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best items to sell on ebay?

kirstym01
kirstym01 Posts: 421 Forumite
Hi everyone, Happy New Year to you all!

I'm thinking of selling items on ebay as a bit of extra income but I'm not sure what is a good thing to sell...... I was thinking clothing as you can get some good deals on wholesale websites??
I want to do it all properly so I won't be liable for any tax bills in the future, is all this easy to sort?
Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer :rotfl:
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Comments

  • Hammyman
    Hammyman Posts: 9,913 Forumite
    If you're doing it properly, you should be liable for a decent tax bill because your business will be doing well. You cannot make a profit as a business over the personal allowance and not be liable for tax. You'll also be liable for at least Class 2 NIC. REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU MAKE MONEY OR NOT YOU WILL STILL HAVE TO REGISTER SELF EMPLOYED AND STILL HAVE TO KEEP ACCOUNTS AND DO A TAX RETURN if thats what you were hoping to avoid.

    You need to do a lot of research. You need to look at what things are fetching, work out an average, find out the cost of an item then deduct that, the Ebay and Paypal commissions and then also work out what "back office" costs you're going to have for a sale (mileage, packing, stationary etc). Deduct all that from the item average price and work out if you're in profit.

    Or you could do what loads of people do which is not bother with any of that inconvenient hard to do stuff and just go out buy a pallet of something then post on the benefit and DFW boards in a few months time saying you're skint and have no gas/leccy money for food but at least that way you'd pay no tax...
  • kirstym01
    kirstym01 Posts: 421 Forumite
    whoops I actually worded that wrong, wasn't that I dont want to pay tax, I meant I dont want any surprise tax bills in a few months time because I hadn't sorted it properly! Sorry for the misunderstanding!!
    I want to ensure it is all done above board, I am actually training to be an accountant so know about keeping accounts (obviously!!) and doing tax returns etc but we haven't got to the point of registering with hmrc which is where I am lacking knowledge!

    Do you think clothes could be profitable? We live near a post office so haven't got to worry about mileage, and I was thinking I could buy some of the bags off of ebay for packaging?
  • soolin
    soolin Posts: 74,407 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Clothes are only profitable if you are sure you can source them cheap enough, getting the things is the difficult bit.

    Work backwards though to see if it is worthwhile. Look at completed listings, how much does the item you are interested in usually sell for. Take the two lots of ebay fees and the paypal fees from that figure and also a percentage for losses or returns, even unsold items need to be accounted for. Then if the figure remaining beats what you can pay for the item you may have a goer.
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the eBay, Auctions, Car Boot & Jumble Sales, Boost Your Income, Praise, Vents & Warnings, Overseas Holidays & Travel Planning , UK Holidays, Days Out & Entertainments boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know.. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • kirstym01 wrote: »
    whoops I actually worded that wrong, wasn't that I dont want to pay tax, I meant I dont want any surprise tax bills in a few months time because I hadn't sorted it properly! Sorry for the misunderstanding!!
    I want to ensure it is all done above board, I am actually training to be an accountant so know about keeping accounts (obviously!!) and doing tax returns etc but we haven't got to the point of registering with hmrc which is where I am lacking knowledge!

    Do you think clothes could be profitable? We live near a post office so haven't got to worry about mileage, and I was thinking I could buy some of the bags off of ebay for packaging?

    To get clothes to work you need to look at a niche market. Have sold some of my daughter's goth phase and they went well. Very large sizes in ladies boots go well size 10 esp if they have a high heel. Have tried to sell some of her more routine clothes and they don't seem to do as well. Designer makes seem to go well but prob difficult to make money. One thing I have always sold is coats as they are more difficult to get on the high street esp if you can sell larger sizes.
  • its best to sell something you enjoy so for me, i mainly trade adidas trainers and house music (CDs, Vinyls)

    for adidas you can buy trainers half price, keep for 6 months and then sell them as 'deadstock' and get the RRP back minimum, some styles you can sell for upto £280. its easy money if you know what your doing. Although lots of people are doing it now, so you have to be quick to spot the bargains
  • worbikeman
    worbikeman Posts: 2,971 Forumite
    Collectables such as stamps, postcards, cigarette cards, banknotes, bus tickets, railway ephemera, autographs, etc. You have to have some prior knowledge/interest in the subject but they are easy to ship being small and light, and there is a worldwide market.
  • I don't bother with clothes - even the nice stuff at low prices are hard to shift in my experience.

    The only thing I had success with clothes-wise are vintage clothes (coats) that were a bit different style-wise
    Keep calm and carry on
  • soolin
    soolin Posts: 74,407 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    It is worth noting that clothes can be problematic on ebay. As a business selller the OP will need to offer returns and clothes are always the sort of thing that people do send back if they don't like the fit or the style.
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the eBay, Auctions, Car Boot & Jumble Sales, Boost Your Income, Praise, Vents & Warnings, Overseas Holidays & Travel Planning , UK Holidays, Days Out & Entertainments boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know.. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • kriss_boy
    kriss_boy Posts: 2,131 Forumite
    LEGO LEGO LEGO

    In my opinion Lego is the easiest thing to sell on ebay. Page after page of the stuff and every item has bids on it. Its like buying and selling currency.

    No point looking for it in your local charity shop as there are hundreds of sellers hunting the stuff to flog it on ebay.
  • Crowqueen
    Crowqueen Posts: 5,726 Forumite
    edited 1 January 2011 at 10:31PM
    worbikeman wrote: »
    Collectables such as stamps, postcards, cigarette cards, banknotes, bus tickets, railway ephemera, autographs, etc. You have to have some prior knowledge/interest in the subject but they are easy to ship being small and light, and there is a worldwide market.
    The market in pure collectables is very bad at the moment, otherwise I'd agree 100%. People don't have disposable income to buy things that are just going to sit there. They are more likely to be buying hobby stuff that they can do something with, or books they can read, or DVDs they can watch.

    I wanted to start selling these full-time a couple of years ago but since the credit crunch none of the ones I've had to sell as a private collector have been worth the hassle of listing. It would be the only thing I would be motivated to sell or interested in selling, so if the economy was better, I'd do it at the drop of a hat, but sadly the postcard section on eBay where I occasionally still browse looking for interesting stuff for my own collection has stuff that have been there for years and haven't sold. At its height there were hundreds of pages of stuff, now in one particular category there are perhaps half the listings there were in 2006.

    I tried a couple of test listings back at the end of the summer once people were back from their summer hols and had zero interest. Meanwhile the local wargaming/miniature trade fair was packed and had one of their best years ever - so I would go for stuff like lego that has definite hobbyist interest rather than relying on pure collectables.

    I'm not saying the stamp/postcard market is completely dead - after all, eBay is one of the only ways to get the relatively inexpensive stuff that isn't the kiloware sold in WHSmiths or Oxfam - but it is not healthy enough for me to risk trying to go into business in it, which is a shame, as I have been unemployed for a couple of years recovering from depression and it would have been the ideal thing for me to have earned a living from.

    As Soo says, clothes buyers are a nightmare - you have to take good photographs, list proper measurements, make sure everything is in tip-top condition and you will still get the odd chancer trying to claim it doesn't fit or has been damaged or whatever. It takes a lot of patience to deal with it, particularly if you intend to make a living doing this.

    Good luck.
    "Well, it's election year, Bill, we'd rather people didn't exercise common sense..." - Jed Bartlet, The West Wing, season 4

    Am now Crowqueen, MRes (Law) - on to the PhD!
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