# UK Speedcube shop - Cheap cubes anyone?



## KongShou (Dec 24, 2012)

Hi I know quite a few people has posted about opening a cube shop based in the uk. Im thinking of the same thing but i promise the price will be cheaper than any other shop based in the uk. But i cant be certain on that because i have no idea how much cubes cost in uk speedcube shops nowdays. so im asking you lot how much everything cost, would i have a market. 

my price will be cheaper because i can get cubes directly from China. but therefore i can only sell chinese cubes cheap. but ill try to get cubes like v cubes cheap though.

one more thing, Ebay or my own domain?

thanks for the help


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## speedpicker (Dec 24, 2012)

Would love and would use a good UK shop. Ebay or own domain, makes no difference to me. But you would have at least one customer if the price was right.


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## KongShou (Dec 24, 2012)

so for example how much is a zhanchi in UK as of right now?


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## speedpicker (Dec 24, 2012)

PUZL will sell one for £12.99, amazon £10


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## ThomasJE (Dec 24, 2012)

I think the only puzzle shop in the UK is Puzl.co.uk, and they have a Zhanchi for £12.99 (http://www.puzl.co.uk/black-current-world-record-speed-cube-dayan-zhanchi-p-399.html). I would be very supportive of this idea, and if you had free shipping to UK, and cheaper prices than in the US and China, I would definitely buy from you.


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## KongShou (Dec 24, 2012)

well i can sell for less than 8-10 pound not including p&p so hows that?

or maybe i can post for free depends

right ill get my first batch of cubes soon im thinking of getting 10 - 20 of few different types of cubes
Zhanchi, guhong v2, witden 2x2, shengshou 4x4, shengshou 5x5? hows that?


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## mark49152 (Dec 24, 2012)

I'm a potential customer but here's some advice. Do your homework. You shouldn't compete only on price, and you'll come unstuck pretty quick unless you can find out for yourself about your competition.

Yesterday I placed two orders - a Ghosthand 2 and a DIY Guhong. Both from overseas because I couldn't find them in the UK. I don't care about price and would happily pay the same if not a little more to avoid the long wait for international shipping. So here's an idea: figure out what people want that is hard to find here, offer prompt and fast shipping, but price it about the same.

Also I bought some lube a few weeks back and had to get it from a model store because the UK cube suppliers don't sell it. I would have preferred to just add it to a cube order. So idea #2, why not offer Traxxas diff oil or similar as well, and maybe a pre-lubing service for a couple of quid extra. Nobody esle in the UK does that, AFAIK.


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## ThomasJE (Dec 24, 2012)

KongShou said:


> well i can sell for less than 8-10 pound not including p&p so hows that?



£10 for a Zhanchi? That's a competitive price. Be careful to not go too high or low. Maybe price them higher firstly, and decrease the price a little when you have a larger product range and more customers



KongShou said:


> or maybe i can post for free depends



Maybe in UK.



KongShou said:


> right ill get my first batch of cubes soon im thinking of getting 10 - 20 of few different types of cubes
> Zhanchi, guhong v2, witden 2x2, shengshou 4x4, shengshou 5x5? hows that?



Dayan Megaminx, Shengshou Pyraminx and maybe some other WCA puzzles. Also, some accessories would be nice. Lube, blindfolds, modifying tools and stackmat timers (WITH data ports) would be top of my list.


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## NevinsCPH (Dec 24, 2012)

ThomasJE said:


> Lube, blindfolds, modifying tools and stackmat timers (WITH data ports) would be top of my list.



^This, and if possible, half bright stickers too. They seems to be chipping quick after a lot of solves and when they're left in the bag.


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## 5BLD (Dec 24, 2012)

Yet another new UK shop?

Stackmats that can connect to comp would be at the top of my list
And decent 3x3s like guhongs


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## KongShou (Dec 24, 2012)

thanks for all the feedback ill see what i can do but im gonna start of small so probably no accessories like stackmats or midifying tools yet. but will see about lube blindfold and stickers

what lube is it thats so hard to find? ill try to add a request feature and definately pre-lubing service


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## ThomasJE (Dec 24, 2012)

KongShou said:


> what lube is it thats so hard to find? ill try to add a request feature and definately pre-lubing service



I think you're talking about Traxxas. It comes on 30k and 50k weights, and they are both equally popular. Lubix and Z-lube are also popular.


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## Kattenvriendin (Dec 24, 2012)

Traxxas also comes in 10k weight. Much lighter than the 50k in any case.


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## ThomasJE (Dec 24, 2012)

Kattenvriendin said:


> Traxxas also comes in 10k weight. Much lighter than the 50k in any case.



I didn't know that, but it's not used much by cubers.


