[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[Ecom man]

Do you know after how much in dollar value, or after how many sales I'll be able to have the limits removed from paypal?


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https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/?cmd=xpt/Customer/popup/PPPolicyForEBayItemHolds-outside

 

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[MoneyDoc]

https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/?cmd=xpt/Customer/popup/PPPolicyForEBayItemHolds-outside

So just to confirm I understood it properly.

My account is about 3-4 months, but I recently started selling.

I have 3 positive feedbacks right now and 18 still waiting to come (products have been delivered yet). So when I get the remaining 18, and say there all positive, the next items I sell, funds will be released instantly?


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[Ecom man]

So just to confirm I understood it properly.

My account is about 3-4 months, but I recently started selling.

I have 3 positive feedbacks right now and 18 still waiting to come (products have been delivered yet). So when I get the remaining 18, and say there all positive, the next items I sell, funds will be released instantly?


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Thats what it appears to say after 20 DSRs it is released immediately.

 

[NaPal]

Just my humble opinion. If you guys aren't out at the local malls and other high traffic places you're nuts. My wife and I have been people watching and scouting stores and have found a TON of products. If you're serious, do it.

Get your phone out and as you see something, run your tests to see if it meets your criteria and there you go.

Are you looking for products in stores and then trying to find an equal product to import?
Could you give an example?

 

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[MoneyDoc]

Are you looking for products in stores and then trying to find an equal product to import?
Could you give an example?

I'll give you one. Not sure if this is what he meant, but, In my mall there is an electronics shop that sells phone cases, chargers, batteries etc. The prices are absurd... I approached the owner, he usually is the only one working there, I told him how much do you pay for these cases. He told me, "$9 dollars". That's ridiculous. I told him what if I got you those exact same cases for $5, we signed a deal for 100 cases right there (I got them for $2 each with shipping). Now he calls me up when he needs something.

But the products in his store can easily be found in china and sold for much much cheaper.


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[AlterJoule]

Are you looking for products in stores and then trying to find an equal product to import?
Could you give an example?

We just went into all the stores and looked for products that were unique and looked like something we'd use. From there we checked eBay/Amazon to scope the competition. It really hasn't been hard. By going into the stores and looking around in general to see what people are using and buying, you are literally flooded with ideas. Sitting at home you may find yourself hitting a wall or sticking to one niche. Going out expands ideas like crazy.

Also, I personally look for items with multiple uses. For example:

"Mediocre Tire Guy" might sell $5000.00 in tires a month.

"Alterjoule's Amazing Tire Co." might sell $5000.00 in tires, $2800.00 in tire swings, $3300.00 to the CrossFit guys, $1200.00 to the goKart track guys, etc... Catch my drift? No pun.

 

[NaPal]

We just went into all the stores and looked for products that were unique and looked like something we'd use. From there we checked eBay/Amazon to scope the competition. It really hasn't been hard. By going into the stores and looking around in general to see what people are using and buying, you are literally flooded with ideas. Sitting at home you may find yourself hitting a wall or sticking to one niche. Going out expands ideas like crazy.

Also, I personally look for items with multiple uses. For example:

"Mediocre Tire Guy" might sell $5000.00 in tires a month.

"Alterjoule's Amazing Tire Co." might sell $5000.00 in tires, $2800.00 in tire swings, $3300.00 to the CrossFit guys, $1200.00 to the goKart track guys, etc... Catch my drift? No pun.

Awesome! Thank you for the explanation. I will try this out in the next few days.

 

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[ebms]

I'm about to order samples of 4 products from the same supplier. Quoted $63 for the samples and $42 for DHL shipping. Each piece weighs a pound at most. Does this look fair? Would anyone negotiate?

 

[Ecom man]

I'm about to order samples of 4 products from the same supplier. Quoted $63 for the samples and $42 for DHL shipping. Each piece weighs a pound at most. Does this look fair? Would anyone negotiate?

It seems pretty expensive for only 4 items but the only way to know for sure woukd be go online and do some research on DHL and see what the actual cost is.

 

[exclusives88]

@Ecom man

Recently, I ordered a product from ebay and I received an e-mail saying thank you for the order and to check out their online store for a 20% coupon. I'd like to do the same but I couldn't find a free e-mail service that does it automatically. Do you know of any services like this? I looked into mail chimp but I do not think they offer something like this.

Oh yes. I sold $550 this month. Thanks to you. REPS transferred.

 

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[Ecom man]

@Ecom man

Recently, I ordered a product from ebay and I received an e-mail saying thank you for the order and to check out their online store for a 20% coupon. I'd like to do the same but I couldn't find a free e-mail service that does it automatically. Do you know of any services like this? I looked into mail chimp but I do not think they offer something like this.

