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Energy Procurement Advice in the current climate

NickGrogan
Ozzy said:
The reason this is taking up a lot of us governors' time is that for many schools electric supply accounts for tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands. One exceptionally large MAT has advised that their energy supply is £10M a year, and a 10% increase on that would be crippling.

For us, a small SAT by comparison, the price fluctuations right now are a teacher's salary, and we're having to make guesses on what the future holds or end up being forced to cut teachers. No government support, of course, as is normal, but the DfE is breathing down all schools' necks, demanding to know what schools are doing to balance the books.
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Ozzy, happy to chat about it any time.

In terms of the large MAT - if they are spending that much and budgets are that tight then the upcoming increases in standing charges are going to be a real issue, they are also much harder to reduce is they are based on location and usage.

These will add 10% long before the Iran prices hit them.

MHHS is another issue to consider as this will raise costs too - currently talking to a rather well known school with 93 electricity meters, and no practical way to reduce that.
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Old hand needs new web shop...........Shopify?

Paul Kelly ICHYB
Ozzy said:
you will need to move your domain name to Shopify
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You can just repoint the DNS - keeping the domain and server separate might.

@Lucan Unlordly Shopify & WP/Woocommerce actually work in similar fashions. Your choice would be based on how much you want to manage the platform - Shopify is managed, WP/WC needs installing/setting up (but it isn't difficult).
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Corporate & Commercial Lawyer - All queries welcome!

Paul Kirk
Hi everyone 👋

I’m a freelance corporate solicitor offering flexible, practical support to businesses of all sizes – from startups finding their feet to established companies needing extra bandwidth. By way of background, I am an ex-City lawyer with a wide range of experience in a variety of corporate, commercial and general business legal matters.

Always happy to have an initial chat 😊

Thanks!
Paul
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Website to book courier collections.

M
Thought it was time I updated this thread

We asked @fisicx to look at this for us and he explained things in terms a 5 year old could understand which was fantastic for me.
After lots of testing and breaking (mostly myself breaking it.. Garbage in and garbage out right!!)
So after lots of tweaks and me changing what we wanted and adding extras as we got further into it, We are now about to roll out the 5th and final phase.

What started as a simple site has grown behind the scenes and I can't thank Graham enough.

I think the hardest part for Graham was A: integrating with another 3rd part app especially if they change something which breaks it B: the customer breaking things..( a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous)


But a massive thanks the Graham

Defo owe you a beer!!
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Best Platform for a Food Business – Amazon or Shopify?

darwin_nguyen
Great discussion here. I'd say it depends on where you are in the journey. Amazon gives you instant traffic but you're competing with hundreds of sellers in the same category especially saturated ones like Himalayan salt. Shopify gives you more control over branding, margins, and customer relationships, but you have to drive your own traffic.

If you go the Shopify route, one thing I'd recommend early on is adding a live chat to your store. A lot of first-time buyers in the food/specialty space have questions - ingredients, sourcing, shelf life, shipping and if they don't get a quick answer, they leave. I've been using Chatty AI Livechat for this. It's an AI-powered chat app built for Shopify that handles those kinds of questions automatically, 24/7. Helps with conversion, especially when you're a new brand and people don't know you yet.

But honestly, before picking a platform, sort out your positioning first. Who exactly are you selling to? Home cooks? Health conscious consumers? Restaurants? That answer will tell you whether Amazon, Shopify, or even local markets make the most sense.
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How do we get Backlinks?

Shopclicks
AndrewEnt said:
Although I can see we need more support and it might be a good way to engage potential sponsors, I don't want to be selling snake-oil if they don't add any value?
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Most of your sponsors wouldn't know what a backlink for SEO purposes is, if it jumped up and bit them.
The usefulness of a backlink from your website should only be measured in the number of click-throughs it gets. A site offering backlinks for sale without high traffic volume is selling 'snake oil'. And even with a decent amount of traffic, unless it's done properly, adds no value.

As far as your own SEO goes, there's a lot more that could be done to build your own traffic but we can't go into specifics here as it would be called a website review (for paid members only).

Start a new thread if you want to get responses about other ways of raising money.
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Unwanted subscription issue...

Data Swami
Lucan Unlordly said:
To clarify the process...........
1. Sign up for a 1 month trial
2. The trial will renew for $3.99 per month billed yearly, one month after your trial starts or upon using your last coin.
4. You can cancel at anytime.

