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[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

debitandcredit

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I wonder how they linked your accounts? Must be same beneficiary account, email, phone number, IP address logged in from etc. Any one of those would probably be enough.

Not sure I understood everything you wrote in your second paragraph though?! Bit confusing.

They are some niche that still converts at 5% ppc spending (on dropship items), so I am anxious to build proven products and raise cash on ebay now and shift the marketing channel to my magento sites at the same time. It seems to me I like wholesale sales better so I don't have to deal with consumers directly. That's the route I want to go eventually.
 
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bboyu

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I dont know if this question has been asked yet or not but i feel its really important.

I've heard lots of stories about paypal - i came across a local guy who got burnt by paypal and it took him 2 years to get back to where he was by working a slowlane job.

basically paypal has this thing about "you" being "high risk" - now you could be making money too fast, or selling products which are "high risk" - he had around a nice five figure sum in his paypal account and they froze it and kept it. He was finished overnight.

How do we know what high risk is? How do you avoid getting shut down? How can one do "business" on ebay/paypal? Ive heard they dont like you doing business on there but would rather have you selling adhoc items.

There's a big lack of control here. Now you cant stop people from paying you if youve got something in demand but for paypal you might be a "high risk" and get shutdown the same day?

What's one to do?
 

FastlaneTiger

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How do you guys pay taxes? I mean for ebay income.
 

Luke1213

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How do you guys pay taxes? I mean for ebay income.

I'm not a CPA so this is just my take. I would think if you are incorporated, you would pay your taxes based on your corporate structure. Ebay and amazon see you as a sub contractor. So anything over an x amount of dollars, they will 1099 you and you will pay taxes what you have sold through ebay or amazon. All your cost associated with ebay (listing, shipping, printing, ect.) are deductible as part of business expense.

If you are an individual, you will probably be taxed on a self employment basis and will need to pay taxes on your earnings as well as a self employment tax. Your cost associated with ebay/amazon are deductible as well.

I am not 100% sure but I think their is a program that is designed for use with e-commerce businesses that help you track your earnings/spending and helps calculate what your tax liability may be.
 
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Ecom man

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I dont know if this question has been asked yet or not but i feel its really important.

I've heard lots of stories about paypal - i came across a local guy who got burnt by paypal and it took him 2 years to get back to where he was by working a slowlane job.

basically paypal has this thing about "you" being "high risk" - now you could be making money too fast, or selling products which are "high risk" - he had around a nice five figure sum in his paypal account and they froze it and kept it. He was finished overnight.

How do we know what high risk is? How do you avoid getting shut down? How can one do "business" on ebay/paypal? Ive heard they dont like you doing business on there but would rather have you selling adhoc items.

There's a big lack of control here. Now you cant stop people from paying you if youve got something in demand but for paypal you might be a "high risk" and get shutdown the same day?

What's one to do?
2 things about that story, 1. It is illegal for paypal to keep that money unless he was selling stolen merchandise in that case they would turn the money over to the authorities. They can put a hold on the money for a certain number of days but after that you are allowed to withdraw it. 2. Yes you can get shut down by eBay or Paypal when they deem you "high risk". The high risk is because you aren't doing things right. You get tons of negative feedback, you don't put tracking numbers on the orders, etc.

Common sense goes along way towards running a business and obviously this guy you talked to does not have any. Why would you leave over $10,000 in an account that is not insured, doesn't pay you any interest, gives you no perks for keeping it there? I withdraw money on a daily basis. I keep enough money in my paypal to pay for the eBay fees I am racking up and a few hundred dollars more to cover any returns etc. everything else is pulled out daily to my bank account.

As far as people selling on eBay or Amazon as a business I don't know where you got your info from but most of the sellers are business people. Some are very small and some are very large but they are all looking to make a buck. Yes, there are random individuals who sell things on there but the large majority are businesses. eBay even a has a wholesale type site where they encourage businesses to buy from and resell on their site.

eBay and Paypal just don't shut people down willy nilly because the people are doing wonderful. There are always reasons why and the person you talked to and the people on the internet that complain always seem to leave out what they did wrong.
 

Ecom man

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I'm not a CPA so this is just my take. I would think if you are incorporated, you would pay your taxes based on your corporate structure. Ebay and amazon see you as a sub contractor. So anything over an x amount of dollars, they will 1099 you and you will pay taxes what you have sold through ebay or amazon. All your cost associated with ebay (listing, shipping, printing, ect.) are deductible as part of business expense.

If you are an individual, you will probably be taxed on a self employment basis and will need to pay taxes on your earnings as well as a self employment tax. Your cost associated with ebay/amazon are deductible as well.

