Online Business: What Shall I Sell???

soolin

toastking wrote: »

Whilst I would agree with the point that nobody is going to give away an idea that'll make money - Surely the hardest bit is selling said stock. Look long enough and ask enough people and eventually you'll get stock of what you want. Not difficult but very time consuming.

I would say the biggest problem is identifying something that people want, at a price you can sell it for.

Quite the opposite , if you have good stock it will sell itself. It is only stock that no one wants or that is overpriced that will struggle to sell.

I have one item I can't actually buy enough of to sell, I have a waiting list for it as my stockist is getting behind in their orders.

I also came across a completely new line a week ago, I sell on Facebook and someone asked on one of the selling pages if anyone stocked a certain widget. I spent less than an hour tracking down this widget and responded to the post with a price. The original buyer ordered one from me, as did several other people and I merely,ordered stock to cover the requests and also a few more for stock. This is a line I know absolutely nothing about and in the last few days have expanded my range to cover more similar widgets that people have contacted me to see if I sell.

toastking

soolin wrote: »

Quite the opposite , if you have good stock it will sell itself. It is only stock that no one wants or that is overpriced that will struggle to sell.

I have one item I can't actually buy enough of to sell, I have a waiting list for it as my stockist is getting behind in their orders.

I also came across a completely new line a week ago, I sell on Facebook and someone asked on one of the selling pages if anyone stocked a certain widget. I spent less than an hour tracking down this widget and responded to the post with a price. The original buyer ordered one from me, as did several other people and I merely,ordered stock to cover the requests and also a few more for stock. This is a line I know absolutely nothing about and in the last few days have expanded my range to cover more similar widgets that people have contacted me to see if I sell.

I don't think many have this kind of confidence in their ability to sell though which I would guess would be the boat of anyone starting out.

Also we are saying the same thing just in a different way really, the problem is finding the right thing (something which nobody is going to tell you) because you only want something that you can sell.

I just approached it from the angle that most people wont find things that people want to buy, you took it from your angle that of course you would only get something people want to buy as you know how to do it and do it well. Selling something that everyone wants, at the price they want it, is a doddle.

Sparhawke

soolin wrote: »

Quite the opposite , if you have good stock it will sell itself. It is only stock that no one wants or that is overpriced that will struggle to sell.

I have one item I can't actually buy enough of to sell, I have a waiting list for it as my stockist is getting behind in their orders.

I also came across a completely new line a week ago, I sell on Facebook and someone asked on one of the selling pages if anyone stocked a certain widget. I spent less than an hour tracking down this widget and responded to the post with a price. The original buyer ordered one from me, as did several other people and I merely,ordered stock to cover the requests and also a few more for stock. This is a line I know absolutely nothing about and in the last few days have expanded my range to cover more similar widgets that people have contacted me to see if I sell.

How exactly do you track down products like this and find the wholesalers of such goodies and contact them in the UK?

I have ideas coming out of my head but cannot find anyone to fulfill them..

I am not asking for your niche as I know enough to know you are not going to give them away, it is just that all information I find is USA-centric or "ordering from a random place in China" orientated.

Please answer?

matt_beveridge

I don't want to be mean but thats a stupid excuse...how is he going to find out? If you don't do it now are you ever going to? I ran my ebay business from my last rented house and it said in the contract I wasn't allowed to.

That doesn't sound mean, it may be stupid but this is my first rented place so was/am hesitant to start 'breaking' contract. Did you keep much stock for you business at your rented place?

When I wanted to start doing something that would need my address to be 'out there' I rented a virtual address locally to add to my websites. I know this will not look as good to someone who is a combination of internet savvy and suspicious, but it's the best I can do under the circumstances. It's a real office which I attend in person so no different from a lot of businesses really! I wouldn't want to use my home address anyway - like many other business I'd prefer to use a seperate 'work' address wherever possible.

How do you go about renting a virtual address? That sounds exactly what I need!

Matt.

Brassedoff

smithson5; if you are determined at doing an online business, you really need to know your nuts from your bolts.

If you took Curry's for example, they suffered from many people window shopping, or coming in, taking measurements, the look and feel of the item. Then the same people went home and looked on the web. They came across quite a few who did the washing machine for £40-80 less. And that's where they got the niche.

You need to research the same, or take multiple agencies with online firms that give you commissions. I have lots of home workers in the US etc, but they will only ever make $ couple hundred a month. That means you must get secondary, third, forth and fifth streams of income.

