How did you start your business?

AFashionableLife · 10-09-09

Hi all,

Was just thinking back to how I started out in wholesale, just over 10 years ago now..
I stumbled into it pretty much by accident or coincidence.
I like everyone else at the time was awe struck by the power of Ebay and the global market that was suddenly available to almost everyone on the planet.

I knew that it was a fairly low risk easy way to make a few extra bucks.
The first thing I sold was a pair of New Balance runners, that I had purchased "on clearance sale" for the purpose of reselling.

I paid $39.00 from a Rebel sports store in Brisbane, the shoes had a normal retail value of $129.00
I went about listing the item, learning all about Ebay listing and some HTML in the process.
I listed the shoes at a starting price of $39.00 that way at least I would only be out of pocket a few dollars for listing etc.
I watched eagerly over the next few days as my shoes were overlooked by all and sundry.
I started to worry, did I list them too high? were my listings bad? Did I use the wrong key words...so many thoughts and so much mental time and effort for a $39.00 pair of shoes!!

It wasn't until the last day of the auction (as I now know is almost always the case!) that I got a bid on the shoes.
My shoes rocketed up to the grand price of $39.99...a 99c bid.
Not disheartened, I watched as the auction end time grew closer.
Then it happened, with less than 3 minutes left on the auction clock, the bidding went wild.
Within the last 3 minutes of the auction close I received 11 more bids...the shoes sold to a nice lady in Perth.
She had bid the shoes to $67.00 and was verry happy to be buying them for around half the retail price.

After this auction, I diversified into all kinds of things from household items and clutter to fishing gear.
As I grew from 1 and 2 items at a time for auction to 30 and 40 items, I realised that it was time to specialise but also time to lock in some reliable suppliers and products.

I did alot of research, in fact my due diligence work took almost 6 months.
From what I had researched, I found that clothing, shoes, accessories and homewares etc was where my sales future laid.
I set about contacting all the suppliers I had used before as well as hundreds of new ones. As you would expect no one was really interested in dealing with someone who was looking to purchase around a $1000.00 per month to sell on of all things, Ebay.
Eventually I found a few cooperative business's who were well not that happy to help, but were prepared to sell to me on a small and irregular basis.

I guess the rest is history now...
I now work full time in my business, purchase stock by the full shipping container and sell only wholesale!
And yes! I love helping people start an Ebay or market stall business and yes, I help them out as much as I can, something I would have loved to have when I was starting out!

Would love to hear other peoples stories and experiences on setting up their wholesale business.

Cheers,

David.Pagotto · 18-10-09

Hello Jamie, Very interesting story.

Here is my plunge into the world of business:

From a young age I was always into "business". I started on eBay like a lot of people, selling things around the home and watching them end with amazement.

My first wholesale purchase was for 6 Night Vision Monoculars from the USA for just under $1000. I sold them on eBay and made a healthy profit. I was quite impressed with the outcome and continued on this path.

I now sell a range of hunting, archery and 4x4 accessories both wholesale and retail, Have a factory premises and order in lots of $50,000 plus.

Would love to hear other peoples stories and experiences on setting up their wholesale business.

hehong · 26-10-09

the first I think you must choose the right product