Made $6,900 Importing From China and Reselling on eBay.

[Tehcasa]

As of the age of 16 I started importing directly from Chinese manufactures (through Alibaba). During the course, I was a failure. I didn't break even, I was scammed once and I had no clue on how to find reliable suppliers and profitable products to sell.

Before I go on, many people ask me "did you use your own money to start-up your own import venture". My answer is: Yes. I scrubbed dishes like a crazy old lady, cooked bread and oysters like no tomorrow and scrubbed toilets with my bare hands in a restaurant I worked at for no longer than one year.

As of today, I've made close to $7,000! I know it may not seem that much, but I started importing at the same time I had school.

My process on importing is simple. FIND, BUY & SELL!
Of course it's not going to be as easy as it sounds. But the more questions you ask me, the more you'll be better off in your start-up journey.

For now, I have stopped importing mainly because of starting year 12 and putting all my time into that for necessary purposes. Please don't rant onto me about dropping out of high school...

As a small success, I want to give back to the Fastlane community. If you have any questions related to importing from Alibaba and reselling via eBay. I'm your man. Personal Message me if you like!

Pat

 

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

[TrestonIngle]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. What was your initial interactions with suppliers and manufacturers like?

 

[Tehcasa]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. What was your initial interactions with suppliers and manufacturers like?

In the beginning I was hell skeptical. I believed all the possible myths and risks associated with buying from Chinese suppliers like, fraud, scam, etc. But I took the risk and gave it a shot.

 

[MoneyDoc]

What were your sales channels? Amazon? Ebay? Local?

 

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

[DeletedUser394]

What were your sales channels? Amazon? Ebay? Local?

The title says he sold on ebay. lol.

 

[Tehcasa]

What were your sales channels? Amazon? Ebay? Local?

eBay.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. What was your initial interactions with suppliers and manufacturers like?

In the beginning I was hell skeptical. I believed all the possible myths and risks associated with buying from Chinese suppliers like, fraud, scam, etc. But I took the risk and gave it a shot.

 

[MoneyDoc]

The title says he sold on ebay. lol.

I should get to sleep... Haha... Thanks.

 

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

[Tehcasa]

I should get to sleep... Haha... Thanks.

definitely my friend haha

 

[P3HSB]

What is your process for identifying a successful product on Alibaba to resell on ebay?

 

[GuestUser116]

How do you find a product that will sell? Did you have dropshifters?

 

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

[Tehcasa]

What is your process for identifying a successful product on Alibaba to resell on ebay?

Good question. I found these "perfect products" through four main websites:

1. Amazon Movers and Shakers - which identifies the biggest gainers in sales rank compared to twenty-four hours previous. I found products that had approximately 1000 reviews. If it was greater than this, the product was more likely to be saturated (too many sellers and not enough buyers. Or if it was less than 1000 by a lot I wouldn't really waste my time.

2. Kickstarter - Which is a global crowd funding platform. It helps bring creative projects to life. This specific page displays the most successful projects of ‘product design’ which have been 100% funded. Sometimes the product isn't out on the market yet, even if its 100% funded so don't get your hopes up if you think you've found the best product to sell.

3.Trendoriginal - This is another great resource for finding products.

4. New Movies - This was my favorite medium out of them all. I'm a regular movie watcher, and the amount of products/novelties that are created from movies is enormous! New movies = New TRENDY products on the market

My tip overall: Look for the newest, strangest, weirdest, and most trendiest products out! Even if you haven't heard of the product before, or you think the product is bizarre, go for it.

This was just half of the puzzle done.

Next I checked if the product was available on Alibaba. And from this (If it was available) I moved over on to Terapeak which is a market analytics tool that provides importers with product intelligence. I used this whenever I wanted to know if my product was selling or not. It provided your search with results that indicated the average price, average shipping cost, start price, listings and most of all the sell through ratio on eBay. All the results are essential to know, but for start-ups the sell through ratio is the most important parts of finding the "perfect product".

It essentially tells you if your product is selling or not. For example, if the sell through ratio was 30% it would be quite low and therefore you wouldn't want to buy the product. However if the product was around 46% or greater it’s awesome to buy. This is because the product isn't saturated which means that there is a lot of buyers and not enough sellers. Then I would move onto profit margins. I would answer this question: Is this product giving me x2 return for what I purchased it for or more? If it is a little bit under your x2 return that's fine, as long as you make profit during your start-up journey.

 

[Deleted28123]

i had the idea of doing this but the producting seem to be alot of money and its hard to know who to trust at this point

 

[Tehcasa]

i had the idea of doing this but the producting seem to be alot of money and its hard to know who to trust at this point

These are just myths. You don't need a lot of money to start making a profit and there is a process to scam-proof yourself from all the risks involved in importing. PM if you want the full details of how to go about this.

How do you find a product that will sell? Did you have dropshifters?

