Earning money in your own way is tough - advice?

Currently running a personal online shop on eBay + Discogs reselling old CD/vinyl records. Just earned around £500 over the past 3 months - a freaking minuscule amount. Is this a good investment given the current vinyl revival?

I haven't told my parents about this since I don't want them to panick about me potentially reselling pirated goods even though I bought all items from reliable shops that have very strict verification. I know in order to earn more I must have a larger stock, but I simply don't have enough space in my luggage (I'll have to move in August).

I allow buyers to make offers for every item I put on sale, but that doesn't seem to attract too many of them as well (I've an average of 3 transactions per month).

Are there better selling strategies that can make me more profit?

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

Currently running a personal online shop on eBay + Discogs reselling old CD/vinyl records. Just earned around £500 over the past 3 months - a freaking minuscule amount. Is this a good investment given the current vinyl revival?

I haven't told my parents about this since I don't want them to panick about me potentially reselling pirated goods even though I bought all items from reliable shops that have very strict verification. I know in order to earn more I must have a larger stock, but I simply don't have enough space in my luggage (I'll have to move in August).

I allow buyers to make offers for every item I put on sale, but that doesn't seem to attract too many of them as well (I've an average of 3 transactions per month).

Are there better selling strategies that can make me more profit?

I wouldn't consider the following advice, but consider:

•

Amazon FBA - you don't have to lug around the goods and they can be dispatched at a central location if you sell through Amazon

•

Consider looking in another market place if you dead set on CDs and vinyls, as it's incredibly niche

•

Consider order bumps and upsells - you will have to consider what products to package them with

•

If you're set on using eBay, consider using its fulfilment service: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/fulfilment

•

Set up niched groups and areas where you can gather a certain audience; if not, consider setting up a mailing list

•

Promote relevant content on platforms where your audience would likely be e.g. Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud, etc.

•

Consider diversifying into other goods or services, preferably something with higher margins and less requirement for handling and fulfilment

I don't know enough about your situation to otherwise comment.

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by Anonymous

I wouldn't consider the following advice, but consider:

•

Amazon FBA - you don't have to lug around the goods and they can be dispatched at a central location if you sell through Amazon

•

Consider looking in another market place if you dead set on CDs and vinyls, as it's incredibly niche

•

Consider order bumps and upsells - you will have to consider what products to package them with

•

If you're set on using eBay, consider using its fulfilment service: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/fulfilment

•

Set up niched groups and areas where you can gather a certain audience; if not, consider setting up a mailing list

•

Promote relevant content on platforms where your audience would likely be e.g. Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud, etc.

•

Consider diversifying into other goods or services, preferably something with higher margins and less requirement for handling and fulfilment

I don't know enough about your situation to otherwise comment.

I'm actually running on a huge deficit with regard to this if I don't see the buying cost as sunk cost...earning money is really tough and I now really appreciate the decades of hard work my parents did in building up our family.

Reply 3

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

I'm actually running on a huge deficit with regard to this if I don't see the buying cost as sunk cost...earning money is really tough and I now really appreciate the decades of hard work my parents did in building up our family.

Again, don't consider the following as tax/business advice (check with a qualified accountant before doing anything):
If you have buying costs and that would get you into the red, use it as a way to reduce your taxes (which should be minimal anyway) to further reduce your costs.

Have you looked at your margins? If your margins are not in the green (especially gross profit margins/contribution), then it won't help no matter how much you sell.

In terms of marketing, you would need a very niched audience. I am not sure how targeted your audience is on eBay and whether you have enough traffic on your pages to secure sales. For you to stand a chance of getting a decent price (something high enough for good margins), the audience needs to be really passionate about your particular CD/vinyl. If you are not getting enough traffic of the right audience, you would likely need to look at getting your traffic elsewhere; consider specific audiences on social media (you will need to find these, but consider Facebook, YouTube, or somewhere where there is the older generation who have a thing for older music).
If your audience has a plethora of choice, then you are not likely going to be able to demand a good price (supply vs demand).

If you can't find the particular audience on social media, then you're likely going to have to look at the more orthodox methods e.g. boot sales, fairs, market sales, sell at local clubs for people who appreciate old music, etc.

I'm hesistant to mention anything about advertising because your margins are minimal, your funds are limited, no definite price that you can charge, and there is no definite product-market fit.

Earning money in your own way is tough - advice?

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