Wholesale Products – Selling the Right Items on Ebay
Avoid selling the things you love, but, perhaps no one else does. Your hobbies and personal interest can be a great way of making money, but only if plenty of other people are interested in them too. Another scenario is when you find wholesale products that you think is absolutely wonderful and could be the next best thing…but no-one seems interested in buying it.
Oh well you think, it’s only short term, eventually they’ll learn about my item and start flocking to buy it. Ah, no they won’t. It’s lonely work trying to educate people on the benefits of a product all on your own. As fabulous as the wholesale products might be, it’s nigh-on impossible to start a trend on your own. To make money from a trend, you need magazines and newspapers, word of mouth and television to do some of the work for you.
There is a danger in very large items also. Unless you already have experience selling and shipping large items like furniture or pianos, then it might be wise to start with something smaller. Shipping such large items is a major operation. Not only that, these items will sell less often than mid-priced items as they won’t attract the same number of impulse buyers.
Be careful about selling items too cheap, under $10. It sounds like a great idea – after all, everyone likes a bargain don’t they? But items that sell for under $10 have one big problem: Shipping. It’s quite likely that the shipping for the item will cost more than the item itself and this can be very off-putting to buyers.
For example, if the item costs $4.50 and shipping costs $6, the total cost for the item is $10.50. If the buyer can purchase the item at their local store for $8, then this suddenly becomes a much better deal. For small items and accessories, the way to get around this problem is by grouping the items together, such as sets of 6 golf-balls or 5 tea towels.
Some items are very difficult to ship such as fragile china, plants. Of course these are not bad items to sell altogether. Many sellers do very well from these items. But I don’t suggest you sell such difficult items when you are first starting out. Both these items have an above-average shipping risk, particularly if not packed properly. As a new seller, any negative feedback you receive at this early stage could be especially damaging to your career.
here are items that are very hot with many people selling them, that doesn’t mean that you should. Many sellers think that the best way to get started on eBay is to sell items that everyone else is selling. Surely those super hot items such as ipods, cell phones, psps and so on will be a quick route to riches?
Well, no. The sellers who are already selling these items are not only more established on eBay – and thus familiar to and trusted by buyers – but they will be able to buy wholesale products in larger bulks lots than you will, so their prices will always be better. Thus it will almost certainly be very difficult for you to make a profit in a market that is already well supplied.
Eldridge Williams
I'm a first time eBay seller and unsure of how to ship items?
Hi first time ebay seller who was actually somewhat inspired after attending the ebay conference in Boston this past June (I was one of the young workers there). Newho, I was wondering how do I ship on ebay. Like what form of shipping should I use or is recommended. (i.e. parcel, priority, etc.) Where do I get the boxes, tape, bubble wrap, and other recommened packaging products? Right now I am just trying to sell household items maybe I could have some tips on where I should buy other items such as wholesale. Any other tips would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Use boxes from around the house and start saving them.. you can do postage on the USPS.GOV website.. and just drop it off at any post office or with a letter carrier
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Ship it cheap, package it very well.
Ciao
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Parcel post is the most accurate. If they ask for something faster, then tell them you will require extra postage (about $3 more).
Boxes, etc. are all pretty inexpensive at Walmart. Starbucks gives away their packing boxes as well.
Work on the household items first and then see if you like it. Some people simply don’t enjoy the eBay thing, and then you will be out money on the other items you bought. If you decide to stick with it, go to garage and estate sales, looking for unique items and antiques.
Have good, clear pictures of every item you sell. Check your eBay at least twice daily and answer any questions emailed to you. Message buyers when you ship the item to let them know it’s on the way. Have a time limit for payment (5 days is average). If they don’t pay within that time and have not contacted you, then report them as nonpaying and re-list the item. Check your spelling and grammar! I cannot stress that enough.
NUMBER ONE TIP: HONESTY! Describe every item in detail! If you overcharged for shipping by more than a reasonably small amount, refund the extra. (Be sure to include packaging prices in the shipping charge, of course.) If someone contacts you about a problem with a purchase, handle it ASAP and as politely and calmly as possible. If you didn’t know, you didn’t know–most people on eBay are reasonable enough to understand! Never, ever, ever mislead the buyers.
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Co-run a small eBay business
I’ve shipped a lot of things in my day. A lot of things. A few general tips.
Use recycled boxes from retail stores. They are always happy to give away boxes – it keeps thier costs down from having to pay to throw them away.
Same goes for packaging. Use old packing.
Dont use peanuts. They dont protect anything unless you use a ton – thing is no one wants to get a ton, they are hard to throw away.
Make sure the item that is being protected has two different levels of protection. For example, wrap something in cardboard and then bubblewrap, then put it in the mailer.
Make sure the packing is tight. You do not want your item rattles around in the box. If it moves, it can get josled around and break.
Ship things with USPS. They protect better than UPS or FedEx. FedEx is the next best at protecting things. Last resort, UPS.
Hope that helps!
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ship with the united states post office. we are fantastic. check on usps.com for more details. i am a mailhandler and i think we are more careful about the mail then any other organization, plus we are the cheapest. good luck in the future
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Hi,
regarding wholesale your best bet would be to check out:
http://www.usefulresources.info/wholesale-provider-directory.php
They are not only top rated but also provide 100s of wholesale providers for every niche and category. The number 1 stop for wholesale supplies and dropshippers as well.
Hope that helps! 😉
Best wishes
Jenna
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Shipping cost will depend on weight and size of the box being shipped. If it’s under 13 ozs you’ll pay 1st class. 14 ozs+ can be shipped Parcel Post or Priority, depending on how fast the buyer wants it shipped. If it’s heavier than 10 lbs, it may be cheaper to ship UPS or FedEx. Use ebay’s shipping calculator link below to see what the best method is.
Your best shipping tools: tape gun/packing tape, measuring tape, postal scale (start with one that can weigh packages up to 30-35 lbs). Get them from any shipping or office supply store or (no surprise here) ebay.
How to get cheap shipping supplies:
BOXES/PACKING MATERIALS – ask around your local retail stores, esp small strip mall stores. They are usually glad to give them to you free. Or, you can buy shipping supplies cheap, fast and reliably from ebay seller "threerb".
SHIPPING LABELS – you could print on regular paper and tape it to the box, but I prefer ordering free labels (50 pack; 2 labels per sheet) from UPS to be used for UPS shipments, or buy them from Label Universe (cheapest and USPS approved labels)
References :
EBAY SHIPPING CALCULATOR: http://payments.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?EmitSellerShippingCalculator&ssPageName=STRK:MESRL:048
LABEL UNIVERSE: https://www.labeluniverse.com/store/index.cgi?page=Home.htm