When will this Bottom Feeder be eyed by the Competition Commission?

[apprepcen]

Appliance Repair businesses are the bottom feeders of our society. I have had an Appliance Repair business in Pretoria for 10 years. Initially, I made a lot of money, but like in any free market environment, when that happens new entrants eat away at your market share and profits. Now the business is barely surviving. I planned to close it, because of my dealings with the Russian Federation.

But I thought, I now have enough money available to kick some butt in the Appliance Repair game. So it is time for a shake up. The structure of the market is as follows:

2 suppliers of spare parts
2 or 3 big repair businesses
100's of small repair businesses

All the repair businesses buy their spares from one of the 2 suppliers.

Now my planned strategy is as follows:

Buy out the spares parts suppliers even if I have to pay a premium. If they do not want to sell, headhunt their personnel and open a spare part supply business next door to them and close them down by selling at cost less 10% for 3 months or however long it takes to kill them.

Buy the 2 big repair shops. Now that I control the spares supply in Pretoria, I can drive the smaller repair shops out of business by either discontinuing their discount or refusing to sell to them.

Many customers are a bunch of arseholes and once they know what the problem with the machine is, they do not accept the quote, but want the machine back to do the repairs themselves. This is easy to manage when the spares supply and the repairs are integrated. You can flag that customer on the system and when someone comes in to buy that spare, you ask for his details. If he is the one who did not accept the quote, you sell the spare at double the normal retail price or he can buzz off and go buy it in Johannesburg, because he will not be able to buy it in Pretoria.

This will be how you gain control of the market in Pretoria. Then on to Johannesburg where you do the same. Now I wonder, will the Competition Commission waste their time with a business like this which is clearly behaving monopolistic, but not deemed as strategic like bread?

[adrianh]

I just read your post talking about how

Many customers are a bunch of arseholes

and other comments like

you sell the spare at double the normal retail price or he can buzz off and go buy it in Johannesburg, because he will not be able to buy it in Pretoria.

And then you point the following out

Appliance Repair businesses are the bottom feeders of our society.

I think that the post answers itself

[apprepcen]

What is wrong with what I wrote? Please explain it in a bit more detail. You have not answered the question that was asked either, so what is your point, exactly?

[Slippy]

Not sure if the lack of 'strategic behaviour' would make any difference, what you're suggesting so far sounds like a case the commission would definitely be interested in.

[Dave A]

I've been to big IT repair operations that already behave like this - I thought apprepcen was taking the mickey...

[BusFact]

This will be how you gain control of the market in Pretoria. Then on to Johannesburg where you do the same.

And if you make any decent money doing this .....

... but like in any free market environment, when that happens new entrants eat away at your market share and profits.

Back to square one, after spending a lot of money buying dealers at a premium and selling at below cost. Surely there is a better more sustainable business model out there? That money you have could be spent far more wisely and profitably IMO.

[apprepcen]

And if you make any decent money doing this .....



Back to square one, after spending a lot of money buying dealers at a premium and selling at below cost. Surely there is a better more sustainable business model out there? That money you have could be spent far more wisely and profitably IMO.

Then I take them out of the market again, either by buying them out and signing restraint of trade agreements or I close them down by offering our services for free for a month or 2. Business is war. I was almost a victim, but now I am on the attack. There is a better way still. Refuse to sell them spares. What I want to do is raise the barriers of entry.

[AndyD]

I thought apprepcen was taking the mickey...

I didn't reply before now because I wasn't sure if this was some kind of wind-up.

I just want to check if I'm straight so far.

• You opened and ran an appliance repair shop which was very profitable in the early years but as competition grew they ate away at your market and now you're left with a business that's no longer profitable. (I didn't understand where the Russian Federation fits in though)
  
• You're now considering either buying out the two main spares suppliers or putting them out of business by head-hunting their key personnel and selling appliance spares at cost or under market value.
  
