Hello Guys

[Saf778]

First of all I just wanted to say after only joining today, I have learned quite allot from reading threads already .

I have just started up as a Limited Company and doing a E-commerce business, Currently on ebay but looking to expand on to Amazon and my own website. I am a one man band currently, but maybe if things get really busy I can employ people and provide jobs in my local area. I sold my car to generate some funds so still at very early stages. I have setup a business ebay /Paypal account and a royal mail business account.

I am 28 and have been working in the property industry as a Building Surveyor since graduating from University with a degree in Building Surveying. Unfortunately recently I had to leave my current job due to ill health, since being off I have realised it may be best if I start up my own business. I would enjoy the flexibility and being my own boss, I felt limited when working for other people and ive always had a entrepreneurial drive but never done anything about it until now.

I am looking to sell health and fitness products such as gym gloves etc, Car accessories and tyres etc.

I currently only have 15 item types in my inventory but looking to increase as i go on.

I started in January 2016 and I have already sold 76 items which may not seem Allot to some but I think its a good start.

I have found postage to be expensive and making some items non-profitable after postage costs are taken into account.

I am looking to import small car accessories from the far east including China.

the accessories range from £1-5 in terms of buying costs then shipping.

The question I have is the below for example:

USB Car cigarette charger £63 (cost of buying from supplier per 200 unit =31.5p (1Piece))
Shipping is £10.00 from china.

so what do I need to pay when it arrives in the UK.
VAT? UK DUTY?

on top of that I will inevitable have to pay
Currency conversion fees through my bank when i make international payments.
EBAY listing fees, final seller fees
PAYPAL fees
POSTAGE fees

my question is exactly what would I need to pay. Even if someone could do a quick calculation on the above it would greatly help me understand. Im looking to build a spreadsheet in order to calculate if something is profitable after all costs and if so how profitable.

Also what costs can I claim back as an expense?

Also I would like to contribute a percentage of profits to charity apart from the natural benefits of contributing to charity, would it lower my tax fees etc or does it make no difference? just curious.

Any hints and tips would be much appreciated. Hopefully I can bring some knowledge to the forums as I learn from my experience.

Thank in Advance I hope everyone is enjoying success in there ventures.

 

[Jon Neale]

good luck.

 

[japancool]

I need to find a product with a 20000% markup.

 

[Cathey]

Hi SAF778

Its great that you have got stuck in and tried some products out. I suspect from reading your post that you are discovering that many sellers on Ebay are selling at very very small margins and that competing against them on price makes it very hard to make a profit.

You are thinking along the right lines to be focusing on the costs and profitability of your business - no arguments there. Hopefully some of the other readers will be forthcoming with spreadsheets that help with costing.

On the subject of product choice - you have chosen two very crowded niches to sell into. Gym clothing and Car accessories are both already pretty well served across ebay and the wider internet. Whilst this doesn't mean you shouldn't try, it does mean you will have to have highly efficient business practises and be very hot on detail when it comes to price negotiations on purchase, shipping costs, etc. You will also need to be looking to shift a large volume of items to make much from them.

It will prove time well spent to start looking at your products and the marketspace you are selling into in detail. There are some good blog posts out there on the subject of product choice which will give you some pointers. However, there is unfortunately no short-cut to doing this legwork :-(

Good Luck!

 

[antropy]

my question is exactly what would I need to pay.

Great question, and exactly the question you should be asking!

Unfortunately you'll probably need to research all the costs of these things yourself but doing the sums is going to be very important if you're going to make a profit.

I may be able to help you with the import duty though. I recently bought a 43" 4k monitor for my office computer:

It was £320 + postage. I believe import duty is only charged on the actual product cost and not the shipping and came to about £80, so in this case it was 25%. The item was from South Korea and I believe there might be different rates on different types of products.