[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[Ecom man]

i think they make it up on volume. (LOL!) I think they don't - like MLM, most are losers. (coming from a guy who did drop shipping, etc. in the past.)


not to be trite, but - "if it was easy..."

I agree it is pushing through the process of finding products that is the hard part. Once you find products that don't have idiots in them you can be set for months or years. I have sold some of the same product lines for the entire time I have been selling (3+ years). It's finding those reliable products that really make it a potential gold mine.

 

[jazb]

First time poster here, great thread! Just wanted to ask what your thoughts are on selling sex related productson ebay, do you think they can damage my reputation as a seller when it comes to other products?

Make sure your sex products aren't second hand

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Marked GOLD, thx for the head-up!

 

[Ecom man]

Expensive shipping/delivering

I was searching Hungarian forums about shipping and what I've found is that it ranges between 10$ - 550$.
How do you guys do the shipping without loosing profits?

EDIT: I might read bad forums but those prices seem horrifying for me.

I import from China/ wherever into the USA. Shipping costs will vary from country to country and you really have to do your own homework as to what products/ shipping will work to your country and in it. Every country has it's added issues (high shipping, added import taxes and on and on) but all your competitors in that country have to deal with that specific issue as well.

The question is are you going to let problems stop you or even keep you from starting? Are they going to make you sit on the couch and give up because it's too hard? Every problem you encounter, someone before you has overcome it. The amount of profit many times directly correlates to the amount of problems. Lots of problems? Lots of profits!

 

[Ecom man]

Gotta love it when people use you as their source of merchandise. Had someone (who found me on eBay originally) just make a purchase of over $2,000 for products that I paid $1,025. Now to find a box to ship them all in!!!

 

[Ecom man]

Do you have an elimnation process for suppliers?
I've gotten quotes from multiple suppliers and the sample cost remains consistent, however shipping greatly fluctuates.

For Example: Sample product
Supplier #1 - $80 of product + $400 to ship = $480 total
Supplier #2 - $80 of product + $120 to ship = $200 total

I can only think that Supplier #1 would be a middle man and upcharging on the shipping to boost profits. Is this typical?


ON a side note: I've seen some ridiculous popular products on ebay. Found one that has sold 1000+ units in a day. WOW this is the goal. From what i've seen importing them for a profit is the challenge. Unless you have the capital to purhcase mass quantities.

Supplier 1 might not necessarily be a middle man but he is certainly boosting profits by overcharging on shipping. If both suppliers have been on Alibaba for the same amount of time I would just go with the cheaper option. If supplier 1 has been on there for considerably longer than #2 go back to supplier one and ask him whats up. Worst case scenario he doesn't respond. Best case he says he sent you the "wrong shipping quote" and can do it for the $120 shipping cost. Unfortunately a lot of people feel like they have to have cheap prices and then overcharge on the back end.

Honestly I don't want products that sell 1,000 a day. Most of the time those products are razor thin margins cause everyone sees the 1,000s sold and jumps on the bandwagon. I want products selling 5-20 every day. Margins tend to stay higher on those products cause less people notice them. Make $10 profit per item and you are talking $200 a day. That's not much until you have 5 items doing that then your talking 30k profit a month.

 

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[johnp]

I found this thread in the summer and I have been looking around for various products to import. I like the idea of having some different incomes streams coming in incase I have a bad month with my other business. But I had a ton of trouble finding a product to import. I was all over the place for months.

I eventually decided that I needed to systematize the research process.

If you're having trouble finding a product then try this:

1. Create a Google docs
2. Create the following columns:
a) date
b) Product title
c) Price
d) Price to Import
e) Profit Margins
f) Competition (low, med, or high)
g) Total units sold from date discovered
h) Change in units sold (i.e., +1,+2,+3) - ** This is a key field for me.
i) Most current units sold
j) Ebay listing links
k) Sourcing listing for imported product after I begin to look for one
l) Comments
3. Fill the columns and analyze the products

I looked for around 30 products and listed them all. I'm still growing my list. I check up on each product about 2 times per day. I have already found 5-6 good products to import and a bunch of bad products that I thought were good. Now I need to move to step #2 and look into sourcing and whether the numbers will work out.

