Wanting to start my own ebay shop, Advice please

indierocker85

Leea_Cadie wrote: »

Hi Im Hoping to Make and sell Childrens Alternative clothing Via Ebay (to start with), Im A little worried about the Ebay and Paypal fees,

I tried to test what the paypal would take once, When Sending £1 to my dads paypal account paypal took 22p, so would that be 22p for every £1

When you say Turnover, is that meaning Annual turnover? Sorry to sound thick!!

Regards
Leea

use this http://www.clothnappytree.com/ppcalculator/ it will show you how much you will pay in fees and what you will receive if some sends X amount.

indierocker85

paulwf wrote: »

OP, will you intend this to be your main source of income or will it be a sideline?

A sideline, I need my income to pay various things and cannot take the risk of it not working out and me being left effectively out of work.

paulwf

indierocker85 wrote: »

A sideline, I need my income to pay various things and cannot take the risk of it not working out and me being left effectively out of work.

Excellent. Although it can be tempting to think you can make a fortune from selling items with a net (let alone gross) profit of £1 each remember you would have to shift 12,000 of them in a year to make the same as you would 40 hours a week in a job on min wage.

blue_monkey_2

I started my business on eBay. We used to be very busy not one year I had to do my books early and the business closed for a bit so I was able to concentrate on the figures a bit more.

I made 10k profit on eBay before the eBay and Paypal fees. They were £9,200 - for 8 months work. Since this time prices have gone up - I used to list for 1p for 30 days, this is now 5p per item.

I then decided I was wasting my time on eBay and put those efforts into my website instead.

The bonus is that I sell for the same price competetive prices but I make more as I have nominal expenses, in fact I can sell for less as you cannot sell on your website for less then you do on eBay else your listings are pulled.

Of course, I am not as busy as I was on eBay but I do around 2-4 hours work a day. When I was doing eBay this was more like 10 hours a day from the time I got up until the time I went to bed, 7 days a week (RM used to collect on a Sunday back then) answering emails, relisting and the like. If a free listing day was coming I would export all my shop listings to auction listings and then I'd end up doing around 15 hours a day. If my husband was home from work he would be looking after the kids while I did all my eBay stuff. Looking back I was a fool. However, it got me started and I was one of the first people selling what I sell on eBay and I made a lot of money which I used to invest in more stock and got to the place I am now.

Don't forget if you already work then you'll have to pay Tax & NI on everything you earn that is 'profit'.

I personally would not buy pick & mix sweets from eBay. You do not know where they have been or who has touched them, where they are kept and in what conditions. Plus you have to pay postage on them too.

I would also consider having Public Liability Insurance as you are selling food stuffs and if someone was to get ill and try and blame you you need to have the ability to fight that allegation.

As for earning an income. I am not sure, if you get too busy you will need employees to keep on top of the orders and they would need paying first. How many packages can you pack per day - allowing for trips to the PO and the wholesalers too, you have to get them into your working day.

I read this was a sideline. You will have to pay Tax & NI on all profits. Profits = total money in including postage (this is your 'Turnover') less ALL expenses.

If you reach TURNOVER of more than £68k on any rolling 12 month period you will have to register for VAT.

blue_monkey_2

Leea_Cadie wrote: »

Hi Im Hoping to Make and sell Childrens Alternative clothing Via Ebay (to start with), Im A little worried about the Ebay and Paypal fees,

I tried to test what the paypal would take once, When Sending £1 to my dads paypal account paypal took 22p, so would that be 22p for every £1

When you say Turnover, is that meaning Annual turnover? Sorry to sound thick!!

Regards
Leea

Paypal always take a 20p first charge so if you get £1 they will take 20p plus a %, if you receive £1000 they will take 20p plus a %.

Turnover is the total amount of money that you recieve in sales per year. This includes postage you charge your customers.

