Rehctub, now you might understand, why internet businesses are
such an attractive option, for both consumers and business owners.

People can shop 24/7, whilst at home sipping a cup of tea or
whatever. The rest is all about electronics and logistics.

No expensive rents, it can be any old warehouse anywhere really.
No overdressed staff standing around powdering their noses.
Even advertising is cut to the bone, as it costs virtually nothing
to send out 50'000 emails letting customers know the latest deal.

Just take their money, done efficiently with say Paypal, electronics
prints the label, stick it on the box and out the door it goes.

Posted by Yabby, Monday, 12 March 2012 7:15:21 AM

" ... Rehctub, now you might understand, why internet businesses are
such an attractive option, for both consumers and business owners. ... "

Well done again everyone for a top quality thread with some great comments from a number of contributors.

To continue on from another well balanced and insightful comment from *Yabby* which I have come to enjoy on a regular basis, I thought to share something of a sideline business which my wife and I have been working on for some time.

Whilst hampered by the legal demands of immigration which exist between Australia and Indonesia for an excessive period of time, we are now an Australian family and the burden of "red tape" has declined sufficiently for us to engage in more lucrative pursuits.

Whilst my wife is well enmeshed in the process of becoming educated in Australian english and those other skills necessary to independently function here, they are not so onerous as to prevent her (with some assistance from me) to pushing up her own small business.

Schooled from an early age in traditional handicraft, and plenty of opportunities to expand this though a study of the markets here and study of the old school crafts of crochet, knitting and sewing through family here, she has developed an interesting new fusion of techniques to create a range of product to which we believe she can legitimately claim copyright upon impending entry to the online markets.

In the preliminary stages of set up, most of which is not deductible from a tax point of view, we purchased fine gold and fine silver from the Perth mint in 2007, exported these to Indonesia and utilised them as a so called "Customs assist," employing the indigenous artisans directly to hand produce multiple copies based on our prototypes, which includes other locally sourced materials such as copper and seed beads, all of which can be procured locally at a retail price much cheaper than that which can be sourced even by direct import into Australia that we are aware of, transported the goods ourselves by plane on our family visits and imported to Aust, with some duty and G.S.T. on some imports, stored the product locally at home and will retail direct via Ebay AU (with regional limitations applied) and or by MadeIt.COM.AU ourselves.

Even the simplest piece in the collection takes a skilled and practiced hand more than 2 hrs to complete. We have not noted any of the same product here in Aust anywhere but "commesurate" stuff retails here from between $AU50 - $AU80.

Our total costs per unit for the objects, including materials, duties and taxes do not exceed $AU5 per piece and whilst a final sales price hasn't been resolved, we will likely enter the market from between $AU25 - $AU35, but may consider auctioning with a nominal reserve.

With the advent of the internet, the shoe string start up business hasn't entirely disappeared if the nature of the business lends itself to being able to do everything yourself.

Oh, we pay the local artisans at double the local economy rate initially and consistent with Indonesian practice and our current notion of what constitutes "Fair Trade", they will receive an additional 10% bonus based on the Australian retail sales price which will no doubt make for a lot of happy faces next ChristMass if not sooner.

Great to hear, DreamOn, and all power to your better half.
It's that kind of entrepreurship that we need.
Let us know when her website is up.
My better half can't resist anything to do with crafts.
Cheers,
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

Yabby, I am well aware of the cost savings sith Internet shopping.

My problem with it is 'what about the jobs it takes away'?

There are a few more issues with INT shopping.

Firstly, there is no GST if bought from OS and less than $1000.

Why should local traders have to charge GST on similar items?

The next big problem is that of 'try before you buy'.

There ia a problem with shoppers wasting shop assistants time trying, or requesting info on items, without any intention of buying.

Remember, the business owner pays for that wasted time.

I believe smart phones are used to copy ba codes, then you simply go online and find the best deal.

By all means do ha, but please don't waste someone PAID TIME while you're at it.

Carsales.com is another killer.

Most shoppers don't realize that EVERY ENQUIERY not sale, costs the car yard $35, sale or no sale.

People today already complain about bad service, just wait a few more years and see what happens.

Peoples quest for a bargain will ultimately come at a price.

*My problem with it is 'what about the jobs it takes away'?
*

Rehctub, when I bought this little patch of dirt, there were around
15'000 farmers in WA delivering grain. There are now 5000. The rest
had to move on and learn new skills. City people will have to
learn to do the same. Anyone with IT skills for instance, to operate
all those internet stores, will be snapped up. Aged care is short
of staff, so is childcare. Then the mines are sucking them up,
with alot more to go.

Yes, people now can check barcode numbers and shop around. It keeps
retailers honest.

But all sorts of new jobs are being created by technology. Take
3d printers. There is enormous potential there for instance.

It seems to upset you that the world that existed 25 years ago, has
now changed. Well the most permanent thing in life is change.
That is the reality of it.