I'm basically analyzing everything and taking my time. This process seems kind of intense for finding a product, but it helped get me over the hump of how to find a product in the first place. Now I have so many options that I don't even know where to start.

 

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[Ecom man]

@Ecom man

Thanks for the thread, it was very helpful in getting my eBay sales off the ground.

I've run into a problem, and maybe you've seen it before and can help me out, because google isn't turning up anything.

For two months, I have had 3 listings in the same niche ranking in the top 5 for all relevant keywords. Last night they all disappeared from search, and ended up around page 10. I am a top-rated power seller with 200+ 100% positive feedback. One listing has 175+ sold, the others have 40+. They are the lowest price of any competitor. I didn't change any copy, or even touch the listings at all. None of my competitors seem to have been affected by any sort of search algorithm change, they are all in the same spot.

The only thing that has been different about the past few days is that I went out of town on Saturday, and came back Tuesday. So any orders from Saturday-Tuesday, got shipped out Wednesday morning (there were 16). So, some of those were shipped around 48 hours after they were placed, instead of the usual less than 24.

I listed 6 new auctions today... and they went straight to page 10 to hang out with the Buy It Now listing that was already bumped back there.

Seller support drone recommended I end my listings and relist them. I'm not convinced, as my new listings aren't ranking either.

Any ideas?

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.

 

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[albertut77]

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

 

[Ecom man]

First and foremost, thank you SO much not only for this thread, but also for answering pretty much every question!

My apologies if this had already been asked...I just started reading the thread and it's currently 66 pages long, and I got through like page 3 so far. I am curious how many hours a week you actually work? Everthing, including but not limited to, looking for new items, inspecting/testing, listing them, answering questions, selling, packaging, driving to/from the post office, picking up packaging supplies....everything.

Also,I am curious how many hours you spent doing all this in the beginning as compared to now?

Thanks again for ALL of this!!!

When I first started doing this I probably only spent a couple hours a week. Packaging up 1-2 items a night, just sort of dabbling in it seeing if it would work. As I got more products and more sales started to come I gradually started spending more time on it. The more time I spent finding products the more time I would have to spend packaging them up etc.

Currently I spend 35-40 hours a week working or learning business related things. I resigned from my job about 3 weeks ago so I could have more time to spend on my websites so I now do this full time. I am expecting to be working 40-50 hours a week until at least January. My goal is to have 5 websites up and running fully before October. I currently have one site that is entirely running and another that I still need to finish tweaking/ adding all the products to.

 

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[Ecom man]

Jesus. When you say 48 products I'm guessing you mean 48 different products with several amounts of each, right? How do you deal with so many orders from so many different products every day without going crazy, messing samples and having time for your family / hobbies?

I have 4 products of different sizes at the moment, 1 selling various amounts daily and the other 3 selling 1-3 daily. It's going great, I love it, but when I have the 4 products in stock and listed it can get quite messy. However, I don't have a car to take the orders to the post office, so very often it takes 2-3 bike rides to the post office a day, which is mostly what annoys me. But still, 48 products is insane.

Do you have a set daily working schedule? If so, would you mind sharing it? I'm sure I can improve my time management by 1000%, I just don't have the time to sit down and think about it properly (I still have a full time job, so that is also a stick in the wheel for me).

Thanks!

I've been doing this for a few years so it does get easier with practice. I am selling 25-35 items a day currently. Obviously Christmas time will be far more.

Schedule for the day is similar to this
9-10ish get up.
10-11 do the packages that sold overnight
11-12 take packages from previous day and sold overnight to post office
12-7 do running around shopping, family time etc.
7-9 research new products, reorder what I'm running low on etc.
9-11 package up sales from the day
11-12 or 1 research new markets, niches, or just generally read on forums. (Millionaire fast lane, reddit entrepreneur, reddit flipping, reddit marking, etc.)
This is normal M-F routine. Saturday is a little different since the post office closes at noon here.

I am far less rigorous in my schedule now then I was when I had a full time job. For instance right now I'm sitting with my 3 year old watching pink panther Cartoons on YouTube.

