[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[623baller]

What a journey business is! I started this thread over 2 years ago and my how things have changed. I went from approximately 250k in sales in 2014 (sorry don't have the exact 2014 numbers in front of me) to a hair under a million in 2015 to being on target for 2-3 million this year!

We've moved from selling out of a spare room, to a garage, to now a small warehouse space. It will be interesting to see what the next couple of years hold. I was talking with a friend this week about the future of the company. We should be doing 10 million in sales per year by 2018. We have expanded to over 150 different products currently and growing all the time. Every new product gets us a little closer to that goal.

What are your goals? What are you doing today to get you there?

congrats man, I'm still reading the earlier pages but decided to jump the last page just to see if i see any latest updates and was glad to see this. couple questions for you

1. do you feel like this is a fast lane business in the sense of where you have both the time and money or the more you gain/earn the less time you have? ( i am assuming the bigger you get , either you hire logistics staff or move to Amazon FBA so you can focus on just product searching rather than the packing and shipping)
2. do you look for products in the same niche/market/industry or really just anything that have good profit margin?
3. this is a follow up to the 2nd question, when you created your own web site, was it hard to identify yourself in terms of what type of products you sell? (this is assuming you just sell products that have good profit margin, where you can have a list of products that's all over the map)
4. are you still a one man show for most part minus logistics staff or the business had grown where you had to take in partners?

I am looking to get into the same line of business, this thread is very inspiring. apologies for repeating any questions but this is a long thread lol

 

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

[Ecom man]

congrats man, I'm still reading the earlier pages but decided to jump the last page just to see if i see any latest updates and was glad to see this. couple questions for you

1. do you feel like this is a fast lane business in the sense of where you have both the time and money or the more you gain/earn the less time you have? ( i am assuming the bigger you get , either you hire logistics staff or move to Amazon FBA so you can focus on just product searching rather than the packing and shipping)
2. do you look for products in the same niche/market/industry or really just anything that have good profit margin?
3. this is a follow up to the 2nd question, when you created your own web site, was it hard to identify yourself in terms of what type of products you sell? (this is assuming you just sell products that have good profit margin, where you can have a list of products that's all over the map)
4. are you still a one man show for most part minus logistics staff or the business had grown where you had to take in partners?

I am looking to get into the same line of business, this thread is very inspiring. apologies for repeating any questions but this is a long thread lol

The business does not currently run itself yet. We have streamlined the labels/ packaging part of the process and that has cut our time spent packing in half. There are currently two of us that do everything (my brother and me). With our current processes we should be able to do around 3-5 million a year in sales with just the 2 of us. Once we get bigger than that we will need to start hiring people for customer service, packaging, etc. We believe we will do 3 million this year and 6-8 million in 2017. We will probably need to start hiring people by the middle of 2017 if sales continue to grow as expected.

I will buy anything that has good margins but normally one product will naturally lead you to something else in the same general area. For instance if I was selling socks the next place I would look for products would be shoes, leggings, etc. When you find one good margin product in a niche then normally that niche has many additional products with good profits. I will find as many as I can related to that niche or product and then go back to the beginning and look for any new product with margins. Find one then delve deeper into that niche market. That allows me to have separate categories on our site where all a specific type of items are.

The name that we choose for the website is more of a generic term. We did not make it specific (ex. Sam's Shoes). Leaving it broad allows us to sell a wider variety of products without it seeming odd. We are eventually looking to become the next Amazon but better. Having a product specific name would be detrimental since we are looking to start selling tens of thousands of different products within the next 3-5 years.

 

[Karl Chester]

What a journey business is! I started this thread over 2 years ago and my how things have changed. I went from approximately 250k in sales in 2014 (sorry don't have the exact 2014 numbers in front of me) to a hair under a million in 2015 to being on target for 2-3 million this year!

We've moved from selling out of a spare room, to a garage, to now a small warehouse space. It will be interesting to see what the next couple of years hold. I was talking with a friend this week about the future of the company. We should be doing 10 million in sales per year by 2018. We have expanded to over 150 different products currently and growing all the time. Every new product gets us a little closer to that goal.

What are your goals? What are you doing today to get you there?

AMAZING! What was your first year like on you mentally? Or how ever long it took you to learn the ropes and get a good idea in your head of where you'd be now? I think I can learn from your words as I sell custom shoes, bags, IPad cases, but it's a struggle to keep up with demand being a one man band trying to hand craft/paint designs so with that comes a ridiculous waiting list and I'm thinking of a new approach printing customers idea, it's that or employ artists and risk not being able to pay everybody a wage!... Ultimately I want to sell my own printed designs and brand anyway but back to the socks bit, I never thought of selling items that actually compliment each other, little extras like that, it's something I'm going to test out on my site. Thank you!

