[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[RisingStars]

I'm genuinely happy for you that you found this, it feels amazing when you see that you might have hit a good one, and I'd love to see your updates and help in any way I could, but I strongly recommend you read the whole thread. Many questions have been answered, and even if it's not a question but rather a situation people has been at that you might find yourself in in the future, it will be beneficial for you to do so.

About your product, and this has been discussed before, don't go too crazy when you see an item that you can buy for 5 and sell for 10. Take into account the VAT and Duty that's going to be applied in Custom (which is always gonna be lower than what you had calculated, but don't rely on that), the shipping material's cost (padded envelops, tape, bubble wrap, boxes, etc.), eBay fees, PayPal fees, shipping costs (if you offer free shipping, which I strongly advise you to, add it up to the price somehow but have in mind that you'll be paying those) and even your bank overseas transactions' fees if applicable. In my experience, most of the times starting with a margin from buying to selling ends up with either loses or rather low margins once all has been applied. I try to always aim for 150-200%, and then usually end up in the 60-100%, which is good enough for me. So, if I can buy for 5, I should be able to sell for 15. I'll most likely end up paying 7-10/product after all fees applied, so that still leaves me a fairly good benefit.

I will let Ecom man answer about the webshop (he already has in earlier posts).

How many products you should have (which has already been answered, to me specifically) is pretty much up to you. Can you only have one and sell? Then go ahead, why wait. If you can then introduce more, even better, but there's no reason not to have one with only one product if you see that it can sell.

Regarding the category or niche, I'm sure Ecom man has talked about it but I don't dare putting words in his mouth right now. In my opinion, if you're referring to a webshop, I would go for niche-specific web. So if I'm selling 3 different products from 3 very different niches on eBay and want to sell on my own webpage, I would put up 3 different webpages. For example, I wouldn't sell cars and beds in one web page, but I would sell cars, replacements, tires, car seats, engines, etc in one and beds, bedframes, sheets, pillows, etc in another one.

I believe being niche-specific in your webpage gives a more serious, credible and professional image towards your product compared to being a "supermarket" kind of thing.

Good luck, and keep up the good work!

Okay if you say its worth it I will read the whole thread. Thank you. I recalculated everything and I am sure that I can get pure profit of 5€ for each sale.
I have some experience with ebay selling, so I calculated every expense already.
Of cause I will start with this product first and see how it goes. Hopefully I can add more products soon.

Yes 1 webpage for every niche is good, but I wonder if I should go for a page which got only 1 little product. I have to see if I find more profitable products in my niche.

I wish the best of luck to you, too. Thanks!

 

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[albertut77]

Okay if you say its worth it I will read the whole thread. Thank you. I recalculated everything and I am sure that I can get pure profit of 5€ for each sale.
I have some experience with ebay selling, so I calculated every expense already.
Of cause I will start with this product first and see how it goes. Hopefully I can add more products soon.

Yes 1 webpage for every niche is good, but I wonder if I should go for a page which got only 1 little product. I have to see if I find more profitable products in my niche.

I wish the best of luck to you, too. Thanks!

Oh, that's a fantastic product then. Now get those sales coming! As I mentioned, and as they told me when I asked the same, what do you lose by having a webpage with only one product? Nothing. Worst case scenario, you lose the ridiculous amount that would cost having the site on and maybe if you invest on advertisement and doesn't work out (which is another reason why you should read the whole thread. Ecom man talks about advertising your webpage). Good case scenario, you get decent sales without eBay sucking 10% of them, which you can reinvest in ads/more producsts and then just grow from there.

I'm sort of jealous, to be honest! I had to stop looking for new products because my life is kind of a mess right now and I need to set some things first, but I'm so much looking forward to having spare time to dive into hundreds of products and calculations again! All the luck!