I am not 100% sure but I think their is a program that is designed for use with e-commerce businesses that help you track your earnings/spending and helps calculate what your tax liability may be.
Great answer. As always see your local CPA or tax professional. There are many different ways you can structure your business to pay less taxes. If you are going to run your own business you need to understand the costs and taxes involved in doing so and which legal entity is best for your specific circumstances.
 

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Hi. Thanks for taking the time to talk about this topic. In the last three months I searched high and low to find a niche to sell to and have successfully found one. I'm probably the second best seller if not THE best in my niche and have been getting serious orders. Serious orders in the sense really serious orders. Everyday, I spend 12+ hours packing my orders and dropping them off for shipping. Right now I'm the only one working on this project so it is very hectic. I think it is also important to say that I haven't spent a dime on advertisement yet. Everything is organic.

Assuming the business will grow at this rate, in the next two months I wont have time to dispatch half of my daily orders. I have thought about hiring someone to do this but I'm afraid they might become my competition given the low barriers of entry. Is there any way out of this deadlock ? I got a lot more to ask you but will go one by one. Thanks
 
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Ecom man

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Hi. Thanks for taking the time to talk about this topic. In the last three months I searched high and low to find a niche to sell to and have successfully found one. I'm probably the second best seller if not THE best in my niche and have been getting serious orders. Serious orders in the sense really serious orders. Everyday, I spend 12+ hours packing my orders and dropping them off for shipping. Right now I'm the only one working on this project so it is very hectic. I think it is also important to say that I haven't spent a dime on advertisement yet. Everything is organic.

Assuming the business will grow at this rate, in the next two months I wont have time to dispatch half of my daily orders. I have thought about hiring someone to do this but I'm afraid they might become my competition given the low barriers of entry. Is there any way out of this deadlock ? I got a lot more to ask you but will go one by one. Thanks
Assuming you are making good profit per item I would use fullfillment by Amazon or another fulfillment company. You send all the products to Amazon's warehouse and they can fulfill all your orders from your personal website, eBay, Amazon, etc. That would certainly free up a lot more of your time and allow you to handle more business.
 

Tyman

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Hi. Thanks for taking the time to talk about this topic. In the last three months I searched high and low to find a niche to sell to and have successfully found one. I'm probably the second best seller if not THE best in my niche and have been getting serious orders. Serious orders in the sense really serious orders. Everyday, I spend 12+ hours packing my orders and dropping them off for shipping. Right now I'm the only one working on this project so it is very hectic. I think it is also important to say that I haven't spent a dime on advertisement yet. Everything is organic.

Assuming the business will grow at this rate, in the next two months I wont have time to dispatch half of my daily orders. I have thought about hiring someone to do this but I'm afraid they might become my competition given the low barriers of entry. Is there any way out of this deadlock ? I got a lot more to ask you but will go one by one. Thanks

If the margins allows it you could use a fulfillment center.
 

webenthusiast

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Assuming you are making good profit per item I would use fullfillment by Amazon
use a fulfillment center
Thanks for the reply. I have applied for Amazon fulfillment, lets see how it goes.

Next on the list is customer consolidation. I made a FB page and have been promoting it with my customers to bring them together so that it is easy to market any new product or line that I might start in the future. I print flyers for the page and send it with the order. The page likes are going up and so I believe that my customers are interested in my products. What do you think about this method? Are there any other method that you use to keep your buyers informed of new products ?

Someone told me to offer 1% or 2% off coupons for second purchase. My margins are quite high so I can do this if there is no other way. Other than this, what is the best method to keep 'em coming back ?
 
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Ecom man

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Thanks for the reply. I have applied for Amazon fulfillment, lets see how it goes.

Next on the list is customer consolidation. I made a FB page and have been promoting it with my customers to bring them together so that it is easy to market any new product or line that I might start in the future. I print flyers for the page and send it with the order. The page likes are going up and so I believe that my customers are interested in my products. What do you think about this method? Are there any other method that you use to keep your buyers informed of new products ?

Someone told me to offer 1% or 2% off coupons for second purchase. My margins are quite high so I can do this if there is no other way. Other than this, what is the best method to keep 'em coming back ?
Coupons are a super good way but idk if 1% is enough depending on how expensive your products are. If you could direct them to your own website in the form of a coupon that would be the best. Even if you just have a simple shop set up on a website that doesn't charge you the 10% fees eBay does you can give your customers up to 10% off and still be making the same amount per sale.

