Choosing a platform to sell goods online - Ebay/Adverts/Personal Site, etc

Lord TSC

Hey guys,

So getting bored with unemployment and having thought about trying my hand at it for a while, I decided to buy a small amount of stock from China (like, €100 worth to start off) and take a look into the world of online selling. I bought a small but wide selection of stock, things I'd buy in a shop. Not worrying about a theme starting off; more just starting with a little educational adventure into what sells, what I enjoy selling, etc. If stuff doesn't sell, well, I've got some nice things and a lesson learned. If it does, I order more and in greater amount and branch out from it.

Obviously an important part of this is going to be checking out the various platforms available to me with regards selling stuff online, and I was hoping to get input and experienced advice on the matter.

As I see it right now, the main options starting out are....

Ebay
The obvious choice, given it's popularity, but seems to be very over-saturated with competition. Large audience, but everyone competing means prices are very low. Have seen some of the items I bought going for below their wholesale value (and from reading elsewhere, that's cause people are sourcing directly from the factories). Also strikes me fees are very high, taking on board ebay fees and paypal fees, which would eat into the already low-profit margin I'd be getting on there. (Amazon seems to fall into the same category).

Adverts
Smaller audience but thus less competition; the items I have aren't on sale on Adverts (though possibly for a reason). Fees are significantly lower. Would be planning on using this as my main outlet starting off though.

Create a Website
Have experience building personal sites so wouldn't be daunted by creating my own shop site. Already paying for hosting packages, so it would really only be the cost of a URL and then using HTML to build a pretty site. No fees then obviously, other than paypal. But there's no audience outside the one you build, and you've also got to gain credibility off the bat too, whereas the other sites are already there.

I'm currently planning on trying to start off on Adverts, and build a personal site up over the next while as well. Just waiting on some P&P stuff to arrive before I start listing items (Don't see the point of listing and possibly selling stuff, only to have to say "Sorry, don't have envelopes yet, LOL!". Seems unprofessional). Any thoughts on if that's a decent plan, platform wise?

I've also been using Aliexpress exclusively so far. The stuff I've gotten has been good quality (I'm only buying off sellers with more than 10 feedback reports which are 5 stars). Would love to source closer to home, but yet to find a seller in England who has stuff I want and doesn't demand trade numbers and stuff that I don't have yet (given I'm only starting very, very small). Still looking, but so far, China is doing me well.

But yeah...any other advice for someone starting off a small online shop? Obviously long term goal would be to find products which sell well, turn my hundred quid into two, into four, into eight and so on. Dream big, I guess :P

_Brian

Lord TSC wrote: »

Hey guys,

So getting bored with unemployment and having thought about trying my hand at it for a while, I decided to buy a small amount of stock from China (like, €100 worth to start off) and take a look into the world of online selling. I bought a small but wide selection of stock, things I'd buy in a shop. Not worrying about a theme starting off; more just starting with a little educational adventure into what sells, what I enjoy selling, etc. If stuff doesn't sell, well, I've got some nice things and a lesson learned. If it does, I order more and in greater amount and branch out from it.

Obviously an important part of this is going to be checking out the various platforms available to me with regards selling stuff online, and I was hoping to get input and experienced advice on the matter.

As I see it right now, the main options starting out are....

Ebay
The obvious choice, given it's popularity, but seems to be very over-saturated with competition. Large audience, but everyone competing means prices are very low. Have seen some of the items I bought going for below their wholesale value (and from reading elsewhere, that's cause people are sourcing directly from the factories). Also strikes me fees are very high, taking on board ebay fees and paypal fees, which would eat into the already low-profit margin I'd be getting on there. (Amazon seems to fall into the same category).

Adverts
Smaller audience but thus less competition; the items I have aren't on sale on Adverts (though possibly for a reason). Fees are significantly lower. Would be planning on using this as my main outlet starting off though.

