[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[SarahSH]

M

I have seen this with a couple of high dollar products I've been resarching, but the US sellers are still killing it. I'm going to be selling one of the products because I think there is still money to be made, even if I'm charging $100 more.

That is good to know. Maybe I will still post them for sale and emphasize that they are shipping from US

 

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[Ecom man]

M
That is good to know. Maybe I will still post them for sale and emphasize that they are shipping from US

Absolutely still go for it! You can sell at a reasonable margin and still sell them! Chinese sellers use snails to deliver when they offer free shipping. I am talking 30+ days to receive the item a lot of times. Emphasize "US SELLER" and "2-3 day shipping" and you can still blow the doors off those Chinese sellers!

 

[JustinBoshans]

Gaaaak! Something I had ordered off of alliexpress for selling on ebay now has a Chinese seller who is selling same item for about what I paid for it plus free shipping....ugh. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

If your selling point was only price then you would have a problem, but the main thing I've learned is there are plenty of people who will buy from a US seller simply because they won't have to wait a month to receive their item.

 

[SarahSH]

Do you all think it is worth while to set up an ebay storefront or just do general free posting auction format. I have only sporadically done ebay in past just to get rid of stuff...never to try and sell for profit. I have about 25 of these on hand right now in different color variations. The Chinese seller has already moved about 450 items...perhaps not all the same...? I should have done more due diligence. I think I will go ahead and post them anyway.

 

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[Ecom man]

Do you all think it is worth while to set up an ebay storefront or just do general free posting auction format. I have only sporadically done ebay in past just to get rid of stuff...never to try and sell for profit. I have about 25 of these on hand right now in different color variations. The Chinese seller has already moved about 450 items...perhaps not all the same...? I should have done more due diligence. I think I will go ahead and post them anyway.

I normally do fixed price listings (buy it now) so that way people can buy them anytime of the day or night. I don't use a store front even now and I certainly wouldn't recommend using one for only one item.

 

[SarahSH]

Ok, no storefront. Thanks! I didn't know which listing method to try out. Going to go charge up the camera battery and take some pics

 

[Guest23565]

Awesome thread, I've been doing something similar with old ex stock from a local store I bought in bulk and have learned a heap from the first item I was excited to have sold and scrambled to ship out, to now where I've streamlined and simplified the overall routine.

Ecom man, how do you find communicating with sellers on Alibaba and what's your typical message you send to get an idea of price per item? I'm looking for the best way to get a response since I've noticed some sellers don't respond at all. Also I've noticed the Paypal fees, Paypal conversion rate and seller Paypal fee's actually add up pretty quickly when buying bulk, do you only use Paypal?

And what do you consider to be worthwhile in terms of profit for an item, and how much is too low to bother?

Finally, do you only use EMS, DHL etc to ship from Alibaba? Have you ever had them shipped with China Post? As long as it took 2 weeks as it usually does, I wouldn't mind waiting since I'm guessing it would be much cheaper.

To anyone trying it out, keep an eye out everywhere for an item not just Alibaba or dhgate. I've had success from buying an item on sale from an online retailer who only accepted credit card and didn't have a presence on ebay. I bought a few and they sold, so I went bulk on the next sale, and resold them again on ebay. But now the online retailer is selling on ebay so I'm moving on, but it worked well and i didn't have to mess around with Alibaba.

 

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[Chazmania]

Hey Ecom,

This is a fantastic post, thanks for all the great tips so far! I recently have gotten started importing and although I'm not selling on ebay yet, I am profitable by selling locally through craigslist and word of mouth. My original plan was to sell the product on ebay but it turned out I mis-calculated what shipping would cost - and the shipping cost is high. I based my assumption on what another seller on ebay was charging for shipping the same product.

That seemed like a good estimate to me, but when I got an actual quote from UPS and FEDEX to ship my products out, the quote was double what the other seller was charging! Even still, selling locally is some of the easiest money I've ever made, so I think I'm off to a good start. I made sure to buy at low enough cost to factor in for possible mistakes that I may make as a rookie lol.

So, my question is: how could one person ship on ebay for half of what another can? Or...am I just totally missing someting here?

 

[Hardball]

Hey Ecom,

This is a fantastic post, thanks for all the great tips so far! I recently have gotten started importing and although I'm not selling on ebay yet, I am profitable by selling locally through craigslist and word of mouth. My original plan was to sell the product on ebay but it turned out I mis-calculated what shipping would cost - and the shipping cost is high. I based my assumption on what another seller on ebay was charging for shipping the same product.

