Your own business - intermediary services. How to make money out of thin air, or make money through intermediation

Create your own business. When you start working as an independent broker, you create your own business. The initial costs will be quite small, so you can get started fairly quickly, but do not forget about the professional and legal aspects of your new activity.

Identify the need. Research the market and find a suitable niche that you could fill. The greatest need will be in the industry where the supply and demand structure is sluggish or does not satisfy consumers and suppliers.

• It is usually easier for new intermediaries to penetrate the market for services or specialized goods. Generic products are oversupplied on the market and are often purchased directly from manufacturers, making it nearly impossible to convince a retailer to change a stable design.

Research potential buyers. Identify potential consumers of your chosen product or service. Depending on the nature of the planned activity, consumers can be both local and global buyers.

Get in touch. Having compiled a list of potential buyers, you need to call them. Find out their needs and what you need to do to make them want to work with you.

• You can send an email to test the waters, but a phone call is more professional, especially when dealing with companies.
• When contacting distributors, try to speak directly with the purchasing manager. Ask him if he is interested in reviewing your list of wholesale prices. If the answer is positive, promise to provide such a list within a few business days.

Research potential suppliers. Find as many potential suppliers of your chosen product or service as possible. Examine each item on your list and then narrow it down to your top ten items.

• When dealing with products, always look up the manufacturers. If you are not planning to work exclusively with a local product, then you should look for foreign manufacturers.
• When working with services, the suppliers are usually local companies.

Find out the rates. Contact potential suppliers and ask for a quote for specific products or services of a certain quality. Once you have collected price information, compare them and select the best deals.

• Consider the overall value proposition. The supplier with the lowest price is not always the best if the product they provide is significantly inferior in quality to the products of other suppliers. The same applies to service providers.

Add your share to the cost. As a reseller, you will earn money by receiving a certain commission on each sale. The exact amount is not constant, but the commission itself is usually 10-15 percent.

• Suppliers who already work with other intermediaries may have a set commission. This is something you need to know before attempting to set your own commission.

Mediation is a type of activity in which a legal entity or individual provides services to bring together parties interested in cooperation. The income that the intermediary himself receives is generated due to the markup on the products. Intermediaries working in the provision of services receive their income as a set monetary remuneration, or from a percentage of the total transaction price. In this article we will try to answer questions related to intermediary activities. And we’ll tell you how much income mediation can bring you:

The essence of mediation

To be able to verify the profitability of intermediary activities, all its examples must be considered as different areas of business. In order to create it, you first need to decide on the form of activity: legal entity or individual entrepreneur. An individual entrepreneur is a type of activity that will not require huge financial expenses from you. But still, the presence of an office, various tools related to office work and office equipment will be required. The main requirements will be put forward to the businessman himself. To successfully run his business, an entrepreneur must have an excellent understanding of management and marketing, as well as financing related to other areas. It depends on the chosen line of business.

Popular areas for mediation

Do not know, how to make money through mediation, then you should pay attention to this publication. Intermediary activity began to exist from the time when trade appeared. In the ancient Roman Empire, those people who worked in the markets were those who had an excellent command of a variety of information, in almost any direction. For a monetary reward, they provided advice to merchants. Since that time, the business began to develop rapidly and was able to spread to almost all areas of the economy. Thanks to the emergence of new technologies, business was able to reach a new level. At the moment, intermediary activities can be divided into 2 main types: real business and online. Types of online businesses can offer great opportunities for an entrepreneur. As for real business, the following types of activities are relevant today:

• Brokerage activities.
• Real estate services.
• Brokerage services.
• Marriage agencies.
• Recruitment agencies.
• Travel business.
• Conducting auctions.
• Delivery of products, etc.

Online business contains the following types:

• Online stores.
• Buying and selling websites.
• Affiliate programs and networks.
• Dropshipping.
• Organization of exchanges for remote provision of services.

Please pay attention! Each listed type of activity will require the businessman to have certain skills and knowledge, or full competence.

Who can become an intermediary

In this article we talk about how to make money through mediation without investment. Now it is important to find out who can engage in this activity. Simply put, ordinary grocery stores can be classified as an intermediary business, since they act as an intermediary between the consumer and the manufacturer. Intermediary activities in the service sector will look different. On the one hand, the intermediary business adds a certain amount of money to the price of the transaction, but on the other hand, for this amount the transaction must act as a guarantor of its security. These types include brokerage services, real estate agencies, or intermediary organizations related to the tourism area.

