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A new UK-based small business owner reports that high operating costs and returns on eBay are unsustainable for their fashion business, forcing them to liquidate £30,000 worth of stock.

What happened

Post: "What’s the best way to liquidate a large stock holding in the UK"

Source

RedditSep 17, 2026By u/Tech9652

r/smallbusinessuk

What’s the best way to liquidate a large stock holding in the UK

upvotes
9
comments
19

Post

Highlighted: the lines this signal was extracted from

Hi everyone. I’m a relatively new business owner and don’t have much business experience, so I’ve probably made almost every mistake possible. Made a mistake by Buying 4000 pairs of women heel with Brand IP, and Website last year for 30,000£. Biggest mistake is buying this much large quantity and especially fashion related. Since my eBay and Amazon are new .operating cost and returns are way higher than my income. Stock is in one location and I am in different location so it’s really tough to manage. I can’t maintain this business any more. Looking to sell the stock or stock with assets. Approached business brokers but they are not interested. Wholesalers are offering only 1£ per pair. I need advice on how to get rid of the stock without loosing much. Does anyone here have experience selling off a large amount of stock? I’d really appreciate some advice on where or how I could sell it without taking such a huge loss.

Also quoted as evidence

  • Since my eBay and Amazon are new .operating cost and returns are way higher than my income .

    From the post

reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/whats_the_best_way_to_l...Read the full source

Comments on the post

5 of 19 comments
  • “Assuming it's costing you every month to store and manage the stock I seriously think you should consider the offer of £1 a pair and get out, cut your losses.”

    u/Nearby-Working-44628 points · Sep 17, 2026View

  • “I sold off over £200k of discontinued lines over a 3 month period but I was selling for pennies. The cost of storage needed to stop and it hadn’t sold in years. It was cheaper to sell for nothing than to pay to scrap it etc. It’s about mitigating the losses at that point.”

    u/sleepy-popcorn17 points · Sep 17, 2026View

  • “£1 a pair is brutal but wholesalers are gonna price it based on the risk of being stuck with the exact same stock you’re trying to get rid of”

    u/Riottonicolai16 points · Sep 17, 2026View

  • “Approached business brokers but they are not interested. Wholesalers are offering only 1£ per pair. I need advice on how to get rid of the stock without loosing much. That's probably not a bad offer. An expensive lesson learned.”

    u/George_Salt10 points · Sep 17, 2026View

  • “If they're offering you £1 per unit, why not do a flash sale on your site and sell them for £5 or less, still more than the whole seller, and probably the price they'll sell them for, and nets you more. I'm guessing tjey cost somewhere around £8 a unit, so just cut to that and sell at coat perhaps?”

    u/Curious-Art-62424 points · Sep 17, 2026View

Extracted by Autobound

From the Signal API record
Signal
Customer feedback

What this signalsUser posts often show product pain before it reaches reviews or churn.

Subreddit
r/smallbusinessuk

Companies

  • AmazonAlso named
  • VintedAlso named
  • TikTokAlso named

The full record

From the Signal API record

Numbers

Mentions
2

Details

Timing
Ongoing state
Category
Pricing
Virality
Somewhat high
Post kind
Text
Prominence
Core
Company's role
Vendor

Topics and mentions

Topics

  • ecommerce
  • seller fees
  • operating costs
  • returns
  • smb

Extraction

Sentiment
Negative
Detected
Sep 17, 2026
signal_type
reddit-company
signal_subtype
customerFeedback

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The API returns more than this page shows

This page shows a preview. The full reddit-company record in the Signal API and MCP can also have these 8 fields. Some fields are empty for some signals.

Company

  • linkedin_urlValue in the API
  • industriesValue in the API
  • employee_count_lowValue in the API
  • employee_count_highValue in the API
  • revenueValue in the API
  • descriptionValue in the API

Signal

  • signal_nameValue in the API
  • associationValue in the API
Show the full JSONThe record on this page and the API request

GET /v1/signals/b64fc4ee-ed93-52c8-a5d1-fc62932c2809 returns this record as JSON. POST /v1/companies/enrich returns every signal for ebay.com.

