Retail Arbitrage

[Karl Frederick]

Hi All,

I need some expert advice. I have been looking to set up a business now for over a 12 month and because I work full time and have no other real skills buying and selling is my best option.

What are the rules/implications/law in regards to what I have now to come learn is retail arbitrage. Lets say i go to B&Q and clear their sale shelf of light fittings, home furnishings etc, all new, fully boxed etc and sell them on ebay, is this allowed? Same goes for clothes from John Lewis maybe or anything that a retailer has on offer which i think money can be made on.

I don't know where you stand with regards to a customer trying to take something back to the retailer although they wouldn't have a receipt from them so maybe this isn't a concern but they may try for gift vouchers. Obviously there are things like warranties but then i wouldn't be dealing with electronics etc I wouldn't have thought.

Can I buy 10 dresses and sell them on marking them as new with tags if they are from Monsoon or something? I know certain manufacturers will onl let certain retailers sell their products so with regards to Amazon/Ebay or even my own website I don't know what the implications are

There are opportunities out there, none more so than what i found this weekend in certain shops and I thought before spending the cash i wanted to see what was what.

Any assistance/input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[garyk]

Lots of people do this on Amazon no law against it but if your margins are only good when buying discounted and you have demand for a product then what? You either stop supplying or take a hit on the margin.

In addition to RA there is also OA (online arbitrage) where you buy at one price say on ebay and sell at another on Amazon.

Personally I think its alot of work for small gain. Also bear in mind you are choosing products based on discount rather than choosing products that are in demand. No point buying 50 of something at an amazing price if you can only sell 1 a month.

 

[Pish_Pash]

I once cleared Comet out of 12 ice cube makers 'on special' (I paid £25 each) one November.

I stored them in my loft ....& then listed them on Ebay at the beginning of the following summer May ...I sold each one for £120 .....I can't imagine why such dealing would be illegal, but is is hard work trying to find such a win.

 

[Karl Frederick]

Well not being illegal is a good start and thanks both for the input. I was thinking about the fact that I wont always be able to find great deals and supply and demand could be an issue but there is certainly an opportunity for an extra side income if I can also come up with something to do on a more full time basis. Maybe just keep the RA for a separate ebay shop when and if I find such products and then keep looking for the bread and butter items that I can get wholesale for example to hopefully make more of a solid income from.

 

[jf-financial]

I would have thought that the margins are usually so thin that once you factor in dealing with the occasional customer return of goods, selling fees and the cashflow timings it sounds like a hard way to run a business to me.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of your time in to the business model too.

But you could try it out as a side experiment and see how it goes.

 

[Potent]

You'd probably be surprised at the margins that are possible. I started doing retail arbitrage almost 18 months ago as a bit of an experiment on the side of a full-time job. I started with £300 and left my job within 9 months (RA made up about half of my income when I quit). I'm still doing retail arbitrage and making decent money with probably a day, sometimes two, a week spent on it.

You can see some of my results from my first year here: retailarbitrage.co.uk (sorry - I can't post a link but you can copy and paste if you're interested!)

Going back to your original question, you're right about having to be careful with certain products. Some companies only let registered retailers sell their products. Amazon won't even let you list some brands items (in a new condition anyway). But you're fine to resell most things though. I've only run into a problem with 1 item since I started and it was all sorted when I took the listing down, so wasn't a very big deal...