How I find suppliers for my Ecommerce Stores

[kurtyordy]

yeah, I am guessing a sales tax license will cover me. I am applying for one now. never was an issue before.

 

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[Sparlin]

That's probably a good idea. It may not have been an issue before, but the states have been pressing hard for years to make internet sales taxable. Right now they have voluntary compliance but pretty soon i think there'll be a mandate. They keep getting hung up on a Supreme Court case from the sixties regarding the ability to tax mail order items.

 

[kurtyordy]

Can wordpress have ecommerce stores?

Where do we find templates?

from what I have heard, that is similar to trying to plow a field by hooking a plow to a school bus. Yes it can be done, but it is not the best way to do it.

That being said, saw this the other day and it had good feedback- Wordpress Shopping Cart - ShopperPress

Not a personal recommendation, never used it myself

 

[bflbob]

yeah, I am guessing a sales tax license will cover me. I am applying for one now. never was an issue before.

That's my guess of what they are looking for. Most folks don't have one, where businesses do.

 

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[bflbob]

bob- thanks for hijacking my hijack of this thread

Oh... but what you'll learn will make it soooo worth it!

 

[kurtyordy]

That's my guess of what they are looking for. Most folks don't have one, where businesses do.

yeah, our company sold food, sales tax exempt in pa, so never needed it for the corp

 

[biophase]

for those sitting on the sideline, this primer works. I finally settled on what I believe will be a good niche today. Contacted 6 of the 7 major suppliers in the industry (still looking for info on #7). 4 of the six contacted me back today already. All open to doing business with me. So far anyway.

I copied the exact email bio posted, put in my info and my product info and sent it off.

Thanks bio.

Glad to hear it. You only need a few of the suppliers to go ahead with it. Because in 6 months, when you contact the 3 that turned you down, you will be able to show them a successful store and they will want to be in it.

Yes, you do need a license/permit. You are basically going to be a retail store. You probably need a state and city license.

Just getting the EIN is sometimes enough to get the wholesalers to talk to you. But once in business you will need the licenses.

 

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[CEBenz]

For the most part, we all know that part of SEO is link building. So you can hire some dude to get you a link. So what people are doing is that they are putting together a link package, say like they'll get you 20 links for $5. Then they have become more intricate in that not only will they get a 20 links, but they'll put them into a link wheel for you for $8. etc...

These are called Link Building Packages and guys on Warrior Forum or Wicked Fire sell them like hotcakes.

So you can hire out your SEO by buying these packages.
or you can hire someone to manage the buying of these packages, like an SEO company

but remember that these packages are only a small part of your SEO plan.

If you want a nice broad SEO plan you probably should hire an SEO company to manage it all for you...

But IMO if you learn it yourself, you will crush your competitors. I'll make another post on why.

And that post is here:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/we...on-its-like-wearing-sunscreen.html#post161897

 

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[smith360]

To add an idea. Don't say eBay or Amazon. Be sure not to mention eBay or Amazon, as these platforms raise immediate red flags. Many suppliers have policies specifically preventing retailers from doing business with such online marketplaces even if their accounts are established and in good standing.


Removed by Mod.

 

[kurtyordy]

Kurt,

When you get your license are you getting it in the store's URL name? My advice would be to get a generic sounding name like KURT STORES LLC. Because if you did Baseballbats.com as your license and then you found that Batpoop.com is a great niche, the suppliers will look at your baseballbats.com license funny vs. kurt stores llc. Know what I mean?

I spent a good part of the night researching this last night and cannot seem to find anything required by pa for a general retail store besides an ein and sales tax number.

If anyone is aware of the contrary, please let me know.

 

[Shades]

Thanks! I will do! I am thinking of creating a store for members only! I have several suppliers (manufacturers) that should give me a wide range of merchandise for my store. I am thinking of charging a membership fee and selling the products at my cost (plus shipping and other associated fees).

I was recently thinking of doing the same thing in a competitive niche just to throw something different in the mix. Did you end up using this model? Have any success with it?

 

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[Chitown]

Hey Guys,

I stumbled upon this potential resource. Hope it helps.

