Best Practices for Selling on eBay by Shopster

Article from the Shopster Blog

Best Practices for Selling on eBay

Whether you are just starting your eBusiness and are new to using drop shippers to sell on eBay, or if you are an old hand at selling online; test out the following tips and watch your sales sky-rocket!

Research

Before you list a product, confirm what other products have sold for. Search completed listings and Terapeak (eBay marketplace research solution) for pricing and other eBay info to increase your sales success.

Pricing

Spend some time learning pricing strategies. The bottom line with pricing is you need to create buzz around your item/listing. You need to price the item low enough to get people excited about what you’re selling, but high enough you are not undercutting your profits. Looking at completed auctions (and Terapeak) for historical pricing data prior to setting your opening bid is a savvy way to figure out your starting bid price.

Selling Formats

eBay has many different selling formats. Fixed price listings, auction style, etc. Learn about them, learn the pros and cons of each and then make a decision on which format works best for your niche. If in doubt, experiment and see what works best for you.

Merchandise your item

When building your eBay listing make sure you have created an eye-catching title. Have an effective and well-written product description and a clear photo of your product. Put yourself in a buyer’s shoes - buyers click and purchase items that grab their attention, so it’s important to spend the time and showcase your product to the best of your abilities!

Customer Service

The key to having a successful eBay business is customer service. Make yourself available to answer customer questions and queries. Good customer service will help you close sales and encourage repeat business. Don’t forget to ask for feedback either. Learn how you can better service your customers next time around – they’ll appreciate the thought and be more likely to buy again from you.

Shopster is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider providing additional product and inventory for eBay sellers through drop shipping. Shopster has customers in 22 countries and provides full service drop shipping to both the United States and Canada.

Wondering What (or What Else) to Sell on eBay?

Blog Post by Lisa Suttora from Auctiva Education

Wondering What (or What Else) to Sell on eBay?

How to activate your product sourcing radar

Are you stuck in a product line rut? Are you selling the same things over and over again, but seeing little growth or expansion in your business? Are your product offerings stale and ho-hum?

Perhaps it's time to inject some life back into your business! After all, there are thousands of new products coming into the marketplace each year, yet all too often people find themselves at a loss for how to expand their business.

And without having the products buyers want, all the marketing, selling strategies and customer service in the world won't sell items people aren't interested in. Without enough inventory to sell, you won't see the revenue growth you desire.

So how do you figure out what to sell, or what else to sell?

1. Understand your customer first; then look at what they want to buy

When you understand who your customer is, answering the question of what to sell, or what else to sell, becomes much easier. Unfortunately, many sellers see their customers as "buyers" rather than people who have a reason behind every purchase they make. Taking the time to know your customer will go a long way in helping you figure out what else to sell.

Here are some questions to ask that will help you with that process:

• Who are your customers?
• What are their wants?
• What are their needs?
• What else are they buying?
• Where else do they shop?
• What are the top products they purchased from you and others last year?

For example, are your customers moms who are snapping up everything they can for their newborns? What are their favorite brands? What colors do they like? What new products are they reading about in parenting magazines? What are they talking about? It's the answers to these questions that will help you decide what to sell next.

Keep in mind that these questions apply to every market! Whether you sell baby products or bongos, you need to know who your customers are.

2. Live in the world your buyers live in
Read what they're reading; hang out where they hang out online. Can you name the top consumer publications in your industry? Online or offline, your customers read magazines, Web sites and blogs on a daily basis. Are you there, too? This is where shoppers are getting ideas about products to buy next. Can you list the top blogs or discussion groups that cover your niche market? That's where your customers are talking about their problems, wants and needs, and where they're discussing the latest gadgets and gizmos they want to buy. A client of mine who sells in the boating niche gets 80 percent of his business and his ideas for products to sell by participating in a top recreational boating Yahoo group.

3. What products are they searching for?
As online retailers, we live in a search-driven world. Fortunately, the answer to what products your customers are searching for can be found for free, and is as close as the Google Keywords Tool. Do a search using Broad Match and Phrase Match for your primary keywords and watch as hundreds of related keywords come up. Products you have never thought about selling will suddenly be displayed right before your eyes!

You can also leverage the marketplaces. Spend some time looking on eBay when you're in the product sourcing mindset and you'll find yourself with more ideas for products to sell than time to sell them!

