Cargo terms

Air Carrier
Airline, which carries or undertakes to carry the cargo under the air waybill or to perform any other services related to such air carriage including the airline issuing the Air Waybill.

Airline Code Numbers
The carrier's three-digit IATA airline code number i.e. 217- for TG

Air Waybill
The document made out by or on behalf of the shipper, which evidences the contract between the shipper and carrier(s) for carriage of goods over routes of the carrier(s).

Air Waybill Identification Label
An identification slip attached to packages.

Agent
A person or organization authorized to act on behalf of a carrier.

Apron
Parking area of an aircraft.

Backlog
Undelivered cargo or mail, held back because of weather or embargoes or flight cancellations

Bank Shipment
A shipment where the consignee is identified as bank and the actual consignee is listed under " Also notify".
(It is the carrier's responsibility to withhold delivery until the bank has authorized a release in writing or by fax).

Belly
The space below the main deck of an aircraft used for carrying baggage, mail or cargo.

Block Time
A period of actual time between departure and arrival.

Bonded Area
Space authorized by customs officials as suitable for storing uncleared consignments.

Booking
A request for cargo space on an aircraft.

Break Bulk Agent
An agent who breaks consolidations into their individual part.

Bulk Cargo
Loose cargo not loaded on a pallet or in a container.

Cargo
Any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft other than mail or other property carried under the terms of an international postal convention, baggage or property of the carrier; provided that baggage moving under an Air Waybill is cargo.

Cargo Charges Correction Advice (CCA)
A document used for the notification of changes to charges and/or method of payment inserted on an AWB.

Cargo Community System (CCS)
A means of electronically transmitting messages between airline and cargo agents member.

Cargo Ground Handling Agent
An authorized agent acting on behalf of carrier on manipulating freight.

Certificate of Origin
Document to prove the place of growth, production or manufacture of goods specified thereon.

Charge
An amount to be paid for carriage of goods based on the applicable rate for such carriage, or an amount to be paid for a special or incidental service in connection with the carriage of goods.

Charges Collect (CC)
The charges entered on the Air Waybill or shipment record for collection from the consignee against delivery of the shipment.

Charges Prepaid (PP)
The charges entered on the Air Waybill for payment by the shipper.

Charter
An aircraft or flight operating under a charter contract.

Charter Contract
An agreement where a carrier places the entire capacity of an aircraft at a shipper's disposal.

Claims
A request for refunds or compensation (by shippers or their agents) for loss or damage to cargo due to reasons within the control of the carrier.

Classification
A listing of articles in classes for rating purposes.

Commercial Invoice
Written record of transaction between seller and buyer, listing agreed prices and other charges; outlines goods sold, weights, terms of sale, shipping marks, etc.

Commission
A percentage of weight charge shown on the Air Waybill, paid by airline to its agent for services performed.

Commodity
Cargo contents, e.g. leathers etc.

Compartment
A space designated within a hold.

Conditions of Carriage
The terms and conditions established by a carrier in respect to its carriage.

Conditions of Contract
The terms and conditions shown on the reverse of the Air Waybill.

Consignee
The person or firm whose name appears on the Air Waybill as the party to whom the goods are to be delivered by the carrier.

Consignment
See Shipment

Consolidation
Different consignments grouped together and covered by one Air Waybill (Master Air Waybill) with separate House Air Waybill issued by the forwarder for each individual consignment.

Consolidator
A person or organization performing a consolidation.

Consular Invoice
A prescribed form of invoice required by a transit or destination country. Usually legalized by the consulate of that country concerned for a fee.

Container
A certified container that interfaces directly with an aircraft restraint system and meets all restraint requirements without the use of supplementary equipment.

Contents
A description of goods as declared by the shipper in the "nature and quantity of goods" box of the Air Waybill.

Contoured
A shaped unit load device closely fitted to suit the aircraft envelope and to utilize the maximum space available.

Customs Broker
An agent designated to perform inbound customs clearance for the consignee.

Customs Clearance
Customs formalities to be completed at origin, in transit and at destination.

Damage
Harm done to goods during transportation that impairs their value or usefulness.

Damage Report
A form to be completed when goods are damaged.

Dangerous Goods
Special Cargo

Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR)
Regulations listing all dangerous goods and giving detailed instructions regarding packing and handling of these materials.

Declared Value for Carriage
The value of goods declared to the carrier by the shipper for the purpose of determining charges or of establishing the limit of the carrier's liability for loss, damage or delay. It is also the basis for possible applicable valuation charges.