That seemed like a good estimate to me, but when I got an actual quote from UPS and FEDEX to ship my products out, the quote was double what the other seller was charging! Even still, selling locally is some of the easiest money I've ever made, so I think I'm off to a good start. I made sure to buy at low enough cost to factor in for possible mistakes that I may make as a rookie lol.

So, my question is: how could one person ship on ebay for half of what another can? Or...am I just totally missing someting here?

Hi @Chazmania, I know this was directed towards @Ecom man but I definitely wanted to chime in with my experience here. In my previous work at a tech startup that manufactured Bluetooth devices, we had special terms with FedEx for a higher volume of shipments. If we guaranteed to ship a certain amount of product with them (as an incentive not to use a competing courier), they basically gave us a 50% rate cut. This discount allowed us to offer free 2-Day Express shipment to all customers purchasing directly through our own eCommerce store, and it gave us a significant advantage over other distributors of our product who were using Amazon or their own eCommerce site as the primary sales channel. Better margins selling direct versus selling to another distributor.

If your product has a good margin/high value, I'd recommend USPS Priority Mail, which I've heavily used in the past. eBay already gives you a % discount on postage because of their contract arrangement with USPS, and "if it fits, it ships" is a great benefit - basically whatever you can fit inside a standard Priority box/envelope will ship for the same flat rate to anyone in the United States.

 

[Ecom man]

Awesome thread, I've been doing something similar with old ex stock from a local store I bought in bulk and have learned a heap from the first item I was excited to have sold and scrambled to ship out, to now where I've streamlined and simplified the overall routine.

Ecom man, how do you find communicating with sellers on Alibaba and what's your typical message you send to get an idea of price per item? I'm looking for the best way to get a response since I've noticed some sellers don't respond at all. Also I've noticed the Paypal fees, Paypal conversion rate and seller Paypal fee's actually add up pretty quickly when buying bulk, do you only use Paypal?

And what do you consider to be worthwhile in terms of profit for an item, and how much is too low to bother?

Finally, do you only use EMS, DHL etc to ship from Alibaba? Have you ever had them shipped with China Post? As long as it took 2 weeks as it usually does, I wouldn't mind waiting since I'm guessing it would be much cheaper.

To anyone trying it out, keep an eye out everywhere for an item not just Alibaba or dhgate. I've had success from buying an item on sale from an online retailer who only accepted credit card and didn't have a presence on ebay. I bought a few and they sold, so I went bulk on the next sale, and resold them again on ebay. But now the online retailer is selling on ebay so I'm moving on, but it worked well and i didn't have to mess around with Alibaba.

I look for profit of $20+ per item and doubling my money. So if I buy a product for $20 I want to sell it for $50 minus fees and shipping. $50-$10 in fees and shipping =$40. So $20 profit and double my original investment.

I don't ship China Post because I want the fastest turnaround possible of sample to me, test sales, reorder in large quantities to make big $$$$.

 

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[Ecom man]

Hi @Chazmania, I know this was directed towards @Ecom man but I definitely wanted to chime in with my experience here. In my previous work at a tech startup that manufactured Bluetooth devices, we had special terms with FedEx for a higher volume of shipments. If we guaranteed to ship a certain amount of product with them (as an incentive not to use a competing courier), they basically gave us a 50% rate cut. This discount allowed us to offer free 2-Day Express shipment to all customers purchasing directly through our own eCommerce store, and it gave us a significant advantage over other distributors of our product who were using Amazon or their own eCommerce site as the primary sales channel. Better margins selling direct versus selling to another distributor.

If your product has a good margin/high value, I'd recommend USPS Priority Mail, which I've heavily used in the past. eBay already gives you a % discount on postage because of their contract arrangement with USPS, and "if it fits, it ships" is a great benefit - basically whatever you can fit inside a standard Priority box/envelope will ship for the same flat rate to anyone in the United States.

Perfect answer in every way!

 

[Hardball]

Perfect answer in every way!

Thanks @Ecom man!!

Have you found more success by having an eBay presence in one particular category (Antiques only, or Electronics only), or by being open to as many categories as possible (products from Antiques, and Electronics, and Sporting Goods, and Clothing, etc)?

