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[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

exclusives88

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After 3 months of trying the importing game and selling on ebay, here is an update with the exact products as I am no longer going to be selling them anymore. These all were samples (might of bought too many). All of my items have little profit margin. Please let me know your thoughts. I am thinking all of these items were too competitive, squeezing out the margins.

1. 88 sets of Shower Curtain Rings. I've sold half of my inventory within 3 months. I bought them for a little bit less than $2 and sell for an average price of $7. Most are sold through Ebay.

2. REMOVED

3. Flexible LED strips with power supply and 44 key controller. I bought 5 and have only sold 1 at a loss. This was a total fail.

4. Acne Products. I first bought a sample of 10 units. I sold out within 3 weeks. Bought 20 more and have since sold around half as of less than a month ago. I bought for $2 and sell for $6.75

5. Bought a Omega Seamaster for $700 and sold for $950

6. Sold some things around the house (blackberry Q10, Beats headphones, Hugo Boss boots)

7. Also sell silk flowers via drop ship. Profit margin is around 20 - 30% but sales have been slow.

Just wanted to give everyone some transparency on what I am selling. I am now looking for items that have higher profit margin and at a higher price point. I've been following other threads Vick's sunglasses and TJBP's fitness wear. Trying to find ideas for a brand and niche but am having doubts unfortunately. I'll keep grinding until I find something great!
 
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Bananas

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After 3 months of trying the importing game and selling on ebay, here is an update with the exact products as I am no longer going to be selling them anymore. These all were samples (might of bought too many). All of my items have little profit margin. Please let me know your thoughts. I am thinking all of these items were too competitive, squeezing out the margins.

1. 88 sets of Shower Curtain Rings. I've sold half of my inventory within 3 months. I bought them for a little bit less than $2 and sell for an average price of $7. Most are sold through Ebay.

3. Flexible LED strips with power supply and 44 key controller. I bought 5 and have only sold 1 at a loss. This was a total fail.

4. Acne Products. I first bought a sample of 10 units. I sold out within 3 weeks. Bought 20 more and have since sold around half as of less than a month ago. I bought for $2 and sell for $6.75

5. Bought a Omega Seamaster for $700 and sold for $950

6. Sold some things around the house (blackberry Q10, Beats headphones, Hugo Boss boots)

7. Also sell silk flowers via drop ship. Profit margin is around 20 - 30% but sales have been slow.

Just wanted to give everyone some transparency on what I am selling. I am now looking for items that have higher profit margin and at a higher price point. I've been following other threads Vick's sunglasses and TJBP's fitness wear. Trying to find ideas for a brand and niche but am having doubts unfortunately. I'll keep grinding until I find something great!

I think the [widget] are worth another look. You paid $3ea and apparently [widget variation] sell in pairs quickly for $12.75. Assuming you can ship those for $1.93, your padded envelope is no more than $0.05, and you have Top Rated Plus, your profit is $3.19 per sale.

Momentum drives sales, and those seem to have done okay. Personally, I think another order of [widget variation] is worth consideration. When I started selling, my store was built on item that had an average of profit of $2.21 and sold about 40-50 per month.
 
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exclusives88

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Thanks @Bananas

You might be right. I think purchasing more widgets may benefit my widgets as customers like to different color widgets. Unfortunately, I'm not a top rated plus yet. I only have 50 perfect feedbacks. Do you think that top rated plus help you sell A LOT more? OR just a small bump in sales.
 
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Bananas

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Thanks @Bananas

You might be right. I think purchasing more [variation] may benefit my other [widget] as customers like to buy one [variation] and one of another [variation] . Unfortunately, I'm not a top rated plus yet. I only have 50 perfect feedbacks. Do you think that top rated plus help you sell A LOT more? OR just a small bump in sales.

Top Rated boosts you in Best Match, which is eBay's default search view. It may help.

If you sell an item with thousands of other sellers, Top Rated will not be as much a benefit to you then if you sell an item with very few.

Example: cell phone cases, 1,000 TR sellers, you may be on page one on a rotating basis, rotation includes 1,000 people. Some other widget, 10 TR sellers, you have more time on page one, you will always be on it (default shows 20 listings), and will experience some time as the FIRST listing on page one, because you are only rotating through with 9 other TR sellers. So it depends on the widget.

No matter what though, you get 20% off your final value fees. Even if you sold at the exact same rate you are selling now, your profit will still take a small jump just receiving the discount.

As you have stated you may continue selling this item, especially as it sells in pairs with your colored items which are slower sellers, I am editing my above post to remove that item description before it's seen by 10,000 people.
 
