Worth trying my little business idea or not?

yummymummy79

Just wanted some opinions as to whether people think it is worth me pursuing a business idea I have been thinking about for a couple of years. It's nothing particularly exciting or huge but I thought it could bring in some extra cash and wondered if I should be trying to start it off.

When I was pregnant about 3 years ago, I was unpleasantly suprised at how much baby clothes and accessories can cost, bearing in mind this was before we had Primark in the area and supermarkets weren't so good for clothes. I was given a bag of second hand clothes from a colleague and this inspired me to think about setting up sales of new and nearly new baby clothes and accessories, mainly in village/church halls. It also shocked me how much friends/colleagues would spend on baby clothes that they would then throw away a few months later when they had been grown out of that could be put to better use and allow other people to buy nice clothes at reasonable prices.

I bought a few bundles of clothes from Ebay and started looking into pricing and it seems I can get a reasonable profit out of them if I buy right. Initial outlay costs would be either some clothes rails, or some kind of purpose built stall, more stock (friends/family would be a good source as well) and the rental of the venues.

Every so often I think about doing this again but then talk myself out of it. What do you all think, is it worth trying?

black-saturn

Might be a little difficult. Wouldnt someone rather buy used baby stuff from a charity shop or car boot sale and cut out the middle man costs?

Teresa60

I think you may have answered the question yourself. Places like Primark, Ethel Austin or Asda are so cheap, you wouldnt be making much profit if you had to sell them at even cheaper prices to compete with them.

Maybe you could try it out first at a car boot sale or table top sale and see what happens. If you sell a lot then maybe there is a market for it.

Good luck x

soolin

It is already being done by the NCT in most areas. As long ago as the 1980s my local branch would run twice yearly nearly new sales where parents could sell all their baby clothes, equipment and toys. NCT arranged it all and took a cut from everything and all the sellers had to do was label stuff to conform to the selling rules and wait for their money.

I understand that some areas actually run these 4 times yearly so you could continually sell outgrown items and replace.

However whilst I am no longer involved with the nearly new sales I understand that for clothes they are less successful now purely because we have a big Primark nearby. With their offers of baby and toddler clothes for as little as a pound people had so much more choice that they rarely bother to buy second hand.

Astaroth

I certainly would question if the profit margin is sufficient to make the effort worth while, especially if you are sourcing from a public accessible forum like eBay where your customers could ultimately go to directly.

Add to that the potential issues with your mortgage/ landlord, home insurance, council tax etc by storing commercial goods at home...

yummymummy79

I think I did answer my own question, just wanted someone else to tell me! The idea did first come to me when a friend told me about the people queuing round the block at the local NCT sale, but certainly this was before the Primark invasion!!

The best way will probably be to sell the clothes I have already on Ebay to get a bit of money from that, and then continue on the MS/OS route that I have adopted recently thanks to all you guys on here.

Thanks for your opinions. x

Teresa60

I came across another site https://www.ibootsale.co.uk where you can sell items and at the moment it doesnt charge anything. You could try on there to begin with. Its the same idea as ebay but with no auction just buy it now prices.

jo1967

A little extra to back up the Ebay idea - my sis scours the charity shops for kids branded items (Next Osh Gosh Monsoon etc) pays next to nothing & resells at a profit, done quite well but you do need the branded stuff as this is paticularly what people search on. Naturally check its condition & if they still have tags on the you are quids in lol! :rotfl:

yummymummy79

Most of the stuff I have got is Next which always gets quite a good price, and some are new which is a bonus!

Will have a look at that other site as well, thanks Teresa60.

hollydays

If the nct sale included baby equipment,this was why people were queing round the block,its much sought after.

krazykidskate

I would give it a go especially if you already have a load of clothes to get rid. I think there is a market for parents who would rather buy 'top make' baby clothes second hand than really cheap new stuff from the cheaper stores. I would because it still looks great wash after wash. I think there would be a market for second hand maternity wear too.
I think ebay and Paypal fees are too high and writng descriptions too time consuming to make as much selling these on ebay.