[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[KONIG]

This is my first post on the forum and one of the first threads I have read so far (I am also reading through icecreamkids "astonishing secrets" thread right now). I have read TFL book and I KNOW that there must be more to my life than this stable, comfy 9-5 job I currently have. I feel like my mind is running on all cylinders and is ready to go, I just need to focus and take action in one direction. I am SO EXCITED and ready to move and shake and make things happen =]

In my current 9-5 job I have a few hours every day where there isn't much work to be done so I am going to spend that time researching and looking for a niche or a need. I am going to treat this like I treat the gym, consistent focused efforts without giving up. Thank you all for the valuable information in this thread (especially you ecom man for starting the thread!)

 

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[ljb7]

This is my first post on the forum and one of the first threads I have read so far (I am also reading through icecreamkids "astonishing secrets" thread right now). I have read TFL book and I KNOW that there must be more to my life than this stable, comfy 9-5 job I currently have. I feel like my mind is running on all cylinders and is ready to go, I just need to focus and take action in one direction. I am SO EXCITED and ready to move and shake and make things happen =]

In my current 9-5 job I have a few hours every day where there isn't much work to be done so I am going to spend that time researching and looking for a niche or a need. I am going to treat this like I treat the gym, consistent focused efforts without giving up. Thank you all for the valuable information in this thread (especially you ecom man for starting the thread!)

Good luck! There are a number of valuable threads on importing and ecommerce. Make sure you look at them all, take note and take action!

 

[KONIG]

Thank you! I am considering buying the INSIDERS pass very soon. Would you recommend waiting on that until I settle in a bit more or getting it as soon as possible?

 

[ljb7]

Thank you! I am considering buying the INSIDERS pass very soon. Would you recommend waiting on that until I settle in a bit more or getting it as soon as possible?

I think if you're serious about this, it's a sound investment. I know my INSIDERS subscription has paid for itself in value many times over... Plus it's just another push that's gonna make sure you take action, you won't want to let that money go to waste, will you?

But I'm not gonna make that decision for you, if you want to know more about it, here's the link.. https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/pages/fastlane-insiders/

Hope this helps!

 

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[Zingy]

Planning to go back to eBay. What packaging materials do you guys get them from?

 

[ljb7]

Discovered an awesome product today I feel needs to be taken into the Western market.

Now all I need to do is decide what route to take with it... It could potentially replace a lot of existing products and save a lot of money for consumers + is it's solid conversation starter. Thinking of hitting up some stores that are in it's niche to see if I can get some orders. Even thought of an awesome brand name.

Would be lying if I said I wasn't excited with this one!

 

[Burt A]

Loving this thread as it keeps growing. Big props for sticking to it this long!

I'm wondering what your opinion is on the accuracy of shipping quotes on a Liquidation.com. Most times when I receive (domestic) freight quotes on other sites or from manufacturers they come straight from the trucking company. However, on Liquidation.com the shipping estimator they have seems to be precariously high.

If I win an auction on Liquidation.com, can I arrange my own shipping at a cheaper price (disassemble a pallet and put it on standard UPS/FedEx)? Can I get a more accurate estimate from the site/seller ahead of purchasing?

With that, a more general question--have you ever had problems buying items that are untested returns?

Once again, thanks for continuing this thread.

 

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[Ecom man]

Planning to go back to eBay. What packaging materials do you guys get them from?

I personally use Priority Mail's free packages. It of course requires the use of Priority Mail which is more expensive but makes a great impression on customers. (I have people order an item Friday night and they receive it on Monday.)

 

[Ecom man]

Thank you! I am considering buying the INSIDERS pass very soon. Would you recommend waiting on that until I settle in a bit more or getting it as soon as possible?

I had the INSIDERS pass for 3 months.( It was on another email address but didn't post at all because I put my real name on it) Many of the threads inside are of amazing value! If you glean one tidbit of wisdom from all the great threads it will have been worth the money! (I'm sure you will get more than just one thing too)

 

[Ecom man]

Loving this thread as it keeps growing. Big props for sticking to it this long!

