The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

mosdef

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
Apr 1, 2014
407
181
Ending listings and relisting will normally just put them right back where they were. Sometimes ending the listing and then creating a brand new listing will work. My guess would be that since the 6 new listings are at the bottom so will your others if you end and start fresh.

Your options are to either wait it out or stop selling on eBay entirely. Unfortunately they control this mystical algorithm that no ones knows anything about. It is possible that the delayed shipping caused the issue or check your DSRs and see if someone left you some bad ones.

If it makes you feel any better I had the same thing happen to me 2 weeks before Christmas. I went from the cheapest and the top of best match to the very bottom on every product. I called everyone I could find a number to and nothing. My sales went from 150 items a day to 30. I languished at the bottom of the "best match" while people with 95% positive were at the top. People with no feedback or horrible feedback got all the sales while I got the leftovers. It went back to normal about 10 days after Christmas. That was the tipping point, the last straw. I set up my own website. I am going to completely stop selling on eBay entirely within the next couple of weeks. I've got 1 site up and running and am selling $2,000-$3,000 a day. I am in the process of setting up another site for a totally separate category. I should have that site running within the next week. If everything goes as planned I should be able to average 5k a day in sales within the next couple months.

A little secret I've learned,you can sell for much higher margins on your own site than you ever can on eBay, and you control your own destiny.

but isnt it much easier to drive traffic to ebay vs ur own site?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

mosdef

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
Apr 1, 2014
407
181
P.s. How do you list a product for more than 10 days and have the "123 sold" displayed on your add?


you can list as good til cancelled or something. That way your listing will get relisted all the time til you cancel it.

you wil save your watchers and sold
 

Austin Shelton

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
38%
Feb 21, 2015
8
3
33
Florida
I think ebay and amazon are good for a supplementary income though they break both entry and control they are still Very scalable lucrative businesses. But without control it can't really be a fastlane imo
 

Dicky Dee

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
69%
May 25, 2014
131
90
@EconMan long time no talk as i havent been on the forum much because i've been busy building my importing business. Quick question for you, i noticed you finally got your website up and going now thats awesome! I also have started my own website to sell my products but im having trouble generating traffic for the site, with your google PPC ads is this something you are doing yourself? If so how did you learn to use it? I looked into it but to be honest its really not my field and is quite confusing to me, any advice is greatly appreciated!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

albertut77

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
163%
Mar 2, 2015
59
96
32
Glad to hear you are getting some sales! Nothing quite like hearing the cha-Ching of the app when an item sells. You can use eBay's global shipping program for international sales. It makes it super easy on your end and helps with customer service since you don't have to cancel orders etc.

Cha-ching! Damn right it is. Being out having a drink, hearing it and realizing you've just made enough to pay for that and 9 more drinks in one sale is one awesome feeling. I would have never expected being in such a rewarding situation, and it's thanks to you and everyone posting and contributing to this post. Thanks again, you've made waking up and getting to work an exciting part of the day!

Here's a review of how my project is going so far. To have an overview, I ordered x5 of product A, x2 of B, x10 of C and x20 of D.

- Product A was an absolute fiasco. The item was an electronic (not a phone, tv or anything like that, though) and it was a suspiciously cheap one, but I still went ahead and bought them (1st mistake). I tested one not too thoroughly and that was my 2nd mistake. This product was the first one sold, and it gave me a killer £50 profit. I was so excited! However, it didn't take long till problems came. The item showed some scratches where it shouldn't, and behaved slightly differently as it should. Sorry I can't go more in detail, but let's say it worked, but just not exactly as it should've. Thank God I followed many other of your advise, such as slipping a "Thank you" and "contact us if you have any problem at all" note in the package, or not trying to be right when arguing with the buyer, but rather telling him he was right all the time. This way I was able to deal with the issue without having any open case or bad feedback on my first sale. The problem ended up with me refunding the purchase and letting the buyer keep the product, as this was of absolutely no use for me and I was feeling terrible for such a bad first experience. The buyer went from outrageous to quite happy, and my loss wasn't so bad (as I told you, it was suspiciously cheap), so it didn't hurt so much. On the bright side, I learnt the hard way.
Right now I'm disputing the item with my supplier. He apologised and offered me either a partial refund or for me to send back the items and give me a total refund. I read here some time ago that it might be wiser to get the partial refund (because 1. the shipping cost is gonna be more expensive than the refund, and 2. they might come up with some lame excuse not to pay me once they have the products back), so I'll go for that as soon as he answers back.

