Step by Step Guide on How to Find a Profitable Product to Sell

[rocksolid]

I placed an order from China and I am waiting to get it. Hopefully by the end of the week. Then we will see what happens.

 

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[WillMitchell]

Good post will, really enjoyed the read. Another way to find products that I like is through Amazon using the "customers who bought this also bought" Its helpful to get into niches you never expected to get into. I dont have any experience like you have but its a great way to find new things.

Anyways, thanks for the post. If you ever do a third post in the "importing series" I would love to hear if you have used any promotion methods to sell your items through any of the major sales channels (outside of ppc)

Thanks for reading and commenting. That is another great way to find products, I might add that to the article!

That is also a good idea for a third post in the series, we are also thinking about building it all out into a book.

Thanks again!

Great post.

SPEED

Thanks!

Great post! Obviously you put some time and effort into this.

I do question though, whether a person could still do this and make a profit with SO many others doing the very same. Over the past year I have researched many products in the same fashion that you describe here. The problem I have run into over and over was the enormous amount of small vendors and/or large retailers already selling popular or trending items. Items that I did find with very little competition, nobody was buying or the price point was to low. I believe, when there are large amounts of people vying for the same market space utilizing the exact same search criteria, your chances a very slim of ever making a profit. I understand that there are a lot of new products reaching the marketplace every day, but by the time you find one on Ebay and/or Amazon, that product has essentially been sold to death. Because of this, I've been diligently searching Chinese markets for products that are popular in China and have yet to be sold in the US. Though this process is very monotonous, I believe I'll have a better chance of being ahead of the curve. Now all this may be conjecturable, but it’s some of what I have encountered as a newbie in the import market.

Thoughts?

Thanks for reading Mike.

I used to think like that as well, but I am since much more confident in my ability to compete with other companies and don't let it affect me much outside of competitive research. It took me many years to not talk about "all the others" doing the things I wanted.

The truth is that there is almost nobody doing this or anything else when compared to the endless opportunity out there. Applied specifically to this method, there are so many more people buying so many constantly changing products that new opportunities are popping up and dying every second.

Again, the right way to look at it is "How have I not found one of these products yet, what am I doing wrong?"

The wrong way to look at it is "I've looked for an hour and know I am doing everything right, so there is no money in importing".

Hope this helps.

Excellent content, Will, your site will be a hit, congrats

One thing I would like to add: There's a story of one guy that did exactly what Will is teaching us here and got it up to millions per year.

Check this out, all he did was looking for products and selling them on ebay: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...ideos-links-etc-ebay-thread-3.html#post254278

Thanks a lot for your kind words! I will

Another source of products (like Alibaba) is Wholesale - Buy China Wholesale Products from Chinese Wholesalers on DHgate.com
Anyone heard of them/bought from them?

I haven't heard of them.

This is really helpful especially for those who want to start their own business. It's really terrible to invest so much money only to find that you failed. Money really matters a lot. It keeps the world turning.

Agreed - this method carries little risk when compared to most importing methods. Prove your samples first!

Love the article Will, you offer great information. I bet it would sell well as an ebook.

Sent from my Galaxy Note ll

Thanks a lot, I think we will be building it out into a book! :-D

Is anyone else trying this? I have my fist pack of samples on the way. The tracking website is in Chinese, so I don't know when it will get here lol. I say we use this thread to keep track of our successes and failures as we try out will's methods.

Sent from my Galaxy Note ll

Sounds great, I will bookmark this page to come back and answer any questions or problems that come up as people are growing! Did you get your samples yet?

I placed an order from China and I am waiting to get it. Hopefully by the end of the week. Then we will see what happens.

Let me know how it goes!

 

[rocksolid]

So far I received my order from China and I have listed the items on Ebay. As of now I listed 4 items as a buy it now and have had 5 people look but nobody has bought. I also listed one as an auction and I have 9 lookers and 2 watches so we will see what happens.