4. Make it your business to be on top of industry trends
Staying on top of industry trends is a fun and exciting process and will infuse your business with ideas for products to sell. Unfortunately, it's one that I find e-tailers often neglect. Do you know about the latest and greatest new products in your market? Are you on top of what's new before your customer is? Do you spend time each week reading industry publications and consumer magazines, and talking to your suppliers about what's hot? Do you attend industry trade shows?

It's in these places that you'll get a plethora of ideas or products to sell and find out what's destined to be the next hot product!

5. Listen to your customers
How often have you received an e-mail from your customer asking if you carry a particular product? Many people might just say, "No, sorry, we don't carry that," and move on. But paying attention to what customers are asking for can be a clue into what you should carry next. WhatDoISell member and eBay seller E.J. Bantz gets some of his best product ideas from his customers.

"They often tell me what they want to buy," he says. "It's my job to then go and source it for them."

6. Get insights from Google Insights
One of my favorite tools for figuring out what to sell next is Terapeak. Terapeak's trending module will lead you to many different opportunities for new products to sell on eBay.

7. Test, test, test!
Before you invest your inventory capital in unproven products, you'll want to test-market new inventory in small quantities. This will allow you to quickly distinguish the winners from the losers. A lot of people source products seasonally. But product sourcing isn't something you can do once a month.

One of the most important steps to being in the Product Sourcing Mindset is to have at least 10 new products in the pipeline at any given time. What you focus on expands, and being in the mindset will ensure you'll have a constant stream of new products flowing into your business.

This blog post has been condensed. Click here to read the full article.

How to Source Products to Sell on eBay from Multiple Wholesalers 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.

Blog 13: Handling low inventory for eBay Selling

Once you determine your niche and find a wholesale supplier who will support you selling on eBay, it becomes the responsibility of the seller to check the inventory levels of the supplier before posting a new listing. What do you do when you find that your wholesale supplier is running low on your most popular inventory items – or any item for that matter?

Find Alternative Sources for the Same Wholesale Product
You need to have a backup source of supply. But how do you find other suppliers offering the same brands or products – or suitable substitutes that you can list when you suspend your normal listing. eBay provides help from one of eBay’s Certified Solution Providers: WorldwideBrands.com. You can now purchase access to the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool in the Selling Manager area of ‘My eBay’. This wholesale database contains the contact details for more than 8,000 certified wholesale suppliers including drop shippers, volume wholesalers, light bulk wholesalers, liquidators and importers who together represent more than 8,000,000 products.

Find an Alternative Wholesale Supplier
You can search the database by product, product category, and brand to find alternative wholesalers who will supply the same product. It is a good practice to open an account with this alternative supplier. It is also a good practice to make a test order from the supplier so that you can verify the quality of the product is to your standards, and test the wholesale supplier’s packaging and shipping methods.

Secure Alternatives before You need Them
Without a Tool like this, you may spend many hours trying to find alternative sources of supply. It’s important to have an established relationship in place with an alternative supplier before you need them. It’s too late to start trying to set up an account with an alternative wholesaler when you have orders in hand and your regular supplier cannot fulfill orders for you.

If drop shipping, make sure to keep some inventory on hand, especially for top selling items.
At some point, you will run into an out of stock situation with a supplier for a particular product, it is strongly recommended that you keep a few items on hand to prevent any delay in shipment to your customer. Any remaining listings can then be turned off to prevent any further orders.

Being an online retailer requires constant attention to product sourcing, right priced buying and delivering excellent buying experiences. Product Sourcing is a continual but easy process when done correctly.

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.

11 Hot Selling Holidays eBay Sellers Should Be Ready For (April - June) by Lisa Suttora

Article by Lisa Suttora, CEO & Founder of WhatDoISell.com

You may think that the “holiday selling season” runs November-December, but take a look below and you’ll be surprised at all the selling opportunities you have for your online business coming up in the next few months. No matter what you sell or where you sell it, capitalizing on these HOT spring and summer selling seasons can make a huge difference in your income during the 2nd quarter of the year! From April to June there are 11 different selling holidays that you’ll want to ramp up for! Miss these and you’ll leave money on the table…

April
April may be the kickoff to spring, but in the world of online sales, there’s a whole lot of shopping goin’ on!

