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Making Money on Ebay

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Sammcc
Sammcc Posts: 36 Forumite
edited 26 December 2013 at 10:04PM in Boost your income
Hi all, I have been a member of these forums for some time only logging in very infrequently, however over the last few weeks I have found myself logging in more and more and having a look around. My background is this- I am in full time employment in the manufacturing sector earning a good wage.

Between 2007 & 2011 made a lot of cash online affiliate marketing - selling betting systems and running betting system review websites, this is a big big industry/niche, it still is but for me I left it all behind me as I now feel that the whole betting / gambling thing is unethical ( I never did place bets myself) so mid 2011 I left it all behind me and the £1200/£1500 second income with it. Sure I missed this money but I was never depending on it to keep the house running or anything like that- I sold one of my websites for £5000 and walked away.

Now at the end of 2013 I feel that I want to make an effort to get the two debts I have wiped out in the shortest time possible- I gained a lot of expertise during my 4 years part time internet marketing, (and by the way I am talking 1-2 hrs per evening here with the laptop on my knee in front of the tele) so I want to try and put some of these to use again. I am looking at selling on ebay as my main method and in a nutshell what I plan to do is sell some things I have around the house to make a bank, then look at a buying new and used items at a lower cost and reselling them for a profit. At the moment I am looking to make a £500 bank and take it from there- I have already started and have made about £120 selling a few items. I intend to use this thread as a diary of my progress.
Mortgage -£42272.60 Completion Date Feb 2032

Tesco Loan -£8789.31 Target Completion Date Dec 2014

Make £2014 in 2014 Challenge- £0 to date
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Comments

  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,611 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Good plan and good idea to sell stuff around the house you're not using.

    I've done that and since 1st Nov I've sold £680 of stuff that i wasnt otherwise using and probably have another £150 of stuff to sell.

    Your background in affiliate marketing should certainly help but it will be interesting to see how you get on with "buying and selling" on ebay which to be honest is what every man and his dog is doing, to the point whereby its beyond saturation.

    You get Jonny sitting in his bedroom thinking hes an intranet entrepreneur because hes making a pound on some product before fees and he thinks hes rich. This destroys it for everyone.

    And if you start hunting round charity shops / gumtree you can waste an awful lot of time trying to find one item, and then you're into the realm of having a "business" thats neither repeatable nor scalable.

    Every man and his dog is also importing stuff from "wholesalers" in china and reselling on ebay, so again this avenue is well trodden.

    I will watch your thread with interest to see how you overcome these problems though!

    Good luck!
  • Sammcc
    Sammcc Posts: 36 Forumite
    Hi Paul I have been looking at Ebay and while there are loads of people doing this I don't think it is saturated- the key I suppose is all in the products isn't it? I am planning to spend 1-2 hrs per day at this- I feel this is a much more viable and profitable road to go down than the likes of clixsense, swag bucks etc.
    I definetly don't want to go down the road of buying things like mobile phone covers from China and selling them for pence profit. As to what the items I am going to buy are- well at this moment in time I have no idea but I am looking at higher valued items- hence the reason for wanting to build a bank 1st.
    Mortgage -£42272.60 Completion Date Feb 2032

    Tesco Loan -£8789.31 Target Completion Date Dec 2014

    Make £2014 in 2014 Challenge- £0 to date
  • Good luck.


    Do a LOT of research into the items you're going to be buying and selling. Ebay is full of numpties who want everything for 99p and even bigger numpties who will sell for that. My partner and I bought about £350 worth of nice gift items a couple of years ago and thought we had done enough research and bought things that not everyone was selling, but we still couldn't break through the 'everything for 99p' mentality on there and ended up just shifting it all at a loss.


    Be absolutely sure that you're selling things that have a genuine market, and factor in things like the numerous trips to the post office when you've sold one item at a time. As you can probably guess I wouldn't touch ebay as a way of making money - it just about functions for getting rid of the odd bit of clutter.
  • Kayalana99
    Kayalana99 Posts: 3,626 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    Sammcc wrote: »
    I am looking at higher valued items- hence the reason for wanting to build a bank 1st.

    My little ebay business has really taken off...I live by the rule of the higher quanity you sell the better - then the bigger the profit margain.

