Need tips on buying and selling bullk products

I've been able to sell things on ebay for 75-100% profit. I eventually want to be the one selling small bulk loads to other people. For example instead of buying 100 shirts and selling 100 to 100 people, I'll buy 1000 shirts and sell 100 shirts to 10 people.

The process is going slow because I only have several hundreds to spend, plus the time I get the item and the item gets sold. I'm sure I can speed things up if I have deeper pockets.

I'm only using online auction sites to sell the goods. I've not gotten any business license because I don't want to jump into this venture. I'll being doing this at my home.

Is it a smart idea to register a business for doing this and apply for a credit card to fund my first few buys?

Any tips will be appreciated.

Thanks.

I think you have to start somewhere to get into bigger things if it works out the way you planned. You can get credit card or personal loan from bank but just make sure to pay it back right away depending on interest charges. This is risky but you can do well if done properly since you'll be using some else's money to fund your journey.

Walley, my businesses have all been funded on credit cards and organic growth, so I know where you're coming from. It is certainly a challenge - cuz often your growth is limited by available funds!

The way I went about doing this is strategically structuring accounts payable and accounts receivable. In a nutshell - get net terms from your suppliers that extend beyond the time it takes for you to collect revenue on them.

For example, say you know that you can sell 1,000 shirts in one-two months. You then go to your shirt manufacturer and buy 1,000 shirts on Net 30, payable with a CC.
1. Buy shirts on Net 30 terms, with your CC as security.
2. Sell the shirts to your customers within one - two months. Or you could even sell the shirts to them on Net 15 in order to move it faster. Just be sure to get THEIR CC on file.
3. Collect payment, pay off your CC.
4. Rinse, and repeat.

Here are the caveats and points of challenge:
1. Finding a supplier that will extend net terms to you. This requires good credit history, and a credit card with a decent line.
2. Forecasting how many shirts you can sell in 1-2 months. This comes from your personal experience and business structure ..

75-100% profit is excellent! Keep it up, and always remember to calculate in your own time.

Since you are changing your target market (ie an individual buying one shirt to a small biz buying ten shirts) then you have to revaluate your marketing plan. Where are these small stores or biz owners? How do you reach them? Is it still eBay or alibaba? Or somewhere else?

You get my drift...

uh walley I'd recommend definitely legally forming your business. Let alone the tax benefits...if it's not worth writing up a formal business plan, reviewing with counsel and forming an appropriate entity for your business, it's not worth doing at all. You ask this question because you haven't written a thorough business plan. The time to answer all these questions is up front.

Thanks for the replies.