Delivery Receipt
A receipt signed by the consignee as proof that the goods have been delivered to him.

Density
The relationship of weight to volume in a unit i.e. lb per ft3 or kg per m3

Destination
The ultimate stopping place of the goods according to the contract of carriage.

Dimension (DIMS)
Length, width and height of items measured in centimeters or inches used to determine applicable rates and for general information.

Diplomatic Bag/Pouch
Diplomatic Bag or Pouch contains official correspondence that moves between a government and its accredited representatives abroad, or between the mentioned representatives, supported by a Declaration of Diplomatic Immunity covered by the IATA air waybill.

Diversion
A change to the planned destination during the flight.

Dolly
A towed vehicle with a roller platform for hauling ULDs between the cargo terminal and the airplane.

EDI For Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT)
Electronic exchange of pre-defined messages, structured according to agreed standards between computer systems, with no manual intervention.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Electronic messages between two or more parties.

Embargo
Refusal by a carrier to accept goods for transportation, usually applies over a limited period.

Flight number
The designation of a flight.

Forwarder
An agent or company who performs services (such as receiving, trans-shipping or delivering) designed to assure and facilitate the passage of goods.

Free port
A defined area where goods are received, stored and shipped free of customs duty.

Freight
(see cargo)

Freighter
An aircraft designed solely for cargo carriage.

General Cargo
Any consignment other than special cargo.

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
The meridian from which all time zones are calculated (Greenwich England) for instance; local time Bangkok is 7 hours ahead of GMT (GMT+7).

Gross Weight
The weight of a shipment involving all packing.

Handling (Cargo)
Manipulating freight.

Highloader
A vehicle with elevated platform capable of loading/unloading freight to/from aircraft.

House Air Waybill
A document issued by a consolidator for instructions to the break bulk agent. Always attached to Master Air Waybill.

IATA
Abbreviation for International Air Transport Association with issues rules and regulations pertaining to the air industry.

IATA Cargo Agent
An agent approved by IATA and registered in the IATA Cargo Agency List. This enables the agent, upon authorization of the IATA carrier, to receive shipments, execute air waybills and collect charges.

ICAO
Abbreviation for International Civil Aviation Organization with responsible for implementing security rules for civil aviation.

Interline Carriage
Transportation of goods from origin to destination by two or more carriers.

Last Carrier
The participating carrier over whose air routes the last section of carriage under the air waybill is undertaken or performed; or for the purposes of determining the responsibility for collecting charges collect and disbursement amounts, means the airline which delivers the consignment to the consignee whether or not that airline has participated in the carriage.

Letter of Credit (L/C)
A letter from one bank to another bank, by which a third party, usually a customer is able to obtain money.

Liability Limitation
Liability for loss, delay, or damage to cargo is limited unless a higher value is declared in advance and additional charges are paid. The liability limit is USD20/gross kilogram or equivalent.

Live Animal Regulations (LAR)
IATA publication with regulations governing the transportation of live animals.
Special Cargo Live Animal

Loose cargo
- see Bulk cargo

Manifest
Official list of cargo onboard a flight.

Master Air Waybill
An Air Waybill covering a consolidated shipment, showing the consolidator as shipper, with House Air Waybills attached.

Narrow-bodied Aircraft
A single aisle aircraft capable of carrying bulk cargo only.

Net weight
The weight of goods excluding all packing.

No Customs Value (NCV)
Goods with no value declared on the Air Waybill for Customs purposes.

No Show Cargo
Reserved cargo space that is not used and not cancelled.

No Value Declared for Carriage (NVD)
Goods with no value declared on the Air Waybill for the purpose of determining charges or of establishing the limit of the carrier's liability for loss, damage or delay.

Origin
The starting place i.e. place of manufacturer or beginning point of carriage according to the contract of carriage.

Pallet
Fleet/ULD

Pallet Net
A special designed net used to secure goods on a pallet.

Part Shipment
A shipment with is not transported in total but in two or more parts.

Participant
Any party mentioned on the Air Waybill, includes the shipper, agent and carrier.

Proforma Invoice
An invoice that is sent in advance of goods supplied.

Proration
Division of joint rates or charges or revenue on an agreed basis between the carriers concerned.

Ramp
Parking area for aircraft where loading, unloading, refueling, parking and maintenance can be carried out.

Rate
The amount charged by a carrier for carriage of a unit of weight or volume or nature of goods.

