Should i just give up?

[DvdShop]

I've had my domain name for about two years now (Since i was 15) and since then it has never gone live,Partly due to me having lack of my because of my age and partly because i had the stupid idea i could buy bulk loads of dvd movies and compete with play.com...

But now i've got the idea about selling Blank Media (Good or bad idea i don't know?) I'm roughly guessing this will cost me about £200 just to get the stock in for the site and then about £200 for someone to make me the website.Do you think i should try this (I Work parttime) or just let the domain rot and wait untill i'm 18 so i could be funded for my mistakes?

 

[Eagle]

Hi there

I wouldn't bank on £200 for a professional site that'll get you results...

Have you any other ideas? Best to aim for something that hasn't alraedy reached market saturation.

 

[clairemackaness]

I think he meant spend £200 on stock to get him started.

Can you confirm this for us?

 

[cjd]

Let it rot until you have a really good and original idea and you can see a way of making money out of it.

 

[dcraigdc]

Yeah £200 certainly wouldnt cut it. What it sounds like you are after is a Content Managed E-Commerce site which basically means a shopping cart system that you can update with products and text whenever you like. Realistically you wont find somebody that can do a good job and tailor something uniquely to your needs for less than a four figure sum.

As far as the blank media industry goes, I don't know a huge amount about it. My personal predictions are that it is going to have a major growth spurt (for DVD's anyway) in about 12-18 months. The reason? We are all getting high speed broadband, we have Ipods, portable DVD players etc. Movies will be able to be downloaded from the net the same way as mp3's. where will you store them? You will want blank DVD's so that you can store your films (unless somebody comes out with a really affordable huge server that everybody can save their films to!)

 

[Coding Monkey]

As far as the blank media industry goes, I don't know a huge amount about it. My personal predictions are that it is going to have a major growth spurt (for DVD's anyway) in about 12-18 months. The reason? We are all getting high speed broadband, we have Ipods, portable DVD players etc. Movies will be able to be downloaded from the net the same way as mp3's. where will you store them? You will want blank DVD's so that you can store your films (unless somebody comes out with a really affordable huge server that everybody can save their films to!)

I disagree/ DVDs will be dead. Blu-ray OR HD DVD are taking over.
It's going to be one helluva battle. All of the main computer manufacturers are backing Blu Ray, whereas all of the major film studios are backing HD DVD.

 

[DvdShop]

I think he meant spend £200 on stock to get him started.

Can you confirm this for us?

Yes £200 on stock just to see the site go live then if that all sells well i'll order more and I'll pay roughly £200 for the site.

 

[crus]

whats the domain?

D

 

[Eagle]

 
As has been mentioned, you'll be very hard pushed to find a professionally designed and effective site for that amount.

 

[clairemackaness]

You wont get a decent site for £200.

I did mine myself in the end as I couldn't afford the development costs.

Theres lots of people offering sites for your budget, but do a search on the threads on here and you'll come across lots on "You get what you pay for".

 

[dcraigdc]

As far as the blank media industry goes, I don't know a huge amount about it. My personal predictions are that it is going to have a major growth spurt (for DVD's anyway) in about 12-18 months. The reason? We are all getting high speed broadband, we have Ipods, portable DVD players etc. Movies will be able to be downloaded from the net the same way as mp3's. where will you store them? You will want blank DVD's so that you can store your films (unless somebody comes out with a really affordable huge server that everybody can save their films to!)

I disagree/ DVDs will be dead. Blu-ray OR HD DVD are taking over.
It's going to be one helluva battle. All of the main computer manufacturers are backing Blu Ray, whereas all of the major film studios are backing HD DVD.

Very true. I believe HD will be the way forwards. BlueRay is backed by Sony but is just too expensive at the moment. Also HD ties in with the new cameras AND televisions.

 

[mattk]

Have you costed up the price of blank DVDs, shipping etc? It's ferociously competitive, especially with alot of retailers selling on eBay and you might find that your profit margins are non-existant.

 

Hi,

If you wanted to test the water as such then there are plenty of off the shelf e-commerce packages available for £15-£30 a month. OK i know they are not wonderful but they wil at least get you started. As for stock levels, well i started up with no stock whatsoever, now i have built up a stock holding as i have sold products.

