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About Ebay Selling

by antis
15 replies
  • ECOMMERCE
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Hi, I wanted to ask how do I do market research if I don't have a company yet? The problem is, that every legal supplier asks me for my company name, in order to sell me a catalog with wholesale prices. But I don't know yet what I want to sell, I am just doing market research. How am I supposed to compare Ebay and wholesale prices, if don't have access to them? Anyone had this problem? Help would be appreciated, thanks.
#ebay #selling
  • Profile picture of the author serpyre
    Kaipeda, nice. You can act as a sole trader under you own name or create a name. They are a bit funny about some countries and dealing with individuals - you can also incorporate a UK company for virtually nothing as a non-resident if you continue to have issues. You probably want to set up a domain name with a holding site to make it look more corporate as a minimum - helps in the discussions.
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    • Profile picture of the author antis
      What is actually a sole trader? Do you need to name yourself somehow? What are the costs?
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  • Profile picture of the author serpyre
    A sole trader is just yourself under a name - however you take personal responsibility for anything that goes wrong. Would suggest you start with a domain name/website under a name -effectively as a sole trader and then incorporate when you are ready to start selling.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steeleton
    You can set up a company for not too much money. Just pick a generic name so you can sell any products. Think Best Buy...they could sell any products. Office Max...not so much.

    Every state is different, but you should be able to register a trade name for your business in your state...then you are officially "in business". In my state it cost $10 to register a trade name.
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    • Profile picture of the author antis
      Hey, if I am not from US, should I talk to my local sales clerk?
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      • Profile picture of the author Silas Hart
        Just register a business in your country. I don't know that laws in your country, but if you are semi-serious about doing this as a business then you might as well register something similar to a "Doing Business As" so you aren't doing business as yourself but as a representative of a company, because you might as well do it now rather than later.
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  • Profile picture of the author serpyre
    They are in Lithuania!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author serpyre
    A doing business as still makes you personally responsible for the entity as a whole in most jurisdictions. If you want abstraction between personal and private you need an llc or a ltd (limited liability) - in Lithuania that is a UAB.

    UAB's however in LT are quite expensive from memory - so many incoporate in the UK due to the low fee (£50), prestige, and ability to have non-resident shareholders & directors. Delaware llcs are also interesting in this regard - we know a stupid amount about international incorporations.

    So, the best approach is to decide on a name, setup a domain and holding website to give a coporate feel to the company - effectively running it as a 'trading as' business - the wholesales don't usually ask for incorporation details. Once you have everything setup and running you can then incorporate - you can also run it without an llc, ltd, uab but would only recommend that short term due to the liability issues - you should have a separation of assets between business and personal.
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    • Profile picture of the author Importexport
      You do not need to register a business in order to buy from manufacturers in China. All you need to do is to make up a business name and use it. You do not have to register a name or a company to buy from manufacturers in China.'

      Don't even consider buying from wholesalers if you want to make money. Wholesalers will not give you prices that allow good profit margins. They buy from manufacturers and add a big profit margin before they sell the products to you.

      If you want to make big profit margins you need to buy direct from manufacturers. Those in China and other overseas countries will welcome you and you can start your research right now.
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      • Profile picture of the author antis
        Originally Posted by Importexport View Post

        You do not need to register a business in order to buy from manufacturers in China. All you need to do is to make up a business name and use it. You do not have to register a name or a company to buy from manufacturers in China.'

        Don't even consider buying from wholesalers if you want to make money. Wholesalers will not give you prices that allow good profit margins. They buy from manufacturers and add a big profit margin before they sell the products to you.

        If you want to make big profit margins you need to buy direct from manufacturers. Those in China and other overseas countries will welcome you and you can start your research right now.
        You mean just think of a business name without any registration or anything else and just tell them? How can I contact manufacturers? Alibaba?
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        • Profile picture of the author Importexport
          Originally Posted by antis View Post

          You mean just think of a business name without any registration or anything else and just tell them? How can I contact manufacturers? Alibaba?
          That's right. There is absolutely no need to register a business or company name in order to buy overseas. It would be a good idea to use a name that you will later on be able to register for accountancy or taxation purposes in you own country, but it is not essential to use the same name.

          It is extremely difficult to locate genuine manufacturers by using Alibaba or any of the popular B2B sites. Most of the suppliers listed as manufacturers are in fact traders or wholesalers. For maximum profits you need to buy direct from real manufacturers.

          You might like to have a look at my thread If your secret B2B portals are so safe why don't you share? where you will find some helpful information to think about before you start looking for suppliers. You can post questions there if you like and I will try to help.
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          Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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  • Profile picture of the author salehoo
    Hello Antis,

    Business names can be as simple as your account name in your chosen platform, a generic website, or any store that you have on going. You can even use your own first and last name for starters.

    Problem at times when you make up a certain, name, other wholesalers require a business ID or anything that is an equivalent to a sales tax ID in the US and Canada.
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    http://www.salehoo.com

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  • Profile picture of the author Auctiondebteliminator
    But their IPO! They HAVE to be a legitimate company because when they went public there was INSANE attention that went to such a large company!

    (I'm speaking ironically.)
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    • Profile picture of the author serpyre
      Originally Posted by Auctiondebteliminator View Post

      But their IPO! They HAVE to be a legitimate company because when they went public there was INSANE attention that went to such a large company!

      (I'm speaking ironically.)
      Hope so, where there's money to be made people generally don't ask any more questions. It was fine in an upswing market, but now that it's in a downturn the oems will put pressure on non-genuine.

      People who run small business also do not validate the supply chain - eBay is just a big pyramid scheme with smes selling to smes so it wasn't material - now they are trying to expand out to the mass public with the retailers and oems are fighting to keep customers - they are paying more attention to the non-genuine. You can look at the eBay LVHM deal as an example.

      Then you have the fees, Amazon is 30% gross profit which generates close to breakeven - so it's pretty tough for a startup who doesn't have the tech to automate to compete. If you generate $1mil revenue you are lucky to receive $70,000-100,000 income at those levels. Wholesale prices give up to 40% margin - pretty tough to compete now.

      Even the forums here are at it, before used to not have to come to the site to read the comments, now the emails are truncated so have to log in - marketing exposure by any chance!
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      • Profile picture of the author sword024
        Hi,
        I have a mobile phone company and I want to sell mobile phones on ebay.de. Can anybody give me a good advice how to start or which wso to buy...

        Thanks for answers.
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