- Product B has sold one of the two pieces. As you wisely advised, @Ecom man, I listed this items one as new and the one I opened and tested as used for roughly 10% less, and then specified that it was brand new, but I just had unsealed it. The latter is the one that got sold, so I hope the buyer knew what he was doing... because if he writes me saying that it "isn't sealed" I might lose it! (just kidding!). The fact that only one sold is understandable as this is the most pricey item that I have listed (ranging in the 100s). I'm also looking forward to the feedback, as it might be a very good product even if it only sells once in a while.

- Product C has sold out (10/10) in a matter of 3 days, with £20 profit/each (YAY!). I'm waiting for the buyers to post some feedback as I want to be absolutely sure that they love the product before making a 50 units order, which I think I could sell in less than a month after being relisted (specially now that I was way up in the selling searches for many of the keywords). I'm very happy with this one, but I want to step lightly as I don't want any other fiasco.

- Product D is in a more affordable price range, giving me right now only ~20% benefit (this translates to roughly £3). I only sold 1/20 in the last 5 days, but I hope as the listing gets older and gets more views and watchers, this will increase rapidly. This is the kind of product that, if I get to be one of the top listings, I could get many, many sales a day. Hence low margin benefits won't bring me down.
The mistake I made with this item was that, when I was doing product research, I was misled by the amount of active listings under quite specific keyword searches, hence I thought competition wasn't so high. I didn't realize that there were more general keywords I could use to find it that would lead to many more competitors selling these. However, my product has some unique features or at least I am the only one using these features to my advantage. For instance, this is a rechargable item, and even though some other sellers write it in their description, no one actually shows in the main picture that it comes with a UK plug.
Another plus about this product is that right now I have a rather low margin just because I bought these at a sample price. If it starts getting more views and sales, I will next buy it at the normal price in higher amounts, which will allow me to slightly decrease the selling price while increasing the benefit/item.

One question I have (about this last item) is that, unlike the other sales, with this one the buyer hasn't paid yet. I mean, he has made the purchase but it is not marked as paid and I don't have the pending transaction on my PayPal. What should I do in this case? Send the item anyway? Wait for the payment?
I have sent him a message letting him know about this and telling him that eBay wouldn't let me print the postage label until the payment had gone through (which turned out to not go like that, but I honestly didn't see the "Print postage" button at first with this one). On the one hand, I don't want to send an item and end up not getting paid, as even if I got my item back I would've lost the money of the shipping (which kills my benefit for the next item purchased), but on the other hand if this is just a normal issue, I don't want to provide a bad service by holding the item with me instead of sending it within 1 working day, as I advertise, specially with this product's first sale.

Any advise on this one?

EDIT:
This last problem was my fault. I put an old paypal e-mail on the listing so the payment wasn't going through. A quick call from eBay customer center solved the problem in a matter of minutes. Not only that, but the customer service guy was pretty friendly, and when he saw what I was selling he told me that he had been looking for one of those lately, and I happily offered him a discount. There goes another sale!

So that's it for this week. Once again, thank you all for this wonderful thread, and if you're not having the best luck in the beginning, don't give up! It's all about starting, even if that means losing some money. We can all get to where Ecom man, amongst many others, have gotten!

I'll see how next week goes and hopefully come back with even better updates :)

P.S. Special thanks @Wizard (and later @Ecom man) for the suggestion of digging into why I had an international sale and setting my selling preferences to ship internationally aswell. Although I haven't gotten any international sale yet a part from the one I mentioned that I canceled (I'm guessing it was just a coincidence), it feels like this way I don't close my doors to international buyers, or even watchers, that will at least add up to my "views" and "watching" count, hopefully bringing my listings up in the searches. You guys rock!
 
Last edited:

William

Bronze Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
97%
Feb 15, 2012
160
155
Awesome thread!

Swung on a product. Got a sample of 10. Bought for around $15 selling for $38 and change.

Have not sold one yet, but I am confident I will (just put up yesterday). Description is good in my estimation. I need better pictures. Will go on Fiverr and get someone to photoshop some pictures I took. Now, I just have 2 stock photos from Alibaba up.

You mention to put a subtitle and put your advantages in there. I did this, and my views sped up. Hopefully the pictures help the traffic more.

