Worth trying my little business idea or not?

yummymummy79

Thanks kate, I think I would buy them too if there was something like what I am suggesting that came near to me. I was only thinking of charging £1-£2 per item anyway, and a lot of these would be better quality ones so I think worth it? I would also let people bring their old ones to me and give credit towards other things which may solve part of the suppply problem? You've got me thinking the other way again now!!

Glad

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reduceditem

Worth pursuing in my view, also its a green business which encorages recycling and reuse. I buy quite a lot of mostly brand new, branded, childrens clothes, shoes and toys at my local car boot sale, often for pennies. I live half the year in Romania and when I go I drive so I throw all this stuff in the boot and give it to families in my village. I only have to go to about two boot sales to end up with more stuff than I need, no effort at all really. My Golden Rules for car boot sales are...go at the start to get any early bargains, then come back at the end when people are literally throwing stuff away and you can buy the things that were a fiver for a quid.
Anyway, good luck, you sound like a nice person.

joeblack066

I've known of a very successful shop that sells goods sale or return with a 60/40 split on price, the higher going to the original owner. No cash outlay for the trader, no risk of a bad buy, and all the aforementioned benefits. I used to do this at the Mums and Tots group I ran 20 yrs ago too! Good Luck!

Snow_Dog

Rather than going to a car boot where your audience is going to be a mixed bag how about targeting your specific market.

IE Make a personal visit to the local toddler/playgroups and ask them if you could (eg once a month) pop in with a selection of the clothes.

Toddler groups are especially good as the parents are there (rather than the drop and run playgroup mentality), you could also offer a part exchange and providing you are good on bartering/haggling should end up on top.

Each group would probably only take an hour or so, indoors (not in some grotty soggy field), posssibly, dependant upon timing you could do two or three or more a day. Perhaps a donation to the playgroup to grease the smooth running.

Just whatever you do, dont just give up on an idea because somebody else already does something similar, or because someone says it wont work, at least give it a try, other than a few days effort what have you got to lose.

Good luck.

yummymummy79

Thanks for all the replies, I seem to be going backwards and forwards with this, nothing new there though as have been for the last 3 years! One thing that seems to put me off is time as I work 3 days a week and look after DS the other 2. OH has recently gone SE so has a few spare hours here and there, but never thought there was enough time to fit this in.

My initial thought was to visit local village/church halls, I live in a city so the surrounding towns/villages seemed a good place to start. Snow Dog's playgroup idea sounds good along similar lines to this. I was also going to offer some kind of trade in/credit system that joe mentioned.

If I'm honest, part of the problem is I don;t have a lot of confidence in myself to do things like this, and find it hard to sell myself. Also, I do tend to be a little bit lazy!

I'll have another think and weigh up the options and might just give it a go. I'm hovering on the MFW board regularly so this could be the extra income I need. Would need about £50 a day to equal my wages now, could be possible?

mummytofour

Why dont you give it a try? It will only cost a few quid to hire a hall, get some posters up ( made on the pc and photo copied) a few cards in shops and round local schools and play groups. Plan just one and see how it goes. I would go.

save-a-lot

joeblack066 wrote:

I've known of a very successful shop that sells goods sale or return with a 60/40 split on price, the higher going to the original owner. No cash outlay for the trader, no risk of a bad buy, and all the aforementioned benefits.

Where I live there is a shop that has gone from strength to strength over the last two or three years do exactly what joeblack066 said. They also sell second hand push chairs and toys. A very green idea and promotes reuse. I reckon give it a go.

yummymummy79

Just when I start sorting all the clothes out to Ebay I get 2 more positive replies!! I still want to give it a go, but it's the actual doing it that I have the problem with. Will have another think!!

shinkyshonky

yummymummy79 wrote:

Just when I start sorting all the clothes out to Ebay I get 2 more positive replies!! I still want to give it a go, but it's the actual doing it that I have the problem with. Will have another think!!

Go for it

Look at what`s actually holding you back and then challenge it and do it