Has anybody ever run an eBay shop?

[xxhaylzxx]

I have been wracking my brains recently over wether to open a shop on eBay selling clothes, shoes, bags, jewellery, home objects. I have researched wholesalers which I would be able to purchase from. I have quite a lot of storage space at home to store stock. I believe its something I can start part time along side what I already do. I am also hoping soon to employ one or two people to help with treatments that will free me up a little too. I am just waiting to save up money so I can buy stock and get started.

I was wanting to know if any of you have tried selling on an eBay shop and what did you sell?
Was it successful?
Did you ever end up with unwanted stock?
Am I going to just be wasting my money?
I am currently doing lots of research into this and not rushing into anything.

 

[lila22]

I guess it's just trying and see, I no my sister did open a shop selling clothes but more went out then going in.
Why don't you sell a few bits firstly and get a feel for it, if you like it and do well you can do it on a bigger scale.
Good luck with what you do xx

Sent from my GT-I9300 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[AmeliaR]

I think there are a lot of hidden costs that significantly lower your profit to make it almost not worth it! Plus the very high amount of people doing the same but undercutting prices!
You have to look at the amount of sellers selling what you are going to, prices etc do you think your actually go it to get regular sales maybe one or two a week? There's eBay costs PayPal costs postage costs boxes/packaging materials etc. if you open an eBay shop it's in there t&c that basically you have to register as self employed and pay tax NI on your profits. All In all I don't think it's worth it for all the costs! You'd probably make more money selling it at a car boot Facebook etc! You do t want to buy bulk stock and not get rid of it!!

 

[VikkiBP]

I piloted this recently. I did a lot of research and set up a spreadsheet of wholesalers, items, price per unit, vat, postage, eBay and PayPal fees, competitors prices etc. I found postage and PayPal fees severely hampered a decent profit. I made money but not enough as I would like, even when you get to find out what sells the best. Unless you can get items at a ridiculously low price it's difficult to make decent money. Your own website perhaps would be better as you can charge no eBay prices for items ie a little bit more.

 

[xxhaylzxx]

I had also thought of doing it through my own website instead and the more I think of it the more it is appealing instead of eBay. I do realise that there are a lot of people selling on there so maybe not the best idea to go with. A bit more thinking and research for now I think

 

[missljw]

Have you thought of amazon? My boyfriends sister sells on there and makes a good profit, she ditched eBay after finding not much profit in the end and alot of mardy customers.

 

[xxhaylzxx]

Amazon might be a good option then. Will have to look into it. Thanks x

 

[Ashley Blakemore]

I think the best wholesalers you can buy from are in china. I have a friend who has a successful ebay shop and she has some really good contacts only after years in the business. I tried buying bags from a british wholesalers and only sold half & lost money so gave up! Good luck though