SeasWest fishing rigs.

[kevothefish]

I had a go at making rigs for a while, mainly for the club I was in at the time. I used the sliding silicone stops for adjustment due to lost hook links. Made sets of feathers on 80lb mono, couldn't make any of it pay. Hats off to Kev, I certainly couldn't do it, between sore hands and the thought of tieing rigs for myself to use started to stop my enjoyment of fishing. Much respect to those that do it for a living.

It is getting harder now mate with all the non-tax paying facebook sellers chasing each others price down. There is also a big price increase again from Royal Mail in October so my prices will have to increase to reflect this. I will probably do it for another year or so and then reassess if it is worth it.

 

[wingnut55]

It is getting harder now mate with all the non-tax paying facebook sellers chasing each others price down. There is also a big price increase again from Royal Mail in October so my prices will have to increase to reflect this. I will probably do it for another year or so and then reassess if it is worth it.

Royal Fail upping there 1st class to £1.25, they are having a feckin Giraffe...

Ian.

 

[wingnut55]

I prefer to get my rigs from Kev now, used to make all my own, but my fingers are not what they used to be, and like i stated before, all of Kev's rigs are top notch..

Ian.

 

[Mr Fish]

It is getting harder now mate with all the non-tax paying facebook sellers chasing each others price down. There is also a big price increase again from Royal Mail in October so my prices will have to increase to reflect this. I will probably do it for another year or so and then reassess if it is worth it.

I take it the Facebook sellers are basically breaking the tax rules then?

 

[kevothefish]

I take it the Facebook sellers are basically breaking the tax rules then?

yup - most are doing it for beer money, buying the cheapest components they can find on ali-express or Wish, then trying to undercut the others doing the same. They do not generally last long as once a customer loses a decent fish due to component failure then they will not buy again and look elsewhere. Same with all these damn rod/rig/reel raffles that flood social media. If HMRC did a sweep of the rig makers they would have great fun - some of the bigger ones still do it unregistered and ask for payment via either bank transfer or paypal friends and family.

 

[Trampster]

I take it the Facebook sellers are basically breaking the tax rules then?

As you may know, I avoid Facemuck totally, so haven't seen any, but you are right.

Going slightly off track, I looked at a guy's page selling expensive 2nd hand Tackle on eBay yesterday - I think he's been mentioned on the Dark side a few times, so you probably know who I mean.
He's selling on eBay as a private seller, but his trading name is Used_rodsnreels_Ltd, and his company is registered on Companies house.

Quite how he can be a private seller since he's obviously running a Ltd company business is beyond me. Again, Tax avoidance?

 

[kevothefish]

As you may know, I avoid Facemuck totally, so haven't seen any, but you are right.

Going slightly off track, I looked at a guy's page selling expensive 2nd hand Tackle on eBay yesterday - I think he's been mentioned on the Dark side a few times, so you probably know who I mean.
He's selling on eBay as a private seller, but his trading name is Used_rodsnreels_Ltd, and his company is registered on Companies house.

Quite how he can be a private seller since he's obviously running a Ltd company business is beyond me. Again, Tax avoidance?

It varies by item type, some business fees are higher than personal fees.

Not to mention eBay do occasionally notice the problem and require the seller to upgrade the account.

 

[Beach]

It is getting harder now mate with all the non-tax paying facebook sellers chasing each others price down. There is also a big price increase again from Royal Mail in October so my prices will have to increase to reflect this. I will probably do it for another year or so and then reassess if it is worth it.

Maybe cheaper to forget to put a stamp on it, only £1.20 or so, possibly going up again.

 

[Trampster]

It varies by item type, some business fees are higher than personal fees.

Not to mention eBay do occasionally notice the problem and require the seller to upgrade the account.

If there's an error or problem, and I can get to speak to a Humanoid on eBay, they usually sort it, but trying to report issues with listings online is a waste of time.

We were looking for a pair of cordless phones to replace our old ones. There was a business seller with a listing for the Panasonic phones we wanted, but the images showed a totally different model that was years older than the ones we have.

Messaged the seller and queried it - no response, so messaged eBay via social media early in March, and they said they would investigate the listing. Nothing ever got done, the listing is still up today showing the incorrect images, and the item is still for sale. Unsold I presume because other potential buyers have seen the same error as I did.

Ebay sellers generally are pretty good, I've bought over 500 various items on there over many years of using the site, and I would guess about 1% have turned out to be a problem.

 

[kevothefish]

Maybe cheaper to forget to put a stamp on it, only £1.20 or so, possibly going up again.

£1.20 plus the original postage fee

 

[Beach]

£1.20 plus the original postage fee

Kin Swiss are ripoff merchants in that case Kev.

 

[kevothefish]

Kin Swiss are ripoff merchants in that case Kev.

all about profits mate. the customer comes second in all cases.

 

[kevothefish]

If there's an error or problem, and I can get to speak to a Humanoid on eBay, they usually sort it, but trying to report issues with listings online is a waste of time.

We were looking for a pair of cordless phones to replace our old ones. There was a business seller with a listing for the Panasonic phones we wanted, but the images showed a totally different model that was years older than the ones we have.

Messaged the seller and queried it - no response, so messaged eBay via social media early in March, and they said they would investigate the listing. Nothing ever got done, the listing is still up today showing the incorrect images, and the item is still for sale. Unsold I presume because other potential buyers have seen the same error as I did.

Ebay sellers generally are pretty good, I've bought over 500 various items on there over many years of using the site, and I would guess about 1% have turned out to be a problem.

eBay is not so bad now that they have tracking for large letter post. As a result the scammers that try to say 'never got it' have been reduced by 90%. Only problem with eBay is that in order to sell you will need to use promoted listings which will take your fees up to around 20 - 25% of your sale.

