Buying/selling kitchen mops

[funkyrobot]

Hello all. I'm planning to buy/sell kitchen mops within London. I have many links to cheap mop refurb engineers, so my costs will be considerably less than the average joe. I think it makes sense to refurb, rather than throw away.

I just wanted to know what is required to do this? Do I need to become a mop trader? Will there be any complications?

Thanks.

[funkyrobot]

markmullen said:

If you sell less than 6 mops per year you're not counted as a mop trader and don't have to register as such.

[funkyrobot]

I've had a little think.

I'm going to run the mop refurb business from my shared car park. I live in a flat on the 40th floor, but I'm going to use the building frontage to display my mops. I do hope the neighbours won't mind. I can always give them a discount.

I picked a mop up from auction last week for 40p. It was tired and needed work. Managed to get a new head fitted for 79p. Sold it the other day for £4.00. There's money in this game!

[funkyrobot]

sc0tt said:

Do you sell left handed mops?

No, but I'm working on a conversion kit that turns right-handed mops into left-handed ones. Just awaiting a patent.

[funkyrobot]

Grenoble said:

[funkyrobot]

Grenoble said:

Will you be trading these mops from home ?

What warranty will you be giving?

Yes, from the front of my flat.

No warranty as I'll be shifting one at a time.

[funkyrobot]

Grenoble said:

Do you have plans to sweep away the competition?

Yes. I'm hoping for a clean streak of sales.

[funkyrobot]

markmullen said:

I tried to sell my old mop to those robbers at webuyanymop, do you know they offered me a price which was lower than I could sell it privately for?!

I tried trading it in against a new mop, they'd got a similar mop for sale for £10, do you know they had the cheek to offer me £8 for mine? I was expecting £11 for mine because mine is mint (innit).

The people are W-BAM! are shysters.

I went to a branded mop dealer to trade my old mop in, but they would only give me £15.00 for a £26.00 mop. I called up W-BAM! who said they would give me £24.50. When they inspected it though, they knocked it down to £12.00 because it needed a new head? It's not a bloody Rover you know!

[funkyrobot]

Fishtigua said:

Have you thought about breeding them?

I've tried breeding mops. But the female ones are too stick-thin for me.

[funkyrobot]

HBLC said:

Had this idea a few months ago but obviously didn't move fast enough.


Good luck MOP.

Edited for you.

Kerrrr-ching!

[funkyrobot]

Squiggs said:

OP - what about expanding into the bucket market as well - after all every mop needs a bucket!
And not only from my personal experience but also from what I've heard from friends and family the squishing of mops into the cheaper plastic buckets often causes the buckets to split long before a mop needs refurbing.

Good idea sir. I've managed to get hold of a few blue Motion buckets (see how I did that?) with the handles missing. I have a contact who fixes handles on the cheap and the buckets are now worth double the price I paid for them.

Edited by funkyrobot on Monday 3rd June 22:18

[funkyrobot]

V8mate said:

You won't make money on mops. They're saturated.

You aren't squeezing enough water out.

[funkyrobot]

BOBTEE said:

I got a quote to insure my mop the other day, £2.50, the gf with an identical mop, £3.00,its madness!

I had a chat to someone the other day about another insurance related subject, gap. They bought a mop that was three weeks old, but they wanted it replacing with a new one (with a gap policy) if anything happened to it.

They couldn't get their head around the fact that they had bought nearly new, not new. Therefore, they couldn't get their mop replaced with a new one. I told them to take a return to mop invoice policy.

[funkyrobot]

Puggit said:

I was at the HQ of a large retail organisation a few weeks ago, and my contact wasn't there as he had to travel abroad to one of their European sites at the last moment. So a wasted journey of an hour or so.

However, what cheered me up was seeing what appeared to be the Vileyda sales rep carrying a single mop - presumably in to speak to Purchasing about the latest model.

Do you think that mops will be useful for clearing snow this winter? Do you think we'll need super snow mops?

[funkyrobot]

evenflow said:

BOBTEE said:

I got a quote to insure my mop the other day, £2.50, the gf with an identical mop, £3.00,its madness!

I've got a graduate in at the moment and no insurer will touch him. He's 18, one non-fault claim (small scrape on skirting board from stiff tassle). Limited mopage policy too.

I hear that they are trying to cut down on mop sexism. Historically, a pink mop was cheaper to insure than a blue mop. Crazy!

They even setup sites to push this, such as Fran's Fibres.

[funkyrobot]

benjj said:

Is anyone else going to the new Robert Dyas mop range launch in South Africa next week?

Sorry, I'm in Blackpool for the new Vileda Sheen 1000 unveiling.

[funkyrobot]

Tango13 said:

Are we allowed to talk hinged squeegee mops here too or do I need to start a new thread?

Any form of kitchen mop is welcome on this thread squire.

[funkyrobot]

Squiggs said:

texaxile said:

I see there's a 1972 Wooden-handled School mop for sale in the classifieds, 1 former owner (caretaker), original galvanised clip, original handle, 34,000 Hallways all on the original mophead.

Bit steep, but sure to appreciate over time.

Even at that sort of age the wooden handle should be sound as long as it hasn't been left standing in water - and let's face it caretakers do know how to look after cleaning equipment.
As we all know the galvanised clips (as long as they have never been forced) should last a lifetime - it's the fixing of the clip to the handle that's in question (where brass screws used? If not have they rusted? Are the heads still sound?)
The original mophead can be replaced - which is where the OP's original business plan comes into place

I've been thinking about my business plan and wondering if rental is the way forward. Think about it, you rent the mop (which is nice and clean), take it home and use it, then return it. We'll handle cleaning the crap off it.

If I do this though, we'll have to utilise some strict rules. There will be a need for insurance and a damage waiver. We'll also have to get a load of mops that are the same colour and set up a recognisable brand name.

We could also keep the mops for a year and then sell them on to a mop supermarket.

[funkyrobot]

benjj said:

Just went to take my mop out of the garage to go to work and my neighbour has left his hoover across the front of my drive, totally blocking me in.

What can I do? I'm sick of his st. Last week he had visitors and they left the road littered with their buckets, hoovers, dustpans and brushes. My wife had to walk the pushchair around one badly parked squeegy and my child was momentarily in the road.

Can I speak to the council about some kind of permit scheme?

You need a friendly PH'er with one of them automated, ride-on mopping machines and a tow rope.

[funkyrobot]

V8mate said:

Mops are so complex! Who knew?

I better it's not this difficult to make a living selling cars.

I guess that's why we've had a few threads in GG recently about setting up car trader businesses. Much easier than mop trading.