Selling electrical supplies

[GMES]

Just wondered if any of you sold electrical materials ie- tie wraps, insulation tape, cable etc etc.
I know we all sell to our customers has part of a job we are doing at any given time but I mean more like on websites and ebay etc.

With me being mainly industrial I do already have several of my customers who buy parts off of me for their maintenance teams etc, but I am just wondering whether it could pay to try and get a sales side going. It has always amazed me how a lot are people are willing to sometimes pay over the odds on ebay for things.

I don't know about others but my wholesaler often gives me occasional better than normal prices on certain items and just wonder whether that could be used to the companies advantage.
Some of you may already have been doing this for years, So what are your thoughts!!!

 

[Andy78]

I don't do anything like that as part of my business apart from led lamps, which is the normal run of things really. I do constantly have obsolete breakers and the like on ebay... but that's just beer fund money.

I can see your thinking, if you can get a higher trade discount than your customers then it might be worth it. I do think the margins would be slim though and you would have to go through a lot of gear to make it worth your time.

 

[Richard Burns]

If you go into this and it takes off then you can find it takes a lot of your time to manage this operation that may detract from your installations.
You would have to consider that when you are supplying something that you are now taking responsibility for the product to some extent and the loss of revenue incurred when you need to replace faulty items may mean that you would not be able to maintain a profit as you are relying on a good deal from your wholesaler.
As a supply company people would be expecting a certain level of service from you, you would need to make sure that you are able to supply this level of service or lose custom.
If you were doing this on a larger basis then getting onto the manufacturers as a supplier may be the more cost effective route.
Relying on people paying over the odds for items is probably not a good business plan in the long term (though considering the UK population may be a valid and sensible approach!!)

 

[Guest77]

Just wondered if any of you sold electrical materials ie- tie wraps, insulation tape, cable etc etc.
I know we all sell to our customers has part of a job we are doing at any given time but I mean more like on websites and ebay etc.

With me being mainly industrial I do already have several of my customers who buy parts off of me for their maintenance teams etc, but I am just wondering whether it could pay to try and get a sales side going. It has always amazed me how a lot are people are willing to sometimes pay over the odds on ebay for things.

I don't know about others but my wholesaler often gives me occasional better than normal prices on certain items and just wonder whether that could be used to the companies advantage.
Some of you may already have been doing this for years, So what are your thoughts!!!

What were you drinking yesterday Glenn? Marvo can this be moved to the DIY forum please

 

[dingledong]

I have a friend who has a part time eBay selling business .it's a nightmare people saying it hasn't turned up its the wrong thing , you told m e this that and the other .If his normal business was ok he would stop but the profit made for the stress it causes and the time spent is not worth it