If you know what you’re looking for, buying and reselling on Colourwarehouse can be a profitable business. You might be able to pick up something at a good price outside its peak selling season, or buy items in bulk and sell them on individually.

Bulk buying and selling on eBay

To find items for sale in large quantities, search for terms like “bulk”, “job lot”, or “wholesale” on search engines. You can research how much they usually sell for as single items to see whether they’re a worthwhile investment.

Buying and selling seasonal items

Another opportunity is to look for out-of-season goods. If you’re willing to hold on to items for a while, stocking up on things such as summer clothes during winter, or Christmas gifts once the festive season has passed, could be very profitable.

Making your listings available internationally is easy and can help you grow your business by getting items in front of buyers worldwide. When you offer international postage in your listings, your items are available automatically to buyers outside the UK.

Requirements for selling internationally

When you sell internationally, you need to make sure that the item you’re listing can legally be sold in other countries, as the applicable laws may be different to your own country.

Cooling off periods

According to the EU Consumer Rights Directive, consumers (buyers) can withdraw from most distance transactions with business sellers within a set time frame (‘cooling off period’) without penalty and without giving any reason.

When creating your return policy, be sure to include the following:

• The time period that a buyer has to notify you that they want to cancel the transaction
• How the refund is issued
• Who pays the return postage

How to sell internationally

Non-managed payments sellers can make their listings available worldwide, or just to buyers in certain countries – simply add international postage options to your listings. International buyers will be able to see that while your location is in the UK, delivery is available to their country.

Here’s how to add international postage to your listings:

• From the Vendor Dashboard go to Settings.
• Click on Shipping.
• Click on your Shipping Zones.
• Add a Shipping Method.
• Then edit the Shipping Method

Receiving payments from international buyers

If the buyer pays in a different currency, the payment will be converted to the currency of your payouts. As currency values can change, it’s important to note that the currency exchange rate will be captured at the time of sale and can be viewed in the order details. This exchange rate will apply in the event of a refund.

Colourwarehouse’s transaction fees will be deducted in the buyer’s payment currency, before being converted to your currency for payout. If you receive a fee credit, it will be converted from your buyer’s payment currency to your currency.

PayPal is a safe and efficient way of getting paid on Colourwarehouse, and is how most Colourwarehouse users pay for their purchases. In most categories, you’re required to accept either PayPal, or credit and debit cards payments. When you accept PayPal, buyers are able to check out using credit cards as well as via their PayPal account. To use PayPal as a payment method, you’ll need a PayPal account. If you don’t have one, we’ll ask you to sign up when you create your first listing.

How to set up PayPal as a payment method

To use PayPal to receive payment for your Colourwarehouse sales, you’ll need a PayPal account. If you don’t have an account, we’ll ask you to sign up when you create your first listing.

When you create a listing, just select PayPal as a payment method and enter the email address associated with your PayPal account in the Payment options section of the listing form.

Remember, if you offer PayPal as a payment option on Colourwarehouse (either using logos or text in the item description) you must accept all forms of PayPal payment including payments from an existing PayPal account balance, bank account transfers, and credit card payments. You can’t tell buyers that you’ll only accept specific forms of PayPal payment. See our Accepted payments policy for more information.

When a buyer sends you a payment through PayPal, the money is usually available in your PayPal account right away. However, in some cases, the payment might be “pending” for a few days, or it might be held by PayPal for up to 21 days. Learn more about pending payments.

For sellers, there’s usually a fee for each payment completed through PayPal. Check with PayPal for current terms and conditions.

We know how important it is for you to receive your money as soon as possible. However, sometimes Colourwarehouse or PayPal need to put a hold on your funds until your transaction is complete. If you see a payment pending in your account, it may be because either PayPal or Colourwarehouse have placed a temporary hold on it.

PayPal payment holds

In some situations, PayPal may place a hold on your payment. Check your PayPal account to see if there’s a PayPal hold. You can also contact PayPal for more information.

Contact PayPal

Colourwarehouse payment holds

If your buyer reports an issue with a transaction, we may place a hold on your payment until the issue is resolved.

Payment holds for new sellers

If you’re a new seller who hasn’t established a selling record yet, we might put payments from your buyers on hold. Generally, the funds will be available either:

• 21 days after the buyer pays, or
• 6 days after the estimated delivery date (if no was tracking provided but the item was marked as dispatched), or
• 1 day after confirmed delivery
• If no tracking is used, we’ll check for positive feedback after 3 days (to allow sufficient time for the item to be delivered). If positive feedback has been received, you’ll receive the funds within 24 hours. Note: This check is only carried out if no tracking is uploaded. Best practice is to upload tracking so you can receive the funds 1 day after confirmed delivery
  If the buyer reports a problem with the transaction, we’ll place another hold until the issue has been resolved.

