A couple of days ago I wrote about finding another line to sell.  A couple of people have contacted me saying that it is all very well talking about seeing a nice product finding the importer direct etc, but if that is not possible where do you find stock?

I have to admit that although I look out for new lines whenever I am out and about finding something to sell is rarely that easy.  My preferred source is Salehoo, link below.  They are a great resource for anyone looking for products.  Either if you know what you want to sell or just browse.  You are guaranteed to find something to suit.

Sell successfully online

For the background to this follow this link.

I saw the man who offered me his stock and showed him what I had discovered.  To say that he was surprised would be an understatement.  He did say, however, that he knew the manufacturer of some of the items the company in question sold and knew for certain that they were not counterfeit.

So, the position is that while some of the goods from this wholesaler are legitimate they were prosecuted for selling non-licensed, counterfeit items.  Do I buy the goods that I know to be legit?  The answer is no for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, if they have a record for this sort of activity in the past how much can I trust them in the future?  Also, even if the goods I buy from them are legit if they are caught selling other counterfeit goods my account with eBay could be suspended until I am cleared.

It is just not worth the risk.

Avril Harper is well know as a successful seller on eBay based in the UK.  She also wrote the successful eBay Confidential.  One of her ideas is that eBay is, essentially, a numbers game.  The more you list the more you sell.

It is more complicated than that of course but she estimates that a maximum of two out of three listings fetch bids first time arround.  The remaining items, when relisted, again sell two out of three, and so on.  As long as you know your exact costs and profit margins this is a very good way to test new products.  In fact knowing your full costs and profit margins is key to selling successfully online be that on eBay, Amazon, or any site.

I am always looking for good sellers on eBay, as I am sure that we all are.  A couple of weeks ago I ran into someone who I knew sold football badges on eBay.  He said that although they sold well there was not enough profit per item and so he had stopped but he would give me his old stock and name of the wholesaler.

Now, my PowerSeller strategy is based on one or two fast moving cheap items with related higher priced items that can be sold either as stand alones or as an upsell.  The low price items satisfy the sale quantity threshold for PowerSeller status and the higher price items gives the real returns.  (Perhaps I will expand on my strategy in later posts).

Anyway.

This seemed a perfect fit for my philosophy and so I gratefully accepted his offer.  Then I did my research.  Unknown to my contact the provider of the ‘really cheap’ badges has a criminal record.  The company was prosecuted in 2006 for selling counterfeit badges.  Perhaps they are all genuine now but I am not willing to take the risk.  I do not want my seller reputation put at risk for the sake of short term profits.

Buyer beware is a good motto to live by.

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Sell successfully online

About a month ago someone asked me to see if I could get them a camping knife. I do not sell camping knives but I know a wholesaler that does. I found the knife he wanted and passed it on to him. If I had sold him the knife at cost the RRP was 65% above cost. It occurred to me that this was a nice margin and so I thought about selling them in eBay.

The trouble is that eBay.co.uk banned the sale of all knives except for cutlery on 10^th March 2009 . It is a shame that I missed out on a reasonable market but spare a thought for anyone who had their business based on selling camping knives on eBay. Their business was gone overnight.

I can not emphasise that if you only have one core product or one supplier that you are at risk of having your business swept away from you at a stroke.

Sell successfully online

One benefit of the new “Best Match” search method on eBay is that it makes finding successful products to sell easier. This is how you do it;

1. Chose a popular category, say ‘Health and Beauty’
2. Look at the listings for items that are at or near the top of the normal listings but have a long time to go before the sale ends.
3. As items that have sold well in the past get a leg up in the search results these items have been popular.
4. Look at the seller’s feedback. How many feedbacks in the last month, are they for the item that you are interested in? Here, you are looking for to see if your favoured item is really selling well.
5. When you have selected a product search your favourite wholesaler search engine (Esource or Salehoo) for the wholesaler who will give you the best deal.

Simple innit?

Sell successfully online

Sam from Hong Kong has asked me about my last post.  He wonders if I ever deviate from my rule that I want to make 200% profit from goods I sell on eBay and Amazon.

He thinks that I am looking for too much profit and that if I bought with a lower profit margin in mind I would sell more and so make a greater overall profit.

I do deviate from the 200% profit rule if I know that the goods will sell easily and quickly.  I have to take a lower profit on my main ebay line as it is price sensitive.  Others are selling the same line of goods as me and I beat them on price and my feedback alone.  So my margins are lower but the stock turn around is quicker.

Assume that a widget costs you £100 and that you stand to make £5 gross profit but it takes a year to sell.  If you had that money in a bank you could have made £5 in interest and it would have been safe, no risk of losing the money (assuming that our governments continue to underwrite the banks).  In this case why bother risking the money in stock that you may not sell?  You would be better advised to leave the money in the bank (remember, you need to deduct all shipping and fees from the gross profit).  If your gross profit was £200 for stock that costs you £100 then, obviously, buy the stock and try to sell it.

However, if you can buy 20 widgets at £5 each selling them all for a net profit of £3 each in a week and keep buying new ones to sell every week then a lower profit margin makes sense.  That is about turnover and I will talk about that in a later post.