Another thing, my supplier has been contacting me, making sure everything is going well. But...now she wants 500 MOQ for the next order. SHIT. I laughed at first honestly and told her I could not do that much for the next order.

I asked her whats the lowest she would go for the MOQ for next order....she has not got back to me yet. Right after this, I emailed 11 other suppliers with the same or similar products. 1 person's offer is much less per unit (including shipping).

Hopefully, she lowers that MOQ. If not...onward.

We will see. It is fun learning and doing, learning and doing; to get into the process of not getting attached to one thing and to always be looking just like you said. Have to keep that in mind.

Again, thanks for all the great information! Confident I will continue putting it to good use!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Speedgor

PARKED
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
0% - New User
Feb 25, 2015
11
0
34
Perth, Australia
You can definitely list sex toys. Are you listing them in the Health and Beauty ->Welness ->Sex Toys category?

Are you in America or Australia? I have gotten away with the non vibrating cock rings for now under massagers, sold 3 packets in the passed 3 days :p

This is the email from eBay:

Hello speedgor,
After reviewing your eBay account, it looks like you haven’t followed our Adult Material policy. We understand that you may not have been aware of this policy or that this may have been an oversight, so we're including some policy information to help you with your future listings. We also had to take the following actions:
- Listings that didn't follow eBay guidelines have been removed. A list of removed items is available further down in this email.
- We have credited all associated fees except for the final value fee for your listing(s).

Listings of sexually oriented adult material are not allowed. These include:
- Items offering a service implying sexual or adult activity
- Items deemed obscene, such as those showing or suggesting incest, scat, or necrophilia
- Items showing or suggesting bestiality, including (but not limited to) works of art, fictional books, or films that show the sexual act of bestiality

In addition, under Australian law it may be a criminal offense for you to sell certain types of films, publications and computer games.

To learn more about our adult material policy, including limited exceptions and guidelines, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/mature-audiences.html
 

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
but isnt it much easier to drive traffic to ebay vs ur own site?
Why in the world would I pay to drive traffic to ebay? If I drive them to my site I don't have eBay's fees and I have many opportunities to get ongoing sales from that customer.
 

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
@EconMan long time no talk as i havent been on the forum much because i've been busy building my importing business. Quick question for you, i noticed you finally got your website up and going now thats awesome! I also have started my own website to sell my products but im having trouble generating traffic for the site, with your google PPC ads is this something you are doing yourself? If so how did you learn to use it? I looked into it but to be honest its really not my field and is quite confusing to me, any advice is greatly appreciated!
I'm just learning as I go. Once you get the first couple of campaigns set up its pretty easy. Google actually provides a ton of help for beginners so utilize their pages and you can even call or live chat with reps who will help you get going.

DON'T USE GOOGLE DISPLAY IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!
I've been using Google search advertising pretty successfully for a couple months so I set up a display ad campaign for a product. I spent $300 in 3 hours and not a single sale to show for it! I was advertising on mobile games and didn't realize it! I fixed that and put it back live the following day. I spent $200 in a couple hours and again no sales. I deleted the display campaign and went back to regular search ads.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Dicky Dee

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
69%
May 25, 2014
131
90
I'm just learning as I go. Once you get the first couple of campaigns set up its pretty easy. Google actually provides a ton of help for beginners so utilize their pages and you can even call or live chat with reps who will help you get going.

DON'T USE GOOGLE DISPLAY IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!
I've been using Google search advertising pretty successfully for a couple months so I set up a display ad campaign for a product. I spent $300 in 3 hours and not a single sale to show for it! I was advertising on mobile games and didn't realize it! I fixed that and put it back live the following day. I spent $200 in a couple hours and again no sales. I deleted the display campaign and went back to regular search ads.


thanks for the tip about google display, i'll try out just the search ads to begin with.

while i dont sell as much as you do i have a question on how you keep researching and finding great selling products while shipping the products out as well? i spend quite a bit of time shipping items out now and dont have much time to research as i did when i first started out and for me researching takes up the most time.
 