Create a Website
Have experience building personal sites so wouldn't be daunted by creating my own shop site. Already paying for hosting packages, so it would really only be the cost of a URL and then using HTML to build a pretty site. No fees then obviously, other than paypal. But there's no audience outside the one you build, and you've also got to gain credibility off the bat too, whereas the other sites are already there.

I'm currently planning on trying to start off on Adverts, and build a personal site up over the next while as well. Just waiting on some P&P stuff to arrive before I start listing items (Don't see the point of listing and possibly selling stuff, only to have to say "Sorry, don't have envelopes yet, LOL!". Seems unprofessional). Any thoughts on if that's a decent plan, platform wise?

I've also been using Aliexpress exclusively so far. The stuff I've gotten has been good quality (I'm only buying off sellers with more than 10 feedback reports which are 5 stars). Would love to source closer to home, but yet to find a seller in England who has stuff I want and doesn't demand trade numbers and stuff that I don't have yet (given I'm only starting very, very small). Still looking, but so far, China is doing me well.

But yeah...any other advice for someone starting off a small online shop? Obviously long term goal would be to find products which sell well, turn my hundred quid into two, into four, into eight and so on. Dream big, I guess :P

I think E-Bay has developed in recent years into a buyer centric model. Sellers have been involved in a race to the bottom and with the majority seeming to dropship I think you'll struggle to make any reasonable profit after charges and shipping.. Maybe if you have a unique product, but its developed into a huge volume minuscule margin platform. Some guys are running on 10-20c margins to sell hundreds of units daily - who wants to be competing with them.

Adverts - I've managed some sales there. Its a decent enough process. I advertise and then make the sales through my website.

Web-Store.
That's the route I chose in the end. I've managed to build a store for modest investment and sales are steady, I use donedeal and adverts as a means to channel some trafic and also adsence. Traffic is the key - the store needs to be well constructed and seo compliant. It takes a good deal of work then to build meaningful traffic. I'll be investing in a professional web store package with SEO development. Until then I'm perfecting what I know and fine tuning my business model..

makeandcreate

Agree with Brian in that while I use E-Bay, I rarely buy from Irish sellers. I'll look but there's nothing listed, or it just doesn't compete on price. It's becoming a mecca for free shipping, 60 day postage items from China.
I use Adverts but it's getting to be fairly crowded these days - and I don't know if it's just me but seem to be getting less interest in things - also just not enough of my target market seem to be there for handmade stuff - I get little flurries of sales and then nothing - but I handmake things as well as selling on things.
I know lots of small businesses just selling out of Facebook pages - depends on your USP.
A webshop can be either really good or really bad. If your webpage is rubbish, then I'm off - as I've already made assumptions about your business. Wrong of me perhaps - but true.

gettinhitched

Hi All
I myself am a stay at home mom of 2, as like you am trying to set up an on line business selling
Ive sold some stuff on adverts and found it ok, How does one go about setting up a website to sell... can I do it my self of do I need a professional to do it.. I have sourced my wholesaler too and am ready to go... just need to actually buy my goods but im ready and willing!! any advice??????

daviecronin

Hi,

I also like other posters sold on multiple sites! I did Ebay and adverts. For me Ebay was definitely overcrowded etc, but since you will be selling your stock you will be at a premium as you are in Europe and most people don't want to wait 4-5 weeks waiting for a 30c item when they could pay €4 to you and have it the next day! But also ebay as you said really eats into your profit whether it sells or not! Then the Luxembourg vat etc etc.

Then adverts was good, as you said less competition and an irish only market which is good and bad I suppose. Adverts is also a nice easy site to use.

Maybe after you set up a nice little acc on adverts you could eventually have your own site and set more of a theme too it.

Sounds good though, best of luck!

