Radar Detectors For Rent - Site

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Originally Posted by amoney

I thought USPS 2 day shipping is actually 2-3 days... isnt it called Priority mail? Or is there a specific 2 day guaranteed express mail option?

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USPS Priority is considered 2-3 days. I ship 3 days early to guarantee that it is there on the proper day, or one day early (and you do not pay for that extra day). It was the best compromise between price and guaranteed time delivery that I could find.

Also, I've shipped a lot of things from my location to California via USPS Priority, and it's always gotten there in 2 days (other than Hawaii and Alaska, that's the furthest distance from me that I can ship). I'm not BANKING on it being there in 2 days, which is why I send it with enough time for 3 days, but I've never had it take longer.

:)

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Originally Posted by 986Girl

Yeah, unfortunately shipping is something I just couldn't price down any cheaper. And believe me, I did a lot of homework on it.

It's fully insured (which when you are talking products that start to touch $500, the insurance costs are pretty pricey), guaranteed 2 day (so you can accurately plan your rental, if you are just going on a road trip), with signature required so that you and I both know exactly when/by whom the detector was received by on the other end.

Almost half of each 7-day rental cost is shipping. If anyone has any ideas around that, I'd be more than open to suggestions!

I do appreciate the feedback on the prices though!

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Another option to stay competitive is to not individually insure everything through the shipper. You can buy third party insurance, not to mention that if you cut your costs on every rental then in the end you will bring in more profits and be able to buy replacement detectors (if one is lost) out of those profits. This is what most bigger retailers do, you have to figure out how much sales you need and the risk you want to take... but it can leave to reduced prices which can in turn make rentals boom and take your business to the next level.

Cool stuff, now i don't need to feel guilty trying out a V1 for 30 days and sending it back, now i can do a 7 day test run for a small fee. 8)

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Originally Posted by CJR238

Cool stuff, now i don't need to feel guilty trying out a V1 for 30 days and sending it back, now i can do a 7 day test run for a small fee. 8)

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My concern wouldn't be taking advantage of their 30 day trial... I would be more worried I would just like having another toy and keep a second detector that I don't need :D

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Originally Posted by licamell

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Originally Posted by CJR238

Cool stuff, now i don't need to feel guilty trying out a V1 for 30 days and sending it back, now i can do a 7 day test run for a small fee. 8)

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My concern wouldn't be taking advantage of their 30 day trial... I would be more worried I would just like having another toy and keep a second detector that I don't need :D

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lol, x2 :lol:

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Originally Posted by 986Girl

As for my stakes in it... I am as liable to be had as any other online merchant. But I could also wake up tomorrow to find I have a third arm. Or I could suddenly be bought out by some super rich power company.

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You're realistic about it, and you have a plan in place. Honestly, it looks like you do just about everything you can to avoid losing a detector, and I commend you for that. I would have been concerned if your reply was "Oh, I'm just a small business, they'll never target me," because I've heard those words (almost verbatim) before--right before they got hit and practically lost everything as a result.

I'll say this, you're definitely filling a niche. I'm somewhat inspired, honestly. Retail management is a decent paycheck, but it's not the sort of thing that expands your horizons while allowing you virtually unlimited earnings potential. That's what identifying a need and creating a service to fill it does for you, and you've definitely done both of those. Props to you--now I'm off to find my own idea that gets me off the closing shift. :lol:

Thank you so much bcorby, I really do appreciate all of your, and everyone else's, responses! I know I said it before, but I just can't quite get across how overwhelmingly positive this has been for me. Just having a sounding board to bounce my thoughts off of (especially since you are all a perfect section of my core target audience) has upped my confidence about this whole endeavor, and I'm more confident than ever that this is an idea that can and will work.

I'm also going to definitely look into equipment insurance (instead of shipping insurance) as a way to possibly save my end customers a few dollars, so thank you licamell for the idea!

Now if everyone can just pass the word along to two other people, I'll be set! ;)

Rent a detector...interesting idea. Perhaps you could expand to rent to own.

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Originally Posted by camkuhns

Rent a detector...interesting idea. Perhaps you could expand to rent to own.

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Rent to own was my initial idea for the business. After some market research, I discovered more people were interested in just short term rentals. However, I do have a few customers here and there who still ask for rent to own, and as long as inventory control is going well, I do my best to oblige :)