Starting an eBay Business

Drop shipping VS. Wholesale

Starting an eBay business is very involved. More so, than most people think. If you haven't already, go back and read Page 1 on starting with eBay.

Now that we have covered what not to sell, lets talk about what you should sell. You want to pick categories of items that are already HOT! Do not go for something obscure that only 5% of the population would know about...go for something that most people are interested in or have at least has heard of. For your eBay business, you will want to target an audience, for example, Webkinz (electronic pets) are hot right now, so your target audience would be elementary and junior high aged children (both boys and girls). Or you may be interested in selling automobile parts, which would make your target audience may be predominantly males, ages 16-50, for example. If you know who you are selling to, it will be much easier to actually sell.

Here is a list of the most popular search categories online:

· Antiques

· Dolls & bears

· Travel

· Art

· Books

· CD's

· DVD's

· Automotive parts

· Consumer electronics

· Computers

· Office supply

· Travel

· Books

· Gifts

· Software

· Apparel & accessories

· Tickets

· Coins

· Stamps

· Toys & hobbies

· Jewelry & watches

In order to give you a better idea of what types of items your eBay business should sell, we have compiled a list of great niche ideas, and they are as follows:

Antique Reproductions Apparel & Accessories Appliances Art Reproductions As Seen On TV Automotive Parts & Accessories Baby Products Bags/Backpacks Baskets Bathroom Accessories Batteries Beads Beauty & Barber Supplies Binoculars Books Brassware Briefcases Calculators Cameras & Supplies Camping Equip & Accessories Candles Candy/Confectionery Caps/Headwear Cellular Products & Acc. Ceramics (kitchenware) Christmas Items Cigarette Lighters Cleaning Products Clocks Closeouts Collectibles Computer Parts & Supplies Convenience Store Items Cookware Cosmetics Crafts & Hobby Items Crystal Cutlery Novelties Office Supplies Organizers & Planners Outerwear Paintball Games Supplies Paints & Painting Supplies Party Supplies Perfumes & Fragrances Pet Products Pewter Items Picture Frames Plasticware Plush Toys Porcelain Posters Potpourri Vitamins Wallets

Decorative Accessories Dollar Store Items Dolls Domestics Electronics Figurines Flags Floral & Supplies Food Products/Snacks Footwear Framed Prints/Pictures Fund Raising Items Garden Products Gemstones Giftware Gloves Greeting Cards Hair Accessories Handbags Hardware Health & Beauty Herbal Products Home Furnishings Hosiery Houseware Inflatables Jewelry Key rings/Chains Knives (Kitchen) Knives (Sporting) Lamps/Lighting Leather Goods Licensed Products Lingerie Luggage Magnets Military Surplus Mirrors Musical Boxes Pottery Replica Arms & Armor Rugs & Mats Safety & Security Products School Supplies Shopping Bags Smoking Accessories Sporting Goods/ Sportswear Stationery Stickers & Decals Store Displays Sunglasses & Accessories T-Shirts Tapestries/Quilts Tools Toys Watches

Now that we have covered what to sell, we need to discuss where you will get your items from. Dropshipping is a great way to start your eBay business because it minimizes risk. Not only do you not have to pay upfront for the goods, but you don't have to bother with shipping the item either. It is a quick and easy way to get yourself out there, and begin getting customer feedback. The drawback would be that you will not be able to compete as much as you would probably like to with the other sellers out there. When you are using dropshipping, you must use their given prices as your starting point, but you must also add in any drop ship fees, listing fees, and shipping costs associated with the product.

However, if you decide to go with wholesale items that you purchase first in bulk, you have much more control over shipping costs, pricing etc. There really is no right or wrong answer with an eBay business...it is just what ever you are comfortable with. You will notice there are powersellers in each category, so it is really up to you. We recommend using wholesale if you are comfortable with that, and can afford to shell out the cash first. You will increase your profit margin many times over, and also have unique photographs to post, and not the same ones other people might be using also.

Selling on eBay

Drop ship VS. Wholesale

Anyone who is looking to start a business on eBay has one very important decision to make before they can begin...and that is where are they going to get their products? Although there are many different ways to get products to sell, because of the new laws that state you cannot sell for another person on an auction site unless you have an auctioneers licence...this really leaves you with 2 choices. You either go with a dropshipping business, or you buy first via a wholesaler. In order to make this very important decision, you must first decide what you want to sell.

Many people make the mistake of wanting to either:

a.) sell electronics

b.) sell only one type of thing

It is critical when selling on eBay, to be diverse, cheap, and you must be sure to play by the rules...or else you may lose your thriving business. Playing by the rules means, not selling products below M.A.P (manufacturers approved price), and selling exactly what you are promoting....not a knock off. One sure way to know whether or not the dropshipping or wholesale site you are thinking of parnering with is a scam, or the real-deal, is by looking at their electronics (if they sell them). The major manufactorers of products like Apple iPhones, Dell computers, wii video game consoles, etc., they do NOT sell to small companies, and ONLY supply large corporations with several hundred thousand dollar orders at a time. That means scammers like dropshipdesign.com who promote themselves as a wholesale dropshipper selling name brand electronics, are really NOT wholesalers at all.

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Dropship Source Directory

When starting a dropshipping business, a Dropship Source Directory is key. Finding a good supplier is by far the most important part of the puzzle..and also the hardest. Using a Directory is really the only way to compare and analyze who is out there. As long as you have a good supplier, with good pictures, descriptions and pricing, the rest will fall into place (granted you know HOW to market). Here we will briefly describe each supplier in our Dropship Source Directory, and the pros and cons of each.

Doba

Doba® is one the largest wholesale supplier/dropshipping company on the web! They provide their retailers with over 1,200,000 products from hundreds of suppliers to promote, sell and profit from. In addition to providing a one-stop shop for products to drop ship, they also provide services such as advanced tools, data export, Push to Marketplace (eBay integration), intricate training and learning materials. They offer professional, quality product pictures, detailed descriptions, guarenteed lowest wholesale prices, and have everything on their site in stock about 90% of the time.

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One Source

One Source (a.k.a. Worldwide Brands is by far the largest dropship source directory in the world! With their lifetime membership (a one time fee), you get access to over 3,000,000 million wholesale products from more than 9,000 suppliers worldwide! One tremendously helpful feature One Source offers is the market research tool, which will actually analyze the product(s) you are searching for in their directory, and tell you the profitability of that product.

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Dropshipping Wholesalers

Dropshipping Wholesalers is an exclusive membership site, which gives access to over 500,000 products. Not to mention 10 ultra secret Chinese wholesalers, and over 600 of the worlds best wholesale dropshippers. With this directory you are granted lifetime access to all of their resources, and do not have to worry about "everyone else on the web" having the exact same information. This is because they are only offering this as a limited time offer. You will also have access to eBay ad wizard, and many other great features.

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Simplx

Simplx, like Doba® offers you a one stop shop at the cost of a monthly fee. They currently have over 60,000,000 products, eBay integration, up to 95% off retail prices and millions of name brand products. All of the drop ship products they offer, are brand new and have manufacturers warranties. Unlike Doba and One Source, Simplx has a screening process before they will accept new marketers to use their products. Once you go to their site, and fill out the application, they then ask for your credit card information....which causes many people to lose interest. This is the only major dropship source directory/supplier that asks for an application fee ($20). This fee is non-refundable, so whether or not they grant you access, they still pocket your $20. There are many pro's and con's to that system. First of all, it does elliminate competition, because most people aren't willing to invest even $20 into their business....which is not very much money when you consider starting a traditional, brick and morter business. And as they state on their site, they do this to elliminate market saturation on sites such as eBay.

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