Ready for Carriage
The condition in which a shipment must be delivered by an IATA Cargo Agent to an IATA carrier. The shipment and accompanying documents must be ready for immediate transportation.

Rerouting
The route altered from the originally specified on the Air Waybill.

Reservation
See Booking

Restricted Articles
Special Cargo Dangerous Goods

Road Feeder Service (RFS)
Truck operating as scheduled or non-scheduled flights.

Routing
The route of the air transportation as specified on the Air Waybill.

Scheduled Time of Arrival/Departure (STA/STD)
The departure/arrival times as published in official program.

Service Cargo
The cargo of the airline company or airline employee, which is transported free of charge or under discount on their route-net.

Shipment
One or more pieces of goods accepted by the carrier from one shipper at one time and at one address, receipted for in one lot and moving on one air waybill to one consignee at one destination address.

Shipper
The person or organization whose name appears on the Air Waybill as the party contracting with the carriers for carriage of goods.

Shipping Documents
Documents other than transportation receipts or transportation contracts, required to enable shipment to be forwarded or received.

Short-shipped
Cargo included in a flight manifest but not loaded onto the aircraft.

Shortage
A loss or reduction i.e. a loss in weight compared with the weight originally stated on the air waybill or loss of part of a consignment upon delivery at destination.

Slimbody Aircraft (S/B)
See Narrowbody Aircraft

Slot
The allotted take-off and landing time.
The timing of landing and take-off allocation.

Special Cargo
Special Cargo
A consignment that contains cargo which requires special handling according to a nature of goods.

Surcharge
Additional or extra charges.

Tare Weight
Weight of the empty ULDs (pallet or container)

Tariff
The published rates, charges and/or related conditions or carriage of a carrier.

Terminal
Either end of a carrier line, e.g. airports are often referred to as terminals.

The Air Cargo Tariff (TACT)
An official publications published by IATA. The publication consists of 3 volumes:

TACT Rules Book (Orange): General rules, standards information

TACT Rates Book (Green): Rates for worldwide except North America

TACT Rates Book (Red): Rates for North America

Trace
To try locate freight or an Air Waybill missing on arrival.

Transfer
Transference of cargo between one (on) flight to another flight of the same or connecting carrier.

Transfer Cargo
Cargo arriving at a point by one carrier and continuing by another carrier.

Transferring Carrier
The carrier who transfers a consignment to another carrier at a transfer point.

Transshipment
Transfer of cargo from one aircraft to another.

Transit
Goods arriving at a point and continuing on the same flight.

UN Number
The four-digit number assigned by the United Nations committee, identifying dangerous goods.

Unaccompanied Baggage
Baggage carried as cargo.

Unit Load Device (ULD)
A pallet or container Fleet/ULD

Unitization
Consolidation of multiple packages into a registered.

ULD Universal Time Co-ordinate (UTC)
See GMT

Valuable Cargo (VAL)
Special Cargo

Volume
Space as measured in cubic meters or feet (Length x Width x Height)

Weight Charge
A charge based on the weight of the goods being carried.

Wide-bodied Aircraft
A double aisle aircraft capable of carrying ULDs and loose/bulk mail/cargo

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Selling on ebay : is it worth it ? not for low value listings

The Fee Illustrator on http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/FeeIllustrator.html is a program done by ebay to compare fees in the selling options that they offer. ( please click on the picture to enlarge it ).

For instance a Basic store is the cheapest and most valuable shop option in the ebay offer, with 250 $ of total fees ( in June 2011 ) for a total monthly sale of 2000 $, ( excluding transport ) consisting in 40 shipments of 50 $ each. The transport cost of each shipment is 40 $. No shop to sell the same monthly amount on ebay would generate less fees  for sellers to pay.

At first glance this doesn't look bad, 250 is not a big percentage of 2000, a figure for a relatively high level of sales on ebay; but, especially as live plants are concerned this amount of fees turns out to be high when linked to several facts : first, at least 15 % of the sales plus their transport cost will have to be refunded to the dissatisfied customers. ( This figure of 15% may seem small though compared to the advantage of the high traffic on ebay platform ). Then Paypal fees are high especially for a country where drawing to the bank account a Paypal balance requires conversion at a Paypal exchange rate not favorable at all. For instance in Thailand receiving money on a Paypal account and drawing it to one's bank account generates a total payment to Paypal of about 4.5% of the amount. ( which is significantly more that the 3.4 % announced by Paypal before exchange rates are applied ).

