The Importance of Trial Order Shipments when Testing a new Supplier by Worldwide Brands

Article by Worldwide Brands - this is a series of 14 blog posts providing information on how to find inventory and products to sell on eBay from wholesalers with Worldwide Brands and their Product Sourcing Tool for eBay.

Article #10 - Importance of the Trial Shipment

As a Seller on eBay, whether you are selling in an eBay Auction or through an eBay Store, we strongly recommend you place a ‘Trial Order’ from your wholesale supplier or drop shipper for each product you plan to sell before you put them item up on eBay. This is especially important if you are going to rely on drop shipping. There are many reasons for doing this:

1. You need to check the quality of the product your customers will receive.
2. You need to check the quality of the packaging.
3. You need to check that the wholesaler correctly inserts any marketing materials you are paying them to include with each shipment.
4. You need to check the delivery time for a shipment. [Remember eBay rewards those eBay Sellers who provide the best buying experience. Avoid those low score DSRs buy testing an order first.]

Some sellers may be concerned about ordering a test order. Remember, once you have inspected it for quality, you can repackage it and ship it from your inventory (so long as it has not been used in any way.) You will still be able to recover the cost of the item. If there is ever an out of stock situation, you will also be able to quickly supply the product from your own personal inventory to the customer.

With eBay selling you need to be confident you will provide a great buying experience for your customers. Rather than wait for customer complaints that may affect your DSR ratings with eBay, you should put the wholesaler to the test first.

One of the applications now available in Selling Manager Applications or eBay's App Store (check out your “My eBay" and look for a new tab labeled "Applications") is the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool.

The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool contains a wholesaler database, education modules and education series called: “The Whole $ale.” This series has many chapters to coach eBay Sellers on best practices in working with wholesalers. Sign up for either eBay Selling Manager or eBay Selling Manager Pro and you can then access the Selling Manager Applications directory and the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool.

Check out Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool for eBay today! A 7 Day Free Trial is available.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Service Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.