I love the idea of making a Facebook page and giving updated products etc that way. The issue with that is Facebook keeps changing their setup so even though people have liked your page they still don't see all your updates if they haven't visited in a while. If you could set up a shop and then offer a 10% coupon on sales on that site once they enter their email address that would be super. Then you have an email list of all your interested people and can send an email blast when you have a new product, new discount, etc.
 

smartman

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just hire a relative that is out of work or a high school kid that doesn't have the means to steal your idea and compete with you. The simplest solution is sometimes the best. Maybe even a retired person that can move at a decent clip. Lots of people straight up don't give a shit about risking anything to make more money. those are called employees.
 

mosdef

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2 more products ordered. Maybe not the greatest products but i felt its time to try and see what happens. Learn from there.
 

Krzysztof

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As this is my first post on The Fastlane Forum, I'd like to say hi to everyone!

First of, Ecom man, thank you very much for starting this thread and sharing lots of great tips with us!

Until now, I've done just a few purchases via Aliexpress, which were purely items for the use in my small business. However, after going through all 30 pages of this topic, I decided to give it a try in reselling on an auction platform in Poland (ebay is almost non-existent here as there was already a very strongly established leader when ebay decided to enter... and failed miserably).

Based on the few transactions I made on Aliexpress, I'd like to share one insight with you:

It is possible to get a refund on low quality products via "Open dispute" option on Aliexpress. I would say always go with it, as you have nothing to lose if you plan on throwing out the stuff anyway. One word of caution though - if the seller gives you two options:
- you keep the items and they refund you part of the money,
- you send back the items and get a full refund,
go for the partial refund on the basis that when they get the product back, knowing you will not be doing any business with them, they will find a million reasons to not give you the full refund. You should still be able to get the partial money back. Not worth the additional hassle though, just get the partial refund and do whatever you want with the products.
 
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SeanyHang

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Hey Ecom man,

You may have already answered these questions (I'm on page 5 of 30.. so I got some more digging to do) but I figured I'd go ahead and ask you anyway..

First..What are the hidden costs of importing from China? For instance, maybe you found a product that you think has a great margin but you don't factor in the shipping, taxes, duties, etc.. You can get in over your head pretty quickly it would seem! Basically for this question I'm just asking are there any "hidden" costs that a newbie importer wouldn't know about?

Second..How exactly does customs work with this (I've never dealt with them before).. Do I have to call customs before I obtain my samples/first order? What do I even tell them? Is it possible to just buy from alibaba and have it shipped right to your house without even notifying customs?
Basically for this question I'm just asking what the process is after you've decided on a product, negotiated, and put in an order with a Chinese supplier.

I hope this post wasn't too convoluted!

Awesome thread by the way, I can't thank you enough for putting in the time and effort to educate us all.

-Sean
 

Neeraj

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I'd like to add that, if you're only just starting out, you probably don't have any clue about licences either.
Even established companies sometimes have a hard time figuring out which licences are relevant for which product group.
Retroactive claims by licence owners could even kill your business outright.

I think this is a very very valid point. I'm pretty ignorant in this space, but please bear with me. Let's take this hypothetical situation for example. I decide to import and sell a credible, largely distributed product online. Say, iPhone or Timex watches or even RedBull. Now these products have an excellent, already existing distribution network to B&M stores and e-commerce stores, mostly overseen by Apple/Timex/RedBull. If I happen to locate a source where I can obtain these items at great wholesale prices and I decide to resell them online, what licenses/permissions must I have or be aware of?
Could you help me with this, Ecom Man?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Neeraj
 
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Luke1213

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Products like Ipods and Timex watches from China that sell for a third of the price of retail are more than likely fakes so I would steer clear of importing any top name brand item like that unless you get it directly from Apple or Timex so beware. If customs sees that you are importing fake products to resell, they will seize your products and possibly you will have to pay a fine.
 
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Luke1213

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First..What are the hidden costs of importing from China? For instance, maybe you found a product that you think has a great margin but you don't factor in the shipping, taxes, duties, etc.. You can get in over your head pretty quickly it would seem! Basically for this question I'm just asking are there any "hidden" costs that a newbie importer wouldn't know about?
Second..How exactly does customs work with this (I've never dealt with them before).. Do I have to call customs before I obtain my samples/first order? What do I even tell them? Is it possible to just buy from alibaba and have it shipped right to your house without even notifying customs?
Basically for this question I'm just asking what the process is after you've decided on a product, negotiated, and put in an order with a Chinese supplier.

Maybe I can shed some light.

