Reasonably successful Ebay business, what next?
Discussion
I'm after some advice from the hive mind here if possible.
I'm involved in a small family sideline business, that was literally started from £300 about 4 years ago now by my FiL. He's spent a few hours a day researching, buying and selling products, predominantly through Ebay. Mostly in the wood/craft area. It's grown to a point now where he has a small industrial unit which is pretty full of varied stock, probably some old stuff that needs clearing, but mostly current product.
Due to my work situation, my entire team is effectively working reduced hours, possibly with a view to being disbanded in the next 10-12 months. He's asked me if I would like to help spend some time (2 days a week) down at the office to try and help him drive the business forward, with a view to potentially, if it picks up enough to go full time.
As a business, considering it's infancy, it doesn't do badly at all. However, looking at other sellers in a similar arena, there is a lot of potential there, even if we manage to improve by small percentages at a time.
As an Ebay newbie (other than buying the odd thing myself) my first job has been cleaning up old listings, and with 5000+ live, it will take a bit of time, but it's ongoing.
There are a couple of branded websites we have which we sell through, which also need a bit of work doing to tidy up, and bring a bit of continuity towards the 'brand', which will also tie in with Ebay, but from that point onwards, i'm a bit stuck. For one person, he earns a good living from it, factoring in he only works a few hours a day, he does very, very well out of it, and it's at a point where small, constant incremental growth will have a big effect on potential returns, and potentially provide more than one person a very healthy wage.
Whilst I have the time, i'd like to have a good crack at seeing what could be done, we've decided to try it for the next 6 months and see what happens. Ebay is a minefield, and i'm learning constantly how much of a headache it can be, but we can't change that, but where best to spend my time after all the housekeeping?
Should we be looking at Amazon? It looks to be expensive to sell on, and similar craft sellers don't seem to have great volumes there, compared to Ebay. Should I invest time in the website? SEO/Adwords etc?
I'd love to make a positive impact to the business, but being involved in such a small setup is completely alien to me - so i'm very conscious of being a headless chicken towards things that will actually grow our sales.
Has anyone else got experience of starting something, and growing it to a good sustainable level, and willing to share some gems/insights into how best to grow it? Or am I on the right path already?
I'm involved in a small family sideline business, that was literally started from £300 about 4 years ago now by my FiL. He's spent a few hours a day researching, buying and selling products, predominantly through Ebay. Mostly in the wood/craft area. It's grown to a point now where he has a small industrial unit which is pretty full of varied stock, probably some old stuff that needs clearing, but mostly current product.
Due to my work situation, my entire team is effectively working reduced hours, possibly with a view to being disbanded in the next 10-12 months. He's asked me if I would like to help spend some time (2 days a week) down at the office to try and help him drive the business forward, with a view to potentially, if it picks up enough to go full time.
As a business, considering it's infancy, it doesn't do badly at all. However, looking at other sellers in a similar arena, there is a lot of potential there, even if we manage to improve by small percentages at a time.
As an Ebay newbie (other than buying the odd thing myself) my first job has been cleaning up old listings, and with 5000+ live, it will take a bit of time, but it's ongoing.
There are a couple of branded websites we have which we sell through, which also need a bit of work doing to tidy up, and bring a bit of continuity towards the 'brand', which will also tie in with Ebay, but from that point onwards, i'm a bit stuck. For one person, he earns a good living from it, factoring in he only works a few hours a day, he does very, very well out of it, and it's at a point where small, constant incremental growth will have a big effect on potential returns, and potentially provide more than one person a very healthy wage.
Whilst I have the time, i'd like to have a good crack at seeing what could be done, we've decided to try it for the next 6 months and see what happens. Ebay is a minefield, and i'm learning constantly how much of a headache it can be, but we can't change that, but where best to spend my time after all the housekeeping?
Should we be looking at Amazon? It looks to be expensive to sell on, and similar craft sellers don't seem to have great volumes there, compared to Ebay. Should I invest time in the website? SEO/Adwords etc?
I'd love to make a positive impact to the business, but being involved in such a small setup is completely alien to me - so i'm very conscious of being a headless chicken towards things that will actually grow our sales.
Has anyone else got experience of starting something, and growing it to a good sustainable level, and willing to share some gems/insights into how best to grow it? Or am I on the right path already?
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