 

[RisingStars]

Oh, that's a fantastic product then. Now get those sales coming! As I mentioned, and as they told me when I asked the same, what do you lose by having a webpage with only one product? Nothing. Worst case scenario, you lose the ridiculous amount that would cost having the site on and maybe if you invest on advertisement and doesn't work out (which is another reason why you should read the whole thread. Ecom man talks about advertising your webpage). Good case scenario, you get decent sales without eBay sucking 10% of them, which you can reinvest in ads/more producsts and then just grow from there.

I'm sort of jealous, to be honest! I had to stop looking for new products because my life is kind of a mess right now and I need to set some things first, but I'm so much looking forward to having spare time to dive into hundreds of products and calculations again! All the luck!

You are right. As soon as I get stable sales on eBay I go into amazon and also build a own website. They became really cheap thanks to shopify and similar.
I will soak up the information in this thread now.

Sorry to hear that your life don't go the way you want at the moment. I hope that it will be all fine soon. If you need a open ear or if there is any way I could help shoot me a PM. Best of luck men!

 

[TaylorB]

I Built a website after about my 3rd sale and included 10% off at my site in every shipment. When they get to my site it just says leave your email to claim your gift and ill let you know when the website is open. That will give me a month or so to get the site up and running. Not sure if it works yet as shipments containing that info are just hitting the customers now!

 

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[RisingStars]

Good idea Taylor!

I wanted to order my first test today from DHGate. My seller offers me 18$ for 2 Products with free shipping but up to 30 days shipping time.
Not sure if I should pay 50$ extra to ship it with DHL. Then it would arrive in 7 days, but its only a test order for checking the quality.

The Product I could sell for 13€ each. (3€ shipping, tax, ebay, etc. )

Not sure if i should pay the extra 50$. Maybe the product could be shit (unlikely, seems like a good supplier).

 

[albertut77]

I Built a website after about my 3rd sale and included 10% off at my site in every shipment. When they get to my site it just says leave your email to claim your gift and ill let you know when the website is open. That will give me a month or so to get the site up and running. Not sure if it works yet as shipments containing that info are just hitting the customers now!

Way to go! Agh, I'll start with mine soon. You're all making me want to quit my internship and start working full time on this!

Let us know how the sales go on that webpage, and how you manage with the advertisement!

Good idea Taylor!

I wanted to order my first test today from DHGate. My seller offers me 18$ for 2 Products with free shipping but up to 30 days shipping time.
Not sure if I should pay 50$ extra to ship it with DHL. Then it would arrive in 7 days, but its only a test order for checking the quality.

The Product I could sell for 13€ each. (3€ shipping, tax, ebay, etc. )

Not sure if i should pay the extra 50$. Maybe the product could be shit (unlikely, seems like a good supplier).

Hey mate!

Well, if you're going for the slow shipping (which I wouldn't), I suggest you order more than 2 samples. With that price, I would order at least 10. It's gonna be a month waiting for 2 samples, you'll sell them and then what? are you going to wait one more month for the next order? At least have some more products to sale, to spare your waiting (if you have made your homework properly, which sounds like you did, you should be able to tell if it'll sell so that wouldn't be a problem).

Otherwise, you could always try to message the seller and ask him for the price it would cost you to order more samples but through DHL. Maybe you can get a better shipping price if you order 10 instead, but that's up to you.

I personally would hate to wait one month to get my samples. I'd rather get the samples soon, try them out and see their success, and then make a big order, for which I could wait a bit more (although a month would be eternal).

Really up to you, but nonetheless it would be worth while contacting the supplier anyway. Good luck!

 

[RisingStars]

Well since the product is pretty cheap 2 first would be awesome so I dont have to pay tax. The waiting time is bad, but for the bulk order is free shipping with DHL. So Atleast, if I know the quality is good I dont have to wait till I can sell my products

I could buy more, but it would still not be economically.

lets see what my supplier answers. Sadly its night in China now

 

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[RisingStars]

Hello guys,

I just found out something pretty bad (for me)
In germany its necessary to get the products I import checked for Quality.
I need 3 different quality logos to sell the products.