It is worth noting that in the HR field, mediation will be in greater demand. In this case, it significantly reduces the time required to select the right personnel and can completely eliminate the need for a full-time HR employee.

If a person has the desire and personal perseverance, he can earn good money through mediation. Some types of brokerage business will not require you to spend any money. But if we talk about the company, then it is worth investing in advertising the services offered and further promoting the business. The competence of the mediator himself remains important.
For a positive assessment by the client of the service provided, the intermediary must perfectly fulfill all the obligations that he has undertaken.

Necessary conditions for business development

It is imperative to take into account that this type of activity is built on trust between the organization and the client. When applying for any service, the client must be sure that he will be able to benefit from the services provided by the intermediary, in contrast to direct contact with the client. To meet these requirements, the intermediary must have a personal database of performers. They can be companies or individual entrepreneurs. Let's say a real estate agency needs to have trusted notaries and lawyers in its database, and a brokerage firm needs to have good business relationships with insurance organizations and banks.

Please note: In addition to the above, you also need to have your own website and portfolio, where customer reviews will be present. This will instill confidence in your customers.

Trade intermediation

Finally

If we try to consider mediation as a business, we can say that this type of activity is very promising for both beginning entrepreneurs and professionals. The main advantage of this business is the huge variety of options for its development and freedom of action.

Current ideas for making money

• How to start selling restored cars...

Mediation is a classic business, which is rightfully considered a connecting link between different spheres of management of the economic system. The more active intermediaries are, the more dynamic and quality the commodity-money turnover of all market participants, from manufacturers to the end consumer. But, despite its centuries-old history and rich practical experience, even today there are no precise theoretical materials on the topic of how to create a successful business through intermediary. Therefore, every aspiring mediator needs to be prepared to forge their own path. In this article we will look at the main points of organizing such activities.

How to make money through mediation

A more complex version of mediation is the so-called information and consulting cooperation, in which the agent offers his clients information that is of commercial interest to them. An example would be the activities of a broker. Read.

Business in intermediary in the service sector is the same as commodity cooperation, since the main role of the intermediary is to provide the service sector with the necessary goods.

Important! The first type of intermediation involves the entrepreneur using his own finances to purchase goods. The risks of such operations are quite high. The second option obliges the agent only to collect information about the market, transfer it to the customer and organize transactions. The agent's risks in this case are minimal.

However, despite the obvious benefits of the second option, it is difficult for an entrepreneur to become a highly paid agent. This requires good connections in business circles and a reliable business reputation.

Before trying to make money through mediation, an entrepreneur must determine for himself the basic parameters for searching for a product that will interest his clients. Most often, agents place bets on:

• uniqueness and low availability of some product items;
• rational proposals for promoting a product that is already on the market, but its potential has not been fully revealed;
• the opportunity to purchase goods at a reduced price;
• availability of information about the increase in the cost of certain commodity items in the near future.

The listed circumstances can become the basis for the implementation of a business idea in the field of intermediation, however, even the most favorable prerequisites and conditions will result in losses for the intermediary if he does not comply with the basic rules of the agent:

• Documentation of all agreements (no oral agreements or negotiations);
• personal support of the transaction at all stages (from concluding a contract to unloading at the customer’s warehouse);
• establishing a fixed percentage of the transaction as a fee for your services (fair pricing policy inspires confidence among clients).

If an entrepreneur is ready to organize his intermediary business, adhering to the specified framework, it will be much easier for him to protect his interests and organize the accurate execution of client orders.

One of the most promising and rapidly growing areas of business in the field of intermediation is auto insurance. Read. We will tell you how much you can earn by issuing CASCO and MTPL.

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How to organize an intermediary business

Enterprises engaged in intermediation can exist in different organizational and legal forms. These can be individual entrepreneurs (see), LLCs, joint-stock companies and other business associations created according to the rules provided for by the laws of the Russian Federation. The choice of form remains with the entrepreneur.

However, when analyzing the options, it is necessary to remember that in the future the intermediary needs to enter into contracts and organize transactions between major players in the market, and for this it is desirable to have a form of activity that indicates the seriousness of entrepreneurial intentions. In this case, an LLC is most suitable.

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You also need to be careful when choosing OKVED codes for intermediary activities. If an entrepreneur enters erroneous information into the state register, he may be held liable for non-statutory activities.

There is no specialized code in OKVED for trade intermediation. In fact, this is the same trade. An entrepreneur just needs to choose the type of activity - wholesale trade. If the business involves highly specialized mediation, then in each specific case it is necessary to select a special code. This is required for the following types of services:

• in the real estate industry (find out more about what it is);
• when trading securities;
• in the field of exchange trading, etc.