Christmas time gets far more intense. Normal sales are 150-200 a day. We make 2 trips to the PO 10ish and 4ish. We normally do packages in the morning, at around 2pm (to take to the PO before they close at 5) and then again at night.

 

[Ecom man]

Hey Ecom man, love this post, I've learned a lot, any chance you could share a link to your website

Sorry but no

 

[Ecom man]

This is a really great thread and I'm amazed you're still going strong with your answers after 82 pages.

Question:

1) I saw before you said you only have a few listings on AMZ. Has that changed?

2) For any of your products, do you private label, re-brand it, change or tweak it, improve it, etc. and create your own brand and then sell it on your ecommerce site? Or is your store more of like a costco or amazon type where you just carry a large selection of products of different brands and styles?

3) Maybe I misunderstood but wouldn't it be weird if your store was too general and it carried random things like pizza cutters and then lawn ornaments? Or is the whole point to just have a store of all sorts of goods and using targeted ads to drive traffic?

4) If you had to start over from scratch, would you still go the route of multiple products versus starting 1 at a time on AMZ? The reason I ask is because i see the pros of both strategies. Launching multiple skus is cumbersome, annoying, some might not sell, etc. A lot more hands on and time consuming. While launching 1 good, value add product in a low competition niche in AMZ is less work. But, that 1 product might flop. Or you might get out-sold or destroyed by someone with a lot more money and power than you. But AMZ seems to have 1 thing that other marketplaces and self-ecommerce does not. It's almost exponential growth if you manage to succeed because sales inherently creates more sales (as that's how their algorithm works) so you can explode with only a few products. Would like your thoughts on this please.

1. I currently don't have anything listed on Amazon. I am selling solely on stand alone websites.

2. I just carry a bunch of different brands and different products. IMO a brand doesn't matter unless there is something different about it. To just slap my "brand name" on a product or to leave it as a different random name really doesn't matter.

3. I think because of eBay/Amazon people are used to going to one site and finding a bunch of different items. I try to have 5-10 in each category on my site. I don't think I have any categories that just have one product in them.

4. I think both ways have merit. If I were to have to start from scratch tomorrow I would probably do a lot of things differently. I would start in one category and build a website/eBay/Amazon all around that category. I would carry hundreds of items that were all related. When I was to the point I am now (2-3 million a year in sales) If profits were 1 million on that 3 million in sales the business would sell for approximately 2-3 million. (Obviously there are many variable to that but in general eccommerce businesses seem to be worth 2-3x net profit. I would sell the business. I would then pick a new category and repeat.

 

[Ecom man]

Hey brother! Great thread

My questions:

I want to import a piece of equipment from China but it has to meet Australian Standards (AS). There are several units on Alibaba but do not mention meeting AS. So we've emailed the manufacturers asking them if they can adjust the unit to meet AS.

1. Do you have any advice for this situation?
2. Should we just wait for the quotes to come in, pick the smartest offer and away I go?
3. Have you ever gone through a broker?

Thank you

As for #1 I have never had to adjust any items for specific standards so messaging them until you can get a manufacture that agrees is probably your best bet.
#2 find as many people that make the same item and just send the same message to all. It will raise your odds of finding someone who can do what you need for the standards.
#3 I always import in smaller amounts shipped very often via DHL, UPS, or Fedex. I try to keep order sizes low enough so I don't have to worry about needing a broker.

 

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[Ecom man]

Great thread! May I ask you how you went about branding your items and what order size you needed to get to in order to do this? And secondly, what do you think about selling items that are already being sold but for example are a variation of what's already being sold?

All the branding I have done has been when my supplier said he could do it for me. I was ordering probably 100 or so of the items a month when I started branding.

There are opportunities in selling variations as well as in just selling the same items as one or two other people. I can sell the exact same generic item as someone else on eBay and people will buy from me 9 times out of 10 because of the quality and after purchase service i provide (fast shipping and great return policy).

 

[Ecom man]

I don't allow a certain number of competitors to immediately make me skip a product. If more than a couple people are selling with almost no profit that is when I walk away.

I found a product last week that I could purchase for $120 each. They were selling on eBay in the $250 range. I started getting quotes from sellers on Alibaba. By the time all the quotes came in the cheapest seller had gone from $250 to $170. And there were multiple sellers near that price. I dropped the product. After eBay fees and shipping I would have been making about $20 each. Not a big enough profit for me to buy.