I'm wondering what your opinion is on the accuracy of shipping quotes on a Liquidation.com. Most times when I receive (domestic) freight quotes on other sites or from manufacturers they come straight from the trucking company. However, on Liquidation.com the shipping estimator they have seems to be precariously high.

If I win an auction on Liquidation.com, can I arrange my own shipping at a cheaper price (disassemble a pallet and put it on standard UPS/FedEx)? Can I get a more accurate estimate from the site/seller ahead of purchasing?

With that, a more general question--have you ever had problems buying items that are untested returns?

Once again, thanks for continuing this thread.

That is one huge reason why I don't use them hardly at all. The shipping costs will absolutely eat you alive. The last thing i ordered from there was 25 damaged iPod touches. I was charged $60-$70 for shipping and I received it in a Priority Medium flat rate box (actual cost to ship closer to $11.) I believe that most listing do allow you to arrange your own shipping but you have a small frame of time to do so or you forfeit the items.

With untested returns the damage rate can vary depending on where you get them from. You can buy returns from Liquidation.com or from many many other places all across the US. You can buy in pallets or in truckloads. The only way to get a reliable % of the products that are sale able is to test out each seller personally. I believe the average a lot of people use is expect 50% of the items to be usable and 50% to be complete crap.

 

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[KONIG]

I had the INSIDERS pass for 3 months.( It was on another email address but didn't post at all because I put my real name on it) Many of the threads inside are of amazing value! If you glean one tidbit of wisdom from all the great threads it will have been worth the money! (I'm sure you will get more than just one thing too)

Thanks for the reply! Just got on the inside today, posted in the "introduce yourself" thread =] Now on to explore the inside!

 

[TurboWagon]

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

@kaqm It helps if you have an e-commerce website online to show them. It could just be one product available as they can navigate to it and confirm the site exists. This lets them know you are taking your business seriously. You'll have to answer a bunch of questions too. Be very nice to the person on the phone, they might just make an exception for you and raise your limit before the official time period. Good luck!

 

[the5thpgriff]

When it comes to selling on your own website instead of eBay/Amazon... What are you guys thoughts on putting together an inexpensive WordPress site using WooCommerce? I mean buy a nice $60 theme that also provides support and run with it. Has anyone tried this route? Successful? Unsuccessful? Your comments are greatly appreciated!!

 

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[exclusives88]

Sold my 100th item on EBay! 65 100 percent positive feedback. I'm trying to add higher margin products without any luck though.

I'm excited to be a top rated seller.

I had 2 complaints but was able to quickly resolve them with either a replacement or partial refund. They were happy with my quick response and service

 

[kaqm]

@TurboWagon thanks for your input, what sort of questions do they ask? It's really early days for me, only waiting on my first ever sample of a product to arrive at the moment so I'm not sure a website would be suitable yet.

Something else I've noticed...when we agreed on a negotiated price, is it normal for the supplier to say they'll change the shipping price after you've placed the order? A couple of people have sent links to a page I can order with the quantity I asked for, but the shipping is high and they say they'll change it after.

 

[Ecom man]

Sold my 100th item on EBay! 65 100 percent positive feedback. I'm trying to add higher margin products without any luck though.

I'm excited to be a top rated seller.

I had 2 complaints but was able to quickly resolve them with either a replacement or partial refund. They were happy with my quick response and service

Awesome! Dealing with customers can certainly be a big pain but they are your "bosses". Keep them happy and your income goes up!

 

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[Built4Greatness]

Ebay is one of my businesses and I followed this forum a while back. I have started to sell more and put more time into this lately.
The main issues I am having is shipping prep times (on big days this can take hours to ship everything, I do have other businesses that I ship out product as well). Posting time ( I stopped selling items under a certain price point because the time it takes to post. I do use my own copy and paste themes but still takes a while), Also my defective rate has gone up lately (This has been partially due to the type of items I have been selling, I recently sold off most of this product as the income I was making wasn't worth the trouble). Some of the customers drive me crazy " I didn't mean to buy this" , "How do I turn this on?" type of questions makes me question human life.