• Once you control the supply of appliance spares you will either buy out the two biggest repair centres or you'll put them out of business by undercutting them or artificially inflating the price you'll sell spares to them.
  
• If this fails you'll refuse to sell them spares at all.
  
• Any ....and I quote....arsehole customers who decline your quotation to repair their appliances will be blacklisted and not allowed to purchase spares.
  
• Once you've conquered Pretoria then onto Joburg..... and beyond!!

I can see a couple of flaws in your 'business' plan immediately but I'm all ears to hear about the 'Russian Federation' story first.

[Sparks]

If you can afford to buy out all the local suppliers and force the competition (?) out, what the hell are you complaining about? Go retire somewhere and let the people who need to work do it.

[mother]

Now the business is barely surviving....I now have enough money available to kick some butt in the Appliance Repair game.

So obviously the money you have available is from a different source, not the barely surviving business?

Buy out the spares parts suppliers... pay a premium ... headhunt their personnel ... selling at cost less 10% for 3 months or however long it takes... Buy the 2 big repair shops... refusing to sell to them... he can buzz off and go buy it in Johannesburg

Is it just me, or is this an extremely expensive strategy?
Not trying to funny apprepcen, but is this a strategy aimed at yielding a financial return on investment, or is this simply a revenge fantasy?

[apprepcen]

Now I understand why I got the reactions that I got. You guys do not have the information that I have. Sorry about that. No, I will not be dependent on the income from the business at all because of another business venture that I am in now. But I have an affinity for the appliance repair business because it taught me to lie better than the devil can. Try me...

Yes it is a revenge strategy. But also one that will make money in the medium and long term. Heck I think I will turn a profit within 2 to 3 years.

[apprepcen]

If you can afford to buy out all the local suppliers and force the competition (?) out, what the hell are you complaining about? Go retire somewhere and let the people who need to work do it.

You mean I must become a social butterfly? What is the male gender for that? Parden my French, but I think you are crazy. If I was 25, I might have considered it, but I am double that age and I still want to be productive. I need to work. If I retire now, I will be dead soon. There are so many things to do and so little time.

[apprepcen]

I can see a couple of flaws in your 'business' plan immediately but I'm all ears to hear about the 'Russian Federation' story first.

Read all my posts - from the beginning. Every one of them and you will get a clue. No you will know exactly what is going on if you think a little bit creatively. This is why I needed a tax clearance in the first place and why I joined the forum. I do not want to come right out and say it, because of Google. I have to stay under the radar for a little while longer.

[AndyD]

Read all my posts

Okay, let's see what I see, and yeah, I already went through your posts several times in fact over the past week or so. There's a few things not making sense, you start out being a guy who's owned a very small business for 10 years with around R5000/month income and, after a sudden conscience attack, wants to come clean with SARS. On top of that there's no books for that business yet one day after you approach SARS you walk away with a tax clearance certificate.

Two tax avoidance threads (1) (2) and a miscellaneous thread on gemstone processing later it turns out you're now starting a new business and requiring investors and already have a 'sole mandate to distribute the total production of a certain mineral in the Russian Federation worldwide, except in Russia'. All this whilst harbouring some kind of grudge against the appliance repair industry in which you 'made a lot of money' but ultimately the business failed.

So what I'm seeing from your posts is this;

There's an engineered theme running through them that points in the direction of you fishing. You're fishing for investors who might be lucky enough to get in on the ground floor of some circus you're cooking up the involves worldwide distribution of gemstones from the former USSR and there's going to be massive returns because not only have you secured the sole mandate, you're structuring it such as to avoid taxation.

Feel free to comment and I can move swiftly on to what I see from your clumsy and very telling internet footprint. I'm one inch away from dumping your complete web history and the contents of one poorly secured gmail account here for comment, one more bullshit racist post in the forums should piss me off sufficiently do the trick.

[adrianh]

You just got owned by AndyD