SaleHoo Blog

Electric Toothbrush - Monday Market of the Week

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:20:17 +0000

Most of us brush our teeth at least twice per day, making tooth brushes an everyday commodity.

Taking this into consideration and with the help of the SaleHoo Research Lab, I was able to discover just how promising the market is for electric toothbrushes is!

Sell-through Rate: Did we really find a hot niche?

Of course we did! With a sell through rate of 60.72% electric toothbrushes is definitely a good product to invest on.

Remember to always check that your products have a sell through rate of at least 50%.

Median End Price: Is there enough room for profit?

According to the SaleHoo Research Lab the electric toothbrush has a median price of $36.43 which might not seem that big but when I visited one of our featured suppliers and saw that they have a listing for an electric toothbrush for just $2.99, I knew I found a winner!

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: How viable is your market?

Based on the data gathered for the month of December, there were 3,134 listings on eBay made by 2,970 sellers. With nearly a one is to one ratio for listings to sellers, you might quickly assume that the market might be too stiff. But if you take a look at the total number of bids which is 11,280 - there is certainly is room for your listings in there too.

Data Trends: Are sellers hitting their target?

In terms of total revenue, our electric tooth brush sellers on eBay are definitely making a decent income. For the month of December, the lowest total revenue is $2,203.90 while the highest recorded total revenue is $8,092.40! The numbers couldn't be more convincing, right?

Going beyond eBay: How popular is Electric toothbrush online?

Using Traffic Travis, free SEO software we can do a quick keyword search to see just how popular electric toothbrushes are outside of eBay. Get your own Traffic Travis software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

What do these numbers mean?

Based on the results fetched by Traffic Travis, there are currently 22,200 searches globally for electric toothbrush with 8,100 searches from the US.

Imagine the traffic and potential sales you can direct to your online store or eBay listings if you are able to convert all the search counts!

Trusted Electric toothbrush Wholesale Suppliers

Electric toothbrush supplier #1

This supplier is one of the fastest growing online shopping superstores in today's marketplace. They design and manufacture bags, rubber toys and a huge range of merchandise. Sales tax applies to orders shipped within the state of California. They accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express. They only ship within the United States at this time.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Electric toothbrush supplier #2

A certified dealer for a huge range of consumer electronics products and accessories. They accept major credit cards, PayPal, money orders and cashier's checks as forms of payment. International orders are welcome.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Electric toothbrush supplier #3

Your number one source for name brand over-the-counter drugstore products. They accept Visa, American Express, MasterCard and Discover credit cards, as well as PayPal payments. Sales tax applies on all orders shipped within the state of Florida. No orders outside of US are being accepted at this time.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of electric toothbrush wholesale suppliers and take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay PowerSellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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Disclaimer: The information published here is strictly for informational purposes. All above product items are only suggestions for possible products which will sell favorably, and should be used as a guide only. At the time of writing, all above products were researched using methods recommend by SaleHoo and found to be potentially profitable for sellers. All sellers are encouraged to conduct their own market and product research.

A Complete Guide to Starting a Blog in 2012

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 03:11:15 +0000

This is a guest post written by Lace Llanora from The Wholesale Forums, the UK’s leading B2B networking community & advice forum for wholesalers, distributors, importers, dropshippers and retailers. You can follow them on Twitter and on Facebook.

Blogging can spark a minefield of opportunities for your business and you don’t need to blow up your advertising budget to mark your presence in the blogosphere. They’re also a fantastic way to promote your SaleHoo Store and help it get higher search engine placement. Let’s dive in straight on how to setup a blog for your business!

Start free with Wordpress and Blogger

The best known free blog hosting services are Wordpress and Blogger, did we mention it’s free? It’s a good place to start without the need to pay for a domain or hosting provider so you can focus on the more important stuff – content.

Choosing your Blog Domain Name Once you sign up, you’ll be given the chance to register your blog address which will be domain.wordpress.com or domain.blogspot.com. You’ll need to choose a unique and relevant blog address in the same way you chose a domain for your website if you have one. More often than not, it’s a battle between having a keyword-based (i.e. ukwholesaleblog), or a brandable blog name (i.e. Boing Boing).

In the future you may want to tightly connect your blog with your existing website and that’s not a problem with Wordpress. You’ll find it easy to export your content and install a Wordpress platform on your self-hosted domain. If you’re using Blogger, this is one of their weaknesses and many choose to simply export their content and transfer them to a Wordpress platform or activate a URL redirect. This does not discount the fact that free blog hosting services are the best place to start for dipping your toes in the blogosphere.