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
thanks for the tip about google display, i'll try out just the search ads to begin with.

while i dont sell as much as you do i have a question on how you keep researching and finding great selling products while shipping the products out as well? i spend quite a bit of time shipping items out now and dont have much time to research as i did when i first started out and for me researching takes up the most time.
My wife and I spend 1-2 hours a day packaging everything up. Researching is most definately the most time consuming part. You just have to make time to do it.
 

mosdef

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
44%
Apr 1, 2014
407
181
Why in the world would I pay to drive traffic to ebay? If I drive them to my site I don't have eBay's fees and I have many opportunities to get ongoing sales from that customer.

sorry i wrote it little bad, ment that ebay drives traffic your shop or items :)
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
sorry i wrote it little bad, ment that ebay drives traffic your shop or items :)
The great benefit of eBay and Amazon is that you get millions of customers going to those sites. The problem is that you have thousands of competitors as well. When you have your own site every sale made is money in your pocket. You don't have to compete with someone one listing below you or above you. Once they are on your site any purchase made is from you.

The other benefit is control. I have far more control over my margins (yes you can charge much higher prices than on eBay). I have far more control over customer service (if they have a problem they contact you rather than opening a case with ebay etc). I also can control my own destiny. If eBay and Amazon make decisions that are bad for business (Chinese sellers on eBay for example) I don't have to worry about it. I can run my site how I want to.
Oh and the best thing about having a website versus just selling on eBay or Amazon, I'm making more sales and more money than ever.
 

TTG SS

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
178%
Sep 3, 2014
233
415
32
Scottsdale, AZ
I've been trying to find one product per day I can at least see that there is room for a margin. Problem is I always end up with cheaper items somehow and that isn't what I necessarily want. Looking to profit anywhere from $10-20 per item is my goal.

My main problem is I literally can not think of what to search for? Do you just type in random stuff and go from there and start comparing? Or do you have some type of method/process to search for specific products.

Do you specialize in certain goods or are you up to sell a wide variety of products?
 

Thomas1980

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
186%
Jan 26, 2014
22
41
43
I've been trying to find one product per day I can at least see that there is room for a margin. Problem is I always end up with cheaper items somehow and that isn't what I necessarily want. Looking to profit anywhere from $10-20 per item is my goal.

My main problem is I literally can not think of what to search for? Do you just type in random stuff and go from there and start comparing? Or do you have some type of method/process to search for specific products.

Do you specialize in certain goods or are you up to sell a wide variety of products?

I'm going through the exact same struggle you are - lol. Hang in there and keep researching. I believe one of these days something is going to click inside our heads if we stay with it long enough. I think Ecom Man and other successful people are better at spotting potential gold mines than the rest of us. For all I know, I've probably looked at several money making products and not even realized it!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

krtw

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
80%
Jan 19, 2015
5
4
Madrid
Hi, I have a question regarding Amazons FBA. I’ve just sent a supplier a message for my first 5 samples, I’m pretty excited about finally getting going, this is an idea that I have been putting a lot of energy into finding out all I can before I make the jump, you’re thread has been highly educational for me and I thank you for all this valuable information you have shared here.

My question is: when I receive my samples and I’m ready to put them up on Amazon, I am assuming its best that I make the name of my store in the name I’m thinking of branding the product with at a later point correct? If so, and I don’t have the product (first 5 samples) branded can I still mention the name I’m thinking of branding it within the description (Even though it’s not branded yet). Ideally I want to have full control of the buy box but will I be asked to provide documentation that I have branded the product and have rights to that name etc?

Thank you in advance
 

albertut77

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
163%
Mar 2, 2015
59
96
32
I've been trying to find one product per day I can at least see that there is room for a margin. Problem is I always end up with cheaper items somehow and that isn't what I necessarily want. Looking to profit anywhere from $10-20 per item is my goal.

My main problem is I literally can not think of what to search for? Do you just type in random stuff and go from there and start comparing? Or do you have some type of method/process to search for specific products.

Do you specialize in certain goods or are you up to sell a wide variety of products?

I'm very new, and don't mean to answer for @Ecom man at all, but let me just share my ways. I've been doing thorough product research for a while and gotten a few profitable ones that I'm selling consistently right now.

