Dolls House Book Case

[tusses]

today I have started a few of these.





going to start painting them tomorrow.

[mailee]

Can you elaborate a bit Tusses? How big are they, are they stacking, where are they to go, are they hanging or free standing? And what books will they take.

[tusses]

Hi Mailee

They are 2' wide by 2'6" high. Free standing

Shelves are 7 1/2" deep and 8" between the bottom two.

1 sheet of 12mm MDF (I hate MDF ! ) makes 3 units.
Hardboard back, glued and pinned.

Main unit is simply glued and pinned with a biscuit at the front of the roof apex, to give that some additional strength.

This is my experiment with online/ebay, and courier delivery - I've sold these three at £45 each, posted ... we'll see if they get there in one piece ! all seperate sales. One to Wales, 2 down south. If they dont make it intact , I'll have to re-think ...

Cheers

Rich

[jaco]

Rich,
Neat idea!

Would make good pressies.

What did you use for finishing?

Cheers

[mailee]

Hey well done Rich! Now that sounds promising. Fingers crossed that they arrive safely mate.

[tusses]

A bit of an update

I decided I was fussing too much for the price.

I cut some angle wood trims to do the doors and windows, but after doing one, thought it was too much. So the others I did with slices of MDF



I have been experimenting with spraying. Emulsion watered down 50:50.
It plays havoc with the mdf grain (did I say I hate mdf ! )

so after a few unsuccesfull coats and nibs with mat, I wen and bought some johnstons silk. I like it much better

You cant tell in the phone pic, but for the money, its fine.



then I mixed some pink in for the roof and trim



These will ship on Wednesday, for delivery friday. Fingers crossed with the couriers

I've sold 6 more, so have a busy couple of days ahead.

I hope to improve my working method, to streamline the build time, and work out a proper price to sell them at.

[oddsocks]

Very nice Tusses- I was asked if I could make something similar for a relative a few months ago who had been inspired by the 'Hannah' range on ebay but had a specific size requirement. The Hannah bookcases are asking £90 and are flatpacked but looking at completed items history don't seem to sell that often so (IMO) it looks like your price point is about right (and might make another £10 with maybe reduced volume of orders).

Good luck with the venture and hope you are able to expand the range (e.g toyboxes?)

Dave

[jfc]

I used to make beach hut cabinets like that . Everyone wanted one but no one wanted to buy one Quite a good idea if you can find the right market .

[tusses]

Thanks


I am finding, they will sell if they are cheap enough ! at my 1st price, they were selling one a day on average. I put the price up a bit and I've only sold 1 in 3 days so far.

I painted them ok in the end. Packing however was a night mare ! Took me an hour each that will have to change . They got there ok though, which is good.

I'm just setting up to handle and cut full sheets (see other thread soon) . So I hope to be able to cut the build time quite a bit.

[tusses]

I used to make beach hut cabinets like that . Everyone wanted one but no one wanted to buy one Quite a good idea if you can find the right market .

Beach huts is a good idea too.

Did you patent that Idea, or is it in the public domain now

I'm big into the VW scene, so will be thinking along those lines too. hippy van shaped stuff etc.

[tusses]

Well at least one out of the 1st three got there ok

but at least one out of the 1st three was damaged

I presume the other is ok, as it was signed last week, and I haven't heard anything.

The damaged one ...
Delivery was attempted , then back to the depot. The customer then arranged for re delivery 3 TIMES ! and wasn't there to accept delivery (back to the depot each time). The last time, she was there, but has told me it is damaged. I am to collect and send a new one apparently

I think I'll have it collected, and issue a refund.


Hmmm.... how to pack them .... I thought about knocking up some sort of packing frame ? what do you think ? I've got 9 more to send so far

Anyone ever made flat pack stuff ?

[andyoak]

Who did you send it with? Have you seen the damage, ask for pic's and make out the courier wants to see them to cover you for the damage. Ebay seams to worm out the con merchants. I set up on ebay and the amount of fraud was unreal, I could tell you some real horror stories but having said that don't let it know you back. All you can do is take it on the chin and move on. May be add a bit more packing. I think a frame is a little over the top for the money you are charging for them.

Good luck

[tusses]

I have asked for pics, saying they will be needed at some point.

Do you still sell on ebay, or did it beat you ?

I had a bad feeling about this customer from the lack of contact about colour choice etc, but what can you do !

I did think though, I dont want to be paying to have a broken bookshelf shipped back to me. Surely I can claim without that ? I'll be in touch with the couriers tomorrow.

It is still cheaper to send a new one, than refund, provided it gets there in one peice. but you got to have reservations !

[andyoak]

I still put the odd bit on ebay but it's has got really hard. When I started I just put everything on auction with a 99p start and left it, and I mean everything from 5 quid tealight holders to 600 quid dinning tables and 99% did ok. Once ebay change the search results to best match rather than time endding soonest it killed auctions. Then they changed how the results were shown depending on your dsr's and also increased the FV,that was the final straw. Some months my bill was a grand! I now just spend a 3rd of that on add words and it works fine and ebay are not telling me what I can and can't do. I could go on with 101 reasons why we left ebay but we are going off track a little.