• Bathing suit season: It’s still too chilly to wear them but sales of bathing suits are skyrocketing now. In fact, shoppers who wait much past May will find that all the best selection is gone! If you sell beachwear, it’s time to get it on your store homepage
• Prom wear: Online searches for prom wear are on the rise this month. Even though most proms don’ t happen until late May or early June, prom wear sales are increasing quickly with online searches up 60-80% from last month according to Google Insights
• Wedding season: Wedding season is in full swing as we approach June, one of the biggest wedding months of the year!
• April 4th: Easter: Easter is April 4th. And there is still time to make last minute sales. According to BIGResearch the average amount Easter shoppers are expected to spend is $118.60, slightly up from the 2009 average of $116.59.
  April 22nd: Earth Day: Earth Day is April 22nd and sales of eco-friendly and green products abound during this time. Don’t just look to sell traditionally “green” products. Look for the green in everything you sell. A bicycle is not only for entertainment and exercise, it is an eco-friendly way for your customers to commute to work or around town.

May
But that’s not all people are buying…

Bathing suit, prom wear and wedding season continue, but Mom boosts the sales this month!

• Sales of summer products ramp sharply in May (and June): Products for outdoor activities, clothing and outdoor living products for the home. Don’t wait until June to feature these in your store or you’ll lose a lot of sales!
• May 4th: National Teachers Day. A week long celebration honoring teachers, if you sell gifts and decorative accessories your store should have a promotion around National Teacher’s Day.
• May 9th: Mother’s Day: Mother’s Day is one of the biggest spending holidays of the year. Because it’s not just about buying a gift for your mom… there are grandmas, aunts, nieces, friends, co-workers and friends who are like a mom, who will all be getting gifts on this holiday too. Recognize all the moms in your store promotions and you’re sure to increase sales!
• May 31st: Memorial Day: It vacation time, camping time, fun in the summer time and your last chance to make big inroads in summer product sales!

June

• June: Graduation. Grade school, middle-school, high-school, college and technical college – sales of graduation gifts increase in May and June! And don’t forget the little ones! Pre-school graduation parties are all the rage. What do you sell that would make a perfect gift for the graduate?
• June 20th: Father’s Day: Dad doesn’t fare quite as well as mom when it comes to Father’s Day spending but Father’s Day gift shoppers will be out in full force. Put together a Top 10 Father’s Day gift list and watch your sales of those products soar!
• June: 4th of July products: Remember the majority of product sales happen in advance of the holiday, so if you wait until July to pull out the red,white and blue – you’ve just lost sales to the savvy seller who merchandised their 4th of July products in June. So get those 4th of July products out early, so your inventory is sold out come July.\

As you can see there’s a whole lot of selling you can do from April through June! So it’s time to get out there and capitalize on these spring and summer holiday selling seasons. Looking for creative ideas on how to merchandise your products or source products for these selling seasons? You’ll find them in the WhatDoISell Business Growth Center!

Since 2004, Lisa Suttora of WhatDoISell.com has provided thousands of online sellers with the skills, knowledge and support they need to build a unique, thriving business on eBay.

eBay Sellers Can Find Additional Inventory with Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool

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 #12 - Multi-Level Product Sourcing

As a new eBay seller becomes more successful with their eBay auction listings and first eBay Store sales, you will be able to fund more growth in your business. You can expand your offerings within your first niche by leveraging additional wholesale suppliers and drop shippers with complimentary products to those you are already selling on eBay.

So how do you select new niches and products, and how can you determine what works best without taking too much risk in inventory?

Market Research is the key. eBay Sellers need to identify products with demand and supply. Not all products can be sold on eBay. Some manufacturers have strict requirements. Start with your existing niche and expand the product choices. For example, tailor your eBay Store brand around your niche. Use the existing traffic to your eBay store to identify new top sellers in your Store.

The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool in eBay’s Apps Center can be very helpful to eBay sellers looking for additional product sources to help grow their online business. Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool for eBay will research online to establish current demand and pricing on the internet and for testing different products, categories, niches and demand.

Access can be purchased to the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool. Through use of this tool, eBay Sellers will be able to drill down their options to find wholesale products in demand within a niche. The tool provides the contact details of drop shippers and wholesale suppliers willing to work with eBay sellers.

Drop shipping is most commonly used for testing new product ideas. When you notice an increasing trend in sales for one of the drop ship items, you can then start buying that item in Light Bulk (minimum wholesale orders less than $500). Of all the Light Bulk items, some will sell faster than others. Once you identify those, you can invest in volume inventory at even better wholesale prices allowing you to make more profit per item, or compete more aggressively. This is called multi level product sourcing.

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.