When I dont make the quality checkings AND if I dont buy a product insurance I can get sued.
First I was wondering if the quality checking could be done easily for a small price, but it isnt that easy I think.

2nd: If I dont import electronic (my product is small electronic, no fake tablet, phone etc.) I also need the quality check and logo.
If for example I sell wooden Toys, and the paint is toxic and a child lick un it, guess who have to pay the rest of his life...

Never thought that that would be so hard. In the US you just have to import and may have to pay tax.

Here I need: EAR Logo, WEEE Logo, CE-Certification, Tax and Product insurance.

Sucks. Back to 0.

 

[albertut77]

Hello guys,

I just found out something pretty bad (for me)
In germany its necessary to get the products I import checked for Quality.
I need 3 different quality logos to sell the products.

When I dont make the quality checkings AND if I dont buy a product insurance I can get sued.
First I was wondering if the quality checking could be done easily for a small price, but it isnt that easy I think.

2nd: If I dont import electronic (my product is small electronic, no fake tablet, phone etc.) I also need the quality check and logo.
If for example I sell wooden Toys, and the paint is toxic and a child lick un it, guess who have to pay the rest of his life...

Never thought that that would be so hard. In the US you just have to import and may have to pay tax.

Here I need: EAR Logo, WEEE Logo, CE-Certification, Tax and Product insurance.

Sucks. Back to 0.

Hey, that's certainly a stone in the road, but don't let that stone stop you. At most, it will slow you down.

Money is being made in Germany by importing and reselling as much as it's being made in many other countries. Each one will have its advantages and disadvantages, but that hasn't stopped many people from working a bit harder and still succeeding.

Yes, it will be a pain in the back the first time you have to look into all this, but I'm sure as soon as you've spent one or two afternoons thoroughly looking into it, how other people are dealing with this in your country, made your first order and seen how the process goes and what surprises may arise on the way (which I hope you get right the first time!), it'll be just a routine.

Just take your time, know the procedure and make a first order. Take this order as a learning process, don't spend too much and just check how these quality checks go. Once you've got this, I'm sure it'll be easy peasy.

Surely there are hundreds if not thousands of people in Germany importing small electronic items that go through all these quality checks just fine. I strongly suggest you try to see how these other sellers go with this.

Don't give up!

 

[Walter Hay]

Hello guys,

I just found out something pretty bad (for me)
In germany its necessary to get the products I import checked for Quality.
I need 3 different quality logos to sell the products.

When I dont make the quality checkings AND if I dont buy a product insurance I can get sued.
First I was wondering if the quality checking could be done easily for a small price, but it isnt that easy I think.

2nd: If I dont import electronic (my product is small electronic, no fake tablet, phone etc.) I also need the quality check and logo.
If for example I sell wooden Toys, and the paint is toxic and a child lick un it, guess who have to pay the rest of his life...

Never thought that that would be so hard. In the US you just have to import and may have to pay tax.

Here I need: EAR Logo, WEEE Logo, CE-Certification, Tax and Product insurance.

Sucks. Back to 0.

BARRIER TO ENTRY. Don't give up so easily. Compliance is a lot easier than you think. It is the supplier's responsibility to provide the certifications that you need.

EAR has 2 meanings in international trade. One relates to restricted goods that may have military and private uses. In your case I expect that it refers to the other meaning: European Authorized Representative.

WEEE relates to disposal of electronic goods, and is a prescribed notice that must be attached to each item. CE Certification relates to electrical goods safety.

You don't have to do any testing. If your supplier has not done the testing for CE Certification, then if they want to sell in Europe they must obtain a CE Certificate. If they don't, you look for a supplier that has one. If they don't include a WEEE notice on the item, look for another supplier.

The simplest way out of your problem is to find a good freight forwarder, who can handle the import for you.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Certificates are often forged by Chinese suppliers. See my post regarding CERTIFICATES Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist.