The code classifier is periodically revised by Gosstandart, so when registering business activities it is necessary to use current sources. During subsequent activities, codes can be changed in case of production necessity (when expanding activities or repurposing an enterprise).

How much does it cost to open and maintain a brokerage business?

The amount of initial investment in a company specializing in intermediation depends on the chosen format of activity. If the intermediary is only engaged in collecting information and organizing transactions, then minimal investments will be required:

• renting premises for several months in advance (about 50 thousand rubles);
• organization of two or three workplaces for employees (about 50 thousand rubles);
• furniture, office equipment, repairs and advertising (about 150 thousand rubles);

In total it comes out to 300 thousand rubles.

If mediation is carried out with the purchase of consignments of goods, then it is necessary to rent a warehouse (up to 100 thousand rubles - rent) and have working capital for profitable purchases of consignments of goods of at least 1.5 - 2 million rubles.

However, in some cases, when starting a business, you can do without large investments. How? - Watch the following video:

The bulk of monthly expenses are wages and rent. Salaries can be minimized by hiring the necessary workers only at the time of completing a transaction or for the period of implementation of a certain business project. In total, you need to plan up to 200 thousand rubles for monthly basic expenses.

How quickly will your investment pay off?

With proper planning and detailed analysis of business information, an entrepreneur can make money quickly and a lot through intermediation. So, when purchasing products from a supplier for a total amount of 100 thousand rubles, and subsequently selling them with a classic intermediary margin of 30%, the intermediary will earn 30 thousand rubles on one transaction, and there should be at least ten such transactions per month. If a product is in short supply or if you have a good idea for promoting it, you can set higher percentages (from 50% to 100%).

Online stores have long ceased to be a rare phenomenon, and on the contrary, they are rapidly gaining popularity among the Russian-speaking audience. More and more people are buying us electronics, furniture, building materials and much more, realizing that it will cost them much less than if they went to the nearest supermarket. On the other hand, it would be even more profitable to purchase from foreign online stores, but most are hampered by difficulties associated with payment and delivery, or by simple ignorance of the language. And here intermediaries come to the rescue, taking all the troubles upon themselves, asking for an appropriate remuneration for this.

How to become an online store intermediary

Study the topic “from cover to cover”

Otherwise, the work will be at your loss. You need to know the specifics of the goods that you will have to deal with, the methods of their delivery, the conditions of insurance and payment of compensation in the event of a defective product, issues related to customs duties. If at first it all seems too complicated, it is better to find a competent person/people who will advise you at first. Believe me, the purchase of goods in the United States and its subsequent transportation from the village of Kukuevo, Mukhosran region, is tantamount to developing a plan for a military operation.

Make connections

Of course, you can start a business alone by overpaying foreign suppliers for goods, but it will be better if you can make a profitable acquaintance “on the other side of the border.” The second intermediary will pay for the goods directly and send it independently - this is much cheaper and safer (bourgeois manufacturers do not consider it necessary to pay enough attention to the packaging and delivery of purchases, and some, in general, have never sent anything to Russia and the CIS countries and do not intend to ). You can find Russian-speaking partners on special forums and websites, but there are plenty of cases of scammers there, so it will still be better if your partner is a person you know.

Prepare a commercial proposal

Before you start work, you should figure out how to convince potential clients of your usefulness, so that they do not consider you a banal reseller. Try to bring to their attention that the process of purchasing and transporting goods is fraught with a lot of risks, including fraud, defective products, errors by postal workers and other problems, and you, as an intermediary, can provide a guarantee of speedy delivery and safety of purchased items. With all this, your prices should not be “biting”, otherwise most people will ignore even the most tempting offer. 7-10% for delivery is more than enough, although in some cases, if delivery and customs clearance costs a pretty penny, the price jumps to 20-30%.

Find buyers

The best option for this would be to create your own website, properly designed and promoted. Most of the content should be product descriptions with links to order (sales are especially effective if you provide them with review videos that clearly demonstrate the appearance of the product and its performance). Alternatively, you can search for clients in their natural habitat. If you are delivering women's goods, it's time to post your offer and contact information on women's websites and groups on social networks. If you sell car parts, run to the car enthusiasts forum. And so on, in general, you understand.

Prospects for intermediary business

At the initial stage, such a small enterprise requires virtually no capital investment. Five to six thousand rubles will be enough to place a couple of commercial advertisements, get a bank card for payments and pay for hosting services and a domain name for a year in advance. There will still be some left.

