Advice on business, furniture etc

[Charlotte_24]

I have had an idea for a business i would like to start, but need some advice on the finer points. Basically, i would buy and sell household items, mainly furniture and also other household items. The plan in my head is to rent some kind of storage space, and sell via a website. Would the storage unit be classed as business premises though? Also, what insurance etc would i need, or would it just be like selling stuff on ebay as i won't actually have a shop, well maybe down the line if it goes well, but we'll see!

[ChrisTodd]

If you rent storage space for storing business stock then yes the property would be classed as a business premises.

 

As a business you would need insurance to cover your stock but also public and employee liability.

 

Even if the public didn't visit your premises I'm fairly certain you would need both types of insurance as you will be having delivery drivers etc visiting you.

 

Even if you stored the small stock items at home you would need to inform your insurance company of this.

 

If you are selling from a website, this might be a better way to go initially.

 

Renting premises leads to very high costs. Not only do you have rent, rates and insurance, but you have other costs including gas, electricity, telephone, sign, shelving and maybe employee costs.

 

And that is before you pay for your stock.

 

Are you able to do a deal with your suppliers where you don't buy the furniture until you have a sale yourself?

 

This could add to waiting time for your customers, but it would save you having to buy the stock and therefore rent premises.

 

You might even be able to get the suppliers to deliver directly to your customers if the business does well.

 

For the smaller items I would be temtped to store them at home in the early stages of the business and just pay the extra insurance for that.

 

That will save you a lot of other expense related to the property.

 

You may also find as well that property owners will want you to sign a two or three year lease. So basically you have to pay the rent for the whole term of the lease, even if you close the business after a few months.

 

Good luck.

[Charlotte_24]

Thanks for your reply, there's a lot of useful stuff in there that will really help! I think i will look into selling from a website, and start off with smaller items so that i can store them at home.

 

Are you able to do a deal with your suppliers where you don't buy the furniture until you have a sale yourself?

 

This is a really good idea, though i am still at the very early ideas stage so i haven't got that far into it yet!