 

[PeeVee]

The thing about competitors is all it takes is one stupid one to kill your profit margin. Obviously the less compitition the better margins will be. 5 competitors isn't bad as long as the margins are in the 100%+ range. If 5 of them haven't dropped prices where there is no money to be made you should be ok.

The two ways to analyze it would be watch the items for a couple weeks. See if prices stay the same or if they fluctuate a lot. You do not want to get in a product that has price wars all the time. Second would be order a test sample and see how it goes. Some sellers will drop prices like crazy and just be making a few bucks an item. Most of them will try to keep margins in an acceptable range.

This is why I am a proponent of branding. It sets you apart and helps you maintain price integrity. People would rather buy Victorias Secret than the same quality for cheaper/no brand name. A brand builds trust, loyalty, etc. it's kind of crazy when you think about it but it's human behavior.

 

[Ecom man]

Just out of curiosity, what price range do you sell your items at and what profit margin range do you go for?

At $100+ profit per item sold, I'm guessing you're selling them at around $300-500 or so. Am I close?

I go for doubling my money after all fees and shipping costs. I have products from $20 up to $250. The $250 is the one that I am making 100+ on. I am getting them for $90 each including shipping to me. Fees on the sale are 12% shipping is between $15 and $30 depending on where it is delivered to. So on an expensive shipping order i make $100 on a cheaper one i make $115.

 

[Ecom man]

Manufacters /retailers only sell samples to products with prices above 100, right?


manufactures in generally, they are willing to sell samples (20-30 items) or you have to posess good negotiation skills, and find the "right" manufacter?

You can get samples for products that are even selling for pennies. Of course the shipping cost will kill you if you are only ordering 1 of that item. Almost every manufacture will send you a sample order of 5,10,20 or whatever you need. Just tell them you need a sample order to test the quality of the item and whether it is sellable in your market. If you find someone who won't send you a sample you are probably not talking to a manufacture that is hungry for your business or you are talking to a middle man who doesn't want to deal with small orders.

 

[Ecom man]

I ordered 4 different items today off Aliexpress. I don't expect to make a huge profit if anything but I'll gain some valuable experience. I figured I might as well at least take action and worst case scenario I will fail forward!

Ordering and getting your feet wet is a really great way to get familiar with the business. It really is addicting to hear the ka-Ching of the eBay app every time you make a sale. Knowing that you are making money while doing anything is a great feeling.

 

[Ecom man]

Ecom man thanks for this thread. Couple questions:

1- Have you tried, or heard feedback about Kabbage, they finance ebay businesses, inventory.

2 - Do you drop off at post office or have them come pick it up, the USPS will come to your door to pick up Priority mail, but I'm wondering if they'll still do that when there is a large volume of pkgs?

3 - what seller apps if any are you using; I've used TurboLister, but haven't yet explored all the others out there meant to streamline for sellers.

4 - what's your cost of supplies, are you using USPS flat rate/printed packaging or your own, what % of your gross is spent on supplies? Postage? (Trying to get an idea of what you allocate to overhead when you're trying to deterine if it's a profitable item , i.e. postage, supplies, seller/listing fees etc).

5 - DO you only ship to USA, or are you using ebay's international service now that they're trying to make it easier?

Thanks again sorry for the long list.

1. Never heard of or used them. I use a credit card to purchase everything which puts it out 30 days or so. I started with a few hundred dollars and then reinvested all the profits into more inventory. I just rolled it over like that over and over building up inventory. I never financed anything.
2. I drop off at the post office. I know they will pick it up but that would mean I have to be at home on their schedule. It also means neighbors etc see all these boxes going out all the time from my house. I might just be paranoid but I would rather load them in my garage to my car and drive to the post office. I don't want to give a random thief any ideas.
3. The only app i use is eBays mobile app. I take pics with my iphone or ipad upload them through eBay's app and list it that way. Relisting is as simple as pushing a button when I get more stock.
4. I use USPS padded flat rate envelope a lot of the time. It fits most smaller products and it only costs 5.35 to ship. I get free tape through USPS since it is priority Mail. When figuring profit i look at size of item. If fits padded flat rate i figure $5 shipping. If need medium then $10 shipping. If needs large then $15. I figure eBay's fees at 10% which is about what they are after my TRS discount and add in paypal fees. So if item is selling for $30 and smallish I can figure $5 for shipping $3 for fees so my net is $22 on the product. I wouldn't want to pay more than $10 for said product.
5. I use eBay's Global shipment program to send overseas as well. It is more expensive for the customer cause eBay adds extra fees but that way i just have to send it to their sorting center and then my job is done. If it gets lost, damaged, etc in transit from there it is not my problem it is eBay's