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NYCGoblin

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Do most of you intend to do this for the long haul? From what I have read through the thread very few products keep selling for 2+ years and then others must be found. How long do you think or are looking to keep this going if it is your primary source of income. Question I have been asking myself while thinking about how much time I want to commit to it.
 

Thoelk

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Do most of you intend to do this for the long haul? From what I have read through the thread very few products keep selling for 2+ years and then others must be found. How long do you think or are looking to keep this going if it is your primary source of income. Question I have been asking myself while thinking about how much time I want to commit to it.

Hustling is a nice source of income... And superb education... But the lessons, money & traffic you get out of it, should be used to launch your own e-business. Remember that Ebay, Amazon etc. are markets for us, sellers... Not our own shop/business!
 

Ecom man

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Hustling is a nice source of income... And superb education... But the lessons, money & traffic you get out of it, should be used to launch your own e-business. Remember that Ebay, Amazon etc. are markets for us, sellers... Not our own shop/business!
Absolutely correct! The end goal should be to be completely off of eBay and Amazon with the majority of your sales %. You want to get the control factor back in line so that eBay and Amazon can't cut your business in half with nothing you can do about it. Testing samples through these venues and then putting them on your own website looks to be a great way of cheap testing specific products.

You can certainly pull in faithful customers from your eBay sales as well. Put a card or brochure in with each sale advertising x% off at your website. If they are happy with your products and service they will be back. (That is the direction I am looking to take my business over the next 12 months)
 
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tycoon7

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I've been following other threads Vick's sunglasses and TJBP's fitness wear. Trying to find ideas for a brand and niche but am having doubts unfortunately. I'll keep grinding until I find something great!
Can you link to these two threads? Thx
 

Shades

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Do most of you intend to do this for the long haul? From what I have read through the thread very few products keep selling for 2+ years and then others must be found. How long do you think or are looking to keep this going if it is your primary source of income. Question I have been asking myself while thinking about how much time I want to commit to it.

Well the safest thing to do would be to not even try.
 
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Ecom man

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Well October is pretty much in the books. Sales for the month were right around $25,000. Should double that for November and be 2-3x October in Decmeber. Getting to be that busy time of year. If you have products that are selling better start stocking up for the big rush!
 

Thoelk

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Well October is pretty much in the books. Sales for the month were right around $25,000. Should double that for November and be 2-3x October in Decmeber. Getting to be that busy time of year. If you have products that are selling better start stocking up for the big rush!

That's great! I guess it's time to move over to your own website/business! Out of curiosity: how big was your "catalogue" during this month?
Props again for you & this thread! A source of inspiration! :notworthy:
 
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Ecom man

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That's great! I guess it's time to move over to your own website/business! Out of curiosity: how big was your "catalogue" during this month?
Props again for you & this thread! A source of inspiration! :notworthy:
If by catalogue you mean number of items listed, I had right around 10 different items listed at any given time.
 

Ecom man

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Awesome to hear it! I love that money hitting the account every day!
 
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kaqm

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Amazing thread, thanks Ecom Man!

I'm in the UK and looking for my first product. Ecom Man says to get quotes including shipping to your address. In the UK, would this include VAT and duty? Will the sellers calculate that? I don't want any bad surprises!

Thanks again to everyone providing value on this thread.
 

ljb7

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Amazing thread, thanks Ecom Man!

I'm in the UK and looking for my first product. Ecom Man says to get quotes including shipping to your address. In the UK, would this include VAT and duty? Will the sellers calculate that? I don't want any bad surprises!

Thanks again to everyone providing value on this thread.

It won't include VAT and Duty. The courier pays the duty charge when the product reaches customs and will then charge you for it a week or two after. Things to remember:

Duty...

Typically ranges between 0 - 17%.

Duty = Product Cost + Shipping Cost + Insurance

I.e: I pay £250 for product, £100 shipping and £10 insurance.

My duty on this product is 5%. So, 250 + 100 + 10 = 360.

350 * 0.05 = £18 Duty.​

VAT...

Typically 20% although like duty it can vary.

VAT = Product Cost + Shipping Cost + Insurance + Duty.

So using the above example, with a VAT of 20% on our product.

It will be 360 (Product + Shipping + Insurance) + 18 (Duty) = 378.

378*0.2 (20% VAT) = £76 VAT
The Moral Dilemma

It has been said that 'undervaluing goods is in every Chinese sellers blood'. By undervaluing goods I mean the seller writes a lower amount on the invoice that is attached to your package. Customs will look at this number and charge you Duty and VAT based on it.

