I've found a Niche!!!

nalibz

rushnowt wrote:

Import duty on goods from USA is charged at 12.5 %, I buy products occassionally from a company there and thats what I was charged on last delivery 2 weeks ago.

Good luck with everything Nalibz, don't forget me when your rich and famous

sorry, who are you?:D

nalibz

doingwhatican wrote:

nalibz, when you import you will have to tell them how you want it sent to you. Are you buying FOB, CIF, DDP etc? You will have to get a handing company to receive the pallet for you in the UK or do all the work your self. This will involve getting a handling company in the docks or airport to remove the pallet from the transport and place it in a clearing warehouse. Do you know the duty category that your product falls into? I ask as I once imported some electric kids stand on scooters and they fell into a certain category, I can't remember exactly which one, but this was an extra 2.5% duty, and then also don’t forget you will have to pay VAT on the total value of the goods.
For one pallet of stuff expect to pay a minimum of about £60 for a handling company to receive the pallet and hold it for you and process the paper work. Are you then going to collect the pallet from the holding docks or have it delivered to you - this is not cheap either way. So now add up all the costs and I expect that your first pallet of goods will just about break even if you buy them for £9 each and flog them for £50 each on eBay.
For returns – do the company know you are selling on, you might be able to broker a deal with them like cost price on spare parts or something like that. It always pays to ask.
I bought a pallet of electric scooters from china and got them FOB ( which is free on board - basically the factory send them to the transport ship for me - literally a slow boat from china ) and I paid $80 USD each for the scooters and I had a final cost when they arrived to my door of around £140 ( about $240 at the time ) per scooter - good thing I had already sold them all for more before I had even got them. I used a small handling company in Southampton docks that received the pallet (arranged to get it off off the transport ship for me) and did the customs paper work for me and paid all the duty up front to customs. The only way you will make real money is to buy in bulk – I could have got 40 pallets (a container) of the scooters at around $40 each – that was half the price.
I hope this gives you food for thought as it really does take a lot of effort to import into the UK – it is not as easy as making a personal purchase.

Another question if anyone has the answer..

How much does it cost to unload a pallet and to deliver it to a premises, lets say in london or maybe birmingham??

many thanks,

nalibz

rushnowt

nalibz wrote:

sorry, who are you?:D

just a deranged individual lurking till ya make ya first million :rotfl:

littleange

spa2k wrote:

one other thing to consider if you start selling 100+ of these things is income tax. The taxman is said to be monitoring ebay and it may well be worth watching out for.

Anyway, good luck nalibz, hope your niche pays off!!

You should declare all of this income and will need to register as self employed if your buying items to sell and will have to pay income tax on it all if you are already earning over £5,035 a year (most likely at 22%), if this is your only income, you will not have to pay income tax until you net profit reaches £5,035, but you still have to declare it all. Then theres National Insurance to consider too.

I think you have 3 months to inform the Inland Revenue from when you start trading otherwise they could fine you £100 for registering late. So you could see how it goes before informing them.

And don't forget to keep records of everything you buy and sell and of all expenses incurred. Good Luck.

rushnowt

The IR don't have the manpower to constantly monitor ebay or anything else tbh, they do a cycle of hunting down potential tax evaders. one week it could be local ad's, next ebay etc etc. They will start with gardeners for instance in all the local papers and go through all those checking them out, then on to another service, the next could be sellers of shoes on ebay then onto another seller etc etc. theres no hard and fast rule with the way the IR work and if you don't declare your earnings one week you could be the unlucky one who gets caught out. Unless of course someone grasses you, then you'd find yourself up the preverbial creek without a paddle.

Imho it's better to declare your earnings and keep everything above board, that way you know your safe and theres not gonna be a nasty knock on the door demanding immediate payment. saving a few quid in tax isn't worth a potential jail sentance for none payment imo :eek:

nalibz

Thank you both for your responses. I don't think my income will be above the £5,035 mark and i certainly cant see it topping that by selling them on ebay so i'll have to research it a bit further.

Even if my idea does get off the ground in the first place...

sarahlouise210

guess the object competition continues ....does it smell ???

nalibz

sarahlouise210 wrote:

guess the object competition continues ....does it smell ???

It does continue! no cluesss!! (yet)

and to Rush - I promise as soon as i make my first million, i'll give ya a quid:D

mike230652

nalibz

Is it likely to be a long selling item.or a fashion fad...i.e. over with in a few weeks / months??

Sounds to me like a lot of work / time / effort for not huge rewards, even at £20-25 per item, you'll need to shift a good few...and you have a big outlay up front.

Good luck with it.....

My wife is still making upwards of £1100 per month on eBay off her brain wave.

So..there are niches out there...hope it works for you.

Mike