The Overwhelming Task of Choosing a Theme - Need not be overwhelming! Themes are your blog’s design and framework, for starters – the simpler your theme, the better. Imagine if you opted for a magazine style theme at the onset but only have two or three existing blog posts, the thought of empty widgets and content boxes are haunting! Take our unsolicited advice and start with a simple hierarchy of posts like most bloggers do. This style will allow your content to shine and present your freshest hot-off the-press posts first, followed by your previous work. Simples!

Here’s a short video from Wordpress on how to change your blog’s theme

You may want to have a simple banner designed for you to upload on your blog, perhaps your online store’s banner or a nice photo of your products which you’ll be blogging about. For now, you don’t really need to pay for a graphic designer if you have time on your hands.

Writing your first posts You’re finally ready to publish your very own content, it’s a good time to remember that content doesn’t always have to be words written in virtual ink but other forms of media such as photos and videos. Some say multimedia content reaps highly engaged users so make sure to try and use them effectively.

Not all blogs are created equal with quality being the differential. Quality posts take time and research – whether you’re developing product reviews, industry insights, news, or tutorials. Think about your favourite blog and the reasons why you closely follow their posts. For instance, Social Media Examiner is an excellent blog because of their generous tutorials. Perhaps you follow a blog because of their honest to goodness product reviews. Try to embed these elements into your own blog and writing, it’s not impossible you’ll have your own set of raving blog readers very soon! Always give your blog the best you’ve got, love your readers and they’ll love you back. Remember, you never know what you’ll find in a blog reader – they could be your future customers, partners, and even the press you’ve been dying to contact.

Promoting your Blog

Think of the blogosphere as the super cool college party you’ve been invited in. As a new blogger, you can’t expect to become an instant crowd favourite but you can’t achieve anything by being a wallflower either. So bookmark influential blogs in your field, get involved by sharing your thoughts, ask questions and hang around. Be generous when it comes to sharing your experience and knowledge, this is the ultimate way to become an authority and gain invaluable credibility.

Yes there’s some work involved in making your blog popular but know that your search rankings will be naturally influenced by these activities.

Some more pointers in becoming a super blogger:

Use social media to engage with readers and promote your content. Setup Facebook apps like Networked Blogs that can automatically feed posts to your updates.
If you don’t have a Facebook page for your business yet, we highly recommend our FREE ebook! This is actually inspired by and exclusively written for our community members who have growing interest in all things social (and that includes blogs!). But today we’re making it available to the wonderful Salehoo community for a limited time, so download your copy now

Be active in related blogs and communities (i.e. The Wholesale Forums if you’re into wholesale & ecommerce!)
Get involved in real-world activities, cover related events and make your presence known!
Don’t be afraid to experiment with other forms of media. How about video blogging, screencasts or podcasting?
Finally, always think before you post and become a responsible blogger.

Now you and your business are ready to conquer the web!

How do you envision your company blog and how do you think it will help grow your business? Share your thoughts below!

Video Blog: The essential marketing tip that every business owner should know

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:56:34 +0000

We have an exciting new mini-series of video blogs that we have crafted to give you a break from all the reading you do, and most importantly, give you some hot selling tips that will help to supercharge your business.

Check out the latest in the series below and remember to keep an eye out on the blog each week for the next installment!

Hi guys,

I’m back with another video blog and if you haven’t seen these video blogs before, they are just quick, 2 or 3 minute videos that I put together to give you some selling tips and help you increase your sales.

In today’s video blog, I want to quickly introduce you to a really useful marketing tip that encourages buyers to purchase from you by indentifying and appealing to their problems and pains and providing them with a solution.

Appealing to your buyers pains is a really important part of selling anything.

So for example, if I was selling dog grooming products, in my product description, I would talk about the pain associated with having a dog that sheds hair. I could talk about how difficult and time-consuming it is to clean pet hair from my carpet and furniture and I would talk about unhygienic it is.

Just to give you another example to show you exactly what I mean, I have an eBay listing here from someone selling a baby or pet safety gate. Overall, the listing is pretty good, and here in the description, it briefly mentions the problem it will solve, but it doesn’t really talk about the pain associated with this problem when it goes unsolved .

This description could really improve if the seller said something like “Do you worry about your baby or toddler injuring themselves on your stairwell?” Or “Are you sick of feeling embarrassed when guest come over and see pet hair all over your living area?”

And then outline the benefits of using the baby or pet gate and how it can solve these problems.

And if you want some tips on this, I suggest watching infomercials. I know that sounds crazy but infomercials are really good at appealing to people’s pains. If you have ever seen an infomercial for ProActive, an anti-acne treatment, you will have seen how they talk about the pain associated with living with acne and how it stops some people from living the life they want to live.