Oh yes. I sold $550 this month. Thanks to you. REPS transferred.

I don't know of a product that pulls emails from paypal and then sends a form email. (Sounds like a great fastlane idea) They are probably just pulling them manually and then sending them. It wouldn't take long to copy and paste from a tab that you have paypal open in to a tab with your email.

 

[exclusives88]

I don't know of a product that pulls emails from paypal and then sends a form email. (Sounds like a great fastlane idea) They are probably just pulling them manually and then sending them. It wouldn't take long to copy and paste from a tab that you have paypal open in to a tab with your email.

The system that the seller was using is called Channel Advisor. It is a inventory management system that has that automatic e-mail built in. Apparently, it is very expensive. I read someone is paying $800 a month for the inventory management system (not just the built in e-mail).

You're right that it is easy to copy and paste an e-mail to the paypal address but if you are talking about high volume, it may take a lot of time. Plus, the e-mail has to be sent automatically when someone pays via paypal. If I am out (sipping cocktails at the beach), there would be a delay. I agree it might be worth it for someone to program this function and charge like 2% of sale..

 

[Dicky Dee]

@Ecom man got a question for you, do you have any experience starting distribution in a different country other then the one you reside in? Im from Canada and am looking to start a distribution company in the states meaning i'll have goods from china sent to me in Canada and in the U.S. as well. This allows me to compete in the states simply because i dont need to pay canadian shipping costs which would be a HUGE advantage.

Also i know you dont sell using amazon fba but do you know if that would solve the shipping issue if i used amazon fba? I havent thought about using it until i read a few people in here use it.

 

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[Five Star]

Oh yes. I sold $550 this month. Thanks to you. REPS transferred.

Got about $500 in sales in my first week, my account is new and only has 3 feedback.

^^^ Nice work! Care to expand a little on the positive progress, to keep the rest of us inspired??

Fro example.........Did you concentrate on just one product, or many? Did you make much profit? What did you learn along the way?

 

[exclusives88]

^^^ Nice work! Care to expand a little on the positive progress, to keep the rest of us inspired??

Fro example.........Did you concentrate on just one product, or many? Did you make much profit? What did you learn along the way?

I am selling multiple products in the Home, Garden, Decor category. I sell through Ebay, Amazon and also my online store that was set up (using drop shippers). So far, I have most success with Ebay.

I imported a product from China that isn't unique. In fact, there are a lot of competitors for this productl. I ordered the product for $1.88 a set. I put them on ebay for $7.95 and only got 1 sale. I decreased the price to $6.95 and I've been getting more orders. So far, within this month I've sold maybe 12 sets.

My profit margin is not bad but $ wise is not much. $2 for shipping, .20 for bag, and roughly $1 on fees. So my profit for each sale is a little bit under $2.

I also sell silk flowers and plant. I have a website set up for this. I have a few distributors where I use dropshipping. Profit margin isn't bad. Average margin is 20-30%. However, $ wise it is quite larger because some plants i've sold go for $200. Most of my sales were from the silk flowers through Ebay. In fact, more sales are from Ebay then my store. Zero sales on Amazon.

Right now but sales are around $650 within this month. I recently imported some beauty products from China. Profit Margin on these products should be a lot better in my opinion. I am going to make a simple website through Square Space (Check that site out. You can make very professional websites that imbeds php, flash...etc).

In my opinion, you can sell anything on Ebay but it is going to take time to find the right product that will net you $20 in your pockets. Like what everyone is saying, test the product, sell, and see if the market wants it. If not, move on...

 

[exclusives88]

Also wanted to add that I think it is important to have your ebay account to be a top rated seller. If you can get your listing on the first page, you would be able to sell a ton.

If you don't have a ebay account, I would do so now and start selling stuff in your house.

That is what I am working on. $500 profit a day. Is that doable?

 

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[Ecom man]

@Ecom man got a question for you, do you have any experience starting distribution in a different country other then the one you reside in? Im from Canada and am looking to start a distribution company in the states meaning i'll have goods from china sent to me in Canada and in the U.S. as well. This allows me to compete in the states simply because i dont need to pay canadian shipping costs which would be a HUGE advantage.

Also i know you dont sell using amazon fba but do you know if that would solve the shipping issue if i used amazon fba? I havent thought about using it until i read a few people in here use it.

I have never done something like that but I think doing Amazon FBA would be your best option to use. You ship the items to Amazon FBA program and they ship out the products to people that buy on Amazon, eBay, your own website, etc.

 

[Five Star]

I completely forgot how long it takes to upload items on eBay!!

Listing a few items around the home to get my rating up on my new account while I wait for my products. Probably spent around 4 hours to get 6 items up!