Below is a cost simulation for a total monthly sale on ebay of 2000 $ of live plants from Thailand; our demonstration presents a surprising conclusion - an ebay sellers gets no more than 28 % of the price of the plants sold .. if this figure is not based on a too optimistic assumption. I assume that 40 EMS parcels are shipped per month, transport cost is 40 $, plant prices total 50 $ per parcel and 200 listings are done monthly.


Gross profit of 2000 $

The plants amount per shipment to 50$ and the transport cost is 80 % of this value. So the transport cost per month is 1600$. Here is a first problem for the seller : the transport cost is so high for the value of the order that it will generate high Paypal fees and high returns of transport costs to dissatisfied buyers when claims will be faced with. The transport cost refunded to the buyer is paid by the seller to the post office and it is lost for the seller.

minus 250 $ : they are the total ebay fees ( shop rental and all other fees ) as shown on the ebay Fee Illustrator. I assumed quite optimistically that no more than 200 listings would generate 40 sales. All listings are Auctions in this example, in order to save on fees ( with harder work and longer time sit at the computer of course ). If the 200 listings were 100 Auctions and 100 Fixed Price, the fees would be higher than 250$.
minus 240 $ , 12% in production or collect cost : land, labor, transport, inspection on site, infrastructure and maintenance etc. It is worthy to note that wherever in the world, land near a phytosanitary office cannot be cheap.

minus 58 $ as transport to the phytosanitary office & post : 70 km including return
minus 208 $ as phytosanitary documents & administrative costs : 5.2 $ X 40 shipments

minus 540 $ as refund of 15% of plant sales and associated transport

minus 90 $ as total Paypal fees on sales after drawing to bank account with conversion of currency

minus 72 $ as Paypal fees on transport cost after drawing to bank account with conversion of currency

plus 18 .4 $, this is a negative figure : Paypal graciously reimburses the fees paid on the 540 $ refunded above. Indeed 540 x 3.4% = 18.36, that must be deducted from the costs

Total : 560 $ or 28 % only is the net income before tax to the ebay seller from an initial sale of 2000 $ of live plants. Meanwhile ebay - Paypal gets 250 + 90 + 72 - 18.36 = 396.64 $
But few plant species with a value of 25 $ each can incur a so low transport cost by EMS. I was optimistic regarding the weight of the plants in my example.

Now take 2 more realistic situations, that occur frequently on ebay these days :

the sale of Hoya plants at 35$ for a cost of transport by EMS of 33$ ( 33/35 = 94%). The seller ships 50 parcels monthly ( 50 x 35 = 1750 ) Although the cost of production is assumed to be a mere 12%, only 101 $ are left to the seller at the end of the month ( 101/1750 = 5.76% ) !
These retailers exporting Hoya on ebay get 2 $ per sale of 35 $ of the plant price per parcel.




Then look at the sale of Plumeria cuttings on ebay. Let's say that a "super power seller" will sell monthly for 2000$ of cuttings at 14 $ per shipment, ( such as 2 cuttings at 7$ ), the transport cost being 187% of it, which will be 26$ by Small Parcel Air ( Plumeria cuttings are heavy ) Let us take again the Fee Illustrator :

We will sell 143 listings in the month, out of 5 x 143 = 715 . To save on fees we select Auctions. Our selling price will be 14 $ for a transport cost of 26 $. Once again ebay selects Basic store as the most valuable option for our 2000 $ sale per month. The total estimated ebay fees are 517 $ ( please click on the picture on the left to enlarge it )


The final profit to the seller has now dropped to - 23.5 % or minus 470 $ although I set the production cost at a low 12% of the sale. The value of the sale ( caused by the number of plants sold ) is too low per shipment, which generates too high transport costs, too high phytosanitary and document costs as those are spent per shipment ( 5.2$ per parcel ). The high transport cost refunded to dissatisfied buyers ( or would be competitors ) has a strong impact, even though fees on it are returned by Paypal.

Don't you believe my calculations showing that selling on ebay can often generate negative revenues, like this - 23.5 % of the plant price ? Go on ebay see prices of plumeria, number of those sold per parcel and the associated transport cost. Guess how many listings have been created per sale, and use the fee Illustrator... then do a little work on an excel sheet.


Left is the situation where the Plumeria are sent without documents : the net revenue does not appear negative, but it is only 16.55 % of the price, assuming that no more than 15 % of the buyers will claim replacement or refund, and still assuming quite optimistically that 715 listings will be enough to generate the monthly sale.





