The Wholesale Forums

[The Werks]

Hello all

After much deliberation and perusal, I'm about to commit to my first order.

I've satisfied myself that my supplier is bona fide, and I'm not too worried on that front, but I still have a couple of niggles, er, niggling at me.

My transaction, product and courier come in at around £200. I've got the choice of paying by Western Union, or Bank Transfer, I can get W/U's service for about £10, the bank is around £20. Does one option give me greater peace of mind than the other? Does one offer a better rate of exchange? GBP to USD?

My contact in China arranged the courier service (DHL), could I have got a better rate myself with no hidden costs etc?

And, do I need to have some form of insurance, or will it be included in my couriers fee?

Thank you.


Mods - If I've posted in the wrong section I apologise.

[HaRdy SiNgH]

You'll need to contact your supplier in regards to the courier insurance as they will be able to advise if insurance is included or what it is on top. In regards to Western union v bank transfer i'm afriad theres no fall back option once the money has gone - its gone. Just be confident you are sourcing the right products and verified your supplier - good luck!

[Andy777]

Yeah, either way - there's no safe way of doing this...

The only advantage of using bank transfer is that then you can verify that you're sending the money to the same company you're dealing with unlike with WU when you send money to a person and not company's bank account.

As for shipping, from what I have seen, in most occasions they can get better deals than we, so if your shipping fee is reasonable, no need to change anything.

[The Werks]

Well, the payments has gone - no going back now!

I used my banks Standard Transfer - I think it takes 4 days to clear.

I'm on the way.

I've found so much info on this site, it's great. Hopefully if my maths is any good, I should be making my first profits in a couple of weeks.

*excited!*

[Andy777]

Good luck with that!

[The Werks]

I now have a 10 day wait for my order to hit my shores.

I don't want to sit waiting for the delivery to turn up, I realise there are many things I can be doing til then.

So far I have;

Set up my Business Ebay Account, set up and linked Paypal, taken the initiative to get some business cards made.

Thanks to some of the fantastic threads and post on here i have managed to get my head 'round Excel, as a means of recording my expenditure, and also to calculate my selling price, it is something I'm quite proud of, although it is probably very rudimentary.

So, my question is this; What could/should I be doing now to use this time to my best advantage.

I'm not looking to be fed answers by spoon, just pointers that might be worth considering.

Thanks Jimi

[Digitalfever]

Make sure you dont list them before they have arrived and when they do check the quality so your happy you can sell them on. The last thing you want to do is sell bad quality items otherwise your shoot yourself and your business in the foot before you have even started !

You could still create the listings so they are ready once your items have come and have been checked.

What about banking, have you set all that up etc ??

Postal supplies ??

[The Werks]

Thanks Mr Fever

I'll have to have a look at the 'bay. I wasn't aware I could create my listings without posting them, so that is something I will definitely look into.

In terms of banking is it necessary to have a business account at this stage, I thought I would take advantage of the 3 months head start before declaring myself as self-employed. I am currently working full-time.

And postal supplies, I like that. Bubble wrap, packaging tape etc. Good idea, I'll see about sourcing some of that.

Thank you, exactly what I was after.

[Digitalfever]

Thinking about it im not sure if you can create them and not list them when using ebay. I use auctiva and that lets you create etc and just keep them saved until you are ready to use them/ schedule them.

You have to pay $9.95 a month for that service but at about £6 its well worth it. They give you 30 days free trial so check it out. Its a good bit of kit.

Banking - no you dont have to have a business account but it might benefit you having a separate current account just so money doesnt get confused with personal.

Postal supplies - Im a big fan of these guys,
http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/JWS-Me...__W0QQ_armrsZ1

They are the cheapest around and offer a good service, check them out.

[benji2009]

Hi,

Good luck for your business. Please keep us all posted as I would like to read more before I start buying! Can I ask what are buying?

To Digitalfever - Thanks for the heads up on the postal supplies!

Thanks,

Ben.