As a result of the Millionaire Challenge......

thriftychap_2 · 21 February 2012 at 9:42AM

While reading the 'Millionaire Challenge Thread' a poster pointed out that by starting with a Penny and doubling it everyday for 30 days you could reach a ridiculous figure of money.

Well, starting with a pound and doubling it for 20 days makes you £1,048,576!

Another example given in the thread was the red paper clip story from the US.

With this in mind i thought why not challenge myself.......The rules are as follows.

- I have £5 including postage fees to spend on 1 item from ebay.
- I must resell this item on ebay, including all fee's.
- I must reinvest the new figure on a new item and so on.
- I cant post ebay links so there is an element of trust involved here, I will be honest.
- If I make a loss I keep goiong!!!
- I dont have to spend all of the new amount generated but it must be greater in value than the previous item, if a loss is made this rule is void, I just buy a new item.

Basically the theory is the same as the red paper clip!

Posts should look something like this:

Item 1 -
Total cost -
Total sale price -
Profit/Loss -

Item 2 -
Total cost
Total sale price -
Profit/Loss -

And so on.......

Im looking for my first item now, i have my budget of £5 which MUST include all postage/petrol costs!

Feel free to join in if you wish!

Ill keep you updated on my progress!

DiiFMaritime · 21 February 2012 at 10:44AM

Does sound like a good idea,

However, I am slightly concerned about the fact that you have not mentioned the Tax element - as you are buying to resell with intention to profit, HMRC will be interested in how much you make and take a slice from it too.

podperson · 21 February 2012 at 12:34PM

Sounds fun but I wouldn't limit yourself to rules of 'must buy and then sell same item on ebay' - can't see how you would make a massive amount on that as you're using the same marketplace so the price is going to be similar (obviously you may get some bargains but overall). Maybe change to buy something at bootsales, markets, charity shops, gumtree, facebook etc and sell on ebay - or buy a job lot on ebay and try carbooting it etc.
Good luck with it.

thriftychap_2 · 21 February 2012 at 1:13PM

Thanks for the feedback.

Ok so fewer rules......
Can buy from wherever you like and resell, only rule is to reinvest profits and always look to trade up.

Start amount is up to £5, any other suggestions?

As for tax implications..............come on its a bit of fun!!!

Avon2001 · 21 February 2012 at 2:59PM

thriftychap wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback.

Ok so fewer rules......
Can buy from wherever you like and resell, only rule is to reinvest profits and always look to trade up.

Start amount is up to £5, any other suggestions?

As for tax implications..............come on its a bit of fun!!!

I'd be highly surprized if anyone at the Inland Revenue knew the meaning of the word fun. Seriously, I wish you the best of luck with this and I doubt the revenue will chase you for small amounts (although in theory they could) but equally I'd suggest you keep records, it'll give you something to look back on when you're old and grey and if you do make some serious money then it'll make sure you can sort out your tax.

Good luck!

podperson · 21 February 2012 at 5:10PM

I'm debating starting quite a loose version of this - more just double your money by any means you like, will also probably add any odd bits from extra work, surveys, mystery shops etc. Since am already at around £300 this year seems a bit silly to start over so will see how long it takes me to double that to £600 - only need to do it 12 times to make the million

Tax wise I suppose it depends how serious you get with it - I doubt they will start chasing you for £5 profit reselling something but when you get to doubling £5k to £10k etc I think they'll be wanting their share

lincroft1710 · 21 February 2012 at 5:21PM

Having read the book "One Red Paperclip", it seems that the 2 guys doing the trades generated so much publicity, that some of the trades were sponsored by manufacturers or suppliers, or even people wanting to be involved and didn't mind taking a loss on their trade.

Zelazny · 21 February 2012 at 5:39PM

Regarding tax, I thought that it only has to be worked out at the point you walk away with a profit, so as long as you keep going then you're probably ok. Technically you might want to be registered self employed anyhow, though...