Can anyone do a small loan?

[Appleton]

Hi all,

I run a small business on eBay and looking to expand. I deal leather books, antiques, ephemera, stamps, etc. My margins when buying large lots at auction are superb, but unfortunately, my lack of capital is a problem. I've only been able to qualify for very small loans so it's been very difficult to expand and grow. I'm kind of stuck in an awkward phase of not quite a start-up, but not quite big enough for $75,000-$100,000 a year minimum requirements for most loans.

I'm struggling to crack the $30,000/year revenue mark right now. I'm confident that with a decent loan of $5,000-$10,000 I'll have the firm footing to double or triple my revenue in 12 months.

I'm located in South Florida. My credit score is low because I don't have many trade lines and the two that I have are tiny $300 credit limit. I'm young - just 30.

I'm looking to be very aggressive in this business and I'm an expert in several areas and historical time periods. I have specialized knowledge and pricing data to rely on when buying inventory.

Does anyone do these loans?

I'd appreciate a look if anyone has the time. I have an excellent resume.

[abfunders]

Add yourself as an authorized user on a few of your friends' and family cards (you don't need their credit card number, just be an "authorized user"!), try 3 that have $5000 limits and perfect history.

Once they hit, you can apply for your own credit cards.
Go for 0 APR ones, not the ones with points. Get 3 trade lines with YOU as the primary.
Use and pay back. Not more than 30% usage on any one card.

Slowly build it up, and also make sure to get business cards so that they don't report to your personal credit.

If you want, after you're down the line a bit, give me a ring and we can get you a lot more in the 0 APR cards than you would if you did it by yourself.

[rob_mfs]

Can anyone do a small loan?

I imagine you use PayPal to accept payments. PayPal has a working capital program that’s quite impressive terms if rates and terms.

I would check that out!

Rob Abramov

[Appleton]

I imagine you use PayPal to accept payments. PayPal has a working capital program that’s quite impressive terms if rates and terms.

I would check that out!

Rob Abramov

Rob,

I've done that already. I'm on my third loan with PP. The first was for $2,500 and the second one was for $2,000. I'm 57% of the way through my third loan for $3,500.

Those tiny amounts don't help me expand. They keep me trapped in the rat race because 100% of my profit goes to paying expenses and loans.

My store had gross margins of 77% and net profit margin of 25% but I barely stayed cash flow positive.

My IRS Form 1120 for 2016 has a profit of $7,900 on $26,307 revenue.

[Appleton]

Add yourself as an authorized user on a few of your friends' and family cards (you don't need their credit card number, just be an "authorized user"!), try 3 that have $5000 limits and perfect history.

Once they hit, you can apply for your own credit cards.
Go for 0 APR ones, not the ones with points. Get 3 trade lines with YOU as the primary.
Use and pay back. Not more than 30% usage on any one card.

Slowly build it up, and also make sure to get business cards so that they don't report to your personal credit.

If you want, after you're down the line a bit, give me a ring and we can get you a lot more in the 0 APR cards than you would if you did it by yourself.

I don't have family that's wealthy enough for that.

And I don't have friends. I spend all day trying to survive with my business.

[Greg Adams]

Rob,

I've done that already. I'm on my third loan with PP. The first was for $2,500 and the second one was for $2,000. I'm 57% of the way through my third loan for $3,500.

Those tiny amounts don't help me expand. They keep me trapped in the rat race because 100% of my profit goes to paying expenses and loans.

My store had gross margins of 77% and net profit margin of 25% but I barely stayed cash flow positive.

My IRS Form 1120 for 2016 has a profit of $7,900 on $26,307 revenue.

You're an online business, why is your overhead so high?

[GulfCoastFunding]

It's a common misconception that buying in bulk saves you money. You probably need to look at your Inventory Turnover Rate, and you'll start making some headway into cutting costs. Even though you may call yourself an expert the numbers should tell you why your struggling.

I urge you to reconsider asking for $5,000-$10,000 in a loan because it may just be that your business is seasonal like most sales oriented occupations.

[Appleton]

You're an online business, why is your overhead so high?

Because the store pays for everything. I live inside a $675 a month office/studio with shower in a former office building that I moved into this year in May. If I double my revenue, my expenses as a percentage of revenue will be much, much smaller. I may only need $5,000 to $10,000 in order to do that.

[Appleton]

It's a common misconception that buying in bulk saves you money. You probably need to look at your Inventory Turnover Rate, and you'll start making some headway into cutting costs. Even though you may call yourself an expert the numbers should tell you why your struggling.

I urge you to reconsider asking for $5,000-$10,000 in a loan because it may just be that your business is seasonal like most sales oriented occupations.

It's not seasonal at all. I sell year round.

The things I buy I make enormous profit margin off of. I bought an estate lot at auction last year for $450 and generated $6,000 in revenue from March-April. I took a book I paid $40 for, and sold it for $800. I do this at least 3-4x a year. The pricing software I use tells me what it's probably worth based on completed sales.

My success rate for buying lots is nearly 100% when I buy larger lots with more things in it. It's an economic principle that the more random items are in a lot, the more difficult the lot is to price. It usually sells for pennies on the dollar. Old books, manuscripts, stamps, etc. Huge profit margins.

When I buy in smaller lots of only 5-10 items, my success rate is much lower, maybe 75% of the lots I buy of this size I make a profit on.

Some inventory has a longer tail, meaning it takes longer to sell. But because I price the items at premium levels, my break-even point hits in a week or two.

I have a tremendous eye for this stuff and I view every purchase I make as an investment. If hedge fund managers can raise billions of dollars to gamble money, I can certainly raise $10,000. Just don't know how right now. With $74 trillion floating around the world, I'm certain I can pick up a few crumbs.

[Appleton]

If anyone knows a private money lender in the Miami/FLL area that can shake my hand and cut me a check for $10,000, PM me, and I will personally meet with them and present them my 2016 financials and my YTD totals, along with my business plan, auction vendor list, etc. I have a clean background with two bachelor's degrees (one in business) so I'm sure they'd be interested in meeting me. I can arrange some kind of payment schedule where they get a small cut of revenue plus interest. I can eventually scale the business to become a national consignment shop or auctioneer.

[Appleton]

Just applied to Fora and Swift and was declined since I need $100,000 in revenue. Alright, no problem. I'll get to $100,000 as soon as I bid on all the good inventory. All these lenders like OnDeck are just robots programmed with algorithms. They don't have a crap who I am or what my plans are. The business making $100,000 a year in revenue that's skimming 1% profit margins gets approved. I get rejected. The system is broken.

[ChoiceFunding]

Check out https://www.choicefunding.net/busine...ding-programs/ they may be able to assist.

[Ed2397]

Might be a little late. But this company helped me. They have over 75 lenders that bid for your loan. And they accept all types of credit. They really have a deep portfolio of products. Here is their quick application. Hope this helps. NBC- https://bit.ly/2qOplkd -Ed