For starters like myself, I believe it's better to find a product that has a reasonable profit margin and sells regularly rather than a product with a low margin but super high sales. I know you already know this, I just want to write it down as it might be useful for someone else in the future, so you can totally skip through this next paragraph.
'Super high sales-low margin' products are more crowded with competition and requiere more time for packing and taking to the post office, which might not be the most ideal situation for someone with a limited amount of time (i.e. you have another job and are starting this as a side thing). Furthermore, these most likely imply using alibaba and 100% dealing with supplier communication and negotiation, which I've found to be very time-consuming. Finally, it usually involves either high amounts of a product (although negotiable) or losing money on samples (as usually they will charge you significantly more for samples if they don't know/trust you). This, however, might be worth doing when you already work at this 'full time' and, for instance, can pay Fulfillment by Amazon.
'Regular sales-decent margin' products are ideal for us as they can give us a reasonable profit per product and the packaging and shipping won't be so tedious for people with less spare time. What I've also found to be very beneficial here is that you can use DHgate or aliexpress for these kind of products most of the times, which considerably reduces the communicat with suppliers (but don't go ahead and buy anything without contacting them and making sure they will ship exactly what you want! Someone here made a very good point about this: if you order a car, make sure you tell the supplier that you want the car to have an engine, otherwise don't be surprised if it comes without it!). Now, by decent margin I don't mean 20$ per product, even 5$ makes it worth it for me if the item cost around that amount (i.e. I buy it for 5, my total cost per product after fees, taxes and shipping is 10 and I sell it for 15). As long as it sells good, every penny counts at this moment.

After that blabber you probably already knew, and regarding product research: I started by following the guide Will Mitchell so kindly put in the Startupbros' blog. I don't know if I can share a link here, but just google it. However, although it was very useful for getting to know key aspects of what to look at on a profitable item (not only the price!) and dealing with suppliers, I ended up with a bunch of 'Super high sales-low margin' products that I didn't have the time nor resources to try (and believe me, I spent a lot of time sending e-mails back and forth with alibaba suppliers...). Also, looking for specific products at Amazon's best sellers will lead you to these kind of products as well. It might be useful to gather ideas and getting to something after following countless links, keyword combinations and variations of a best seller, but I still find it quite useless for the kind of products that I want at this point.

Hence, what I look for are items that aren't very well known, but enough as to have decent sales. I know, it's easier said than done, and I'm still dedicating a lot of time to this process, but at least I now have exactly figured out what I want, and can go from there. How I look for products after I get to this mindset is simply by going to DHgate/Aliexpress, searching for a random item (the more random, the better. Try to avoid clichés and those first things that come to mind, just dig in and find something bizarre even if you wouldn't buy it yourself) and trying different combination of filters (Bestselling, lower price, higher price, etc.). Once I've spotted something that I like, I just open it on a new tab and forget about it, keep searching. When I have enough tabs open, I start to look more into these items.

1. Search for these or similar on eBay;

2. See how many competitors there are by using different keyword searches and going through the first few pages (if more than one), just to make sure the amount of results I got shows an honest representation of sellers of that specific item. Most of the times there are several other products matching those keywords, so I just try to narrow my search down to the one that will give me the most honest representation of amount of sellers, but without being too specific;

3. See if it sells.
- Are there guys selling it? Yes, but their sales are very irregular, i.e. two weeks between one sale and another. Do I want that? Yes/No. If yes, hey, why not trying it out? Maybe you can do somethign better than them! If not, let's go check another product.

- There are two guys on top of the page that are selling a lot, but are the guys in the middle/bottom of the search page selling as well? If not, why? What are the first two doing that the others aren't? Faster shipping? Better prices? Better images and more clear titles (I'm still in shock of how much this influences your sales and how many people are losing heaps of potential sales by being lazy asses and not uploading decent pics...). Ok, so they do this and that. Can I do that? That depends on the price! Ok, then let's check prices.

4. Make the math. This is simple. I suggest you take one afternoon to make a detailed excel file with all the expenses you will have for each item. It'll make your life easier, believe me. That includes (but is not limited to): the shipping from you to the customers, the VAT and Duty (if applicable), eBay fees, credit/debit card fees for foreign purchases, PayPal fees and cost of your packaging material (envelop, box, etc. even if it's just $0.3 I will count it). Then a column with Total price/product before selling (with the price you've paid for the product to get to your door) and Total price/product after sold (including PayPal and eBay fees, shipping material, etc). Finally, a Total Spent and Total (potential) Benefit. Have in mind that the Total Spent of one item will be different if that item has been sold or not, as fees will apply or not. This last step helps me in case a product doesn't sell or is crap. At least I accurately know how much I've thrown away instead of having a brainfuck, and know how much of something else I need to sell to make up for that.
Now that you've got this (or not, your choice!) write your product, the price per product that you paid from your manufacturer and the amount you want to buy (in different columns, of course), and let Excel do the rest (you've ideally set all the formulas from the other columns to match properly with these ones!). Double, triple and quadruple-check every formula is right! It's tedious, but it's so much worth it!

