annakyn

Hi. Thanks. I've not got anywhere with local companies but got some quotes from south. As expected, delivery will be prohibitively expensive so will try to find someone willing to shove it in their van. Currently looking at £750 for insulation + £300 delivery, compared to £450 for normal insulation locally so quite a big difference. Sheeps wool is much more environmentally sound, in terms of sourcing it and end of life disposal. Normal insulation is usually made from rock or glass wool so not very environmental. Also, as mentioned above we have a very damp house and so the ability for sheeps wool to hold moisture is pretty handy as it will help the house to breath better. The new "earthwool" which is the preferred choice these days, isnt very sustainable, although an improvement on the old itchy stuff.

Hi. thanks for the replies. I think a few have misunderstood though... It doesn't help that Shetlink moved this from Consumer Advice to Crofting forum! I'm not looking for Shetland wool for insulation, I'm looking for ready made loft insulation that's made from Sheeps Wool. Its common now and plenty of online insulation suppliers post it out, B&Q even sell it, but obviously no one will do delivery to Shetland. I'm sure some people have used it in Shetland properties and looking for a builder that's worked with it in the past basically for how they managed to source it. I'll try Shetland Heatwise first - thanks for that. I have a feeling it is going to be too expensive to be worth it, but will try anyway!

Does anyone know if any of the building companies up here can get sheeps wool insulation? Tried DITT, Hays and Jewson with no luck. Cost to buy it south and pay for pallets would be horrendous I think.

Thanks... I'll try those. Northwards have undercut the previous price but not by much. I'll try the other options. Not sure the company would be too keen on individually packaging each sack though unfortunately. Maybe worth asking though.

I'm looking to get 100kgs of material in 5x20kgs sacks sent from Plymouth to Eshaness and have been quoted a whopping £150, which is more than its worth! I'm guessing it'll come on a pallet but not sure. I have no choice but to buy from this company in Plymouth so was wondering if anyones had any experiences with parcel companies and got some half reasonable quotes? Even just getting it to aberdeen for cheap would be a start!

Hi everyone. The site is now live and online at www.shetlandmarket.com We're currently in the process of getting sellers listed on the site, and this will probably take at least a few weeks so it'll be a while until theres a full catalogue there. But take a look anyway, there are a few products already Live on the site. Cheers. Al

Yes, unfortunately I've had a few issues both technical with getting hold of software and also personal situations that have meant I've not had quite enough time to spend on the site as I had planned. Its well underway though and I've also had a good response from Shetland producers so I'm confident on hitting the new target date of 1st May. Cheers.

Just a final note on fees... A quick calculation for a £50 item sold on ebay; Insertion Fee: £1.00 Final Selling Fee (10%): £5.00 Paypal Credit Card processing fee (3.4% + £0.20) = £1.90 Total fee of £7.90 = 15.9%

yeah, this had crossed my mind. I will look more into it and also am going to aim to lower the 15% as soon as possible, probably on a sliding scale. Although its a tossup - 15% could give me a few percent as a buffer to put into marketting the site, whereas if I lower the rate I'll be hard pushed to invest in that sort of thing. I'm not doing the site to make a fortune, although it needs to pay for itself and the work involved eventually.

Thanks for all the replies - very interesting. I knew the 15% was always going to create an issue, and I could have left it off the holder site, but its part of the deal so thought I'd make it public. In my opinion 15% is reasonable, and unfortunately any such project isn't viable under that amount as there are a lot of admin jobs with any website of this scale contrary to what some people think!! If sellers don't feel that the extra visibility that ShetlandMarket would provide is worth this then they are obviously better off leaving their products off the site. If you really want to know what the 15% includes then its basically the cost of bonus sales to a business that doesn't yet sell on the net and through a site that should eventually become "the place to look" for Shetland Products. Add onto that credit card processing which isn't cheap and I think it offers reasonable value. Clearly, eBay is excellent value, but they're dealing with millions of sales a day so can lower their rates acordingly!! I will proceed to see what the producers and possible sellers think and then decide whether to go ahead and start the site fully. Its a lot of investment for me in terms of time and money and will only do it if theres a good chance it will work. As many people have mentioned, the project will definitely only be a success if done "well" so I'll strive to manage this too. The site will certainly be easy to use and well set out. Thanks again for the response.

