30k from ebay in 2 years, my project.

soolin

slade5x5 wrote:

Right guys a couple of things have sold last night, it only came to £10 but i am off out today to find things to reinvest it into and hopefully turn it in to more.

good luck to the rest.

Don't forget to keep a proper record just for yourself as it is easy to overlook fees and get a shock when the ebay invoice comes in. If the £10 you received was 'gross' then check in your ebay account for the associated fees and put that aside in a different pot to pay your invoice, don't spend it. Any paypal fees will have been taken before you received the money but to make sure check your paypal account and take the net figure you received, and not the sale price as your float.

If you do it this way then you will have the money set aside to pay ebay once a month, plus you will be able to see at a glance your running profit total.

Good luck.

Soo

clairehas

Report and update from #2

ive made a spread sheet up on excel, this helps me to understand my exact profit after taking away the paypal costs, ebay insertion fee and ebay final fee and postage!

day by day its growing and im getting excited! lol

MrPurrfekt

Hi all

Somebody queried how PlanetSMS makes his profit when he only sells his ebooks so cheaply, some as cheap as 1p each.

Here 'tis...

Each of his ebooks is written about a certain subject. He makes references to doing certain things like setting up a web site as part of his 'how to do...' guide. He provides a link(s) to web sites. This is the trick. He will have set up an affiliate account whereby he gets commission on any purchases.

He then provides resell rights to his buyers who will then sell it on, and so on.

So even a 1p ebook can be sold on, and on, and on to thousands of people around the world and when people click on any of his links within his ebook and makes a purchase he gets commission.

Forget about selling old clothes at car boots for pennies....!

Brilliant!

Phil M

liuhut

Maybe I will have to think of a few others ways to make my £30k hey!! Thanks for the advice Deaks

slade5x5

Thanks for the advice soo, i have started a spreadsheet up and running to record everything from what i paid for the item, what profit i made and all inclusive fees.
Obviously i will have to pay tax on all of the earnings can offset expenses against the amount of tax i have to pay ie petrol costs, purchase of a digi camera and so on?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

soolin

slade5x5 wrote:

Thanks for the advice soo, i have started a spreadsheet up and running to record everything from what i paid for the item, what profit i made and all inclusive fees.
Obviously i will have to pay tax on all of the earnings can offset expenses against the amount of tax i have to pay ie petrol costs, purchase of a digi camera and so on?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If you are just selling your own bits and bobs then you don't need to declare it for income tax. If you are buying goods to sell on then you do need to keep accurate records for the tax man.

All expenses can be offset as long as they are reasonable. A digital camera for instance may be deemed partly business and partly personal it is getting the balance right. If you aim too high then the IR will object and maybe audit your accounts. There is also a difference between capital expenditure (ie a camera) and revenue expenses. Capital expenses are dealt with differently and if you claim capital expenses then in the unlikely event that an item appreciates in value you will incur other taxes.

If you are going to be looking for capital expenditure you may need an accountant, if you are sticking with revenue expenses like stationery, petrol bills etc then you can easily do it yourself.

Soo

wannabedebtfreebeth

Hi Slade and Claire

Glad to hear it's going well. I have several items ending tonight but so far (started last week) the total showing on ebay as sold is £77.90 I know there are both e-bay and paypal charges to come off that and one buyer from last week hasn't paid his £9 yet but it feels like an ok beginning. I am hoping to get the e-book website set up this week - got a friend coming round to help me. Would eithr of you kind people like to let me have a copy of the spreadsheet you have st up please?? Sounds like you're more techie than I am.

cheers
ps like the signature??

slade5x5

Hi beth just pm me and i will show you what i have done. It is a bit basic but i think it should suffice.
Well done with what you have done so far...

wannabedebtfreebeth

Hi Slade - thanks for that - er how do I pm you please??

Contains_Mild_Peril

Car boot sales and charity shops are good for making a little extra cash, but if each item you sell is unique, and average values fairly low, you would have to spend a huge amount of time photographing, measuring, weighing and describing individual items (and that's not even counting any necessary cleaning, ironing, minor repairs etc.) to make any serious money. On the plus side, it involves comparatively little outlay, so it's a good way to start rather than jump straight in at the high-risk end. If you're aiming to make £30k in 2 years, you would either be dealing in high value items or items you can buy in bulk that don't need completely new listings for each one, or both, but you can always start small and work up to that.