Since eBay only allows one seller account per business/person, if I'm listing in multiple categories for a broad selection of totally unrelated products (let's say baseball cards, kites, umbrellas, digital cameras, hats, and light bulbs), do you think this might be a negative signal to potential buyers? The majority of the top rated sellers I've researched on eBay seem to have a deep focus in one niche or category (cell phone cases, bulk shipping/packaging supplies, computer hardware, etc). Maybe they're the wrong sellers to look at?

You definitely DO NOT have to give away the product categories in which you currently sell - I'm just curious about your general opinion/philosophy on the subject of listing diversity!

 

[Ecom man]

Thanks @Ecom man!!

Have you found more success by having an eBay presence in one particular category (Antiques only, or Electronics only), or by being open to as many categories as possible (products from Antiques, and Electronics, and Sporting Goods, and Clothing, etc)?

Since eBay only allows one seller account per business/person, if I'm listing in multiple categories for a broad selection of totally unrelated products (let's say baseball cards, kites, umbrellas, digital cameras, hats, and light bulbs), do you think this might be a negative signal to potential buyers? The majority of the top rated sellers I've researched on eBay seem to have a deep focus in one niche or category (cell phone cases, bulk shipping/packaging supplies, computer hardware, etc). Maybe they're the wrong sellers to look at?

You definitely DO NOT have to give away the product categories in which you currently sell - I'm just curious about your general opinion/philosophy on the subject of listing diversity!

I go anywhere the money leads! A lot of sellers will stay in one category cause its easier, they know how to source for that category etc. With this way of importing you can sell in any category that there is money to be made. It really isn't a negative signal. Most buyers will look at your feedback. After a couple months the feedback doesn't even show what items the feedback was left for. Follow the money!

 

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[Hardball]

I go anywhere the money leads! A lot of sellers will stay in one category cause its easier, they know how to source for that category etc. With this way of importing you can sell in any category that there is money to be made. It really isn't a negative signal. Most buyers will look at your feedback. After a couple months the feedback doesn't even show what items the feedback was left for. Follow the money!

You're the man!

 

[ProblemSolver]

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!

 

[Mike.B]

@Ecom man I just ran into an interesting situation. One of the two products that I was getting ready to sample is an exact replica of a product sold by a company in Finland. I didn't realize it until I started digging deeper into the product's uses, and actually found one for sale on Ebay.

The thing I have a problem with is that I've built good report with the Chinese manufacturer over the last two weeks, they're a 6th year gold supplier, and they manufacture many products in this particular genre. I'm a little concerned that I'm going to order $1000 worth of patented samples and I'll have to junk them. I have yet to find the second product manufactured by anyone else, but I'm still leery of this company now.

Have you experienced this with any of the companies you've worked with? If so do you still so business with them, and what measures do you take to make sure all of the products you sell are legit and not knockoffs?

 

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[Ecom man]

@Ecom man I just ran into an interesting situation. One of the two products that I was getting ready to sample is an exact replica of a product sold by a company in Finland. I didn't realize it until I started digging deeper into the product's uses, and actually found one for sale on Ebay.

The thing I have a problem with is that I've built good report with the Chinese manufacturer over the last two weeks, they're a 6th year gold supplier, and they manufacture many products in this particular genre. I'm a little concerned that I'm going to order $1000 worth of patented samples and I'll have to junk them. I have yet to find the second product manufactured by anyone else, but I'm still leery of this company now.

Have you experienced this with any of the companies you've worked with? If so do you still so business with them, and what measures do you take to make sure all of the products you sell are legit and not knockoffs?

Just because it is sold by a company in Finland doesn't mean that they are the manufacture. How do you know that they arn't ordering them from the same company you are? As long as they arn't branded with a specific brand you should be fine.

 

[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.

 

[Mike.B]

Just because it is sold by a company in Finland doesn't mean that they are the manufacture. How do you know that they arn't ordering them from the same company you are? As long as they arn't branded with a specific brand you should be fine.

They do have a specific brand name. They also have a sister company in the US that sells under another name.

I was looking for patent information on both of their websites, but I've been unable to find anything yet.

The Chinese manufacturer even has pictures of the product with the Findland company's name on them, which I find odd.

 

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[Ecom man]

They do have a specific brand name. They also have a sister company in the US that sells under another name.

