Cash Injection - Big Sale with Low Stock, Take Time to Return Payments. Happens Y/N?

Business needs cash injection to ensure it covers some debtors? Possibly to get fast moving, high margin stock.

So, advertise a big sale on items with low stock count. Take payments online.
No notice to buyers until they pursue the business and then business tells them 3 to 5 days to refund payment.

If buyer is quick to catch up with business, business gets maybe 4 to 6 days of cash use. If buyers take a week or two, business gets a week or two of cash use.

Do you think this happens?

EDIT
Feel I should have added some background…
A client of mine was telling me he has a supplier that sends out promo material for sales on popular items and each time my client purchases the promo items, his order gets cancelled a week or two later due to no stock.

Poll Options expired

  • 28
    No
  • 6
    Yes

Comments

  • Can you put a possibly option?

  • In what universe do you see a company employing the above technique and it being successful?
    Next you'll be posting hypothesising that the world isn't flat.

    • This universe and would it be successful? Maybe yes. Maybe no. How many factors need to be take into account?

      People did hypothesise the world was flat and others with open and inquiring minds took it upon themselves to explore and ultimately prove otherwise.

  • In my experience companies with cash flow difficulties are more likely to be offering discounted gift cards to get cash in the door. What you are proposing would very much depend upon inventory turnover and a business with that much of an idea of turnover probably has better inventory management than to get caught out cashflow wise.

    • Good point re gift cards. Maybe the inventory management is not that flash?

  • Did you get this idea from the recent Myer double-dip sale?

    • No, not aware of the Myer double dip

  • Ok

  • How much cash injection is needed ?

    • It's a hypothetical about a supplier that my client deals with.
      FYI - my business is services only

  • +2

    I think that’s trading while insolvent, company directors can face criminal charges
    https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/insolvency/insolven…

  • +3

    I hope you are not studying for a business degree?

    Do you understand costs of running a business?

    Every order taken involves not just taking something off the shelf, and selling it, putting money in pocket and going to the local pub and looking rich.

    Very soon you would find it’s far easy to take the money and run rather than make a business based on returning money held for a few days.

    Have you any savings. Most banks give .05% if that on business accounts and charge for transactions. So they will pay more for a credit card transaction than they get in interest .

    Then there’s the labour cost of processing the fake order, then refund etc. Complicated BAS statements, accounting and audit fees.

    Running a business isn’t like you putting money into piggy banks.

    That’s why most fail

    And most business people who succeed, either had some mentoring, or made mistakes earlier. Called life experience.

    • +1

      Edited my original post to add some context.

      Yep, my client and I both understand the costs of running a business, as we both do it.

      We were discussing why the supplier has done this at least 5 times in 18 months for the same product item. Surely they know the items are going to sell quickly based on previous promos and should be able to monitor their inventory/order ratio.

      Re labour costs, maybe their costs for processing etc is inhouse or low overhead, maybe even automated to a large degree. Given they have done this 5 times, they have processing all sorted :-)

      • Ah yes, the clarification makes it better to understand. maybe when asking for help, dont lead with your own opinion first, give some options and leave it open. Preset opinion polls dont allow for insights from left field.

        Listening is an art (I know I fail on this many times), to which you can gain great insights or be bored to death.

        Orangetrain below has a more plausable reason, and solution.

        Maybe Broden is one of his other customers 😎 so they get cleaned out. Or maybe they need better online inventory control

        Good luck, I see you are already getting some good opinions further down😀

  • Sounds like the good guys concierge gift cards

  • Sounds like classic drop shipping tactics to me, not temporary loans.

    Drop them and go with someone else.

    • My client tried to arrange a meeting with his supplier, but they wouldn't. So he is now looking to drop them

  • each time my client purchases the promo items, his order gets cancelled a week or two later due to no stock.

    Easily explained by the fact that promo and heavily discounted stock are likely to be in much higher demand and or already have low stock numbers.

    • Agreed, but to have nil stock and go through the refund process time and time again! That leads to dissatisfaction and my client has now dropped them.

  • Probably gaps in the inventory management system and their POS. Hence stock level is not "live" with POS when it syncs; orders don't get fulfilled and auto cancels after a certain period.

    • Probably but they have lost one client and I hear there are others none too pleased also.

  • Business needs cash injection to ensure it covers some debtors?

    Couldn’t they just collect the debtor?

    • No idea how the business operates but their practices pissed my client off and he dropped them as a supplier

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