[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[NaPal]

Quick question @Ecom man . If I have found a profitable product and it's already selling on Ebay and getting positive feedback, are samples from suppliers that important; if it's the exact same product? My guess would be that there is one factory in China making them all, but I could be wrong. So this would equate to all products being the same quality that are already receiving good feedback.

Of course I would still order a relatively small order, but i'm talking maybe 50 units instead of 10.

 

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[Ecom man]

Quick question @Ecom man . If I have found a profitable product and it's already selling on Ebay and getting positive feedback, are samples from suppliers that important; if it's the exact same product? My guess would be that there is one factory in China making them all, but I could be wrong. So this would equate to all products being the same quality that are already receiving good feedback.

Of course I would still order a relatively small order, but i'm talking maybe 50 units instead of 10.

Anytime you don't get a sample you are opening yourself up to all of the items quality being crap. The problem is some manufactures make it as cheap as possible and will fall apart in your hands and other will make quality products. If the item is $10 each then you stand to lose $500 for 50 items or only $100 for 10.

It really comes down to how much money you are willing to risk. Personally I wouldn't have a problem risking the extra money in the scenario you mentioned. Only you know how much money you have and if the cost of the 50 items will break you if they all end up being junk instead of quality items.

 

[Mr.International]

@ecom i heard you mention earlier in the thread that you where on vacation. Do you have someone help you deliver packages to the PO while you're absent? Just curious how you are leveraging your time if your making sales while on vacation.I'm sure its important to ship out the product the same day of purchase? I like the idea of importing and reselling on ebay but i do travel for work and pleasure atleast 5 months per year. Do you have any suggestions on making your business location independent or is that even possible? Thanks for your time.

 

[Ecom man]

@ecom i heard you mention earlier in the thread that you where on vacation. Do you have someone help you deliver packages to the PO while you're absent? Just curious how you are leveraging your time if your making sales while on vacation.I'm sure its important to ship out the product the same day of purchase? I like the idea of importing and reselling on ebay but i do travel for work and pleasure atleast 5 months per year. Do you have any suggestions on making your business location independent or is that even possible? Thanks for your time.

You can use a fulfillment company to do all your orders if your profit margins can handle it. Fulfillment by Amazon is super popular because you can use it for sales on eBay.com, Amazon.com, and even your own website.

 

[NaPal]

Shipping from China seems to be a deal killer when ordering sample orders. With the sample orders I'm working on I would be profiting $1-$2 after all was said and done.

1. @Ecom man is this usually the case when placing sample orders?
2. I know shipping will go down with quanitity. However @ 1000 units I can still see shipping from China being a large chunk. Especially if the product is larger than an envelope. What's your experience with shipping from China?
3. What type of size/volume product do you get shipped directly to your home? Do you receive multiple pallets, and if so do they come by UPS freight,etc. direct to your doorstep? I can imagine getting 3000/qty to your door being a bit more involved.
4. I read on another thread to only use Paypal for samples (secure), however alot of suppliers don't accept Paypal. Previous threads said to move on if they don't accept Paypal. I know Alibaba has its escrow service. Which payment method do you use the most and recommend for sample products (1st purchase)? I'm definitely not doing T/T or Western Union.

 

[Ecom man]

Shipping from China seems to be a deal killer when ordering sample orders. With the sample orders I'm working on I would be profiting $1-$2 after all was said and done.

1. @Ecom man is this usually the case when placing sample orders?
2. I know shipping will go down with quanitity. However @ 1000 units I can still see shipping from China being a large chunk. Especially if the product is larger than an envelope. What's your experience with shipping from China?
3. What type of size/volume product do you get shipped directly to your home? Do you receive multiple pallets, and if so do they come by UPS freight,etc. direct to your doorstep? I can imagine getting 3000/qty to your door being a bit more involved.
4. I read on another thread to only use Paypal for samples (secure), however alot of suppliers don't accept Paypal. Previous threads said to move on if they don't accept Paypal. I know Alibaba has its escrow service. Which payment method do you use the most and recommend for sample products (1st purchase)? I'm definitely not doing T/T or Western Union.

