posted on June 21, 2001 02:34:47 PM
Hello all,
I have been working eBay for several years now P/T and was wondering what others that took the plunge into F/T think of their move.
I have a great 9-5 job with good pay (mid 50's) and full benefits that seem very hard to give up.
posted on June 21, 2001 03:24:14 PM
Ask any self employed person without benefits and the case speaks for itself or for that matter employees without benefits.
Don't know what your particular situation is as far as family, benefits etc., but a job with defined benefits such as health care are becomming somewhat rare. If you have a family, it may cost as much as $2000 a month to purchase your own health insurance on par with what you have from your job.
Also, if you have a defined retirement benefit which the company funds, the funds paid by the employer are not taxed to you as income, for that matter neither are the health care premiums.
What I don't understand is why you need to quit your job ? Doing internet sales is such that it is the perfect way to have a second income without the strains on your time that a regular second job would have.
Your internet sales are occurring while you can be at another job, that's the beauty and efficiency of the internet.
posted on June 21, 2001 06:11:31 PM
My previous employeer decided for me. I took time for surgery and they would not take me back. ebay came in pretty handy as a safety net. Pretty hard to do anything legally about it when it is your word against their's and the people who supervised you are near retirement and scared to death they will get axed if they don't lie also.
posted on June 21, 2001 07:40:40 PM
With all the changes on eBay, and it's current climate of courting the big guys while sticking it to the mom and pops, I'd think long and hard before doing this.
I'm actually wanting to go the other way, and would like a part time job and eBay.
In it's own way, eBay can be like a big psychotic boss who changes rules mid-stream, knowing no one can challenge her/him.
posted on June 21, 2001 09:14:31 PM
I retired 6 months ago with full benefits. I would NEVER advise a family breadwinner to do this! I was scared even with a great retirement, health care, prescriptions, social security, 30 years of antique stock backlog! Even then I waited till I went thru 6 months of analyzing, asking questions, checking, and over the usual age limit,etc.
Its a cold world out there! Be safe before you are sorry.
posted on June 21, 2001 09:44:05 PM
Don't give up your day job. Unless a spouse has health coverage which includes you. This auction business is changing all the time. Two years ago, we were raking it in. All auctions were getting good bids, last year we began to see a substantial decline. Now it is harder or next to impossible to find the items that bring the big bucks, the enthusiasm on the part of the buyers has lessened. Bids are down, profits are down, and many auctions end with no bids.
posted on June 21, 2001 09:45:18 PM
Quiting a job with benefits to sell on eBay might be similar to getting rid of your car because you've had success hitchhiking.
posted on June 21, 2001 10:50:40 PM
Let me clarify the benefits a bit. As the medical benefit seems to be a hot topic in most of the replies so far. My employer only pays for my coverage ($135.00) a month, I pay $70.00 a week (yes pretax) for my family. As for 401k's they match 2% max. Vacation is 2 weeks a year. I didn't consider the medical that valuable as I have a broker that quoted me the same rates if I go solo. Does this change your opinions?
posted on June 21, 2001 11:39:21 PM
Well.. you're at least $400 a month for insurance, which is pretty cheap, I hope it is good- are you sure your employer doesn't contribute any more to the insurance? Forget the paid vacations- you don't work, you don't get paid. 401K- nobody to match it.
Add all these benefits up, and if you would like to keep them while self employed, it comes right out of your profit.
Did I mention Social Security taxes ? While you are paying now, and your employer contributes too, if you make more than $400 self employed, your income is subject to SS taxes. And there are other taxes as well that apply to the self employed.
To equal your income from your job, I would estimate you would have make over $65K a year in profit. Don't know what you sell, but if your profit margin is 50%, that means you must make over $10K a month in gross sales. That's not including eBay and other fees.
Another problem you might run into is getting credit when newly self employed. A track record and a healthy balance sheet are necessary. Instead of just showing the bank a pay stub, you'll have to produce your business records.
Going solo can be a great opportunity if the stars are aligned right, but the truth is around 8 out of 10 new ventures fail.
[ edited by reamond on Jun 21, 2001 11:44 PM ]
I know you said you would be able to purchase insurance for yourself, but in case someone out there DOESN'T have it, let me relate my tale of woe (I'm self employed and also pay for my own, and at the time I had a PPO with a 40% copay to save on monthly costs since I'm rarely sick).
Last October I had to go to the emergency room with a gallbladder attack. Had surgery a couple of weeks later, and THEN the bad news started. The itemization I got from the hospital JUST for the 24 hours I was there for the surgery was almost $13,000!!!! One of the anesthetics they used was $1,700!!!! Bear in mind, this does NOT include the emergency room, surgeon, various tests, etc.--ONLY the hospital charges for the day of the surgery. It took forever for my insurance company to send me an explanation of benefits, because they were disputing the hospital's costs (it sounded like their contract with this hospital for this surgery was for a "package deal" and not "a la carte" like my intemization was). I heaved a HUGE sigh of relief when it finally got sorted out, because they had disallowed almost $11,000!! After insurance paid, my total cost for the hospital was only about $800, and this was all because the insurance company had a contract with this hospital. I never would have been able to reduce the price like this if I didn't have insurance. I never had a gallbladder problem before, so this was totally out of the blue. It only strengthened my feeling that I should NEVER be without insurance--just in case of emergencies.
posted on June 22, 2001 11:35:56 AM
or if you really think you have a niche - get an employee and keep your job.
I work full time and have someone who does most of the ebay work. She works from home and gets a percentage of the profit.
I do the shopping, some listings and the bookkeeping. She does all the pics, some listings and all the shipping and answering e-mails.
Works great - I make more than I did at it PT adn I work less at it. I love the shopping part. I keep my day job with benefits and the money etc.
It would never happen for me to quit as ebay is so up and down. From Nov - Feb - you may do a high percentage list to sale wise - but right now it is low. Hard to pay bills on only that. But a great way to buy the extra car- take vacations etc.
