I think it is for regular contracts, yeah. One-off orders are pretty good though; because they require the items to come to me from China and then to their warehouse, I always take advantage on the markup on their order to top up depleting stock. That way, while I don't always make a profit from those orders, I do at least get what of my stock needs to be refilled sorted out.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure a loan would be massively beneficial currently - certainly in terms of paying it back I'd have issues, but I have a pretty extensive stock range as it is and my forays into advertising outside of eBay have produced really naff results, as did having my own e-commerce site (6 months that was up, plus advertising, and I got one sodding sale through it!)

The problem is that eBay sort of spoils you. They give you a huge amount of help in certain ways - marketing, pricing, listing advice and whatnot - so anywhere else you have to sort those yourself. Of course, you could - but things are (hopefully) improving, and the operative word is that it's in profit rather than running at a loss. It'll come! Anything to avoid going back on the bloody dole...