Wholesalers & UK Wholesale Suppliers Forum

 

[AdamMaxum]

biophase,

I'm curious, and you don't need to answer, but I was wondering if you could throw a rough number out on how much you're making a month from your online sales.

Oh, and how many websites you're running to produce the result.

Thanks.

 

[AdamMaxum]

Curiosity mostly...I have the capability of creating sites that look as good as yours, and with your seo knowledge and all that I was just curious about the financial side of it all and if i should commit to the e-commerce model.

If you told me you were making 50K vs 500 that would weigh considerably in committing to the advice within this thread, not to say whether the advice you are giving is good or bad. I believe what I've read in this thread has been very beneficial, and I thank you for it.

I'm after the freedom of not working many hours as well. However, to reach that freedom I have to commit substantial time to whatever it is that can provide that for me. I can make relatively passive income on ebay right now, but I'm in search of committing my time towards "something" that can make big money, and still keep a level of passivity.

To counter what you ended with. I'm after the freedom of not working many hours, and the dollars.

 

[kconnors@tpna]

Interspire

Hey Kenric,
I've been looking at Interspire's product and it seems perfect for the type of store I want to launch. I'm assuming you bought the licensed version since you told me at lunch that the software was $300. Why did you decide to go with the licensed version as opposed to the monthly hosted version? I understand that there are advantages to both, and I know hosting alone usually runs about ten bucks a month. Was it just more cost effective to do it this way? Any conflicts with the hosting/software relationship?

 

[kconnors@tpna]

Hey Kenric,
The other question I had for you is whether or not your wholesalers required that you pay for their wholesale price list. I've read this is the case with certain wholesalers and it seems a little shady to me. Your thoughts?

 

[LightHouse]

Hey Kenric,
I've been looking at Interspire's product and it seems perfect for the type of store I want to launch. I'm assuming you bought the licensed version since you told me at lunch that the software was $300. Why did you decide to go with the licensed version as opposed to the monthly hosted version? I understand that there are advantages to both, and I know hosting alone usually runs about ten bucks a month. Was it just more cost effective to do it this way? Any conflicts with the hosting/software relationship?

Interspire is great but the company has shifted from the self hosted version of interspire to almost focusing completely on BigCommerce which just started out as a hosted version of interspire shopping cart, but now is a continued development version of its own.

If you are not planning on needing to hack and modify your store all up, bigcommerce is probably the way to go if it works for you.

 

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[mavwrx]

i've been using pinnacle cart. it's working out well for me.

 

[keza]

"Have you ever looked at worldwidebrands.com? I'm thinking about giving up the cash so i can try it out."

Hi Savvacon, did you try worldwidebrands.com ? I would like to try them too, so I need your advises.

 

[biophase]

BUT, I think I remember seeing somewhere that I can run a number of different stores from one instance of the software, by just partitioning the inventory into different stores. Is this true? Or did I make that up?

Will BigCommerce allow this? Any others? Or should I just suck it up and load a different store for every site I run? I just cringe at the thot of paying $30-50/mo x 20 stores before I even know whether they will be profitable. Looking for feedback / ideas.

Thx.

You cannot do this in Bigcommerce, they all have separate databases.

My question is, why do you want to have 20 stores right off the bat? Seems like alot to start with. Each store will cost $25/mo on BC. That's only $500/mo which really isn't much if say 25% of your stores are successful. If you have 5 stores doing well, you can easily cover the $500/mo. Then just dump the ones that aren't performing.

 

[Jill]

I wouldn't have all 20 immediately. But even so, it just seems more efficient to use one instance to store all my inventory, especially since it's free. But as i said, it may cost more in the long run since I'm not a developer and don't know how to customize anything in the back end. Is Big Commerce easier in that way? If not, then what are the advantages?

 

[biophase]

I wouldn't have all 20 immediately. But even so, it just seems more efficient to use one instance to store all my inventory, especially since it's free. But as i said, it may cost more in the long run since I'm not a developer and don't know how to customize anything in the back end. Is Big Commerce easier in that way? If not, then what are the advantages?

It would be nice to have all 20 stores come back to a single database. However, the downside is that each product on each store is basically the same with the same photos and same descriptions. BC has a very easy backend to work with. If you want to go the multiple stores like you said, Magento and a few others can do that, I have wanted to go that route, but separate stores ended up easier for me to setup.

