Hi, I can t answer your questions regarding UK taxation or registration laws but I would suggest you would be considered a hobby until you are pretty established. I have been buying and selling on ebay since 2001 and as a serious business since 2004. You didn t say if you are already familiar with ebay so I m assuming you aren t yet.1. Try buying a few things from ebay first - you will learn the ropes - searching, categories and build up some feedback. Without some feedback people will be very wary buying from you.2. Check out your competition on and off ebay to see what s selling and how much is it selling for. Half of everything listed on ebay does NOT sell first time around. 3. Factor in ebay listing fees (insertion) and final value fees into your profit/loss projection. You should also look at Paypal fees. I m in Australia but I list on the US site (more traffic) but I pay higher fees for the privilege. I also pay more for featured listings.4. I can t stress how important good photos are - absolutely essential - don t use another sellers photos if you are selling the same item. A well written, accurate description is also important. Think about how customers would search for your products. Use a spell checker - I ve scored some huge bargains because they listed with a spelling mistake.5. Find out mailing costs including a service with proof of delivery. If a customer doesn t get their package and you can t prove you sent it, you wear the cost. Ebay doesn t like excessive postage charges. Making a profit from postage is a form of fee avoidance. I offer free postage so my items are moved higher in a best match search.6. Don t break the rules. If you get kicked off ebay for shill bidding, selling unlicensed items or not paying for an auction you won, it is very, very difficult to get back on. It is not as simple as signing in under a different user name. Businesses have sprung up helping people who have been NARUed from ebay (Not A Registered User)7. Think about running an independent web site parallel to your ebay store but don t link to it from your ebay shop (against the rules). Look for a shop name and domain name that is available. You don t want to open a shop on ebay and then have your customers go off ebay to someone else who has registered your shop name domain. I have a website with a portfolio of my jewellery designs that have already sold on ebay. I may sell directly from my site in the future but at the moment it is just linked to my ebay shop. I actually studied website design but I m lazy and used a free image album software (JAlbum or Web Album Wizard) to generate the thumbnails and html pages for my product portfolio. Very easy and only took about 3 hours to make.With regard to products, I found it better selling 7 - 12 high end pieces than 30 to 40 lower priced items. My pieces are hand made and unique which is a huge selling point - people are sick of seeing the same mass produced things wherever they go.I hope this doesn t put you off the idea. I love working for myself and it s a job that fits around my disability. I ve met some lovely people through ebay - suppliers and my clients who I now consider friends. I won t sugar coat it though - it s hard work and I put in over 70 hours a week. I don t have any items on ebay at the moment but I ll be listing at the end of the week. Hope this helps and Good Luck!
Sign-up with eBay UK.Look for latest trend in eBay site itself.From among the products choose a product with more demand and less competition. See to it your wholesale list contains any product that suits the niche you have chosen.Create a website with the theme of your niche. Create a separate page for each products and redirect to the eBay link. If you own a website you can promote relevant products from other vendors who are offering affiliate program.