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## Kattenvriendin (Dec 24, 2012)

I wanted a lighter Traxxas to go with the 50k lubix like for the core. The 50 is too heavy for the pieces of small cubes so I use the 10 there.

You can get it off ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/TOADZ-RC/_i.html?_nkw=traxxas+oil&submit=Search&_sid=727475660

If you find 50k too loose.. there is also 100k (wow, did not know that).

Very reliable folks, got the lube to here in 8 days.


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## KongShou (Dec 24, 2012)

they would cost more than ebay or anyone else should i sell them i wonder if people will still buy them. as i said, i can only sell chinese cubes and lubes cheap.


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## kinch2002 (Dec 24, 2012)

If you lube one and send one to me I will review it and say how good it is if you want


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## KongShou (Dec 24, 2012)

no i meant that i will sell some lubes and stuff i cant get hold of easily slightly expensive so i wonder if people will still buy them if they're more expensive


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## bran (Dec 25, 2012)

I don't know about others but I would want to order all my stuff from one place even if it's a little expensive.


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## Kattenvriendin (Dec 25, 2012)

Personally I don't like throwing my money down a pit if I don't have to


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## MalusDB (Dec 25, 2012)

ThomasJE said:


> £10 for a Zhanchi? That's a competitive price. Be careful to not go too high or low. *Maybe price them higher firstly, and decrease the price a little when you have a larger product range and more customers*



I think you got this wrong. Initially I would lead with lower prices to try and attract potential customers. Provide good service and people will be willing to pay that bit more for what you offer. You may have to be willing to make some initial losses to fly this project, which is why most people never follow through after saying all this about starting one up. So think of this as any other business venture. And good luck!


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## cgell (Feb 11, 2013)

KongShou said:


> well i can sell for less than 8-10 pound not including p&p so hows that?
> 
> or maybe i can post for free depends
> 
> ...



does your "store" have a website


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## KongShou (Feb 11, 2013)

not yet


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## applemobile (Feb 11, 2013)

If you had to ask the questions you did in your OP then I really don't think this is a good idea. The market in the uk is pretty small. Puzl sell loads of puzzles, so I would imagine speedcubers makes probably less than 10% of their profit/turnover. Before you go buying stock I would strongly suggest you research your market, or even find out if there is one. How many speedcubers do you think are in the uk?


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## Kattenvriendin (Feb 12, 2013)

Europe? Nope. One reason: shipping. Unless you are selling the very RARE cubes no-one will pay the ton of shipping when they can get free shipping elsewhere.

You'd have to have prices like zcube.cn to even out with the shipping cost.


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## tomzeng (Feb 19, 2013)

Would love a store to buy cheap v-cubes


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## Kattenvriendin (Feb 20, 2013)

We all would. Ain't gonna happen


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## KongShou (Feb 20, 2013)

i can do free shipping. ^^ maybe to europe too.


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## Razorcube (Feb 20, 2013)

I would love to have another UK cubeing store


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## mark49152 (Feb 20, 2013)

I disagree about free shipping. Some people (like me) would pay more to get cubes faster. I hate waiting for weeks. For a cube that's usually $13 USD free shipping with a 2-3 week wait I'd be happy to pay £20 GBP including shipping to get it next day. 

But I'm just one customer, and lots of cubers are more price sensitive. "More expensive but fast" is a niche market and you need to figure out whether it is big enough for you.


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## pjk (Feb 22, 2013)

I am closing this thread. If you are interesting in advertising a new shop on the forum, please see the stickied thread in the "Puzzle Shops" forum. The idea of that forum is to prevent threads like this and other threads which promote a new or old puzzle store.


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## mark49152 (May 10, 2013)

*ukcubestore.com?*

Has anybody tried this store? Any good?


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## Alex Rubik (May 10, 2013)

Interesting! another choice! sometimes i live in London


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## Kirjava (May 10, 2013)

Lightake costs £6.60 for a GHv2 shipped
UK Cube Store costs £12.49 for the same


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## mark49152 (May 10, 2013)

Indeed, I wouldn't expect a UK store to be cheaper. The difference is a couple of Starbucks. If I really wanted a GH2 I'd be happy to pay that much more to get it in a couple of days rather than wait two weeks.


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## Clarkeeyyy (May 10, 2013)

*ukcubestore.com?*

Wow, it apparently has shengshou v3's.


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## Maccoboy (May 10, 2013)

probably 4v's and they haven't realised  or even v5's


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## Toddyt1 (May 10, 2013)

The have a choice between v3 and v4. Maybe the owner(s) has a few v3s to sell. Or maybe you right hand they haven't realised.


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## pipkiksass (May 10, 2013)

I've been in communication with Kong, the owner of the store (a forum member named KongShou) - they're just setting up (opened this week), and I'll be ordering ASAP. He's been very good at answering all my queries. 