Ebay customer service sucks, you are on hold forever and most people ask you the same irrelevant questions only to transfer you to someone else. when I get a good person I try to get everything done at once.

I like ebay because it's easy and you can make money but all of this factories make me question the effort I put into it.

Any ideas of how to avoid these issues?

Not to be completely negative maybe I can give a bit of advice that has helped me. I literally started with $100 and turned that in a few grand in 20 days. I noticed most people don't do these things (hopefully these haven't been said before). Use the entire space in your title, I treat this as I would SEO. Any word that people will search for the item I add to the title. I don't leave blanks space at all (Color, Brand, end use, item #, anything I know people will search). Make post personal " Welcome to my sale of ...." If the item is unique and worth the $ I'll post a video or very descriptive post. Bundles! adding useful items with the product increases the value.

 

[MIA]

Those are gross sales figures profit margins are around 30-40% of sales price so if I sell 150k over the next 2 months I should have 60k in profits.

When you say 60k profit, is that for the cost of inventory/shipping to you/shipping (offered free) to buyers AND your next round of inventory? Or is that preliminary profit/return on the initial inventory already sold and not including the cost to invest in the next round of inventory? If the next round of inventory hasn't been accounted for, what would you say roughly from $60k will go into your next round of inventory orders?

Thank you for your generous answers and guidance, one day I hope to offer as much or more than you have

 

[Ecom man]

When you say 60k profit, is that for the cost of inventory/shipping to you/shipping (offered free) to buyers AND your next round of inventory? Or is that preliminary profit/return on the initial inventory already sold and not including the cost to invest in the next round of inventory? If the next round of inventory hasn't been accounted for, what would you say roughly from $60k will go into your next round of inventory orders?

Thank you for your generous answers and guidance, one day I hope to offer as much or more than you have

The 60k would be profit. The amount of cash that is returned to me after taking out eBay fees, shipping costs, and paying off the orginal purchases. So the 60k is money in the bank.

Depending on how fast I sell the items will dictate my reorder and size of reorder. If I'm tracking to be sold out by the end of November I will order more items to sell before Christmas. If I still have a decent amount left by the end of November I wont order again til after Christmas sales stop.

A side note for all you sellers, end all your listings far enough ahead that people wont freak out thinking they wont get it by Christmas. Some people are not smart enough to realize that if they order something 3 days before the holiday they wont get it by Christmas and will leave you negative feedback for their stupidity. I am ending all my listings on the night of December 18. (I use 2-3 day Priority mail so that gives me a 3-4 day extra custom for shipping) if you use a slower shipping service (Parcel Post etc.) you should end your listing before that or bump your prices up to cover faster shipping. I will relist all my items left on the 25th of December.

 

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[kaqm]

@kaqm You'll have to answer a bunch of questions too. Be very nice to the person on the phone, they might just make an exception for you and raise your limit before the official time period. Good luck!

OK, just successfully lifted my sales limit. Thought I'd share my experience of the call for fellow newbies. I made sure I was very nice to the guy!

Questions they asked - What's your company name? What's your company number? Are you a limited company or a soletrader?

Basically I blagged my socks off. They were fine about me not having a company number. I said something along the lines of it being early days, waiting for it to go through etc. It worked anyway! So now I'm allowed 100 items or £3,500 worth of sales per month, as opposed to the 1 item or £650 before. I was nervous though! Just a pre-warning here for anyone at the same sort of stage. Think on your feet and keep your voice calm. Sound like you know what you're doing

I have two samples on their way to me now and got an excellent deal on one of them. Even better, I will actually be allowed to sell them!!

 

[Lagron]

Love the thread here.. Really helpful and even motivational for myself for some of the posts...

I'm looking into/trying to find Boeing Aircrafts- used for sale, so I can send it to a client for their consideration.
My question is- does anyone know what aircraft's generally go for (Boeing 700's and 500's)...must be used.