As your business grows then upgrade your website and stock holding etc.

 

[refreshious]

Let it rot until you have a really good and original idea and you can see a way of making money out of it.

Does it have to be a really good and original idea?

I don't think Nurseries, care homes are original ideas, but they are successful.

 

[DvdShop]

Have you costed up the price of blank DVDs, shipping etc? It's ferociously competitive, especially with alot of retailers selling on eBay and you might find that your profit margins are non-existant.

Tbh no i haven't,Seems totally Stupid but I've just been looking for wholesalers then looking at there price,I'll do some maths tonight and work out the costs!

 

[mattk]

Have a look at www.svp.co.uk - they are the de facto blank disc retailer afaik

 

[cjd]

Does it have to be a really good and original idea?

I don't think Nurseries, care homes are original ideas, but they are successful.

For £200 I suppose you might get the sign painted for outside a care home but you're still left with the £750,000 asset to buy and £500,000 pa staff costs....

There's just no point thinking that you can start a business selling commodity low margin products like blank media competing with Asda, Tesco, Maplin, Ebay, eBuyer etc etc etc. on a budget of £200.... I don't want to be unduly negative but business is not fantasy - we need to be giving realistic advice.

 

[refreshious]

Does it have to be a really good and original idea?

I don't think Nurseries, care homes are original ideas, but they are successful.

For £200 I suppose you might get the sign painted for outside a care home but you're still left with the £750,000 asset to buy and £500,000 pa staff costs....

There's just no point thinking that you can start a business selling commodity low margin products like blank media competing with Asda, Tesco, Maplin, Ebay, eBuyer etc etc etc. on a budget of £200.... I don't want to be unduly negative but business is not fantasy - we need to be giving realistic advice.

lol, seems like you got all your figures muddled up for a care home, as it is like 1 staff per every 20 people.

Anyway, I thought you were letting the guy/gal know that all ideas have to be original, which in business it doesn't.

 

[DvdShop]

100% pure man,

I don't want to compet With Asda,Tesco i knew from the very start that would be impossible i just want a site that will bring me in a tidy some everyweek for me to save up for anyother ideas i have and you never know if all goes well i could end up selling the domain name to someone who can compete!

 

[EDS]

Hi

To be honest and blunt with you.... Think of another idea, I know loads of business owners in this trade from importers/distributors to shops/online stores etc.. and this is a very slow market at the moment, businesses are struggling and everyone is completing on cost, and you haven't given any reasons why people would buy from you rather than somewhere else. If you want to go down the route of CD's/DVD's consider adding something to them, designing and printing the top of the cd, duplication etc.. there are some companies that work for you, to keep you running costs down, so you would just need to get the business, this you can charge more for and add value.

I hope you appreciate that I am just sharing my knowledge of this industry with you and am not just saying this to put you off starting a business, if you have a target market and the contacts to sell these to already it could be profitable but if you just want to be an online shop I really would forget about the idea of selling media.

Just my thoughts on the subject, hope i don't get a roasting for this;-)

Kind Regards
Michael Turner
EDS
http://www.elegantds.co.uk

 

[DvdShop]

Firstly can i just say i do appreciate everyones comments and private messages :!:

Most people are saying i should give up and wait untill i have a better idea but lastnight i was thinking to myself and thought "Whats to lose?"I hear people say all the time the best way to learn is always the hard way (failure)maybe i should give that way ago i'm still only a young pup,I can always sell the stock i fail to sell on ebay right? Look at it this way-

Karl (Toon) has gone into a market that i would say is far larger then mine and look how far that bussines has gone? from an online shop to a public shop.

 

[EDS]

Hi

The first thing to loose is £200 and a load of time spent on it.

But hey if you decide that is want you want to do I am sure everyone here will help where they can, but I would really think about it hard, the first thing for you to do is to get some buy prices based on your £200 stock budget, workout what price you will have to sell them at and what price you will get if you have to dump the stock on ebay. Work out why people will buy from you rather than someone else, work out how you are going to promote yourself and the costs invloved.

My Advice would be do some research, play with some figures and then if you still want to go for it do it. A good business person will always check to see if the business is profitable before jumping in blind.

Kind Regards
Michael Turner
EDS
http://www.elegantds.co.uk

 

[DuaneJackson]

£200 and some time (especially if you can spare the time) isn't too much to learn a few lessons if it doesn't work.

keep an eye on costs and go for it.

