ebay money laundering?

steve99990_4

Hi

I have searched the internet and cant really find an answer for this.

If i buy mobile phones from a high street store and open then up and add apps to make them worth more and sell them for a profit is this allowed. i.e a buy a phone for £100 add apps and addons and then sell on ebay for £120 making a £20 profit.

thanks in advance

Pierre_De_Grenoble

ebays % on the £120 + shipping 10% means the profit is approx. £8 per item not £20.


IMHO so long as you sell it as a used Phone (because you have "opened it") I can't see any problems unless perhaps due to the copyright on the apps..

steve99990_4

Thanks for your reply. So if i go down the shop and buy 10 of these, open it up and make the profit. Theres no issue, because i tried to do this today over the phone at a catalogue company and they said i was money laundering? Surely 50% of people on ebay is then guilty of money laundering?

Double_V

I think part of ebay Ts&Cs are that you have to wipe out all data from the phones before you sell/send it.
Meaning no apps. (apart from the defaults)

ricardinho88

I don't get it. Why would anyone want to buy a phone with apps from you, when they can buy a phone and put the apps on themselves?!

Pierre_De_Grenoble

Double_V wrote: »

I think part of ebay Ts&Cs are that you have to wipe out all data from the phones before you sell/send it.
Meaning no apps. (apart from the defaults)

Didn't know that because I have never bought a phone/sold a phone on ebay. It makes sense though as it would be very easy to fall foul of malware.


As for the shop claiming money laundering that has to be total tosh. They buy to sell at a profit why shouldn't you. So long as you have all the paperwork for HMRC.

steve99990_4

yes thanks i signed up this morning to pay my taxes and opened a business ebay account but was turned away on the phone from purchasing the 10 phones. the account was already opened and i had purchased items on the account before. I would have paid with my credit card on not on their account so i cant se what the problem is either. Thanks for the hasty replies.

Stevie_Palimo

Seems a whole lot of time, effort and hassle for very small return tbh.

Flyonthewall

Not money laundering, but I assume the apps are paid apps to be adding value? If so, you must be getting that free or much cheaper for it to be worth more than you're selling at. If you can get them free or cheap so can others, unless you're getting them illegally.

As already said, the phone would have to be sold as used. Why would anyone pay more than the price new for a used phone? Not everyone will want every app you add to the phone either, bringing the value down.

I assume you've looked at how much these phones sell for used on ebay?

People usually wipe phones because of personal data, but if a previous comment about it being in the T&Cs is correct then ebay could remove the listings.

The profit has also been mentioned. You may be selling at £20 higher but that is not going to be your profit. You have the fees to pay and postage costs to consider (remember, you'll need to be sending tracked which costs more). You can add postage costs to the listing but it may put buyers off as they're already paying more than it costs to get the phone new and the fees are on the total cost (item price+postage). Plus you may have costs in taking the parcels to the PO/courier.

You're looking at no more than a few pounds profit and you could quite easily end up paying out to sell them.

The place have every right not to sell you the 10 phones and if it's on offer at the moment they may have a limit per person.

ballisticbrian

You wouldn't be able to provide a VAT receipt so any company buying it would be loosing £24. You want to really be looking at a mark up of 100% to begin with on eBay and adjusting depending on volume. In so many categories people see sellers making 5p or whatever an item and they think it's normal.

Brooker_Dave

Pierre_De_Grenoble wrote: »

ebays % on the £120 + shipping 10% means the profit is approx. £8 per item not £20.


IMHO so long as you sell it as a used Phone (because you have "opened it") I can't see any problems unless perhaps due to the copyright on the apps..

Won't the paypal fees wipe out the rest of the profit?