 

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

[Tehcasa]

i had the idea of doing this but the producting seem to be alot of money and its hard to know who to trust at this point

These are just myths. You don't need a lot of money to start making a profit and there is a process to scam-proof yourself from all the risks involved in importing. PM if you want the full details of how to go about this.

How do you find a product that will sell? Did you have dropshifters?

My response to P3HSB pretty much summarizes this question for you

How do you find a product that will sell? Did you have dropshifters?

 

[JPHerrmann]

Just to add for the persons replying with interest in this thread, all I ever see on this topic are suppliers overseas. SERIOUSLY, there are dozens, if not hundreds of warehouse distributors and suppliers in your own town/city. Google them, give them a call, walk in, ask for a product list. We seem to have forgotten how effective traditional business will always be, even in this modern age of technology.

You can get product lists from local suppliers, set up a website, and promote the hell out of it. Work directly with suppliers, and this face to face system might also get you a margin account as a start up business, which will help you ALOT!.

Perhaps i will also start a thread on this soon, to keep peoples heads out of the "outsourcing cloud".

 

[Tehcasa]

Just to add for the persons replying with interest in this thread, all I ever see on this topic are suppliers overseas. SERIOUSLY, there are dozens, if not hundreds of warehouse distributors and suppliers in your own town/city. Google them, give them a call, walk in, ask for a product list. We seem to have forgotten how effective traditional business will always be, even in this modern age of technology.

You can get product lists from local suppliers, set up a website, and promote the hell out of it. Work directly with suppliers, and this face to face system might also get you a margin account as a start up business, which will help you ALOT!.

Perhaps i will also start a thread on this soon, to keep peoples heads out of the "outsourcing cloud".

Do it I'd like to see how it goes

i had the idea of doing this but the producting seem to be alot of money and its hard to know who to trust at this point

These are just myths. You don't need a lot of money to start making a profit and there is a process to scam-proof yourself from all the risks involved in importing. PM if you want the full details of how to go about this.

How do you find a product that will sell? Did you have dropshifters?

My response to P3HSB90 pretty much summarizes this question

How do you find a product that will sell? Did you have dropshifters?

 

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

[JordanK]

About a year ago I was considering setting up a business selling International Football Jerseys during the World Cup. I was able to source multiple distributors in China who sell at rock bottom prices but I heard that it is illegal to sell these jerseys because the designs are copyrighted would this not be the same for your idea number four, selling movie novelty products?

 

[Achilles]

Did you brand these products? How did you brand them?

 

[Tehcasa]

About a year ago I was considering setting up a business selling International Football Jerseys during the World Cup. I was able to source multiple distributors in China who sell at rock bottom prices but I heard that it is illegal to sell these jerseys because the designs are copyrighted would this not be the same for your idea number four, selling movie novelty products?

I've never gotten into trouble doing it mainly because I only bought these toys without the authentic tags and logos that were off of Big movie companies like Disney for example. But I made them sound authentic in the description which made the listing convert. However, if Disney somehow finds you are selling the real authentic toys with the tags and logos they will most likely send you a C&D which is a warning to stop selling the product. If you don't stop they might sue you. But in the end of the day i'm 17, I've never got this warning, and because they weren't the authentic toy I was good to sell.
My advice: if you do get a warning, stop selling the product immediately!

 

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

[Tehcasa]

Did you brand these products? How did you brand them?

I did not brand the products, I simply just bought the product I was looking for and sold it the way it was. I was thinking of getting into ODM but at the time I couldn't be bothered. It took more time and costed more

 

[Daniel M.]

I heard about this, that it is a great opportunity. There is a course "Amazing Selling Machine", it is about this. Buying from alibaba and selling on Amazon. I want to try out this too.

I have a few questions:
- Where do yo store the products? (Amazon has the option to even store your products, you dont even have to see what are you selling)
- What was you initial investment? How products did you buy, how much did you spend on them?

And to contribute a little to this thread feel free to visit the link below to spot the best products to sell on Amazon:
http://profitspotlight.com/ (Opt-In required but it gives you instant acces)

And, in order to store your products on Amazon while you are selling, read here:
http://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/benefits.htm?ld=NSGoogleAS
For UK and EU: http://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/how-it-works.html

 

[wade1mil]

http://profitspotlight.com/ (Opt-In required but it gives you instant acces)

Any idea how they come up with the sales numbers?

 

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

[Daniel M.]

Any idea how they come up with the sales numbers?

I couldn't say for sure but this profit spotlight is a product of Amazing Selling Machine (http://amazingsellingmachine.com/). It is an academy and twice a year they are open ... right now they are closed so the videos are not reachable ... They have 4 very very useful video about this project, buying and selling but I couldn't find them.

