From bog lady to bag lady
So, it’s early Saturday morning & I have the whole weekend ahead of me!
Yesterday I had further conversations with the supplier of a brillantly simple eco friendly product. He did not want his product to be listed on Ebay, essentially because his concern was that it would devalue the brand by making it look cheap. I totally understand his perspective, though there is no escaping the fact that Ebaying products puts them in front of massive audiences. He gave me the first evidence I’ve had that bogblog does anything more than give me space for business planning & developing ideas – he said that he was prepared to let me put his product in an Ebay shop because he knew that I am interested in changing people’s behaviour for the better – not just wanting to make money like other people who have contacted him about Ebaying his product – and this was because he has read some of bogblog & knew where I was coming from!
My mum suggested that I should use Ebay, and set up an online shop last year. I put together a gift pack which included a lilac gingham knitting bag, a Debbie Bliss scarf knitting pattern and pairs of giant knitting needles (I had made myself!). Well – you just don’t know if something is going to sell until you try to sell it. I think the problem with the knitting kit was that the price was too high if I just covered the costs of making all of the items myself.
Now I have a couple of 500 year vision ads on Ebay – including one for the flourescent back pack covers with slogans. It would be good to give some examples of slogans that people could select for their back packs if they don’t want to think one up themselves. Now all I have to do is design the product and get it made! As a last resort I will be able to sew one or two of them myself – until they go into production propper. Anyway, I have a meeting set up with the high viz workwear guys on the 4th December – and the people at Positive Branding have said that they will contact me should any of their clients request bulk purchases of back pack covers. Positive Branding is aimed at commercial/corporate users, rather than individuals, so it would not be direct competition to the position of my product.
A couple of weeks back I was thinking of designing a fabric cover to go over standard size photocopy paper boxes – to reuse them – but in a more attractive format. Something else for a ‘to do’ list. Maybe I could talk to the Onya people about it – though it is slightly outside their brand proposition.
My colleague came up with a lovely business idea (and quite rightly got us to sign a confidentiality agreement before she told us about it!). I really hope she gets it off the ground because it sounds great. It could be a really nice service for people. She is moving jobs at the end of the week & forwarded a link to my web site & blog to my boss!!!
So – the Onya bags arrived promptly this morning! They really are a fantastic product. When packed away into the little pouch to go on a key ring they are actually much smaller than I thought they would be – about the size of an apple. The colours are good & they are nicely sewn – also they’re attached to a carrabina (an attractive little clip gadget used by climbers). I’m really happy with them.
So, now to set up the Ebay shop. The only things I am prepared to sell are things that I use myself or component parts to bog. I did start having a look round at other things – like the ecoballs*. There are claims for and against the product all over the Internet. So, no empirical data that the product actually does as it claims. Also, I tried to track down the manufacturer and only got as far as a trade supplier which was selling of stock from a Chinese company which had gone into liquidation. If I can talk to the manufacturer & check their eco credentials & evidence that the product works, I would really like to stock them – and use them myself – but not until I know more. With the eco shower head it is clear the product works. You can put the plug in the bath and measure the amount of water which is used in a ten minute shower yourself. The back pack cover is similarly logical – can you see the cyclist better with it, or without it? Hmm, was part way through setting up the Ebay shop when the wireless connection disappeared.
Grr - have just spent two hours setting up an Ebay shop and and trying to put things in it only to find that it will not allow me to put fixed price items into the shop until I have a rating of 5.