I was looking for patent information on both of their websites, but I've been unable to find anything yet.

The Chinese manufacturer even has pictures of the product with the Findland company's name on them, which I find odd.

It is very possible that the manufacture is the patent holder and just sells the item to whoever. It is also possible the manufacture is breaking patent laws. I would lean towards the first one being that Alibaba is really good about kicking off people selling fakes. Being that they have been selling for six years that would be a good sign. You could contact the manufacture and tell them your concerns and see what they say. I cant really comment besides that without knowing more specifics of the products.

 

[Mike.B]

It is very possible that the manufacture is the patent holder and just sells the item to whoever. It is also possible the manufacture is breaking patent laws. I would lean towards the first one being that Alibaba is really good about kicking off people selling fakes. Being that they have been selling for six years that would be a good sign. You could contact the manufacture and tell them your concerns and see what they say. I cant really comment besides that without knowing more specifics of the products.

I'll contact the manufacturer today and see what they say. Hopefully this is just a branding play by these other companies. Thanks again.

 

[Kelly C]

Hi,

I have received a sample from a company but the sample has a hole in it - apart from this, I think it would sell well (and they are the best priced supplier by far). How would you handle the "hole" in terms of speaking to the supplier?

Thanks for the help and great thread - has been really useful.

Also I see stuff sell on ebay that looks and feels cheap. It sells for £20 or so...yet personally I would only pay £5 at most - although I would consider the product useless anyway. It can be quite hard wrapping your head around what sells and the prices that people are willing to pay for things!

 

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[Ecom man]

Hi,

I have received a sample from a company but the sample has a hole in it - apart from this, I think it would sell well (and they are the best priced supplier by far). How would you handle the "hole" in terms of speaking to the supplier?

Thanks for the help and great thread - has been really useful.

Also I see stuff sell on ebay that looks and feels cheap. It sells for £20 or so...yet personally I would only pay £5 at most - although I would consider the product useless anyway. It can be quite hard wrapping your head around what sells and the prices that people are willing to pay for things!

Is the hole there for a reason or was it damage done during shipping? If damage then I would tell them they are damaged and see if they will make it right. If it was put there on purpose ask them why it is there. Maybe it is there for a specific purpose or the orginal designer of the product messed up and added a hole. Simply asking is probably the best way.

 

[Kelly C]

It is definitely not suppose to be there..its bad sewing...went too fast over it and missed out a bit of the fabric which means there is a hole (if that makes sense). Thank you for your input.

 

[Ecom man]

It is definitely not suppose to be there..its bad sewing...went too fast over it and missed out a bit of the fabric which means there is a hole (if that makes sense). Thank you for your input.

That does make sense. I would definitely contact the manufacture and tell them the issue. See what they will do to fix it. If a manufacture isn't going to stand behind their product I wont deal with them.

 

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[CarrieW]

I just read through the thread ty for posting it

I have a few questions... I have found 2 products that I want to resell. both of them on aliexpress. item a and item b. item a is only being sold by Chinese manufacturers everywhere that I can tell. ebay and amazon all Chinese packaging etc... item b is being sold under a "patent pending" brand and Chinese manufacturers as well as it seems a few us resellers.

item a doesn't concern me much. I was planning on getting some samples and reselling on ebay and amazon (maybe a flea market booth) depending on what happens I may hit some boutique stores with it and see if I can get them to resell them also. (pieces sourced for about .83c delivered sold for same around 4.99)

item b is a little worrysome. some stats on it. I can source it for .99c delivered. the patent pending brand is selling these for $19+shipping. the resellers us are selling for 2.95 and up plus shipping the Chinese manu/resell start at .01c auction or 99c buy it now... I was thinking 4.99-5.99 free shipping. or $5 local (flea market) what worries me the most is patent pending brand...