Samples are just to see the quality of the items and see how they sell. If you order 10 of the items and sell all ten in a couple days then you know you have a decent seller and can order then order in bulk. I normally order enough of each product I carry to make it through approximately 2-3 weeks of sales. So if I'm selling 50 a week then I would probably order 150 of that item.

Shipping costs vary but I normally have everything shipped DHL to my door. Some people go the cheaper route and that is fine. I just personally prefer the faster turn around. Most of the time my orders will be 5-10 large boxes. DHL delivers them straight to my door then I lug them to the garage.

I don't have a problem using alibaba escrow or dhgate escrow. The main reason you don't want to use western union is that the seller could just walk away and you have no recourse. The escrow services or paypal help discourage that from happening.

 

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[soul]

I just sent my first product inquiry on Alibaba and created a new email for all things related to importing things. I hope it all goes well enough for me!

This thread is an amazing source of information, wouldn't have even taken this step had it not been for reading through this whole thread.

 

[Five Star]

@Ecom man , thanks for the great thread! This is something I'd been considering for some time, and this thread along with @SJVC 's (thanks SJVC!) thread have really encouraged me to get going!

For the last few weeks I've been researching products and have created a very basic spreadsheet to calculate up all the costs and potential profit etc. in order to reveal what the best products may be.

It's extremely tough to find something profitable! In some cases, prices on eBay UK are less than on Alibaba, which I just don't get!

That being said, I've finally sent my first inquiries to around 15 different suppliers, for pricing on 3 different potential products. Looking forward to see what they come back with!

The wait is on......

In the meantime, perhaps someone can clarify some things for me?

I notice when I search for a product on eBay, I seem to get varying results for the quantities sold:

• In the main results, an item may have the 'flame' symbol below it saying '20+ sold' or '25 sold' for example.
• When I click into the item that says '20 + sold' it's description page may say 10 available / '500 sold' (substantially more than 20).
• Taking it one step further, I can then click on the '500 sold' breakdown and may notice for example 10 were sold today just by this seller alone.
• However, if I run the overall search again for the exact product and this time select 'sold listings' it may only show 3 sold for the day overall (even though I know the seller above has already sold 10 today just by themselves).

What's the best way to accurately check out quantities sold?

I also notice the 'sold listings' on my laptop, and Ipad app are different!

Trying to get my head around these differences so I can try to accurately estimate how much quantity of a particular item is selling.

Thanks

 

[Ecom man]

@Ecom man , thanks for the great thread! This is something I'd been considering for some time, and this thread along with @SJVC 's (thanks SJVC!) thread have really encouraged me to get going!

For the last few weeks I've been researching products and have created a very basic spreadsheet to calculate up all the costs and potential profit etc. in order to reveal what the best products may be.

It's extremely tough to find something profitable! In some cases, prices on eBay UK are less than on Alibaba, which I just don't get!

That being said, I've finally sent my first inquiries to around 15 different suppliers, for pricing on 3 different potential products. Looking forward to see what they come back with!

The wait is on......

In the meantime, perhaps someone can clarify some things for me?

I notice when I search for a product on eBay, I seem to get varying results for the quantities sold:

• In the main results, an item may have the 'flame' symbol below it saying '20+ sold' or '25 sold' for example.
• When I click into the item that says '20 + sold' it's description page may say 10 available / '500 sold' (substantially more than 20).
• Taking it one step further, I can then click on the '500 sold' breakdown and may notice for example 10 were sold today just by this seller alone.
• However, if I run the overall search again for the exact product and this time select 'sold listings' it may only show 3 sold for the day overall (even though I know the seller above has already sold 10 today just by themselves).

What's the best way to accurately check out quantities sold?

I also notice the 'sold listings' on my laptop, and Ipad app are different!

Trying to get my head around these differences so I can try to accurately estimate how much quantity of a particular item is selling.

