Hello All!
I am new to the forum and would like to start by selling hello and from what I can see what a great forum this really is.
I am after some advice before I start my UK eBay selling business in the next 2-3 weeks. I have compiled some food for thought below and would greatly appreciate any advice/tips from people that might be able to point me in the right direction.
Investment:
Start with an initial £5,000 investment for stock purchasing, postage costs etc. I would be looking to purchase around 2,000 units ranging from £0.25-£1.50, with the rest left over for postage and packaging costs.
Costs (Lower priced items):
Initially I am looking to sell lower priced products (£1.50-£5.00 incl. Free Postage). I have come to realise that the eBay fees are lower in certain categories such as ‘Technology’. I have done my fair share of eBay trawling to find products that seem to sell well and ‘seem’ to have a large enough profit margin in them.
Drop Shipping (Higher priced goods):
Higher priced items (£100-150)I would be looking to directly drop ship from Chinese selling sites (DHGate, Alibaba, Aliexpress, MadeinChina... Are there any others worth noting?). Obviously customs charges apply which will be integrated into the price ultimately. One thing I question is that many sellers offer tracked delivery on such items, and I know from experience with a DHGate for example that the suppliers offer this, but is this something buyers should have access to? I ask because obviously it may raise suspicions as and when I pay the customs duty and the package will be held at customs at that point and I question if this will be shown on the tracking information.
Best Chinese wholesale sites:
I have had dealings with DHGate in the past and have been quite successful with the quality of stock and transactions. Whoever there are numerous other sites which seem similar. Have people had dealings with these other sites and how to the Pro’s and Con’s weigh up against each other?
Also in relation to this, do people use other countries sites for other reasons and if so what countries?
Postage (Small/lower priced items):
When selling lower priced items (£1.50-£5.00) I know it is beneficial to include the postage inside the total price of each product. But to send a letter sized object it costs £0.55 per item. Obviously this has a large effect on my profits. Would anybody be able to suggest another means of doing this, or perhaps they offer certain services cheaper in such scenarios?
PayPal Fees (Lower priced items):
When buying and selling low priced goods, the 2.9% + £0.20, seems very extravagant to say the least as on a product which sells at £1.50 suddenly I will be hit with 10% eBay fee, £0.55 Royal mail postage cost, £0.10 packaging (Roughly) and then 2.9% + £0.20 for Paypal fees. So ultimately from selling a £1.50 product I will be left with £0.46 minus the cost of the product itself.
PayPal accounts (Pro’s vs. Con’s):
Having more than one PayPal account -What are the benefits involved in doing this?
Man Power:
Using readily available employees overseas to run the day to day listings and messages received across the eBay site (Low cost). My main concern with this would be that their IP address etc would be pointing towards a non-UK country and therefore may cause suspicions. Postage from Europe for example takes a matter of days. So therefore could I be running a UK eBay account, buying in goods to a European address and then using the cheap labour to individually package up the stock and send them directly to my customers? Is this something which people on here might have done?
Selling across the different eBay platforms:
Costs involved? Obviously this affects postage costs a great deal. Is the general rule of thumb that if that if you have a eBay UK account you solely sell to the UK market? My only thought being that by opening up to a larger audience and selling across several eBay sites and being able to post abroad would create a larger target market for goods.
Customs charges when buying stock in from overseas:
After some research I have found that DHL although are meant to be faster delivery times and subsequently more expensive, they have a higher chance of being stopped by customs and therefore incurring a charge. After reading into this I have found that EMS Packaging takes around 8 days from the larger suppliers and is less damaging on the wallet, and is less likely to incur customs fees. Is this the case?
eBay Argos Click and Collect service:
How does this work? Maybe I am not looking in the correct places, but there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of information regarding this online. When trawling through eBay in search of possible products to invest in I have come to realise that more and more traders are offering this service. I understand to be using this service eBay have to offer it to you, and you must give potential buyers to opportunity of having ‘FREE P+P’ but what costs are entailed if they were to use the click and collect service?
UK Bank accounts:
Are any UK banks preferred over others? - If so why? (I’ve heard Lloyds ask alot of questions which may not be ideal).
Stealth Accounts:
Why does everyone seem to do this? What are the benefits versus just opening an ordinary eBay business account in my own name attached to my own banking etc?
Worth opening a business account or several private accounts under different names linked to different PayPals and different bank accounts? Is this possible???
Thank you all in advance!
Introduction and advice/tips please. 
Re: Introduction and advice/tips please. 
