What could I sell?

epitome

You've probably heard it all before - but I haven't and I haven't asked before.

I would like to know if any of you buy to sell, and if you don't think it will give away your secrets..... what you buy? and/or where/who do you buy it from?

Some ideas I have had is to buy from wholesalers found on AliBaba.com
And to import from overseas. This obviously causes extreme trepidation. Handing over a large amount of money to someone in a foriegn land with no legal comeback only trust to rely on. And shipping for example, a lot of wholesalers will offer FOB, but who arranges the shipping contract? Then you have to pick it up at the UK port, need a van etc.

I haven't decided on a product, but if I buy something (as a consumer) I sometimes look it up on alibaba to find out who supplies it or similar and how much they cost. and I think....I could do that.

I don't know if a lot of people who sell on Ebay, import themselves or if they buy from middlemen here in the UK. Or do you/they buy from trade auctions if such a thing exists? I'm thinking of bankruptcy auctions selling off old stock from collapsed businesses.

If they/you buy from middlemen...then who are these middlemen and how do you register yourself with whatever 'body' in order to be "qualified" to buy from them? I'm thinking here about wholesalers who may require you to show you are a trader before selling to you, and what do they require you to show them?

For example I once thought about selling organic foodstuffs on ebay like Organic whole foods, I found Queens Organics (or something like that) near Bristol as a potential supplier. I had to do a business plan before I set off on my new venture so I wrote to Queens to request a price list. They wrote back basically saying "No we won't send you a price list, please phone us so we can interrogate you, who you are and what you are doing etc" As I had not even started selling and had no knowledge of anything and I am not confident speaking to people, I prefer to do it in writing....." I ended up not calling. But I don't understand why would a wholesaler not be willing to send out something as innocent as a price list? And be happy to get a potential new customer. Checks and balances if required, can come later.

I had the same reaction when I just asked a China manufacturer for a price for a wholesale supply of a complimentary therapy ingredient....another one of my ideas is to make my own complimentary therapy tablets /capsules to sell in boxes of 100 etc like you can find on Ebay.... Some of these ingredients (and certainly the ingredient I asked about) are perfectly innocent and you would always only supply them in the market accepted doseages. But even this China manufacturer was unwilling to just supply a simple price and minimum order weight without first finding out who I was etc.

I'm thinking of being able to give up my job & make a proper living out of it. I would need to make a profit of at least £25,000 per year. I'm therfore not thinking of just doing smalltime second-income, hobby-on-the-side, stuff like going to Ikea and buying their stuff retail price and then selling it on Ebay at an inflated price to those people who either don't realise it is Ikea items or who don't have an Ikea near to them.

What can I sell? and where would I get it from?
The best thing would have to be low volume, lightweight, high value, and that would seem to = electrical cables and stuff.

Looking forward to the replies
Thanks

soolin

You are correct in that no one will tell you what *you* should sell as each of us on he probably sells in different markets depending on our areas of knowledge and interests.

However the important thing is to know the basics and that means researching your markets and products. You mention making health food supplements yet In the UK we have quite strict regulations regarding supplements and eBay enforce those rules over and above the actual requirements. A small bit of research would therefore have been useful before going down that path.

In response to specific questions the way you prove you are a trader is to trade. This doesn't have to be big time, sell a few simple lines you can source easily in the UK , get registered with HMRC and at least you then have some paperwork and background to show to Potential partners.

RFW

epitome wrote: »

I'm thinking of being able to give up my job & make a proper living out of it. I would need to make a profit of at least £25,000 per year. I'm therfore not thinking of just doing smalltime second-income, hobby-on-the-side, stuff like going to Ikea and buying their stuff retail price and then selling it on Ebay at an inflated price to those people who either don't realise it is Ikea items or who don't have an Ikea near to them.

What can I sell? and where would I get it from?
The best thing would have to be low volume, lightweight, high value, and that would seem to = electrical cables and stuff.

If you want to earn a profit of £25,000 per year you'll be looking at Ebay sales of £100,000 (possibly less but that's a good starting point). So before you get to what and where to sell you need to sort out registering for tax and VAT.

