The Wholesale Forums

[Jester]

I've finally come to a point where I am almost ready to launch my small business as an eBay store. As this is my first start-up attempt, I'm writing this topic in the hope that the more experienced entrepreneurs can have a look at my "list of things I need to do for a successful start-up", please tell me if I've missed anything or correct me on the list as it will be greatly appreciated!

1. Find funding! - DONE, a few friends of mine helped here!
2. Register as self-employed with the HMR&C.
3. As I won't earn over £67,000 a year I won't need to register for VAT.
4. Open a business bank account
5. Find and arrange an agreement with a wholesaler - DONE
6. Pay DONE and have stock first-hand. - arrives next week. DONE
7. Register business name at start.biz Turns out I don't need to do this!
8. Upgrade PayPal account to 'Business' Account DONE
9. Register as a business on eBay DONE
10. Change eBay username DONE
11. eBay Listing & Store Templates - DONE
12. Register domain name for business main portal - DONE
13. Packing & Posting Supplies - DONE
14. Marketing, Traffic, and Branding Plans (cheers Andy) - DONE

That's just about all I can think of for the moment, please let me know if there's anything I should add, and I'll then be able to use this as a personal checklist to make sure I don't forget to do anything. I pretty much can't wait to get started, I've been hoping to finally do this for over a year and it's finally under-way.

Thanks in advance guys,

edit my store is finally open, there's a few things I need to do but as of today(18/05/09) it's officially open!

edits
05/05/09: added marketing
04/05/09: added business bank account, added packing & posting supplies

J.

[cos76]

looks good, i cant offer much advice as yet im afraid as you seem many steps ahead of me :P
wish you the very best of luck though mate.

i will probably come asking you for advice once your up and running hehe

[Jester]

Originally Posted by cos76

looks good, i cant offer much advice as yet im afraid as you seem many steps ahead of me :P
wish you the very best of luck though mate.

i will probably come asking you for advice once your up and running hehe

Thanks, and yes hopefully I'll be able to share my experiences with you and others on the forum

J

[Andy777]

How about Marketing, Traffic & Branding plans?

[Manny]

Jester, thanks for writing this, mate. I'm in the same boat myself and you've listed stuff which I definitely think I need to address. Wish I had stuff to offer you, if I think of anything I'll list it here. All the very best of luck - you'll probably be readdressing Point 3 before you know it

[Jester]

Andy, thanks I will add that. I've had some issues with how I'm going to market my business, I already have plans set in place for locally as my friends are all very supportive and I'll be giving them all a bunch of business cards/leaflets to hand out etc. Though I'll have to do a bit of research this week into how I will market online, it's not all very clear how I can market my business at the moment but if you have any tips on marketing an eBay store for vintage clothing, please share!

Manny, hey your welcome mate, and yes please do let me know if you have anything you think I should add. Ha, probably not but we can only aim high!

Cheers guys,

J.

[Jester]

I just noticed that registering my business name at start.biz costs around £80, I didn't know you had to pay just to register your business name? Can this be done by contacting the government directly and registering that way? Do you need to register at all?

Help on this would be appreciated.

J

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Jester

I just noticed that registering my business name at start.biz costs around £80, I didn't know you had to pay just to register your business name? Can this be done by contacting the government directly and registering that way? Do you need to register at all?

Help on this would be appreciated.

J

You don't need to register it with that company for £80.

Register as self-employed with HMRC and use the name that you supply to them as your trading name. Do some research prior to this to ensure that your name isn't already been used in a similar industry.

[teja11]

i was just reading your checklist and im shocked by how much stuff needs to be done to start a business on ebay. I was thinking about buying a batch of shoes to sell on ebay hoping it might bring in a small income of around £200 pw i thought it was just a case of buying the shoes at a good price, taking good pics and hopefully selling. do i need to do all the things you've metioned in your checklist ?

[Jester]

Originally Posted by teja11

i was just reading your checklist and im shocked by how much stuff needs to be done to start a business on ebay. I was thinking about buying a batch of shoes to sell on ebay hoping it might bring in a small income of around £200 pw i thought it was just a case of buying the shoes at a good price, taking good pics and hopefully selling. do i need to do all the things you've metioned in your checklist ?

If you are planning to buy to sell, then in effect, you are a business, and such should register as one, and pay Class 2 TAX on your profits. I was in the same boat as you when I started to think about selling on eBay, but I've read a lot of the posts on these forums and they're very helpful so I suggest, get reading!
Although I have always desired to become a full-time business, rather than just for extra money. Although you can be part-time self employed and be working within another company aslong as they agree to it etc if I'm not wrong.

And to Anthony, that's good news, I'll be registering with the HMRC in the next 2 days. So just registering with them as self-employed and working under a business name is an official method of having my business name registered.

Oh and, yes I've done research and there are no other businesses, small or large with the same name as mine in any industry.

Thanks!

J