 

[Bulldog Design]

Mate, never, ever give up

What about setting up a price comparison site for Blank media, and earning affiliate commision?

Tom

 

[cjd]

The only thing you can do with £200 is buy something cheaply and sell it on ebay for a bit more - the modern equivalent of Alan sugar buying cheap vegetables and then flogging them down the market at a profit (or whatever story his PR company has dreamed up for him).

Then you buy more and sell more. Then you borrow some money from friends, family and fools to move it up a notch, then you borrow from the bank etc

Business is a hard slog; there are no quick and easy ways to make a lot of money if you start with none.

J.P.Getty's line on how to be successful tells you that you need for hard work, determination and most of all, luck.

"get up early, work hard, strike oil"

 

[refreshious]

don't limit yourself

 

[soundimage]

As far as the blank media industry goes, I don't know a huge amount about it. My personal predictions are that it is going to have a major growth spurt (for DVD's anyway) in about 12-18 months. The reason? We are all getting high speed broadband, we have Ipods, portable DVD players etc. Movies will be able to be downloaded from the net the same way as mp3's. where will you store them? You will want blank DVD's so that you can store your films (unless somebody comes out with a really affordable huge server that everybody can save their films to!)

I disagree/ DVDs will be dead. Blu-ray OR HD DVD are taking over.
It's going to be one helluva battle. All of the main computer manufacturers are backing Blu Ray, whereas all of the major film studios are backing HD DVD.

Sorry if this is going off topic. But what time scale would you say DVD`s will be "dead".
Just wondering cos i may be bringing out a product in the summer on DVD. Would this be a bad move? Or is there life in the new dog yet?

 

[Coding Monkey]

It took about 4-5 years for DVD to really hit off, so I wouldn't worry in thinking that Blu-ray/HD DVD will replace it the moment they come out. Besides, they're backward compatible, so DVDs will still run on a HD DVD player, for example. Their own disadvantage is their resolution, and with High Definition becoming a highly sort after feature of a TV, movies are going that way, and you can get only about 20 minutes of HD video on a DVD, compared to over 2 hours on a HD DVD.

 

[dcraigdc]

"Lionsgate, the leading independent filmed entertainment company, today announced plans to release 10 titles on the next-generation high-definition Blu-ray Disc (BD) to coincide with the arrival of the first commercially offered BD players in stores. The first wave, available at retail on May 23, will include Crash and Lord of War, priced at a $39.99 SRP, and The Punisher, Saw and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, marked at a $29.99 SRP. The second wave with five additional titles will follow shortly thereafter with a June/July date still to be determined. These BD titles include Reservoir Dogs, Total Recall, Stargate and Frank Herbert's Dune priced at $29.99, while The Devil's Rejects will be available at a $39.99 SRP. " - http://www.blu-ray.com

That gives you some idea of how soon this is going to happen in the American market. Sony also said that it was doing a major release on May 23rd.

I think they are also going to be shipping out the PS3's with the Blu-Ray technology so I doubt people will have much choice but to follow suit.

Timescale? In America if it kicks off DVD's will be obsolete in about 12-18 months, here I reckon you're looking at 18-24 months for it to 100% take over the market.

This is all of course if it kicks off. Most people I know are happy enough with DVD's and don't have many complaints so I think it will take a major marketing and PR push to get it off the ground in the public eye.

 

[Tin]

Hi Dvdshop

If you're aiming to sell dvd media online I think you're in for a shock. I seo'd a client site for the keyphrase 'dvd blank media' and they've been no 1 on Google for the last two years. They spent a lot on seo as it's a massively fierce marketplace and while there's loads of money to be made selling blank media you're coming into an already saturated market very late in the day.
It'd take you quite a while to get up and running and make a serious dent in that market plus a ton of money in the process.
I'm not too sure if the market is tailing off just yet but storage media is always a volatile sector to be in. Maybe Mac's right, the tide may be turning already. Watch this space.

 

[dcraigdc]

Mac who do you think will win? I've not looked at Blu-Ray for a good 6 months now and didn't realise how fast it had progressed with the number of manufacturers on board.

