Im hoping to make a profit from buying and selling on ebay and hopefully specialise in something sell. I know its hard to find a decent wholesaler and one you can trust.
Just wondering if anyone has done this before to make a profitable business, has any advice or knows good people to buy from.
thanks
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Bundles of cheap bankrupt stock if your willing to travel 40 miles north of London.
It's where i buy stock to sell on Ebay and it gives me a nice extra income. Be carefull of those Ebay and paypal fees ! they can be a killer.
Makes her sound like a hooker - god forbid!!
I've got my macbook up there at the moment and hoping that I don't get the usual idiots bidding. I always put "will only post to uk address" as you do get some right moody nigerian bidders at times
During the last 7 months we have sold around £20,000 of stuff. I have also looked into drop-shippers and other sources of stuff.
If you are thinking of selling some things - say hi tech stuff for example, just run a search. You will find a lot of stuff sold with very similar or identical descriptions. These are usually people who have bought into the dropping shipping services model. I am pretty unconvinced by these. All you do is list the items, you don't hold any stock. If an item sells, they deliver it directly to your customer. If you do go down this route you have to be incredibly selective about the kind of lines you want to sell.
Take cameras for example. For the latest technology models there are the following:
1. The people selling "grey" market goods which are being supplied from Hong Kong with guarantees which are not necessarily valid in the UK or to honour them the item has to go back to Hong Kong. These are 30% or more below UK or European sourced stock
2. Then you UK importers who buy in the goods from Hong Kong but supply from the UK. These goods also do not have UK guarantees. These will be up 30% cheaper than UK/Europe sourced product
3. Then you have those people who have bought at the wrong price and are clearing their items
4. Then comes the pukka UK sellers.
It is very hard to sell UK sourced Cameras on Ebay. You have to buy when they are on offer and box clever with package deals etc
We also sell expensive Binoculars. These are also very hard to shift because of grey market imports. You have to lower your margins to the bone.
Buying bankrupt stock is fine provided you know what you are doing.
As for Ebay and Paypal fees. Well you pay less fees the more sales throughput. We are currently Top Rated and a Silver Level Power Seller. We get a 20% discount off the Ebay fees. We are have 350 plus items listed and we received charges of around £320 per month on sales of £6,000 a month. It depends though on whether you turnover sales quickly. Ebay charge differently depending on whether you sell at 99p with no reserve, your staring price is higher than 99p and if you sell it on a buy it now basis. Its quite hard to get a handle on it when you first start.
Paypal costs are somewhere around 3 and 4% of sales value (inc delivery) but will reduce once your sales reach certain monthly levels.
The next thing to think about is delivery charges. Depending on what you sell, it can be a good plan to use Royal Mail. The main problem with Royal Mail is that anything heavy or bulky costs money.
We use Royal Mail, Hermes (home delivery 3-5 day courier) and DHL (24-48 hour courier). Hermes is good for light but bulky items and DHL is good for expensive/heavy items.
The next thing to look at is whether you want the delivery "signed for". Frankly we have been stiffed a few times so we sent everything "signed for" but it costs. For some items like DVDs and CDs Ebay won't let you charge more than a specified amount for delivery. This is clearly to stop people ripping customers off on delivery prices.
In summary, like all retail, you need to buy at the right price. Price sells. What helps sales is customers confidence. I think that many people assume that there is a lot of swag and moody gear out there being sold by potential rip off merchants. Even with Paypal protecting them, there is still the aggravation factor. Our sales have shifted incrementally as we have achieved excellent feedback and become an Ebay Top Seller. We get better visibility now because of that and people are ready to take the plunge.
If you are interested in our Ebay shop here is the link. This has been built from scratch. I have had to learn a bit of html editing to enhance things. If I can do it, anyone can do it!