 

[Ecom man]

AMAZING! What was your first year like on you mentally? Or how ever long it took you to learn the ropes and get a good idea in your head of where you'd be now? I think I can learn from your words as I sell custom shoes, bags, IPad cases, but it's a struggle to keep up with demand being a one man band trying to hand craft/paint designs so with that comes a ridiculous waiting list and I'm thinking of a new approach printing customers idea, it's that or employ artists and risk not being able to pay everybody a wage!... Ultimately I want to sell my own printed designs and brand anyway but back to the socks bit, I never thought of selling items that actually compliment each other, little extras like that, it's something I'm going to test out on my site. Thank you!

Honestly I never anticipated being where I am today. I started the business just looking to make a little extra money for my family. Even a year and a half ago I did not anticipate it getting this big this fast. I just started slow and grew and learned as I grew. There have been a lot of ups and downs and there still are. Some days are absolutely amazing in sales and then the next day sucks. It is just a part of business.

If I were in your shoes I would not hire someone until I was sure that the extra money that they make you exceeds the amount you pay them. If they can make 10 items a day and you make $20 an item after all shipping/ advertising expenses than as long as you pay them less than $200 a day you can make money. Find all your options before makings decision. Maybe you could find people to do the work from home and you pay them a certain amount per item.

 

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

[NewPerspective]

Ecom Man,

First off I wanted to thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge, it is much appreciated.

I just put up my first few products for sale on Amazon today.

My game plan has been to browse AliExpress for anything I think might have a decent margin or demand for and test them out. Ordering about 3-5 pcs of each, if I get any bites I'll look to scale in those niches.

One question for you - Any experience in the jewelry category? I'm looking to possibly pursue fashion jewelry, not fine, but wondering if you had any insights there.

Thanks!!

 

[P3HSB]

Hey Ecom Man, congratz on your success so far, I am inspired!

So recently, I found a decent product that sells. I order 5 units of it and put it on ebay. 4 Units of the 5 sold within a week. On the last unit, I increased the price so my good till cancel listing won't end. I went ahead and ordered more of the same product. Once the product arrived, I change the quantity and decreased the price of my ebay listing for the item but now I am no longer getting sales. Is it better to just let the listing end when you run out of stock and just relist it? How did you deal with this? Is what I am doing bad?

Also, I have been trying to find a postal weight scale for shipping. I was wonder if you have any recommendations? I have been looking at the DYMO Digital Postal Scale / Shipping Scale, it looks good but there are a bunch of reviews of people saying it doesn't measure accurately and doesn't even detect lightweight items 1-2grams etc. I want one with usb connectivity. Another alternative I can think of is the American weight scale brand or the Weighmax, but those don't have usb connectivity. Any suggestions? What do you use?

 

[Ecom man]

Ecom Man,

First off I wanted to thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge, it is much appreciated.

I just put up my first few products for sale on Amazon today.

My game plan has been to browse AliExpress for anything I think might have a decent margin or demand for and test them out. Ordering about 3-5 pcs of each, if I get any bites I'll look to scale in those niches.

One question for you - Any experience in the jewelry category? I'm looking to possibly pursue fashion jewelry, not fine, but wondering if you had any insights there.

Thanks!!

Sorry, that is one thing I have never bought. Not saying I won't in the future but with so many variations it is too broad an area for me. Plus I'm a man that has absolutely no fashion sense at all!

 

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

[Ecom man]

Hey Ecom Man, congratz on your success so far, I am inspired!

So recently, I found a decent product that sells. I order 5 units of it and put it on ebay. 4 Units of the 5 sold within a week. On the last unit, I increased the price so my good till cancel listing won't end. I went ahead and ordered more of the same product. Once the product arrived, I change the quantity and decreased the price of my ebay listing for the item but now I am no longer getting sales. Is it better to just let the listing end when you run out of stock and just relist it? How did you deal with this? Is what I am doing bad?

Also, I have been trying to find a postal weight scale for shipping. I was wonder if you have any recommendations? I have been looking at the DYMO Digital Postal Scale / Shipping Scale, it looks good but there are a bunch of reviews of people saying it doesn't measure accurately and doesn't even detect lightweight items 1-2grams etc. I want one with usb connectivity. Another alternative I can think of is the American weight scale brand or the Weighmax, but those don't have usb connectivity. Any suggestions? What do you use?