 

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[Ecom man]

Hey, that's certainly a stone in the road, but don't let that stone stop you. At most, it will slow you down.

Money is being made in Germany by importing and reselling as much as it's being made in many other countries. Each one will have its advantages and disadvantages, but that hasn't stopped many people from working a bit harder and still succeeding.

Yes, it will be a pain in the back the first time you have to look into all this, but I'm sure as soon as you've spent one or two afternoons thoroughly looking into it, how other people are dealing with this in your country, made your first order and seen how the process goes and what surprises may arise on the way (which I hope you get right the first time!), it'll be just a routine.

Just take your time, know the procedure and make a first order. Take this order as a learning process, don't spend too much and just check how these quality checks go. Once you've got this, I'm sure it'll be easy peasy.

Surely there are hundreds if not thousands of people in Germany importing small electronic items that go through all these quality checks just fine. I strongly suggest you try to see how these other sellers go with this.

Don't give up!

Perfect answer!

 

[Walter Hay]

Hey, that's certainly a stone in the road, but don't let that stone stop you. At most, it will slow you down.

Money is being made in Germany by importing and reselling as much as it's being made in many other countries. Each one will have its advantages and disadvantages, but that hasn't stopped many people from working a bit harder and still succeeding.

Yes, it will be a pain in the back the first time you have to look into all this, but I'm sure as soon as you've spent one or two afternoons thoroughly looking into it, how other people are dealing with this in your country, made your first order and seen how the process goes and what surprises may arise on the way (which I hope you get right the first time!), it'll be just a routine.

Just take your time, know the procedure and make a first order. Take this order as a learning process, don't spend too much and just check how these quality checks go. Once you've got this, I'm sure it'll be easy peasy.

Surely there are hundreds if not thousands of people in Germany importing small electronic items that go through all these quality checks just fine. I strongly suggest you try to see how these other sellers go with this.

Don't give up!

I hope what you have written does not give @RisingStars the idea that he has to have the testing done. As I wrote, that is not your worry, it is the responsibility of the supplier, but make sure you check the certificates with the authority that issued them.

 

[TaylorB]

Just FYI for other newbies. I have been keeping my hot product quantity low like 4 items then after a few sell I put it back to 4. This listing I made was 30 days not GTC.

So over lunch I sold 1, then driving home sold 1 then someone bought 2. Inventory went to 0 and ebay made me relist loosing all my watchers etc! And the sold number is now reset on the new listing. Time to climb back to the top I guess.

 

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[TKDTyler]

Just FYI for other newbies. I have been keeping my hot product quantity low like 4 items then after a few sell I put it back to 4. This listing I made was 30 days not GTC.

So over lunch I sold 1, then driving home sold 1 then someone bought 2. Inventory went to 0 and ebay made me relist loosing all my watchers etc! And the sold number is now reset on the new listing. Time to climb back to the top I guess.

There is software somewhere out there that will monitor the number of items available in your listing and will automatically update your inventory number once it reaches a preset point...

I forget the name of the software, but it is in this thread somewhere. Maybe somebody can point it out

 

[TaylorB]

Yea I remember reading about it in this thread I just decided to KISS and go manual as I start out. Turns out should of had the software!

 

[albertut77]

Just FYI for other newbies. I have been keeping my hot product quantity low like 4 items then after a few sell I put it back to 4. This listing I made was 30 days not GTC.

So over lunch I sold 1, then driving home sold 1 then someone bought 2. Inventory went to 0 and ebay made me relist loosing all my watchers etc! And the sold number is now reset on the new listing. Time to climb back to the top I guess.

My eBay / Account / Site Preferences / Selling Preferences / Sell Your Item form and listing / Use the out-of-stock -option --> check this

Now everytime your listing runs out of stock, eBay won't take it down and will instead keep it up but hidden until you increase the amount of available products. Your watchers and sales will remain the same once you've relisted it. It will also be relisted automatically even if hidden (correct me if I'm wrong on this one, that's how I understood it), so fees will apply every X time even if you don't have any stock for the whole period of time you set your listing.