Do you like what you see? Are the benefits/hussle worth the effort? Then you should've already placed your order! Also, be aware that, if you have to pay VAT/Duty, your benefit will most likely be higher than the one estimated. By this I mean that chinese suppliers will most of the times write down a significantly lower price in the invoice of your package, so Custom will charge you a much lower VAT/Duty. If you don't feel right doing this, and as someone else mentionede here (sorry I can't remember your names, guys!), just tell your supplier to write in the invoice the lowest wholesale price he would sell the products for, so it's not so much of a 'fraud'.

Sorry if I'm deviating from the main point, but it all kind of links.

Once I've found a product that I like, tried it out (always from a trusted supplier with outstanding feedback and possibly many transactions and Sponsored), sold, and gotten good fedback out of it (I find this key before making a new order), I will then go to this supplier's store in DHgate/Aliexpress and browse through all his products. They will most likely have something else that I could profit from! Again, open as many tabs as you like (of course, after placing a new, bigger order of that selling product). And repeat.

That's how I'm doing it right now and I seem to have improved the efficacy of product-searching with this last step: finding a good supplier and looking through his store. This not only allows you to look through a narrower window of products of which at least one has proven success, but building a good relationship with one supplier will benefit you in the near future with more care in your shippings and hopefully better prices.

@Ecom man I get carried on sometimes and write one too many words in these posts. By any means I'm trying to put words in your mouth, I just want to offer as much help as I can from my (short) experience in this very exciting world. If you'd rather me not intervene with such long posts, let me know and I'll slow it down.

Hope this helped a bit!

Cheers
 
Last edited:

albertut77

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
163%
Mar 2, 2015
59
96
32
The great benefit of eBay and Amazon is that you get millions of customers going to those sites. The problem is that you have thousands of competitors as well. When you have your own site every sale made is money in your pocket. You don't have to compete with someone one listing below you or above you. Once they are on your site any purchase made is from you.

The other benefit is control. I have far more control over my margins (yes you can charge much higher prices than on eBay). I have far more control over customer service (if they have a problem they contact you rather than opening a case with ebay etc). I also can control my own destiny. If eBay and Amazon make decisions that are bad for business (Chinese sellers on eBay for example) I don't have to worry about it. I can run my site how I want to.
Oh and the best thing about having a website versus just selling on eBay or Amazon, I'm making more sales and more money than ever.

Hey Ecom man, I have a doubt about your own webpage thing. You can ask considerably higher prices on your webpage, I get that, but if you're driving customers from your eBay/Amazon sales to your own webpage (be it by discounts, promotions, etc.), how do you justify that the product that you were regularly selling to this customer for $50 is now being sold at $80 on your webpage? How do you get any sales at all from eBay/Amazon customers?

I personally would feel scammed if this happened to me, and if I had been a regular customer of yours I might even get mad. I get that you are also having new customers from ads and such, but have you had to deal with old customers complaining about the sudden rise of prices? Are you keeping your eBay/Amazon listings up to satisfy both? I'm really confused about this issue. I mean if you're relying completely on new customers, that makes sense, but you've emphasized many times that you're driving customers to your webpage through eBay sales, and I just don't get how I'd ever buy from your webpage if the prices I find there were higher.

Thanks again!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

TKDTyler

The Tea Guy
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
347%
Aug 25, 2014
451
1,567
33
It's not that he is charging more (at least I assume so), it's that he is saving on the fees associated with eBay and PayPal (around 13% total fees). Since you are on your own website and not competing for the top spot, free shipping is not mandatory, although your customers will appreciate it if it is. 13% fees + shipping comes out to be quite a bit that cut into your margins. @albertut77
 

albertut77

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
163%
Mar 2, 2015
59
96
32
It's not that he is charging more (at least I assume so), it's that he is saving on the fees associated with eBay and PayPal (around 13% total fees). Since you are on your own website and not competing for the top spot, free shipping is not mandatory, although your customers will appreciate it if it is. 13% fees + shipping comes out to be quite a bit that cut into your margins. @albertut77

I'm quite sure he said he was charging higher. I get your point, though, it would make sense, but he also said that he was investing around 10% on advertisement, which was equivalent to eBay and PayPal fees. Although seeing one of his posts in the 60th page (A little secret I've learned, you can sell for much higher margins on your own site than you ever can on eBay, and you control your own destiny.) it might be true that he's not charging more.

