[AMA] Importing & wholesaling for resale on eBay.

[Ecom man]

Just a quick update on my business. We have topped 2015's gross sales numbers this year as of last week. With the busiest 2 months of the year remaining we should end the year between 2-2.5x our sales last year. Just a little over a month until Black Friday... are you ready?

 

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[Evil_Jester]

When you were on ebay did you ship internationally or prefer US only?

 

[Denim Chicken]

Update: I made a site for another product, spent $10 on fb PPE, not much engagement at all. Ran adwords for 4 days at $5/day, have 2 sales. I needed to test the market without getting all the shipping supplies and inventory so at least ill know if the marketing and website is on point so I'm ordering from another retailer, waiting for it to come to my house and then re-shipping it out.
This is temporary until I have enough data to see what my true CTA is on Adwords. So far my net profit is $3-5 on an item that retails around $20-30. but that's me ordering from another retailer. I can cut my costs in half and put my brand on it if I order from china and start shipping myself. My COGS will go down to less than $10 a unit. I'll continue to order from the retailer until I have enough info but it's exciting to get sales.

Ecomman, when you see an item priced the same on aliexpress as alibaba, is it safe to assume that the aliexpress listing is direct from the manufacturer?

 

[Ecom man]

Update: I made a site for another product, spent $10 on fb PPE, not much engagement at all. Ran adwords for 4 days at $5/day, have 2 sales. I needed to test the market without getting all the shipping supplies and inventory so at least ill know if the marketing and website is on point so I'm ordering from another retailer, waiting for it to come to my house and then re-shipping it out.
This is temporary until I have enough data to see what my true CTA is on Adwords. So far my net profit is $3-5 on an item that retails around $20-30. but that's me ordering from another retailer. I can cut my costs in half and put my brand on it if I order from china and start shipping myself. My COGS will go down to less than $10 a unit. I'll continue to order from the retailer until I have enough info but it's exciting to get sales.

Ecomman, when you see an item priced the same on aliexpress as alibaba, is it safe to assume that the aliexpress listing is direct from the manufacturer?

It's more likely that both listings are from middlemen rather than being the actual manufacturer. I prefer aliexpress over alibaba because the purchasing process is just so much simpler on aliexpress. If the margins are there get some product ordered and see how they sell. You can afford to give some of the margin to the middleman for now. You can check and see if you can get a lower price later.

 

[Ecom man]

When you were on ebay did you ship internationally or prefer US only?

I only shipped internationally using their global shipping program. You basically send the product to their warehouse in Kentucky and they forward it to the customers country. It's simple for the seller and can bring in some extra sales.

 

[toxicrain]

hey, new member here, i've been lurking around this forum for a few years now, reading.

do you anticipate any particular product to be a hot seller this holiday season? similar to popularity of gliding boards last season perhaps?

just curious mostly, i am not in e-commerce at the moment. thank you for a wealth of info in this thread!

 

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[Altraxx]

Hi Ecom man,

Great work on this thread, really helpful.

I'm wondering if you ever use Google trends to analyse the demand of the products you're about to buy.

Thanx

 

[FreedomforEarl]

Most anything that you would find on those sites that has a brand (Sony, Apple, etc) is most likely a knockoff or a back of the truck item (meaning stolen from manufacture or ones that were "damaged" and then resold) There are tons of products that are generic/ only Chinese type brand. Those are the way to go and the profit margin is there on a lot of items.

I like that you tell it all and not trying to sell something. Good for you !

 

[FreedomforEarl]

I have used terapeak before but the problem is there is no work involved for anyone to access that information. Most of the "hot" items are way too competitive to make any reliable profit. I have found searching for an item that is currently not selling in the US or maybe with only one other seller of the item works far better than terapeak.

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?

Good information ! I was the first to sell Stingray skins on ebay ! It was great , but shipping was crazy

 

[Ecom man]

Hi Ecom man,

Great work on this thread, really helpful.

I'm wondering if you ever use Google trends to analyse the demand of the products you're about to buy.

Thanx

It might be a good way to do it but I've never used it.

 

[Ecom man]

Just a quick update with 2016's total. I ended the year at 1.8 million in sales. I was expecting to do 2-2.5 but Christmas sales didn't increase as I was expecting. For 2017 I am going to be expanding into 2-3 more niches and setting up websites for each niche. My goal for all my businesses for 2017 is to hit 5 million in sales while keeping profit margins at 30-40+%. My long term plan is to get to 25 million in sales in the next 5-7 years and then sell the business.