Better question is- What kind of commission rate should I try and establish for myself? There isn't something uniform out there that says what the avg price per import/export of certain goods are and I'd love more info on this. I tried my hand on road salt last year and lost, so I might as well try again on something even more profitable, I hope...

I have 10 days to give the client a firm price...

 

[smartman]

i think you are posting in the wrong thread homeboy

 

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[ljb7]

Love the thread here.. Really helpful and even motivational for myself for some of the posts...

I'm looking into/trying to find Boeing Aircrafts- used for sale, so I can send it to a client for their consideration.
My question is- does anyone know what aircraft's generally go for (Boeing 700's and 500's)...must be used.

Better question is- What kind of commission rate should I try and establish for myself? There isn't something uniform out there that says what the avg price per import/export of certain goods are and I'd love more info on this. I tried my hand on road salt last year and lost, so I might as well try again on something even more profitable, I hope...

I have 10 days to give the client a firm price...

I've gotta admit, your post did confuse me a little as well.

 

[Tri]

Hi everyone,

First time poster! I would like to say thanks to everyone for asking such great questions (ive learned so much in the past few days) and @Ecom man for starting this thread + taking time to answer questions!

I've read up to page 40 and have ordered my first sample. I have a few other "potential" products - however was wondering in regards to
looking at ebay competition at which point do people say that there is too many to people to compete with? And move on to another item?

i.e the top sellers have sold 500 of the product, some have sold 30-40, then there are some at the bottom who have sold 1 or 2 and people right at the bottom who have sold 0.

Thanks!

 

[ljb7]

Why Building Awesome Relationships with your Suppliers is KEY... and how to do it!

I thought I'd write a post about this subject due to recent experiences.

Not too long ago I decided I would aim to build great relationships with my potential suppliers - and I have started to click with a few already. And my gosh am I reaping the rewards.


So, Luke, how do you 'click' with your suppliers?

Well my friend, the answer is quite simple - don't be all about the business.

Chinese culture is different to a lot of western culture. While us westerners are very business & money oriented, wanting to get from first contact to order in 30 seconds flat, the Chinese are a little different.

Don't get me wrong, the Chinese love business, and they love making deals, but they prefer to take a slower route.

And if you ride with them along this slower route, you'll be sure to build killer relationships with your potential suppliers. It doesn't even matter if you haven't ordered a sample yet, as well!


So what do you mean by this? What should I do?

It's quite simple really. Don't just talk about business. Ask them about their family's, their interests, if they've travelled talk with them about that, and talk about your family and your interests!

Don't rush it either. I find email conversations with the suppliers I have great relationships with are about half personal, half business. If they want to talk about personal stuff, I'll talk about it with them.

You may think what I said to talk about doesn't sound like a lot, but the conversations that can spring from just these things are endless - and anyone with half decent conversational skills will be able to make something interesting out of it.

Yes. It does take more time to make the deal. But it's worth it.

And yes, not every supplier is going to want to talk about personal things. That's O.K. At least you tried, eh?

Personally I've found that female sales reps are much more receptive to this - but that's just my experience thus far, in this little amount of time.

You can ask for their Skype, or wechat (I use a lot now) and can have good conversations - all the while you are both building trust with one another.


But how does this benefit me???

Okay, so I'll give you a real example that has been happening with me over the past week. If I'm honest, I'm really pleased with this one.

I've been talking with a manufacturer for a while about a product that is valuable, and a hot seller on eBay. It sells for about $400.

This lovely sales rep has been very kind and we have talked about numerous things over 21 back and forth emails.

I haven't even paid for my sample yet! (don't worry, I'm paying tomorrow)

These guys are great, they are the original manufacturers... So building a strong relationship now is key to getting great deals and awesome customer service in the future. And that's just what I have done.

Y'know, we've even talked about things like copywriting! (Yes, you read that right. And she even bought a Chinese version of Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins because she was so. damn. interested!)

But on to how this has benefitted me. Well, first off, I'm getting wholesale price for a 2pc sample - $140 for each. The shipment is also around 14kg and she has quoted me $98 express DAP.