I hope that helps!

I hope what you have written does not give @RisingStars the idea that he has to have the testing done. As I wrote, that is not your worry, it is the responsibility of the supplier, but make sure you check the certificates with the authority that issued them.

Apologies! I don't know a thing about these certificates and was only trying to help and cheer him up, but your post made it clear that it's not even half as hard as we would have expected. Very much appreciated!

@RisingStars, sorry if that brought any confusion, I indeed thought it was something you had to take care of. Good that @Walter Hay cleared that out!

 

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[Thomas1980]

My eBay / Account / Site Preferences / Selling Preferences / Sell Your Item form and listing / Use the out-of-stock -option --> check this

Now everytime your listing runs out of stock, eBay won't take it down and will instead keep it up but hidden until you increase the amount of available products. Your watchers and sales will remain the same once you've relisted it. It will also be relisted automatically even if hidden (correct me if I'm wrong on this one, that's how I understood it), so fees will apply every X time even if you don't have any stock for the whole period of time you set your listing.

I hope that helps!



Apologies! I don't know a thing about these certificates and was only trying to help and cheer him up, but your post made it clear that it's not even half as hard as we would have expected. Very much appreciated!

@RisingStars, sorry if that brought any confusion, I indeed thought it was something you had to take care of. Good that @Walter Hay cleared that out!

Wow, that's a huge help. One of my items had close to 200 sold and a boatload of watchers (cheap item/ very small profit), and I forgot to update the stock. So, my listing was taken down on eBay and I ended up losing all of my watchers and the amount sold. This certainly would've helped!

 

[Ecom man]

Just FYI for other newbies. I have been keeping my hot product quantity low like 4 items then after a few sell I put it back to 4. This listing I made was 30 days not GTC.

So over lunch I sold 1, then driving home sold 1 then someone bought 2. Inventory went to 0 and ebay made me relist loosing all my watchers etc! And the sold number is now reset on the new listing. Time to climb back to the top I guess.

If you are going to do it manually then I would do 8-9 in stock so that doesn't happen As easily. You can also do it automatically using eBays seller manager pro. It costs a few cents per transaction I believe but once you get a few products it can get confusing to manually update all of them.

 

[RisingStars]

BARRIER TO ENTRY. Don't give up so easily. Compliance is a lot easier than you think. It is the supplier's responsibility to provide the certifications that you need.

EAR has 2 meanings in international trade. One relates to restricted goods that may have military and private uses. In your case I expect that it refers to the other meaning: European Authorized Representative.

WEEE relates to disposal of electronic goods, and is a prescribed notice that must be attached to each item. CE Certification relates to electrical goods safety.

You don't have to do any testing. If your supplier has not done the testing for CE Certification, then if they want to sell in Europe they must obtain a CE Certificate. If they don't, you look for a supplier that has one. If they don't include a WEEE notice on the item, look for another supplier.

The simplest way out of your problem is to find a good freight forwarder, who can handle the import for you.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Certificates are often forged by Chinese suppliers. See my post regarding CERTIFICATES Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist.

Thanks Walter. You explained it very well. The problem is, that I am registered in a german online selling forum and everyone told me to stay away from importing.

When I import a product and it starts burning somehow, they said the buyer can sue me.
When I import child toys and the paint is toxic the buyer can sue me.
Also, I have to take all the toys back I sold.

Even if I get all the certification (which I need to take care of and not the supplier) I still need a product insurance for the rest risk.

Again, thats not what I said, thats what the other forum members said

I really don't know where to look now. Where did you get your information, or who could I ask (government etc.) to make 100% sure that nobody will sue me?

