[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[kaqm]

Good point @ljb7 - something has always put me off doing that, for no reason that I consciously know of haha but I'll give it a go if I need to. I'm yet to look into the other advantages of a shop, but if there are enough, it could be worth it anyway.

 

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[Ecom man]

The item is $80. I will be making $50 profit from that. I have yet to find a product for $25 that can profit $40. I'll keep looking. Thanks for your input!

An $80 item with $50 profit is certainly a good product to start with or even carry permanently. What I was looking at is that you said it was a $40,000 order and 500 units thereby being an $800 item not an $80 one.

 

[Ecom man]

@Ecom man, I realized I haven't thanked you for all the knowledge you've been so kind to share in this thread. I read it all and ordered my first sample! Although it sold out, the margin and velocity of sales isn't what I should be aiming for so I'll be looking for new items over the Christmas break.

Just selling a sample order of 10 products isn't a huge deal but taking action has opened my mind to the possibility of doing this on a large scale. I'm super excited to take advantage of next year's holiday season so I will be putting in the work for 2015 to make it happen. Thanks again, and good luck with this last bit of Q4 sales!

Taking the first step is a big hurdle to a lot of people! They talk a big game but when it comes down to it they are afraid to pull the trigger even on just a few hundred dollars sample order. Congrats on your action!

 

[Ecom man]

@Ecom man - I've been looking into improving search rankings on Ebay. After finding out that ending a listing (and I guess the same happens when you re-list? Looked into it and found no answer yet) also puts you back to square one in terms of the statistics for the listing. So it seems to make much more sense to upgrade to an Ebay shop straight away to have the 'out of stock/good 'til cancelled' option.

What's your opinion? Is it worth it before you're really sticking with one product? I MIGHT re order one of my samples. It was a small sample and I've had a few sales but I don't know how much of an influence Christmas has had.

You can actually use that out of stock/good til cancelled without having a store. It doesn't work as advertised in my experience though. I used it on a few items that ran out. They were #1 on best match when I ran out. When my products came back in I added the quantity and went back live. I was #10-15 on best match each time.

For me I have gone back to the listings just ending and then relisting. That way the competition/ possible competition doesn't know as easily how many items I am selling. When you relist you get some of the carry over from the last listing. When you "sell similar" you start all over.

 

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[Ecom man]

Sorry for the delay in responding. It has been pretty busy here trying to get one last shipment of inventory here, getting it all listed and preparing for the final week of sales. Sales prices are starting to climb through the roof on some of my products! Items I was selling for $59.99 two weeks ago are selling at $80+ and climbing.

It's looking like I over estimated what quantity I would need before Christmas. (Yes, everyone makes mistakes.) I have enough product to sell close to $80,000 this week and unless a miracle occurs it will be more like 20-40k. Oh well, I guess I won't have to order any for January.

Keep pushing and keep taking action! The only people who are truly failures are the ones that never try!

 

[exclusives88]

An $80 item with $50 profit is certainly a good product to start with or even carry permanently. What I was looking at is that you said it was a $40,000 order and 500 units thereby being an $800 item not an $80 one.

500 units for a 40,000 dollar order is $80 a unit

 

[Ecom man]

500 units for a 40,000 dollar order is $80 a unit

Ahhhhhhh see not enough sleep on my part apparently causes me to lose all math skills lol. My apologies for my error. The profit margin is certainly decent enough that I would pursue it but only in smaller quantities.

 

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[kaqm]

You can actually use that out of stock/good til cancelled without having a store. It doesn't work as advertised in my experience though. I used it on a few items that ran out. They were #1 on best match when I ran out. When my products came back in I added the quantity and went back live. I was #10-15 on best match each time.

For me I have gone back to the listings just ending and then relisting. That way the competition/ possible competition doesn't know as easily how many items I am selling. When you relist you get some of the carry over from the last listing. When you "sell similar" you start all over.

When you said it doesn't work as advertised, was that only without a store, or also in use with a store? The temporary price increase seems like the best idea if you're getting more in stock really soon.

So do you run items on a 30 day cycle and keep relisting then?

 

[kaqm]

Ps. Does that keep you in best match position?

 

[Ecom man]

When you said it doesn't work as advertised, was that only without a store, or also in use with a store? The temporary price increase seems like the best idea if you're getting more in stock really soon.

So do you run items on a 30 day cycle and keep relisting then?

I use Good til cancelled on all my listings. When I run out the listing ends until I get more in stock. I normally have a good enough handle on sales/ inventory that I don't run out before getting the next order. I only tried it without a store so with a store it might be a different story but I doubt it. I just hit the relist button when I get more items in.

 

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[kaqm]

Thanks, so how come you don't use a store subscription with the amount you're selling?