And the kicker? They told me they didn't use Paypal. Only T/T or WU. Well, I let her know it was company policy for us to use Paypal.

Well, her company don't actually use Paypal. She has never used it. But she talked with a friend and she is going to let me send it to her personal Paypal account.

Now as we have a trusting relationship, and she isn't used to Paypal, I let her know that sellers usually charge 3.4% on top because of Paypal fees and I'd be happy to pay that fee as well (which of course is normal!). She was delighted that I told her.

It turns out there is a withdrawal charge of $35 as well - but guess what? She opted to pay it herself because of my kindness before.

I'm getting the PI tomorrow and making the payment tomorrow. This just goes to show how putting in that little bit of extra effort can go a long way. And I'm sure I will reap the same benefits in the future when I put in a larger order!!

For the other couple suppliers I'm clicking with I can result similar (yet not AS good) benefits that the one above is providing me with.


I hope this has opened some you guy's eye's to some degree and I hope you guys put this into action and really make an effort - even if it means finishing the deal takes a few more days. You'll benefit from it like crazy.

Edit: The aim of this post isn't to take away from the value Ecom man and others have provided, I just figured this post is thread is high traffic and very active so more people will see it!

 

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[Ecom man]

Hi everyone,

First time poster! I would like to say thanks to everyone for asking such great questions (ive learned so much in the past few days) and @Ecom man for starting this thread + taking time to answer questions!

I've read up to page 40 and have ordered my first sample. I have a few other "potential" products - however was wondering in regards to
looking at ebay competition at which point do people say that there is too many to people to compete with? And move on to another item?

i.e the top sellers have sold 500 of the product, some have sold 30-40, then there are some at the bottom who have sold 1 or 2 and people right at the bottom who have sold 0.

Thanks!

It really is up to you how much competition you want to deal with. As a new seller it is extremely hard to get sales for a very competitive item. The bigger sellers will get the "best match" and take a good chunk of the sales. Many times they will also be able to get their products cheaper cause of the larger quantity so that puts you at a price disadvantage too. As a new seller on eBay you have to offer something unique (super fast shipping) or have a product with not many competitors. Once you become more established (500+ feedback) you can choose to enter more competing markets if you like.

 

[Ecom man]

Why Building Awesome Relationships with your Suppliers is KEY... and how to do it!

I thought I'd write a post about this subject due to recent experiences.

Not too long ago I decided I would aim to build great relationships with my potential suppliers - and I have started to click with a few already. And my gosh am I reaping the rewards.


So, Luke, how do you 'click' with your suppliers?

Well my friend, the answer is quite simple - don't be all about the business.

Chinese culture is different to a lot of western culture. While us westerners are very business & money oriented, wanting to get from first contact to order in 30 seconds flat, the Chinese are a little different.

Don't get me wrong, the Chinese love business, and they love making deals, but they prefer to take a slower route.

And if you ride with them along this slower route, you'll be sure to build killer relationships with your potential suppliers. It doesn't even matter if you haven't ordered a sample yet, as well!


So what do you mean by this? What should I do?

It's quite simple really. Don't just talk about business. Ask them about their family's, their interests, if they've travelled talk with them about that, and talk about your family and your interests!

Don't rush it either. I find email conversations with the suppliers I have great relationships with are about half personal, half business. If they want to talk about personal stuff, I'll talk about it with them.

You may think what I said to talk about doesn't sound like a lot, but the conversations that can spring from just these things are endless - and anyone with half decent conversational skills will be able to make something interesting out of it.

Yes. It does take more time to make the deal. But it's worth it.

And yes, not every supplier is going to want to talk about personal things. That's O.K. At least you tried, eh?

Personally I've found that female sales reps are much more receptive to this - but that's just my experience thus far, in this little amount of time.

You can ask for their Skype, or wechat (I use a lot now) and can have good conversations - all the while you are both building trust with one another.


But how does this benefit me???

Okay, so I'll give you a real example that has been happening with me over the past week. If I'm honest, I'm really pleased with this one.

