Launching an eBay Agent business...

Notty04

Hi there,

I am looking to set up a business that sells other people's unwanted items on eBay for commission. This eBay agent idea is popular in America and my local area has nothing of its kind available, so with low start-up costs and as a recent graduate struggling to find a job I'm giving it a go.

But I know the Government are currently having a major clamp down on individuals profiting tax-free from sites such as eBay so I was wondering what exact steps would I need to take in terms of registering with Companies House/HMRC? And whether I can earn a certain amount before paying tax etc.?

Any other advice relating to the launch of the business would be greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks,
Cameron

lincroft1710

Notty04 wrote: »

Any other advice relating to the launch of the business would be greatly appreciated!

Why would I pay you to do something I could do myself? How much commission would you charge?

mizzbiz

I've seen loads of these go down the pan over the past ten years. Never made much business sense even when Ebay was profitable for people. Now it's just plain daft!! There's hardly any margin on Ebay now so where are people going to get commission t pay you? They might as well just chuck their stuff in the bin.

paddyrg

I think a store frontage is essential for this, if you want to catch the people who aren't online already (who would already use ebay themselves). As such, unless you already have a shopfront, you're looking at costs beyond revenue for a number of years I suspect.

pitkin2020

HHMM your about 5 years too late, the ebay bubble burst a while ago. The only way to make money ebay now is either with unique items (doesn't last long as others jump on the band wagon) or with high volume low margin items. As others have said those who are using ebay are capable of selling if they try. By the time you have driven to the client, taken the pictures, written up the advert, taken payment, dispatched the items then taken your final cut from the selling price there isn't much left for you or the original seller.

You'll only make money on high value items as you can't really charge more than 10-20% commission.

pleasedelete

There used to be lots of these. There was a search function on eBay to find them. There was one in our tiny village.

There were a few shops around but all those I knew have now closed.

I have one friend who does this. She sells the clothes of other friends on commission. Makes a small amount per month (couple of hundred) totally by-word of mouth but she is very well connected.

It may be viable in a community with older non ICT literate people but even my 80 year olds olds sell on ebay.

Savvy_Sue

Notty04 wrote: »

But I know the Government are currently having a major clamp down on individuals profiting tax-free from sites such as eBay so I was wondering what exact steps would I need to take in terms of registering with Companies House/HMRC? And whether I can earn a certain amount before paying tax etc.?

Notwithstanding the general negativity to your idea, I'll answer the general principles which you can then apply to any other ideas you might have.

You'd only have to register with Companies House if you were a Limited Company. Can't think that you'd need to be more than a sole trader for this.

You'd have to register with HMRC. That's not difficult. As to whether you'd actually have to pay any tax, that depends. Is this alongside a day job? If yes, you'd be paying tax on ALL your profits. If no, you pay tax on profits above your personal allowance, which is currently over £7000. If you don't expect to earn that much, then ask HMRC about a Small Earnings Exemption Certificate, NOT for your tax but for your National Insurance. Again, if you're in a day job, then there's no benefit from paying s/e NI (usually), but if you're earning more than a set amount then you have no choice.

Businesslink is always worth a look. There might be more advice on the Ebay board.

imared

Had a similar idea to this not so long ago. Basically it would involve a small warehouse unit or a shop. People bring in their unwanted goods, Could be anything from sofas to DVD players. We would agree a set price to sell the item at with them and then once its sold we will take a cut. This could be supplemented by an online shop. We could also acquire our own stock from places like car boot sales and also sell that for profit to increase turnover further. Not sure if this idea is financially viable was just a quick idea I had.

Ladku5001

My thoguhts are that i think that this may be okay to do as a side line to supplement a full time job. The eBay bubble seems to have burst for sellers as the fees are too expensive. Howver evry additional penny helps in this ay and age so worth doing if you have the time on top of a full time job and family responsibilities

Good luck

texranger

ebay bubble truly burst and they are expensive.

i see items on ebay at £10 which cost me min £1.35 to post by royal mail.

ebays FVF fee is 94p, paypal charge 47p for taking the funds, ebay have a postage cap of a max. £1, so i am down 35p on the postage. i could do what ebay want and that is add extra to the item to cover the extra postage, but then the FVF and paypal fees go up.

hermum

Lots of info about this on ebay, http://pages.ebay.co.uk/tradingassistants/hire-trading-assistant.html
I've just had a quick look at the ones working locally to me, a couple of them ask for 50% & are selling stuff at 99p.
The seller (or owner) has to pay the fees, so they would end up with zilch.