Shetads is a good site catering for second hand goods, but Shetland Market will not allow classifieds in the main site, only new products. Designed in Shetland is a great site offering art and craft products, but I'm aiming at a different market - linking suppliers directly to consumers with no "middle man". There's no reason why suppliers can't sell produce from crofts, special offers from lerwick high street shops, books etc. They don't have to be Shetland products, but they must be in stock with a Shetland supplier. As for the paypal charges, any payment handling and administration fees would be included in the 15% commission so this isn't an extra.

Thanks for the interest. www dot notonthehighstreet dot com is the main site that is a "working model" of this site. It works in almost exactly the same way. Ecxept they charge £250 to join and 25% commission and heavily vet what can be sold. The cost of administering the website and dealing with all the orders doesn't really justify a comission less than 15%, but I would like to eventually offer this on a sliding scale depending on the sales volume for that month for a particular seller. Credit card processing fees of around 5% put a bottom limit on it though! Bare in mind a high street shop will usually charge a commission way in excess of 15% so it just depends what you're comparing to. Selling on ebay will always be the cheaper option! The site will indeed be advertised yes, especially in magizines such as Shetland Visitor. If enough local produce appears on the site, i.e. not just crafts and tourism based products then local advertising in the ST would also be an option. For now, the site will not be promoted a huge amount as you can't advertise a Shetland Market that only has a few sellers signed up. So I'll wait a few months until its established. Online advertising further abroad and affiliate marketting is something to look into down the line if the site is a success. (*** Mod - Delinked commercial site ***)

I just thought I'd introduce a new Shetland-based website to you all and also gather a bit of feedback for the project... Over the next few weeks, I am aiming to set up an online marketplace for Shetland, where local suppliers and producers can list and sell their products for free. The website will act as a hub for the businesses, all selling separately, but will appear as a single web shop. Although this sounds complicated, its a very similar idea to "ebay shops", "amazon marketplace" and the more specialised "www.notonthehighstreet.com", but localised to Shetland! I hope that the website will encourage local producers, including those who currently struggle to find an outlet for their produce to push their businesses forward. While the shop is primarily focussed on supplying within Shetland, and promoting buying locally rather than other UK websites, it will also be an opportunity for tourists and visitors to buy Shetland products from anywhere in the UK. The website can be found at shetlandmarket .com Anyone who wishes to use the website and sell their products through it should register on the site as soon as possible so that they can be included with the initial lauch, which I'm hoping to be 1st March. Any comments on the project would be welcome, or please indicate your views on the poll... Thanks!

sounds good thanks!! Sorry i posted in the sport section, was cos I was reading posts on fishing and was more thinking about fishing than cooking!

Whats a decent way of cooking piltocks? I caught a decent brace last night but have heard they're a bit boney? Would be nice to make more use of them than cat food!

Hi all. I have finally got round to starting "Outdoor Shetland", a community website designed to bring together and promote all Shetland outdoor-based sports and pursuits. The website is in very early stages at the moment, but will be something akin to www.climbshetland.co.uk (my other site) but on a larger scale. Please let me know of any comments and suggestions and tell everyone about it, especially if they are involved with outdoor sports, including those I have not yet added to the list on the site. I also need to hear from all the clubs / sports reps involved to decide on whether your sport will be a part of the site or not. Thanks. www.outdoorshetland.com

Sorry for my late reply. Yeah it did mean that anyone could go. We were originally only allowing inducted people, but then changed it. Obviously I didnt update everything! We managed it anyway, completing it well within time, and had 35 climbers at one point! There will be an article in the ST in a week or so I think. It was a really big success and great fun!

Hi all, Just thought this would be a good place to mention our charity and fundraising event tomorrow. You may have read about it in the paper already, but we're attemptng to climb the height of Everest (8850m) at the clickimin indoor wall. We're climbing from 10am until around 7pm. We have decided to have the event as an open day so anyone can come and give it a go, and help us reach our target. Its a way of trying out climbing safely without having to wait for a space on the induction courses. Just turn up if you want a go, and a small donation would be nice too! More info is avalable at www.climbshetland.co.uk