Opening a Buy Sell Trade shop

[Steven Maund]

Hi all, currently I work part time alongside reselling on ebay.

I source my stock from auctions, charity shops, facebook and car boots.

I would like to open a buy, sell, trade shop, similar to cash converters, only without the loans.

I would then sell whatever I buy on ebay and have it in the shop.

There is no were in my town that does this, so I think it would do well.


Will I be facing any legalities by doing this?

Do I need some sort of licence for this sort of business? Bearing in mind I am not putting anything on loan, or issuing loans.

Is there anything I should be made aware of?

Thank you for any feedback.

 

[japancool]

Well, you need to be sure you're not handling stolen goods, i.e. that anyone selling items to you is entitled to do so.

 

[Scalloway]

You may need a second hand trader licence. Check with your local council.

 

[Steven Maund]

Well, you need to be sure you're not handling stolen goods, i.e. that anyone selling items to you is entitled to do so.

Yes I was thinking about this, is it a case were I have to accept two forms of id for every sale, how would I know that something is stolen? It would be ideal if there was some sort of book on opening a pawn shop type of business. I feel that there is a lot of things I need to apply for and abide by, not sure where I can get all of this information from.

 

[Mr D]

Used to be a number of shops doing this years ago. Haven't seen one in around 5 years.
I know a number of traders did online versions of that, taking a percentage and having the risk but able to catalogue and price something better than your average householder.
There was a company - a year or more ago I think - who were doing this and advertising on various forums. May even have been an ebay company itself.

Still if its going to make enough to cover the shop, the advertising, the staff, the packaging, postage, storage etc then go for it.
May take a while to expand big enough - ideally have a year or two worth of financial backing to get the shop working.

 

[Brennerz]

Business in general is hard enough trying to stock what people want locally to you, it becomes even harder when you have to rely on people having available to sell to you/trade what other people are looking to buy. How can you control how good your stock is? You will probably end up having some core products which you will always stock.

I'm not saying don't do it because of course it could pay off to be really profitable. But before you do start, ask yourself what you want from it and where you want it to go. How much will you need to sell to pay yourself a decent wage (if that is what you want.)

 

[Mr D]

So could be made to work as something over and above some core wholesale purchases that are sold at fixed price perhaps?

 

[Steven Maund]

In my opinion, even though it's classed as a buy and sell, the shop will be used more for people to sell their unwanted goods, well I think so anyway. As for having the stock on the shelves, I have enough resources to fill the shelves. Everything will also be listed on ebay, to be honest I am not really fussed if anyone buys anything in the shop, as my sales will be on ebay. The rent for the shop that I am thinking of starting this up is £50 a week with all bills included, so the overheads are very minimal.

I just need to make sure that I am fully legal in this sort of business, I wish to do everything by the book.

 

[Mr D]

Rent £50. Insurance, storage, a place to pack, staff even? If you are in the shop dealing with a customer you are not dealing with ebay packing.
Stock control software?
Advertising
Security
Health & safety
Fire
Shelving

Probably costs I haven't mentioned. You need to cover all those extra costs including the £50 rent from your extra sales. Not your sales, the extra sales - or else the shop is a drain on your business.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Rent £50. Insurance, storage, a place to pack, staff even? If you are in the shop dealing with a customer you are not dealing with ebay packing.
Stock control software?
Advertising
Security
Health & safety
Fire
Shelving

Probably costs I haven't mentioned. You need to cover all those extra costs including the £50 rent from your extra sales. Not your sales, the extra sales - or else the shop is a drain on your business.

Insurance
Business rates
Utilities
Maintenance.
Legal fees

 

[Nochexman]

I just need to make sure that I am fully legal in this sort of business, I wish to do everything by the book.

You might ask for receipts, but who keeps receipts?

You might well be a beacon for stolen goods, so you need to work out how you are going to be able to identify bonafide sellers from robbers.

 

[Mark T Jones]

<quote: removed post>

And quite happy to take money from someone who clearly hasn't thought through their business?

 

[LeightonC]

And quite happy to take money from someone who clearly hasn't thought through their business?

Thats the job of a con man..

 

[japancool]

Gosh, with all this negativity, I wonder how on earth companies like CEX manage to stay in business? If only they'd read this thread before they started up.

 

[Ally Maxwell]

To the OP.....yes, it can be done. To find out exactly how compliance works, take an old piece of kit into your local CEX or Cash Converters and sell it to them. See what they ask for.

Make sure you know the costs of keeping/maintaining your shop up front so you don't get any surprises. There are some incredibly negative and naive and inexperienced people on this forum offering opinions, which you can safely ignore. e.g. not all shop lets need to have legal fees, not all shop units pay business rates etc, so treat the negativity with a pinch of salt. Work out the costs, do some sums and decide.

 

[Mark Burch]

Hi

We are in the process of trying to source a route to sell unwanted returned goods. We run an international returns handling business and some items are not wanted back by sellers and we have arrangement in place to sell these on. We do not have the time or a physical store to do this so there could be a mutual benefit here so naturally I think it is a good idea despite some of the negative points raised although potentially valid.

Also I used to run a small chain of retail shops so am happy to provide any advice having been there before in dealing with premises, etc.

Regards
Mark - Ezi Returns

 

[admissionbangalore]

Entrepreneurs new to wholesaling often fear approaching their suppliers because they mistakenly believe that wholesalers will only trade with established, fairly large retailers.
Happily, this is not the case. You don’t need to have a shop or even be in charge of an office full of staff to buy from a wholesaler. They are as happy to sell to sole traders as they are to large corporations.
By their very nature, almost all wholesalers will state they are for ‘trade only’, but if you plan to buy stock and sell it on, you are technically a trader – you don’t need to have a limited company behind you to be eligible. Wholesalers are mostly ‘trade only’ for the benefits accrued from their manufacturers, for tax purposes and, of course, to set them apart from high street stores.

 

[japancool]

Entrepreneurs new to wholesaling often fear approaching their suppliers because they mistakenly believe that wholesalers will only trade with established, fairly large retailers.
Happily, this is not the case. You don’t need to have a shop or even be in charge of an office full of staff to buy from a wholesaler. They are as happy to sell to sole traders as they are to large corporations.
By their very nature, almost all wholesalers will state they are for ‘trade only’, but if you plan to buy stock and sell it on, you are technically a trader – you don’t need to have a limited company behind you to be eligible. Wholesalers are mostly ‘trade only’ for the benefits accrued from their manufacturers, for tax purposes and, of course, to set them apart from high street stores.

You have totally misunderstood what he means by "trade".

Either that, or you're spamming.

 

[Ally Maxwell]

You have totally misunderstood what he means by "trade".

Either that, or a complete idiot.

FTFY