So the 'how do lbs's make money thread' has me thinking.

How unrealistic would it be for me to approach some bike industry distributors with a few hundred/thousand pounds and buy a small amount of stock of consumables/small parts such as cables, brake blocks, tubes, chains, fancy colored bits for the fixie riders etc etc. Then sell it on for a reasonable markup??

Thinking a simple but effective webshop along the lines of Charlie the bike mongers, with me updating/managing/replying to emails at night after work, and the missus packing orders and walking them to the post office through the day.

I'm based in Australia so wouldn't be competing with the usual suspects, I actualy have no idea if there would be a market, not looking to make a living but a profit/enough for the missus to get a cake and a coffee on the way back from the post office would be nice.

Really i'm asking 1) are these things the sort of thing that are only bought at lbs's and 2) without spending several thousand up front with each distributor will they talk to you?

Cheers, Dave

Well most of the distributors in the UK will certainly let you set up a pro -forma trade account (you pay up front rather than get credit) fairly easily.

THere is huge mark up on stuff:

You buy 100 gear cables for around £55 and sell for £2.50 each or 50prs plastic pedals for £70 which you can knock out for £8 a pair (same as Halfords).

Downside is you lay out £1000s on stock then sell in dribs and drabs.

Think many people will shop around on the web for XT shifters or something but see a gear cable as a cheap item that they can walk in and buy in their LBS over the counter and won't bother trying to save 50p on it online.

I guess in Oz you have a lot bigger distances so maybe you have more of a market there to send such stuff out by post? DEpends too on the cost of posting stuff down there.

Well, its not the daftest idea I ever heard!

What you really need to find out is what the situation is like in your local market place. For example if there are ten websites in Oz offering a similar service then you would have no chance. If there is less competition it might be worth looking into.

Find out who the disributors are of the products you are trying to sell and give them a call. I would imagine most of them would give you a pretty straight answer as to whether they would be willing to support your venture. Once you have this information you have a better idea of whether you have a fair dinkum business opportunity

Setting up with all the items and variation of them is going to cost a fair bit. Make sure you make a complete list of everthing you're going to stock then re-check it about 20 times as you will probably forgotten something and work out what it's going to cost.
Then work out costs for everything else.
Not a downer just being realistic it's alot of work, costly and you won't get as much time to ride either!(speaking from experience 😀 )

Hmmm – you just gave me a thought!

If you're going to sell 50 inner tubes/cables etc each day individually how long is it going to take to put them in envelopes, print/write out the addresses, and take them down the post office. Will your missus be happy doing that day in day out for pin money?

How does ebay work in Oz, 'cos in the UK there must be dozens of guys doing the same as you – never mind the Far East businesses.