Any Ebay business sellers?

Any Ebay business sellers?

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Charlie1986

Original Poster:

2,016 posts

134 months

Wednesday 19th November 2014
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Hi Guys

is there anybody here who is a business seller?

ive been given an opportunity where I could make a nice profit on some things but just not sure how to start it up. Theres already a big market but I would be able to undercut everyone and still make profit. Is it worth the hassle of doing it or will it just be easier to sell it as job lot and let someone else do it.

Al.

Ive not fully looked in to it but would I need to set up a company?

gregf40

1,114 posts

115 months

Wednesday 19th November 2014
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It's impossible to say without numbers.

Also, never assume that you know you can undercut anyone - you would be amazed how many people will sell for a loss to drive out competitors.

Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Wednesday 19th November 2014
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I don't know the benefits of being a 'business seller' as opposed to personal, but you don't need a limited company to run a business/make money. Just add up the numbers and pay the tax and you'll be fine. If it starts making lots of money - like several tens of thousands - then you can do the maths to see if incorporation is beneficial.

Charlie1986

Original Poster:

2,016 posts

134 months

Wednesday 19th November 2014
quotequote all
Thanks for the input,

Just for some numbers I can get 13,000 pcs for under £700 on various website there being sold at between £5-£9 for packs of 10. Other sizes are being sold at £3-£4 for packs of 10 where I would be getting around 1000 of various sizes.

The numbers look good but its the hassle doing it with being full time 8-5 and always have things on over the weekend. but when money counts its worth the hassle

IATM

3,778 posts

146 months

Wednesday 19th November 2014
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Charlie1986 said:
Thanks for the input,

Just for some numbers I can get 13,000 pcs for under £700 on various website there being sold at between £5-£9 for packs of 10. Other sizes are being sold at £3-£4 for packs of 10 where I would be getting around 1000 of various sizes.

The numbers look good but its the hassle doing it with being full time 8-5 and always have things on over the weekend. but when money counts its worth the hassle
Please please be very mindful of your costs. So so many people think of doing a business on ebay and underestimate what it actually costs to sell on ebay.

1) You have said you can get 13,000 units and thats great, how long will it take you to sell these? Especially as a new seller you will have seller limits, you will be reviewed all the time and as a new seller you will struggle to hit top of listing unless you significantly reduce the price at which point you WILL make a loss.

2) Take into account all costs! Paypal fees, ebay fees, RM fees, office supplies costs! All these things add up to a significant part of your cost!

3) As you have mentioned already - your time is a factor which in turn can mean the quality of service and turnaround time you can provide will be affected as well.

4) Depending on the product will it sell well in say 6 months time or will you be stuck with a pallets of stock which you just cant shift at all!

By all means it doesn't mean you can't do it - Hell I did it but I was in no way deluded into thinking it was easy. I used to work from 8-6 each day, come home and work from 7-1 in the morning then back to work.

Few can put in the hours, even fewer can make it a success. Good luck!


You don't need to set up a company you can set up as a soletrader to start with but as with all things there is more to think about. If you currently have a job then becoming a soletrader would mean you will need to start filling out a self assesment each year and include both incomes at which point could tip you into higher tax brackets.

Depending on how this works out it might be better to set up a limited company and pay 20% corporation tax and take a dividend out instead but you should really talk to an accountant or get some advise from someone on here as they can work some figures out for you.



Edited by IATM on Wednesday 19th November 12:12

ModernAndy

2,094 posts

134 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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Don't assume because you can sell it cheap it will actually sell, even on eBay.

You need to be as proper a business person as anywhere else in the real world to make things work on eBay so again, don't assume that just because you can flog things cheap it will make you rich. Plenty of ebay sellers sell more units at higher prices than their lowest priced competition.

You need to think about keywords, business policies, branding, how to handle issues with products/deliveries, getting mail/courier accounts, keeping stock levels optimal, hopefully dealing with VAT at some point and a whole host of other things.

If you start from your house with a full time job it can be a nice hobby but you really do need to sell a fair bit just to support yourself if it's your only source of income.

That being said, I do know people who have sold in the millions on eBay and they obviously do quite well. They worked their behinds off and developed proper businesses rather than doing a little bit of bedroom selling so from my experience, if you're going to sell on ebay and really want to make something of it you're going to need a proper business plan with a definitive number of new lines added per day/week to grow an ebay business at a decent pace. You'll also need a point where the business comes first and you are no longer somebody else's employee.

I had a fairly good ebay business up until last year but due to a number of factors I had to start again earlier this year. 5 months in and I'm still spending most of my time on developing our business systems but we're profitable and have strong monthly growth.

Another thing, to list in bulk use spreadsheets/a relational database and turbo lister. It's so much faster when you get it organised and if you are going to eventually do it from a warehouse, you'll most likely need to be adding products in the thousands. At this point, a proper listing method is essential

Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Thursday 20th November 2014
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One practical issue - if you are working 8am-5pm, when are you going to take the stuff to the PO? Buyers won't be happy waiting a week I think, and if you turn up at the counter on Saturday morning with 100 items having to be sent to all corners of the world you won't make any friends in the queue behind you! The amount of admin you'll have to do in the evenings - of it goes well - to juggle it all may surprise you.

htrowsoc

603 posts

193 months

Friday 21st November 2014
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Where I work designs shipping/label printing software for eBay sellers. Just writing a blog at the minute, may be of interest - www.parcelhub.co.uk/category/blog/

slybynight

391 posts

120 months

Monday 12th January 2015
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My twopenneth - after a nasty experience on ebay (10% buyers fault - 90% ebay's fault) - a quick bit of advice.... Never offer a return if you have the option of NOT doing so. - ebay will ar53 it up entirely.

Driver101

14,376 posts

120 months

Monday 12th January 2015
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slybynight said:
My twopenneth - after a nasty experience on ebay (10% buyers fault - 90% ebay's fault) - a quick bit of advice.... Never offer a return if you have the option of NOT doing so. - ebay will ar53 it up entirely.
Selling as a business on the internet, you have no option but to offer returns.