123qwerty

eBay should be good but expensive.
You could also try ioffer.com, its a busy website almost like ebay but it depends on what you are selling
Bear in mind postage rates which I have trouble with here boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057273119

alwald

in your situation a start with Adverts will be good, low audience in comparison with eBay but low fees and less competition.
The issue with setting a website is advertising it and getting it well known, Myself I wouldn't buy from a website unless it's a well known one, otherwise I buy from eBay as I can see the rating of the seller, if a seller has a good price but no or fewer feedbacks then I will move on to a more established seller.

123qwerty

alwald and you are right about low fees and less competition but you will also like to have big audience to you sell your items.
Also if you are new to Adverts and soemone like alwald will look at your rankings you are at the lost position.
If its niche item you could get your own website in top of the google serch results with good SEO service.
It all depends on items you are going to sell.
Also register for adwords where you can see monthly Irish searches for your item.

alwald

123qwerty wrote: »

alwald and you are right about low fees and less competition but you will also like to have big audience to you sell your items.
Also if you are new to Adverts and soemone like alwald will look at your rankings you are at the lost position.
If its niche item you could get your own website in top of the google serch results with good SEO service.
It all depends on items you are going to sell.
Also register for adwords where you can see monthly Irish searches for your item.

Very true, patient sellers in eBay start selling small and cheap items offering a bit of a bargain to buyers, the sale isn't risky for buyers as they buy items that cost a couple of euros and they make the most of the bargain, the seller will probably just break even without making a profit but asks his buyers to leave a feedback, once you get a good number of feedback and you become quite an established seller then you will start selling the items that you intended to sell at the beginning at the price that you wanted, you will have the feedbacks needed to attract buyers and you can then compete with other sellers.

It's all very tricky and requires patient, but most importantly you should be ready to end up loosing money if things don't work for you.

My advice is to ship your items quickly and make sure that you follow up with your customers because this is how you can avoid negative feedback and thus get a good reputation.

_Brian

alwald wrote: »

Very true, patient sellers in eBay start selling small and cheap items offering a bit of a bargain to buyers, the sale isn't risky for buyers as they buy items that cost a couple of euros and they make the most of the bargain, the seller will probably just break even without making a profit but asks his buyers to leave a feedback, once you get a good number of feedback and you become quite an established seller then you will start selling the items that you intended to sell at the beginning at the price that you wanted, you will have the feedbacks needed to attract buyers and you can then compete with other sellers.

It's all very tricky and requires patient, but most importantly you should be ready to end up loosing money if things don't work for you.

My advice is to ship your items quickly and make sure that you follow up with your customers because this is how you can avoid negative feedback and thus get a good reputation.

This is why eBay has turned to a buyer centric model. There are too many sellers working at break even or minimal margins. Also the buyer holds all the power as feedback is everything.

andy t

probably stay away from ebay for now as the margins are too little...

try advertise through facebook & the likes & try build up an audience

123qwerty

andy t wrote: »

probably stay away from ebay for now as the margins are too little...

try advertise through facebook & the likes & try build up an audience

True, there are number of facebook pages that allow you to post items for free.
Easy way to spread the word about your business

alwald

123qwerty wrote: »

True, there are number of facebook pages that allow you to post items for free.
Easy way to spread the word about your business

How do you go after to get a buyer share from the main website such as eBay? most likely you have to start everything from scratch.

Lord TSC

Hey guys, thanks for the feed back

I put most of my stock up on Adverts two days ago, and made my first sale yesterday (Sold something that cost me €3 for €10; after P&P, I made a profit of €3.50 which, while small, thrilled me; 100% profit on that first item. :P). And it was the item that I thought would have been the last to sell as well.

Agreed RE: not trusting "new" sites because of a lack of credibility, and it's why I've not bulled ahead to set one up just yet. I also realise as much fun as I have designing sites, it seems a different kettle of fish designing a blog site and designing not just an online shop, but a professional looking one that will convince people to trust me. I wouldn't mind paying for one long term, but short term, I don't have the cash to justify it. Yet.

I have set up a Twitter account and will try and get buyers to follow me there to keep up to date with sales and also then, when I do launch my own site, can communicate that to them there. Will also follow suggestions about the Facebook site too.

