I want to start a new business on eBay...any advice please?

sophieg123

Hi everyone

Due to circumstances I am now unemployed and am looking at ways to make more money.

I have read a few threads about ebay and setting up new businesses but I am a complete novice to this ad any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking into dropshippers, do any of you know any reputable companies? Is that the best way to go about setting up a business?

Should I have my own niche or sell random bits of everything? What types of things are most popular and how do you find this out?

Like I said, I'm completely new to this so ANY help would be great

thanks very much:)

RFW

sophieg123 wrote: »

I am looking into dropshippers, do any of you know any reputable companies? Is that the best way to go about setting up a business?

Should I have my own niche or sell random bits of everything? What types of things are most popular and how do you find this out?

Dropshipping is not a good idea if you don't know anything about it.
Start with something you know a lot about and try and source products from there.

Start small and sell just a few items to see if you can make a profit after fees, taxes and other expenses.

I'd say 'starting a business on Ebay' is a bad idea, starting a business that uses Ebay could be a good one, ie consider using other sales outlets once you have sourced products.

A good way to find suppliers is to go to nearest large town and look for wholesalers. No one is likely to give you details of suppliers, that's part of the work you need to do.

It isn't easy and you need to know a lot before investing any money in it apart from small test amounts.

There are lots of start up websites with free advice for starting a business.

bartelbe

sophieg123 wrote: »

Hi everyone

Due to circumstances I am now unemployed and am looking at ways to make more money.

I have read a few threads about ebay and setting up new businesses but I am a complete novice to this ad any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking into dropshippers, do any of you know any reputable companies? Is that the best way to go about setting up a business?

Should I have my own niche or sell random bits of everything? What types of things are most popular and how do you find this out?

Like I said, I'm completely new to this so ANY help would be great

thanks very much:)

To be honest I would try something else. Dropshipping is a con, if there was a profit to be made from it, why would the dropshipper sell it to you? Why not cut you out and sell the stock themselves on ebay?

You cannot buy in the same bulk as a big retailer, so won't be able to match their prices.

The only ebay businesses that work with small margins are selling rare high value items, whose rarity means their prices won't drop to nothing online due to vast competition.

The flaw in that model is finding those things at cheap prices. The people selling them a car boot sales, charity shops ect have access to sites like ebay as well. They can see what these items sell for, one of the reasons chariy prices have gone up.

There may have been easy money to make on ebay once, but not anymore.

SailorSam

I wonder if this is the time to start a Ebay business, we were talking this week about the cost of postage and reduction in size of packages. That's going to be a major expense for you.

sophieg123

SailorSam wrote: »

I wonder if this is the time to start a Ebay business, we were talking this week about the cost of postage and reduction in size of packages. That's going to be a major expense for you.

so far ive sold 3 items I no longer needed and minus p+p and ebay and paypal fees i still managed to make £99

sophieg123

bartelbe wrote: »

To be honest I would try something else. Dropshipping is a con, if there was a profit to be made from it, why would the dropshipper sell it to you? Why not cut you out and sell the stock themselves on ebay?

You cannot buy in the same bulk as a big retailer, so won't be able to match their prices.

The only ebay businesses that work with small margins are selling rare high value items, whose rarity means their prices won't drop to nothing online due to vast competition.

The flaw in that model is finding those things at cheap prices. The people selling them a car boot sales, charity shops ect have access to sites like ebay as well. They can see what these items sell for, one of the reasons chariy prices have gone up.

There may have been easy money to make on ebay once, but not anymore.

if that is the case are there alternatives to dropshipping?

sophieg123

i thought the reason dropshippers didnt sell on ebay was because they had too much stock, or is that me being naiive?

ballisticbrian

so far ive sold 3 items I no longer needed and minus p+p and ebay and paypal
fees i still managed to make £99

It's great that you want to start a business, but don't get confused with selling items from around your house which originally cost you a lot more (making a loss) and making a profit, after taking off your hourly rate and expenses.

If you made a genuine profit on these items you sold for £99, perhaps you can tell us what they were ?

bartelbe

sophieg123 wrote: »

if that is the case are there alternatives to dropshipping?

Look at it this way, could you buy 1000 widgets at x and sell them at y down the local market? Ebay isn't some magic site, it works like any other business. It even has overheads, ebay fees, paypal fees, postage cost, and the inevitable cost of returns.

Not to mention the fact if you start selling large numbers of item you will have to get a business account, not to mention taxes. If you can get stock cheap and sell for more great, but I doubt that going to a random dropshipping site will work.

sophieg123

ballisticbrian wrote: »

It's great that you want to start a business, but don't get confused with selling items from around your house which originally cost you a lot more (making a loss) and making a profit, after taking off your hourly rate and expenses.

If you made a genuine profit on these items you sold for £99, perhaps you can tell us what they were ?

touche bb!

One was an unwanted gift so I suppose that counts?

paulofessex

sophieg123 wrote: »

Hi everyone

Due to circumstances I am now unemployed and am looking at ways to make more money.

I have read a few threads about ebay and setting up new businesses but I am a complete novice to this ad any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking into dropshippers, do any of you know any reputable companies? Is that the best way to go about setting up a business?

Should I have my own niche or sell random bits of everything? What types of things are most popular and how do you find this out?

Like I said, I'm completely new to this so ANY help would be great

thanks very much:)

Have a look at ats distribution they are drop shippers you can also pay for a fully stocked retail web site £9.99 per month. May be worth spending time looking into it.