My money is personally on Blu Ray because of the backing it has but it would be great if consumers were actually given a choice.

Just noticed the number of film studios headed blu ray way too!

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/

 

[SillyJokes]

will £200 be enough for stock? Will it even be enough for a first order with your supplier? What about carriage? What about payment processing costs, online fraud, returns, lost in the post, customer service time, phone bills, electricity, tax returns blah blah blah blah

Still, why not have go? You will certainly learn some lessons although I would seriously consider looking for a less overwhelmed niche.

You have had some great advice on this thread but as I say, "I can take good advice when it doesn't interfer with my plans,"

You seem determined and our best efforts haven't put you off. you will either succeed or crash and burn. My fingers are crossed for the former.

 

[DvdShop]

This Projects only for learning.if it goes better then i thought then maybe I'll add more input/money into the site when i turn 18.But at the moment its only a training course,If anyone has anyway of helping drop me a pm or advice

 

[zico]

firstly hi all,


I have signed up here just to respond to this thread,


DVDshop i admire your drive to start something at such a young age,

just to help you see the position you are in considering you only have £200 for stock.

I have listed one product my company retails (shop)

Ridisc Full-Face Printable (8x) DVD-R

MY Cost Price (10'000+ discs) £0.14 + vat + shipping approx £16.50 per 100

Online retailer - £15.00 per 100 discs

I manage to sell them because it is a retail outlet and is
more convenient for my customers.

for £200 you would get approx 1300 discs
most people buy these in 50's or 100's so you are looking at about
20 sales and your stock is all gone.

even selling them at £17 per 100 you are looking at making £21 profit,

this is before your time, postage costs,stationery costs, packaging,

also on a website you will need a large variety of products for £200 in
this field you are not going to get that.

not trying to put you off, i'm just showing the true figures on selling
blank media

the domain name you own is great for the purpose but without the financial backing i feel you would be throwing money away,

if i was you i would keep the domain and thinhk of a better use for it,

I know of one company (not mine) that would drop ship media for you and you wouldnt have to hold any stock just collect the cash.

hope it helps you in some way

 

[DvdShop]

Man this thread comesback up alot :lol:

Thanks for the Reply Zico,I can tell you though, although I'm still working out my prices for Stock and so on to try and run the store on my own budget.I'm 99% close to just forgeting about the whole idea and trying to sell the domain on to someone who could...Maybe a Partner would be a good idea..Meh

 

[james.hill]

This Projects only for learning.if it goes better then i thought then maybe I'll add more input/money into the site when i turn 18.But at the moment its only a training course,If anyone has anyway of helping drop me a pm or advice

Remember to make money as well! I once set up a business to learn with, and guess what - I learned a little, but didn't make any money!

You may as well set up a business that is designed to succeed in the first place, and that means spending time researching what will fly and what won't (Like you're doing in this thread ;-)).

There's no point starting a business that doesn't have a good chance of making money, so do the research and do the numbers.

Kind Regards,

James

 

[CarlF]

i'd advise initially that you don't buy any stock. it'd be worth getting a good site design (which can be done relatively cheaply at www.elance.com), and then signing up for an affiliate programme. Whilst you're not going to get anything like the margins you would if you were selling directly, you won't have to hold any stock initially, and the only outlay is the site design.

This'll be a good way to learn about internet marketing and site creation. If it then takes off you can pursue the route of holding stock yourself. If you do go down this route, you need to make sure you can turn orders round quickly and efficiently. This sounds like it has good potential for repeat business, and i would imagine is a competitive field to be in.

have a look round the other people selling similar and see if they offer an affiliate program. If they do, pick a small number of their products and promote them on your site (don't just put a banner up and hope for the best!)

if you wanted to set the site up really cheaply, you could buy a template off-the-shelf for as little as £5, or even use a free one. My preference would be to use elance though.

Another way to make a bit of income through the site is via google adsense. they pay you each time someone clicks on on of their ads. it does dilute the content of your site a bit though.

hope this is of help

best regards

Carl

 

[DvdShop]

Hi,

I had a Really nice chat with Mkprinting yesterday,He really is a helpful chap i didn't think you could get so much good advice from one person but you can you know,So thank you for that :!:

As for the comments above,affiliate programmes and google isn't something i know anything about i just don't get how it works,Is it easy to set up?