Or, you can find one product that you believe is right and together with P&P make reasonable money.

I have a customer who had an idea that has turned into £200K plus. That's the type of business I get involved in.

Matt: you can just Google "Virtual Offices" some are as cheap as £15 a month now. A few years ago, it was £50-60 a month.

Good luck on your businesses.

Opinion

smithson5 wrote: »

Hello everyone

I'd like to set up an online business; first open an Ebay business account, then an Ebay shop then get my own website.

The problem is I just don't know what to sell!! I planned on selling fancy dress costumes, but I bought a load of 'the most popular outfits' according to the wholesaler (and they've been in the business 30+ years) put them all on Ebay at fantastic prices and havn't sold a single one! (nothing wrong with my ads etc either).

So I don't know whether I should forget the fancy dress stuff now (there did seem a lot of other sellers on Ebay) and set up selling something else.

I used to work with a lady who had a successful online business selling printer cartridges, and someone else making around 1k a week selling kinky boots lol! Kate Middleton's mum started her multi million pound party accessory online business up from her garden shed, and the man with the huge distribution warehouse around the corner from me started up selling screws on Ebay. So I know it can be done, I just don't know what to sell! I don't expect to be the next Carole Middleton or have a multi million pound empire, just something for an extra income as I'm really struggling at the moment.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Many thanks, Richard

I swear, these threads must be a joke. They pop up every week. "I want to set up a business, then grow and grow and grow... but I don't have the first clue about business." It'd be like me opening a barbers shop.

The wholesalers have been in the business for 30+ years because people believe them when the say "MOST POPULAR!" which roughly translates as "NEED TO SHIFT THIS STOCK!"

Not knowing what to sell in this business is akin to not knowing how to play the guitar as the guitarist in a band. Just... no.

sketchingkari

If you are running a small business from home, selling items via places like ebay, or facebook groups, you have a couple of options to get started, you can either be a savvy buyer, trawling the carboots every weekend, grabbing items you know will sell for a higher value, then listing them up.

You can grab an old knackered item of furniture, tart it up and sell it on......

Or you can select a specific type of item and sell, it helps to sell something you either use or have knowledge of, do you have any hobbies? Crafts, music, books, fashion?

The craft industry is massive right now, but it is also saturated, by doing some research, I have found a couple of items which I import for pennies and sell for pounds, each line only moves maybe a dozen lots per week, but if you find enough lines, you are quids in.

Start small, find one thing that works, then move on from there would be my advice.

Oh and be prepared to do the work, if a wholesaler tells you 'these are my best sellers, please buy lots' say thanks for the info, then go home and research lots and lots before parting with your pennies. It's most likely, those are the ones wants to just get rid of! Remember, he is in it for the money too.

mcja

Opinion, I asked for some advice on here back in February about setting up an Ebay business. I got some invaluable advice I couldn't have got from anyone else which meant I as able to make an informed decision about the products I was considering.

I decided not to proceed and am still looking into a niche product. People ask for help and advice on here as there is a lot of experience on these boards. Please don't tell me my idea was a joke, it was very important to me, and still is.

OP sorry to say all this on your thread, I wish you every success when you do decide what you want to sell, have a look at this thread, massive lot of advice.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4467683

Patchwork_Girl

matt_beveridge wrote: »

How do you go about renting a virtual address? That sounds exactly what I need!
Matt.

There are loads - a quick Google should bring one up. I don't know much about the larger chains as I was lucky enough to find a small office building locally that was an ok price. Some businesses rent office space there but I just use their address for business communications and pick up mail from there. Most companies offer mail forwarding and some let you register a business at the address too, though if you are a sole trader I don't know if you'll need this (I'm registered as self-employed anyway so HMRC have my home address for that).

Kayalana99

mcja wrote: »

Opinion, I asked for some advice on here back in February about setting up an Ebay business. I got some invaluable advice I couldn't have got from anyone else which meant I as able to make an informed decision about the products I was considering.

I decided not to proceed and am still looking into a niche product. People ask for help and advice on here as there is a lot of experience on these boards. Please don't tell me my idea was a joke, it was very important to me, and still is.

OP sorry to say all this on your thread, I wish you every success when you do decide what you want to sell, have a look at this thread, massive lot of advice.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4467683

I thought this might interest you Mj (Got to love my google skills)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/campdavebadges/_i.html?rt=nc&_sid=16952156&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=5