Ebay can be cool for some things, I just designed a mates salon and I saved him about $10,000.00 thanks to ebay...... 2 X $5000.00 chairs at $550 each was just a starting point.

No point biting the hand that feeds.

But where do they get the stuff ???

Do they buy it abroad ? Do they steal it ?

stealing it is a good point!!!

remember the guy in edinburgh who stole thousands of GHD products from the salon and sold it on ebay!

One of my clients had a laptop stolen on the train and 2 days later she saw it on ebay!

with regards to insurance is actually a great point, if a reaction occures i dont think a person will be covered if they would take a product for analysis an whatever was in pot under a brands name will be something completely different!

EMA monomers sold could well appear to be MMA!!! Thats my biggest fear!

When i buy gels i always open pots before i pay to ensure they are full, my distributor does not mind me checking it))) How likely am i to check out on ebay?

I also once saw CND Brisa liquid bond listed as NAIL GLUE

Shocking

My thoughts on this are ....

Being able to buy from ebay means that untrained people will buy....untrained people then think they can play at being a nail tech...lets face it...we do make it look easy......they then "think" they are doing a good job cos its just about "slapping the stuff on ain't it"....infact they know nothing and ruin peoples nails....those people with their red, thin and damaged nails then go round saying..."nail enhancements ruin ya nails"....thus giving "us" a bad name and damaging our industry.

Also if its a pro product that a non pro has brought from ebay or any other un authorised place then sets about using it...all wrong cos they have not had the product training....this can then give that company a bad name....non pro..MIYTH..."yeah i have used Creative and its rubbish"...FACT...they brought Creative from ebay with no idea how to use it !!!

second reason....

"we" dislike the NSS places....with their cheep nails and undercutting our prices....we moan about how busy they are and how we are struggling for clients....if we go down the buying stock on ebay instead of our distributors then are we not now the NSS....??? are we not doing to our distributors what the NSS have been doing to us....?


Use your distributors or risk losing them.

For me the words 'Ebay' and 'Ethics' don't belong in the same sentence!!! My reasons for not buying PROFESSIONAL products off Ebay have alrady been stated: not knowing the origin of the product, invalidating insurance, cheapening the industry, strangling distributors and short-changing clients..... I'm not prepared to do it to save a few pennies.

I love Ebay for personal stuff - household bits, bags etc but professional is as professional does and if we want to be respected as professionals we need to have our houses in order. Feel free to buy a mobile box or trolley, salon chair or desk, rhinestones etc from Ebay, but l&p, gel, adhesive, tips, no chance.

I think as a general rule, it's difficult to buy beauty products on ebay with any guarantee of satisfaction. Perhaps the reason some of those dealers are ON ebay in the first place is because they can't sell product through their own shops, due to quality issues? I don't know.

There are those of us on ebay who offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So if the seller does have a return policy... check their feedback. Anyone with less than 100 feedback, and less than 5 years membership on ebay-- could be suspect.

I never buy anything on ebay from people who have less than 100% feedback.

Cat

According to my source, there are some valid beauty supply sellers on e-bay.
A good friend of mine (I’ll call him Mr.O) sells in bulk to beauty suppliers.

Sunday we did an e-bay search and found many "his" professional products. We discussed this and my conclusion is, those “types” of suppliers are hurting. Mr. O stated that bulk sales have dropped way down. To get even more personal, some of his long term customer’s have “accidentally” bounced checks. These amounts are not in the 2 or 3 digit amounts. I'm talking the big Kahuna size checks.

One may ask? How could you trust this Mr. O person?
Mr. O has been providing nail supplies/private label for more some 26+ years to many of our wonderful brand named products.
Cause and effect, the domino effect, whatever, it's going to get worse before it gets better.
In saying that, my theory is=beauty supply businesses are not as easily able to sell to salons so they have taken to trying other avenues.
Another idea, that comes to me is, the “professionals” that have been working in the field, part time, side job, not as a regular income are dropping, to get jobs that will help pay their bills, again that has to hurt the Big Daddy beauty supply houses.

In the past, I noted (to myself) the e-bay sellers were selling small sized products for the larger size price and the shipping was extreme.

Personally, I cannot risk picking up products that are not worthy of my clients.

Boy, that 10 gallons of nail goo looks so good right about now.

I buy my tools from ebay such as tip cutters, because they are far cheaper than they are from the normal distributors, and they are the same quality. I just got a new tip cutter which cost me £5 inc p&p but to buy from the distributor is about £15 plus p&p.

Re buying professional products on ebay, I dont, I've tried but I had bad experiences. When Hyperion went bust I needed some tips desperately and bought some "genuine CND" tips on ebay. It was one of the 360 assorted size boxes, the cardboard insert in the lid was photocopied, and the tips were so not genuine CND ones!! Having said that though, I can completely see why people give ebay a try at least once, because as an industry we are seriously over-charged for some of the products that we buy. It is worth paying more for quality, but the majority of us are trying to keep small businesses afloat whilst also paying our bills. When we see cheaper products on ebay it is human nature to be tempted which is why we all seem to give it a go at least once. I dont think the issue of not passing on that saving to the customer makes us greedy, we are in business to make money after all, and a sharp business woman will explore all options to maximise her profit margin.

Personally I would advise people against using ebay for professional products, but that is based on my personal bad experiences and I can understand people feeling the need to give it a go for themselves.

the problem would allways be how do you know what u are buying, is the product orginal or a copy, they would not supply msds with there product. All suppliers should be able to give u this?This is purchasing through ebay?

Maybe you should get in the real world and off your cotton wool nail wipe cloud...

Here is the title of a current post.

Gutted clients can't afford nail maintenance

It's not a joke.

There are loads of salons struggling at the moment and passing on savings is a great way to retain clients.

NK

Yes it is, but I'm willing to bet that in the bygone good times people didn't pass on any savings very much. These times are, for a goodly number of young people here, unprecedented. We oldies have seen recession before (some of us more than once!)

That's a very good point, Calla. Listening to the voices of experienced professionals, who have weathered economic seasons like this -- or worse (remember the recession of the 1970's?) have alot to share when it comes to practial ways of building our businesses in the midst of tough economic times.

Cat

There really isn't any need to throw personal insults is there?

Why not just answer the question, 'loads' can be any number plucked out of thin air... how many professional therapists do you know who buy their products from Ebay and pass on the savings to their clients?

It pains me to use the words professional and Ebay in the same sentence

Oh yes - rubbish building up in the streets, Green Goddesses putting out fires, bodies going unburied, 3 day working week and lengthy power cuts.
We got through all that; no doubt we'll come through this too. And hopefully with a little more sense than before. Or is it that we'll never learn?!

Yes, I remember it vivdly and the waiting in the evenings for your area's allocation of electricity!