Hi Chap,

I was interested in your message this morning about Amazon.

I’ve had a nightmare with the USA in recent months......this is not due to Amazon at all,it’s due to the protectionist way the retailers act in the USA.

In the sports industry the terms and conditions state that goods we purchase within the EU are only supposed to be sold in our region.

This isn’t a problem on our website and on eBay sales because it’s not visible where sales are going.......with Amazon it’s right in their faces on Amazon.com and you’re openly fighting on the same listings against US sellers.

We had the competition b I t c h I n g to all the big brands about us and we were issued with warnings to remove ourselves from Amazon.com.

It’s hit turnover by £250k a year and this is the tip of the iceberg because our potential out there was probably £3m a year as we’d hardly started scratching the surface!!

All the brands have said that if we open an office in the USA and buy and distribute through US channels then it’s absolutely fine but the logistics involved for us are a nightmare as we’d need to more or less trust unknown staff in the USA and manage it remotely with only occasional visits.

I’m open to any ideas you might have mate?

Maybe we can meet up in Belbroughton at the pub at some point!?