However, I've seen that for instance one of the products that I'm currently selling is being sold in various websites for as much as 50% more. It makes me want to follow @Ecom man's advise and start thinking about my own webpage. However, I feel like to have my own website I should be able to have much more products in stock and with a higher variety of these. I don't want to go too much into detail, but let's say I'm selling a car (yes, the car again!). Right now I would only be selling the Honda Civic, but if I had my own webpage I reckon I should also have replacements for the Honda Civic as well as different models of Civic, and maybe even other brands of car. This involves a bigger investment (which I'm not sure I can make right now) and a big, sort-of-permanent big storage space, which I don't have at the moment. Not to speak of the advertisement!

Any thoughts on this? Would it be wise to go ahead and start setting up my own website even though I can't offer a wide variety of "cars" right this moment? I have some friends that could help me with this, and I'm quite the OCD kind when it comes to details, so I reckon I could come up with something very decent.
Also, what would this involve in terms of legal matters? Right now I'm just an individual, not a business, and I'm not entirely aware of what my obligations are in terms of running an online business.

Thanks a lot!
 

TKDTyler

The Tea Guy
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
347%
Aug 25, 2014
451
1,567
33
@albertut77 That post must have slipped my mind as I was delusion ally reading at 3 am lol

Have you already started branding your own products or are you selling generic? I would say that there are absolutely 0 downsides to opening your own website under your brand name. Many people will google your brand if they are interested based on an eBay/Amazon post, so it's great for credibility. You have better margins, and you fulfill the commandment of control.

Websites are cheap enough to host and are easier than ever if you use Wordpress/Woo. I would say go for it even if it just one product. It's a great platform to expand on. Worst thing that happens is that you pay $100 for experience
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
I've been trying to find one product per day I can at least see that there is room for a margin. Problem is I always end up with cheaper items somehow and that isn't what I necessarily want. Looking to profit anywhere from $10-20 per item is my goal.

My main problem is I literally can not think of what to search for? Do you just type in random stuff and go from there and start comparing? Or do you have some type of method/process to search for specific products.

Do you specialize in certain goods or are you up to sell a wide variety of products?
Random stuff is where I start. I just think of a random word for example "house". I search that word on eBay and sort by best match. I also sort it out by buy it now. I then just start at the top and work my way down looking and seeing how many sales each item has. You can find many new items and see what they are selling for currently.
 

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
Hey Ecom man, I have a doubt about your own webpage thing. You can ask considerably higher prices on your webpage, I get that, but if you're driving customers from your eBay/Amazon sales to your own webpage (be it by discounts, promotions, etc.), how do you justify that the product that you were regularly selling to this customer for $50 is now being sold at $80 on your webpage? How do you get any sales at all from eBay/Amazon customers?

I personally would feel scammed if this happened to me, and if I had been a regular customer of yours I might even get mad. I get that you are also having new customers from ads and such, but have you had to deal with old customers complaining about the sudden rise of prices? Are you keeping your eBay/Amazon listings up to satisfy both? I'm really confused about this issue. I mean if you're relying completely on new customers, that makes sense, but you've emphasized many times that you're driving customers to your webpage through eBay sales, and I just don't get how I'd ever buy from your webpage if the prices I find there were higher.

Thanks again!
I'm driving sales through Google ads and through customers from eBay. I have actually stopped selling on eBay entirely at this time and gone solely to my website. Most people have no problem with a price increase over eBay prices as far as I can tell. I'm sure some people have not purchased from my site because of the higher prices but I offer service that is second to none. Emails and questions are answered within minutes. Products are at customers doors in 2-3 days. The service I provide is of more value than simply the product they need/want. I add value by my service and attention to their every need. Just this week someone purchased something as a gift for a friend in another state. They asked us to include a short note and wrap it if possible. My wife gift wrapped the item and wrote a handwritten card. Can you get that from any other sellers on Amazon or eBay? Can you get that from any other website?

In regards to feeling scammed if the prices were higher I have a real issue with that. How is someone offering a product at X price and you get that product for X price a scam of any kind? Businesses change their prices all the time. If someone is willing to pay the extra for excellent service and the value we provide to them then great. If they don't want to buy they can move on to the cheapest seller that just throws it together and ships it out whenever.
 