You should base your decision just on these numbers, but it is a great resource also

 

[wade1mil]

I couldn't say for sure but this profit spotlight is a product of Amazing Selling Machine (http://amazingsellingmachine.com/). It is an academy and twice a year they are open ... right now they are closed so the videos are not reachable ... They have 4 very very useful video about this project, buying and selling but I couldn't find them.
You should base your decision just on these numbers, but it is a great resource also

Yeah, I'm very aware of ASM and have seen the videos. He does a great job.
Just curious because there are three services that I've checked out that estimate revenue and keyword volume, but they all vary so much.
One says it does $150,000 per day and the other says 32 sales. One or both are way off.

 

[Daniel M.]

Yeah, I'm very aware of ASM and have seen the videos. He does a great job.
Just curious because there are three services that I've checked out that estimate revenue and keyword volume, but they all vary so much.
One says it does $150,000 per day and the other says 32 sales. One or both are way off.

Aa, ok, I understand. I dont want to claim that this in the best because I don't know, so it really depends on you. Maybe you can find even more sources and then decide which is your product.

I think that good products are smartphone cases, I know that there are A LOT, but if you can find another kind of case which you can't find on Amazon/eBay, I think you can easily sell.

 

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

[wade1mil]

if you can find another kind of case which you can't find on Amazon/eBay

Yeah I agree that can work. Tons of competition. I'd want to be selling around $20 though, not like some of these people selling cases for $5.

I just spent four days going through the top 100 list and doing keyword research. Narrowed it down to 165 products. Need to automate this like yesterday.

 

[Daniel M.]

Yeah I agree that can work. Tons of competition. I'd want to be selling around $20 though, not like some of these people selling cases for $5.

I just spent four days going through the top 100 list and doing keyword research. Narrowed it down to 165 products. Need to automate this like yesterday.

Very good. I agree that you should sell good quality products instead of cheap trash.

Oh, and there is another REALLY cool thing.
On alibaba you can find retailers who offers you the opportunity to rebrand the product. You can send the design for your product and you can sell your own self-branded cases. That's really great I think, I will definitely try this out.

 

[mosdef]

did you have any sells before starting or did u start selling without any "reviews" on ebay?

 

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

[Tehcasa]

I heard about this, that it is a great opportunity. There is a course "Amazing Selling Machine", it is about this. Buying from alibaba and selling on Amazon. I want to try out this too.

I have a few questions:
- Where do yo store the products? (Amazon has the option to even store your products, you dont even have to see what are you selling)
- What was you initial investment? How products did you buy, how much did you spend on them?

And to contribute a little to this thread feel free to visit the link below to spot the best products to sell on Amazon:
http://profitspotlight.com/ (Opt-In required but it gives you instant acces)

And, in order to store your products on Amazon while you are selling, read here:
http://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/benefits.htm?ld=NSGoogleAS
For UK and EU: http://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/how-it-works.html

In regards to your questions, I stored my product in my bedroom
My initial investment was 50 USD. I had no idea what I was doing at the time because I was a new start-up. But now looking back, my 150USD investment on a product got my importing income going! The products ranged and the price differed, I did not only sell one product, i sold heaps. Usually for a product test, I would buy a few and if they worked (profitable) I would buy 10 more, then 50, then 100. I liked buying in smaller increments then buying a lot (bulk at the start) because I felt safer.

 

[Tehcasa]

I heard about this, that it is a great opportunity. There is a course "Amazing Selling Machine", it is about this. Buying from alibaba and selling on Amazon. I want to try out this too.

I have a few questions:
- Where do yo store the products? (Amazon has the option to even store your products, you dont even have to see what are you selling)
- What was you initial investment? How products did you buy, how much did you spend on them?

And to contribute a little to this thread feel free to visit the link below to spot the best products to sell on Amazon:
http://profitspotlight.com/ (Opt-In required but it gives you instant acces)

And, in order to store your products on Amazon while you are selling, read here:
http://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/benefits.htm?ld=NSGoogleAS
For UK and EU: http://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/how-it-works.html

In regards to your questions, I stored my product in my bedroom
My initial investment was 50 USD. I had no idea what I was doing at the time because I was a new start-up. But now looking back, my 150USD investment on a product got my importing income going! The products ranged and the price differed, I did not only sell one product, i sold heaps. Usually for a product test, I would buy a few and if they worked (profitable) I would buy 10 more, then 50, then 100. I liked buying in smaller increments then buying a lot (bulk at the start) because I felt safer.

Aa, ok, I understand. I dont want to claim that this in the best because I don't know, so it really depends on you. Maybe you can find even more sources and then decide which is your product.

I think that good products are smartphone cases, I know that there are A LOT, but if you can find another kind of case which you can't find on Amazon/eBay, I think you can easily sell.

I disagree, products like that are over saturated (Too many suppliers and not enough buyers). I could maybe agree with you on finding cases that are not found on amazon/ebay, but how would you know if they would sell?