Trading

[Sir Percy]

Hi,

 

Is anyone here a CRT-licenced trader?

 

I was just wondering what more there was beyond paying for your licence. Any inspections, or paperwork required for example? This was just in regard to general trading, i.e., not carrying passengers or having the public enter your boat. 

 

TIA

[TheBiscuits]

 

Quite a few of us  

 

Everything you need to get started is here :

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/business-and-trade/boating-business

[Sir Percy]

17 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Quite a few of us  

 

Everything you need to get started is here :

 

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/business-and-trade/boating-business

Thanks - yes, I'd been reading this page - was there a form/template for the Operating Proposal, or did you hand-craft your own?

Edited June 28, 2020 by Sir Percy
found it

[dmr]

You will need suitable insurance, your current insurer might provide this (free of charge if you are really lucky) otherwise the market traders association do a stand alone policy for about £60. Third party liability is compulsory, depending on what you are doing you might also want product liability.

 

When first starting you need to jump through all sorts of CRT paperwork hoops, but after that they just leave you alone to get on with it.

One or two people actually make a living out of it, for most others its a bit of pocket money and can be quite fun. The traders are mostly a good sociable bunch.

 

There is a Roving Canal Traders Association which might be worth joining, but I feel that they have become a bit too obsessed with rules and regulations over the last few years, and with too much focus on business and less on boating and having fun.

 

...............Dave

[TheBiscuits]

23 minutes ago, dmr said:

There is a Roving Canal Traders Association which might be worth joining, but I feel that they have become a bit too obsessed with rules and regulations over the last few years, and with too much focus on business and less on boating and having fun.

 

That's way more polite than Sheila says it ...

 

23 minutes ago, dmr said:

One or two people actually make a living out of it, for most others its a bit of pocket money and can be quite fun. The traders are mostly a good sociable bunch.

 

This is very true.  For some (most?) it's pin money on top of their pension or other job(s) rather than a standalone business.  Others are deadly serious about it as the more they can earn the longer they can afford not to get a land based job in winter to tide them over.

 

I doubt there are many doing the roving trader thing as a full time and only source of income, but there might be a few.  We sell a lot more online than we do off the boat, but that's the nature of our business - or at least it used to be until the covid thing shut down parties and weddings!

[Athy]

11 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

.

 

I doubt there are many doing the roving trader thing as a full time and only source of income, but there might be a few. 

That's an interesting point. I wonder how many of them our members know of.

   I'd guess that the operators of coal and fuel boats fall (or at least, before the lock-down, fell) into that category. Perhaps Croc who does vinyl sculpting, and Luke who runs the cleverly named Record Deck  Maybe The Cheese Boat (or boats, there's probably more than one travelling around). I also remember a boat-based blacksmith whom we saw some years ago at Fradley - it would be hard yo imagine him having a second set of equipment on land. Then there's the café boat at Braunston.

   But these are only guesses. The canals were built for commercial trade, and the more people who can still earn a living on them, the better.

[Alan de Enfield]

12 hours ago, Sir Percy said:

Hi,

 

Is anyone here a CRT-licenced trader?

 

I was just wondering what more there was beyond paying for your licence. Any inspections, or paperwork required for example? This was just in regard to general trading, i.e., not carrying passengers or having the public enter your boat. 

 

TIA

Without knowing what 'commercial activity' you plan it is not easy to comment. it would however be worth discussing this with C&RT as, if you become a 'non-private' boat, not only does your licence fee change, your insurance change, so does the BSS requirements.

 

"Non-Private" boats need to comply with the much stricter 2002 BSS requirements.

 

I don't know when 'commercial activities' become the predominant activity if you are living on board and just 'doing a bit of business'.

Worth a call to discuss anyway.

[dmr]

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Without knowing what 'commercial activity' you plan it is not easy to comment. it would however be worth discussing this with C&RT as, if you become a 'non-private' boat, not only does your licence fee change, your insurance change, so does the BSS requirements.

 

"Non-Private" boats need to comply with the much stricter 2002 BSS requirements.

 

I don't know when 'commercial activities' become the predominant activity if you are living on board and just 'doing a bit of business'.

Worth a call to discuss anyway.

This is only true if you have customers on the boat, and even then its not too difficult. Usually it just involves paying a trading licence which is maybe an extra £80 pa. Some insurers say you are commercial and refuse to insure, some insure as normal but don't cover the trading, some ask for a small extra premium, a few give a trading endorsement free of charge.

A roving trader "commercial boat" is very similar to a standard leisure boat, no priorities and minimal additional regulations. CRT have recently considered scrapping the trading licence and letting everybody do small scale trading, but decided against this (a good decision in my opinion).

 

...............Dave