Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Enter the Honourable Judge's favourite tavern for a dram of Tittle Tattle. There's an ancient bandit in the corner, but I forget his name...
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moonriver
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by moonriver »

you've been watching Ken Dodd again! !THUMBS!
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coppinpr
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by coppinpr »

any one remember a pyramid marketing scam a few years back that involved buying un hatched ostrich eggs, sounds un believable but it really did exist :!?!:
it never really took off (the only ostrich pun I could think of) in the UK but here are the details of the USA version

"4 Feathered Own Nests in Ostrich Scam, SEC Alleges
Courts: Suit accuses O.C. group of taking $800,000 from investors in a bird-breeding venture.
June 24, 1998|

Four Orange County residents operating as the Ostrich Group Inc. duped investors out of $800,000 in a bird-breeding scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission contended in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Investors were told the money would be used to buy breeder ostriches and sell the offspring, "generating substantial cash-flow revenues in a very short while," the SEC said in its complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The SEC said Ostrich Group's pitch was: "You own--we board, sit back and watch your empire grow." The company guaranteed each breeding ostrich would produce 20 eggs per breeding season, the agency said.

But the suit contends the proceeds mostly feathered the defendants' nests from late 1995 through June 1997.

"There were supposed to be 247 birds, and there were two," said Lisa A. Gok, assistant director of the SEC's Los Angeles office."

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badpenny
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

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It was tried here as well, I remember a colleague at work falling for it.
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operator bell
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

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Ostrich meat tastes horrible - like gamey turkey, but dry and hard to swallow. I had an ostrich burger once in California. Never again. I wouldn't feed it to my dog.

Back on topic, I've been following the thread but haven't joined in yet. It's been a long time since I was in Britain so I'm out of touch with prices, but 825 pounds seems awfully high to me. What was the retail price of these electrics in Japan? In Turkey? In the USA you would expect to pay 600 dollars, maybe less. You can buy a 50cc scooter for that price. The people who buy these things over here don't have much money. They couldn't care less about being green and non polluting, they only care about cheap. And a government subsidy sounds like a slender branch to go out on. A month after you take out a loan and order a few containers, with personal guarantees of course, the policy may change and leave you with stuff you can only sell at a loss. Or the EU might discover there's some company in Poland that makes something similar and slap 100% import duty on them, like it did with computer printers to protect Mannesman Tally, or VCRs to protect Phillips. This is not an investment I'd be prepared to make without at the very least some solid research into what price the market will stand. I would expect that to be not more than 500 pounds. And to sell at that price, I'd want an FOB price of 200 pounds or less.
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coppinpr
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

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This is not an investment I'd be prepared to make without at the very least some solid research into what price the market will stand.
Which,as I said, is why Im buying a test batch to test the water


The price is actually very cheap for an electric bike, I was in a top electric bike shop in outer London on Thursday doing a deal to put one of our bikes into the shop as an addition to there(very extensive,over 20 types) range. I was under the impression that standard electric bikes (ones that look like a peddle bike) averaged about (a staggering) £1300 but the owner of the shop said "oh no, the average price in this shop is £2250 !!"

The factory sells these to chinese dealers for about £400 each if they buy 100!, shipping is cheap,duty is only 6% here,VAT is 20% and Im not buying 100 this time so you cant get these into the country for £500,they sell in China for more than £500

The research and market testing Ive done has found no problem with the price,even students and student unions ive talked to seem to think its cheap at the price.The price im charging for this test batch is low compared to the cost to me,Im not making the profit I should,I just need to test the demand with this lot. In Turkey they sell at between £800 and £1000, and they are clearing 2000 a month.In europe and on Ebay in the UK they are around £995.
The thing to bear in mind is the battery, If Id bought ones with lead acid battery the cost to me would be over $250 cheaper than the upgraded lithium types Ive ordered, The lead acid ones are,of course, useless. Lots of old electric bikes around with these but they wont get you to the end of the street and they make the bike very heavy. Also remember that in the USA this would have no use at all (except to put on the back of your camper as a runaround)
Remember, Im retired now,Im only doing this for fun,its not a business I need to rely on, its just an interest,like trying to find out why that Mills hi-top Ive had for years suddenly wont pay out...at all
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operator bell
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by operator bell »

Well I don't mean to be discouraging, and like I said, I don't know what the UK market will stand. I know you guys over there are used to paying arm+leg for everything, and I recall the VAT has to be included in the price (over here the tax is added on at the cash register), so that makes the actual price a slightly more reasonable 687 pounds. All you can do is suck it and see.
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coppinpr
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by coppinpr »

just out of interest look at these electric bike prices at my local E bike shop

https://www.electricbikessussex.co.uk/
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bryans fan
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by bryans fan »

I thought you had retired, surely not bored already! !PUZZLED!
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coppinpr
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

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I thought you had retired, surely not bored already!
Retire is just a word, for me it was always going to mean a change from one thing to another,retirement simply gave me the chance to get involved with projects/pastimes/even jobs that I wanted to do. I now have time for things like the bikes, I also teach a course for the U3a, promote professional sport, restore slot machines and travel the world... no I'm not bored. :cool:
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dutchboy
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by dutchboy »

If you can do the things you want to do coppinpr, then you can say you are a happy man!
Enjoy it
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bryans fan
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by bryans fan »

coppinpr wrote:Retire is just a word, for me...
Well done you. That is exactly how I hope to approach retirement, if I ever get there, doing things I enjoy and not doing the stuff that gets me down. Good luck in your venture.
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coppinpr
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by coppinpr »

Just a final post on the Electric bikes.

I launched them to the public at the Laughton Autumn show in Sept, really to get the product into the public eye and see if the interest I thought was there really was. We sold every bike and took orders for more ...on the first day, cash up front, people lining up to use the credit card machine.
I really thought the market would be students and younger people, hardly any young people showed any interest. ALL went to people over 60 years old, all said they wanted to get mobile again in a small way, get down to the village for the paper etc. One even went to Ireland. I told the guy ,"it's going to cost up to ship" and "better check the laws there are the same as here". "I got to have it", was his reply, soon as poss (I checked the laws for him, same as here, he's loving it, and tells me all his mates want one, so watch out for the electric biker pensioner BP.
I guess I'll get the expected replies telling me how irresponsible I am to let the elderly creep up behind you on an electric bike (I've already heard on here I'm irresponsible to allow 14 year olds to do it). :lol:
Anyway, got a large batch arriving 12th Dec if anyone wants one. :cool:
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badpenny
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

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There you go then .... !!HIDING!!

Who would have thought it ..... all the way to Ireland you say, was that on one charge? !PUZZLED!
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coppinpr
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Re: Your thoughts on a non slot subject please

Post by coppinpr »

Yes, one charge, and still enough power to go down to the chemist, the removable floats (available at a small extra charge from Coppins-E-bikes) worked very well on the crossing (being from a north eastern province you might not realise there is a sea between England and Ireland :-? )
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