    All of my items are under a fiver, and fit in the letter box and I sell them by the bucket load.

    God help queuing in that post office everyday! Saying that my next line will be a post office item :( but I have to expnd!

    (The best part is no INR's/people trying to scam you..cause whos bothered about a couple quid really have 1 in 500 estimated)
    People don't know what they want until you show them.
  • Goldiegirl
    Goldiegirl Posts: 8,806 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Rampant Recycler Hung up my suit!
    The thing with 'buying and selling' - it takes a while to work out the right niche. Ideally, it should be something you have some knowledge about, something that you enjoy sourcing, and is easy to source, and also it should be an area where people are willing to buy, and the items should be quick and easy to pack and fit in the post box


    It took me a while to work it out, but now I sell things relating to a hobby I had nearly 40 years ago.


    It just makes a few extra quid and I enjoy it. I call it a micro-business.


    Edited to add - don't forget to register as a business if you are buying to sell at a profit
    Early retired - 18th December 2014
    If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough
  • Sammcc
    Sammcc Posts: 36 Forumite
    Goldiegirl wrote: »

    Edited to add - don't forget to register as a business if you are buying to sell at a profit

    Yeh, I am still registered from my other online business years ago.
    Mortgage -£42272.60 Completion Date Feb 2032

    Tesco Loan -£8789.31 Target Completion Date Dec 2014

    Make £2014 in 2014 Challenge- £0 to date
  • Sammcc
    Sammcc Posts: 36 Forumite
    Ok, so just over a week in my activity selling items around the house has been as follows.

    Capture.JPG

    I still have some more items to sell but this is quite good for stuff that I have lying about the house. I have been looking at China, UK Wholesale and drop shipping none of which are straight forward when things like ebay and paypal fees are taken into account along with import tax etc - to make this sustainable when I run out of items is going to be a challenge and finding a niche/products at the right money is certainly going to be difficult.
    Mortgage -£42272.60 Completion Date Feb 2032

    Tesco Loan -£8789.31 Target Completion Date Dec 2014

    Make £2014 in 2014 Challenge- £0 to date
  • soolin
    soolin Posts: 74,105 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    sammcc you are going about this in a sensible way, selling a few personal items first to get the hang of it before committing money to buying stock.

    I know someone has already mentioned HMRC, but remember as well that you need to upgrade your selling account on ebay to a business once you start buying to resell. As a business you do have slightly more obligations, for instance you must show a full geogrpahic address on your listings (It is done automatically though), must offer 14 day change of mind returns and almost more importantly, ship daily. You might just scrape by with every other day, but watch your expanded dashboard to make sure that has no impact on your stars.

    It is the shipping aspect that concerns me if you are working full time, ebay can be a millstone, can you face queueing at a PO every lunchbreak?

    Once you have 10 lots of feedback and your stars show make a habit of checking your expanded selelr dashboard at least once a week, if anything starts to show- sort it out immediately. The first post here explains that

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/56895243#Comment_56895243

    Stock is an issue, start of with something you know and work from there, be prepared to switch to new lines as soon as one item stops selling. Once you get into it the ideas are easier, as you tend to watch competitors, and tend to browse generally and get an idea of where sellers are getting their stock- so you can nip in as well and ride the market for a while.

    Good luck , if you have any specific questions do come and ask on the ebay board (see my signature)
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the eBay, Auctions, Car Boot & Jumble Sales, Boost Your Income, Praise, Vents & Warnings, Overseas Holidays & Travel Planning , UK Holidays, Days Out & Entertainments boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know.. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.
  • Sammcc
    Sammcc Posts: 36 Forumite
    Thanks soolin.
    Mortgage -£42272.60 Completion Date Feb 2032

    Tesco Loan -£8789.31 Target Completion Date Dec 2014

    Make £2014 in 2014 Challenge- £0 to date
  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,611 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Sammcc wrote: »
    I have been looking at China, UK Wholesale and drop shipping none of which are straight forward when things like ebay and paypal fees are taken into account along with import tax etc - to make this sustainable when I run out of items is going to be a challenge and finding a niche/products at the right money is certainly going to be difficult.

    You're hitting the problem everyone hits.

    Even IF you do find something thats viable, its hard to get something sustainable and very hard to get something that isnt going to be undercut by someone else.
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