If you are talking about VAT then this is based on a rolling 12 month period - 1st Feb - 31st Jan, 1st Mar - 28/29 Feb, 1st Apr - 31 Mar, etc.... If your turnover exceeds 68k in this rolling year then you will have to register for VAT. This is why it im portant to keep on top of your paperwork. You must keep receipts for everything.

If you are talking about your Tax in a year, for HMRC this will be 6th April - 5th April.

However your 'company' year can be different, this will be 12 months following your start up date and this will show your annual turnover, you will declare this years profits when your self assessment is due in the April.

Think that is it, the beauty of working for yourself is still sitting here at 9am in my dressing gown while it is cold outside, I've done some work this morning already, will not get dressed and take the kids out in the snow and will do some more work this afternoon once they've got fed of of being cold and wet. LOL.

Strapped

Leea_Cadie wrote: »

Hi Im Hoping to Make and sell Childrens Alternative clothing Via Ebay (to start with), Im A little worried about the Ebay and Paypal fees,

I tried to test what the paypal would take once, When Sending £1 to my dads paypal account paypal took 22p, so would that be 22p for every £1

When you say Turnover, is that meaning Annual turnover? Sorry to sound thick!!

Regards
Leea

No offence, but if you can't find the basic information like PayPal fees structure then are you sure that running a business is for you?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Strapped wrote: »

No offence, but if you can't find the basic information like PayPal fees structure then are you sure that running a business is for you?

hay everyone has got to start somewhere, and its all about asking questions and finding out things in the begining.....

paulwf

blue_monkey wrote: »

I started my business on eBay. We used to be very busy not one year I had to do my books early and the business closed for a bit so I was able to concentrate on the figures a bit more.

I made 10k profit on eBay before the eBay and Paypal fees. They were £9,200 - for 8 months work. Since this time prices have gone up - I used to list for 1p for 30 days, this is now 5p per item.

I then decided I was wasting my time on eBay and put those efforts into my website instead.

The bonus is that I sell for the same price competetive prices but I make more as I have nominal expenses, in fact I can sell for less as you cannot sell on your website for less then you do on eBay else your listings are pulled.

Of course, I am not as busy as I was on eBay but I do around 2-4 hours work a day. When I was doing eBay this was more like 10 hours a day from the time I got up until the time I went to bed, 7 days a week (RM used to collect on a Sunday back then) answering emails, relisting and the like. If a free listing day was coming I would export all my shop listings to auction listings and then I'd end up doing around 15 hours a day. If my husband was home from work he would be looking after the kids while I did all my eBay stuff. Looking back I was a fool. However, it got me started and I was one of the first people selling what I sell on eBay and I made a lot of money which I used to invest in more stock and got to the place I am now.

I think this is an excellent post that anyone that uses internet forums when starting up their business should bear in mind. When you hear stories of businesses selling thousands of items it looks like they are a huge success, but when you get the actual figures of a net profit of £800 for 10 hours a day over 8 months it paints a different picture.

Blue Monkey, as you say Ebay is a great place for learning how to run a business with very minimal risk (as long as you don't bulk buy). Sounds like 8 months well spent, you can't buy experience like that.

Strapped

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

hay everyone has got to start somewhere, and its all about asking questions and finding out things in the begining.....

I just would've thought reading the PayPal website would've been a start!

Dirrtland

Strapped wrote: »

No offence, but if you can't find the basic information like PayPal fees structure then are you sure that running a business is for you?

Excuse me dont be so Bloody rude, I know quite alot when it comes to business, as i have done courses in
*Tax NI,
*Bookeeping,
*Business planning,
*Business Essentials,
*VAT, ETC,,,,,

I was considering ebay/paypal as a add on for the Business, Because Im planning using epay for my own site rather than paypal, (that I hope to have) as it probably would end up more affordable in long run rather than constant ebay/paypal fees..

Plus As I had seen this topic first, I Posted because i would prefer a persons view on fees rather than a manual!!!!.... And as I would be buying and making my own materials/Clothing cost + time = Profit or loss, So testing the waters

What is it with some people