If you don't ask the supplier to value the goods at the price you actually paid you will be sure to receive undervalued goods. In fact, even if you ask, sometimes they will still undervalue it - because they always have. They aren't doing this because they don't like you, actually it's quite the contrary. The are trying to do you a favour by saving you money.

Now obviously the benefit of this is that you don't get stiffed on VAT and Duty. A lot of people do this, and while it is Illegal, for smaller packages (samples) it is less risky. I'm not condoning this in anyway, I'm just letting you know how it is. I definitely do not recommend this on larger orders for the reasons I'll explain below...

If customs decide to look inside your package and estimate a value higher than the one noted, you could be in some trouble in the form of a fine or maybe more. The larger the order and the smaller the amount on your invoice, the more trouble you could be in.

Another problem is that if a shipping get's lost, even if you have insurance, if you try to claim more money back I.e 1000$ instead of the 200$ it was valued at, customs will start asking questions.

All this can result in you getting fined, marked by customs delaying all your future shipments, and I'm sure other things. It's probably best practice to make sure that the supplier writes the correct value on your product. If there isn't a margin after these taxes, then find another product. There's plenty to go around.

If you were wanting to make this more morally correct but still save a little, you could get your supplier to value the package at the lowest wholesale price they'd possibly go.

If you're confused about how this will all look on your tax returns, don't worry. It's completely separate, in your tax returns you'll be submitting all your receipts from PayPal etc etc, not the invoices from your suppliers.

Once again I'm not condoning this, in fact IMO it's best practice to get the proper value listed, but this is a forum where people are entitled to their own choice and so I'm simply explaining both sides of this dilemma.
 
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ljb7

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Would appreciate anyone chiming in on this one... It's really weird because all I can think about are positives with this one and I haven't heard anything mentioned about it on this forum AT ALL.

A couple weeks ago I contacted DHL and asked about their Express accounts. I just talked to the guys over there today and I'm getting an account opened up. I don't need to use it if I choose not to, but here are the pros (and con) of it I can think of right now...

Pros
  • You get an exact quote, no unexpected charges
  • Shipping costs (NOT Import Duty & VAT - they are paid a week or two after) are billed 1 - 2 months after, depending when the product was shipped (they charge on the last day of the month after, so if you purchase at the beginning of November, you'll be charged at the end of December)
  • They charge official currency in your country, so for me they'll charge GBP, meaning no money lost through PayPals horrible exchange rates
  • The payment for the product via PayPal will not include shipping cost and so the PayPal fee will be lesser when paying suppliers
  • Suppliers can't stiff you on shipping
Cons
  • Paperwork
  • Large suppliers may be able to give you a better deal because of the sheer mass they export each month, by grouping your order with others in a giant container or whatever, BUT, remember you don't have to use the account if you don't want to
Even if I choose just to use this account for sample orders, I'm willing to complete the paperwork to get all these benefits. So does anyone have any ideas on this, what am I missing?

EDIT: Think I understand why I haven't seen it mentioned. It appears that they make you pay out the a$$ for shipping after looking at their rate calculator... I compared it with rates from suppliers with an order weighing 14k, and an order weighing 42k. I'll have to check it out with lighter orders later though.
 
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ljb7

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I just posted this in reply to a question in another thread, but figure more people can get value out of it if I post it here as well. Hope that's okay!

Products to Avoid and Why You Need to be Careful Sourcing Certain Products

Here's what I'd avoid when If you're just starting out:
  • Technical products that are going to take a lot of time to test and prep before you list (also remember if a product you sold turns faulty down the line and you sell loads before it starts happening, you're gonna be in trouble)
  • I'd also just be wary of the duty and VAT on the stuff you're importing before you do, they can range a lot so it's best practice to check the rates out!
Products I'd always avoid importing from China
  • Anything branded - laptops, TVs, iPhones etc - pretty much guaranteed to be fake
  • Technical products without the proper certification. This one requires some due diligence. I always get a copy of the suppliers CE and RoHS certificates for safe keeping, but in some cases there'll be more that you need to see before making a purchase.
I'll give an example that happened to me...

Passive Infrared Motion Detector Floodlight with Digital Video Recorder (takes SD card)... cool, eh?