Despite the small investment, the profit is quite high. Even without straining too much, in a couple of months it is quite possible to reach a monthly income level of 10 thousand rubles. And if you set up large-scale production, purchasing and selling dozens of items in bulk, the amounts will be disproportionately higher. Of course, in this case you will have to take care of hiring additional staff and paying them wages.

This is what business is like. Do you think it’s worth working in this direction or would it be better to immediately start creating your own online store? Let's discuss in the comments.

Reviews and comments

Mediation is a fairly promising type of earnings - the markup on goods can be set almost the same as in your own online store, and this type of trading risk, when you purchased a product, but it turned out to be of no use to anyone and is simply lying around in your warehouse, is absent in principle . On the other hand, when ordering products from foreign suppliers, you can fall into the trap of scammers who will send you some kind of dummy or defective product. Accordingly, the money will be wasted (if you refuse to compensate the buyer for the loss, you will only make things worse for yourself).

The lack of a reliable legal basis (or status, whatever you want!) is the main headache for such an intermediary. Legally he is nobody. And of course, as a result of this, he is not completely protected from scammers! One can only dream of a solid, stable income in this area. And trust, as it was rightly said, in such areas of activity is earned over years!

I think this type of business is quite promising. Many people are afraid to buy online because they are afraid of being discounted and receiving low-quality goods, especially from abroad. The intermediary will be able to eliminate this problem for the buyer and also earn money from it.

I think that if you sell online, you may encounter low demand, people who go to websites buy a lot on their own in online stores and are oriented in this topic. You can buy goods in an online store with convenient delivery, and sell them in your city.

These schemes will soon stop working, if only because I personally participate in joint purchases in these foreign online stores, not only is the organizer of this collective purchase basically doing everything for me, but I also take at wholesale prices, yes Delivery is also cheaper.

I think it is unlikely that the relevance of mediation will ever go away. Many people do not want to surf foreign Internet resources, study a large amount of information, or take risks. Some people simply don’t have time for this. It is easier for them to use the services of intermediaries than to do everything themselves.

I would still put the “search for buyers” item in first place, because there are groups of goods, the intermediation in the sale of which will lead to practically nothing in terms of profit: it will be minimal, and the risk that you will be “thrown away” will not exist get away!

prolisk, in the latter case, the main thing is not to overdo it with markup, my experience suggests that this markup should not exceed 1/3 of the original cost of the product, otherwise potential buyers simply will not be interested in your product!

And it seemed to me that when discussing how to become an intermediary of an online store, they were referring to affiliate programs. This is when a store assigns you an ID and provides banners that you can place on their website. All you need to do is for the client to go to the store’s website and buy the product there. Aren't affiliates and intermediaries the same thing? Please explain to me the difference.

Yuran123, by the way, here is one of the problems of such intermediation: my experience shows that in 90% of cases the client is a “one-time” client and does not make repeated purchases. According to my observations, customers are most often not satisfied with the price/quality ratio in online stores.

Do you want to say that if you work not through the admintab with online stores, then the clients will not be one-time, but if through the admintab, then they will be one-time? Don't you think this sounds a little crazy?

Yuran123, I didn’t say a word about your favorite admin tab, but outlined a problem common to most intermediaries on the World Wide Web. It’s strange that you, as an experienced intermediary in online sales, did not pay attention to this. The client is looking where it is better, and I didn’t come up with this, but the statistics are as follows!

Well, yes, it also seems to me that the idea is good, few ordinary people will look for something on foreign sites themselves, and then wait a long time for delivery, people mostly do everything at the last moment, so they will look for something “closer” and more reliable.

Do any of those who responded have personal experience with mediation? Who has already become or was an online store intermediary? Share your personal experience, I think many will be interested.

Following the example of one jewelry online store. I created a VKontakte group, posted a link to the product, a photo of the product and the price. After some time, people began to write themselves. At the same time, some goods (a gold necklace in one copy) quickly sold out and people wrote “can we make it to order?”

One CPA partner. Product: coffee for weight loss. I also sold through VKontakte groups, they asked a lot, found out how much to take - a pack or more.

For another affiliate program - any goods. I wanted to create products on my domain - fitness mats. Support wrote to me that you can make a good store on the free blogspot platform (diaries from Google), but it didn’t go further than registering a blog.

Great! And the delivery and payments were made directly by the store itself, right? What criteria did you use to choose an online store? Still, before becoming an online store intermediary, you should have studied the reviews or paid attention to some aspects. How did you weed out the “reliable” and the not so reliable?