What's New with Doba: New Features for Better Product Sourcing

Blog post taken from Doba's Dropshipping Blog

What's New with Doba: New Features for Inventory Notification by Email and Customizable Product Data

If you ask any of our affiliated retailers to list their top five Doba-related pain points, you’ll hear about items going out of inventory without any advance warning, as well as the sheer number of people attempting to sell many of the same products with the exact same product titles and descriptions. Today, I’m (Doba) pleased to announce we’ve (Doba) made significant strides with respect to both issues. Doba members can now easily customize product title, description, weight, dimension, and more; and, by accessing the new and improved Watchlist, receive updates about product inventory by email.

New Features

• Watchlist notification allows eBay sellers to receive updates about products within their Doba Watchlist via e-mail
• Inventory update notifications (choose frequency of updates)
• Set inventory notification levels (if available inventory falls below "x" amount, notify me)
• Custom Data Product Features (customize item title and price)

To read the full article on new Doba features and how to use them, visit Doba's Dropshipping Blog.

eBay sellers can try out Doba for 14 Days free!

Doba is a product sourcing company connecting eBay sellers and small online retailers with drop ship distributors, manufacturers and wholesalers. Doba is a member of the Better Business Bureau and has been an eBay Certified Service Provider since 2004.

5 Tips to Increase Online Sales by Shopster

Article by Shopster

eBay sellers and online retail store owners achieve success mainly due to their product offerings. With that, most sellers believe that what works offline (in the brick and mortar stores) will also work when they build an online store. But the truth is far from it. The internet offers retailers much more in terms of potential profit, simply because overhead cost is less. But to really use the internet to your advantage, here are some tips to help you out:

1. Offer unique product information. Unlike in real stores, online shoppers won’t be able to touch and feel the products you are selling. They will rely on pictures and the information you provide to help them decide. Manufacturers often provide the basic product descriptions. But you have to remember, these descriptions are also being used by other retailers. If you have the time, create your own descriptions using your familiarity with the product.
2. Encourage consumer reviews. You can do this by adding a feedback form, an application that allows product star ratings, or simply by putting up a page that highlights customer testimonials. Today’s consumers usually look for reviews first before they make any purchase decision. Keep it honest and real to establish credibility.
3. Don’t discount the power of search engine optimization. Add the right keywords and build links to your site to improve your visibility in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Doing so can increase the number of visitors to your online store. The more visitors to your site, the higher the potential for sales.
4. Cross-sell and upsell. Improve your product page such that it features related products you sell online. During the shopping stage, if your potential buyer realizes that the product they are currently looking at is not the one he or she wants to buy right away, then at least offer other options.
5. After-sales service and customer support matter. The real reason people would come back and want to buy from your is based on how you treat your customers. Be transparent about your policies (delivery, return, etc), any guarantees and all costs. Be ready to answer calls and help resolve issues.

Increasing your sales online is about bringing in quality visitors to your eBay Store and listings. Encourage buyers to make a purchase and ensure they have a good buying experience. Hopefully, they will recommend you to others and become loyal customers.

Shopster is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider providing additional product and inventory for eBay sellers through dropshipping. Shopster has customers in 22 countries and provides full service dropshipping to both the United States and Canada.

Would You Like Fries with That? The Benefits of Cross Selling by Doba

Article from Doba's Dropshipping Blog

If you’ve ever stepped foot in a fast food joint, you’re intimately familiar with cross selling. Think about it… who among us hasn’t been asked, “Would you like fries with that?”

If used correctly, cross selling can be a valuable revenue-generating tool for any online business. To get started, think of yourself as a consultant and not a sales person. What additional products, services, or information can you give your customer that will truly help them? The key here: Don’t be pushy; be helpful instead.

Successful cross selling starts with getting to know your customer. When the sales person from my example above started talking about plasma television sets, he might as well have pulled some sushi out of his pocket and asked if I was interested in buying a tuna roll. I could tell he just wanted to make a sale.

Small businesses especially have to work hard to compete in a crowded marketplace. Buyers need to look to you as the guru of the products you sell. Recommending an relevant product or two is a great way of showing your customers you know what you’re talking about. By doing so, you provide a richer experience for your customers, which ultimately increases the chances of them coming back.

In the world of drop-ship retailing, you have a wonderful advantage to group products together and cross sell without having to purchase or keep inventory on hand. If a certain combination is really taking off, then great! More revenue for you and your customers are happier. If not, all businesses have ups and downs, and you don’t have a warehouse full of products you can’t seem to move. Research additional products and try again. Remember, your goal is to be helpful, and if you are, your customers will sense your sincerity.