Thanks

I believe the issue is what your searching is the completed listings. Since that sellers listing is still active it is not considered "completed". The best way is to search through the active buy it now listings for that item and see what the quantity sold is. You can then go to completed listings that sold and check those numbers too. 500 sold is certainly an active item with lots of sales.

I don't know why there would be a difference between the sold items based on whether using computer or iPad. It probably has something to do with the mobile app doesn't include some of the computer ones that aren't optimized for mobile viewing.

 

[Davor]

Ordered my first samples today, should be here in a week or two.
5 samples: 105$
DHL shipping: 35$
Paypal fees: 7$

 

[Five Star]

Thanks for the reply:

I believe the issue is what your searching is the completed listings. Since that sellers listing is still active it is not considered "completed". The best way is to search through the active buy it now listings for that item and see what the quantity sold is. You can then go to completed listings that sold and check those numbers too. 500 sold is certainly an active item with lots of sales.

I'll focus then on searching through the active buy it now listings like you suggest, and not get too hung up on the other details.

Got my first few quotes back from suppliers already. The prices are way off what I expected! I'll wait to get some more back and then sit down and go through them properly and perhaps post a summary.

 

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[NaPal]

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.

 

[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.

 

[ddzc]

I just wanted to jump in to say thanks to Ecom Man! This thread is absolutely awesome, and the man himself is extremely helpful with super quick response rates to boost. Glad you joined the forum! Rep+

 

[NaPal]

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.

Thank you for all the help Ecom Man. Smells like GOLD advice here

 

[Luke1213]

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.

That's my goal. Get 5-10 items selling around 20 per day. Might not seem like much but like @Ecom man stated if the margins are right, look out! 5 figure profit easy each month! Everyone on here is thankful for @Ecom man shedding his knowledge on how to import and sell on ebay and even amazon. But everyone who is wanting to do this business model, you must be patient. Unless I am wrong and if I am speaking out of turn @Ecom man I apologize but I doubt @Ecom man got to 5 figure profit in the first month. It does get frustrating sometimes sourcing products but when it pays off, it will pay off big. If you are just starting out, set realistic goals. Your first goal should be to get a sale. Second should be to make $100 dollars. Third make $500 dollars and so on and so forth. This is how I structured my goals and so far, I haven't been let down. I have been selling on amazon for less than a month and have made over $300.00 and had my first sell on ebay this week and my profit margin was right at 50%! So it takes time but be patient. As for @Ecom man, transferring some rep your way!

 

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[MoneyDoc]

Question for Canadians... How on earth do you guys ship the products... Canada post charges me $13 to send a dog collar to Mississauga... I live in Toronto...

Do you guys just dropship? If so, how do your customers feel about the 30 day wait time... Usually the shipping times are a deal breaker for me. I rather pay $5 extra and get the product in a week.

Any Canadians shipping from Canada? if so, how are you doing it?

Also, just some advice. Don't use DHGate, most of them act as middleman. You can get the same products $5-10 cheaper on alibaba.com - but you must buy in bulk. I have over 3 years experience with alibaba.com, aliexpress.com (started at 17). So if anyone has supplier related questions or questions in general (such as safest way to pay etc.) please send me a message here. I'll be glad to help you out.

 

[Ecom man]

That's my goal. Get 5-10 items selling around 20 per day. Might not seem like much but like @Ecom man stated if the margins are right, look out! 5 figure profit easy each month! Everyone on here is thankful for @Ecom man shedding his knowledge on how to import and sell on ebay and even amazon. But everyone who is wanting to do this business model, you must be patient. Unless I am wrong and if I am speaking out of turn @Ecom man I apologize but I doubt @Ecom man got to 5 figure profit in the first month. It does get frustrating sometimes sourcing products but when it pays off, it will pay off big. If you are just starting out, set realistic goals. Your first goal should be to get a sale. Second should be to make $100 dollars. Third make $500 dollars and so on and so forth. This is how I structured my goals and so far, I haven't been let down. I have been selling on amazon for less than a month and have made over $300.00 and had my first sell on ebay this week and my profit margin was right at 50%! So it takes time but be patient. As for @Ecom man, transferring some rep your way!