 

[Kid Money]

A few questions and hoping a few people can chime in. I read every page and don't recall this question or answer.

When scrolling for suppliers, do you look for response rates as you go or does that not matter?

Basically what I have been doing is copy and pasting a pre written message that I edit a few things (name,item) and am sending quite a few as long as price and response rate are good. I also check gold supplier box as well. Any more tips for getting as many responses from targeted suppliers? Thanks!

-KM

 

[Kid Money]

So I just bought my first samples through PayPal. Bought 4 of them. The only exact item I could find was being sold by very few sellers and none from the US. China delivery time was 2-3 weeks and they are selling them for around $11. Lightweight. Funny thing is they have sold thousands of these things (10-20 day) and people are still paying with the super slow shipping. Some of the similar items sell all the way up to $60. I can get them delivered for around $13 to my door each (maybe less) and I think I can sell for 29.99 with "Fast Priority Shipping" "High Quality" and better keywords. Time will tell. I can definitely see the vision of all this. Find, source and scale!

 

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[Ecom man]

So I just bought my first samples through PayPal. Bought 4 of them. The only exact item I could find was being sold by very few sellers and none from the US. China delivery time was 2-3 weeks and they are selling them for around $11. Lightweight. Funny thing is they have sold thousands of these things (10-20 day) and people are still paying with the super slow shipping. Some of the similar items sell all the way up to $60. I can get them delivered for around $13 to my door each (maybe less) and I think I can sell for 29.99 with "Fast Priority Shipping" "High Quality" and better keywords. Time will tell. I can definitely see the vision of all this. Find, source and scale!

So if you cant find them any cheaper than $13 why not buy them from the eBay sellers at $11 in bulk wait til they come in and then resell at a higher price?

 

[Ronak]

I'm not sure if you've mentioned it before, but do you look for a minimum amount of products sold in the Buy it Now listings before you move forward?

 

[Kid Money]

So if you cant find them any cheaper than $13 why not buy them from the eBay sellers at $11 in bulk wait til they come in and then resell at a higher price?

Indeed.

 

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[Ecom man]

I'm not sure if you've mentioned it before, but do you look for a minimum amount of products sold in the Buy it Now listings before you move forward?

The higher sales the better obviously. The issue is that if someone has 1,000's sold on their buy it now there will probably be tons of competitors. I am happy with items selling 5-10 a day. Even 1 item a day is fine with me if the profits #s are good enough. I want to carry more items with smaller sales number per item. The reason is that items that sell hundreds a day are normally (not always but almost always) flooded with competition. Items selling 5 a day are far more plentiful with less competitors. If I can make $20 profit per item and sell 5 a day that is $100 profit from that one item. Find 20 of those and you are making 2k a day. Find 100 of them and 10k a day.

Is it all roses? Heck no! Is it hard work? Absolutely! When you get to the point in your business where you don't have to worry about your paycheck from your normal job anymore it makes it all worthwhile. Oh, and the fact that I am basically closing down from Thursday - the end of year to go on a well deserved vacation is nice too!

 

[NYCGoblin]

Anyone here use any kind of fulfillment? If so what site do you use? And I see most sites charge a certain fee per transaction but how is the shipping label handled? Is that included or would I pay for that? Or how if it is done on their end how would they be able to print them? Thanks

 

[lewkirt]

I would love to be able to help anyone in any way that I can.

I have just decided to start my own clothing line in the fitness industry and i am looking to buy wholesale clothing and clothing print and i was wondering if you had any advice for me as this is quite a big investment for me at the age of 19 as a student at university.

 

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[evlttwin]

Currently liquidating some assets to start my online empire. Gonna start taking some action, and let the details work themselves out as I go.

Tons of good info in this thread. @Ecom man : Thumbs up.

 

[Dicky Dee]

@Ecom man Just wanted to give you a bit of update since i havent been on the forum in a while, after taking some of your advice and being part of this thread since the beginning i've been working hard at importing and selling on ebay. Although my numbers are nothing like what you are doing in the past 3 weeks ive sold a bit over $5000 on 3 items in total and my first imported item turned out to be a dud so good thing my newest products are doing decent, just want to thank you again for sharing your advice and letting you know you're making a difference in some peoples lives here.

 

[Ecom man]

@Ecom man Just wanted to give you a bit of update since i havent been on the forum in a while, after taking some of your advice and being part of this thread since the beginning i've been working hard at importing and selling on ebay. Although my numbers are nothing like what you are doing in the past 3 weeks ive sold a bit over $5000 on 3 items in total and my first imported item turned out to be a dud so good thing my newest products are doing decent, just want to thank you again for sharing your advice and letting you know you're making a difference in some peoples lives here.