 

[Ecom man]

Great thread Ecom man. Thanks for sharing! Sounds like you really got this down to a science.

I experimented with this business as well. Had some wins and some losses.

I agree with looking at things you use in your every day life. Something that appeals to your interests.

I am into firearms and gear so in that niche I had some good sellers. When I got into crap I didn't know about I got burnt.

I don't want to highjack the thread but... if anyone would like to break into this Ebay business I can offer you a hot selling gun holster for $15 each SHIPPED. These sell on Ebay all day for $39.99

This is a slam dunk.

I have sold hundreds of these and I have 100% feedback.

I'm not in the USA anymore so I quit the Ebay game but I will wholesale them to someone who is interested.

Let me know. Thanks.

Sorry but I call BS on that!!!!! If you were making $20 profit and they were selling like crazy like you claim why wouldn't you send them to a fulfillment center and make $15 on each one selling them "all day long"? Sure sounds like you need to unload some stock onto an unsuspecting person.

 

[Ecom man]

Awesome thread man, I read the whole thing a couple days back and it was inspiring. Ive dabbled in this for a couple of years now and still have not found any products that sell regularly and produce sustainable income. Ive scoured ebay, I know to check completed listings, check your competition when you find a product, I've scoured alibaba, aliexpress, and dhgate for hours and hours. It seems all of the products I've found with good margins are flooded with thousands upon thousands of listing. This game is getting saturated and I really want to get it before it explodes even more.

So my question to you, if you were starting from absolutely nothing so you didn't know what was selling well, if there a certain method to finding new, non commodity products using ebay and alibaba? Maybe there are advanced search methods to getting better results?

For example, I will go onto alibaba and scour through several categories, If I see a product that fits the import criteria (not too bulky, not too complex, usually avoiding electronics) I'll do some google and ebay research and so far most of the products have been too small of margins, sell too infrequently, or are over saturated.

If there are flaws in my formula or major pieces I'm missing I'd appreciate some guidance.

Ok so the issue with doing this in a forum is the product will probably be burned out in a couple weeks but here goes. I hopped on dhgate and hit up a super broad keyword "kitchen". I just started looking through the results and found a couple that looked promising. Nope, they didn't have any profit at all. I looked some more and came across this item http://www.dhgate.com/product/jewel...g-electronic/179033480.html#s4-4-1|1483590410
Looked it up on eBay and seemed like another failure, but then I saw a listing with better keywords selling at $39 each and he has sold 120 of them. http://www.ebay.com/itm/AWS-2000-Di...784?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2334e42ed0
This is how i find products just randomly wandering through dhgate, alibaba, and aliexpress.
This product has a decent amount of competitors but one seller pulling in that many sales means he is doing something right. You can use multiple keywords to pull in sales for people looking for all sorts of different scales. I would order the minimum order and see what happens. That is how I do it.

 

[debitandcredit]

Everything I was not supposed to do, I did..