Everything from IT problems, laptop running slowly to getting familiar again with filling in the form and taking and editing the photos

Is this an ongoing problem you guys are experiencing, or does it get easier when you hone your skills??

Also noticed the fees really add up quickly if you don't wan't to risk your auction starting at 0.99. I imagine for new products, you stick to 'Buy it Now'.

 

[Ecom man]

I completely forgot how long it takes to upload items on eBay!!

Listing a few items around the home to get my rating up on my new account while I wait for my products. Probably spent around 4 hours to get 6 items up!

Everything from IT problems, laptop running slowly to getting familiar again with filling in the form and taking and editing the photos

Is this an ongoing problem you guys are experiencing, or does it get easier when you hone your skills??

Also noticed the fees really add up quickly if you don't wan't to risk your auction starting at 0.99. I imagine for new products, you stick to 'Buy it Now'.

I use solely "Buy It Now" for all my products. That way I have the profits already figured and makes it a lot easier. If you have a smartphone or tablet you need to download the eBay app. You can get a listing done in about 5 minutes. If anyone has the same product you can click sell one like this and it automatically adds the category etc to the listing. You take the pics with your phone right in the app type out your description and you're done. That will save you a ton of time.

 

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[maybach]

The system that the seller was using is called Channel Advisor. It is a inventory management system that has that automatic e-mail built in. Apparently, it is very expensive. I read someone is paying $800 a month for the inventory management system (not just the built in e-mail).

You're right that it is easy to copy and paste an e-mail to the paypal address but if you are talking about high volume, it may take a lot of time. Plus, the e-mail has to be sent automatically when someone pays via paypal. If I am out (sipping cocktails at the beach), there would be a delay. I agree it might be worth it for someone to program this function and charge like 2% of sale..

Interesting, I might be able to build a simple email system, if that's what you're looking for.

 

[Five Star]

I use solely "Buy It Now" for all my products. That way I have the profits already figured and makes it a lot easier. If you have a smartphone or tablet you need to download the eBay app. You can get a listing done in about 5 minutes. If anyone has the same product you can click sell one like this and it automatically adds the category etc to the listing. You take the pics with your phone right in the app type out your description and you're done. That will save you a ton of time.

Thanks for the tips. It was the first time I'd used the new 'Business Account', so I guess it was a little new to me. Had to set up returns policies etc., which was a bit more time consuming.

I have the app, but find it a bit cumbersome typing so much on the tablet when you have a lot to write. Hopefully once I have things set up a bit better I'll benefit from it more.

I understand with the new items 'BIN' is best, but since I'm just selling a few odd bits just lying around at home I figured I'd use auction style with the 'BIN' option. In hindsight this is probably a bad idea, more fees, and I might not get what I want. Once you set it up as an Auction, can you change it to 'BIN' only?

With regard pics, do you use high quality DSLR images cropped, with a white background for all your new products, or stick to the tablet/phone camera?

 

[Ecom man]

Thanks for the tips. It was the first time I'd used the new 'Business Account', so I guess it was a little new to me. Had to set up returns policies etc., which was a bit more time consuming.

I have the app, but find it a bit cumbersome typing so much on the tablet when you have a lot to write. Hopefully once I have things set up a bit better I'll benefit from it more.

I understand with the new items 'BIN' is best, but since I'm just selling a few odd bits just lying around at home I figured I'd use auction style with the 'BIN' option. In hindsight this is probably a bad idea, more fees, and I might not get what I want. Once you set it up as an Auction, can you change it to 'BIN' only?

With regard pics, do you use high quality DSLR images cropped, with a white background for all your new products, or stick to the tablet/phone camera?

It can be a pain to type on a tablet or phone for the description. I copy and paste almost everything from one listing to another so i only type out 2-3 sentences at the top and then copy and paste my shipping times contact info return policy etc.

Once you have a listing as an auction the only way to change it to buy it now is to end the auction and then relist as a buy it now. With a single item an auction might work better than the buy it now anyway. We live in an immediate gratification society so some people don't want to hassle with the auction listings.

I use the camera on my iphone 5s (which I think is an 7-8 megapixel) and a tan blanket as the background. A lot of people have gone to using the white background from Photoshop or elsewhere. I feel like making it look like an actual picture helps people understand that I have the items in my possesion. There are a lot of people on eBay that drop ship from China and they all tend to have an all white background. I want to distinguish my items from them. Plus it helps when people ask questions about the item to refer them to the images I took rather than just stock photos.

 

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[NaPal]

As en ebay buyer. I always eliminate everything but BIN auctions. I do not have time to wait around and bid on something i think i might get. I will always pay the small premium and BIN.