I found this product on Alibaba... http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Flood-Light-PIR-DVR-Camera-Activated_1603520912.html

Searched it on ebay and found it was listed for £80 from a Chinese seller... http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_o...oodlight dvr&_nkw=pir floodlight dvr&_sacat=0

Got a quote from the manufacturer (and I confirmed it was indeed the manufacturer) for 60$ per pc, prolly could have drove the price down

Here's the important part. Use some common sense when looking at potential products. This product is going to be placed in rainy and cold English weather. It's not going get a break from it either, knowing the UK. Obviously with products like these you honour a 1 year warranty at the least!! How was I supposed to know it wasn't gonna break 9 months in and the 100s (hypothetical) I've sold all need refunding? I certainly couldn't test the thing for a year and even if I could it wouldn't mean all of them wouldn't break. So the least I needed was a certificate for the product being weatherproofed. I needed an IP Code Certificate ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code ). Funnily enough on their Alibaba listing the supplier states it is IP65 certified (you know, I wouldn't even class that as reliable enough for this case). But when I asked them to send me their IP65 Certificate, they stumbled... 'We do have an IP certificate, but it is not IP65, it is IP56' (as far as I'm aware that doesn't even exist), so I pressed forward, 'Please send me a copy', 'uhh, we can't find a copy anywhere'. And that was that! Just proves you need to be careful with these things or your setting yourself up for a world of pain in the future, and don't believe everything suppliers claim (not that you do!).

Hope that helps!
 
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kaqm

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I found a product, emailed a supplier and now I'm going to ask the obvious...When you're messaging sellers do you use the message icon on dhgate? Or get an email address from somewhere else on their page?
 
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ljb7

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I found a product, emailed a supplier and now I'm going to ask the obvious...When you're messaging sellers do you use the message icon on dhgate? Or get an email address from somewhere else on their page?

Yes message them on dhgate, if no reply find them on another platform (Alibaba, aliexpress) and message them on that, or alternately you can find an email on their website if they have one and message them through there.

Bare in mind that the product you found on dhgate could be available for a cheaper price on Aliexpress (just check it if you haven't yet).
 

kaqm

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Thanks, I had a response sooner than I expected and they seem reasonable so far so we'll see! I'm yet to check the other sites
 

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I am going to scale this like crazy! My goal is to double total sales in the next year and then double that. It is easily attainable, I just have to find more products, rinse and repeat!

Turning this into a million dollar PROFIT each year shouldn't be more than 5 or so years in the future.

Is there any way you could do this quicker? Five years is a long time if the only bottleneck is research? Sounds like you have a process/system already. Why not scale? Or am I missing something?

I'm asking because I'm picturing myself in your situation.
 
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Ecom man

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Is there any way you could do this quicker? Five years is a long time if the only bottleneck is research? Sounds like you have a process/system already. Why not scale? Or am I missing something?

I'm asking because I'm picturing myself in your situation.
I'm totally bootstrapping this business and living off of some of the income. (I have a wife and 3 year old to support) That slows down my ability to scale to some extent. My total sales for November should be around 50-75k and December should be 100k or higher. That is assuming that I can get the product in quick enough and get a quick enough turnaround to buy more to sell in December. If I cant get a quick enough turnaround it will probably only be 125k or so total for both months.
 

Burt A

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I'm totally bootstrapping this business and living off of some of the income. (I have a wife and 3 year old to support) That slows down my ability to scale to some extent. My total sales for November should be around 50-75k and December should be 100k or higher. That is assuming that I can get the product in quick enough and get a quick enough turnaround to buy more to sell in December. If I cant get a quick enough turnaround it will probably only be 125k or so total for both months.

I lied--I cannot picture myself having a wife and child :p. Makes sense.

If those are net figures you're already on target for 5 years time if you merely maintain where you're at.
 

Ecom man

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I lied--I cannot picture myself having a wife and child :p. Makes sense.

If those are net figures you're already on target for 5 years time if you merely maintain where you're at.
Those are gross sales figures profit margins are around 30-40% of sales price so if I sell 150k over the next 2 months I should have 60k in profits.
 
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kaqm

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Can't remember if this has been covered here...I upgraded to an ebay business account only recently so I still have the limit on the amount of sales I can make per month. When I speak to them about it are they likely to ask about my address being licenced for business etc? If so, what do I say?
 

Ecom man

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Can't remember if this has been covered here...I upgraded to an ebay business account only recently so I still have the limit on the amount of sales I can make per month. When I speak to them about it are they likely to ask about my address being licenced for business etc? If so, what do I say?
I have never had an issue with not having a retail location. I tell them i sell solely online and my address is my home and business address. It has not been an issue for me.
 

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