Photography Ebay Shop
I've got my macbook up there at the moment and hoping that I don't get the usual idiots bidding. I always put "will only post to uk address" as you do get some right moody nigerian bidders at times[/quote]
[quote][cite]Posted By: buckshee[/cite]generally over the years I've had good dealings with ebay but if you have a problem it can sometimes take a while to get a satifactory outcome
I've got my macbook up there at the moment and hoping that I don't get the usual idiots bidding. I always put "will only post to uk address" as you do get some right moody nigerian bidders at times[/quote]
[quote][cite]Posted By: buckshee[/cite]generally over the years I've had good dealings with ebay but if you have a problem it can sometimes take a while to get a satifactory outcome
I've got my macbook up there at the moment and hoping that I don't get the usual idiots bidding. I always put "will only post to uk address" as you do get some right moody nigerian bidders at times[/quote]
[quote][cite]Posted By: buckshee[/cite]generally over the years I've had good dealings with ebay but if you have a problem it can sometimes take a while to get a satifactory outcome
I've got my macbook up there at the moment and hoping that I don't get the usual idiots bidding. I always put "will only post to uk address" as you do get some right moody nigerian bidders at times[/quote]
strange seeing as he looks like one of those shady ebayers from the far east
Just wondering if anyone has done this before to make a profitable business, has any advice or knows good people to buy from.
You could also look into selling on amazon or e-bid.
Thats retail for you. You have to know your market and buy as cheaply as you can. Its extremely easy to f*ck up by buying the wrong stuff at the wrong time at the wrong price.
Any fool can take money, the smart ones make money.
My advice would be don't put all your eggs in one basket. Try a few things out. If you can build slowly and steadily from very little, you can adjust things as you go. My other advice is, if you set your prices, set them around a model of making enough money on 50% of what you sell to make a profit on 100% of what you've bought. You can clear out the balance at cost. Don't sit on stuff that isn't moving, sell it or clear it, and re-invest in something else.
Like others have mentioned, its about having the right stock at the right time. It might be worthwhile finding out what the latest craze is (it was yo' yos and other such things when i was a kid) and see if you can bulk buy and then sell them online...i can imagine parents would go online to get stuff like this these days, rather than hunting in the shops!
Obviously this would just be a start and you would have to grow and sell more expensive items etc
Paid for there holidays to Sri Lanka this year and a Caribbean cruise last year. Takes allot of time and effort though.
what it costs in France, a colleague in Italy tells me the total for both is in excess of 17%. Find out how much it costs in the UK and good luck.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHARLTON-ATHLETIC-GLASGOW-RANGERS-TWIN-CREST-BADGE-/130495056028?pt=UK_SportsMemorabilia_Football_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item1e621c889c#ht_500wt_1156
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHARLTON-ATHLETIC-THE-VALLIANTS-F-C-LEATHER-WALLET-/350447773593?pt=UK_SportsMemorabilia_Football_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item519850a799#ht_759wt_907
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHARLTON-ATHLETIC-CREWE-FANS-THEMED-SHIELD-T-SHIRT-2-/160506054957?pt=Men_s_Clothes&var=&hash=item6b1aeb7584#ht_1460wt_907
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FOOTBALL-CLUB-CHARLTON-ATHLETIC-FC-BADGE-/200587480738?pt=UK_Collectables_Badges_Patches_MJ&hash=item2eb3f20ea2#ht_513wt_1141
The secret is finding something people want, sell it, and still be able to sell it all again the next day with no extra cost other than raw production costs...
A lot of the time P&P more than covered my production costs...
A strategy for success in many retail businesses.
What's the punchline for the old Jewish "I opened the box of herrings that you sold me and they stink" joke?
"Oiii... these are 'for buying and selling' herrings ... not 'for eating' herrings".
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-11-CHARLTON-AWAY-SHIRT-SS-McCORMACK-16-SMALL-/270721940020?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f0848fa34#ht_600wt_907
I used to buy hardware and housewares from a bloke who's favourite saying was
1. "Those are flying machines" - meaning they will real sell well and fast
2. "Those are for buying and selling, not for using" - meaning they were not good quality
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120699903607&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT