 😀
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They’ve got to be the cheapest, worse stands available.
The trouble is there are some ‘reputable’ companies on there, who are doing silly prices as their main income is from larger, more profitable jobs, and the e-bay work is just ‘extra’.
Still doesn’t make it any better, but makes it harder for us to justify the cost.
I couldn’t be doing with the trouble of E-Bay.
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we are six sign firms on Menorca, and we are looking to start our own association as there is a bit of a price war going on at the moment, and those involved are devaluing the industry for the rest of us really badly. We are going to try to educate the public together about quality vinyls, using the correct vinyl for the job and what you are getting from ebay and vistaprint etc.
I have had three quotes thrust in front of me all from the same firm that undercut us by more than a half, i have tried to educate the customers explaining about monomeric vinyl not being laminated not being suitable for a vehicle, but all they see is the bottom line. Hopefully next year when the vans are faded and scratched, they will realise it is more expensive to have things done twice than once properly. hopefully the firm with the silly prices, it will catch up with them and they will go under! fun times!!
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Anyone bought any of these from ebay to see the quality?
I’ve thought about buying one to see the quality so i can show the difference to my customers so they know why i’m over charging them 😛
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I used to get ordinary hemmed banners from ebay before i got my own printer! They were about half the price i could get them from a trade printer so i thought ill try one out of curiosity, The quality was 1st class! could not be faulted in anyway! 😕
Ryan
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I’m in no way condoning what they are doing but have you NEVER done a job too cheap before? Loss leaders are a big part of how some business’s draw in new customers and we all know how hard it is to get new customers.
I don’t do it all the time but might offer banners at a really low price to a specific customer because I know they have a lot of vehicles to be done etc
Supermarkets often make loses some some items as they know people won’t only come in and buy that one item and they’ll make money off all the others they buy while in the shop.
I wish it didn’t happen and I feel the effects of it as well but we need to deal with it and find a way to survive or we won’t as they are not going anywhere, yes they might end up going under but the next one will start up straight away so they will always be there.
JMO
Warren
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sorry forgot to add I also now often buy pavement sign blanks off ebay as the quality is about the same as trade suppliers but cheaper. It’s sad really as it hurts a lot of different businesses in the long run.
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Yes, sadly those ‘trade’ suppliers are often selling on ebay cheaper than they sell to the trade!
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More to the point – why can’t we all get together and agree to stop giving away free artwork
It seems to be coming the norm for every new enquiry to expect to see ideas and suggestions drawn up free of charge. When I respond with guide prices and ask for a deposit before drawing up artwork I never hear from them again so there must quite a few "busy fools" out there wasting their time producing speculative layouts for every new enquiry that comes in.
We need to educate the public that artwork is not free but is part of the service they are paying for when they buy a sign
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quote Phill Fenton:More to the point – why can’t we all get together and agree to stop giving away free artwork
It seems to be coming the norm for every new enquiry to expect to see ideas and suggestions drawn up free of charge. When I respond with guide prices and ask for a deposit before drawing up artwork I never hear from them again so there must quite a few “busy fools” out there wasting their time producing speculative layouts for every new enquiry that comes in.
We need to educate the public that artwork is not free but is part of the service they are paying for when they buy a sign
Couldn’t agree more. 😉
They usually turn around and say "What? it’ll only take you five minutes!"
That really p!sses me off. 👿 -
It’s not just ebay. There are loads of cowboys & businesses waiting to fail doing stupidly cheap prices just to get a job or even fairly big trade players topping up their work.
Prime example today. I get a call from an old client from when i worked at my last place (they wouldn’t give me a works mobile so all of the customers had my mobile number)…anyway… 2x1m full colour banner. I went in at a good price…I got a call back an hour later saying he’d called my old work too and they’ll do it for £25. That’s designed, printed & finished for £25…THAT’S just funny…that’s not even worth my design time…that’s just desperate.
Am I worried by this ‘theft’ or ‘devaluing’ of our business? Nope, my books are full and have been for well over a year. I don’t need to resort to being cheap to compete – having the balls to say "It’ll cost you this much" actually inspires confidence. eg. I do pop ups at £120 a pop and I tell people they can buy them on ebay if they want it cheaper…NOBODY does.
I’m not saying I’ll won’t do bargain bucket stuff now and again – but I’ll still make more than enough money to cover all costs & make a profit.
Tomorrow we are putting up a sign in the design area for customers to see.
"Nothing takes just 5 minutes" as we are all sick of hearing this every day from customers who want to interrupt other clients or get while-you-wait service.
Thought of also putting up as I saw it years ago:
HIGH QUALITY
FAST SPEED
CHEAP PRICEPlease pick two…
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quote Phill Fenton:More to the point – why can’t we all get together and agree to stop giving away free artwork
It seems to be coming the norm for every new enquiry to expect to see ideas and suggestions drawn up free of charge. When I respond with guide prices and ask for a deposit before drawing up artwork I never hear from them again so there must quite a few “busy fools” out there wasting their time producing speculative layouts for every new enquiry that comes in.