 

[benhebert]

Tim Ferriss recommends an 8-9x markup and I think you should do something similar to that. Otherwise an excellent guide

 

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[JAJT]

I follow almost everything Tim ferris does because I find him interesting but I'd sooner take importing advice from anyone here who is actually in the trenches over him any day of the week.

 

[WillMitchell]

So far I received my order from China and I have listed the items on Ebay. As of now I listed 4 items as a buy it now and have had 5 people look but nobody has bought. I also listed one as an auction and I have 9 lookers and 2 watches so we will see what happens.

Awesome! Way to take rapid action. Keep us updated on how it goes, and keep in mind the 80/20 or 95/5 rules apply for eBay listings too - 95% of your traffic will come in the final 5% of auction's time limit.

Good luck!

Tim Ferriss recommends an 8-9x markup and I think you should do something similar to that. Otherwise an excellent guide

Yea, I'd love to get an 8-9x markup too, but those exist for fleeting seconds. Anything with an 8-9x markup is going to be flooded with sellers until nobody is making money anymore. If you can find that kind of markup, I of course would take advantage of it

Thanks a lot for reading!

I follow almost everything Tim ferris does because I find him interesting but I'd sooner take importing advice from anyone here who is actually in the trenches over him any day of the week.

Good point!

 

[djax06]

Awesome guide man. Half way through it and it's definitely clearing some things up.

 

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[rocksolid]

Update........ My buy it now auction has ended and nobody bought. I ended up with 5 looks and no watches. My regular auction is still going for 2 more days and has had 50 looks and 10 watches and 1 bid so that is a good start. I will post again later with an update when it ends.

 

[Brentnal]

sig

what is a sig?

 

[rocksolid]

Up date again. My one auction ended and I sold my item and made a 50.00 profit. Not Fastlane but hey.....it's still 50.00 and if I can do it over and over it's some good extra income that takes very little effort. I re-listed my other 4 items, 2 as a buy it now and 2 as a regular auction. My buy it now is ending in 1 day with some looks but no buys. 1 of my 2 auctions has a bid on it and a bunch of watches. We will see what happens.

 

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[rocksolid]

Last update. All 5 items have sold and the total profit is $225.36. It would have been 250.36 but I had an issue. It took about 1 month to sell and the next time it should take about 14 days. Not too bad, good extra money for little work.

 

[Talisman]

Just a question about shipping and freight costs.

I've read through your post, and it's amazingly interesting, so I spent some time doing research and found some items that would represent a considerable margin to their lowest likely sale price. So I contacted a seller about getting priced, and getting shipped, and this is how the math seems to break down for me:

1 Carton of 12 units = $126.84
Freight to Australia = $177.00
Total: $303.84
Base cost per unit: $25.32
Profitability: $0-5 / unit (0-50%)

Buying in bulk, I am quoted thus:
28 Cubic Metres, contains 140 cartons, of 12 units = $17,757.60
28 Cubic Metres by sea, freight cost = $1,300
Total: $19,057.60
Base cost per unit: $11.35
Profitability: $14-19 / unit (130%-190%, more what I was expecting)

I'm chasing up a separate item as well, from a different company, still waiting to hear back about shipping costs.

My question is.. Is this common?? I really cannot afford to outlay $20k straight up on this, and it would take me a jolly long time to move 1,480 units, which I would have to store somewhere in the meantime...

 

[MoneyBanks]

Great read! I was wondering about something tho, in your opinion, would it be wise to use a credit card for every expense that comes with importing and selling stuff, until i have enough profit from selling to sustain the operation off of its own revenue, and then cancel the card?

I'm interested in importing and selling, but have not nearly enough to pay for any costs right now, do you think this is a plausible idea? If not some ideas on how to raise $ to start off would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

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[Talisman]

I picked the worst time to get into this. Now I have to sit back and wait for X weeks until China wakes up from its stupor from the New Year.

 

[rocksolid]

Yeah, my contact in China is back mid Feb.

 

[WillMitchell]

Awesome guide man. Half way through it and it's definitely clearing some things up.