 

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[FreedomforEarl]

Just a quick update with 2016's total. I ended the year at 1.8 million in sales. I was expecting to do 2-2.5 but Christmas sales didn't increase as I was expecting. For 2017 I am going to be expanding into 2-3 more niches and setting up websites for each niche. My goal for all my businesses for 2017 is to hit 5 million in sales while keeping profit margins at 30-40+%. My long term plan is to get to 25 million in sales in the next 5-7 years and then sell the business.

Wow, help teach me ! I have the skills but lack the experience. I have been selling all my life. I am working on my label. 20 years ago I had the chance to get some apparel in Footlocker. I did not know what I know now. No more being scared and afraid. I love this forum

 

[Ecom man]

So just a quick update in regards to my businesses. I am currently in Las Vegas for the ASD Marketweek. If you are a reseller this place will blow your mind! The first day was today and I found 3 new niches that I can set up sites and start selling immediately. I found suppliers for all 3 niches today as well. If you don't understand how huge that is let me break it down. Each site should represent 500k to a million year in sales. So today I added 1.5 to 3 million to my bottom line... in one day! Don't make excuses make money!

 

[Curtis Randolph]

So just a quick update in regards to my businesses. I am currently in Las Vegas for the ASD Marketweek. If you are a reseller this place will blow your mind! The first day was today and I found 3 new niches that I can set up sites and start selling immediately. I found suppliers for all 3 niches today as well. If you don't understand how huge that is let me break it down. Each site should represent 500k to a million year in sales. So today I added 1.5 to 3 million to my bottom line... in one day! Don't make excuses make money!

That is incredibly cool. And here I thought that my trade show days were behind me. ;-)

 

[mosdef]

Really funny I was just over on reddit and saw this up there. Quite a bit of good info for beginners.

On the subject of sourcing, aliexpress and dhgate are chocked full of good products that can be imported for a profit. You can use your credit card to pay so you can always do a chargeback if they send you worthless junk. Both of those sites are great for beginners who want to get their feet wet but can't afford to drop a ton of money on a huge shipment. I'm helping my brother get up and selling on eBay/Amazon. We spent a few days looking through dhgate and aliexpress and found more products than he had money to buy. He is pushing close to 10 grand in sales in the last month on 5-7 products.

Anyone who says that there isn't products on those sites to import for a profit either haven't been looking or are trying to sell you something.

is this mainly US sales?

 

[NYCGoblin]

So just a quick update in regards to my businesses. I am currently in Las Vegas for the ASD Marketweek. If you are a reseller this place will blow your mind! The first day was today and I found 3 new niches that I can set up sites and start selling immediately. I found suppliers for all 3 niches today as well. If you don't understand how huge that is let me break it down. Each site should represent 500k to a million year in sales. So today I added 1.5 to 3 million to my bottom line... in one day! Don't make excuses make money!

Is this your first time at that event?

 

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[Drew D]

Just a quick update with 2016's total. I ended the year at 1.8 million in sales. I was expecting to do 2-2.5 but Christmas sales didn't increase as I was expecting. For 2017 I am going to be expanding into 2-3 more niches and setting up websites for each niche. My goal for all my businesses for 2017 is to hit 5 million in sales while keeping profit margins at 30-40+%. My long term plan is to get to 25 million in sales in the next 5-7 years and then sell the business.

Wow incredible. Is this just through eBay? If so, why not mostly Amazon?

 

[Chazmania]

@Ecom man - Amazing year congrats!! That's all still just wholesaling? No PL?

 

[Denim Chicken]

He sells on his own website and has his own brand for lots of his products

 

[mosdef]

has anyone has success with importing and selling whom is not living in a big country?

I have couple of problems living in Sweden.

1. How do i compete with shipping times for bigger markets like us,uk, germany and so on. If im shipping from Sweden?
2. When i test my products i have to test on the swedish market and that wont give me a clear picture of how well the product sells?
3. If i were to ship my product directly from us, uk or other markets how can i do that? Fulfillment centers? But then again, how can i test those markets before ordering big shipments...