One word to keep in mind while you are looking through Doba’s catalog of suppliers and products is “accessories.” Does the product you are currently selling have any accessories that would make sense to offer your customers?

For example, I can’t wait for spring and the BBQ season. I just found a Smokeless Indoor BBQ Grill (ID 17409 in the Doba catalog) that I really want to buy. At the same time, I’m guessing there will be other people out there who would like it, also. If I sell the grill for the listed MSRP, I could make about $10 a sale, which is a pretty good little profit margin.

Taking it a step further though, I now notice that the Doba catalog provides a list of recommended related products that I might want to offer when selling the grill in question. Bingo… can you say “cross sell!”.

Good luck and happy cross selling!

This article has been condensed. To read the full article click here.

eBay sellers can try out Doba for 14 Days free!

Doba is a product sourcing company connecting eBay sellers and small online retailers with drop ship distributors, manufacturers and wholesalers. Doba is a member of the Better Business Bureau and has been an eBay Certified Service Provider since 2004.

Tips on How to Create a Great Buying Experience 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 #11 - Creating a Great Buyer Experience

Retail success is all about delivering great buyer experiences. For a moment, picture in your mind you are stepping into one of your favorite local retail stores. Why is it your favorite?

A great retail experience in the brick-n-mortar world starts with getting to the store easily and finding convenient parking. From store front to your experience when you walk in the door, what catches your eye? As you advance inside, what captures your attention next? Smart retailers use the power of eye level placement and end caps to draw your eyes to items they want to feature. Then typically you next notice the banners or promotional signs where color, size of print, lighting and price tags may capture your interest.

Online Retailers Must Simulate a Great Walk-in Experience
Successful retailing is more about repeat business than it is about initial sales. The most successful stores are those people want to return to frequently. eBay sellers need to replicate the successful walk-in experience with their online auction listings and eBay Stores. Here are some of the criteria for creating a Great Buying Experience:

Your customers must find you easily. eBay helps by bringing millions of visitors per day to www.ebay.com. It is a powerful selling platform with many sellers all competing for business at the same time. You need to get people to your Auction Listings or eBay Stores easily and quickly. This requires excellent use of keywords in your titles and descriptions as well as an easy-to-remember, relevant and search able eBay Store name. It requires SEO treatments with links back from Facebook, Twitter, Squidoo, YouTube etc linking back to your auction listings and eBay Store.

Your Auction Listings or eBay Store must be Recognizable as You. You need to create a recognizable and consistent brand identity of your own that sets you apart from other eBay Sellers.

Create a Great Experience on Entry. From the time browsers reach your listing or eBay Store, they should feel good. The first visual impression should be great with things that catch the eye and keep people browsing and reading on your listing.

Offer a Great Product Selection. Become known as an online retailer with a flair for what people like and need. Your range and choice of products is very important. Pricing and shipping options are critical. Your ability to find quality and good deals comes from your product research. You can apply all the right processes but if the products you offer for sale are not what people want to buy, or your quality and pricing is undesirable, you will not be successful. eBay now offers some help in this area through the Selling Manager section of ‘My eBay.’ eBay Sellers can now access Worldwide Brands’ renowned Product Sourcing Tool and Wholesale Database. Using this tool eBay Sellers can research buyer demand, seller competition, comparative current pricing across more than 8,000,000 products from within eBay’s Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro tools.

Create a ‘Touch and Feel’ Experience. The main difference between a brick-n-mortar retail store and an online store is the ‘touch and feel’ experience. In an online store, you cannot pick up the item, feel it and smell it. In an online listing you have to recreate this experience as best you can through compelling product images and descriptions, supporting specifications and ‘use’ information – even video clips. It’s all about creating the desire to own the item.

Then there is the feel of personal attention. Online retailers can provide a phone number for a shopper to call to discuss the item and purchase during normal shopping hours or even a fast email response system.

Create a Selling Funnel. Through the use of linking, matching, color and imagery, lead potential customers to additional items of interest.

Ease of Check-Out. Once the buying decision is made, the shopper must be able to purchase quickly and easily. eBay provides PayPal at the click of a button. If you use a shopping cart and a payment processor, the process must be easy and user friendly.