Glad to hear it! Let me know what it doesn't clear up so I know what to write about next

Update........ My buy it now auction has ended and nobody bought. I ended up with 5 looks and no watches. My regular auction is still going for 2 more days and has had 50 looks and 10 watches and 1 bid so that is a good start. I will post again later with an update when it ends.

Good to hear you took action at least. Let's see how those auctions turn out.

what is a sig?

Signature.

Up date again. My one auction ended and I sold my item and made a 50.00 profit. Not Fastlane but hey.....it's still 50.00 and if I can do it over and over it's some good extra income that takes very little effort. I re-listed my other 4 items, 2 as a buy it now and 2 as a regular auction. My buy it now is ending in 1 day with some looks but no buys. 1 of my 2 auctions has a bid on it and a bunch of watches. We will see what happens.

Nice! Congrats on a quick profit. Buy it nows tend to need a little bit more feedback behind them, and I want to say there is something weird in the ebay system regarding new accounts making BIN auctions. It prefers a few regular auctions, but I'm not 100% sure on what they do to encourage it.

Keep me updated!

 

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[WillMitchell]

Last update. All 5 items have sold and the total profit is $225.36. It would have been 250.36 but I had an issue. It took about 1 month to sell and the next time it should take about 14 days. Not too bad, good extra money for little work.

Sorry, didn't see this update before. That's awesome news! Congrats, now you just gotta scale it up! I'd also wait a little before buying a bulk batch, just to wait for some feedback to come in.

Just a question about shipping and freight costs.

I've read through your post, and it's amazingly interesting, so I spent some time doing research and found some items that would represent a considerable margin to their lowest likely sale price. So I contacted a seller about getting priced, and getting shipped, and this is how the math seems to break down for me:

1 Carton of 12 units = $126.84
Freight to Australia = $177.00
Total: $303.84
Base cost per unit: $25.32
Profitability: $0-5 / unit (0-50%)

Buying in bulk, I am quoted thus:
28 Cubic Metres, contains 140 cartons, of 12 units = $17,757.60
28 Cubic Metres by sea, freight cost = $1,300
Total: $19,057.60
Base cost per unit: $11.35
Profitability: $14-19 / unit (130%-190%, more what I was expecting)

I'm chasing up a separate item as well, from a different company, still waiting to hear back about shipping costs.

My question is.. Is this common?? I really cannot afford to outlay $20k straight up on this, and it would take me a jolly long time to move 1,480 units, which I would have to store somewhere in the meantime...

Yea, typically the bulk purchases are MUCH better deals. Just how the economies of scale work. You can make a decent profit doing it small scale as well.

Great read! I was wondering about something tho, in your opinion, would it be wise to use a credit card for every expense that comes with importing and selling stuff, until i have enough profit from selling to sustain the operation off of its own revenue, and then cancel the card?

I'm interested in importing and selling, but have not nearly enough to pay for any costs right now, do you think this is a plausible idea? If not some ideas on how to raise $ to start off would be much appreciated, thanks!

I know that is a strategy some people recommend, but I personally wouldn't do that. I'd rather just bootstrap it and bring it up slowly than take on such huge risk just to jump it a couple months. Maybe I am too risk adverse

I picked the worst time to get into this. Now I have to sit back and wait for X weeks until China wakes up from its stupor from the New Year.

Almost over...

 

[Kyleschen]

Last update. All 5 items have sold and the total profit is $225.36. It would have been 250.36 but I had an issue. It took about 1 month to sell and the next time it should take about 14 days. Not too bad, good extra money for little work.

If you don't mind me asking - what was the issue and how did you resolve it?w

 

[rocksolid]

I listed one of the items incorrectly by mistake and the buyer said I could either take it back or he would keep it and I could give him back 25.00. I gave him back 25.00 rather then deal with taking back the product and I also wanted to keep the customer happy which he was.

If you don't mind me asking - what was the issue and how did you resolve it?w

 

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[St.Alpine]

Hi Will,

first let me thank you for providing that much value to the forum!
That's the type of people this forum worships the most!
Your article will be of great help to find my next product/products.

