Advice on website

mattyg · 30 Sep 2009 at 22:07

Hiya folks,

Before i start this is NOT an advert

Can you have a look at this site and offer your thoughts.

http://www.r-lineshop.co.uk/

Reason:
Its up for sale at a fairly reasonable price but am after some advice since I've been out of the car modding scene some years.

paddy · 30 Sep 2009 at 23:01

What do you want to know?

Websites can be redesigned in an instant, I'd have a look at the accounts instead

mattyg · 30 Sep 2009 at 23:19

Cheers paddy,

I was more after checking what he is selling is not tat and whether mr avg would use the site If I could get traffic to it.

If its doing the numbers he claims I would have a 100% return on the initial investment within 4 months. He has been generating traffic via forums and word of mouth so far and has had 7000 hits and 46'000 pages opened in 3-4 months. Whether or not these are genuine people or search engines Etc. I dont know

iaind · 30 Sep 2009 at 23:24

Why would he sell a business for an amount that would give ROI in only 4 months? He could get much more than that for it surely

mattyg · 30 Sep 2009 at 23:27

It was a side project and he needs to concentrate on his main business as this is taking up too much time now.

If he was to continue with this website it may fail because he can no longer spend the time due to other commitments.

scratch · 1 Oct 2009 at 09:36

If it's so profitable then why doesn't he take on a minimum wage monkey to look after it?!

mattyg · 1 Oct 2009 at 10:59

Its made approx £1500 profit in the 3 months its been running so a little over £100 per week.

iaind · 1 Oct 2009 at 11:21

How does it work - does he have his own warehouse/stock/distribution or is it just partnering with another company?

mattyg · 1 Oct 2009 at 12:22

He gets his wholesalers to send out with his invoice. So no need to hold stock,
So for basically an off the shelf business its looks good. Wont make a million but a 10 fold return in 12 months looks good

Its just marketing a website is difficult. Without spending a lot of money

As a supplimentary income its not to be sniffed at(depending on workload)

wonder_lander · 1 Oct 2009 at 12:52

mattyg said:
Its made approx £1500 profit in the 3 months its been running so a little over £100 per week.

I think he's making these figures up to be honest.

Visitors and page views mean nothing!

You want to find out things like:

1) Average basket values
2) Average Sales per week
3) Average markup etc.
4) Ratio of sales to unique visitors.

Those figures sound more like turnover figures as opposed to profit

iaind · 1 Oct 2009 at 12:56

Good advice from wonder_lander about the figures.

One thought I had is the name isn't really memorable - I looked at it earlier but without scrolling up I couldnt tell you what it was...

mattyg · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:26

wonder_lander said:
I think he's making these figures up to be honest.

Visitors and page views mean nothing!

You want to find out things like:

1) Average basket values
2) Average Sales per week
3) Average markup etc.
4) Ratio of sales to unique visitors.

Those figures sound more like turnover figures as opposed to profit

Cheers

He's turned over £5k in three months with approx £1500 profit

I shall ask him those questions and get back

Its an area I'm a novice in but at that price it could be worth learning about

Berger · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:28

Million websites like it selling tat for cars who can all use the same suppliers as he does.

Nothing new or interesting, wouldnt touch it with a bargepole.

Im out!

mattyg · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:35

Berger said:
Million websites like it selling tat for cars who can all use the same suppliers as he does.

Nothing new or interesting, wouldnt touch it with a bargepole.

Im out!

Believe it or not thats the kind of answer I was Kinda hopeing for constructive critism.

There is money in TAT though

Halfrauds make a few quid LOL

I'm waiting on those answers..

He's after around £2k which doesnt seem a lot the website is up and running and all the stock is up there. and Some marketing has been done.

iaind · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:37

Berger's got a valid point though - there's plenty money in tat like that but you have to ask yourself what is different to the million other chav accessory sites? You need a unique selling point or it will soon be forgotten as soon as another site comes along

wonder_lander · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:44

mattyg said:
Cheers

He's turned over £5k in three months with approx £1500 profit

I shall ask him those questions and get back

Its an area I'm a novice in but at that price it could be worth learning about

Sounds even more fishey tbh! A 30% reseller margin hmmmm on big ticket items maybe but I wouldn't have thought so on such items that he's selling.

I would make sure you see proper stats to back up his price!

wonder_lander · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:45

Also why does the website currently say it's closed in the banner?

mattyg · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:59

wonder_lander said:
Also why does the website currently say it's closed in the banner?

It said free uk delivery yesterday

Maybe he has found a buyer so has put it on hold.

seems a little odd though

gord · 1 Oct 2009 at 15:03

Dodgy dealings sound dodgy.

Dugganator · 1 Oct 2009 at 15:20

mattyg said:
Cheers

He's turned over £5k in three months with approx £1500 profit

I shall ask him those questions and get back

Its an area I'm a novice in but at that price it could be worth learning about

Quick question you need to ask yourself is can you generate the same amount of money from this business. As its current set to closed at the moment, return customers will know this and not return because they think its closed.

You said that he is a member of car forums and the such. I guess this would be where he made his money from people that know him and went to him directly trying to help a friends business. Once again can you generate the same sort of user base of customers that he would.

Will the suppliers give you the same rates as he got etc etc. Just things I would take into account if I was you.

Personally I would say this sounds to good to be true because if a business is generating profit like that I think he would keep working at it until the profit reached a point that he could hire someone.

If it sounds too good to be true it normal is. But check his books as that will be the best tell tell figures. Don’t take his word ask to see books, invoices and receipts.

Good Luck