Awesome! Glad to hear that I am helping some people. 3 items and $5,000 in sales is nothing to sneeze at! Way to go in getting started and in finding some products to start!

 

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[SeanyHang]

n the past 3 weeks ive sold a bit over $5000 on 3 items in total

Dude.. this is phenomenal! Good for you!

 

[Kingsta]

Great thread and a good read. Not really interested in importing/wholesale as I'm in finance (assets & investments) but I love the entrepreneurial spirit. Anyway, i thought i'd offer some help for people looking to get started as I have a family member who is the biggest distributor of a range of beauty and cosmetic products in Europe. I know it can be a pain to find authentic and legitimate products so feel free to message me if you need some help/would be interested in some of these items.

I also sell products (financial products) and I love the feeling when I make a sale no matter how big or small!! Good Luck with all your efforts guys and remember the harder you work the greater the rewards

P.S I know this may sound like I'm promoting something or whatever so if this against the forum rules just delete it or i'll edit it. Cheers.

 

[Ecom man]

WOW! Why does Christmas always bring out the crazies?

I have spent the last 2 days emailing a lady back and forth. She purchased an item from me a month ago and now says it is defective/ not working properly. I told her that i stand behind all my products 100% and will of course accept a return from her for this item. I issued her a return shipping label and told her to simply attach the label to the package and I would pay for the return shipping. Pretty normal for a return... And then she lost her mind! She emailed me multiple times saying she wanted an immediate refund and would not return the item. I emailed her back and explained that I could not issue a refund without the defective item being returned. Now for the last 2 days she has emailed me threatening to call and report me to everyone but God Himself!

Running your own business is awesome, but sometimes it sure does make you question the sanity of the rest of the world!

 

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[carburated]

I issued her a return shipping label and told her to simply attach the label to the package and I would pay for the return shipping.

Hey Ecom Man,
Do you always pay for return shipping?

Or does it depend on the item?

Thanks!

 

[SeanyHang]

Hey Ecom Man,
Do you always pay for return shipping?

I can't speak for @Ecom man or any other person owning a business for that matter. But I personally always pay for return shipping and honestly if the item is cheap enough, I just give a full refund without a return. The way I see it, I'd rather take a small hit every now and then to keep the customers happy and my business's reputation high and mighty. I tend try and do customer service similar to Zappos - for instance, here was a message I sent to a customer wanting a refund for a "defective" (I quote that because quite frankly I think they didn't know how to use the item) product I sold them.

"Hey there!

It's close to the Holidays - So why don't you just go ahead and keep the _______ AND GET A FULL REFUND?!?!?! WOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!! I only have one condition...
You've got to STAY AWESOME

Live Long and Prosper, my friend.
Sean - _____ team
"

She then gave me a positive review and bought something else from me.

It's silly, it's friendly, some might even say it's not professional. But doing business this way has made my business's reputation rise through the ranks and get 100% positive reviews along with having customers send their friends my way.

 

[Ecom man]

I can't speak for @Ecom man or any other person owning a business for that matter. But I personally always pay for return shipping and honestly if the item is cheap enough, I just give a full refund without a return. The way I see it, I'd rather take a small hit every now and then to keep the customers happy and my business's reputation high and mighty. I tend try and do customer service similar to Zappos - for instance, here was a message I sent to a customer wanting a refund for a "defective" (I quote that because quite frankly I think they didn't know how to use the item) product I sold them.

"Hey there!

It's close to the Holidays - So why don't you just go ahead and keep the _______ AND GET A FULL REFUND?!?!?! WOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!! I only have one condition...
You've got to STAY AWESOME

Live Long and Prosper, my friend.
Sean - _____ team
"

She then gave me a positive review and bought something else from me.

It's silly, it's friendly, some might even say it's not professional. But doing business this way has made my business's reputation rise through the ranks and get 100% positive reviews along with having customers send their friends my way.

I love that response!
I pay for return shipping if the item is defective. (Yes, people lie about it being defective but what can you do) If they simply change their mind then they pay for the return shipping. I have also given refunds if the item is cheap, normally $15 or below. Personally, if I feel someone is trying to scam me (demand a refund without returning the item etc.) I will not let them get away with it. I go above and beyond for any customer with an issue but try and take food from my 3 year old by trying to scam me and I don't take too kindly to it.

 

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[carburated]

Thanks both to SeanyHang and Ecom man.
Very much appreciated.

That's the mindset I have.
As long as you are providing value, and a good deal, I think scammers will be in the minority.

And I like the customer-relations reply SeanyHang.
I read the Zappos book, and really like that mindset.

Thanks to both!

 

[Bigguns50]

a mosquito repellant patch. There is not one US seller of the item on eBay.

Interesting. Your quote was on April 21, 2014. Now there are 16 U.S. listings...101 total including Foreign.