 

[SJMM]

So just a quick update in regards to my businesses. I am currently in Las Vegas for the ASD Marketweek. If you are a reseller this place will blow your mind! The first day was today and I found 3 new niches that I can set up sites and start selling immediately. I found suppliers for all 3 niches today as well. If you don't understand how huge that is let me break it down. Each site should represent 500k to a million year in sales. So today I added 1.5 to 3 million to my bottom line... in one day! Don't make excuses make money!

Congratulations!!! Very Impressive. I read most of your thread and I wanted to ask if the products you are selling on your website are your own brand or wholesale or a mix of both? I am setting up a site and I am debating if I should sell products for different niches in one site or if I should set up one site per niche. of course I am starting with one niche and add to it but not sure if I should do it in one site. I have wholesale suppliers and products already but not sure if I should focus on one niche per site. Thank you so much!

 

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[Ecom man]

Is this your first time at that event?

Yep, I've never been before but it seriously blew my mind. I spent all 4 days walking and seeing virtually every booth at the show. I walked between 5-8 miles a day at the convention center.

 

[Ecom man]

J

Wow incredible. Is this just through eBay? If so, why not mostly Amazon?

I set up and run my own websites now. Way more control over customer experience and way easier to get repeat customers.

 

[Ecom man]

Congratulations!!! Very Impressive. I read most of your thread and I wanted to ask if the products you are selling on your website are your own brand or wholesale or a mix of both? I am setting up a site and I am debating if I should sell products for different niches in one site or if I should set up one site per niche. of course I am starting with one niche and add to it but not sure if I should do it in one site. I have wholesale suppliers and products already but not sure if I should focus on one niche per site. Thank you so much!

You can really do it either way. My personal opinion is to do a niche per site. Say for example I want to sell pool toys on a website. I wouldn't also sell women's clothing on that site but I might sell beach toys as well or other pool/beach related items.

 

[Ecom man]

This is just the pamphlets/business cards from suppliers who we are interested in ordering their products sometime in the next year. If we weren't going to set up a website in that niche in the next 12 months we didn't get any info. We collected all of this over the 4 days in Vegas. It wasn't easy but the value in that stack is beyond comprehension for most people.

 

[Dicky Dee]

Just a quick update with 2016's total. I ended the year at 1.8 million in sales. I was expecting to do 2-2.5 but Christmas sales didn't increase as I was expecting. For 2017 I am going to be expanding into 2-3 more niches and setting up websites for each niche. My goal for all my businesses for 2017 is to hit 5 million in sales while keeping profit margins at 30-40+%. My long term plan is to get to 25 million in sales in the next 5-7 years and then sell the business.

Nice! Are you still mainly using google shopping for driving traffic to your websites?

 

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[Ecom man]

Nice! Are you still mainly using google shopping for driving traffic to your websites?

I mainly use Adwords and bing to drive traffic. I've tried Facebook but I just can't seem to get profitable on there.

 

[Striver]

Do you have a post in this thread explaining the the transition over to your own website(s)?

Just wondering if it was gradual...and if you tested the market, and how.

 

[Cwholesale]

I think the biggest problem people have when they want to start selling is the mqq the supplier is asking like 1000 pcs minimum

Better to find people that are new in the business that will agree for a smaller order ( hard to find) but try looking at countrys like vietnam , cambodia , thailand . ( i can give some idea of people i know )

I have been working with wholesale for sometime i do live in Asia . what i noticed is that i get more customer to purchase from me if i sell small quantitys like 50 pcs minimum order but giving very competetive prices .

Anyway same here if any questions u guys can ask me .

Regards

 

[Ecom man]

I think the biggest problem people have when they want to start selling is the mqq the supplier is asking like 1000 pcs minimum

Better to find people that are new in the business that will agree for a smaller order ( hard to find) but try looking at countrys like vietnam , cambodia , thailand . ( i can give some idea of people i know )

I have been working with wholesale for sometime i do live in Asia . what i noticed is that i get more customer to purchase from me if i sell small quantitys like 50 pcs minimum order but giving very competetive prices .

Anyway same here if any questions u guys can ask me .

Regards

I just spent 4 days talking to wholesalers in just about any niche you can think of and the average minimum order... under $500. All these products were located in the US and you get your order in a really short period of time. You could even mix and match their products to get to that amount. Minimum orders is just another excuse that people use to excuse away why they don't take action.