Selling Online....company?

Pablo Sanchez

Hi all,

Say you were to purchase a item in bulk with the intention of selling it online, through an ebay shop for example. Are you obliged to register as a company/sole trader for this venture?

The reson i ask is that clearly you can sell your (albeit second hand) stuff online through ebay/adverts.ie and there is no tax liabilities etc, would the same apply in the circumstances mentioned above?

smeharg

Pablo Sanchez wrote: »

Hi all,

Say you were to purchase a item in bulk with the intention of selling it online, through an ebay shop for example. Are you obliged to register as a company/sole trader for this venture?

The reson i ask is that clearly you can sell your (albeit second hand) stuff online through ebay/adverts.ie and there is no tax liabilities etc, would the same apply in the circumstances mentioned above?

If you're buying items with the intention of reselling them at a profit then quite clearly you are trading and liable to income tax on any profit you make.

This is in contrast to selling personal items for which you no longer have any use. Besides, when someone sells personal items it's unlikely they're selling at a profit.

The Apprentice

Pablo Sanchez wrote: »

Hi all,

Say you were to purchase a item in bulk with the intention of selling it online, through an ebay shop for example. Are you obliged to register as a company/sole trader for this venture?

The reson i ask is that clearly you can sell your (albeit second hand) stuff online through ebay/adverts.ie and there is no tax liabilities etc, would the same apply in the circumstances mentioned above?

I along with others i think have tried this, whether it be local lollipops to the kids to larger ventures, online shops, ebay - eccommerce.
Without more info we can only give you a broader reply. I suggest before you go down Any route of opening a company - tax implications and all that jazz..
Research your Market throughly.. Profit margin .. 10 -200% ?? Minimum wage for yourself, cost of opening an office long term.. how many items to sell per month to sustain a €400 a week wage. P+p costs
Insureance costs - return costings
International postage ?? Insured or Non insured ? Who will cover losses .. 2% ?


Order in some samples.. 10-20 units..

Selling on ebay is a ****ing joke.. make no mistake margins are REAL tight, i know 1 person that has being doing a pet niche for years and he often makes 0 on some items to upsell others to get any return on selling items.. AND he is based in the uk. I have tried it myself, if based in ireland its virutally impossible to compete with 15-20% going on P+p costs

Selling on your own site is another hard job, u need visitors, conversions etc and without a glossy website it will not be believable. Also having customers find you, seo costs ? This must all be factored in.

IF unsure on anything just post, i reckon ebay is your best bet because you can quickly see what margins are givin, expected and what sales could be attained with a larget market. 10-20 items wont break you and might be able to see the pitfallls before you sink your house/life savings into something that may or may not give you a return.

beller10

thanks for that post Apprentice i found it very helpful. i have been trying to find out ebay selling recently are the costs expensive if you setup an online shop with ebay i know you said the amrgin is low and i know it obviously depends on the product but can you turn over alot of stock with these shops.

sorry for broad questions.

The Apprentice wrote: »

I along with others i think have tried this, whether it be local lollipops to the kids to larger ventures, online shops, ebay - eccommerce.
Without more info we can only give you a broader reply. I suggest before you go down Any route of opening a company - tax implications and all that jazz..
Research your Market throughly.. Profit margin .. 10 -200% ?? Minimum wage for yourself, cost of opening an office long term.. how many items to sell per month to sustain a €400 a week wage. P+p costs
Insureance costs - return costings
International postage ?? Insured or Non insured ? Who will cover losses .. 2% ?


Order in some samples.. 10-20 units..

Selling on ebay is a ****ing joke.. make no mistake margins are REAL tight, i know 1 person that has being doing a pet niche for years and he often makes 0 on some items to upsell others to get any return on selling items.. AND he is based in the uk. I have tried it myself, if based in ireland its virutally impossible to compete with 15-20% going on P+p costs

Selling on your own site is another hard job, u need visitors, conversions etc and without a glossy website it will not be believable. Also having customers find you, seo costs ? This must all be factored in.

IF unsure on anything just post, i reckon ebay is your best bet because you can quickly see what margins are givin, expected and what sales could be attained with a larget market. 10-20 items wont break you and might be able to see the pitfallls before you sink your house/life savings into something that may or may not give you a return.