Believing I was on the free trial it appears I used more than the allocated 'coins' when trialling a video generator, which automatically triggers the yearly payment.

Yes you can cancel but it makes no difference to the payment - so you won't find a cancel button that effects the current situation.

I think it's sharp practice by 'Creative Fabrica'.
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Ye i would charge it back with the bank. Without knowing what platform was used and not knowing where the details of what the state here are listed for a consumer to see its very wishy washy and dodgy with the way theyve set it up likely looking to fleece people who just want to test out their app.
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Would you pay less if you knew your provider was using AI?

fisicx
Data Swami said:
Its a bit rich from Insurance companies that XD. They were caught not too long ago using dodgy algorithms full of bias for their underwriting
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And the big four accountants caught with their trousers down, the auto industry, utility companies and everyone else - they are all dodgy. And of course the tech industry breaking the law is so many ways then just paying fines and carrying on regardless.
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Companies House screws up again!

Ozzy
Aye, just linking to the original post;

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

Companies House Security Breach

This doesn't make great reading; https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/tech-pulse/companies-house-security-blunder-leaves-director-data-exposed So on Friday a really simple way to breach confidential director information was made public, which as it turns out had been in place for ~5 months...
www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk
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I’m rethinking software. I’d value your input.

Frans VH
louis292 said:
Manual pain points I see a lot: quoting, chasing invoices, onboarding clients, moving data between systems, and reporting. None of it is sexy. All of it eats hours.
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I agree that moving data can be very timexonaing. But quoting and chasing invoices are part of the integrated systems like Odoo, Zoho and others. What in your experience are these systems missing that would make the process more efficient?
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UK subsidiary - with EU branches - wanting an EU VAT number. Is that possible?

MikeJ said:
Certainly traditionally, companies held stock in the UK to service GB and Ireland (as a whole). Honestly don't know now, but certainly pre-Brexit it would have been the natural thing to do.
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They still do but it does have both duty and VAT implications. If it’s not done properly either using bonded warehouses , transit or returned goods relief, duty becomes payable on reentry to the EU. It’s nonsensical but the text of The trade agreement doesn’t allow duty free reentry for EU goods once the goods have left the EU.
The storage of EU goods in the UK to service Ireland has been a big headache for even big companies.
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Parcel Carriers have too much power and too little accountability

scstock
Thanks, for the Import Duty I may do that, frankly though I'm inclined to just record it as Import VAT so it gets reclaimed.

Overnight I've also had an email from Parcel2Go who I booked the FedEx shipment with saying "
We have recently received a tracking update confirming that your parcel has now been delivered.
Based on this update, we have closed your case"

Err, I had a lengthy web chat explaining that it was the €60 storage charge I was disputing?

I may have to advise my customer to ignore/dispute the invoice from FedEx.
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Exhibition Display Items

WaveJumper
Many years ago when our first son was still a baby (oh those were the days) we had a mass family holiday to Florida unfortunately we had to go via Miami at the time all good until we went through security.

Somehow I got separated from the main group and was following up somewhat behind, all ok until I got stopped and they started searching the bags I was carrying. They started pulling out plastic bags filled with powder and suddenly the whole mood changed.

I hadn't realised the wife had filled one of our bags full of powdered baby food, and thought it would be a good idea to pack it in clear plastic bags. Security staff only saw the funny side when my wife returned with our son to find out where I had disappeared too.

Rule one (and we all know it) never offer to carry a bag unless you know what's in it 😁
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Barclaycard ePDQ will stop working on the 31st March 2026

Paul Crews
As ePDQ approaches retirement, now is the ideal time to ensure your business is fully prepared for a smooth transition. To help you stay ahead, here are the key steps you should take:

• Review Your Current Setup:
Understand how ePDQ is currently integrated into your website and wider operational processes so you can plan your migration efficiently.

• Select a Modern Payment Provider:
Choose a secure, PCI‑compliant payment gateway that includes essential features such as 3D Secure authentication and robust fraud protection.

• Begin the Migration Early:
Starting the process well before the retirement deadline will help you prevent disruption and maintain seamless service for your customers.

• Explore Reliable Alternatives:
Many businesses moving away from ePDQ are choosing Worldpay as their trusted replacement due to its stability, flexibility, and advanced ecommerce capabilities.

Taking proactive steps now will help you avoid missed transactions and ensure your customers continue to enjoy a smooth and secure checkout experience.
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