Building a Profitable Business on eBay 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 #3 - Building a Profitable Business

So you’re thinking of selling on eBay, or perhaps you have already started selling through eBay Auctions or an eBay Store. What’s your goal for doing this? Are you out to make money from a single ‘virtual garage sale’? Do you just want to clear your attic? Or are you serious about building a steady income from sales on eBay?

If your goal is to ‘Build a Profitable Business’ then you need to get serious about it from the beginning. There are phases most people seem to go through when building a business with eBay. The sequence may differ from person to person but these are the typical building phases:

1. Start Up Phase – selling a few products through eBay Auctions
2. First eBay Store – establishing a niche identity for a group of products
3. Combined eBay Store AND eBay Auctions – complementing each other

To build a profitable business, you’re going to need Wholesale suppliers to supply products. A common method eBay sellers use is called drop shipping. The eBay Seller creates their auction or store by uploading product images and detailed description and then waits for order the order to arrive. When a browser turns into a customer, the eBay Seller instantly places an order with their drop ship supplier who ships the product from their inventory directly to the customer.

Drop shipping has its conveniences but it also has its draw backs. The wholesale drop shipper has to charge a Drop Ship Fee to recover the cost of the extra work required in handling single item shipments. The eBay Seller earns less profit per item in a drop ship product sale. The eBay Seller is also at the mercy of the drop shipper for the quality of the packing, and the speed of shipment and delivery. Late or damaged deliveries lead to poor feedback and bad eBay Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs).

Expanding Beyond Drop Shippers
The best way to build a business is by purchasing product in bulk quantities. Many eBay Sellers, as they make some cash surpluses, contact selected wholesale suppliers to negotiate small quantities of inventory at better than drop ship prices. This is classified as Light Bulk Wholesale inventory. Typically eBay Sellers do this with the products that are in highest demand. With better wholesale pricing, comes a better profit margin. As business grows, an eBay Seller can then contact their wholesaler and negotiate volume wholesale pricing on high demand products with even better than light bulk margins.

Fulfilling Orders from Your Own Inventory
Depending on the quantity and size of the product, an eBay Seller may find a need for storage space and also staff to pick, pack and ship per the orders received. Many sellers successfully use their own home as a storage facility; however if the need arises, there are two main options available:

• Fulfillment Centers
  Most cities have companies who act as ‘Fulfillment Centers.’ You can have your inventory shipped to them and they store, pick, pack and ship your orders and manage your inventory for you. They charge a fee for this, of course.
• Own Warehouses or Storage Unit
  The more profitable and larger you grow, the more likely that you will get into your own warehouse space and employ others to pick, pack and ship for you.
• Continuous Product Sourcing is essential to growing your eBay business
  Excellent Product Sourcing is required every step of the way in building your profitability and your business. Product and wholesaler selection, wholesale pricing and product demand is critical. An eBay seller needs to make sure they’re working directly with a real wholesale supplier who allow their inventory to be sold on eBay.

The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool can be purchased and used without leaving the Selling Manager section of ‘My eBay.’ Sellers can find products to sell on eBay, within eBay!

With this tool, eBay Sellers can use keywords to:

• Research the recent Internet-based demand for such a product
• Obtain a complete picture of the current Supply and Competition status
• Obtain current pricing information for sales of the product in auctions and in retail.
• Obtain the direct contact details for verified wholesale suppliers who will Drop Ship or supply in Light Bulk, Volume Wholesale quantities, Liquidation lots and imports.
• Learn how to successfully conduct continuous product sourcing to grow your eBay business.

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

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Solution 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.