Who on here actually has a trade

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lurpak said:
The business was predominantly e-commerce. Other than the odd market to shift stale stock. Multilple websites, amazon and ebay selling account.

Ebay and amazon accounted for 90% of sales. Ebay was great then, but they started allowing chinese sellers , selling the same stock, to be put above uk sellers, same item but much cheaper.


Buyers were unaware of the complications buying from china (returns are impossible) and just seen the cheap price tag.

If that wasn’t bad enough, chinese sellers started pretending to be uk sellers (still do) and tricking the remaining loyal customers to buy from them, when they’re think they’re buying from uk.

Long story short this destroyed mine and many other businesses. I had a warehouse full of stock that wasn’t moving, overheads still going. I tried to downsize and ran it from a 20ft container. I realised this was the beginning of the end and cut losses and brought the house etc.
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Shame it didn't continue for you, then we wouldn't have to contend with your inane babble. No offence.
 
lurpak said:
The business was predominantly e-commerce. Other than the odd market to shift stale stock. Multilple websites, amazon and ebay selling account.

Ebay and amazon accounted for 90% of sales. Ebay was great then, but they started allowing chinese sellers , selling the same stock, to be put above uk sellers, same item but much cheaper.


Buyers were unaware of the complications buying from china (returns are impossible) and just seen the cheap price tag.

If that wasn’t bad enough, chinese sellers started pretending to be uk sellers (still do) and tricking the remaining loyal customers to buy from them, when they’re think they’re buying from uk.

Long story short this destroyed mine and many other businesses. I had a warehouse full of stock that wasn’t moving, overheads still going. I tried to downsize and ran it from a 20ft container. I realised this was the beginning of the end and cut losses and brought the house etc.
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Same for me but on a much smaller scale.
Used to import from China and resell on Amazon/eBay.
As soon as you start getting good sales, everyone copies and drives the price down.
 
CeeVee said:
Why didn't you carry on and f**k plastering off?
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Another big problem with eBay was scams. If you didn’t upgrade the postage to recorded, buyers could say they did not receive the item and are guaranteed a refund.

This creates a problem as you have to decide which is going to cost more. Upgrading every items postage to confirm delivery. Or take the odd loss. When you’re spending £1000 a week on postage this is massive.

Amazon was much better, quite simply they have better quality buyers and less scummy ones. But amazon are very strict with what you sell. One of my suppliers sold me out after amazon contacted them to stock the product themselves .
 
CeeVee said:
Same for me but on a much smaller scale.
Used to import from China and resell on Amazon/eBay.
As soon as you start getting good sales, everyone copies and drives the price down.
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That’s one problem but the biggest issue is the system that decides who’s items are shown. It used to be that you being a good seller, ticking all the ebay boxes, little tricks like refunding all claims immediately without getting caught up in debating even when you know the customer is lying . got you to the top of the list.

But in time it all came down to price. Cheapest first. So chinese first.
 
I have noticed recently that when I buy things from eBay, It pops up on my phone saying it’s been delivered, even though it isn’t tracked. Much like the American postage system.

A little late but a massive advantage for sellers, probably due to the problem of scams killing so many good businesses off. Perhaps ebay have shares in royal mail
 
Niftyforfifty said:
Busy enough here too Co Kerry, all old school s/c inside float and skim, external s/c Napp and sponge rates are s**t and always will be, miserable bastards, worked in Dublin for 20 years, great craic great money would go back only missus isnt well still doing 3 hits a day at 59 , two in the morning 1 in the after noon, on day work at the moment s**t rates, only for my wife's situation of I'd be gone , activity looking for work in cork or Kerry thanks lads

,
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I use a diesel machine for sand and cement inside. Takes a lot of the work out of it. But u need the right sand and cement for it to work.
 
lurpak said:
Another big problem with eBay was scams. If you didn’t upgrade the postage to recorded, buyers could say they did not receive the item and are guaranteed a refund.