I've been talking with a manufacturer for a while about a product that is valuable, and a hot seller on eBay. It sells for about $400.

This lovely sales rep has been very kind and we have talked about numerous things over 21 back and forth emails.

I haven't even paid for my sample yet! (don't worry, I'm paying tomorrow)

These guys are great, they are the original manufacturers... So building a strong relationship now is key to getting great deals and awesome customer service in the future. And that's just what I have done.

Y'know, we've even talked about things like copywriting! (Yes, you read that right. And she even bought a Chinese version of Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins because she was so. damn. interested!)

But on to how this has benefitted me. Well, first off, I'm getting wholesale price for a 2pc sample - $140 for each. The shipment is also around 14kg and she has quoted me $98 express DAP.

And the kicker? They told me they didn't use Paypal. Only T/T or WU. Well, I let her know it was company policy for us to use Paypal.

Well, her company don't actually use Paypal. She has never used it. But she talked with a friend and she is going to let me send it to her personal Paypal account.

Now as we have a trusting relationship, and she isn't used to Paypal, I let her know that sellers usually charge 3.4% on top because of Paypal fees and I'd be happy to pay that fee as well (which of course is normal!). She was delighted that I told her.

It turns out there is a withdrawal charge of $35 as well - but guess what? She opted to pay it herself because of my kindness before.

I'm getting the PI tomorrow and making the payment tomorrow. This just goes to show how putting in that little bit of extra effort can go a long way. And I'm sure I will reap the same benefits in the future when I put in a larger order!!

For the other couple suppliers I'm clicking with I can result similar (yet not AS good) benefits that the one above is providing me with.


I hope this has opened some you guy's eye's to some degree and I hope you guys put this into action and really make an effort - even if it means finishing the deal takes a few more days. You'll benefit from it like crazy.

Edit: The aim of this post isn't to take away from the value Ecom man and others have provided, I just figured this post is thread is high traffic and very active so more people will see it!

Great advice! Anything that helps people I am all for sharing.

One word of caution. Be sure to pay through Paypal with a credit card and make sure to mark it as a purchase not a gift. Paying with a credit card will help double protect you if this nice person happens to be a scammer. You would have Paypal's protection and your credit card's as well. If you mark it as a gift instead of a purchase you lose all those protections as well.

Glad to hear you found an awesome product and at great margins! Hope your sales go amazing!

 

[ljb7]

Great advice! Anything that helps people I am all for sharing.

One word of caution. Be sure to pay through Paypal with a credit card and make sure to mark it as a purchase not a gift. Paying with a credit card will help double protect you if this nice person happens to be a scammer. You would have Paypal's protection and your credit card's as well. If you mark it as a gift instead of a purchase you lose all those protections as well.

Glad to hear you found an awesome product and at great margins! Hope your sales go amazing!

Didn't even think about the double protection aspect - that's good to know! Thanks [emoji2]

 

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[Ecom man]

Sales are starting to ramp up for Christmas. I Sold 25k in all of October. So far in November I have sold 21k and haven't even hit the busiest time yet. Next weekend will be crazy!

If you have items listed set some time aside to ship them out cause they will be selling!

 

[Bananas]

Sales are starting to ramp up for Christmas. I Sold 25k in all of October. So far in November I have sold 21k and haven't even hit the busiest time yet. Next weekend will be crazy!

If you have items listed set some time aside to ship them out cause they will be selling!

One thing a seller can do when they are overwhelmed due to the amount of time spent shipping is to raise prices on the items selling the most. This will slow down sales, but not stop them, allowing the seller to catch up on their shipping while still making money.

If the sales do not actually slow, but continue at the same rate, that is a clue that the price was too low to begin with - the market is willing to pay more. In that case, raise them slightly once more.

Once caught up, the seller should reduce the price back to its normal level.

This is a much better alternative than what I have seen discussed on eBay and Etsy forums - putting a store in vacation mode until caught up and then turning it back on. No need to stop the money flow totally, simply allow the faucet to run slower.