We need to educate the public that artwork is not free but is part of the service they are paying for when they buy a sign
I’ve tried this approach, but it doesn’t quite work… Because the customer won’t pay for something they don’t physically get to touch. The sign they see and touch, a design, to the customer is nothing.
The typical question I get is "I need a shop sign how much are they?"
They don’t know sizes, don’t know what colour they want, or are expecting an illuminated, full colour sign, designed and installed for £200.
I now ask what their intended budget is, at this point I either politely tell them to go away and review their budget, or go away and put some ‘initial’ designs together FOC.
I’m not experienced enough to quote of the top of my head, and without knowing the final design, I can’t give an accurate price, especially for built up, flat cut, lettering, where I buy it in. I’ve tried this and given prices to customers, who then think thats the price, and they can have what they please for the same price.
I know I could ask for a deposit £25-£30, for the initial designs, and submit the quote for those, but whilst the local competition doesn’t do that, I know the customer will just walk into their shops.
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I have an eBay sign man round my way, & to be fair, he does pinch a lot of local work from me.
As a train driver by day, he’s on about £40k per year, runs a cheap Japanese plotter, (probably) pirate software with about 5 fonts as far as I can tell & uses cheap eBay vinyl.
I’ve also lost existing customers to him as they know he’ll be cheaper. One confessed to me when I bumped into him at Tesco that this guy lettered his rear window on his Transporter (3 colours, with shade) for £10.00. He also lettered a friends mums shop front for £40.00. His work is crap – often crooked & all looks the same, but is dirt cheap so folk don’t care.
Trouble is, with a regular wage coming in from a regular job, they can afford to knock stuff out for beer money in the evenings whilst us signmakers are sat up late trying to balance our books – wondering why on earth we did that last job so bloody cheap.
I’m honestly tempted to get a no brainer 9-5 job with the council & crack out a load of signage in the evenings & beat these buggers at their own game! 👿
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quote DavidRogers:It’s not just ebay. There are loads of cowboys & businesses waiting to fail doing stupidly cheap prices just to get a job or even fairly big trade players topping up their work.
Prime example today. I get a call from an old client from when i worked at my last place (they wouldn’t give me a works mobile so all of the customers had my mobile number)…anyway… 2x1m full colour banner. I went in at a good price…I got a call back an hour later saying he’d called my old work too and they’ll do it for £25. That’s designed, printed & finished for £25…THAT’S just funny…that’s not even worth my design time…that’s just desperate.
Am I worried by this ‘theft’ or ‘devaluing’ of our business? Nope, my books are full and have been for well over a year. I don’t need to resort to being cheap to compete – having the balls to say “It’ll cost you this much” actually inspires confidence. eg. I do pop ups at £120 a pop and I tell people they can buy them on ebay if they want it cheaper…NOBODY does.
I’m not saying I’ll won’t do bargain bucket stuff now and again – but I’ll still make more than enough money to cover all costs & make a profit.
Tomorrow we are putting up a sign in the design area for customers to see.
“Nothing takes just 5 minutes” as we are all sick of hearing this every day from customers who want to interrupt other clients or get while-you-wait service.
Thought of also putting up as I saw it years ago:
HIGH QUALITY
FAST SPEED
CHEAP PRICEPlease pick two…
They all want high quality cheap price Dave. 😕
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quote Karl Williams:quote DavidRogers:It’s not just ebay. There are loads of cowboys & businesses waiting to fail doing stupidly cheap prices just to get a job or even fairly big trade players topping up their work.
Prime example today. I get a call from an old client from when i worked at my last place (they wouldn’t give me a works mobile so all of the customers had my mobile number)…anyway… 2x1m full colour banner. I went in at a good price…I got a call back an hour later saying he’d called my old work too and they’ll do it for £25. That’s designed, printed & finished for £25…THAT’S just funny…that’s not even worth my design time…that’s just desperate.
Am I worried by this ‘theft’ or ‘devaluing’ of our business? Nope, my books are full and have been for well over a year. I don’t need to resort to being cheap to compete – having the balls to say “It’ll cost you this much” actually inspires confidence. eg. I do pop ups at £120 a pop and I tell people they can buy them on ebay if they want it cheaper…NOBODY does.
I’m not saying I’ll won’t do bargain bucket stuff now and again – but I’ll still make more than enough money to cover all costs & make a profit.
Tomorrow we are putting up a sign in the design area for customers to see.
“Nothing takes just 5 minutes” as we are all sick of hearing this every day from customers who want to interrupt other clients or get while-you-wait service.
Thought of also putting up as I saw it years ago:
HIGH QUALITY
FAST SPEED
CHEAP PRICEPlease pick two…
They all want high quality cheap price Dave. 😕
In which case it won’t be quick….it’ll be down at the bottom of the pile waiting until I can fit it in…if they want it quick it ain’t going to be cheap.
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