Now, what to sell? Alibaba and the like could be fine, importing stock may not always be the best way forward. With duties I would generally say that the price you see in dollars would be the price you end up paying in pounds (again not always, just a guide).

Auctions - there are auctions, but if you want a regular income they aren't the best place to source a continual supply.

What sells? Anything sells, there's no such thing as bad sellers, only bad prices. In other words source the best stock at the lowest prices. Don't go for swamped markets you'll invariably come unstuck.

Find a market you know well and research what's out there and see if you can break into that. If you play golf have a look at all the things you can buy as a golfer and see which items there aren't too many of available or something you may have that is different to the existing market. Knowledge can give you an edge over a competitor with a lower priced item.

I've probably mentioned on here before that I could give a list of wholesalers I use but they would most likely only supply you at prices higher than I sell for. I've had a relationship with them for a long time and get their best prices.

Some wholesalers won't deal with you at all, some may. I'd say be honest with them, tell them you have £x to spend and are researching products, some wholesalers will tell you no and some will say ok. We're hopefully moving away from wholesalers being too picky.

Also don't forget to factor in expenses, and that's all expenses. Just because you see something on Alibaba that costs $1 doesn't mean that the person selling it for £5 is earning £4 plus,, they may be lucky to be earning £1.

ohblimey

As a general rule of thumb a retail type business hopes to make a net profit of around 25%.

Lets say you double up, so you buy for £5 and sell for £10, that's a gross profit of £5 and then deduct your expenses, ebay fees, packaging, light, heat, vehicle expenses, fuel, premises costs etc etc etc. Your expenses often amount to 25% of your turnover, so in this example it's £2.50, giving you a net profit of £2.50.

Sales £10
Cost to buy £5
Gross profit £5
Expenses £2.50
Net profit £2.50

So as RFW says, if you need to earn £25K you need to be selling £100K

You could visit trade shows, the NEC in Birmingham have several, as do many venues in London. The trade stands often want to know what else or who else you buy off and where you sell from, particularly clothing, as they need to protect their brand. But many small start ups are desperate for sales and will often sell to anyone. Take a biz card or compliment slip (make your own) otherwise no one will give you prices. It's hard to be taken seriously when you start out so you just have to blag it and appear confident

RFW

ohblimey wrote: »

As a general rule of thumb a retail type business hopes to make a net profit of around 25%.

Lets say you double up, so you buy for £5 and sell for £10, that's a gross profit of £5 and then deduct your expenses, ebay fees, packaging, light, heat, vehicle expenses, fuel, premises costs etc etc etc. Your expenses often amount to 25% of your turnover, so in this example it's £2.50, giving you a net profit of £2.50.

Sales £10
Cost to buy £5
Gross profit £5
Expenses £2.50
Net profit £2.50

So as RFW says, if you need to earn £25K you need to be selling £100K

Also worth noting that you should be starting aiming for double that profit, because if you buy working on low margins you have no room for manoeuvre if it starts to go wrong. So unless you are selling high price items you need to work on an optimal profit that would still be workable if you needed to move stuff a little bit quicker.
There are still some general cash and carrys around that will let you have a look around without buying to give you a feel for what's available, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds are main ones in England with a few each.

epitome

Thanks for comments so far,

Anyone got any more advice.....

How many of you have imported? Advice on this?

FOB, who sorts the shipping contract?

ohblimey

The first time we imported it was rather worrying as we had to pay by bank transfer upfront, we half expected it not to arrive but it did.

We now import regularly from a few companies, as above post explains the customs charges are usually handled by and paid to the courier company, which makes it a lot easier.

I guess it very much depends what sector you deal in and why do you want to import. It can be a good way of selling goods not easily found in this country, which can give you an edge as long as it's something people will buy, and may even lead to you becoming sole supplier for a particular product. However if your plan is mainly just to get goods cheaper then, as above post points out, can you shift that amount of stock and afford to have X amount tied up.

ohblimey

epitome wrote: »

What can I sell? and where would I get it from?
The best thing would have to be low volume, lightweight, high value, and that would seem to = electrical cables and stuff.

Looking forward to the replies
Thanks

Just wanted to add, if you are looking for the easy route you will find massive competition out there.

Try to have an edge that sets you apart from the rest