I have a question for you.
I'll be at my first trade show next weekend looking for cool new
product ideas.
Do you have an idea, what to look out for at such an event?

The trade show is this here: Welcome to Ambiente 2013

I reckon you've been to a couple yourself.
What mistakes can you avoid, when you try to find a good product/vendor
at a trade show?

 

[WillMitchell]

I listed one of the items incorrectly by mistake and the buyer said I could either take it back or he would keep it and I could give him back 25.00. I gave him back 25.00 rather then deal with taking back the product and I also wanted to keep the customer happy which he was.

Good move on keeping the customer happy, especially if that is a new account. Bad feedback early will kill your sales.

Keep us updated!

Hi Will,

first let me thank you for providing that much value to the forum!
That's the type of people this forum worships the most!
Your article will be of great help to find my next product/products.

I have a question for you.
I'll be at my first trade show next weekend looking for cool new
product ideas.
Do you have an idea, what to look out for at such an event?

The trade show is this here: Welcome to Ambiente 2013

I reckon you've been to a couple yourself.
What mistakes can you avoid, when you try to find a good product/vendor
at a trade show?

Hey St.Alpine,

Glad you liked the post and got some value out of it!

Looks like an interesting trade show - there will definitely be some cool products there. I would make sure not to be "sold" anything and remember that you should be objectively thinking of if you can make money on a product. Think like a producer not a consumer.

I don't do many trade shows like this, but I have some friends that do. They always find good relationships and ideas above all else!

I wish I could tell you how to source products at a trade show, but I've never done it.

Hope this helps,
Will

 

[mworwell]

Great resource. Thanks

 

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[running4Him]

Sorry, didn't see this update before. That's awesome news! Congrats, now you just gotta scale it up! I'd also wait a little before buying a bulk batch, just to wait for some feedback to come in.



Yea, typically the bulk purchases are MUCH better deals. Just how the economies of scale work. You can make a decent profit doing it small scale as well.

















I know that is a strategy some people recommend, but I personally wouldn't do that. I'd rather just bootstrap it and bring it up slowly than take on such huge risk just to jump it a couple months. Maybe I am too risk adverse



Almost over...[/QUOTE

Thanks Will for all the wonderful info you provide in your site and here on this site! Really helpful for those of us who have no idea what we are doing yet. It's like importing and online sales for dummies. Not implying anyone on this site is a dummy but you really make the process user friendly. I subscribed to your site before I came and saw you posted here. So anyways I'm wondering what is the least you think a seller from China would take for an import? You mentioned bootstrapping to Moneybanks instead of using credit card. I am currently a fulltime student (not a lot of cash flow) but I want to take action.

 

[shibz]

If you both read Vigilante's and Will's information.

Hi guys, how's it going?

Was just wondering where can I find Vigilante's thread about this topic?

Thanks

 

[shibz]

Hi guys, how's it going?

Was just wondering where can I find Vigilante's thread about this topic?

Thanks

Just found the thread. Thanks anyways.

 

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[Astute]

Hey guys, rather than opening a new thread I was just wondering if anyone wouldn't mind helping me about something.

I followed these steps (thanks OP) and after a lot of searching I found a product that I think I can sell. The supplier stated the MOQ was 1000 units and I managed to get him down to 10. But unfortunately he wouldn't budge on the price. The cost per unit including shipping is GBP 12.40. I think I can sell them on Amazon at around GBP 29.99, and still be cheaper than the nearest competitor by around GBP 5.00. Taking into account Amazon fees I will make around GBP 11.00 per unit.

But I was hoping that I would have a larger margin on the product and since he won't budge on the price and I can't find any cheaper I am having second thoughts about it, also wondering whether I will manage to sell all the units. Although I suppose I could target other sites before using Amazon and save the fees.

Should I just confirm the order and do it already or should I look for something I feel more comfortable about?

 

[rocksolid]

What about selling on ebay?

Hey guys, rather than opening a new thread I was just wondering if anyone wouldn't mind helping me about something.

