Part time to full time reselling

[eastcoastbella]

Hi!

I started reselling on eBay in may and have fallen in love with having my own little store. I currently work a full time job and ebay has been my side hustle. For different personal reasons, I am considering leaving my full time job and transitioning to full time reselling. Does anyone have any advice for me? Someone who has done the same and has been successful? 
Thanks 😊 

[eastcoastbella]

Thank you for the positive feedback 🙂

[eastcoastbella]

Only 2 returns but they went smoothly and returned the items. I refunded the customer when I got the items back and resold them. So not too bad. I’ve work in sales for a long time so I’m kinda used to dealing with difficult customers lol unfortunately.

[keziak]

You have a positive attitude. That will be a big help in this business. However even if many posts here are negative, people know what they are talking about. Many of us started in the Golden Age of selling on ebay. We wouldn't still be here unless we had some degree of success, though maybe short of vintage cars.

I don't know the clothing category; I've heard it's tough. But when I drop off at the Post Office I see piles of packages that appear to be clothes . I asked one woman about it and she claimed the clothing came from thrift stores. No idea if she does it full time.

I also know some of the local sellers have family or partners. I often wish I could clone myself, get more done in a day. But I can't afford to pay an employee. The friend I mentioned who makes enough to support his family always has spouse and kids work, plus some of time employees. He's one of those dealers who buys storage units, other sources of mega inventory (he sold for a large Salvation Army for example). All that appeared to be his MO and yet he would say he made about the same salary as a secretary.

[1786davycrockett]

I would be most concerned about your paying for health insurance, right out of your own pocket.  

In case you haven't noticed, monthly health insurance premiums are going through the roof -- and they NEVER go down.  If your current employer is offering health insurance, stick with them for as many hours as they  require of you, in order to qualify.

From March 1988 through March 1994, NONE of my employers offered health insurance, and it was too costly for me to purchase on my own.  Fortunately, nothing happened that required me to visit a doctor, or necessitated a visit to a hospital.  But those were SIX years of close calls, and always a lot of "What ifs. . ." hanging in the air.

And automobile insurance is another necessity, unless you are living in an area where you don't need to drive.

But don't forget -- if you drop your full-time job to work exclusively on eBay projects, there are NO eBay benefits -- and you may be required to file self-employment taxes with the IRS.

Finally, there is absolutely NO guarantee that adding more eBay hours to your schedule, and more items to your store, will result in higher financial benefits:  as several others have already pointed out, you may be still in the eBay "honeymoon" phase, when the orders just seem to be flying in regularly.  After only a few years, you may grow nostalgic for these "easy" sales, after the customers seem to have withered away, and the big money along with them.

Most important -- diversify:  Don't concentrate simply upon one product line.  Add as many other different ones as you have interests and are comfortable, and see which amongst all of them is the strongest.  Don't be afraid to take chances, or make mistakes.  

And be aware that eBay will change the rules on you (along with the rest of us) with little or no warning.

Good luck.

[anjofak]

But yeah it was more of a get familiar year then a get comfortable year actual handling of all the legalities, processes, procedures ect ect..3rd year was growing, space and machines, 4th year still kicking things along.

[reallynicestamps]

@eastcoastbella 

Another way of putting it is: you need a full time income to start a new business.

The rent doesn't stop just because you have a bad month. You still have the hydro to pay. And new product to buy.

Start by writing a business plan and ask at your bank about their small business programs.

If you can talk with a female advisor, it may go better.

You need to know how big your line of credit will be, and the interest rate.

I guess if you are American, you probably should think about health insurance costs too.  At least that was something we didn't have to worry about.

[dbfolks166mt]

     While it can be done, always remember Amazon started as an online book store, just as with any business there are always risks regardless of whether you are the business owner or you work for someone. Others have already provided some good points and tips the main ones being crunch the numbers to determine what your after tax profit needs to be. You mentioned talking to a tax accountant which is a GREAT idea and something you will have to deal with when you file your 2023 taxes. 