When i was younger with no responsibilities, sure auctions were great. But now =every single second of my day is taken up and i never bid on auctions.

I completely forgot how long it takes to upload items on eBay!!

Listing a few items around the home to get my rating up on my new account while I wait for my products. Probably spent around 4 hours to get 6 items up!

Everything from IT problems, laptop running slowly to getting familiar again with filling in the form and taking and editing the photos

Is this an ongoing problem you guys are experiencing, or does it get easier when you hone your skills??

Also noticed the fees really add up quickly if you don't wan't to risk your auction starting at 0.99. I imagine for new products, you stick to 'Buy it Now'.

The majority was probably getting everything set up the first time.
I've found that 'one off' products can take a while to list. Especially if they're specific and have a lot of specifications. For your household items you're selling each one is different, which means you have to create a new listing for every single item you sell, which = your time.
When you get items from suppliers to sell it will just be the same single product you're selling over and over and over. So once the listing is created all you have to do is pack & ship and done.

 

[JustinBoshans]

I've been trying to figure out how to use ebay completed listings more efficiently. Do you search by category, specific product? How exactly do you use this feature Ecom Man?

 

[maybach]

I've been trying to figure out how to use ebay completed listings more efficiently. Do you search by category, specific product? How exactly do you use this feature Ecom Man?

There is a featured called "Sold Listings" which will only show you the sold listings that have been completed (you might already know this). This helps me personally to know what I can expect an item to sell, and also map the time of the highs and lows. You can search an item, and then on the left pane under completed listings, is a check box for sold listing.

 

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[JustinBoshans]

There is a featured called "Sold Listings" which will only show you the sold listings that have been completed (you might already know this). This helps me personally to know what I can expect an item to sell, and also map the time of the highs and lows. You can search an item, and then on the left pane under completed listings, is a check box for sold listing.

I did know that part. What I'm looking to use it for is finding new ideas for items to sell.

 

[maybach]

I did know that part. What I'm looking to use it for is finding new ideas for items to sell.

I don't know what @Ecom man does, and I'm sure he's best to answer this, but maybe going to a category of your interest and hitting sold, and the arrange by highest price. It would be interesting to get a frequency report of items sold on eBay, maybe by using their API, something like that could be made.

He did mention he would make lists of stuff people used often, in an office, friends house, your house, store... etc. I'm only on page like 18 of all of the current pages.

 

[Ecom man]

I've been trying to figure out how to use ebay completed listings more efficiently. Do you search by category, specific product? How exactly do you use this feature Ecom Man?

When looking for new products i normally don't use the completed listings. I use the active buy it now listings. Most people who import or sell tons of products use buy it now to sell large quantities. I will use any keyword "toy" "kitchen" "bath" literally any word and then search buy it now listings. I will go through a few pages of the best match and click into each listing. If one of them looks promising (has a lot of sales, looks small enough to ship, something i personally would purchase) then I use that item as my keywords and see who else is selling it. If it has just a couple competitors or ones that have horrible feedback or shipping times I will then see what prices I can get on the various sites. If tons of competitors and not much profit I'll go back to searching the keyword I was on. Many times one keyword search will give you more ideas and products than you could research in a year.

 

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[JustinBoshans]

When looking for new products i normally don't use the completed listings. I use the active buy it now listings. Most people who import or sell tons of products use buy it now to sell large quantities. I will use any keyword "toy" "kitchen" "bath" literally any word and then search buy it now listings. I will go through a few pages of the best match and click into each listing. If one of them looks promising (has a lot of sales, looks small enough to ship, something i personally would purchase) then I use that item as my keywords and see who else is selling it. If it has just a couple competitors or ones that have horrible feedback or shipping times I will then see what prices I can get on the various sites. If tons of competitors and not much profit I'll go back to searching the keyword I was on. Many times one keyword search will give you more ideas and products than you could research in a year.

Oh wow! So I was doing it in a not so efficient way. Thanks again Ecom man. There's always something new to learn from the master. (=

 

[sess362]

ecom man i am soooo thrilled to have found your thread. this is my first post in Fastlane forum. i am now completely caught up with your thread... i have been compiling a list of contenders/ products, and have about 30 possibles right now. one question. i found some great looking clothing that i'd need samples to check quality. but when i clicked on pics it said a brand name. so am i correct, this means it is most likely a knockoff? or is it possible the company, which is very known and pretty popular, is buying this product from this source? how would i phrase the question to the seller? also their price is insane, close to what i would charge myself on ebay... but thats for a quantity of one and i assume its being marketed to the consumer not to businesses. am i possibly in the wrong section of alibaba? is there a wholesale division? can u tell i'm new to all this? lol! thanks for any help, and, you seriously rock. i cannot thank you enough for your gift of information and experience.