How to start up business

Savvy_Sue

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Thanks lol. I do understand, although I'm still wondering how such a simple question led to all this

'cos it's not such a simple question!!!

Flyonthewall

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

You may think it's daft to make this into a business, but as soon as you start buying stock with a view to selling it for a profit, you MUST register as self-employed with HMRC. The whole time you are selling your collection of priceless Vinyl or your extensive collection of books, that's fine, but once you start buying with a view to selling, you ARE trading.

Your profits may not mean you have to pay any tax, especially if you don't have a day job, but that's beside the point.



That sounds sensible to me.

BTW, have you found our Ebay board? Could be worth a look to see if there are ways around your fears about the costs of postage. And there's bound to be a bit about Gumtree there as well.

It would be daft to sell products I own privately as a business. I never bought them to sell, I bought them because I wanted them. I know if I bought to sell it would be trading, but currently I'm not doing that and doing that with just odd random items would take a lot of time and effort and probably for little money.

I'll have a look, thanks. I know postage costs a lot and it costs more sending recorded/special delivery through Royal Mail, which would be easiest for me to send through. So many scammers around now and ebay always side with the buyer so I prefer to send recorded/special delivery.

If I was a business with plenty of stock or selling a lot in bulk I could probably get a discount of postage and wouldn't worry so much about a missing item or whatever, but just starting a business
the last thing I want is the hassle of possible missing items and refunding.

I know I could try other companies, but other companies have put up postage prices too and not all are reliable or will compensate for missing items and it's more effort to send items through them so at the moment I don't know one that would work better than RM.

You would think with how popular online shopping has become that things would become better, but fees and postage costs are getting higher and there are more ways people can scam you.

Flyonthewall

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

'cos it's not such a simple question!!!

It was meant to be. I expected people to say things like there are no grants or loans to get a shop, or people between X and Y age can get a grant to get them started or this company will look through business plans and help you find the best place for grants and loans etc.

I assumed people would answer that question, not question why I needed a shop, what I was selling, whether that would work, to get a business plan, to tell me it wouldn't work and so on. I never asked for any of that stuff. If I want a shop that's my choice, I still need to know if I could get help in getting a shop, regardless of the rest.

I know people are trying to help and that's good, but my original question was simple if you just took into account that I want a shop and have no money Either there's help out there to get a shop or there isn't..

Percy1983

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Thanks lol. I do understand, although I'm still wondering how such a simple question led to all this

I have given you the answer, you just don't seem to accept it.

Here is a simple summary.

1, Get small amount of stock, store it on you bed when not using it and next to your bed when sleeping.

2, Sell on ebay, gumtree, amazon, play. As mentioned profits maybe small due to postage costs.

3, If stock is selling well, well done you have found a hole in the market, make full business plan based on findings with evidence of market found in step in.

4, Go to bank with business plan, if good you then having your funding for your shop.

5, Open shop while maintaining already built online presence.

6, Live happily ever after.

Please tell me which number makes no sense or is impossible?

jm2926

Flyonthewall wrote: »

It was meant to be. I expected people to say things like there are no grants or loans to get a shop.....Either there's help out there to get a shop or there isn't..

There's not, unless you can prove your business model works e.g from a market stall,online, popup shop etc. even then, there's still probably not.

Flyonthewall

Percy1983 wrote: »

I have given you the answer, you just don't seem to accept it.

Here is a simple summary.

1, Get small amount of stock, store it on you bed when not using it and next to your bed when sleeping.

2, Sell on ebay, gumtree, amazon, play. As mentioned profits maybe small due to postage costs.

3, If stock is selling well, well done you have found a hole in the market, make full business plan based on findings with evidence of market found in step in.

4, Go to bank with business plan, if good you then having your funding for your shop.

5, Open shop while maintaining already built online presence.

6, Live happily ever after.

Please tell me which number makes no sense or is impossible?

All makes sense, but I asked how to get a shop, not whether I needed stock, where to sell beforehand etc. Just how to get a shop. I was expecting loans/grants, not sell online and then people telling me I have to do that even when I said I can't make it worth my while.

Flyonthewall

jm2926 wrote: »

There's not, unless you can prove your business model works e.g from a market stall,online, popup shop etc. even then, there's still probably not.

Ok. Thanks.

See that's the type of answer I was expecting. Short, to the point, tells me whether I can get a shop. So I know there's nothing to help if I have no money.

motorguy

Flyonthewall wrote: »

This one so far works up until the point of I can't work out how I could possibly sell the items for a profit online and I haven't the funds for a shop.

This is what i cant get my head around. You say you can buy the item for £11.99 and you can sell it for £15.99. Ebay / Amazon sellers are already selling the item for £15.99 delivered.

I truly cant see how you see a retail unit as 'the answer' to this. As i said before with a £4 margin you'd need to be selling 1,000 of these items a month - every month - just to keep your head above water. Assuming you work a 5 day week, thats 40 items a day - every day - just to break even. Bearing in mind 4/5ths of most shops business happens on a saturday, then you're into the realms of selling 200 on a saturday and 50 during the week.

The figures just dont stack up. The margins are too small.

The logic is all wrong - "the profit margin is too small to sell them online, so i'll open a shop to sell them" :eek:

It is just not where the market is these days - and its only going to get worse.

motorguy

Percy1983 wrote: »

So people wouldn't be willing to travel miles for your items on a ebay buy it now with collection only, but would be willing to travel the same number of miles to your shop they have heard some how?

+1

This gets more banal the more i read it...

motorguy

Flyonthewall wrote: »

lol exactly. We don't haggle enough in the UK.

You're right.

What people in the UK do is go in to a local shop, touch and feel the item, see if it does their job, then go home, check on line, and usually get it cheaper delivered to their door.

Even if its not cheaper, if they're at their computer they'll order it anyway rather than go back to the shop.