Bulk Buys??

N9eav

I was thinking of investing my poor interest ISA in to stock to sell on e-bay.

Where is a safe place to buy say 1000 vacuum cleaner bags or 1000 pairs of pants or any wholesale merchandise?

I was even looking at shipping things in from China, but maybe a step too far?

soolin

N9eav wrote: »

I was thinking of investing my poor interest ISA in to stock to sell on e-bay.

Where is a safe place to buy say 1000 vacuum cleaner bags or 1000 pairs of pants or any wholesale merchandise?

I was even looking at shipping things in from China, but maybe a step too far?

The easy thing with a small business is the ebay selling, the hardest bit is finding stock. Do some research, maybe start with an interest or hobby you have and work out what you buy that maybe you could source wholesale and sell. Don't forget though that your wholesale prices need to be very cheap, and you need to account for all the ebay and paypal fees plus income tax and NI.

Your 'pants' idea for instance. You can buy a pair in primark for £1 or even 3 pairs for £5 in M and S, your postage and fees will be more than that so you would virtually be needing to look to source your items for free to even break even.

N9eav

I guess so, but it must be possible as people are selling 'Henry' bags for vacuum cleaners every day and they must make a few quid. Not sure how as I can buy them with postage less than local shops.
After they pay fees they must still be making money or they would not do it.
Am I right in saying e-bay business rates are cheaper?

annie-c

Best to check out seller rates on ebay - fees depend on your seller status and the volume that you list and sell.

As to what to sell/where to buy it - if sellers told you (and the other hundreds of thousands of readers on here.... ) their secrets, then their own business would become vulnerable. It's something you have to research for yourself really.

Crestfallen

*Grimaces* You'd be far better off starting small with secondhand goods etc. than converting cash into a pile of stock which may make you little to no profit. People aren't queueing up to sell new stock at significantly less than what it can be sold for, profit would most likely be a small percentage which is not much of a reward for the financial risk. Pick up a copy of The Trader (a magazine full of wholesalers etc.) and compare the prices of what's being sold to what you could actually get for them.

chancesare_2

Selling on any website is not about buying a load of stock. It requires knowledge of the market at the very least. Also you have to source good reputable and reliable suppliers.

Pembroke

You said it yourself OP the seller of Henry bags is making perhaps a pound on each bag if he's lucky, think how many bags you need to sell to make a living, just for instance to make £35,500 a year you need to sell 100 bags per day, every day of the year. You need to avoid the mainstream, as Soolin says find a small niche where margins are more than 'a few pounds' and the competition is low.

A hobby is a good place to start, unless it something too mainstream like computing or pc gaming. Try reading a few forums like http://www.thewholesaleforums.co.uk
I know I will get shot for this one but take a look at dropshipping. It is possible to do it and make a bit of money, but it's all about margins. Maybe sign-up to a guru mailing list I get a couple of monthly paid newsletters that give me leads on things to sell.

Try your local bricks and mortar auction house for small job lots to break up and sell on.

Most of all as they say in all the financial advice you will ever get don't spend out money you can't afford to loose. You may well try a few niches before you find the one that is right for you. I wouldn't touch too much of my ISA until I had found a niche that works for me. If the ISA is under performing try looking in other forums on this site to see if moving it would be a better bet.

N9eav

Pembroke wrote: »

Try your local bricks and mortar auction house for small job lots to break up and sell on.

Most of all as they say in all the financial advice you will ever get don't spend out money you can't afford to loose. You may well try a few niches before you find the one that is right for you. I wouldn't touch too much of my ISA until I had found a niche that works for me. If the ISA is under performing try looking in other forums on this site to see if moving it would be a better bet.

That's my point ISA's are pointless £5100 in an ISA for 12 months might make £150?
I have a job and have made money on e-bay in the past buying stock when local shops have gone bust and selling it on. But I want to think bigger.

I have been thinking of a niche, but it means buying 10,000 items from China.

Is this safe?

soolin

N9eav wrote: »

That's my point ISA's are pointless £5100 in an ISA for 12 months might make £150?
I have a job and have made money on e-bay in the past buying stock when local shops have gone bust and selling it on. But I want to think bigger.

I have been thinking of a niche, but it means buying 10,000 items from China.

Is this safe?

It depends if you know what you are doing.

You would need to ensure that goods were 'good', so no dodgy fakes or look a likes. Then you would need to factor in all the customs and duty payable and may even need a license if you are spending a lot of money. Then of course you have payment issues , a lot of Far East sellers rely on knowing their buyers and have built up a relationship so buyers often use bank transfers. If you use a bank transfer without that relationship you run real risks of losing the lot.

Oliver14

N9eav wrote: »

I was thinking of investing my poor interest ISA in to stock to sell on e-bay.

Where is a safe place to buy say 1000 vacuum cleaner bags or 1000 pairs of pants or any wholesale merchandise?

I was even looking at shipping things in from China, but maybe a step too far?

You need to be willing to lose the money you are using for this. This is no sure thing and there is a lot of things that could go wrong. So any money used to invest you must be willing to realise you are taking a risk.

Also before you buy anything research your market. There is no point buying 1000 hoover bags if no one will want to buy them.

It sounds to me your have this bright idea with no idea of the complexities. I would leave your money in your ISA as it sounds like it's a disaster in the making.

Pembroke

If you're sure of the market for the items you have in mind then see if there is a trading company (middle man) who can sell you a smaller amount of the item in question. Okay the item may cost you a bit more but a market test with a few items won't break the bank whereas risking 10,000 might. You can find trading companies on Alibaba or you can usually get smaller amounts through http://www.aliexpress.com/

You can also find companies through the wholesale forums noted above who have agents in China who can check the quality of the goods supplied before you pay for them.