I always let it end and then just used the relist button when more got in to stock. Of course once you find a decent seller it is best to not run out of products.

I just use a cheap kitchen scale for my items. It cost me $12 on Amazon I believe. If it is heavier I use my bathroom scale. The majority of my items I send out priority mail flag rate so weight doesn't matter.

 

[NewPerspective]

Sorry if I missed this in the thread, but when it comes to initially listing your products (talking about Amazon here specifically) - do you do anything in particular to increase rank? For example giveaways, lowering price to cost in the beginning, etc.

Thanks!

 

[Karl Chester]

Honestly I never anticipated being where I am today. I started the business just looking to make a little extra money for my family. Even a year and a half ago I did not anticipate it getting this big this fast. I just started slow and grew and learned as I grew. There have been a lot of ups and downs and there still are. Some days are absolutely amazing in sales and then the next day sucks. It is just a part of business.

If I were in your shoes I would not hire someone until I was sure that the extra money that they make you exceeds the amount you pay them. If they can make 10 items a day and you make $20 an item after all shipping/ advertising expenses than as long as you pay them less than $200 a day you can make money. Find all your options before makings decision. Maybe you could find people to do the work from home and you pay them a certain amount per item.

Just goes to show you don't always have to obsess over and visualise something daily to attain it when the motives right. We still do though, it's addictive! I want that, to give everybody in my family an easier life, to get my old man stop working so damn hard. Just more freedom.

It's refreshing to see you say some day's suck (not in a bad way) I have a tendency to think it's just my business at times and over analyse shit.

I'm not going to employ any time soon, too many overheads as it is but maybe in the future per item in their own home wont be a bad idea!

Thanks
Godspeed be with you

 

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

[Ecom man]

Sorry if I missed this in the thread, but when it comes to initially listing your products (talking about Amazon here specifically) - do you do anything in particular to increase rank? For example giveaways, lowering price to cost in the beginning, etc.

Thanks!

I never have done anything like that. It seems like it's cheating your way to the top to me. At the very least it is gaming the review system.

 

[NewPerspective]

I never have done anything like that. It seems like it's cheating your way to the top to me. At the very least it is gaming the review system.

Yeah and not sustainable it seems like, I would prefer to grow as organically as possible - thanks

 

[NiteRider]

Ecom man. Appreciate the response awhile back.

Just out of curiosity what's your sales ratio in regards to your Store vs eBay? 50%/ 50% ? 60% / 40% ? Just curious with the costs of advertising your store but being able to mark up your products much higher vs essentially free advertising on eBay but price wars and fees etc.

Do you try to stick to products that are on the smaller side, like small enough to fit in a padded envelope or small priority box or is that not an issue? Shipping prices begin to double once you ship larger so curious your view.

Have you tried Facebook ads for your store? Or do you stick to Adwords?

Do you refer people that buy from you on eBay to your store/website even though the prices are higher?
I currently have a Shopify store that I'm struggling with advertising but I'm gaining traction on ebay with unrelated items. I'm a few sales away from becoming a Top Rated Seller and thinking of trying to sell these items on eBay and bring them over to my store for higher profits.

 

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

[texus2]

Hey guys, what a great thread!

I struggle many times in choosing the right article to sell. I know, that i have to think of the value and so on, but first of all i want to take action. To see how it works in real to import something, to sell on ebay ..

So after researching some items, i don't know, if it could be a seller or a garbage article. Do you have a advise to me, how i can select the right item to sell? I read a lot of threads about this, it must be:

-small and light
-cost around 10-200 $
-easy to manufacture
-good designed (no stuff, that can hurt anybody)
-easy to import
...

If i only had a guy, who can teach me, how to decide, if my choosen item is a "Yes" or "No" product... I just want to start doing this crazy biz

 

[Ecom man]

Ecom man. Appreciate the response awhile back.

Just out of curiosity what's your sales ratio in regards to your Store vs eBay? 50%/ 50% ? 60% / 40% ? Just curious with the costs of advertising your store but being able to mark up your products much higher vs essentially free advertising on eBay but price wars and fees etc.

Do you try to stick to products that are on the smaller side, like small enough to fit in a padded envelope or small priority box or is that not an issue? Shipping prices begin to double once you ship larger so curious your view.

