Paypal working capital loan

[Peyton Manning]

not looking down on anyone Joe, just a disagreement about whether borrowing is a good idea.
if you borrow $1500 for a fee of $101 it will be fine as long as you can buy cheap and sell for enough more. You just have to consider the risk.

 

[hvacker]

The idea of finding cheap EZ money got me remembering some things. Not get rich quick stuff, just seeing an opportunity where others might not.
Sounds impossible today but back at a time when interest on loans was in the high teens pawn shops were by law only allowed to charge 10% interest. For those that knew that they beat the street by 8-9 percent
There are times when using other peoples money makes cents.
In the Harley hey day of the late 90's the bikes were in high demand but production was way behind. It could take 1 1/2 years to get delivery.Some places even longer. Some people would find a dealer that sold the bikes at MSRP. put down $500 and that would hold the bike. Later 1 1/2 or 2 years later the bike would be delivered and the owner would immediately resell it well over the MSRP. by thousands of bucks. And it only took $500 invested and the time it took to get the bike to get a great ROI.
We had a dealer in town that sold HD's at MSRP. After he sold his dealership he said " I left a lot of money on the table" Probably did but he also didn't ruin his reputation by selling over list and gouging his customers. He's still well respected.

Opportunities will always be here. Most realize them after the door has closed.

 

[Joe777Cool]

not looking down on anyone Joe, just a disagreement about whether borrowing is a good idea.
if you borrow $1500 for a fee of $101 it will be fine as long as you can buy cheap and sell for enough more. You just have to consider the risk.

No problem. In my case there is little to no risk. I (just about always) buy right and sell right....if I can't make a profit on it I wont buy it. I need access to a few thousand at times and with all the added inventory I have on ebay, soon to be on ebay, and in my 2 antique mall cases in preparation for the holiday season I need some liquidity IN CASE an opportunity comes my way. Kinda like the glock .45 in my nightstand.....I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it!

 

[Peyton Manning]

good to know about the glock

 

[Joe777Cool]

I am sorry if my comments sounded like I was looking down on anyone. There is such a thing as working capital and lines of credit and it is no different than any small business.

I was really reacting to the idea of running up thousands in debt on a credit card. I worked for a company that had to compete with another company who had really low prices because they were running fast and loose on other people's money, and a lot of my friends lost their jobs.

We have all seen it one way or another. The new guy on Craigslist buying coins way over melt or the new guy at the auction that bids everything way up. Here today gone tomorrow. On the other hand, if I found a good deal and the only way I could buy it was putting $5k on a credit card, bet your ass I'm gonna do it! The problem is when people dont turn their inventory over fast enough to pay that $5k off in a reasonable time as to not flush all the profit down the drain via interest.

 

[trdhrdr007]

I guess I'd borrow to make a purchase even if I'm not a huge fan of buying on credit. IMO the big mistake isn't buying on credit, it's counting profit that isn't realized, assuming your item will sell at the top of the value range, and/or not listing things purchased for resale. If you load up on inventory without selling in a timely manner there is really no way of knowing if you are profitable. Buying on credit compounds the problem. I talk with people all the time that think they are doing well based on their overly optimistic valuations. Reality could be that they are barely treading water & don't realize it.

 

[clovis97]

My two cents, if anyone cares:

I keep meeting ebay sellers that are using credit to buy their stuff for resale.

Just last week, there was a guy playing "auction king" at an estate auction that I attended. The guy was buying like crazy, and paying high amounts for the items he was buying.

I struck up a conversation later with him, and he carried on about how much he was making on ebay. Later in the day, he admitted he had run up his CC bill to $8,000 for ebay purchases. "I gotta start working that down" he said.

Even later in the day, when we were chatting about some of his buys, he got nervous and said "I don't know much about this stuff. I usually buy a lot and see what sticks."

It is simply crazy to me. He spent, on one occasion, $300 on three items, and I doubt that he even clears a real profit, that is if he can get $300 back ($360 after BP, CC surcharge, and sales tax.)

The bottom line:

Many people cannot manage credit.
He is giving up 19% in interest on that CC.
You make better buying decisions when you use your own cash to fund your purchases.

FWIW, one of the items that the 'auction king' bought that day was a Disney castle cookie jar. He dropped $100 on it, plus 20% buyers premium, for a total of $120.

During our conversation, he told me that the Disney cookie jar was "the gem, out of everything that I've bought today."

I just checked the completed listings on ebay. Some of those cookie jars, identical to what he bought, sold as low as $12.99.

This is why I always advise people to use their hard earned cash to fund their picks. When the day is done, those using cash are making far better buying decisions, and put themselves at far less risk than those using credit.

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

I have been selling on eBay since 2007. I have an $1800 line of credit through pay-pal. I have never used it...
My opinion is to take it slow. Try not to get too ramped up at the "deals" that you are finding on eBay. Things for the most part sell for what they are worth and usually dont leave much room for any profit for resale. I have made alot of money with my Ebay store over the years but it has been at a slow, steady pace. I had visions of making tons of money really fast in the begining but soon realised that it dont really work like that. I say take it slow, buy smart and make a little money. Dont mess arround with the credit just keep rolling your money over and watch it grow.

VPR

 

[diggummup]

You should be able to fund your purchases using your own profits. If you cannot do this you shouldn't be buying for resale. Anyone with $100 (or even $20) can start a business on eBay, if they know what they are doing. Common sense and research is all it takes.

I would think that someone that has a credit score high enough to qualify for this, probably has enough funds of their own already to not have to use credit to start buying and selling on eBay. I think credit cards or what have you should be used for emergency purposes only. I don't subscribe to a "buy now-pay later" attitude, other than maybe for a large purchase, such as a home or perhaps a motor vehicle.