ok well i guess there is one point i failed to address.....
"doing it small"
i think he means that he wants to buy a SMALL amount of parts per month, then resell to his buddies and hopefully make a profit.
aint gonna happen /george bush sr.
where are you going to get your parts from? like pissedoffsol says, unless you got 5,000-10,000 MINIMUM......you will NOT be able to purchase parts at a price good enough to make a profit.
You will be buying from another middleman, who invests 10,000.00 a month in parts and turns around and sells them to you ....
lets look at it this way:
Coilovers. Brand "X". DNA Mfg. makes a generic coilover. (lets completely forget about TEIN or H&R or any real company out there....because they cost more)
So it costs DNA Mfg. 2.50 (a tad more if you take into consideration advertising, shipping and demurrage charges from china to america and everthing else....but lets just say 2.50 for arguements sake) to make a complete set of coilovers for a 1998 honda civic. They manufacture their own parts over in China.
The coilovers retail for 79.00-125.00 in the stores. (suggested retail price)
This guy who sells on Ebay buys 100 sets of these generic coilovers every month from DNA. Since he buys in quantaty, his cost is 25.00 (give or take a dollar or two) per box. Allready DNA has made a 23.00 profit.
He in turn goes on Ebay, lists the coilovers and sells them for 30.00.
not much profit as you can see.
Now, assuming that you CANT shell out 2300.00 a month to buy a minimum quantaty of 100 coilovers from DNA, then you would not be able to purchase them at a discount.
Just because you got your tax id number, business license and formed a LLC, does NOT mean that wholesale companies will be beating a path to your door with fantastic deals that would allow you to buy parts for only 100.00-500.00 a pop.
It is alot harder than you think. I would advise you not to do it. Even if you do live in a small town, there is no way in hell you would be able to make a small profit off selling to the kids in your town.
Aint gonna happen.
Bottom line:
It takes money to make money
or my personal favorite:
Scared money makes no money.
Let us know how it turns out, so someone else can benefit from your experiences.