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
I'm quite sure he said he was charging higher. I get your point, though, it would make sense, but he also said that he was investing around 10% on advertisement, which was equivalent to eBay and PayPal fees. Although seeing one of his posts in the 60th page (A little secret I've learned, you can sell for much higher margins on your own site than you ever can on eBay, and you control your own destiny.) it might be true that he's not charging more.

However, I've seen that for instance one of the products that I'm currently selling is being sold in various websites for as much as 50% more. It makes me want to follow @Ecom man's advise and start thinking about my own webpage. However, I feel like to have my own website I should be able to have much more products in stock and with a higher variety of these. I don't want to go too much into detail, but let's say I'm selling a car (yes, the car again!). Right now I would only be selling the Honda Civic, but if I had my own webpage I reckon I should also have replacements for the Honda Civic as well as different models of Civic, and maybe even other brands of car. This involves a bigger investment (which I'm not sure I can make right now) and a big, sort-of-permanent big storage space, which I don't have at the moment. Not to speak of the advertisement!

Any thoughts on this? Would it be wise to go ahead and start setting up my own website even though I can't offer a wide variety of "cars" right this moment? I have some friends that could help me with this, and I'm quite the OCD kind when it comes to details, so I reckon I could come up with something very decent.
Also, what would this involve in terms of legal matters? Right now I'm just an individual, not a business, and I'm not entirely aware of what my obligations are in terms of running an online business.

Thanks a lot!
With only one product it would be hard to look like a legitimate website. However, there are many ways to fix that (drop shipping from other companies, carrying more products working with other sellers of like products, working with local businesses in your area to list their products that are like yours on your site etc).

There are many ways to go about doing it. It boils down to if you want to or not. If you want to no one can talk you out of it and you will figure out a way to make it happen. If you don't want to, no matter how many doors are open right in front of you, you will never walk through them.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

albertut77

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
163%
Mar 2, 2015
59
96
32
With only one product it would be hard to look like a legitimate website. However, there are many ways to fix that (drop shipping from other companies, carrying more products working with other sellers of like products, working with local businesses in your area to list their products that are like yours on your site etc).

There are many ways to go about doing it. It boils down to if you want to or not. If you want to no one can talk you out of it and you will figure out a way to make it happen. If you don't want to, no matter how many doors are open right in front of you, you will never walk through them.

That was like a cold, awakening slap in the face. I'm on it!
 

Metabaron

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
102%
Feb 16, 2015
59
60
38
Indiana
Ecom man, thanks for all great value you have given us in this thread. I have a quick question about paying suppliers, do you use tt or western union for any transactions? One of the places I got a quote from only accepts those payment options, and what I have read that normally means a scammer. They do have a decent looking website, but looks can be deciving.
 

aa610

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
60%
Jan 5, 2015
63
38
Massachusetts
With only one product it would be hard to look like a legitimate website. However, there are many ways to fix that (drop shipping from other companies, carrying more products working with other sellers of like products, working with local businesses in your area to list their products that are like yours on your site etc).

There are many ways to go about doing it. It boils down to if you want to or not. If you want to no one can talk you out of it and you will figure out a way to make it happen. If you don't want to, no matter how many doors are open right in front of you, you will never walk through them.

I noticed you mentioned something about opening different stores. Do you plan to have each be a niche product store?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

TTG SS

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
178%
Sep 3, 2014
233
415
32
Scottsdale, AZ
Random stuff is where I start. I just think of a random word for example "house". I search that word on eBay and sort by best match. I also sort it out by buy it now. I then just start at the top and work my way down looking and seeing how many sales each item has. You can find many new items and see what they are selling for currently.

Thanks!! Looks like a few hours of my Sat&sSun morning will be dedicated to this.
 

Ecom man

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
496%
Apr 17, 2014
1,039
5,154
35
Ecom man, thanks for all great value you have given us in this thread. I have a quick question about paying suppliers, do you use tt or western union for any transactions? One of the places I got a quote from only accepts those payment options, and what I have read that normally means a scammer. They do have a decent looking website, but looks can be deciving.
I would never recommend anyone pay via western union or tt to someone you have never met or visited. Even if you flew to China toured the factory etc I still wouldn't reccommend it. Every time I have sent money through those methods I have lost it. Many other people have done the same. Tell them you only send payments through PayPal or pay with your credit card through the various escrow services.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top