I know just what you mean about a bad feeling, I have done it and been proved right several times, I have even just refunded people when things don't seam right before I have even produced the item. The distance selling regs are very much in the customer favour so should any dispute crop up you will lose, I feel it better to get out and cut the loss. If you still have a bad feeling try to call the customer, emails are sometimes very easy to miss read and get the wrong end of the stick.

Courier should pick the item up at their cost or just leave it and refund you. Some are better than others at paying but none are good.

[tusses]

Thanks Andy

I hate ebay, and the way they manipulate the sellers. You cant get neg feedback as a bad buyer now ... that's just ridiculous !

My wife has run a pet shop business on there for about 8 yrs now, profits have been steadily declining for the last year, for no apparent reason . Search results changes etc

That's why I am having to start back up again.

Thanks for taking the time to type

I have some thinking to do !

[tusses]

Well, I give up !

the experiment only proved what I believed to be true.

Couriers are crap !!!!

I've shipped 9 so far.

1 got there ok
1 I assume got there ok - havent heard anything
1 broken
1 - customer said it's lovely, but wants to send it back and pay a bit more for a bigger one.
1 got there ok
1 got there "chipped" - waiting for photo
the other 3 have vanished ! On line tracking shows them collected from me - arrive at local depot , leaving a depot on wednesday - never to be seen again ???

so have to wait and see on those

needless to say, the customers want to know where their bookcases are !

Just got this photo from the 1st broken one. It must have been dropped out of an upstairs window or something .... all joins and the complete back panel were glued and pinned. I cant believe the back came away like this in transit ...




I'll stick to local pickup of bigger stuff from now on.

[jaco]

Pity about that, when you put so much work and effort into a project and sell it.


(looks and sounds like you used the RSA postal service!)

[scrums]

Couriers are fine - you can run a business on the back of them...

You've just got to pack it right and not use the wrong couriers.

1) Avoid UPS, Hermes and HDNL like the plague - City-link, DHL and UKmail seem to perform ok.

2) Buy in 'Pre-loved' twin-wall boxes at the largest size you can find and get some 1" Polystyrene insulation sheets + a good glue gun + a strapping system.

You can then, fairly quickly pack almost 'bombproof' anything you can make, reasonably cheaply and fairly quickly.

It will work - it works for me, just don't try claiming against the couriers - they work on the principle of - 'If it got damaged, then it wasn't packed well enough.'

message me if you want any pointers,

Chris.

[tusses]

Thanks Chris

this one was with HDNL !

Rich

[tusses]

In true Mailee Style

More Bookcase !
I seem to have the delivery sorted now, and have lost count of how many I have made .

Here's a few

[Big_JD]

Hey Tusses,

Good job, nice and crisp. And I'm glad that you're making it pay and have the delivery sorted, but I have a concern about the tall one on the last picture. Do you make provision for it to be restrained to wall or at the very least make a strong recommendation for the customer to do so?
In this day and age of litigation and "where there's a blame, there's a claim" mentality, coupled with the tendency of kiddies to climb up or pull on things, I think it may be prudent to cover yourself.

Hope this isn't seen as patronising, just trying to help.

Regards, John.

[tusses]

I do recommend, on the larger ones to add an anti tip chain to the top if there is any chance of children trying to climb on it.

I think I might get some chain and attach it as a matter of course (sp?), as I do worry about things like that too !

Thanks for mentioning it though

[jaco]

Very nice work, and a great idea!

[helen]

Hello, Please could you tell me if i could purchase one of these book cases

[mark270981]

Hi Helen

Rich (Tusses) is a regular poster on here, So i am sure he will be along soon - i am unsure as to whether you have the Private message function or not? as you are a new member, put if you have just send Rich a PM and he will be in touch I am sure.

[tusses]

Thanks for the heads up everyone.
I've declined the offer, but am fine if anyone else here want's to contact Helen and quote for supplying her


Richard

[tusses]

My website must have had a boost, as this is the second enquiry I've had like this , this week !

[LukeB]

These look great, I'd be interested in purchasing something like this if anyone can help me out?

[tusses]

haha , Hi luke .. you just emailed me

[tusses]

BTW .. at the end, I was selling these for £150 plus delivery, with engraved name .. all painted .. and still moved on to pastures new and greener !
I couldn't afford to do these at that price these days !
http://rnfinefurniture.yolasite.com/chi ... niture.php

[mark270981]

Just enjoyed reading this from start to finish. This is obviously back in the day when more than 2 people got involved in a thread!!

[tusses]

the ironic thing was I made my CNC to keep up with demand on these.
And it's because I made the CNC, I don't make these any more !

I really ought to shut that web site down !
I will have to try and remember the login details ! lol