I asked what they intend to stock in the near future:

"I am already adding the Dayan stickers to my product range. Hopefully I will be able to add half bright, blindfold, diff oil, shock oil etc. as for cube wise I hope to be able to stock all the popular official wca puzzles, and on top of that some crazy ones, like the gear cube and cubic puzzles"

What lube they use:

"I use traxxas differential oil 50k weight with maru lube. It is a combination that has worked very well for me."

I pointed out to him that many stores now stock the SS 4x4x4 v5 - he wasn't aware of this:

"As for shengshou 4x4 v5 I will stock it , same with Dayan 2x2, shuangren and the panshi v2"

As for prices - Lightake (and the other large Chinese/Hong Kong based stores) have the advantage of ordering stock in massive numbers, and being able to pass these savings on to customers. It's completely unfair to compare a small, privately owned, and newly-opened store to an established wholesaler on price terms. Much more fair to compare to e.g. thecubicle.us (also run by a forum member) where a Guhong 2 is $12 (£7.68) + shipping. You'd pay a similar price to get a single cube from TheCubicle, and wait a few extra days.

I priced up an order of SS 4x4, 5x5, and a couple of Dayan cubes, and I could save £6 ordering from zcube.cn... but to get delivery within a month would cost £15.73, i.e. cost £9 more!

I, for one, will be supporting a fellow cuber who's trying to do something positive for the UK cubing community. If that means paying a few extra pounds while the shop gets its footing, then so be it. I think the long-term benefits will definitely be worth it.


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## Toddyt1 (May 10, 2013)

Not to mention that they may get held up and customs and you could end up paying vat etc..


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## Kirjava (May 10, 2013)

pipkiksass said:


> As for prices - Lightake (and the other large Chinese/Hong Kong based stores) have the advantage of ordering stock in massive numbers, and being able to pass these savings on to customers. It's completely unfair to compare a small, privately owned, and newly-opened store to an established wholesaler on price terms.



Other people can pay double or more for products for faster shipping if they like, but I'm not going to buy from this store just because you think that buying from lightake is unfair.


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## MorrisKid101 (May 10, 2013)

Even though they don't have many products, they seem to be a really good store. I may order a 55mm Zhanchi or a shengshou 4x4 from them. Especially with the tensioning and lubricating service they are offering


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## Toddyt1 (May 10, 2013)

Pity the don't have anything I want otherwise I would place an order.


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## KongShou (May 10, 2013)

I'm sorry if my store is more expensive than the hongkong based stores. If my store was slightly bigger, I can easily do free shipping, but as of right now the shipping is quite expensive. Trust me when I say I'm charging you as little as I can without losing money. I can also stock in larger amount, and get the price down, but i cant do that straight away when my shop is a week old. The advantage of my store is that you get you orders within two days instead of 6 weeks and for me at least that is quite good. I will lower the price down eventually when I stock in massive amount but I can't yet do that as I have only opened for a week. Also the shipping is £2.50 maximum, so if you order multiple puzzles then it work out quite well.
I will open a thread soon, and if people feel that my store is way too expensive then it's their choice, the reason I opened this store is because I want people to be able to get the puzzle they want in a couple of days instead of weeks, if people don't appreciate that then they are free to order from other stores. I will try my best to get the shipping down so that you get free shipping, then it would be £9.99 for a Zhanchi or guhong which is quite good right? But no promises.
But to get all of this I need the community's support. I'm not forcing you to buy from me, but at least don't tell other people not to, that's all I'm asking for. 
Thank you, ranting over.

Oh and no v3 . The manufactures got the v3 and v4 mixed up so even they can't tell which one it is. There was one v3 in the batch I ordered, and I decided to keep it, maybe some in the future but I doubt it.



Toddyt1 said:


> Pity the don't have anything I want otherwise I would place an order.



Hi erm what do u want to see in my store? There is a puzzle request thingy u know


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## Toddyt1 (May 10, 2013)

KongShou said:


> Hi erm what do u want to see in my store? There is a puzzle request thingy u know



It's more that for now I have everything I want. I could do with stickers for a few puzzles. And if I could order from UK instead of waiting from cubesmith that would be nice.


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## mark49152 (May 10, 2013)

Toddyt1 said:


> It's more that for now I have everything I want. I could do with stickers for a few puzzles. And if I could order from UK instead of waiting from cubesmith that would be nice.


Agreed, last time I ordered from Cubesmith, it took them over two weeks just to dispatch it.


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## Razorcube (May 10, 2013)

Might order a shengshou from here


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## KongShou (May 10, 2013)

*ukcubestore.com?*



mark49152 said:


> Agreed, last time I ordered from Cubesmith, it took them over two weeks just to dispatch it.



Well I might be able to get half brights but can't guarantee their cube smith stickers


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