ONLINE SALES

[Hobby]

Will we have to get "training" on the new system before helping out behind the counter at shows then? Some people have only just got their heads round the credit card machine! I assume you've got something better planned that that often seen "piece of paper with list of sales written down on it" seen behind many sales stands at shows!!

[Peter Boulter]

Although it's a bit Low Tech, sometimes the "piece of paper with list of sales written down on it" is the quickest, easiest and most accurate method of recording sales, especially on a busy sales stand.

[The Sales Team]

You'll just have to wait and see, Blair - it's going to be some months away yet. Hopefully it will follow the KISS rule.

The Sales Team

[Graeme Dunbar]

That sounds good. One could have fun with bar-codes. Or maybe that's passe - QR codes? ;D  ;D

I was being facetious, if that wasn't clear!  :)

[The Sales Team]

It's actually a perfectly reasonable suggestion, Graeme - and one that has been seriously considered. But there are perhaps simpler if less elegant options, for now at least. What ever the system it will have to be simple enough for helpers at shows (like Blair ;)) to pick up quickly.

The Sales Team

[Hobby]

Cheeky s*d!!  :D

[Lee Bryant]

 Perhaps David, Some of us who  have joined the society came on board during the height of the covid 19 pandemic like myself, also some of us are not resident of the Uk like myself. For me, only on line is possible. But i do like the whole concept of on line as it opens up to a larger market.
Now i wonder if the sales dept would ship to Europe/ N America, Australia, etc. Of course the purchaser would pay the appropriate shipping and customs/ duty/ tax or what ever its called.

Robin.

Hi Robin.

To answer your question - Yes.  There will be no problem in sending items to members living anywhere in the world.  As you say, postage will unfortunately be dearer than in the UK.  I sent an item to Australia this week (tracked and traced service).  The cost was £11.68 for a package under 500 grammes.
For those that have been asking - despite the excitement about sales going on line from October 1st, the Sales Stand will continue to attend relevant members' days and narrow gauge shows as before, just as soon as we are allowed out to play again, when the pandemic decides to leave us alone.
Lee Bryant.  009 Sales Officer.

[Lee Bryant]

What ever the system it will have to be simple enough for helpers at shows (like Blair ;)) to pick up quickly.

Cheeky s*d  Blair.

Ignore him, Blair.  Your help on the Sales Stand is always greatly appreciated - and everyone else that volunteers for that matter!
Lee Bryant.  009 Sales Officer.

[Hobby]

Don't worry it was taken in the spirit it was intended...


I think! :)

[Graeme Dunbar]

It's actually a perfectly reasonable suggestion, Graeme - and one that has been seriously considered. But there are perhaps simpler if less elegant options, for now at least. What ever the system it will have to be simple enough for helpers at shows (like Blair ;)) to pick up quickly.

The Sales Team

Thanks!  :)

It makes you wonder though. Given the number Etsy and similar shops and the ubiquity of smartphones that can process QR codes there is a fair chance that someone has written an app for small business stock control. At what sort of price I wouldn't like to say.

Oooh yes, it looks like bar code and QR code to Excel spreadsheet apps do exist. It is soooo easy to invent work for others to do.....  ;D

[clayliner]

I think the problem is less the availability of smart systems, Graeme, than of the risk of having expensive hardware (laptops, phones, etc.) at busy shows where sometimes things 'walk' when everyone's busy...

David.

[Tom Haythornthwaite]

I think the problem is less the availability of smart systems, Graeme, than of the risk of having expensive hardware (laptops, phones, etc.) at busy shows where sometimes things 'walk' when everyone's busy...

David.

If you can solve this - and I would have imagined that if the system is on the volunteers' own phones it would be sorted - then the system side is easy.  I'd recommend Open Data Kit (https://getodk.org/), which I use for my real work.  If the stock were bar coded or QC coded or just had numerical stickers we could easily make a system to capture every sale.

Tom

[Peter Boulter]

I think the problem is less the availability of smart systems, Graeme, than of the risk of having expensive hardware (laptops, phones, etc.) at busy shows where sometimes things 'walk' when everyone's busy...

David.

It's fairly easy to stop laptops 'walking'. Most have a slot on the side where you can connect a security cable, the cable can be wrapped round the table leg, or a convenient radiator pipe, then plugged into the slot on the laptop.

Just make sure that the person with the key doesn't leave before you want to unchain the laptop!!!

[Graeme Dunbar]

I was imagining something on a smart phone rather than a laptop and smart phones appear to be surgically attached to their owners, though I've not had that operation yet.  ;D

[Stephen Rainsbury]

Not sure why people who didn't want to take advantage of Sales in the past by becoming members would want to do so now, just because it's online? But maybe there are those who only inhabit the online world...!

I presume with the new system the stock list will be copletey up to date, with new items added as they become available, which you didn't get with the paper version.
I was going to renew anyway but can imagine just browsing the shop every few days and buying considerably more :-)