I noticed I can list some stuff for free on eBay starting off and will be taking advantage of that I think.

pedronomix

Sale price €10, margin €3.50 = 35% profit!!

Lord TSC

pedronomix wrote: »

Sale price €10, margin €3.50 = 35% profit!!

Yeah, I get you there. Should brush up on terms and stuff like that I guess

More accurate to say, I guess, that I sold something I bought and walked out with twice as much as I had (bought for 3 quid, sold it and had 3.50 more than I started with); 35% of the selling price was profit.

Noob mistake. Sorry.

_Brian

Lord TSC wrote: »

Hey guys, thanks for the feed back

I put most of my stock up on Adverts two days ago, and made my first sale yesterday (Sold something that cost me €3 for €10; after P&P, I made a profit of €3.50 which, while small, thrilled me; 100% profit on that first item. :P). And it was the item that I thought would have been the last to sell as well.

Agreed RE: not trusting "new" sites because of a lack of credibility, and it's why I've not bulled ahead to set one up just yet. I also realise as much fun as I have designing sites, it seems a different kettle of fish designing a blog site and designing not just an online shop, but a professional looking one that will convince people to trust me. I wouldn't mind paying for one long term, but short term, I don't have the cash to justify it. Yet.

I have set up a Twitter account and will try and get buyers to follow me there to keep up to date with sales and also then, when I do launch my own site, can communicate that to them there. Will also follow suggestions about the Facebook site too.

I noticed I can list some stuff for free on eBay starting off and will be taking advantage of that I think.

As regards credibility on new sites..
What I look for:

• Registered business number.
• .ie domain
• phone number, best if landline but mobile is ok
• B&M address, be that business or home address
• Facebook site with punters interacting leaving feedback
• payment via PayPal

I've taken this approach on my own website too and while we're starting small and on a tight budget we're making sales.



Well done OP on selling through Adverts...

bizhelp77

I am going down the same road at the moment with a part time business selling some baby items. Just wondering has anyone looked at insurance, product liability specifically? ie. if anything happens with one of your products and you are sued and found negligent?

Lord TSC

Two months on....

I've been doing ok using Adverts. I have one product that sells pretty well and makes up the vast majority of my sales. Starting with a very small budget though so it's slow going. Started with an initial investment of €200 and now have €350 worth of stock beside me. I know it's low figures, and I'm nowhere near turning a profit, but I do feel I'm taking what I earn and investing it back in at a decent level.

Adverts is really proving to be the main selling ground, with 95% of my sales going through it. Ebay was a bust; listed a few items a few times but barely got views, let alone sales; items that have high view counts on Adverts barely got into double digits on Ebay. That could be down to the fact I've a good few items that are easily available on Ebay at low margins, but that aren't really on Adverts at all.

I'm slowly building my own site. I've had two sales on it, both returning customers from Adverts who were availing of 10% off coupons I included in their initial purchases. I'm well aware it's still really basic and slightly amateurish but for now, I simply don't have the cash spare to invest in it. Would hope to save some of the Adverts cash to get a professional one done with SEO and all, but for now, it serves as a store front and a foundation on which to build. I'm also reading up on Facebook and Twitter campaigning and all that jazz.

I figured since this topic was here and already documenting my start-up, I'd post two questions in here though;

1. Does anyone have any advice for reading material on keeping track of accounts, expenses, income, outgoings, etc? I've been using a spreadsheet so far, keeping track of everything I can think of, but I realise it's a bit messy and haphazard, possibly difficult to decipher for those who aren't me. Feel I should read up about doing it in a standardized way.

2. I'm reading into the Enterprise Allowance schemes available, and though I'm not near that level yet, I would think it's something to aim towards. But does anyone have experience with it hugely? I'd imagine it would be tricky enough to get with a business plan that involves "Buy stuff from China, sell on Adverts" :P