Frequently Asked Questions
I don’t have access to a car – can I still be an agent?
What if I can’t offer appointments during the day/evening/weekends?
How much will I earn?
What training will you give me?
Can I apply if you already have an agent in my area?
How do I apply?
I have a question you haven’t answered...
What will I need to do during an appointment?
How long will an appointment take?
How do customers pay for the clothes that they buy?
How do you know what customers have bought?
What do I need to do during an appointment with a seller?
What if I find that an item is damaged/dirty?
What if an item gets damaged in my house?
What if a buyer wants to buy something which has just been dropped off?
A customer has just returned an item to me that they bought. What do I do?
A buyer has asked me how she looks in a dress. What do I say?
I have a question you haven’t answered...
Becoming an agent
I don’t have access to a car – can I still be an agent?
Yes, at the moment, we deliver clothes to you and collect them from you so you don’t need access to a car. If we get very busy, we may ask agents who have a car to come and collect clothes and we will pay their petrol costs but we still want to have agents who are unable to do this. All of your customers are likely to come to you, unless you agree otherwise.
What if I can’t offer appointments during the day/evening/weekends?
We want to offer you work that will be flexible and fit around your family and other commitments. If you can only offer appointments on a Monday afternoon & a Wednesday evening (or whenever...), that’s fine by us. Of course, if customers can only make appointments at times that you don’t offer, they’ll have to visit another agent and we could recruit another agent in your area if there’s demand.
Could I have appointments with my child(ren) around?
Yes, as long as you are able to give your customer enough attention and advice. So you wouldn’t want to accept an appointment when you know you’ll be feeding your child or close to a time when you’ll need to do the playgroup/nursery/school run.
How much work will I be offered?
Cambridge Bumps is a new business and we’re still in the early stages of becoming known to pregnant women. This means that we can’t guarantee you appointments, especially in the early days but we will help you to publicise the company locally which should generate more appointments for you.
We will pay you:
- £5.00 per appointment to buy or sell.
- 10% commission on all sales that you make up to a total of £60, 12.5% commission up to £120 and then 15% over sales of £120. We’ll ask you to tell us how long each appointment takes so that we make sure you’re always paid at or above the minimum wage.
So if you had a 30 minute appointment and sold £50 of clothes, you would earn £10.00, equal to £20 per hour. If you had a one-hour appointment and sold £125 of clothes, you would earn £23.75.
What training will you give me?
When you start, we’ll come out to visit you and take you through a trial visit. We’ll show you our labelling system and explain what to do when you make a sale. We’ll talk to you about checking cheques and taking credit and debit card payments.
Can I apply if you already have an agent in my area?
Yes, we won’t set you up in competition with someone who already works for Cambridge Bumps but if the agent in your area only offers appointments at limited times (e.g. evenings only) or if you are willing to travel to people’s homes or offer clothes parties, they we’d be happy to introduce you to the other local agent and see how you can work together.
Complete our application form and we’ll arrange to meet you and discuss things further.
I have a question you haven’t answered...
E-mail us with your question. We’ll contact you with the answer and add it to our FAQs list.
Working as an agent
What will I need to do during an appointment?
When an appointment is booked for you, you’ll usually be given at least a week’s notice and will be given the buyer’s contact details. She’ll also be given your details in case she gets lost, is running late, etc. We’ll usually arrange to deliver a package of clothes to you and the quantity of clothes will vary, depending on what the customer has requested, what is available in her size, etc.
Before the visit, we ask you to hang up or lay out the clothes in such a way that the customer can browse. We also ask you to make sure that she has access to a full-length mirror and somewhere to change.
When she arrives, you can show her the range of clothing and can make suggestions about what clothing may meet her needs. Our aim is to help pregnant women find clothes that will meet their needs throughout their pregnancy and not to sell, sell, sell. But customers may appreciate some advice about which clothes go together, items that it may be useful to think about (e.g. vests and T-shirts for warmer weather). If they’ve come to buy work clothes, you can ask questions like “Have you thought about whether you’ll need a swimsuit?” or “Will you need any nightdresses?”. Then let the customer decide if they want time browsing on their own or would like your opinion as they try on clothes. It’s fine to have children around as you’re helping a customer as long as you can give the customer your attention when she needs it (e.g. don’t book an appointment when you know your children will be eating a meal and you will need to give them your full attention).
