Buying Bulk Mobile Phones

talksoccer

Hi,

I always thought about starting a mini business on ebay by selling mobile phones but im not sure where i can purchase a bulk or pallet of mobile phones with quantity near 20-30 to start of with. I saw some on sale on ebay in bulks but im not sure how much they ended up at. Can anyone give me any advice and help me out

Thank You very much

soolin

I'm not sure that setting out to buy used/reconditioned phones for resale on ebay is much of a money spinner.

There are several people sellings 'links' to wholesalers that supposedly have cheap deals, but you do have to consider the fact that if there is money in these deals why aren't the link sellers keeping it all for themselves?

Also, second hand/recon phones all need to be sold fully tested and if you were actually trading in them you've got to allow for returns or scams. If you sell them as broken or untested then they are worthless, I know as i am selling a couple at the moment which I don't expect to even clear the three pound mark.

Mobile phones are an area with a notoriously high 'scam' rate both from buyers and sellers so if you are selling them you'd need to have a pretty high all positive feedback to get people to trust you, and offer payment by Paypal, again which will eat into any profit. As for scams against you, mobile phones seem to attract a lot of non paying bidders who bid and then read a forum like this and realise they can get a brand new phone cheaper than second hand on ebay. They also get hit a lot by the 'Western Union' scam .

If you do decide to go ahead then watch the ebay listings for a while, note the prices paid and watch the completed deals to see if feedback gets left both ways (ie no scam occuring). Then work out your expenses, including all listing fees, FVF, paypal fees etc and make sure you are happy that it is worth your while.

Soo

talksoccer

Thanks for the advice mate. Out of intrest does anyone have any links to where i can purchase bulk mobile phones, i just want to look for the costs and also is there any numbers or links people can pass on

me email is also faz@talksoccer.net

Thank You

soolin

I'm not even sure it is possible to buy mobile phones in bulk unless you are a registered shop or have direct links to the manufacturers. The only things I have ever seen are the scam links that promise this information and then after you've paid your money give you a Google link to wholesalers.

You are, unfortunately, just one of thousands of people trying to find this type of deal. Anything you can find online will have been found by others before you and if anyone does have a good current contact (which alas I don't) they are unlikely to share it with you as you would end up in competition with them.

The only advice I can give, and I'm not sure it is worth very much, is to call manufacturers direct and talk to them, see if they have any suggestions. I don't hold out much hope though, sorry I can't be more useful.

Soo

talksoccer

Thanks mate for the advice. Every little helps. I was just wondering if mobile phones aint the best to go into then what possibly is? I just want to make a profit in selling products by purchasing them from suppliers

soolin

Check out the other discussion threads on this newsgroup as making a living on ebay has been discussed before and you might find it useful to have a read through.

Soo

talksoccer

Im currently thinking about investing 300 pounds in purchasing a bulk lot of jeans of ebay which will have 100 jeans and are said to be worth 20-30 pounds each. Im thinking does clothing work well on ebay and does have any experience? Im just looking for a bit of advice as im hoping to purchase a bulk lot of jeans and sell them individually on ebay.

I know there will be costs with paypal, listing fees and postal orders etc. So is it worth doing it and can i make a very good profit out of it?

soolin

If the jeans you are looking to buy are designer ones with the labels still attached then check out the exact make of jeans on ebay's 'completed items' list and make sure you can make a profit. I once sold designer jeans with labels showing an RRP of £69.99 (It was a while ago so I'm not entirely sure they were £69.99 they might have been more) and they sold for a lot less than £10! After listing fees, FVF and paypal charges that left virtually no profit.

If they are unbranded or untagged then forget it, my local retaliers all sell quite serviceable jeans for £4 anyway and with post and packing to be added to the cost of buying from ebay, they are cheaper in the shops.

One other thing to be considered with bulk buying clothes is can you choose your sizes in advance? Again, completed listings on ebay will tell you which sizes are popular and which are not. I've just done a quick search on ebay and jeans don't look to be a brilliant seller, designer or not, so go check your exact makes before you make a decision.

Soo

soolin

Sorry, I should have said that I haven't now sold jeans for over a year so my own experience may be out of date. However, I do occasionally sell other types of clothes and expect to get back about a third of the RRP on the most popular sizes. On unpopular sizes things often remain unsold so I now rarely choose to sell anything less than a UK size 12.

Soo

jo3uk

Mobile phones are probably one of the most saturated products on ebay. High subsidies on both contract and prepay handsets at the moment devalues the product and you are lucky to get 60-70% of the value listed on websites such as Expansys, even for a brand new sealed phone.

In my experience, it is often easier to get more money selling phones selling them off ebay, through mates etc.

Hope this helps,

Joe

talksoccer

Thanks all again for the advice and it been really useful especially the jeans advice.

I just seen a bulk load of mobile phones sold on ebay for like £1000+ which they have 20 phones and if i sold each one seperatly i reckon i can make a very good profit double the amount i paid easily, what do people reckon of buying bulk quantity of mobile phones of ebay?Any advice i know i wont purchase of anyone with no feedback.