I have imported small amounts from China and what my supplier quoted me was what I paid. Once again, these are for small ltl shipments that can be shipped easily. Their can be other costs associated with your product like upc labeling, custom packages, ect. but only if you choose it.

As for customs, your supplier should handle it up to a certain point. The products I pay for include everything needed to get it from China to my doorstep without needing to deal with customs. Once a person gets into the massive bulk shipments where a container is needed, then I would go with a customs broker/freight forwarder.
 

Ecom man

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Hey Ecom man,

You may have already answered these questions (I'm on page 5 of 30.. so I got some more digging to do) but I figured I'd go ahead and ask you anyway..

First..What are the hidden costs of importing from China? For instance, maybe you found a product that you think has a great margin but you don't factor in the shipping, taxes, duties, etc.. You can get in over your head pretty quickly it would seem! Basically for this question I'm just asking are there any "hidden" costs that a newbie importer wouldn't know about?

Second..How exactly does customs work with this (I've never dealt with them before).. Do I have to call customs before I obtain my samples/first order? What do I even tell them? Is it possible to just buy from alibaba and have it shipped right to your house without even notifying customs?
Basically for this question I'm just asking what the process is after you've decided on a product, negotiated, and put in an order with a Chinese supplier.

I hope this post wasn't too convoluted!

Awesome thread by the way, I can't thank you enough for putting in the time and effort to educate us all.

-Sean
I ask the seller for a price including express shipping, customs, etc to my door. So if fast shipping adds $x and customs adds $y I don't have to worry about it. I just want the complete price shipped to my door for x number of products then i divide that by the number of products and I know what my all in price is.
 

Ecom man

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Products like Ipods and Timex watches from China that sell for a third of the price of retail are more than likely fakes so I would steer clear of importing any top name brand item like that unless you get it directly from Apple or Timex so beware. If customs sees that you are importing fake products to resell, they will seize your products and possibly you will have to pay a fine.
Perfect answer!
 
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Neeraj

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Products like Ipods and Timex watches from China that sell for a third of the price of retail are more than likely fakes so I would steer clear of importing any top name brand item like that unless you get it directly from Apple or Timex so beware. If customs sees that you are importing fake products to resell, they will seize your products and possibly you will have to pay a fine.

Thanks. Yes. I understand that. But I wasn't implying Chinese fakes specifically. I was referring to genuine products. What about licenses in this scenario?
 

Ecom man

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Thanks. Yes. I understand that. But I wasn't implying Chinese fakes specifically. I was referring to genuine products. What about licenses in this scenario?
Your hypothetical situation will never happen. They only way to get name brand products like these at any discount would be either they are stolen or they are stolen. All major companies such as these have very strict rules on what discounts items can be sold at (hence why around Black Friday they give out gift cards with the apple product rather than reduce the price.) Anyone finding name brand products at a significant discount is about to be scammed.
 

Neeraj

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Your hypothetical situation will never happen. They only way to get name brand products like these at any discount would be either they are stolen or they are stolen. All major companies such as these have very strict rules on what discounts items can be sold at (hence why around Black Friday they give out gift cards with the apple product rather than reduce the price.) Anyone finding name brand products at a significant discount is about to be scammed.

Thank you for taking the time to answer.
 
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mosdef

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what do you guys pay for freight forwarder? Is it cheap in the states?
 

Villain

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Two of my products (the "profitable" ones), have turned out to be junk.

Lesson #2: Do your due diligence and test your items thoroughly before putting them on the market.

Looking forward to lots of returns!
 

Krzysztof

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Not good to hear that :(

One insight regaring everything is negotiable topic - I've had situations where a product for outdoor use got broken due to heavy wind and people lack of attention. I've asked the sellers to sell me only the spare parts that I needed to fix the products. If you make the sellers believe that more orders for the original products will follow (which is easy if you've already placed a few before), they will be happy to deliver you the spare parts. We've even done it in a way that after email agreement we "bought" a product on Aliexpress and they changed the price afterwards + in the comments section put all the details of our agreement.
 
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Ecom man

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Two of my products (the "profitable" ones), have turned out to be junk.

Lesson #2: Do your due diligence and test your items thoroughly before putting them on the market.

Looking forward to lots of returns!
Thats a bummer. Returns are a part of the business but when you have tons because of junk it's really a pain.
 

SeanyHang

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I ask the seller for a price including express shipping, customs, etc to my door. So if fast shipping adds $x and customs adds $y I don't have to worry about it. I just want the complete price shipped to my door for x number of products then i divide that by the number of products and I know what my all in price is.

You don't know how long I've been looking for an answer for this. You DA mannn.. ++Speed
 

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