Thanks for the post. I started doing the exact same thing full time since last Feb. I paused my software engineering career there. I started by importing pets products worth about $5k by ship. It took too long and I was killed by defect and margin squeeze. I used Amazon FBA and Ebay. I was doing about 5 to 10 orders a day. Then I started DHL importing counterfeit vaporizer which at that time I didn't really know, I was novice. I started doing about 50 orders a day on ebay then to Rakuten about 100 orders a day. One day, my ebay account was linked to my partner's ebay account and i was shut down forever by ebay. It was not due to counterfeit item on ebay however, I was kicked out by rakuten because of counterfeit So now all i have is amazon account. I started importing bunch of $1 items and started sending on envelope selling for like $6. Plus I was dropshipping furniture as I have an account with manufactures.(there is no money in dropship as far as i know, it's a freight discount game, big buyers negotiates with ups and fedex of 50%). Anyways, Again, I was doing about 50 orders to 100 orders a day after a couple of month amazon alone, until I started doing about $30k a month and I was tired as hell. Packing 200 envelope on weekends and backorder dropship took the defect matrix above 1%. It was not that bad, but amazon wants absolute perfection if you suddenly start selling large volume. So my account is shut down as well.

So I did all the things that I wasnot supposed to do by actually doing it. Left without any ability to open selling accounts on any platform. I created an account by opening up new llc and bank accounts without my trace still all legit. just opened up ebay and amazon account. This time around, I at least know what not to do. just my story.

 

[Ecom man]

It's tough finding great and profitable items from good suppliers! Ok....just had to vent that out. Now I feel better!

Just got a quote on what I thought is an awesome product. Calculated cost + shipping + escrow fee, then went on Ebay to compare. I can get it on Ebay from a U.S. seller delivered to my door for less than the supplier, and faster! Aye....

On a positive note: I did just order some samples of another product that seems promising so we'll see on that one.

It's like sifting through a ton of dirt to find a little fleck of gold, but hey - if that's what it takes, so be it. Can't wait to find a few real winners.

That is a great comparison. When you find a so-so product it's like finding the flakes and you start to get hooked. When you find a good selling product it's like your starting to find bigger nuggets. When you find a great product it's like hitting the mother lode! You cant wait to get up in the morning to see how much money you made while sleeping! You go out to eat for dinner and make $$$ while eating! That's when it's really addicting.

During the holiday time (October-December) you will fell like you are on a gold mine with not enough shovels to dig with! I remember multiple times last year I would wake up and had made over $1,000 while I was asleep! Talk about exciting!

 

[Ecom man]

If you find a product that has good margins. And sells great on eBay and Amazon. How do you compete besides price? If you can't price it less, what differentiates yours from the competitor? Just the ad copy and pictures? Is that enough to really get a good amount of sales?

eBay has a dirty little secret. If you can be #1 in "best match" you will sell 10x more items than the cheapest person will. I have an item listed for $60 the cheapest competitor is selling them at $49. I've sold 50+ in the last week. The cheapest guy has sold 5. The difference is I am a top rated seller and have the "best match" spot. All he has is cheapness.

Get your feedback up and make people happy and they will be back. Ship fast and your feedback will reflect it. Go above and beyond in every aspect of your business and you will stand out in a crowd even if you aren't the cheapest.

 

[Ronak]

Great thread! Kudos to @Ecom man for all the value provided!

Here's a tip for high MOQ's, or almost anything you'd like to negotiate-- simply say it's "Company Policy" for whatever you're having issues with.

They want you to order 1000?

Reply: "According to company policy, I'm not allowed to order more than 1 case in the first order. We must start with 1 case as a sample to test product, sell thru and delivery before increasing orders."

They only take Western Union? Sorry, Paypal or escrow only, company policy...etc

Ultimately, you ARE the company, and YOU set your policies.

 

[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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[NYCGoblin]

Holy crap what a day. Made today what it takes me almost 2 weeks to make at my current job. Don't know how consistent these 2 new products are going to be for me, but if they continue on to be even close to what they are right now then I will have a large amount of capital to play around with. Thank you to you guys here for all the great information that you have shared here.

 

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[Ecom man]

- Using this website to research products are most viewed: http://www.meistbeobachtet.de/index.php?sitekey=US
- find wholeseller on dhgate or a local wholeseller who importing the products from china for you in much quantity, then you don't need to pay shipping costs and care for importing

Most of the products that are on that site are phones, tablets, and other branded electronics. I would never try and buy those items from dhgate. The main reason why is I did that once when I was starting out. I ordered "Apple iPod touch" for a great price. I was so excited til I got them and they were glitchy knock offs that couldn't even connect to iTunes. I ended up tossing them in the trash and losing the few hundred bucks I paid for them.

 

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