Just thought I'd run down my list of things needed before starting trading, and see if anyone else can add anything 1. Hosting costs 2. Stock costs 3. Packaging supplies 4. Storage costs (warehouse) 5. Advertising campaign (all elements of SEO, link building etc.) As far as I can tell once I've got all the figure for that, I can work out the amount needed to break even daily, weekly, monthly etc. Anything else I've missed out? I've got a nice bit of research + figures for everything but advertising and hosting (which I'll find out when I can post in the buy/trade section )
I think that you are missing a lot of things... Accounting costs? Are you going to need an accountant? Lawyer? Software in order to track inventory and such? Computer and printer? Insurance costs (for you and your merchandise)? Electricity, phone, internet? Logo for your company? While each might be a small amount, all can add up to a big number.
Ahh yea I forgot to put down site development (design, coding etc) A Lawyer won't really be necisary as an ongoing payment, as I highly doubt there will be any claims. Hadn't thought of putting accounting costs into daily figure, but it's probably a good idea Some good points there, thanks for the tips
What kind of business are you trying to start? You may also want to incorporate your business if you want to reduce your personal liability. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck.
1. Hosting costs 2. Stock costs 3. Packaging supplies 4. Storage costs (warehouse) 5. Advertising campaign (all elements of SEO, link building etc.) 6. Site design 7. Accounting fees 8. Domain name 9. Processing fees Thanks for all the info guys, hoping to make it 1 more for a nice round 10 Adrien - It's already incorporated and running selling a different product, but I'm looking to get out of that market ASAP
What about costing your time? This is a big one that a lot of people fail to take into consideration.
Take into account also the expenses which you haven't thought of yet (it always happens...). Add like 10-20% to the expenses you have already calculated.
It's selling a product, so not really costing in my time And yea I've got a nice bit extra tucked away just in case, something will always go wrong heh.
What? Ofcourse you will need to cost for time. How long is it going to take to upload products (always a big time consumer) Time it takes to package and post items? Loads of things are going to take up your time, and you need to cost for it.
I know there are lots of things that we need to consider in starting a good business. If we might missed that thing its only be based on the strategy we have
I've never really looked at it like that, I ran a pretty succesful online shop a few months back and didn't think of it as costing time. More like "this is how much we've made at the end of the week / month, is that enough for me to get by on?" And surely in a new startup you can't work it out properly anyway. It's going to need a lot more work put in at the start to make it succeed, but that will also be it's time of lowest profit. Maybe once things are up and running, ticking over nicely you can start working out what you're making an hour, but at the start I can't see that as a relevent figure.
Thats fine if its more of a hobby I guess. If you plan on paying yourself something (and I presume you do) then you are a cost, and that cost needs to be taken into consideration. Agreed, more time will be spent in the beginning but you still need to consider it.