Have you tried Facebook ads for your store? Or do you stick to Adwords?

Do you refer people that buy from you on eBay to your store/website even though the prices are higher?
I currently have a Shopify store that I'm struggling with advertising but I'm gaining traction on ebay with unrelated items. I'm a few sales away from becoming a Top Rated Seller and thinking of trying to sell these items on eBay and bring them over to my store for higher profits.

My website is 99%+ of my sales totals. eBay and bonanza make up the other 1%. My profit margins are far higher on my site than on eBay. I currently use eBay to test out new products, get rid of old stock etc.

Fees on eBay are your advertising costs. If you spend 10% in fees on eBay than that is what your advertising costs are. My website is running around 15% currently but it fluctuates with the seasons. Last Christmas I was at 7-8% advertising costs. A lot of my products have prices that are 50-75% higher than eBay. The price difference adds up really quick.

I sell anything that will fit into a priority mail region c box (they discontinued that prices but just changed the name of the box). The majority of my products go into a padded flat rate envelope or medium flat rate box. We also have started using region b size boxes and that saves us a decent amount of money for the closer locations.

I have used Adwords and Bing for ads. I have not really done anything with Facebook or other ad sites yet.

I include a 10% off coupon for our site in every package that we send to rour eBay customers. If they come to the site and buy then great. If they don't it just costs us a few cents to send the card in the package.

If the item is popular on eBay than it should sell well on your site as well. One of the better places to start advertising is through Google shopping. Bing also has had a really good ROI for us.

 

[Ecom man]

Hey guys, what a great thread!

I struggle many times in choosing the right article to sell. I know, that i have to think of the value and so on, but first of all i want to take action. To see how it works in real to import something, to sell on ebay ..

So after researching some items, i don't know, if it could be a seller or a garbage article. Do you have a advise to me, how i can select the right item to sell? I read a lot of threads about this, it must be:

-small and light
-cost around 10-200 $
-easy to manufacture
-good designed (no stuff, that can hurt anybody)
-easy to import
...

If i only had a guy, who can teach me, how to decide, if my choosen item is a "Yes" or "No" product... I just want to start doing this crazy biz

Everyone is looking for those bullet point items on items to import. If everything about the item is easy then there will be tons of competition and near zero profits.

You will not find an "easy road" to doing this business right. If you look for items with all the above attributes you will be selling a lot of the same stuff all the other people are that take those courses.

Being in Germany, some of those items might not have any competition and high sales. The only way to tell is to start testing.

 

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

[Aston_M]

Everyone is looking for those bullet point items on items to import. If everything about the item is easy then there will be tons of competition and near zero profits.

You will not find an "easy road" to doing this business right. If you look for items with all the above attributes you will be selling a lot of the same stuff all the other people are that take those courses.

Being in Germany, some of those items might not have any competition and high sales. The only way to tell is to start testing.

Hi Ecom man, thanks for all the advice, I have just finished my first month on eBay and have turned over £1078.00 selling products in a variety of different niches. I have an ecommerce site ready to go in terms of the platform to avoid paying eBay fees as soon as possible.

Would you build a niche site or a Amazon style site? The products I am selling range from gym equipment to pizza related products to baby products. I am not sure whether to sell everything or focus on a niche, any help would be much appreciated.

I can find products where I can make between £15-£30 profit before the eBay fees eat in it, If I could cut eBay out of the equation that would be great.

 

[Aston_M]

.

 

[Ecom man]

Hi Ecom man, thanks for all the advice, I have just finished my first month on eBay and have turned over £1078.00 selling products in a variety of different niches. I have an ecommerce site ready to go in terms of the platform to avoid paying eBay fees as soon as possible.

Would you build a niche site or a Amazon style site? The products I am selling range from gym equipment to pizza related products to baby products. I am not sure whether to sell everything or focus on a niche, any help would be much appreciated.

I can find products where I can make between £15-£30 profit before the eBay fees eat in it, If I could cut eBay out of the equation that would be great.

Awesome job! Way to get out there and get the ball rolling.

Since you already sell a variety of different products I would set up one site to sell them all. IMO a niche specific site is better but if you only have one or 2 products per niche that would make it more difficult.

I would set up one site and sell everything you have on that site. You can include a "10% off your next order on my website" card in every package you ship to eBay customers. (Doesn't have to be 10% but some type of a discount for a repurchase) As you get more products in each niche and discover what sells better then you can set up a specific site for that niche.