When we deliver the package of clothes, we’ll also send a full list of the items we’ve sent with a comments & a Sold column. We ask you to provide any comments – especially things like whether an item is Marked as Size 14 but is too big or too small, or if a customer remarks that they’d like to buy it but it’s too expensive. We also need you to mark down all of the items which are sold as this helps us to calculate your commission & to update our inventory.
How long will an appointment take?
You’ll probably have a mix of some short appointments and some longer ones depending on whether your customer is looking for a few specific items or trying to stock up on clothes, and depending on how much help and advice they need. We estimate that appointments will last between 15 & 90 minutes. If you feel like an appointment is going slowly or if a customer is trying on a lot of clothes but not buying anything, you can make some gentle suggestions about what to choose and you can also let the customer know that their appointment time is nearly over. We will run through scenarios like this when we train you.
If we’re booking appointments for you, we’ll try to book adjacent time slots so that you can make best use of your time. You may have people visiting at the same time if you have enough space for two or more people to try on clothes.
How do customers pay for the clothes that they buy?
Customers may pay by cash or cheque (made payable to Cambridge Bumps Ltd.) or by credit or debit card via a computer-based system. We’ll provide guidance for you on checking cheque payments and training on our credit & debit card system. We’ll also give you a receipt book so that you can give each customer a receipt.
How do you know what customers have bought?
Each item of clothing has a double ticket on it which shows the item number (this is coded in our database so that we know which items belongs to which seller), the clothes size and price. When you make a sale, we ask you to tear off the bottom half of the tickets and clip them together. This allows us to update our database, pay the seller their fee and calculate your commission.
What do I need to do during an appointment with a seller?
We may also ask you to take in parcels of clothes from people wishing to sell their clothes through Cambridge Bumps. Anyone who has arranged to sell through us will have been given a Seller Form on which they will have completed the details of the clothes they want to sell, their size, description and possibly preferred selling price. We’ll ask you to check that all of the clothes on the list are present, clean, ironed and in good condition. We may also ask you to help the seller to price the clothes and to label them.
What if I find that an item is damaged/dirty?
Make a note of which item it is and the fault that you’ve noticed. We’ll contact the seller and discuss this with them. If you notice a fault while you are checking clothes from a seller, please point this out to them politely (e.g. “This seems to have a small stain on it”) and tell them that we may still be able to accept the item although the selling price will be lower than if the item hadn’t been stained. We make a £1.00 per item charge for washing and ironing an item. If you notice a fault during an appointment with a buyer and the buyer is interested in the item, you make use your discretion to make a price reduction.
What if an item gets damaged in my house?
If an item is damaged by a buyer or by you (or your family), then please let us know. We’ll try to repair any damage if we can. We know that accidents can happen, especially when there are small children around so please try not to worry.
What if a buyer wants to buy something from a package of clothes which has just been dropped off by a seller?
Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be able to sell directly to a buyer until the seller’s items have been entered onto our database. If someone sees something that they’d like to buy during an appointment, make a note of the buyer’s details and the item details and we’ll contact the buyer when the item is ready for sale.
A customer has just returned an item to me that they bought last week. What do I do?
We offer a no-quibble money back guarantee if clothes are returned to us within 10 days of purchase. We ask customers to contact us and would usually arrange for them to deliver the item back to us. If they would prefer to deliver it to you, we would contact you in advance to arrange this. We will then process the refund. If this hasn’t been arranged in advance, then please accept the item and contact us.
A buyer has asked me how she looks in a dress. I think she looks horrible – what do I say?
One of the reasons that people come to Cambridge Bumps is because of the help and advice that we provide. As an agent, you need to be able to put aside your personal taste but to be honest and to help your customer. So if you hate flowery dresses, you’ll need to keep this view to yourself. But if the dress is really unflattering, let your customer know and then try to help her find a more suitable alternative.
I have a question you haven’t answered...
E-mail us with your question. We’ll contact you with the answer and add it to our FAQs list.
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www.cambridgebumps.co.uk