{
  "signal_id": "b64fc4ee-ed93-52c8-a5d1-fc62932c2809",
  "signal_type": "reddit-company",
  "signal_subtype": "customerFeedback",
  "detected_at": "2026-09-17T10:57:05+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "eBay",
    "domain": "ebay.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "nsfw": false,
    "stage": "none",
    "awards": 0,
    "timing": "ongoing_state",
    "topics": [
      "ecommerce",
      "seller fees",
      "operating costs",
      "returns",
      "smb"
    ],
    "post_id": "1wiqrdq",
    "summary": "A new UK-based small business owner reports that high operating costs and returns on eBay are unsustainable for their fashion business, forcing them to liquidate £30,000 worth of stock.",
    "category": "pricing",
    "comments": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/comment/pack3m8/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 28,
        "author": "Nearby-Working-446",
        "excerpt": "Assuming it's costing you every month to store and manage the stock I seriously think you should consider the offer of £1 a pair and get out, cut your losses.",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-17T11:32:06.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Nearby-Working-446/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/comment/pachckv/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 17,
        "author": "sleepy-popcorn",
        "excerpt": "I sold off over £200k of discontinued lines over a 3 month period but I was selling for pennies. The cost of storage needed to stop and it hadn’t sold in years. It was cheaper to sell for nothing than to pay to scrap it etc. It’s about mitigating the losses at that point.",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-17T11:14:49.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/sleepy-popcorn/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/comment/packeev/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 16,
        "author": "Riottonicolai",
        "excerpt": "£1 a pair is brutal but wholesalers are gonna price it based on the risk of being stuck with the exact same stock you’re trying to get rid of",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-17T11:33:58.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Riottonicolai/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/comment/padnd08/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 10,
        "author": "George_Salt",
        "excerpt": "Approached business brokers but they are not interested. Wholesalers are offering only 1£ per pair. I need advice on how to get rid of the stock without loosing much.\n\n That's probably not a bad offer. An expensive lesson learned.",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-17T14:45:10.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/George_Salt/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/comment/paejapp/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 4,
        "author": "Curious-Art-6242",
        "excerpt": "If they're offering you £1 per unit, why not do a flash sale on your site and sell them for £5 or less, still more than the whole seller, and probably the price they'll sell them for, and nets you more. I'm guessing tjey cost somewhere around £8 a unit, so just cut to that and sell at coat perhaps?",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-17T16:58:58.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Curious-Art-6242/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/comment/pack0np/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 3,
        "author": "panguy87",
        "excerpt": "What is the cost price per pair of shoes?\n\n Are they all the same style, or different?\n\n Well known name brand?\n\n If you're prepared to do work, and lose 30% off cost price, bundle them into lots, same size lots, different styles, 5 pairs each lot, ebay them off that way at 30% below cost.\n\n Failing that, approach charity shops, or charities head offices to see if they'd buy in bulk.\n\n The thing i",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-17T11:31:35.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/panguy87/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/comment/paf0158/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 2,
        "author": "hodgey66",
        "excerpt": "Vinted ?",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-17T18:08:50.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/hodgey66/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/comment/pae1ipu/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 1,
        "author": "mattcannon2",
        "excerpt": "You're probably going to have to eat a loss",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-17T15:45:24.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/mattcannon2/"
      }
    ],
    "evidence": [
      "[post] Since my eBay and Amazon are new .operating cost and returns are way higher than my income .",
      "[post] I can’t maintain this business any more. Looking to sell the stock or stock with assets."
    ],
    "virality": "somewhat_high",
    "post_date": "2026-09-17T10:57:05.000Z",
    "post_kind": "text",
    "post_text": "Hi everyone. I’m a relatively new business owner and don’t have much business experience, so I’ve probably made almost every mistake possible.\n\nMade a mistake by Buying 4000 pairs of women heel with Brand IP, and Website last year for 30,000£ . Biggest mistake is buying this much large quantity and especially fashion related.\n\nSince my eBay and Amazon are new .operating cost and returns are way higher than my income . Stock is in one location and I am in different location so it’s really tough to manage . I can’t maintain this business any more. Looking to sell the stock or stock with assets.\n\nApproached business brokers but they are not interested. Wholesalers are offering only 1£ per pair. I need advice on how to get rid of the stock without loosing much.\n\nDoes anyone here have experience selling off a large amount of stock? I’d really appreciate some advice on where or how I could sell it without taking such a huge loss.",
    "sentiment": "negative",
    "subreddit": "smallbusinessuk",
    "post_title": "What’s the best way to liquidate a large stock holding in the UK",
    "prominence": "core",
    "source_url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1wiqrdq/whats_the_best_way_to_liquidate_a_large_stock/",
    "entity_role": "vendor",
    "post_author": "Tech9652",
    "upvote_ratio": 0.6956521739130435,
    "mention_count": 2,
    "mention_surge": false,
    "subreddit_url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/",
    "total_upvotes": 9,
    "comments_total": 19,
    "total_comments": 19,
    "other_companies": [
      {
        "name": "Amazon",
        "role": "competitor"
      },
      {
        "name": "Vinted",
        "role": "alternative",
        "domain": "vinted.com"
      },
      {
        "name": "TikTok",
        "role": "alternative",
        "domain": "tiktok.com"
      }
    ],
    "post_author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Tech9652/",
    "signal_category": "feedback",
    "comments_included": 11
  }
}

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