What do you think of Usborne?

[nicolajcurtis]

Hello, I joined Usborne as an Organiser about 2 months ago, as a way of trying to work without having to put the children in childcare too much and a way for me to be free in the school holidays.

I really love their books, and I would love for it to work, BUT I feel there is a stigma attached to it wherever I go, can I have your opinions please? What do you think when you see someone like me with my books at a fair/shopping evening etc? Would you buy the books? If not, why not?

I am just trying to work out if it is all worth it and if I should carry on.

Thank you
Nicola

OK, so if you saw an Usborne stall that said all the books for sale on the table could not be bought anywhere else any cheaper, would you be more likely to buy them (i.e. if I looked into it and only sold the books I couldn't find cheaper anywhere else) ? and I offered them slightly cheaper than RRP, or if they showed the current price on Amazon, the book people, wh smiths, waterstones etc. or would you still not be willing to buy them?

No I wouldn't, usborne are nice enough books, but there are lots of nice books out there that you can get for a reasonable price.

Don't make the mistake and think that people will be exclusively loyal to the brand.

I would buy one or two at rrp if you were friend or family, and if you kept banging on about it after that I'd be avoiding you.

Meant to add, slightly cheaper is still a rip off.

Think of it another way.
If I had a bakery, and the Christmas fair at school was coming up, and I offered to sell mince pies at it.
Three scenarios:
If I sold mince pies for what they sold in my bakers shop, sure people could get mince pies, but I'd be using the school to get sales, school does not benefit at all. Parents would see I'm using school and them to make money.
2- i could sell mince pies at cost, so people get cheaper mince pies- I get sales, but no profit, but people are happy because they got cheaper mince pies, and they'd see how tasty they were, so I'd likely get more people coming to my shop later, boosting my profits (obviously doesn't work if your product isn't good!!)
3- I could donate mince pies to school that they can sell to benefit school funds. People get cheaper mince pies, school makes money, people sample my delicious wares and then buy more from my shop. I get free advertising, you really cannot beat personal recommendation, and school get some funds, so I'm seen as a nice person too.
Now which scenario does your business model fit into?

Wow, there really is negativity surrounding it.

So, do you always feel like this when you buy something in a shop? You know that shops buy their products at about 50% of what they sell them for, so do you feel ripped off then?

If I do school fairs, I pay to have a stall, so that fee benefits the school. Surely I cant be expected to give all my books to the school for free when I have paid for them? Would you go to work for free? I very often make no money at all, if I pay £15 for a stall, I have to sell £62.50 of books to even get my money back.

There are lots of people who have stalls at schools, selling items they have made, and that doesn't benefit the school any more than Usborne having a stall does.

I do believe some of Usborne's books are expensive, but I also think some of them are good value, but how can you be ripping people off by selling books at their RRP? You buy most other things at RRP, i.e. toilet rolls, food etc, yes there are sometimes offers which you will take up, but you will still buy them if they are full price. Then you would you feel ripped off if you then saw those toilet rolls at another shop cheaper? Its just one of those things.

Wow, I certainly didn't expect people to think I am a bad person just for trying to sell books!

People shop around for things now. I get my toilet rolls from Costco, no way would I pay morrisons price!

Nobody said you are a bad person for selling books. People are saying you will have a very limited circle to sell to. And friends and family will only feel obligated to buy a couple.

I wouldn't buy an expensive book at the school fair. We have the book people come into school and I've had some amazing bargains. I just had their flash sale email. £10 for 10 Julia Donaldson books in a gruffalo tote bag, £20 for 15 Roald Dahl books and loads of similar offers.

I really wouldn't invest too heavily in this, people look to bypass the middle man these days. You keep going back to the rrp, but they set their own rrp, that doesn't mean that the books are worth it.

Here are my thoughts:

I like the books, but not any more so than other similar ones. And I don't think there are any that I would think I HAD to have. So, I wouldn't be judging against 'RRP' which is a meaningless figure anyway, I would be judging against how I could by a similar (not even the same) book. So I would be thinking - should I just borrow it from the library, or should I look online and see what else I can buy (generally for birthday or Christmas presents). And (don't know what the RRPs are) but I would have a figure in mind of between £1 and £4 a book, depending on what they are, because I know I can buy that elsewhere.