In the study case below I take a real example of a different kind from ebay : the seller is wise and set a minimum sale per shipment of 90 $ ( sets of 2 or 3 plants with possible substitutions I guess ) and EMS cost is 50 $. ( 56 % of 90 ). There are 12 pages in the shop, they display 360 listings. 50 listings are shipped monthly.
The fee Illustrator indicates that Fixed Price listings in a Premium shop is the best option, please click on the picture on the left to see the details.





The total ebay fees are 613$, Paypal takes 279.2$ ( 613 + 279.2 = 892.2 ) and from a monthly sale of 4500 $ the seller gets a net 2167$ or 48.15% .
Is selling on ebay worth it ? the answer is crystal clear : not for sales of low values with relative high transport costs. Many sellers pay from their savings to sell live plants on ebay ( especially heavy plants that generate high refunds of transport costs, also some sellers worsen their situation by biding and buying their own plants just to maintain their high rank in search engines among other costly techniques ); just because they are confident that a selling platform with so many member sellers worldwide can only offer great opportunities, whereas a few moments with a calculator in hands would have brought them the truth.

One could say " I let the dummies sell low value listings on ebay while enlightened people like me will only buy ". But this may not be sound reasoning. First because the risk of scam is obvious from a seller who has made the necessary calculations on an excel sheet before selling and as a consequence of non adapted listings views ebay as the buyers' accomplice giving them a license to rip off sellers. And it is not sound because the same plants should be offered in shops on non ebay sites at much cheaper prices ! Not convinced ? Take with me a real example again :Assuming a monthly sale at prices 20 % cheaper than on ebay ( 1600$ instead of 2000$ ) and fees of 50$ monthly plus 1.5% of total sales including transport ( this is the Yahoo offer in June 2011 ) we get the following figures :

Gross profit of 1600 $ : 2000 - 20%

minus 50 $ of Yahoo fixed fee

minus 48 $ as 1.5% Yahoo fee on sales including transport : 1.5% x 1600 and 1.5% x 40 x 40:
minus 240 $ in production cost : land, labor, transport, inspection on site, infrastructure and maintenance etc. It is worthy to note that wherever in the world, land near a phytosanitary office cannot be cheap. Here the production cost is 15% instead of 12% on ebay for the same plants sales

minus 58 $ as transport to the phytosanitary office & post : 70 km including return
minus 208 $ as phytosanitary documents & administrative costs : 5.2 $ X 40 shipments
minus 90 $ as total paypal fees on sales after drawing to bank account with conversion of currency

minus 72 $ as paypal fees on transport cost after drawing to bank account with conversion of currency


Total : 997 $ or about 62 % is the net income before tax to the seller on the Yahoo platform from an initial sale of 1600 $ of live plants.

If we compare in a nutshell ebay and Yahoo we can say that selling on Yahoo doubles the income left to the seller while prices of the purchases are decreased by 20 % in favor of the buyer.

ebay would be a better selling place both for sellers and buyers of live plants if lower fees were grasped, with the option to set a minimum order so the part of transport and document costs could be reduced thanks to a higher minimum of sale, with the possibility for sellers to rate the buyers so that refunds and replacements based on abusive buyers and would be competitors could be reduced.

And what about buyer protection ? purchases on ebay or Yahoo ( or any selling platform or site ) are guaranteed by the same protection from Paypal : a non arrived parcel of live plants will be refunded by Paypal but a claim on the basis of the item being Not Received As Described will be rejected by Paypal, whether the purchase was on ebay or on Yahoo. The differences between the two will lie only in the use of ratings, Yahoo having a rating system relatively more cumbersome to use than ebay.

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

The bureaucratic environment of the export of plants

We provide these documents with the shipment : Plant Invoice, Packing List, Phytosanitary Certificate and the Attached Sheets, CITES if needed ( and if you sent us your permit to import plants under the CITES, when this permit is needed before shipping ), the Form A ( which is also normally the Certificate of Origin ), the AWB ( Air Way Bill ). If we had to prepay your transport we will email you after shipping ( that can takes a few days ) the Invoice of Transport, which is the amount on the AWB plus all local charges.

You can see samples of such documents below.

