NEW AQUATIC WEBSITE

[mrplaty]

I have decided that I would like to start up a website selling aquatic stuff. I will be selling many foods, heaters and other accessories!!!

PLUS i will be doing a special deal for all of the members of this forum where if you are a member then you will not have to pay postage on any of the items!!!

 

[Angry_Platy]

Will you ship to Australia? For free?

 

[mrplaty]

im not really sure yet where i will be shipping to!!

but for now.....

All the people in the UK please help and answer this questionnaire

1) Would you consider buying aquatic products online???

2) Have you ever done this before???

3) what would you mostlike the store to sell??

4) How mush would you pay for a 300watt heater???

5) Do you think it is fair to charge 40p postage on all items but free postage if you order over £5

6) What brand of food do you buy and in what quantity???

7) Have you ever bought the tetra delica fresh blloworms in jelly??? would you buy them again???

8) If i was to give everybody on this forum free postage and i offered a good service do you think you would buy from me on a regular basis???

Thanks for the help
graham

 

[Tiggs]

im not really sure yet where i will be shipping to!!

but for now.....

All the people in the UK please help and answer this questionnaire

1) Would you consider buying aquatic products online???

2) Have you ever done this before???

3) what would you mostlike the store to sell??

4) How mush would you pay for a 300watt heater???

5) Do you think it is fair to charge 40p postage on all items but free postage if you order over £5

6) What brand of food do you buy and in what quantity???

7) Have you ever bought the tetra delica fresh blloworms in jelly??? would you buy them again???

8) If i was to give everybody on this forum free postage and i offered a good service do you think you would buy from me on a regular basis???

Thanks for the help
graham

1) yes...i buy everything apart from fish online

2) yes

3) good range of plants

4) no idea.....£20???

5) 40p??? have you done the sums? i would expect to pay P&P of £2-5 on orders under £30

6) no preference/as and when i need it

7) no

8) there are two things i look for in an online store...the ability to phone them up and talk with someone that knows their stuff....and then the lowest price.......and its not normally the same store! so i will happily phone somewhere and get advice then order the item at the cheapest place so would i use you? only if you were the cheapest or had something no on else had.


my advice...do your maths back to front then do it again, in a well establish market like on line fish stuff (there are plenty out there allready) i wonder where you see the profits? are you you just running a business based on a topic you enjoy?

 

[bigmick474]

1) Would you consider buying aquatic products online???

Yes, including fish if they were shipped properly

2) Have you ever done this before???

Yes, Filters, heaters, gravel, ect. No fis as yet though

3) what would you mostlike the store to sell??

decoration, i'm having problems finding Natural Looking Caves and ornaments.

4) How mush would you pay for a 300watt heater???

err? about 20 -25 pound

5) Do you think it is fair to charge 40p postage on all items but free postage if you order over £5

I think free postage should be given when you order over a highter amount, 30 - 35 pound. I will be your buissiness, not a charity.

6) What brand of food do you buy and in what quantity???

No perticular brand, but i get the biggest i can afford when i need it.

7) Have you ever bought the tetra delica fresh blloworms in jelly??? would you buy them again???

No, but i probally will in the future.

If i was to give everybody on this forum free postage and i offered a good service do you think you would buy from me on a regular basis???

i think free postag is too much. if the service is good and you can answers my questions about the product, i cant see a reason why not.

 

[ncjharris]

Graham, a good idea - in principle

1) Would you consider buying aquatic products online???
Yes
2) Have you ever done this before???
Yes
3) what would you mostlike the store to sell??
Variety is the spice of life - everything and anything fish related. Even if you don't keep it in stock, the ability to get it would be good. Oh, and livestock, if its handled right.
4) How mush would you pay for a 300watt heater???
no more than 25 quid.
5) Do you think it is fair to charge 40p postage on all items but free postage if you order over £5
Whatver your p&p cost is I think it should be transparent and easily calculatable. Im not too sure how free p&p would work - for example on bigger things like tanks, external filters etc
6) What brand of food do you buy and in what quantity???
Tetra, the biggest I can afford, but we're not tied to that brand.
7) Have you ever bought the tetra delica fresh blloworms in jelly??? would you buy them again???
Not heard of them, but would give them a shot.
If i was to give everybody on this forum free postage and i offered a good service do you think you would buy from me on a regular basis???
I think that rather than free postage something like a loyalty system would work best both ways - you get the custom, customers feel like they are respected.