Absolutely correct! Takes time to find products and to test them. Takes time to learn the ropes. Sounds you have a great plan of attack and are doing well working it!

 

[SeanyHang]

I've made about 300 dollars since my last post just from selling random crap around the house. I also went ahead and purchased that Startup Bro's course on importing (about 500 bucks) and in doing so won a free Go-Pro Hero 3. None of this would've happened had I not stumbled upon this thread. You the man @Ecom man .

 

[soul]

Question for Canadians... How on earth do you guys ship the products... Canada post charges me $13 to send a dog collar to Mississauga... I live in Toronto...

Do you guys just dropship? If so, how do your customers feel about the 30 day wait time... Usually the shipping times are a deal breaker for me. I rather pay $5 extra and get the product in a week.

Any Canadians shipping from Canada? if so, how are you doing it?

Also, just some advice. Don't use DHGate, most of them act as middleman. You can get the same products $5-10 cheaper on alibaba.com - but you must buy in bulk. I have over 3 years experience with alibaba.com, aliexpress.com (started at 17). So if anyone has supplier related questions or questions in general (such as safest way to pay etc.) please send me a message here. I'll be glad to help you out.

Anyone with info on this I'd greatly appreciate it also as I'm embarking soon with this exact predicament.

 

[Burt A]

Anyone with info on this I'd greatly appreciate it also as I'm embarking soon with this exact predicament.

+1

Question for Canadians... How on earth do you guys ship the products... Canada post charges me $13 to send a dog collar to Mississauga... I live in Toronto...

Do you guys just dropship? If so, how do your customers feel about the 30 day wait time... Usually the shipping times are a deal breaker for me. I rather pay $5 extra and get the product in a week.

Any Canadians shipping from Canada? if so, how are you doing it?

Also, just some advice. Don't use DHGate, most of them act as middleman. You can get the same products $5-10 cheaper on alibaba.com - but you must buy in bulk. I have over 3 years experience with alibaba.com, aliexpress.com (started at 17). So if anyone has supplier related questions or questions in general (such as safest way to pay etc.) please send me a message here. I'll be glad to help you out.

+2 for me on this

 

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[Brentnal]

An item I found today that I thought about using but don't have the time is on Alibaba. It is a mosquito repellant patch. There is not one US seller of the item on eBay. It is all natural patch and supposedly lasts up to 72 hrs. Some even come in packaging for resale. They are pennies a patch and you could easily resell them on eBay, your own website, or start a business selling it to all the local gas stations in your area.
See how easy and fun it is to find items?

I am a total noob i never used ebay nor amazon, can you tell me how you research products without terapeak?
Thank you bro

 

[NaPal]

Awesome to hear about everyone's process and taking action from the start of this thread!

Is anyone else receiving HUGE variations on shipping costs? I'm talking $200-$300 variations between suppliers. It seems for every 10 suppliers I contact, there is 1 that is reasonable (especially with shipping charges). I feel like I have to sift through all the garbage in my inbox everyday to find a suppliers with fair pricing.

I keep pushing through the BS searching and contacting every night.

 

[MoneyDoc]

Awesome to hear about everyone's process and taking action from the start of this thread!

Is anyone else receiving HUGE variations on shipping costs? I'm talking $200-$300 variations between suppliers. It seems for every 10 suppliers I contact, there is 1 that is reasonable (especially with shipping charges). I feel like I have to sift through all the garbage in my inbox everyday to find a suppliers with fair pricing.

I keep pushing through the BS searching and contacting every night.

Don't be fooled bro. Some Chinese suppliers will try to get more out of you for shipping so they can make a buck.

Been dealing with Chinese suppliers for 3 years now.

What's the quantity you're trying to buy? What's the weight of the product?

 

[NaPal]

Don't be fooled bro. Some Chinese suppliers will try to get more out of you for shipping so they can make a buck.

Been dealing with Chinese suppliers for 3 years now.

What's the quantity you're trying to buy? What's the weight of the product?