You’ll become an established seller after:

• It’s been more than 90 days since your first successful sale
• You’ve had more than 25 transactions and £165 in sales

Payment holds for established sellers

If you’re an established seller, you should usually get access to your payments immediately, but there are some reasons why your funds could still be placed on hold:

• You’ve started selling in a new category
• Your account shows unusual activity
• Your buyer opened a request for an item they didn’t receive or an item that didn’t match the listing description
• You need to add tracking details to an item in order for open cases to be resolved

Other reasons Colourwarehouse may place a hold on funds

We may hold your funds for 21 days if we determine the transaction to be a risk. Category, price, and seller standing can all contribute to this decision. Generally by sending your items as quickly as possible and with tracking – you’ll keep your customers happy, and get the fastest access to your payments.

Listing your items at the right price will help them sell. Look around on Colourwarehouse or search engines for similar products to get an idea of what other sellers are charging. If you’re not sure how much you should charge, or aren’t sure of your item’s value, you should use search engines to help you find similar listings and decide on a price.

Unit pricing for business sellers

An EU Directive on consumer protection requires business sellers to indicate the price per unit of measurement (unit price) when selling certain goods to consumers. This means displaying the price of an item per kilogramme, litre, metre or other unit of measurement to make it easier for buyers to compare the prices of similar products.

In general, when goods are sold in bulk or when the item’s price is based on its weight or volume, the unit price must be clearly displayed in the listing. Unit prices are not required for auction style listings, as their final price is unknown.

When listing, business sellers can provide the unit quantity (e.g. 8) and the unit of measurement (e.g. kilogrammes, metres) in the item specifics section. The unit price will then be calculated automatically based on these specifics and the Buy it now price, and displayed underneath the price of the item.

Certain types of goods require a particular unit of measurement to be used, so please review your local regulations or get independent legal advice if you have any doubts.

Maintaining the safety of our community is a responsibility we take very seriously. For this reason, and to comply with local legal restrictions, some categories of products are restricted, or completely banned from being listed. If you’re not sure if an item you’re intending to list is allowed or not, choose the relevant category from the list below to find out.

Prohibited and restricted items policy overview

Before listing your item, make sure we allow it on Colourwarehouse, and find out if we have specific rules and conditions on how you should list it. Check the list of prohibited and restricted items below. You also need to make sure that the sale of your item complies with all laws.

Make sure your listings and products follow these guidelines. If they don’t, they may be removed, and you may be subject to a range of other actions, including restrictions of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account.

Understanding the rules

Our policies are often based on country and state laws, although in some cases, we may also base our policies on input from our members and our own discretion, especially for dangerous or sensitive items.

Read and understand our policies before listing items. Follow our guidelines and review our examples so you know beforehand what you can and can’t sell on Colourwarehouse.

Although certain items may be legal to sell in your country, they might be illegal elsewhere.

The list of prohibited and restricted items below covers items you can list under certain conditions, and items that we don’t allow at all. In our medical devices policy, for example, while we don’t allow many items (such as contact lenses), we do allow other items under certain conditions (including certain types of medical instruments).

To find out if we have other guidelines that might affect your listing or product, read our rules for listings and our rules about intellectual property.

Prohibited and restricted items

• Academic, beta, and OEM software
• Adult only category
• Alcohol
• Animals and wildlife products
• Artefacts, archives, antiques, cultural items and grave-related items
• Autographed items
• Bootleg recordings
• Catalogues
• Chance listings
• Charity and fundraising
• Complilation and informational items
• Contracts
• Counterfeit currency and stamps
• Credit and debit cards
• Currency, selling
• Digitally delivered goods
• Drugs and drug paraphernalia
• Electrical and electronics equipment – examples include cable TV decoders, radar jamming devices, and traffic light control devices
• Embargoed goods and prohibited countries – examples include items from Cuba
• Enabling duplication of copy-protected material
• Encouraging illegal activity
• Event ticket resale
• Firearms and accessories – examples include pepper spray, replica firearms, and stun guns
• Food
• Gaming machines (slot or fruit machines)
• Government, transit, and postal items and official items – examples include aeroplane operations manuals, public transportation employee uniforms, and Royal Mail mailbags
• Hazardous, restricted or regulated materials – examples include batteries, fireworks and refrigerants
• Human remains and body parts
• International trading
• Items encouraging illegal activity – examples include an eBook describing how to create methamphetamine
• Knives
• Jewellry
• Lock-picking devices
• Mailing lists and personal information
• Managed payments restricted items
• Medical devices – examples include contact lenses, pacemakers, and defibrillators
• Multi-level marketing, pyramid and matrix programs
• Offensive material – examples include ethnically or racially offensive material and Nazi memorabilia
• Perfume and cosmetics
• Personal relationships and services
• Pesticides
• Plants and seeds
• Police-related items
• Presale listings
• Prescription drugs
• Property
• Recalled items
• Recordable media
• Replicas, counterfeit items, and unauthorised copies
• Stamps, currency, and coins
• Stocks and other securities
• Stolen property
• Surveillance equipment – examples include wiretapping devices and telephone bugging devices
• Tobacco
• Travel
• Used clothing
• Used cosmetics
• Virtual currency
• Vouchers
• Weeds (see plants and seeds)

Reporting policy violations

If you see a listing that violates one of our policies, report it by selecting Report Abuse in the listing. If we determine that a listing or product has violated a policy, we email the seller or the buyers to let them know that we’ve removed the listing or product from Colourwarehouse.