     The couple of other things I would add are plan for the unexpected. What do you do if your eBay account is suspended or they put your funds on hold?  What do you do if you have a personal issue, i.e. you are in the hospital for a week, how do you meet your orders and not ruin your account standing because you were unable to fill orders? Others have already mentioned diversification. You live in a suburb of Baltimore and probably have access to multiple local forums that present multiple opportunities and benefits. 

     I have been selling on eBay for quite some time and eBay used to constitute about 90% of my sales but these days that figure is down below 20%. I would never have considered doing it as a sole means of income there are simply too many risks but more importantly  I like the freedom I have with regards to my lifestyle. There are a LOT of postings on this forum from sellers who are dependent on eBay for their sole means of income and due to the current environment and multiple factors are having a hard time making ends meet. 

[fm2000]

If you have a good job that pays well and offers benefits, and your future at your job is reasonably certain, keep your job. Keep selling on eBay, but don't give up a good job at this point in your selling career here. There is a great deal of risk involved in running your own business. Not just eBay, but any business. If your current job might eventually turn into a promising career down the road, all the more reason to keep it.

The benefits are the biggest thing to think about. When you are self employed, there are no paid sick days, no paid vacation. If you are not working, you don't get paid. If you have to purchase health insurance on your own, it will cost a small fortune, even if you are young and healthy and you may not be able to afford it at all (health insurance is the #1 thing I would think about in all of this.) If your business doesn't work out, there is no unemployment insurance. You must also plan, save and fund your own retirement. Plus all of the extra costs and headaches involved with running a business.

Another thing to consider, if you are out of your professional field for a few years and have to go back, you will have lost years of valuable experience you would otherwise have had if you stayed at your job. On top of that, it is much easier to find a job (in your field) when you already have a job (in your field.)

In a few years, if your eBay selling goes well, doing it full time might be something to consider. Even then, I would strongly recommend having another skill/business to fall back on just in case. Being able to diversify is the key to survival when you are self employed. Just some friendly advice from an "older person" who has been there.

[mike_jayroe]

If your job has benefits such as health insurance, retirement account (pension) and pretty good job security DO NOT QUIT to use e-bay for income. I have worked for 45 years (and will turn 69 soon) and I have a decent income from social security and decent money in a retirement account.

E-bay will NOT put any money aside for social security or a 401-K plan, or anything for health insurance.

Please do not think e-bay sales could support you in the long run. In your profile photo you look like your in your 20's. You have a long time to live and make money for retirement. Play it safe.

[the-hook-and-the-loop]

Also, I forgot to mention to you(and someone else may have pointed this out), if you visit this forum daily, there are good sellers who receive MC011 restrictions or suspensions to their eBay account everyday. For all kinds of reasons. Clinique or Ann Taylor may contact eBay because you are selling their items and you will get VERO'd. Have you read about eBay's VERO program? They can say your items are fake, a competitor of yours could report you. There is an infinite amount of dirty tricks played online. Just know, you have zero control and eBay takes more and more control every month with new updates and redefining terminology and recalculating of the policies.

[luckythewinner]

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@eastcoastbella wrote:

Does anyone have any advice for me? Someone who has done the same and has been successful? 
Thanks 😊 

---

I have no idea what you are selling or how you are sourcing your inventory.

But many sellers find it fairly easy to find a few choice items to resell at a tidy profit, but find it a whole lot harder to establish a steady supply of profitable merchandise to support a full time business.

When reselling, expanding to a full-time business generally means traveling further afield to find items with a smaller profit margin.

[johnrj1226]

A 9 to 6 full time is just an 8 hour  work time with an hour lunch.  Sold for a living for 4+ decades - never worked an 8 hour shift - never had a computer an a cell only the last 6 years.  You are on the east side of the US.  You will be dealing with folks on the far west coast and often they  "want it now" or want a response promptly.  As a seller one main objective is to make it easy for folks to deal with you - if not the will do the walk on buy.  When i sold on eBay 35%+ of  my sales went to the far western states and live in GA.