Fast, Safe Delivery. Its all about speed from the second your customer places the order. Instant order confirmation. Instant alerts to you. Fast turn around of the order to your supplier. Quick and accurate pick, pack and shipping on the part of the wholesaler, fulfillment house or your own inventory handlers. Rapid confirmation of shipments with tracking numbers for your customers.

Ensure Your Customer is Happy with their Purchase. Follow up with your customer and encourage feedback on their experience. Use this feedback to identify areas of your business you can improve or leave alone because they’re working. Make the ‘Returns’ process easy if the customer is not happy about something. Always provide your seller name or eBay store name to help customers know where to return.

A great buying experience with each visit is guaranteed to bring that buyer back to your auction listing or eBay Store multiple times.

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.

Why Dropshipping Works by Shopster

Article by Shopster

Why Dropshipping Works
Business owners who are not familiar with drop shipping are missing out big time. Basically, this is a supply chain management technique that allows retailers to focus on more important aspects of their business.

If you’re thinking about building an online store an selling products online but don’t have the capital to start big, then consider this your best option. First off, you don’t have to purchase any inventory upfront. This also means saving a huge amount on the cost of storage. Second, it removes the hassles of shipping and handling from your end.

Dropshipping entails selling goods on behalf of a supplier. All the backend work involved in order fulfillment are handled by the said dropship supplier – this includes filling the order and shipping it out to the customer.

The trick to making money via a dropship business is finding a supplier with good pricing. Remember, dropship suppliers are not necessarily wholesalers. While there are those that offer items in bulk, some dropshippers are willing to supply to sellers looking for only a small amount of items. You can make profit off the dropshipped items with the difference between the supplier’s price and yours – this is called the profit margin.

Essentially, dropshipping is a good way to enter the retail business because it removes overhead cost while still offering you profit. Here’s a tip: choose items that are popular among young, internet savvy buyers. Plus points if the product is difficult to find in local stores.

One of the most successful dropship items last year was the Nintendo WII. Stocks were depleted in most local stores and the market – the younger audience – had no qualms about making purchases online. This combination made the Nintendo WII a huge seller in the dropship world.

Using popular sales channels like eBay, dropshipping can work for you.

Shopster is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider providing additional product and inventory for eBay sellers through dropshipping. Shopster has customers in 22 countries and provides full service dropshipping to both the United States and Canada.

New eBay Certified Provider, B-Stock Solutions, Brings Unique Product Sourcing Opportunities to eBay Sellers

New eBay Certified Provider, B-Stock Solutions

The eBay Certified Provider Program is excited to offer sellers more inventory and product sourcing opportunities with the addition of B-Stock Solutions to the program.


B-Stock Solutions opens supply sources for smaller resellers, like eBay sellers, who have previously been unable to buy directly from Fortune 2000 retailers and manufacturers. eBay sellers can purchase direct from the large retailers, manufacturers and liquidators. With B-Stock, sellers can bypass purchasing through middlemen that paying extra fees or markups.

B-Stock understands the challenges an eBay seller encounters when trying to develop new, reliable sources of quality inventory. They help answer this challenge by delivering private auction marketplaces allowing registered eBay sellers to bid on inventory in lots/palettes, pay securely and arrange safe shipment. B-Stock creates a predictable, dependable source of supply for eBay sellers.

Features:

Categories:

• Consumer Electronics
• Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
• Home, Bed & Bath
• Cosmetics
• Media
• New categories added frequently

Inventory conditions include:

• Brand new overstock
• Out of season
• Returns
• Refurbished

Benefits:

• Buy liquidation inventory directly from large retailers and manufacturers
• Peace of mind in purchasing authentic inventory
• Purchased inventory can be shipped to eBay seller’s location or arrange to pick-up
• Alerted to new inventory opportunities

Founded in 2008, B-Stock Solutions creates private marketplaces for large retailers, manufacturers and liquidators enabling them to offer their inventory direct to eBay sellers.

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.

How to Contact and Build a Relationship with Wholesale Suppliers 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 #9 - Make the Call to the Wholesale Supplier

How should your calls to a wholesale supplier be conducted?