I looked around dhgate and alibaba and my supplier had certificates in the bottom of the offer. They looked kinda fake tho :/ 1 was CE Logo, but didn't look much like the real one. There is this "China Export" scam with a similar logo.

 

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[albertut77]

Thanks Walter. You explained it very well. The problem is, that I am registered in a german online selling forum and everyone told me to stay away from importing.

When I import a product and it starts burning somehow, they said the buyer can sue me.
When I import child toys and the paint is toxic the buyer can sue me.
Also, I have to take all the toys back I sold.

Even if I get all the certification (which I need to take care of and not the supplier) I still need a product insurance for the rest risk.

Again, thats not what I said, thats what the other forum members said

I really don't know where to look now. Where did you get your information, or who could I ask (government etc.) to make 100% sure that nobody will sue me?

I looked around dhgate and alibaba and my supplier had certificates in the bottom of the offer. They looked kinda fake tho :/ 1 was CE Logo, but didn't look much like the real one. There is this "China Export" scam with a similar logo.

Dude, there's way more out there other than products that could burn and child toys. Open your eyes (look up to the sky...), get out there and see what sells. There are literally hundreds of thousands of products that you could safely sell without all this hussle. I understand it can be disappointing to find out about all this when you had already done your product's research and had had your hopes up, but hey: rinse and repeat.

Now you know what not to sell, so snap out of that negative mindset and start looking for products that would fit your importing circumstances. Make an example out of yourself and share your experience with the others to easy up the way for newcomers in similar situations!

Don't give up!!

 

[albertut77]

While I was doing some product research today (finally!), I found a very interesting product that might be a good test. The fun thing about this product is that none is selling it on eBay in my country.

It's pretty cool. So cool that, at first, I simply bought it for myself because I couldn't find it on eBay, or anything as cool as this one. And then I thought "what the hell, if it's not on eBay and I'll anxiously wait 2 weeks to get it, this could work".

It's not branded, it's not a knock-off, its electronic involvement is minimal, but it requieres good technical quality.

Since I didn't see any supplier for this product in my country's eBay (not even Chinese!) I decided I will get a sample order in a couple of weeks, after I've received mine and tested its quality. The most interesting part about this is that I would be 100% introducing this specific product in my market, which is both exciting and terrifying (but not really, as I'm sure I will be able to get rid of them at supplier's price in the worst case scenario). For this I need some help.

Obviously, I don't have a reference price, so I woud be blindfoldedly making it up. So here goes nothing:

I can buy it for $25-26 a piece in orders of 10, $20-25 in orders of 20, 50, 100+, but I am pretty sure this is negotiable. In the US eBay, where only a Chinese seller is selling it with quite good stats (60-90 watchers and >80 sold), it sells for $29-33. I made some calculations and, to make a reasonable profit, and by that I mean $20~ each (after fees, VAT, shipping costs, etc), I should sell it for around $70~.

Do you see this as feasible? I must say it's an elegant, trendy product, and I would offer same day dispatch and 1 day delivery (chinese supplier has >2 weeks delivery).

Any tips on this and on overall "how to introduce a product" will be appreciated!

 

[Ecom man]

While I was doing some product research today (finally!), I found a very interesting product that might be a good test. The fun thing about this product is that none is selling it on eBay in my country.

It's pretty cool. So cool that, at first, I simply bought it for myself because I couldn't find it on eBay, or anything as cool as this one. And then I thought "what the hell, if it's not on eBay and I'll anxiously wait 2 weeks to get it, this could work".

It's not branded, it's not a knock-off, its electronic involvement is minimal, but it requieres good technical quality.

Since I didn't see any supplier for this product in my country's eBay (not even Chinese!) I decided I will get a sample order in a couple of weeks, after I've received mine and tested its quality. The most interesting part about this is that I would be 100% introducing this specific product in my market, which is both exciting and terrifying (but not really, as I'm sure I will be able to get rid of them at supplier's price in the worst case scenario). For this I need some help.

