Opening a cash converter (buy and sell) business

Cpu2007

Judas wrote: »

Not in this industry; If the phone breaks after week 2 then you have a recognised recourse against a national chain. If you buy it from a dodgy corner shop then less likely to suceed.

Especially relevant when shops like this are notorious for stolen goods.

The bit above about credit licences etc is also entirely correct.

Your uncle is also doing something entirely different than CG/CC

yeah I do understand your point, one of the main problem is that if I buy items then they might be stolen or something and get blocked after a while.
However after buying many phones etc i usually do a check for items like on checkmend etc ,even though checkmend does not provide info for all the items reason why I keep items for a long period to check if they are stolen or something or if they are working.
If they are blocked usually is possible to know this within some weeks but if they don't get blocked or keep working then those phones works perfectly and i sold many of them.

As mentioned before I do buy and sell stuff right now too,faulty items etc ,is it there any way to boost my profit by doing this? like are there places where is possible to buy cheap electronics and also faulty electtronics?

thanks

Cpu2007

Judas wrote: »

As a retailer you would have to be able to warrant them as not stolen indefinitely.

If a phone turned out to be stolen you would have to every time refund them. This would happen regularly.

Im guessing Cash Converters have far tighter systems than you ever could to prevent this just for a start.

They also offer the facility to offer cheque cashing etc and pawn services etc far better and risk free than you ever could.

Dont underestimate their infastructure.

You mean warrant the customer ? that won't be a problem
I do not underestimate their infrastructure at all, but in my little knowledge I know that what they have is all based on investmens and nothing else.
What I mean is that they they do buy phones and other items which sometime endup being stolen(as they have the same services to check if the item is stolen as us), the only advantage they have is that they have a big chain so if an item endsup to be stolen or something they still sell that item as parts or spares by making profit out of it.

therefore their infrastructure is very well developed as they have a bacup plan for every obstacles .
But they buy the same stuff as we do so there is no way for them to avoid if a phone gets broken or blocked later but they will still sell that in a way or other.

Cpu2007

Judas wrote: »

How do you know this?
I'm willing to bet they have invested far more and built up very strong relationships and processes that mean they can ensure they purchase far less stolen stock than you would.

I never made any comparison with them, my point also proved that their infrastructure is better then mine.
What my point was that they also get stolen items but they have a better bacup plan to get profit out of stolent items too.
I am sure they get less stolen stuff than me because their system is much stronger but the services and equipment they have in their hands is same as I can have.
I am pretty sure they do not have access to police database to check if the item is stolen ,the services they have are services that the general public can use also.

highguyuk

Judas wrote: »

I wouldnt be convinced on this, I would imagine they have got a mutually beneficial agreement with the phone companies, insurers and authorities that you could never get that will give them access to information on more databases.

I doubt it!

I spend a spell of time working for GAME, huge retailer of pre-owned consoles with a large opportunity for stolen goods to got rid of through them.

The only checks carried out were to switch the machine on in the back, yet they offer 3 months warranty. If a customer did just want to trade in as opposed to Cash, no ID was needed. If they wanted cash, then some ID would be needed but if in a months time the console was proved stolen there was no identification method to link the old owner with that console - no manufacturers number was taken etc.

laurz121

I think a few of your figures are very low and aren't very realistic.

I reckon that renting a shop and having it all fitted out would come to significantly more than £7000. Don't forget that you need a sign outside, need to have the shop fitted out, electricity costs, phone, internet, computer, till, payment system etc
I think you'll be VERY lucky to fill an entire store with enough stock to make people actually want to come in for about £5k. I'd have thought it would be more like £30k at least.

If I were you I'd do a bit more research into it first to find out how much things would cost. If it were me and I was like you (ie not really got a clue about how it all works) i'd go to cash converters or one of the other similar shops and look at what they've got in stock, try to make a note or something of everything theyve got in there or everything that you think you need to have the shop fully stocked and then head over to CEX's website to see how much they are buying it all for from the public then do a bit of maths and it'll give you a rough idea of how much it will cost you to stock the shop.

DCFC79

Would you be in the shop by yourself or would you need staff as thats another cost, what about security for the unit

Cpu2007

Judas wrote: »

I wouldnt be convinced on this, I would imagine they have got a mutually beneficial agreement with the phone companies, insurers and authorities that you could never get that will give them access to information on more databases.

I know people that are used to come in my uncle shop and they want to sell phones and laptops, we do not buy stuff from some of them as we know for sure they steal items and they come regularly to us and other shops as cash generator etc to see who gives the best price.

these same people sold their item several times to the cg and them people bought those phones, some of them were sold after some weeks and some of them were never showed on the shop.
So I do not really think that they have all these access as even the police requires special notifications to get details of phones record etc.

Cpu2007

DCFC79 wrote: »

Would you be in the shop by yourself or would you need staff as thats another cost, what about security for the unit

yeah It would be me and someone from the family which will reduce the cost, security will be fitted by me and I can save up on the labour.

The costs mentioned by were an estimate and as you stated they are from a person who does not know much about this stuff, I know more about how to get profit out of buying and selling.
Ofcourse there are always things that happen and we need to spend more and more but overall to me it looks like that the main problem is just the investment but again I think that with less investment then investing on cg , Is possible to get more profit on my own shop.

DCFC79

Cpu2007 wrote: »

yeah It would be me and someone from the family which will reduce the cost, security will be fitted by me and I can save up on the labour.

The costs mentioned by were an estimate and as you stated they are from a person who does not know much about this stuff, I know more about how to get profit out of buying and selling.
Ofcourse there are always things that happen and we need to spend more and more but overall to me it looks like that the main problem is just the investment but again I think that with less investment then investing on cg , Is possible to get more profit on my own shop.

you would have to sell alot of phones to make a profit though

paulwf

Cpu2007 wrote: »

yeah exaclty, so basically it's just about the name,nothing much from them self.
Is better to open a shop for my self and then make it run in the same way whici will not require me huge investments and in case of not running properly i can still shut it down with not much loss.

You're forgetting you'll be tied into a lease, shut it down and you might still be paying £30K rent a year for the next 10 years.

If you try and just play at retail it will rarely work. If you want to do it it can be expensive and involve risk. My suggestion would be to learn the ropes working for someone else for a few years then take the plunge.