And there is something else. If I want a business interaction, I tend not to want that with a friend, or even a social acquaintance. It sort of muddies the waters about what the relationship is. For example, I would be happy to pay a babysitter to look after my children, I would not be happy to pay a friend to do the same thing. In fact I would prefer to pay a babysitter because paying a friend would start to feel like putting a monetary value on a 'relationship'.

So I am happy to buy from a shop. I understand that the transaction is purely business. I would HATE to buy a commoditised product from a friend. That is why I really dislike 'selling parties' - it feels like people are trading on their social relationships for a profit.

And that is even before the recruitment issues (that you may not be into, but no-one will know that).

Its a bit of fun, think of it that way, rather than a serious business venture

And, no, I do not work for free, far from it. But I do not sell.my time/services to friends, nor to parents at school.
I would think v seriously before taking a commission from someone I knew socially. Business and pleasure should not be mixed.
If a friend didn't pay their invoice, how would you tackle that?

No one is saying you're a bad person, but selling things to people that they can get more cheaply elsewhere is a bad business model and you don't have an automatic right to make money from an unprofitable business model just because you work hard, sadly.

RRP is meaningless. The Net Book Agreement was abolished almost 20 years ago, and I haven't paid RRP for a book since.

The only people making money out of these sorts of schemes are the companies. There is no longevity in being at the bottom of a MLM scheme.

People tend to flit from one MLM "business" to the next. It is always the same people - on month they are Usborne, then kitchen stuff, then Neal's Yard, then candles....

I had a friend selling Usborne after she had her son. I went to one 'book party' and bought a couple of books as good will but then avoided as they were expensive and you can get similar books much cheaper elsewhere. She also did some annoying Facebook parties too. She only lasted about 6 months, I assume that's when her friends and families good will ran out.

I love Usborne books but would rarely buy from such a stall. The chances are that if there is one I particularly like I can get it cheaper, and I don't mind second hand.
But also, although they're good, I can get similar types elsewhere and I'd rather have the choice.

I did go to an Usborne party about 10years ago. I was tempted by one book, but was told it wasn't for sale.
It was called "That's not my job" in imitation of the "that's not my...." Books.
And ended with "that's my job, selling Usborne books" or something similar.

I like to buy books either online or in a bookshop like Waterstones. I like a degree of anonymity whilst browsing so that I can feel that I've made my own decision about buying a book. The set up of eg school fairs with a load of neatly piled stock and a hopeful looking seller who gives me eye contact as soon as I go near the stall would be off putting for me so I'd probably walk past.

I have some Usborne books but I like a variety so wouldn't want a whole series anyway. I also feel uncomfortable buying from a rep as (like a pp said) it is awkward paying a friend and if the rep is not a friend, I would rather buy it cheaper elsewhere!

I think the issue is the more popular ones that people have heard of are the ones sold at a discount online (sticker books, That's Not My etc). I seriously considered doing it myself, more as fun than to subsidise my income, but decided I'd spend a fortune on books myself.

I tend to steer clear of Usborne stalls: I expect the stuff sold there to be much more expensive than it is elsewhere (as you say, BookPeople is sooooo cheap for it), and I don't want to get into embarrassing conversations.

Barefoot books, on the other hand - saw a stall of theirs once, and they had lovely lovely stuff, that I'd never seen before and haven't again. Would make a beeline for them.

There are a lot of Usborne books sold much cheaper elsewhere, therefore I have started to reduce my prices to match some of those online, in face some of my prices are now cheaper. The very popular Usborne books are available in many different locations, but the whole range is only available from Usborne.

When I have updated all my prices, I will let you have the link to my current stock so you can compare.

In my town there is no bookshop other than a few shelves at the back of WHSmiths. So there is a charity bookshop that does a roaring trade, and people actually appreciate it when Usborne or the Book People or DoringKindersley show up at schools once a term or so, because otherwise you can't actually buy books in person.

Though I suspect there are now sufficient local Usborne sellers. If you can find an area where people can't easily buy all the books they want, then it could work, but don't get caught out with lots of stock you can't shift. Or expect friends to buy more than a couple books.