Is this a business

[christmc]

Morning Chaps,

Iv been mulling this over for a while now and I have not reached a conclusion in my own mind yet so i thought i would open it up to you lot,

I have been buying and selling various things for quite some time now, literally anything I can find that i believe i can turn a nice profit on, eg: cars, goggles, speakers, household electronics etc,

I am not a specialist in any particular area but what i do very well is recognise a good buying price and make a number of quite cheaky offers, some people accept some say no.

I use ebay to sell most things, or at least make the contacts.

My question is this:: Is this a business? I have made a few thousand profit in the last couple of months, and i feel that if i had myself and a few people scouring the internet and various publications for things for sale that it could be worth looking further into,

But is this a business and if it is what kind of business is it?

[christmc]

Thanks Tim, It just seems so easy almost too simple to be a bona fida business, but yet it seems to make money

[christmc]

But do think it an actual business idea? if i had 5 people making 20-30 calls a day offering low amounts on various things, then reselling at a closer market value, ? There are always people who need to sell things quickly for a reduced rate

[christmc]

What is boffer? that link doesnt work

[christmc]

yes i see your angle there, like any business the inherant value of it must not be in the main shaeholder other wise it is worthless,

But i do believe it is only a mindset that staff need to be trained on, You see a car or product selling for £2000 you offer £1500 for instant payment and you then sell for £2000 as it was origonally?

[christmc]

okgo said:

christmc said:

yes i see your angle there, like any business the inherant value of it must not be in the main shaeholder other wise it is worthless,

But i do believe it is only a mindset that staff need to be trained on, You see a car or product selling for £2000 you offer £1500 for instant payment and you then sell for £2000 as it was origonally?

What makes you able to sell it at 2k, and the person you offer 1500 to, not?

Because you are appealing to the seller who needs to sell quickly and get cash sooner rather than later, thats how the business model works and coming out the back of a rescession there will be no shortage of people willing to sell cheap

[christmc]

thegavster said:

christmc said:

My question is this:: Is this a business? I have made a few thousand profit in the last couple of months, and i feel that if i had myself and a few people scouring the internet and various publications for things for sale that it could be worth looking further into,

But is this a business and if it is what kind of business is it?

If you got a couple of staff would you need offices and storage facilities? Accounting fees, various taxes etc.

I think that as a sideline you could do well, as a bonafide business with staff, you'll struggle to make as much.

Yes i agree , although i already have a long established business with spare offices and wharehouse.

[christmc]

Dont worry guys i fully intend to set up officially and pay my dues, I am a little supprised at members concerns that i pay tax rather than discuss the actual business model but hey,

Well i think i will take the plunge on this one and delve a little deaper

[christmc]

I appreciate that Eric you are correct,

I guess it would just end up being an old fashioned, "something trading company"

[christmc]

[quote=Frankeh]This reminds me of the time my friend announced his grand plan to make money.
Cold call the entire brighton phone book asking them if they wanted "Anything doing"...
When probed into what "Anything" meant he couldn't come up with a clear answer.
I presume he meant general handyman stuff.
He didn't have any mode of transport, either.

That guy smokes way to much weed.

I was hoping for a little more credability to be honest I already have a ltd company turning over 4.5-5 million per annum. Yet im being likened to a get rich quick chap, and also someone completly ignorant to how HMRC work, and the differance between sole trading and limted companies.

Come on guys this is a business forum,

[christmc]

AE82GT said:

to be called a business you should be able to walk away for 12 months and
still acheve growth, if not then it's just a job you own. not a bad thing but
for a company to have value the owner must not be imputing 99% of the I.P.

yea thats a good point AE82, In essence i suppose anything that generates enough income to pay all relevant people , owner staff rent rates etc is good enough,

The key to what im proposing to do is that i always try to find a buyer before i even buy the stock itself, so it will always remain a passetive cash flow business

[christmc]

[quote=Eric Mc]Sorry if I was teaching you to suck eggs - but your loose reference to being a "company" indicated to me that you werebn't completely clear on what a company actually was.

Also, your initial post indicated that you might think that trading at a low level was perhaps exempted from the normal HMRC notification rules.

Again, sorry for offering you advise you obviously didn't need .

Eric , No problem it is so easy to get the wrong end of the stick on these types of forums, perhaps i should have been clearer myself.

I suppose the reason why i was not too clear was because I have bought and sold all sorts of odds and sods over the last few months, and all i have done is look around and how much they sell for and then offered people a little less,, so It seems very simple and it seems like it would be reasonably simple to upscale