Choosing the Right Wholesaler or Dropshipper for your eBay Business

Choosing the right Wholesaler or Dropshipper for your eBay business

A few years ago it really didn't matter which Wholesaler/Dropshipper you chose. There were so many shoppers and eyes on eBay that people were literally buying stuff on eBay just so they could show up to work on Monday and say they bought something on eBay. Those were the good old days. Things have changed...Dramatically.

Back in the day you could do a Google search for wholesale or dropship, click on one of the links and you were well on your way to making some pretty good money if not millions. I call this the Gold Rush era of eBay and unfortunately those days are long gone. If you did that today, you could lose your shirt. Here's my first rule regarding choosing the right wholesaler or dropshipper:

# 1 If you found your potential wholesaler or dropshipper on the internet doing any kind of search (Google, Yahoo etc.) there's a really good chance that the market is already saturated and overflowing with sellers.

The number of millionaires eBay created laid the foundation for some of the problems eBay is facing today. When the average Joe heard about eBay sellers making millions from home, he was naturally interested and this interest attracted some of the shadiest people on the planet or better yet the universe - Internet Marketers. Not all Internet Marketers are bad but there are some atrociously bad apples that have really given most a bad name. You see some Internet Marketers really don't care what they sell so long as they make a sale. So they'll sell you outdated information or (and this is what I see often) they will claim to be an authority (they call themselves Gurus) on selling on eBay and sell you information that is absolutely useless. I bought a lot of the information these self-proclaimed Gurus were selling. One particular book I bought contained 12 pages of how to register on eBay and how to get started! This is literally the same information you can find for free on eBay.com.

Other books contained lists of wholesalers and dropshippers that were nothing more then middle men claiming to be wholesalers. You see these Internet Marketers didn't qualify any of these wholesalers/dropshippers. They just plucked them out of the yellow pages, slapped a bunch of them on a .PDF, wrote a compelling sales page and then sold it to you all while laughing all the way to the bank.

So if you can't search the internet for a reliable and profitable wholesaler/dropshipper, where can you look? The truth is that there really is no easy answer. It's going to take hard work and due diligence to find the right wholesaler/dropshipper. That leads me to rule #2:

# 2 Do your research and demand to see prices and products prior to making any type of commitment.

Most middle men will never show you an entire list of their products and pricelist. Sure they'll show you a few products and some prices but ask to see their entire catalog with prices and they'll tell you to become a member and oh by the way pay your membership fees. A legitimate wholesaler/dropshipper will never charge you a membership fee just to give you the right to sell their products! That's the first sign that you are dealing with a middleman. Another sign is whether or not they ask you for a Tax ID. A legitimate wholesaler/dropshipper will only do business with another legitimate business. They don't want to sell their products to someone looking for a good deal. They want to sell to a legitimate business who will work hard at selling their products.

When you finally find a legit wholesaler/dropshipper, the real work really begins. Now it's time do some research.

Click on this link (it will take you to a eBay search page) http://search.ebay.com/ws/search/AdvSearch?sofindtype=1 type in a description for the product you are considering selling, check the "Completed Listing Only" box and finally click on the search button. The results you get will consist of all closed listings on eBay for the last 30 days which match your search criteria! This will give you a pretty good idea of how much your potential product is currently selling for on eBay. Once you find a product that is selling at an acceptable profit margin for you...well you know where to go from there.

So we're back to square one. Where can you find a good source for products? Well I can tell you how I found my sources.

When I first started selling on eBay, I was using a Dropshipper. As time passed, more and more of my competitors found my Dropshipping source. To remain competitive I would drive to my Dropshippers warehouse and stock the product. This way I could ship quickly (usually same day) and in some cases even pay less for shipping. Well eventually I had enough competitors and I kid you not it got to the point where my profit margin on each sale was something like $1-$2. Like I said, I'm not kidding. There are sellers on eBay that sell at margins that low! Apparently, if you live in a trailer park in the middle of no where you can make a living selling products at a margin of $1-$2 :-0

So there I was one day, driving my cargo van to pick up another order from my supplier and I noticed a couple of shops and made a mental note to "stop by" and check out their products. After a few months, I finally did and that began the next chapter of my eBay selling adventure.

One of the shop owners agreed to sell me the products at discounted prices as long as I spent a minimum amount with him. The other wasn't as nice...She practically threw me out of the store. So I sent my wife to buy something from said shop. I looked up the manufacturer at Thomas Register.com, called them and asked them for a list of their distributors which they were happy to give me. I called a few of their distributors until I found one that would sell to me and I've been selling their products ever since!

I left out a lot of the details of the actual process used to contact the manufacturer and their distributors because there is an excellent FREE eBook that outlines the entire process of finding and pre-qualifying legitimate wholesalers and dropshippers that you should really read if you're interested in going this route to obtain your products.
Click here , scroll down and you'll see the free eBook at the right of the page.

Good luck!

Differentiate your Business

All Business

There's a great article on the All Business network today regarding marketing and differentiation by
Chuck McKay. Chuck ends the article by asking, "What makes your company different?"

This is perhaps the most important question most of us as entrepreneurs will ever have to answer because it will ultimately determine our success or failure. This is a question that must be addressed early and often when drafting your business plan or starting your venture. The underlying principal here is that the majority of markets are now saturated with competition (well maybe not saturated but you get the point) and you as a business owner must now find a way to stand out from the crowd (of competitors) and make yourself noticeable.

The Purple Cow By Seth Godin is an excellent book which really gets into how you can separate yourself from the crowd. Seth gives you pages of real world examples of what companies have done today to separate themselves from their competitors and how you can do the same. If you like to read, are looking for some marketing tips and are looking for a way to separate yourself from your competitors then this is a must read. Click on the image below to check out The Purple Cow at Amazon.