BTW, it's interesting that Hayneedle and Wayfair all went from a ton of little stores to one big store.

 

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[Jill]

Yeah, it IS interesting.

I guess I just need to bite the bullet and do the BC then, because I do like to tinker with the site myself a little. And let's face it, I waste $500 a WEEK on stupid stuff. So I guess I can swing it! ;-)

Thx for the prompt responses.

 

[mavwrx]

I always enjoy re-reading this thread! So many good nuggets. Fun also to see how the things that jump out to me are different every time, depending on where I "am" at the time.

Anyway, if there's another thread out there that discusses this in more detail that would be better, please point me there. But I'm trying to determine which eCommerce platform to use for a store. It is currently on Magento. But anytime I want something changed, I have to hire a developer to do it for me. BUT, I think I remember seeing somewhere that I can run a number of different stores from one instance of the software, by just partitioning the inventory into different stores. Is this true? Or did I make that up?

Will BigCommerce allow this? Any others? Or should I just suck it up and load a different store for every site I run? I just cringe at the thot of paying $30-50/mo x 20 stores before I even know whether they will be profitable. Looking for feedback / ideas.

Thx.

do you have a link to your current store?

 

[XOthermic]

I wish i read this thread a While back. Good stuff. I am currently manufacturing my own product and will be selling it wholesale and retail. However I am green on pricing and will probably be making a thread about tiered pricing, wholesale pricing, and other stuff along those lines.

 

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[SilverbackMP]

Linky no worky but I found it in your blog with no problem. Very awesome and inspiring story also. Thanks for the public service!!!!

 

[Brentnal]

there is this guy on youtube called kinghuman he is bald and has sunglasses he tells many ways to make money online go look it up

 

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[Brentnal]

Thank you the purpose of this message was to just let people see his vids and to react back at this forum to talk about if the information he gives is right because many people watch his vids and they try to make money on how he says you need to do it but if everybody does it you can't make any money correct me if im wrong.

 

[21elnegocio]

With niches I think the main limitation is your niche. There is only so much traffic you can squeeze from it. If you are selling tennis rackets only, your customer base is very small. In a perfect world, your store is ranked #1 on all search engines for any tennis racket based search. Let's just say its searched for 50,000 times a month and you get all 50,000 clicks. At this point your site is pretty much at its max potential, as is.

You can certainly SEO for terms like tennis balls, tennis courts, but do you really want this traffic?

To expand you sell decide to sell tennis balls or tennis shoes. Once you do that, a whole new niche and set of keywords develops and you start from square one again.

Blogs should be started from day one on an ecommerce store. You need your store to be dynamic and your products and their descriptions don't change. Therefore, you need a blog to keep up with content. For example, your blog can cover a major tennis tournament by writing your opinion of the players, the matches, etc... Trust me, you will get a ton of visitors searching for that tourney coverage. They will visit your blog and hopefully click into your store.

I don't use social networking at all. I guess I don't feel that they are buyers. People who join a facebook group about tennis rackets aren't really looking to buy a tennis racket IMO. My stores have myspace friends and FB friends, but I don't do much for it.

One important thing is to get the myspace, facebook and twitter URLs of your stores. You don't want someone else getting them.

I've started using youtube to market. I make little videos and post them under my store youtube accounts. The videos are informational about my products. If you did a video of you holding a new racket, showing all angles, details and explaining features, people interested in purchasing that racket will watch it. I add the videos to my blog also.

My goal is to spend no money on advertising in the future. A few of my stores have no marketing expenses. On my new store with the yoga bags, I'm going to try something new. I'm going to spend $0 on adwords or PPC and spend it all on SEO. I think I can rank high on the front page within 2 months.

Great information and interesting stuff. I do agree people are all about vision, I do the same when I want to buy something and want to see how it looks like or how it works. I use youtube for that, lots of helpful reviews on there, just like cnet reviews, real helpful. How did the yoga bag ecommerce store come out ? Did you get a good ranking on it ?

 

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[raynoldcj]

I'm glad I found this thread. Thanks a lot.