Magnetic Business cards

Ultimate Tiling · 04-02-2009

Hi I sell a few things on ebay and just wanted to run a few ideas past you,
I have just printed some magnetic save the day wedding invitations and thought it might be a good idea to make some for my tiling business.
If they look good i might put a few on flea bay!

Have any of you brought them and if you how much did you pay for them,
If you think they would be a good idea i would happy to make some up for them member on here at a good discount. (With the permission of Dan)

Thanks Andy

Leatherface · 04-02-2009

Hi mate, not used them. Me thinks they may work out a bit costly
Good idea though

**theyomper** · 04-02-2009

Get my magnetic cards from vista...cheap as chips

**whitebeam** · 04-02-2009

Same as theyomper

Leatherface · 04-02-2009

How much per 1000 ?

**GarethK** · 04-02-2009

Are you sure if i kept one in my wallet it wouldn't ruin the strip on my credit cards?!???

**365drills** · 05-02-2009

I looked at them for 365drills and our Porsadrill range (we were even going to have magnetic cards done in the shape of the drill plate) but the cost of them didnt justify the outlay.

Looked at a lot of promo stuff including mugs, pens, sweets as well as magnetic business cards.

So for me it wasnt practical. But I would not put you off. You may have a market. Just concentrate on any market whereby it is useful to have a magnet on a fridge. (which you seem to be doing).

Ebay is a GREAT way to test the marketplace. For example I am testing ebay to see if there is a market for short term trailer hire at budget rents. So far there IS NOT a market. And so I might scrap the idea. See my test on ebay

You are doing the right thing in testing it on a large market.

**cornish_crofter** · 05-02-2009

E bay is good for testing the market for most things. The only issues I have is that it is often not localised enough, and often you are competing against other very different consumer options for space and visibility.

Also, TBH Richard, if I was looking at trailer hire I wouldn't necessarily look at e bay. I would go through Yellow Pages, go to someone I know, or maybe search the internet - have you got your own trailer website?

**365drills** · 05-02-2009

Yes my current trailer domain for it is 365 Go Smart but I might register 365trailers.com as a more generic dot com.

I still think ebay is a great test bed for ideas. If it cant sell on ebay then it never will.

About the magnet cards: OK if you can find a market.
About the trailer: Agree ebay may not be where the market is looking for cheap trailer hire.

I've got the domain for 2 years for £5 quid so its just a punt....

Good luck with the magnet cards... Stick with it! (see what I did there)

**cornish_crofter** · 05-02-2009

A couple of example I could give about E bay....

A while ago my wife was in partnership with a friend involved in embroidery kits. These things sold quite well via editorials etc in specialist magazines and the odd advert. They still do. £30 seemed to be the going rate for an entry level kit containing the design, all the materials and a needle to complete the pattern.

Anything over about £5 in e bay struggles.

It's the same with 2nd hand bicycles, even half decent ones. I know someone who buys all their kits bikes via e bay and flogs them in the local rag when they've outgrown them.

He typically picks them up for £1 or so then sells them for £15 or so.

No doubt e bay worked well for your drills because:

1) The product has national/international appeal
2) A large number of people who are looking for tiling tools will use e bay as well as other tools/sources
3) The product can be cheaply posted to anyone who will buy it
4) Although it is a differentiated product, it is clustered with a number of other similar products, and compares well. For example, if I were looking for tiling drills I know there are much more expensive options, and I suspect I'll find them on e bay. So if I see your £50 product against a £150 product I'm going to look closely at yours. That is why I could list a light switch and stand a very good chance of selling it. Joe blogs knows he will see a variety of light switches and will have a choice. It's a bit like going to B&Q but there are several sellers, some of whome are only selling one item.

On the other hand I wouldn't advertise a local taxi service on e bay, there are several other avenues for that, which can access your market base much more directly. I may however advertise a national cross country private hire car business, or a haulage/parcel delivery business.