 

[Mr Fish]

yup - most are doing it for beer money, buying the cheapest components they can find on ali-express or Wish, then trying to undercut the others doing the same. They do not generally last long as once a customer loses a decent fish due to component failure then they will not buy again and look elsewhere. Same with all these damn rod/rig/reel raffles that flood social media. If HMRC did a sweep of the rig makers they would have great fun - some of the bigger ones still do it unregistered and ask for payment via either bank transfer or paypal friends and family.

Feckers

HMRC usually get people in the end but I suppose it’s not too urgent for them to chase the beer money lot when they can fry bigger fish?

 

[Fishlife]

I used the wsb uptide hooks for a while but some packs would be spot whilst others would be almost rubber hooks where they must have got the tempering wrong. I still have some packs of their galvanised crab hooks which are very strong and I have had double figure congers out on the 2/0's - they do need to be individually checked and some points touched up.

I won 25 packets in a raffle at a local match.
Kid you not but every single hook had eyes that had not been formed corre tly and I would say 40% of those actually had no points.
Now it could be that the person donating them was trying to off load them.. untill I inspected a few packs in my local shop 50 miles away from said donating shop to find most of them hung on the hooks in the shop were the same.
When I pointed this out to the owner he was shocked and admitted that he hadnt bothered to check them as he put them out ( busy shop ) he no longer stocks their stuff as a inexspensive option and is now stocking koik.

 

[kevothefish]

I won 25 packets in a raffle at a local match.
Kid you not but every single hook had eyes that had not been formed corre tly and I would say 40% of those actually had no points.
Now it could be that the person donating them was trying to off load them.. untill I inspected a few packs in my local shop 50 miles away from said donating shop to find most of them hung on the hooks in the shop were the same.
When I pointed this out to the owner he was shocked and admitted that he hadnt bothered to check them as he put them out ( busy shop ) he no longer stocks their stuff as a inexspensive option and is now stocking koik.

It's the problem when everyone is buying from the same asian factories and trying to undercut each others retail prices. The little men from the Land of the Rising Sun watch this and rub their hands together saying. 'Velly Velly Good' whilst pulling out all the rejects from the rubbish bins and packing them up as saleable...

I had the same with Koike - ordered 5000 swivels a couple of years ago and they all stuck and would not turn. Richard over at Koike did replece and send the whole bad batch back to the factory so it is not a new thing. I use CJT Power swivels now - 100% reliable.

 

[Ollieollie]

It's the problem when everyone is buying from the same asian factories and trying to undercut each others retail prices. The little men from the Land of the Rising Sun watch this and rub their hands together saying. 'Velly Velly Good' whilst pulling out all the rejects from the rubbish bins and packing them up as saleable...

I had the same with Koike - ordered 5000 swivels a couple of years ago and they all stuck and would not turn. Richard over at Koike did replece and send the whole bad batch back to the factory so it is not a new thing. I use CJT Power swivels now - 100% reliable.

I use the cjt as well. Quality stuff. Do you buy in bulk?

 

[kevothefish]

I use the cjt as well. Quality stuff. Do you buy in bulk?

yes mate - I have a trade account with them.

 

[kevothefish]

Spoke too soon about nobody raising a 'not delivered' request from a customer on eBay for ages. They raised it on Friday and despite me asking them to wait a few days, close the request and just message me direct, started asking for a replacement set and messaging me even before Monday's post arrived, 'Where are my rigs'.. In some areas now Royal mail are only delivering 2 or 3 times a week due to 'Staff shortages'.

So it is either the post has been actually delayed or more likely it was not scanned by the postman and matey is after a free set of replacements.. Policy with me is always to refund and block them totally from seeing me in any shape or form if my Spider Senses start tingling and tell me it's a scammer... (if the request is not processed with the short time eBay gives you, the customer is automatically refunded and can simply go and order again and rinse and repeat a- I would get a 'black mark' and my sales will be reduced).

Anyway, compared to some sellers I do ok as generally the vast majority of eBay angling buyers are decent normal people. Now that is sorted back to clearing today's orders and working out when it is best for me to go fishing this week

 

[Trampster]

Spoke too soon about nobody raising a 'not delivered' request from a customer on eBay for ages. They raised it on Friday and despite me asking them to wait a few days, close the request and just message me direct, started asking for a replacement set and messaging me even before Monday's post arrived, 'Where are my rigs'.. In some areas now Royal mail are only delivering 2 or 3 times a week due to 'Staff shortages'.

So it is either the post has been actually delayed or more likely it was not scanned by the postman and matey is after a free set of replacements.. Policy with me is always to refund and block them totally from seeing me in any shape or form if my Spider Senses start tingling and tell me it's a scammer... (if the request is not processed with the short time eBay gives you, the customer is automatically refunded and can simply go and order again and rinse and repeat a- I would get a 'black mark' and my sales will be reduced).

Anyway, compared to some sellers I do ok as generally the vast majority of eBay angling buyers are decent normal people. Now that is sorted back to clearing today's orders and working out when it is best for me to go fishing this week

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I always message the seller first if there's an issue. Give them chance to sort it before involving eBay.
There does seem to be a habit going on lately of some sellers (not you!) getting an online tracking number, and not actually sending the item out for days afterwards.
I had one batch of items turn up that all failed within 3 days (electric Salt & Pepper mills), messaged the seller twice and no response, so then, and only then got eBay involved for a refund.