Quantity 20, weighs about 1 lb each.

Also finding a lot of suppliers trying to throw on additional fees:

• $30 bank fee
• $50 service charge
• etc.

Smells like bologna to me

Am i correct in saying there is a lot of suppliers on Aliababa you DON'T want to by from?

 

[MoneyDoc]

Quantity 20, weighs about 1 lb each.

Also finding a lot of suppliers trying to throw on additional fees:

• $30 bank fee
• $50 service charge
• etc.

Smells like bologna to me

Am i correct in saying there is a lot of suppliers on Aliababa you DON'T want to by from?

20lbs for 300 bucks? I wouldn't go with that supplier.

No supplier has ever told me to pay for a service charge.

If your paying via wire transfer, a bank fee is usually something most suppliers will charge.

If your paying via alibaba, there should be no service/bank fee whatsoever. Remember, some suppliers are actually trading companies. They buy from other Chinese suppliers and ship you the products. Thus they try to add additional fees to make them more money.

 

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[Alveko]

Am i correct in saying there is a lot of suppliers on Aliababa you DON'T want to by from?

No offense, but you shouldn't even be asking that question if you were already planning on doing business with "suppliers" from Alibaba.

 

[Five Star]

So I've had a good response from my quotation requests on Alibaba. It's hard work sifting through them. Out of about 15, ONLY 1 gave me all the information I requested!

Sounds like I got the regular replies most people have been getting. MOQ's of 2000, super high sample prices, huge freight costs etc.

It seems near impossible to find a product that's profitable! Am I missing something? I've been searching for weeks, and the products I thought looked good don't stack up!

The supplier offered me this particular product for $5.50, but freight of $137. I have replied offering a lower price and asking for a better shipping cost.

The item is selling around the £12-£15 mark on ebay. Interestingly though, I noticed one that sold today for £39.99 with an extra £2.50 for shipping. Looking at the sellers history, at the start of July they sold for £11.99, and kept putting the price up every few days. Quantities sold is less now though per day.

After ebay and paypal fees, duties, freight, absorbing the shipping to my buyer on the 'free postage', I'd stand to make a loss of around £4.50 according to my calculations on an average sale price of about £13.

Back to the drawing board........

Is it fair to assume that around 80-90% of suppliers on Alibaba are all traders? Seems like few are manufacturers, and how can we really tell? So many suppliers post the exact same pictures.

Can the 'onsite check' be trusted when it states manufacturer, or trader?

I'll look forward to any feedback or comments. Over and out

 

[Luke1213]

The manufacturer is just trying to get more out of you for the shipping. I shipped samples from 2 different suppliers in China to the U.S. and paid $210 for everything. One box weighed 17 pounds and the other 13 pounds. The bulk of my cost was for the products and not the shipping. My average shipping cost was around $30 per box. If they give you an outlandish shipping price, you need to be firm with them. If that doesn't work, try different suppliers or you can try to facilitate your own shipping.

I don't know how you guys are approaching your suppliers but this could be throwing them off. Don't approach them as an everyday Joe. Give them the impression that you currently are a business entity and that you are expanding your inventory. If you don't have a company yet, make one up. I think if suppliers see as a company rather than an individual, they see you are a serious buyer. And be up front with them. Tell them in the beginning that you are expanding your inventory and need some samples to test the market. Be specific about how many samples you would need to do a decent test run. This has worked for me so far.

The suppliers should have a company profile. Look in the company profile and some of them will read whether or not they are a trader, broker, wholesaler or manufacturer. Another way to eliminate brokers/traders is ask for product credentials such as supplier assessment sheet. Many legit manufacturers will give you these credentials as long as you are serious about buying but some of them will charge you. Also, most legit manufacturers have websites outside of your sourcing gateway (alibaba). Another way to weed out traders/brokers is to ask for the website of their manufacturing company. If they are a trader and do give you a legitimate website, you can contact the manufacturer directly and cut out the trader completely.

 

[Ecom man]

Sorry guys been out of touch for most of the week. Ask away!