Things to Consider Before Calling

• Check the time zone and select a good time
• Have NO distracting noises in the background
• Have a prepared message in case you reach voicemail
• You have 5 seconds to capture the sales representative’s interest
• Remember WIIFM: “What’s In It For Me?” (this is what the wholesale representative is thinking!)
• Get to the point quickly
• Lead with your sales goals and your business information
• Remember that you need them more than they need you
• Remember they are thinking: “WIIFM?”
• Ask what they require from a new retailer?
• Read the suppliers policies and procedures before calling

Remember What You are Looking For

• Agreement to open an account.
• Confidential Price List
• Easy method of uploading products, product information and quality images
• Clear understanding of the purchase process
• Clear understanding of the ship cycle and order processing time frame

How to Build a Relationship with the Wholesale Representative

• Maintain regular contact but don’t repeatedly email or call your wholesale representative with one or two questions. Try to save all your questions for one email or phone call in the week.
• Provide feedback on how your website is doing
• Build a good relationship and your wholesale rep will help you with:

Early announcement of specials

• Early announcement of new product
• Promotions for your current product range
• Ensure suppliers are aware of quick shipping turnaround requirements
• Check inventory levels daily
• Provide feedback to your wholesalers about what is working best for you

For more information on dealing successfully with wholesalers, read the Wholesale Tips provided in eBay’s Certified Provider Blog and consider using the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool in eBay’s Seller Manager section of “My eBay.”

eBay Educational Support

One of the applications now available in Selling Manager Applications (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 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.

Understanding and Creating Relationships with Wholesalers for More Profitable Product Sourcing 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 #8 - Understanding Wholesalers

eBay beginners and PowerSellers who make money from selling products regularly on eBay need to understand wholesalers. To grow your business, you need excellent relationships with wholesalers that support you as an online retailer and understand the requirements of customers, and eBay, in delivering an awesome buying experience.

Like you, wholesalers are in business to make money. They have to take big risks to ensure continuity of product supply. The wholesaler is, of course, not the manufacturer. Manufacturers may sell directly to some huge retail buyers like Wal*Mart, Target, etc...but a manufacturer does not sell directly to a retailer. Manufacturers like to manufacture in large quantities and ship in bulk container loads to a limited number of big volume buyers. Manufacturers select wholesalers in different locations who will buy in bulk from them, store the inventory, and manage the sale of goods to hundreds and thousands of retailers who buy in large, medium and small quantities.

Wholesalers take risks in holding inventory. So how does the wholesaler make money? Wholesalers who beat the following challenges remain in business:

• Fast inventory turn
  Wholesalers who receive inventory and turn it into orders rapidly can make money. The best cash flow option for the wholesaler is to sell the entire inventory of a product and receive payment from retailers before the wholesaler has to pay the manufacturer.
• High volume transactions to build profits
  Typically, wholesalers don’t make a large profit margin per item. So they need to sell a lot of items. With more items sold, cumulatively they make more profit.
• Keep operating costs to a minimum
  Wholesalers need to ship large volumes of product without getting involved in complex handling, packaging, shipping and billing issues. Wholesalers keep staff levels to a minimum so you typically cannot expect wholesaler personnel to spend hours supporting any retailer. Retailers must know what they want, know what they’re doing, must place orders, and get on with selling without making demands on the wholesaler.
• Manage the Manufacturer’s Brands
  Manufacturers require that wholesalers protect the integrity of their brands. If a manufacturer makes a high quality product, with higher prices and good margins, the manufacturer requires its wholesaler to be discriminating about who can sell that brand, and how the wholesaler prices the brand to its retailers. Sometimes a wholesaler is not allowed to sell a brand to an online retailer because of the threat of price wars on the Internet that can drag down the perception of the brand as a quality and expensive range of products.
• Manufacturers have their own Language
  If you want to communicate well with a wholesaler, you need to know their own language – the shorthand of wholesale transactions. Wholesalers use words like: MSRP, FOB, etc. If you are not familiar with these terms, eBay has been running a Blog sequence that explains each one. It’s worth your while to review this series of twenty common wholesale terms.

Why is all this important to eBay Selling?
You need an excellent relationship with your wholesale sales representative. The sales representative can make or break your success selling their brands. eBay Sellers with good relationships have sales representatives tip them off to new products to sell well in eBay Auctions or through eBay Stores. If your wholesale sales representative likes you, and your volume of business, they might tip you off early to special deals with great pricing. If the manufacturer, or wholesaler, decides to offer promotional specials, you need your wholesale sales representative to let you know quickly.

You can only build a relationship like this if you understand how your wholesaler operates. The online retailer must always act swiftly and always in a professional manner.

eBay Educational Support
One of the applications now available in Selling Manager Applications (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 modults 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 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.