Obviously, I don't have a reference price, so I woud be blindfoldedly making it up. So here goes nothing:

I can buy it for $25-26 a piece in orders of 10, $20-25 in orders of 20, 50, 100+, but I am pretty sure this is negotiable. In the US eBay, where only a Chinese seller is selling it with quite good stats (60-90 watchers and >80 sold), it sells for $29-33. I made some calculations and, to make a reasonable profit, and by that I mean $20~ each (after fees, VAT, shipping costs, etc), I should sell it for around $70~.

Do you see this as feasible? I must say it's an elegant, trendy product, and I would offer same day dispatch and 1 day delivery (chinese supplier has >2 weeks delivery).

Any tips on this and on overall "how to introduce a product" will be appreciated!

If you are the only person carrying the product you really can set the price. Since you like the product, at what prices would you buy it? Would you still buy it for you personally at 70? 80? 90? If you would buy it at those prices most likely so will other people. You can always go down in prices but once you set the market at 70 each it won't be going up. Test test test is the best thing to do. Test the products, test the prices, and test the demand.

 

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[albertut77]

If you are the only person carrying the product you really can set the price. Since you like the product, at what prices would you buy it? Would you still buy it for you personally at 70? 80? 90? If you would buy it at those prices most likely so will other people. You can always go down in prices but once you set the market at 70 each it won't be going up. Test test test is the best thing to do. Test the products, test the prices, and test the demand.

Well, I would personally rather buy it from DHgate and wait, as my income is not stable yet and I can't afford going around spending $70-90 on something that is not absolutely a need, if you know what I mean. But if I had a stable income, I'd definitely spend that amount of money to have it the day after, as you can spend this and much, much more for some variants of this product that are not half as cool.

I think I might put the one I ordered for myself for sale, see what I can get for it and how fast, and then make a new order and keep one.

Thanks!

 

[aa610]

If I go to ebay, and just start searching for sold items from high to low in certain categories.. this can take forever, and more often than not, I click through to find that only one of the item was listed/sold per listing. Any advice?

 

[Thomas1980]

If I go to ebay, and just start searching for sold items from high to low in certain categories.. this can take forever, and more often than not, I click through to find that only one of the item was listed/sold per listing. Any advice?

You just have to keep searching. I've been searching random items for the past two months and I haven't come up with anything solid. I have better luck flipping items from outlet stores on CL and eBay.

 

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[albertut77]

If I go to ebay, and just start searching for sold items from high to low in certain categories.. this can take forever, and more often than not, I click through to find that only one of the item was listed/sold per listing. Any advice?

You just have to keep searching. I've been searching random items for the past two months and I haven't come up with anything solid. I have better luck flipping items from outlet stores on CL and eBay.

I've started to use less and less eBay/amazon for this and more alibaba/DHgate/aliexpress. Actually, I don't use eBay/amazon at all anymore.

These places (alibaba/DHgate/aliexpress) are made mainly for people/businesses to buy and resell, hence their overall layout is more useful for product research. By this I mean that often the products suggested in the main page or the "Daily Deals", though they rarely will be appealing for reselling at a 'starting level', usually lead me to ideas and products that end up being virtually profitable.
If I had the time (and the money), I would've gotten soooo many samples from so many different products! The long waits for each order to arrive are killing me, but I'm gonna take this step by step and not F*ck up.

So anyway, I think doing your research through those webpages and then using eBay to see if what you found, sells, is easier than looking at eBay, where everyone is selling everything and you start searching with nothing, absolutely randomly.

Furthermore, if you search on eBay you'll most likely miss those products that very few people are selling and could be profitable, for the simple reason that you'll be overloaded with broad and generic stuff.

Also, if you start doing this instead, and regarding the Daily Deals: don't rush! I think the products in these sections are selected on a "% of discount offered that day" sort of system, so if I sell a product for 100 and give a 50% discount, I'll be a Daily Deal, but there might be other (trusted) suppliers selling the same product for 45 but not showing in the deals. Not sure about this, but I commonly find daily deals' products for same or better prices when looking specifically for these.

