I spotted an item I thought to maybe buy, so requested more information via there web form. No reply so I emailed the via their sales email address, still no reply, so I looked a little deeper.
Both of their listed addresses are the addresses of homes on ordinary streets, rather than any commercial address.
Harry Bloomfield submitted this idea :
The more you dig, the more suspicious it seems, despite the apparent quality of the web site design.
Nightjar wrote on 06/02/2019 :
Yes, but this one is claiming to be a rather big business and suggesting it takes card payments. Check the about page as to how big they suggest they are... None of it is backed up by facts, or is traceable to actual companies that I could find.
I keep getting error 503 service unavailable. It's perfectly possible that someone is working from home + garage or lock-up.
NT
Their "umbrella" organisation williamsharp.net does appear to have lost its website, they've been trading for 10 years according to companies house, rumbling along with few assets and some debt.
They might be plumbers themselves, working from home, who treat selling on a few products from suppliers they deal with anyway as more strings to their bow, possible drop-shipped so they never see the products or keep any stock ... not necessarily dodgy.
I haven't spotted where it claims to be a big business.
The site says it's a brand of William Sharp Ltd. That company exists but is micro:
It might be what's called a registered address, often this is the company's solicitor but not unknown for a private address to be registered and not unusual for several companies to share the same address. I have never known the reason for having a registered address but perhaps someone might enlighten us.
Richard
From the T&Cs:
"The Plumb Depot and Parts Depot websites are trade only websites: by registering you confirm that you consider yourself to be a business or acting on behalf of a business and therefore you will not be covered by any contract law that relates to retailers and their customers. Distance Selling Regulations will not apply. Under law, wholesalers and resellers are expected to negotiate their own terms and conditions. The following Terms and Conditions set out the trading arrangements with William Sharp Ltd."
Is that allowed? Does one get consumer rights because one is a consumer or because one claims to be?
It is legal for a company to trade on Business to Business terms as long as they make that perfectly clear. If someone who is not a business specifically says they are a business in order to deal with such a company they can't really expect to be able to claim later that they were really a private individual.
Trading on B2B terms is far from unusual. However, it can't be used to deceive, so someone patently trading Business to Consumer (B2C) can't later claim it was really B2B.
I've known a one man business in a cowshed that took card payments
Mine is my accountant. Its where official documents relating to the legal status of the company go. He has about 50 companies using it as their registered address.
Mostly tax and companies house s*it.
Somebody who bought up a load of bankrupt stuff at an auction and his wife wants her garage back? Brian
Well they want to get an edge over 5G. Brian
Yes, the law does make that distinction.
Yes. But they don't deal with consumers, they are trade only.
Looks like a fair price. At least you know exactly what you're going to pay for each transaction regardless of whether its credit/debit/commercial/premium etc "payment roulette" we play. :)
It is where official documents are sent or, more formally where legal notices are served.
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