I want to start making ££ on Ebay!

coinxoperated

Hi all!

So after a bit of research and conversation with people who sell on ebay, I'm considering starting to do it myself.

I know a few people who have brought things from £1 shops, and managed to sell them for £1.99 or £2 on eBay and are making about £300 a month profit doing so. It's not taking them much time per week either.

So I am planning on giving it a go! I have good feedback as buyer/previous seller (bits and bobs from old house) so I shall be starting up shortly. Is there any advice/rules you could give me?

I visit a lot of car boots, and aim to be buying things such that are little items that are a bit weird and wonderful. I also plan on selling incense. Ideally I would like to move into the gothic clothing market/corsets, but thats going to take me some time to get into.

Any advice?

shellsuit

Won't you have to register as a business and check your household insurance to see if you can operate as a business?

If you're in council, or HA accom, I don't think they let you trade from home.

floopnoodle

£300 a month buying things for £1 and selling them for £2

This sounds like a nightmare in time/logistics and customer service, I really can't see any positives.

I think there is much more potential and money/less hassle in going niche, maybe customised corsets etc and selling less but making more margin per item.

shaun_from_Africa

Won't you have to register as a business

Not to mention informing HMCE of your new business so that they can ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid, and you will have to take this into account when deciding on your selling prices.

When you start selling, make sure that you have a detailed returns policy in place & ensure that this is in compliance with your legal obligations under the Sale of goods act and the distance selling regulations.

Don't forget that as a seller you will be responsible for ensuring that the goods you sell are legal, approved for sale in the UK and are safe, so you should be very careful when buying stuff at car bootsales for resale on ebay.

Hopefully you will be able to make some money on ebay, but don't rush in without looking into all the implications of becomming a business seller first.

soolin

coinxoperated wrote: »

Hi all!

So after a bit of research and conversation with people who sell on ebay, I'm considering starting to do it myself.

I know a few people who have brought things from £1 shops, and managed to sell them for £1.99 or £2 on eBay and are making about £300 a month profit doing so. It's not taking them much time per week either.

So I am planning on giving it a go! I have good feedback as buyer/previous seller (bits and bobs from old house) so I shall be starting up shortly. Is there any advice/rules you could give me?

I visit a lot of car boots, and aim to be buying things such that are little items that are a bit weird and wonderful. I also plan on selling incense. Ideally I would like to move into the gothic clothing market/corsets, but thats going to take me some time to get into.

Any advice?

Some tips for new sellers here:

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

postage details here:

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

However I would question how much research you have actually done. To net £300 worth of goods by selling poundshop items at £1.88-£3 they must have a turnover of well over 500 iteems every month (and that assumes a high sell through rate) . All that lot will need stock taking, books will need to be kept for the tax man, it all has to be wrapped and realistically you would need to ship it all within 24 hours of payment. That doesn't seem like something you can do in a few hours a week.

As for incense, can you really compete? Putting incense as a search into ebay the best match for me is this one :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAWN-OF-TIME-incense-sticks-pack-of-20-long-lasting-incense-sticks-/150826854968?pt=UK_Home_Fragrances&var=&hash=item231dfb2a38

£1.50 delivered, so that will be 15p FVF and 69p postage, say 10p for the jiffy bag. leaves 56p before taking into account the item cost, listing fees tax and NI.

I wish you well but would urge you to actually work out the costs before you spend a great deal of money on this. Don't forget to factor in the costs of the unsold items, you will still have to pay all the listing fees which will eat into the profit made on sold items.

Strapped

coinxoperated wrote: »

Hi all!

So after a bit of research and conversation with people who sell on ebay, I'm considering starting to do it myself.

I know a few people who have brought things from £1 shops, and managed to sell them for £1.99 or £2 on eBay and are making about £300 a month profit doing so. It's not taking them much time per week either.

So I am planning on giving it a go! I have good feedback as buyer/previous seller (bits and bobs from old house) so I shall be starting up shortly. Is there any advice/rules you could give me?

I visit a lot of car boots, and aim to be buying things such that are little items that are a bit weird and wonderful. I also plan on selling incense. Ideally I would like to move into the gothic clothing market/corsets, but thats going to take me some time to get into.

Any advice?

I doubt very much they are buying in £1 shops and selling for £2 on eBay because the sellers on eBay will be buying from the same suppliers as the £1 shops, so will sell for less than £2. Also, the new postage charge structure from Royal Mail means that anything light, but thicker than 2.5cm costs £2.20 to send 2nd Class, and no-one is going to pay £2+£2.20 for a poundshop item.

Just a warning that it's not as easy as you may think but good luck.

RFW

Strapped wrote: »

I doubt very much they are buying in £1 shops and selling for £2 on eBay because the sellers on eBay will be buying from the same suppliers as the £1 shops, so will sell for less than £2.

Not to mention the China sellers that are selling the same items for £1 including postage. In the past we've struggled selling pound lines for 30p from clearance stocks.

It may be shocking to find out that there aren't that many dumb people prepared to pay £2-£3 for items they can easily buy for a pound or less.

As a business model, I'm not prepared to invest, I'm out;)

sequence

I've heard of these people making "loads" of money selling on ebay and buying from poundstores. The problem is, they seem to only ever look at their turnover and don't take into account any costs. I suspect many of these poundtrepeneurs are actually making a loss but don't realise it because they don't keep proper records (or register properly).

Crowqueen

I agree - you should see my nice Amazon balance but looking at my records almost two thirds of it has gone on postage. I get 3.96 for an item, spend 2.20 posting it, 14p for a padded envelope. I don't have any other costs as a private seller but I get 1.62 net - which is nice but if I had to then buy stock, pay tax, light an office, run a computer etc. out of it, I would be sunk.

Mind you some people manage it - but only in overwhelming volume and shrewd understanding of their market.

If you are serious about running a business of some sort, however, start by selling items connected with a hobby or an interest. You'll find yourself much more knowledgeabel, much more able to attract buyers by displaying an understanding of their own tastes, and certainly you might have better margins.

Go for it - but it's like everything, the more you put in, the more you get out.

techspec

Agree with others - this was OK as a business model in the past, when postage was in the pence range - and bargain stores like poundland had not yet reached the masses. In fact, i have bought many, many items on Ebay myself - even though i know they are available at Poundland. But i hardly ever go into town, and after parking etc - i would rather just pay the extra for it delivered. But most people now have these stores available to them.

Even buying clearance items from big stores is difficult now - as most have their own ebay clearance outlets.

If buying from car boots and 2nd hand markets - you need to arrive very early - and again - many sellers are now aware of ebay themselves - so will have taken out the good stuff and listed them themselves.

So tread carefully if you need a living from it.

RHemmings

This looks to me to be the same USB hub that can be bought at my local pound store. It's being sold for £1.55, but that includes p&p. So I'd guess that if the item was being bought at a poundshop, that the profit margin would be near as dammit £0.00.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-Port-Way-USB-v2-Multi-Hub-Splitter-For-PC-Laptop-Notebook-Camera-Printer-Mouse-/280774030605?pt=UK_Computing_USB_Cables&hash=item415f6fb50d

On the other hand here's a USB hub on Ali Baba which can be sold for as low us US$0.35, presumably for very large quantities.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/519921534/High_speed_4_Ports_USB_HUB.html