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LADs Quit Their Jobs To Make A Mint Selling Rare Coins on eBay

LADs Quit Their Jobs To Make A Mint Selling Rare Coins on eBay

James Grear and Henry Bishop from Bristol, England quit their £9-an-hour jobs as labourers on a building site to set up The Coin Supplier

Chris Ogden

Chris Ogden

No doubt many of us have thought of sacking our jobs off to start our own business at some point, but it takes a savvy sort of person to actually do it.

Two LADs from Bristol, England have done just that as they quit their £9-an-hour day jobs to set up their own coin trading company called The Coin Supplier.

The business that James Grear and Henry Bishop, now 20, set up now operates from a bedroom in a flatshare with friends, specialising in trading rare coins and turning over up to £70,000 ($95,000) a year. Not a bad way to make a living, is it?

Chronicle Live WS

"I will literally sit and sort through all the coins," James told the Sun Online. "Since we started, I've learnt which coins are good and got much quicker at it."

James got the idea for The Coin Supplier after he noticed a weird-looking 50p ($0.67) coin in his change while taking his lunch break at work one day, inspiring him to see how much it was worth on eBay.

It turned out to be a 2011 WWF 50p, one of the rarest coins currently in circulation, and sold for £4 - eight times its actual value.

Two years later, The Coin Supplier now turns over between £50,000 ($67,000) and £70,000 ($95,000) a year. Not bad for a casual punt really.

The coin that led to The Coin Supplier's success: a 2011 WWF 50p.
PA

The business wasn't smooth running at first as at first the pair struggled to get hold of enough cash to fund it, along with enough coins to get hold of the rare ones and flog them.

James and Henry's efforts were also hampered by the banks, who would only let them withdraw £100 ($135) worth of change per day.

"It wasn't easy to find a supplier," James explained. "We had to go out and find people that would support our business.

"Banks only let you withdraw £100 max in coins so we needed to work with businesses to set up contacts so that we can get a regular supply."

Just two months after setting up The Coin Supplier, James and Henry felt confident enough to sack off the building site and sell coins full-time.

While James continues to run the business, Henry left the UK back in August so he could have fun travelling the world. Alright for some.

The 2012 Commonwealth Games coin can sell for up to £20 - £40 online.
PA

Last year, the pair won an eBay business award, being picked out of hundreds of entries to receive a cash prize and a trip to San Jose, California to meet eBay's executive team.

According to the Bristol Post, the pair were also awarded assistance from online commerce experts Linnworks to help them boost their presence online.

"We really weren't expecting to win anything, let alone one of the grand prizes," James said.

"It's lovely to get this kind of recognition so soon into our business lives and being able to say we've won a national business award already will be really valuable for us."

The pair said they would use the money to scale up their operation, moving into a proper office space and putting more time into marketing and strategy.

Fair play to the LADs for spotting the opportunity and taking it. Better start rummaging through your wallets then.

Featured Image Credit: Chronicle Live WS

Topics: UK News, Business, News, Bristol