Dipping my toes into online selling - some quick questions...

Lord TSC

So as things stand, unemployment doesn't look like ending any time soon. So after ages of thinking about trying to carve my own path, entrepreneurial-wise, I've decided to dip my toes into the world of online selling.

To start things off, what I want to do is take €200, buy some stuff from wholesalers and the likes, and try and sell them on the likes of Ebay. I know, strictly speaking, it's not the same as going and opening my own shop or starting my own website, but since I'm inexperienced, I wanted to see how I got on with a smaller amount of money before I start splashing the cash, so to speak. I've got a few websites that are apparently good for buying stuff cheap, so not worried on that end.

More, worried a bit about customs here in Ireland. At the moment, I'm looking at buying, for example, €50 worth of shirts from China, since I think I could sell them on for a bit of a profit. I'm trying to work out expenses (initial price, postage, packaging, etc etc), and was wondering if there was any way to work out if I'd be hit with customs and, if so, how much? I worry I'll order €50 worth of shirts and then get hit with a chunk of customs fees. I've only ever been hit with customs once when ordering personal items online, but worry that if they see 10 identical t-shirts in a box coming from China, they'll hit me harder...

On top of that, at what stage would I have to start worrying about proper business-y things? Like tax, VAT, things I'd have to start declaring as if it's a proper business? Say I do well and turn a decent profit, invest it back in, grow the profit more (yes, I know, wishful thinking), at what stage do I have to move from "Guy selling stuff from his bedroom on Ebay" to "Guy running his own small business"? Starting off so small, am I ok not registering as anything (presumably).

I know that may seem as if I'm getting ahead of myself a bit, but don't want to muck anything up short or long term, and would rather ask a stupid question than not and make a mistake.

jimmii

As soon as you buy something with the intention of selling it on for profit you are that guy running his own small business. You don't need to register for VAT unless straight away as if you are only selling less than €75k per year which you will be doing well to do just on ebay unless you are really going to be tearing it up on there!

I did the ebay thing for a while if you want some info on places to buy stock fire me a PM.

sandin

If you buy shirts from china there will be vat and duty on the total cost of the shirts and shipping when they land in Dublin.

Also, avoid clothing at all costs as an online item - different people are different sizes in different brands. Customers will try them and return them - total nightmare.

Think of things that work well for online - books and cds were a natural for online cos they are identical no matter where you buy them, therefore the consumer did not worry about what they were getting.

So look for things that customers know about and don't need to concerned about what they are getting.

Look for things that are bulky / heavy which are far easier to get delivered than to remember to bring from the shop.

Look for things that need to be bought irregularly, but are still needed.

Possibly look for bulk parcel lots available from clearance houses or even distributors. - A classic example was the company that set up buying all dell's returns, checking them, repairing them and sellign them on -Irish guys and now an official dell partner all over Europe.

Or the guys in Naas who take all B&Q lawnmover unused returns (Xpert hire) check them out, repair any that need repair and sell them at €99 (B&Q price €199).

If you have experience on the web - try partnering with a local store to set up a webshop for them and take a percentage of sales?