Good luck!

 

[aa610]

You just have to keep searching. I've been searching random items for the past two months and I haven't come up with anything solid. I have better luck flipping items from outlet stores on CL and eBay.

I've done the before. Problem being that I rarely find meaningful margin there either.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[aa610]

I've started to use less and less eBay/amazon for this and more alibaba/DHgate/aliexpress. Actually, I don't use eBay/amazon at all anymore.

These places (alibaba/DHgate/aliexpress) are made mainly for people/businesses to buy and resell, hence their overall layout is more useful for product research. By this I mean that often the products suggested in the main page or the "Daily Deals", though they rarely will be appealing for reselling at a 'starting level', usually lead me to ideas and products that end up being virtually profitable.
If I had the time (and the money), I would've gotten soooo many samples from so many different products! The long waits for each order to arrive are killing me, but I'm gonna take this step by step and not F*ck up.

So anyway, I think doing your research through those webpages and then using eBay to see if what you found, sells, is easier than looking at eBay, where everyone is selling everything and you start searching with nothing, absolutely randomly.

Furthermore, if you search on eBay you'll most likely miss those products that very few people are selling and could be profitable, for the simple reason that you'll be overloaded with broad and generic stuff.

Also, if you start doing this instead, and regarding the Daily Deals: don't rush! I think the products in these sections are selected on a "% of discount offered that day" sort of system, so if I sell a product for 100 and give a 50% discount, I'll be a Daily Deal, but there might be other (trusted) suppliers selling the same product for 45 but not showing in the deals. Not sure about this, but I commonly find daily deals' products for same or better prices when looking specifically for these.

Good luck!

this is a great idea, thank you!

 

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[Ecom man]

I've started to use less and less eBay/amazon for this and more alibaba/DHgate/aliexpress. Actually, I don't use eBay/amazon at all anymore.

These places (alibaba/DHgate/aliexpress) are made mainly for people/businesses to buy and resell, hence their overall layout is more useful for product research. By this I mean that often the products suggested in the main page or the "Daily Deals", though they rarely will be appealing for reselling at a 'starting level', usually lead me to ideas and products that end up being virtually profitable.
If I had the time (and the money), I would've gotten soooo many samples from so many different products! The long waits for each order to arrive are killing me, but I'm gonna take this step by step and not F*ck up.

So anyway, I think doing your research through those webpages and then using eBay to see if what you found, sells, is easier than looking at eBay, where everyone is selling everything and you start searching with nothing, absolutely randomly.

Furthermore, if you search on eBay you'll most likely miss those products that very few people are selling and could be profitable, for the simple reason that you'll be overloaded with broad and generic stuff.

Also, if you start doing this instead, and regarding the Daily Deals: don't rush! I think the products in these sections are selected on a "% of discount offered that day" sort of system, so if I sell a product for 100 and give a 50% discount, I'll be a Daily Deal, but there might be other (trusted) suppliers selling the same product for 45 but not showing in the deals. Not sure about this, but I commonly find daily deals' products for same or better prices when looking specifically for these.

Good luck!

You can do it either way to be honest. Narrow eBay down to only buy it now listings under a certain price and sort by best match. Type in a random keyword and off you go.

I hopped on eBay and typed kitchen as the keyword. Narrowed it down to products over $20, new items, and only buy it now. I left it sorted by best match. The top 3 listings have 111 sold, 61 sold, and 1304 sold. Are they good products with workable margins? I don't know but it took me 30 seconds to set the parameters and find 3 possibilities.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro..._dcat=20651&rt=nc&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=20&_udhi

 

[Ron Dee]

It can be frustrating but keep grinding and find some products you can work with. 4 months ago I knew nothing about selling on eBay only buying. Selling a few grand a month now. Keep going you will breakthrough eventually!