- Question : should we do a contract ?
So far none of our customers or ourselves have used contracts to solve problems that may happen, although some importers require a contract to comply with their customs' rules. We accept only contracts on a single page and of course they must match our conditions of sales on the top of our order form ( our plant list on excel ). Please note that we are not responsible for delays or damage after the plants are loaded on the plane : our prices are " free on board " FOB. However we remain liable if the plants are intercepted by our fault.

- Question : can I use my own database to send you my order ?
We receive orders only on the excel sheet that we sent you as our plant list. On this list you will have entered the quantities. The Thai names in the rightmost column must not be deleted, we need these names. ( you may see them as awkward characters on your screen )

- Question : can the names of my plants match the names in your documents ?
In order to make the many necessary documents , such as the phytosanitary certificate, and decrease the probability of errors from all involved partners, the number of names has to be limited as much as possible and they must be taken from an internet database of the Thai department of agriculture; for instance we will write "HOYA SPP" instead of listing 25 Hoya species.

- Question : can you write the full names of the plants on the labels ?
We will request a fee for this, or you can send us your own labels and we will tie them to the plants, otherwise we use codes of 3 letters. The codes and the corresponding plant names are listed alphabetically on Invoice and Packing list.

- Question : can you make a Certificate of Origin ?
Yes, issuing this certificate ( it is usually the form A ) requires that the plants be sent to the airport about one day in advance.

.................................................... Our Registration Certificate as a Controlled Plant Exporter under the Quarantine Act of the department of Agriculture :



.................................................... Plant Invoice : plant names are selected from a database on the internet the day that we ship : some names from our list have to be changed to match the database.


.................................................... Packing List : very cumbersome when the number of units per species is small. The cut below shows that this document would be almost useless or non feasible under 5 units per plant. The Volume Weight is the volume divided by 6000.


.................................................... Check List by our agent. If a document could not be done before loading on the plane, for instance the Form A, the original will be sent on a flight or by express courier.


.................................................... Phytosanitary Certificate


.................................................... Attached Sheet of the Phytosanitary Certifcate 1 of 5. The additional declaration is requested by the importer, by our agent or is under the decision of the agents of the Thai Dpt. of Agriculture.


.................................................... Attached Sheet of the Phytosanitary Certifcate 2 of 5


.................................................... Attached Sheet of the Phytosanitary Certifcate 3 of 5



.................................................... Form A ( Certificate of Origin )



.................................................... Air Way Bill ( AWB ). The phone number of the consignee must be on it


.................................................... Invoice of Transport : we get it after plants are sent. It includes all charges, Phto. certif., overtime, local charges etc.



Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

I will open my plant shop, will lower prices than competitors draw me consumers ?

Do you intend to open your plant shop ? This is probably a good idea, data in your country on ornamental plant and flower activities would certainly show that these sectors have not lost jobs since the rise of the large scale supermarkets, while many other economic activities have constantly reduced employment, losing the added value originating in the past from selling time in small shops. The wide varieties of plants constitute an obstacle to the concentration of sales and the subsequent structural unemployment caused by the large distributors.

However you can be tempted to think that by offering much cheaper prices than your already established competitors, you would attract many clients. This is usually not true and would cause the number of clients to shrink, from the following series of events, that can be tested by observing shops on ebay or any other selling platform :
- nowadays through internet your competitors will immediately get information on your prices and plant size or plant quality, so they will immediately lower their prices to match yours.
- too low retail prices of plants decrease their value both in the minds of the buyers who lose interest in them and as re-seller's revenue.
- with a shrinking interest simultaneously from final consumers and re-sellers in their plants the producers will stop quickly to offer them, and they will be out of the market. Finally all players : consumer, reseller and producer will have lost from an initial drop in retail price.

Are you still skeptical ? follow up for a few months on ebay a new plant shop that starts with very low prices, see how fast their competitors are leaving and see in the appropriate page how many sales they manage to do per month, calculate their revenue ( usually about 50% of the final prices if all fees, production costs and hidden costs are included ). Then after some time of very low sales and useless damage to the market you will observe them rising their prices to the initial market level and competitors coming back; selling too cheap would make you the sole seller for a very short time as you would stop soon to make new consumers and the long term repeat clients would also leave all shops little by little. Ask yourself : if plants that you are fond of were in the market as common as weed wouldn't you as other people drop interest in them ?
Try instead to offer choices that your competitors do not offer yet, something new that buyers will not compare to your competitor's offers.


Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Plants available retail can be added to your wholesale order

Some plants are available retail on aleyagarden.com but they are not yet on our wholesale list / order form. Depending on availability they can however be included in a wholesale order.

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com