Starting an Ebay shop...looking for wholesalers

yan79

Hi everybody!

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum but I'll post anyway and I'm sure I'll be directed to the correct place if not.

I'm due to have my second child early next year and I've been desperately trying to think of ways to top my maternity pay up and hopefully make a bit of cash so I can reduce my hours once I return to work.

I'm thinking of starting an Ebay shop selling baby/nursery goods but I'm finding it difficult in finding decent wholesalers that will let me register as I'm not a registered business.

How on earth do I find somewhere that I can buy some stock from...I don't want to buy large amounts as I don't have the money but if I can start off with just a few items and see how it goes that would be great.
All the wholesalers that will let me register seem to sell really 'naff' products and I was wanting something branded and decent.

I'm not even sure if opening an Ebay shop is a good idea but I've exhausted all my other ideas to try and top my income up a little bit so if anybody has any advice it would be much appreciated.

Anna x:)

soolin

Getting stock is the hardest bit of managing an ebay business. However as you will need to register as a business you could do that and then use the people you have already found .

Details of tax and other advice on this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/47120145#Comment_47120145

One other word of warning. Sad as it seems baby things are one of the highly scammed areas both on ebay and places like Gumtree and freads etc. You must make sure you are fully aware of the scams and how to protect yourself. There are some basic tips here including the paypal on collection scam:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1623183

Postage requirements for full paypal seller protection here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3146680

and once you have sourced yoru goods then come over and join the ebay board where you can get advice on couriers etc.

paddyrg

You want wholesale prices but not wholesale volume - it isn't going to be easy. And branded goods may only be released to reputable stockists (who have proven aftersales, and a quality image and name suitable for the brand), not dribbled out via ebay.

soolin

paddyrg wrote: »

You want wholesale prices but not wholesale volume - it isn't going to be easy. And branded goods may only be released to reputable stockists (who have proven aftersales, and a quality image and name suitable for the brand), not dribbled out via ebay.

You make a good point- most wholesalers will be looking to sell in large quantities so OP may be reduced to dealing with discount houses where it is unlkely that prices will be low enough to sell with all the fees and other costs.

sassyblue

I thought l posted on here earlier?? Anyway what about second hand goods, if you source a few good second hand shops, seller pages on FB you might be able to pick up some great second hand bits x

paulwf

Sadly OP I think you may be 5-10 years too late...every man and his dog is using a generic wholesaler to bang out stock on ebay. It is a saturated market and fees are now high.

Check out the Up Your Income board, there are some good party plan companies out there and the work is mainly in the evenings which fits around childcare for most people.

paddyrg

by curious coincidence when the site mentioned in angelcity's post 500's (ie server-side fault) the admin email address happens to be angelcityxxx@xxxx.com. If you think that's just too much to be a coincidence, you know which button to press.

grey_lady

I have an idea about a baby product which only one person is currently selling new on ebay (although theirs seems to be an own brand product) and which the main online retailers of the branded products always seem to be short of stock e.g. displaying out of stock when you try to purchase.

Possibly enough of a market to make a decent part-time income.

OP - PM me if you want to know what it is - i don't sell said products or have anything to do with it.