 

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

[Aston_M]

Awesome job! Way to get out there and get the ball rolling.

Since you already sell a variety of different products I would set up one site to sell them all. IMO a niche specific site is better but if you only have one or 2 products per niche that would make it more difficult.

I would set up one site and sell everything you have on that site. You can include a "10% off your next order on my website" card in every package you ship to eBay customers. (Doesn't have to be 10% but some type of a discount for a repurchase) As you get more products in each niche and discover what sells better then you can set up a specific site for that niche.

Thanks, it's a good feeling when your phone goes cha ching every day letting me know I have sales!

Great, I will sell everything, thanks for the advice on that.

I'm going to focus on SEO methods to market the site rather than PPC.

I have a friend who has been selling on eBay for a while and built a ecommerce site and with no marketing he gets sales from it.

Thanks again!

 

[f0reclone]

Ecom Man, thanks for this Thread. One Question: How would you analyze the US Market to get Product Ideas for the german market? An Idea I came up with is to use JungleScout and divide sales by a factor (for example 4 based on the population figure 318/80)

 

[Ecom man]

Ecom Man, thanks for this Thread. One Question: How would you analyze the US Market to get Product Ideas for the german market? An Idea I came up with is to use JungleScout and divide sales by a factor (for example 4 based on the population figure 318/80)

I would see what is selling well in the US and then start testing products. Order 10-20 of an item and see how well they sell. Some items will sell better and others will sell worse. The only way to know would be to test test test.

 

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

[texus2]

Hey Ecom man, is there a way, how you find your possible "good-seeling" products? I think this is the craziest part of this business. I really struggle with finding a product. I haven't found one, that i'd like to import.
Do you use things like Terapeak to find them or do you have a special system?

Anyway, thank you for this great Thread and your time to answer all these questions!

 

[Ecom man]

Hey Ecom man, is there a way, how you find your possible "good-seeling" products? I think this is the craziest part of this business. I really struggle with finding a product. I haven't found one, that i'd like to import.
Do you use things like Terapeak to find them or do you have a special system?

Anyway, thank you for this great Thread and your time to answer all these questions!

Testing is the answer. I do use terapeak etc but something else that is useful is you can look up other items from an eBay seller... So if you find something on terapeak that has good margins you can find the seller and see if they have something else good as well.

 

[Aston_M]

Awesome job! Way to get out there and get the ball rolling.

Since you already sell a variety of different products I would set up one site to sell them all. IMO a niche specific site is better but if you only have one or 2 products per niche that would make it more difficult.

I would set up one site and sell everything you have on that site. You can include a "10% off your next order on my website" card in every package you ship to eBay customers. (Doesn't have to be 10% but some type of a discount for a repurchase) As you get more products in each niche and discover what sells better then you can set up a specific site for that niche.

Hi Ecom man, quick question, I have 192 products listed on my eBay shop, not all of these products sell on eBay. Would you list the full 192 products on my ecommerce shop or just the products that I am getting sales from on eBay roughly 30 different products, all in completely different niches?

 

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

[Ecom man]

Hi Ecom man, quick question, I have 192 products listed on my eBay shop, not all of these products sell on eBay. Would you list the full 192 products on my ecommerce shop or just the products that I am getting sales from on eBay roughly 30 different products, all in completely different niches?

It doesn't cost any extra to have them all up so I would list them all. If you already have pictures, descriptions, etc on eBay than moving them over will be pretty quick.

 

[Aston_M]

It doesn't cost any extra to have them all up so I would list them all. If you already have pictures, descriptions, etc on eBay than moving them over will be pretty quick.

Makes sense, I'll list them all on my store, thanks again for the advice!

 

[Denim Chicken]

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.

 

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

[InitialX]

Just wanted to say there are opportunities to buy things wholesale and resell at good prices all over the place.

Today I was spending time at the zoo and shopping with my wife and daughter. We went by a store that is closing and doing final liquidation. We went in and they basically only had the shelving left. In the corner they had a huge box full of electric dryer cords. I asked the lady how much they were and she said regular retail was $15 and they were liquidating at $5 each. I asked her how much if I buy the whole box and she said $1 each (quite a difference). I bought all 110 she had at a buck each. I can resell them on eBay for $10. After shipping and fees I will make $4 profit each. I will make $440 profit on taking one little item and reselling it to those who need it.

Deals like this are all around us at physical stores and especially importing from China. Get off your butt quit making excuses and go get it!

You are officially my HERO !!! I love the last sentence!

 

[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.