I followed these steps (thanks OP) and after a lot of searching I found a product that I think I can sell. The supplier stated the MOQ was 1000 units and I managed to get him down to 10. But unfortunately he wouldn't budge on the price. The cost per unit including shipping is GBP 12.40. I think I can sell them on Amazon at around GBP 29.99, and still be cheaper than the nearest competitor by around GBP 5.00. Taking into account Amazon fees I will make around GBP 11.00 per unit.

But I was hoping that I would have a larger margin on the product and since he won't budge on the price and I can't find any cheaper I am having second thoughts about it, also wondering whether I will manage to sell all the units. Although I suppose I could target other sites before using Amazon and save the fees.

Should I just confirm the order and do it already or should I look for something I feel more comfortable about?

 

[Astute]

What about selling on ebay?

There are mainly much cheaper / inferior versions of the product. There is, however, one power user on Ebay who looks like he is selling a few similar to the one I have in mind. It does look like they have a quick turnover of the product so I will confirm the order tomorrow and give it a shot. What's the worse that can happen?

 

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[rocksolid]

You have to give things a try. Especially if the cost is low. I am currently selling the same product that I sold on this link but I am now selling 10 instead of 5. In less then a week I have already sold 5 of them. I have not figured out the numbers but I am guessing my profit is about 230.00.

 

[WillMitchell]

Great resource. Thanks

Thanks for reading!

Sorry, didn't see this update before. That's awesome news! Congrats, now you just gotta scale it up! I'd also wait a little before buying a bulk batch, just to wait for some feedback to come in.

Yea, typically the bulk purchases are MUCH better deals. Just how the economies of scale work. You can make a decent profit doing it small scale as well.

I know that is a strategy some people recommend, but I personally wouldn't do that. I'd rather just bootstrap it and bring it up slowly than take on such huge risk just to jump it a couple months. Maybe I am too risk adverse

Thanks Will for all the wonderful info you provide in your site and here on this site! Really helpful for those of us who have no idea what we are doing yet. It's like importing and online sales for dummies. Not implying anyone on this site is a dummy but you really make the process user friendly. I subscribed to your site before I came and saw you posted here. So anyways I'm wondering what is the least you think a seller from China would take for an import? You mentioned bootstrapping to Moneybanks instead of using credit card. I am currently a fulltime student (not a lot of cash flow) but I want to take action.

Thanks a lot for your kind words, glad to hear I could simplify the method enough

And thanks also for subscribing to my site, I appreciate it!

You'd have to talk to suppliers, every product and every supplier is going to be very, very different. I personally wouldn't use my credit card as a short term loan, but that's just me. I've heard of people making it happen, but there is a ton of risk there. I would just find another way to make money if that were the only option.

Hope this helps,
Will

Hey guys, rather than opening a new thread I was just wondering if anyone wouldn't mind helping me about something.

I followed these steps (thanks OP) and after a lot of searching I found a product that I think I can sell. The supplier stated the MOQ was 1000 units and I managed to get him down to 10. But unfortunately he wouldn't budge on the price. The cost per unit including shipping is GBP 12.40. I think I can sell them on Amazon at around GBP 29.99, and still be cheaper than the nearest competitor by around GBP 5.00. Taking into account Amazon fees I will make around GBP 11.00 per unit.

But I was hoping that I would have a larger margin on the product and since he won't budge on the price and I can't find any cheaper I am having second thoughts about it, also wondering whether I will manage to sell all the units. Although I suppose I could target other sites before using Amazon and save the fees.

Should I just confirm the order and do it already or should I look for something I feel more comfortable about?

You're rarely ever going to make money on a sample order of 10 units. Most of the margins in importing come from buying in bulk. With your supplier going out of his way to ship those units, I'd imagine that's the bare minimum he can do, especially if that includes shipping costs. Just guessing from what you've said.

It sounds like the margins for that product could be there if you could buy in bulk, so I'd say buy some samples and test it out. All your other concerns are things that can only be answered by selling your samples.

And like rocksolid said - ebay!

Hope this helps,
Will