On a side note, I think you need to do a fair bit of research on this to see what else is around. Fish shops put a lot of mark up on the hardware rather than the live stock - they have a low turn over but a high profit on goods, but high turn over and low profit on fish.
Online retailers have lower overheads - esp if they dont sell fish and dont have to pay the horendeous power/water costs etc. However, they still add a fair bit to the cost to make a better profit.

See whats out there, and see what they offer and base your strategy on that.

In my opinion there are a lot of places to buy fish related stuff, but nothing that differenciates one from the other - one retailer who really had something to offer, or cosistenly low prices would get my business.

HTH and Good Luck!

 

[@ombomb]

1) Would you consider buying aquatic products online???

Yes

2) Have you ever done this before???

Yes, filter media / accessories

3) what would you mostlike the store to sell??

Unusual plants, filter media, fish

4) How mush would you pay for a 300watt heater???

£20

5) Do you think it is fair to charge 40p postage on all items but free postage if you order over £5

Yes

6) What brand of food do you buy and in what quantity???

I think the flakes I have are Interpet, but I'm not sure, frozen foods.... no idea

7) Have you ever bought the tetra delica fresh blloworms in jelly??? would you buy them again???

No, only the frozen ones.


As a side note, I'd probably wouldn't ever bother buying food online, but would be much more interested in hardware / plants / stock which are harder to come by a smaller fish shops.

 

[mrplaty]

OK i have noticed that people are really interested in things like ornaments so i will definately get a selection of these on the site!!!

Also How much would you pay for a "fluval 1 plus" filter??

 

[Jen21]

I live in the US, but if you decided to sell fish on your site I would be willing to donate swordtail and platy fry.

 

[mrplaty]

ok thanks for the offer

 

[Tiggs]

OK i have noticed that people are really interested in things like ornaments so i will definately get a selection of these on the site!!!

Also How much would you pay for a "fluval 1 plus" filter??

have you thought this through??? These seem odd questions to ask....assuming you will sell hundreads of items (if you dont then you will be up against it) what difference does it make how much someone will pay for a specific filter.

its like starting a newsagents and asking how much you'd pay for a twix!

 

[GSD]

1) Would you consider buying aquatic products online???

2) Have you ever done this before???
nope
3) what would you mostlike the store to sell??
heaters and betta bowls!
4) How mush would you pay for a 300watt heater???
ummm dunno how may galons dus that heat?
5) Do you think it is fair to charge 40p postage on all items but free postage if you order over £5
yep fine
6) What brand of food do you buy and in what quantity???
tetra min about 1nce every few months and daphnia n bloodworm once a week
7) Have you ever bought the tetra delica fresh blloworms in jelly??? would you buy them again???
never bought them
If i was to give everybody on this forum free postage and i offered a good service do you think you would buy from me on a regular basis???
yeah i would

 

[OohFeeshy]

1) Would you consider buying aquatic products online???
Yup

2) Have you ever done this before???
Yup

3) what would you mostlike the store to sell??
Whatever really, although live things like plants and fish etc. would be v. good.
4) How mush would you pay for a 300watt heater???
About £20, but less cos i'm a cheapskate
5) Do you think it is fair to charge 40p postage on all items but free postage if you order over £5
Sounds a bit odd, generally I pay about £2.50 p&p on a heater/filter/most stuff
6) What brand of food do you buy and in what quantity???
Generally Tetra Variety flake, 1 thingy at a time

7) Have you ever bought the tetra delica fresh blloworms in jelly??? would you buy them again???
Yup and Yup.

 

[mrplaty]

Tiggs, yes i have thought this through but in a newsagents they all sell twix's at the same prices but since i am selling online then there is no point in me buying loads of filter for more than io can sell them for is there?? i need to know if it would be worth buying the items!!!

 

[abstract]

no offense but it doesn't seem even the least bit plausible IMO ...no way you could stand up to the giants out there (esp bigalsonline)