I can even wholesale and still make a profit on either. item b has patent pending on their product but I don't see how... if anything it is a design change and those aren't able to have a pending on them... any thoughts?


edit to add. found these while trying to do some initial calculations thought they may be of use to others following the thread

http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/financial/margin-calculator.php
http://retail.about.com/library/bl_markup_calc.htm

 

[Ecom man]

I just read through the thread ty for posting it

I have a few questions... I have found 2 products that I want to resell. both of them on aliexpress. item a and item b. item a is only being sold by Chinese manufacturers everywhere that I can tell. ebay and amazon all Chinese packaging etc... item b is being sold under a "patent pending" brand and Chinese manufacturers as well as it seems a few us resellers.

item a doesn't concern me much. I was planning on getting some samples and reselling on ebay and amazon (maybe a flea market booth) depending on what happens I may hit some boutique stores with it and see if I can get them to resell them also. (pieces sourced for about .83c delivered sold for same around 4.99)

item b is a little worrysome. some stats on it. I can source it for .99c delivered. the patent pending brand is selling these for $19+shipping. the resellers us are selling for 2.95 and up plus shipping the Chinese manu/resell start at .01c auction or 99c buy it now... I was thinking 4.99-5.99 free shipping. or $5 local (flea market) what worries me the most is patent pending brand...

I can even wholesale and still make a profit on either. item b has patent pending on their product but I don't see how... if anything it is a design change and those aren't able to have a pending on them... any thoughts?


edit to add. found these while trying to do some initial calculations thought they may be of use to others following the thread

http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/financial/margin-calculator.php
http://retail.about.com/library/bl_markup_calc.htm

Why is the one seller of item B able to charge $19 but everyone else is selling them for $2.95? Did he change something that makes the item more useful thereby adding value? Did he just simply brand it under his own name and the patent is on his name or is it on the product itself?

In my opinion I would just drop item b and move on to finding another product. Buying for .99 and selling for 4.99 is not good margins simply because of shipping costs. Even if shipping only costs you $2 you are making $2 an item. If you sell 50 of them a day how quickly are you going to tire of packaging 50 of them for only $100 profit? At profits of only $2 each there is no way you could outsource the packaging or the shipment so you will be doing each one yourself.

If you feel like item B would sell good in flea markets then order a few and try selling them at 9.99 or 14.99. At 14.99 I would for sure take the plunge. Over $10 per item profit makes it a joy to ship out 50 of them for $500 profit. Low profit items can get you burned out really quick. Just be careful that you arn't shooting so low that you are killing yourself.

 

[Ecom man]

Quick pointer,
Constantly check out these sites for the promos they are running. Last night I was on Alibaba and saw a promo for an item. Normal price including shipping is $275 sells for $350-$400. Last night I bought them for $110 each including shipping! Now that is a good promo! After fees and my shipping costs I will profit $175-$230 each! Not a bad find for 15 min of work.

 

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[CarrieW]

honestly item b is selling for that but I have no idea how. I would never spend that much money on what it is... but then again I am not your average consumer...

it is a new twist on an old product. they are "patent pending" and their packaging is different. and its the first "luxury reuseable" product of its kind... (if you don't count the generics) they have muti product kits with a cleaner in a cute bag but nothing that I feel warrants that extra $ mine would be identical except for the packaging

people are buying them at full retail $19+ I am just guessing at what I could sell them for. (checking ebay and amazon fast) and that was what I would ideally like to pay around for this product.

also the item is extremely light and fairly small. I would say shipping could be done for under $1 per item. I could charge for shipping also.

all of this happened by accident. I was looking for something else entirely when I started finding these items that I haven't seen anywhere. and I started digging... I am definitely getting samples in and we will see what happens and this is basically a learning experience for us...

 

[Ecom man]

honestly item b is selling for that but I have no idea how. I would never spend that much money on what it is... but then again I am not your average consumer...

it is a new twist on an old product. they are "patent pending" and their packaging is different. and its the first "luxury reuseable" product of its kind... (if you don't count the generics) they have muti product kits with a cleaner in a cute bag but nothing that I feel warrants that extra $ mine would be identical except for the packaging

people are buying them at full retail $19+ I am just guessing at what I could sell them for. (checking ebay and amazon fast) and that was what I would ideally like to pay around for this product.

also the item is extremely light and fairly small. I would say shipping could be done for under $1 per item. I could charge for shipping also.

all of this happened by accident. I was looking for something else entirely when I started finding these items that I haven't seen anywhere. and I started digging... I am definitely getting samples in and we will see what happens and this is basically a learning experience for us...

Learning is what it is all about! Every step along the way is a step closer to building your empire.

Please double check your shipping costs. You have to put tracking on every item you sell on eBay which that alone will cost you $1+ For the Post Office to touch any package besides a letter you are looking at least $2 and that is slooooooooooooow mailing it. Just make sure you get all the costs factored in before you set a sales price.