Preparing to Contact a Wholesaler (What to Do and Expect) - 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 #7 - Preparing to Call a Wholesaler

If you are new to selling on eBay, you are probably facing that time when you must make your first call to a genuine wholesale supplier. You want to open an account with them. You need to begin a fruitful relationship where you will have a continuous supply of products to sell in eBay Auctions or via your eBay Stores. There are steps Worldwide Brands recommends you should do before making the first call:

What Must You Do Before Contacting a Wholesale Supplier to Open an Account?
It is better to do some homework about the wholesaler BEFORE you make that critical call. For example:

• Have you done your market and product research?
• Do you know what products you are going to sell and why?
• Have you studied the wholesaler’s website?
• Have you read their Terms of Use, Policies and Procedures?

If you haven’t done this research, you can now access information on wholesale suppliers within My eBay! Worldwide Brands has created an application to help eBay sellers find products and wholesalers. This new application is part of the new eBay Selling Manager Applications feature. Sellers can subscribe to the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool and access supplier, product and trend information. (See our previous Blogs on how to perform rapid product and supplier research.)

Prepare the Flow of the Call
Remember, when you call the wholesale supplier representatives, they are interested only in WIIFM [What’s in it for Me?]. When you make the call, there are a lot of things that you want to know,for example:

• Does the wholesaler allow their products to be sold online specifically on eBay? [If they say no, ask why in an informative way.]
• Do they have support for other online retailers?
• Do they perform single item drop shipping?
• What is included in the drop ship fee?
• Does the supplier offer extended service hours?
• Have they tested how their products sell online?
• Will they open an account for you?
• Will they provide a Confidential Price List?
• How will they provide product images, descriptions and specifications?

Address the Wholesale Representative’s needs first. What interests the wholesale representative?

• What products will you sell?
• To whom will you sell them?
• How many will you sell?
• When will you start selling?
• When will you start ordering?
• In what order volumes?

What will the wholesale representative want from you?

• Business credentials
• Sales Tax ID Number
• Trade References
• Business Credit Card
• Purchase Order

When you start by giving the wholesale representative information they need first, you start building a relationship. If you start by asking a ton of questions about the things that are important to you, you lose the interest of the wholesale representative within seconds.

Following a Positive Call with a Wholesale Supplier, what do you want to receive?

• Account Number
• Confidential Price List
• Purchase Order Process
• Payment Terms
• Digital images
• Product descriptions (not always best for SEO)
• Product details and specs
• Proper packaging
• Customized packaging (if available)
• Video clips (if available)

Benefit from these and many other helpful education modules with tips available from Worldwide Brands.

Check out Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool today! A 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.

How to Manage Your Suppliers Information within 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 #6 - Managing Your Supplier Information within eBay


How do you get information about genuine wholesale suppliers (not middlemen) who will directly support an online retailer and allow you to sell their products on eBay? How do you keep track of all your product searches and each Supplier's details?


eBay sellers can now subscribe to the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool for eBay as part of the Selling Manager Applications, also known as eBay's App Store. Everything you need to know about a Supplier before you call them is provided in one easy-to-use location, accessed from within your Selling Manager account.

In order to subscribe/add various selling applications to your eBay account, you will need sign-up for Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro. Selling Manager is now free! Sign up here.


What Do You Need to Know about a Supplier?
Apart from the Supplier’s name, address, website and contact details, you need to know if they allow the sale of their products on eBay. You need to know what method they will use to ship orders to your customers and you need to understand their fees - especially their drop ship fee if you are going to rely on drop shipping to start eBay selling. You certainly want to have a clear understanding of the wholesale products they carry.


In the video below, you will see an extract of the kind of information now available to eBay Sellers through the Worldwide Brands application in eBay’s Selling Manager.

In addition to what you see in the extract, the eBay Seller can view more details about brand names and the full range of product types carried by each wholesale supplier. To accelerate the process of opening an account, Worldwide Brands provides automated account setup form. The system auto fills the form with the information from your own setup file allowing you to complete the form rapidly and email it from within Selling Manager and get it to the wholesaler before you make that all important first call.

At the press of a button, the system allows you to save each of your preferred wholesalers in the “Suppliers” section of you system so that you can recall their information without repeated searching. There is also a quick reference alphabetic listing of brands and products to help you locate specific items rapidly.

eBay’s focus is to help eBay Sellers reduce the amount of time it takes to find the right products for eBay selling. View this short video to see how it works.

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.