Plus,  if you sell more - you will need to source items to offer for sale - that takes a ton of time

[gurlcat]

Without reading all the replies, I'm sure (or at least hopeful) that others have already said "it depends" a lot, like depends on what you sell, depends on whether you can reliably source ample amounts of those things at profitable prices, etc.  And if nobody has said it (or if you didn't state this in a reply), it depends how long you've even been doing this part-time, how many sales you have under your belt, etc.  Ebay makes it Fisher Price easy to sell "an item" or "a few items", but continuous full-time selling without frequent catastrophes is another matter.  And know, you WILL have catastrophes here and there, no matter how good you get.  

I took the plunge to full-time in 2021 and am staying above water well enough, and happier than I've ever been at any kind of job.  So however discouraging some of the replies have surely been, I can tell you it is possible.  Granted, a naysayer would look at that statement and say I can't state such a thing after less than 2 years, and that wouldn't be an invalid criticism -for all I know the catastrophe-to-end-all-catastrophes might be right around the corner for me.  But that's true of any job too, is it not?  And what happens if you suddenly lose a job?  -You freak out, then find a new one, right?  So what I'm saying is, take this idea very seriously, but don't be so intimidated that you decide against it just based on fear of failing.  

Now, if you want to know the #1 factor that enabled my ability to go full time, here it is: During the 3-year period that I had both a job and selling on ebay, that job was pizza delivery (laugh if you want, but it's actually decent money).  Importantly, it was a job that afforded me the flexibility of deciding my own availability.   So, over those 3 years, what I did was go from 5 days/40 hours a week ....slowwwly ..... down, as I picked up experience in all the things needed to succeed on ebay.  As I'm sure others have said, there can be times when 'things' happen on ebay where no matter how much experience, how many listings, and what great inventory you have, you'll have dry spells where your sales slump.  I had such an occurrence in the fall and winter of 2018 when I mainly sold clothes, and a mainly-clothes glitch occurred on ebay, making most of my listings invisible in search.  I call it The Glitch That Stole Christmas, but it was really worse than that; I faced the serious threat of eviction with my kid.  But THANK GOODNESS I still had my job, and once I realized the ebay issue was out of my control and would simply take time to iron itself out, I asked my manager to give me more hours and I got them, then in the spring when I got caught up on bills I went back down to the 3 days/25 +/- hours a week I was working before the glitch.  By the summer of 2021 I was down to 2 days/12 +/- hours.  Funny thing about that was, putting on my stupid uniform and dragging myself to work those mere 2 short nights felt like helllllll, ha.  And I was doing so well on ebay by then, I finally decided it was time to close my eyes and jump.  And I've done just fine since then. 

But I seriously don't think I could have done it if I'd had a TRUE full-time job during the crucial build-up time on ebay.  If you work at a job where it's either work 40 or you don't have the job ...... I don't see how you could have enough time to get enough of the practice you need to make a full-time living this way.  

[hurryagain]

This is a good example of what many of us are saying...

Because you have been at this for a short period of time, you should give yourself some time to work on this eBay business for a few years before deciding to walk away from your day job...

... unless you know for a fact that you can get that current job back any time you want without a problem...if that's the case, then I would say go for it!

🙂

[technoshoptotalwireless]

Your numbers are there and your store is nice and clean, you are young and I am sure you have a lot of ideas and potential.

The only thing I believe you need to work on is your inventory.

First if you wanna grow, you need better margins and the most important key, you need a reliable source of inventory.

I am guestimating that your monthly number of transactions are around 125-150 a month, which shows that you are doing a great job with your shop. 

But based on your inventory, I wanna say that your average item sales for around $ 15.00.

That is low because even if you have good margings, I wanna say that you are netting about  $ 5.00 - $ 10.00 per item  after shipping, comisions and materials.

You wanna be closer to the $ 50.00 average per item, you could keep doing thrift hunting for now but target higher end items and name brand items. 

 Eventually you will wanna considering a more reliable source of inventory.

There is plenty of wholesale sites that I could recommend.

Also, if you wanna do this full time you will need to invest around $ 10k in inventory and go all in, You will get that return back in a couple of months.

We do around 250 - 300 sales a month on eBay and our average item sales price for item is close to $ 100.00 and our net margins are around 40%.

We do just fine and 95% of our house income comes from eBay.