This creates a problem as you have to decide which is going to cost more. Upgrading every items postage to confirm delivery. Or take the odd loss. When you’re spending £1000 a week on postage this is massive.

Amazon was much better, quite simply they have better quality buyers and less scummy ones. But amazon are very strict with what you sell. One of my suppliers sold me out after amazon contacted them to stock the product themselves .
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Got booted off Amazon...
It's also a really bad business model for sellers because when you have a best selling item, they simply steal the idea and sell it themselves.
 
CeeVee said:
Got booted off Amazon...
It's also a really bad business model for sellers because when you have a best selling item, they simply steal the idea and sell it themselves.
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Exactly. You can only do so much before they take over
 
Don't know how anybody makes money off ebay. Their fees and Paypals charges are huge. I sold 2 things recently. Totaling £144. The charges came to almost £40. I would have been better off reducing price and selling local and no postage messing about. (Error should read £30.)

So I find it hard to believe people make good money on there. Pin money yes.
 
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satan said:
Don't know how anybody makes money off ebay. Their fees and Paypals charges are huge. I sold 2 things recently. Totaling £144. The charges came to almost £40. I would have been better off reducing price and selling local and no postage messing about.

So I find it hard to believe people make good money on there. Pin money yes.
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A lot of rubbish talking on here
 
satan said:
Don't know how anybody makes money off ebay. Their fees and Paypals charges are huge. I sold 2 things recently. Totaling £144. The charges came to almost £40. I would have been better off reducing price and selling local and no postage messing about.

So I find it hard to believe people make good money on there. Pin money yes.
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You don’t need to tell me about PayPal charges @algeeman
 
satan said:
Don't know how anybody makes money off ebay. Their fees and Paypals charges are huge. I sold 2 things recently. Totaling £144. The charges came to almost £40. I would have been better off reducing price and selling local and no postage messing about. (Error should read £30.)

So I find it hard to believe people make good money on there. Pin money yes.
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Lol, look up babzmedia. Just off top of my head. Think they’re worst week was about 200 grand. Wasn’t always that bad tho.
 
satan said:
Don't know how anybody makes money off ebay. Their fees and Paypals charges are huge. I sold 2 things recently. Totaling £144. The charges came to almost £40. I would have been better off reducing price and selling local and no postage messing about. (Error should read £30.)

So I find it hard to believe people make good money on there. Pin money yes.
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Luckily that mentality is the same as 90% of people. If they can’t do it, they don’t believe anyone else can.

You can even see it on here. Some plasterers refuse to believe other spreads earn far more, rather than take inspiration from it they live in denial.

I can assure you, some businesses are making money on eBay that would make your eyes water and legs go to jelly.

Regarding fees, it’s all in the price. I had 2 seperate paypals, one for micro payments. Basically payments under a certain amount can be fee-less. It’s been a long time so can’t remember exactly
 
satan said:
You could turn over £200 million and still make no money. Turnover is sweet fa. What you put in back pocket lad is all that matters.
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Not true. Just because a company breaks even or makes a loss doesn’t mean they really did.

Companies that turn over millions but only break even (on paper) still get sold for millions. Why is that?
 
lurpak said:
Luckily that mentality is the same as 90% of people. If they can’t do it, they don’t believe anyone else can.
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Was just some things I didnt want anymore. I have had online businesses. I never used ebay or Amazon. Perhaps I was wrong. But if I was to do it again I would just use Youtube and my own website.

The best way to make money is to have no overheads.
 
lurpak said:
Not true. Just because a company breaks even or makes a loss doesn’t mean they really did.

Companies that turn over millions but only break even (on paper) still get sold for millions. Why is that?
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Because of your share or access to the market. So if it were run better it would make dosh for someone.
 
satan said:
Was just some things I didnt want anymore. I have had online businesses. I never used ebay or Amazon. Perhaps I was wrong. But if I was to do it again I would just use Youtube and my own website.

The best way to make money is to have no overheads.
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But for your business to grow from your bedroom, overheads are inevitable
 
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