So that’s your homework for this week! Watch some infomercials and see how they appeal to people’s pains and frame their product as a solution to this pain, then come up with some ideas on how you can tweak your own product descriptions to do the same thing.

If you are interested in marketing tips that dramatially increase your sales, I recommend that you check out my video training course Online Selling Tactics which is has 10 video lessons, most of which are one hour long or longer and give you expert selling strategies which help you boost your online sales.

Thanks for watching and I will see you next time.

Get more proven selling tips when you become a member of Online Selling Tactics

Get the written transcript of this video blog below:

"Hi guys,

I'm Alice and I’m back with another video blog and if you haven’t stumbled across these video blogs before, they are just quick, 2 or 3 minute videos where I go through selling strategies that will help you boost your online sales.

In today’s blog, I want to talk about a really useful marketing tip that you can use to encourage buyers to purchase from you by identifying and appealing to their pains and problems, and providing them with a solution. And the solution, of course, is buying your products!

Appealing to your buyers pains is a really important part of selling anything.

Just to give you another example to show you exactly what I mean, I have an eBay listing here from someone selling a baby or pet safety gate. Overall, the listing is pretty good, and here in the description, it briefly mentions the problem it will solve, but it doesn't really talk about the pain associated with this problem when it goes unsolved.

This description could really improve if the seller said something like “Do you worry about your baby or toddler injuring themselves on your stairwell?” Or “Are you sick of feeling embarrassed when guests come over and see pet hair all over your living area?”

And then outline the benefits of using the baby or pet gate and how it can solve these problems.

If you are interested in marketing tips that dramatically increase your sales, I recommend that you check out my video training course Online Selling Tactics which is has 10 video lessons, most of which are one hour long or longer and give you expert selling strategies which help you boost your online sales.

Thanks for watching and I will see you next time."

Bluetooth Headsets - Monday Market of the Week

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:11:28 +0000

The majority of new online sellers will immediately opt to sell electronic products, but because of the stiff competition on eBay and other marketplaces, many will find this niche too challenging and worse still, unprofitable!

We often suggest to those who are just starting out to try selling electronic accessories instead – they are smaller, require less capital and are much easier to store and ship!

Using the SaleHoo Research Lab, I was able to find a promising niche for our electronics oriented sellers – Bluetooth headsets!

Sell-through Rate: Did you really find a hot niche?

For the last few weeks that I have been searching for profitable niches, Bluetooth headsets has one of the highest sell through rates at 62.77%! This is well beyond our target sell through rate of at least 50%.

Median End Price: Is there enough room for profit?

The median price for Bluetooth headsets is $42.03. Here’s the good news, one of our featured suppliers has Bluetooth headsets for as low as $20!

Are you seeing the potential profit you can make? I certainly am!

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: How viable is your market?

The level market competition for Bluetooth headsets is low and the current demand certainly is more than enough to land consistent sales.

Based on the data from the SaleHoo Research Lab, there are only 330 eBay sellers selling Bluetooth headsets with at least 1,084 bids. This means the total number of bids is nearly five times that of the total number of listings!

Data Trends: Are sellers hitting their target?

If you look at the graph closely there was not a single day last December with zero sales which is something you should look out for when doing your own product research. The highest daily recorded total revenue for Bluetooth headsets is $2,029.66 while the lowest total revenue is $186.92.

Going beyond eBay: How popular are Bluetooth headsets online?

Did I choose the right keyword this time? Let’s check using Traffic Travis, free SEO software. Download your own Traffic Travis software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

What do these numbers mean?

There are currently 6,600 searches globally and 3,600 searches in the US for Bluetooth headsets, which is a relatively good amount of traffic to direct to your online store or eBay listings.

In the keyword search, I also included the keyword “Bluetooth headset” (rather than the plural form of “headsets), and noted a big difference in search results! But then again the search counts do not always translate to sales. For all you know it’s your competitors doing the searches in hopes of getting a better rank for their keyword.

Trusted Bluetooth headsets Wholesale Suppliers

Bluetooth headsets supplier #1

This supplier is recognized as a leading provider of AT&T wireless services and mobile, portable and personal electronics products. They offer both wholesale and drop ship options and accept major credit cards for payment.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Bluetooth headsets supplier #2

Catering to the niche market for wireless devices, which currently includes cell phones, smart phones, tablets, and eBook readers. They offer a huge range of cases and covers, screen protectors, Bluetooth accessories, headsets, speakers, and a lot more. They accept credit cards - Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover, as well as PayPal as forms of payment. Sales tax of 8.25% is applicable to all Texas destined orders. International orders are accepted.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Bluetooth headsets supplier #3

A wholesale distributor of original (OEM) and premium wireless cell phone accessories. They accept credit cards - Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover, as well as PayPal. While they do not have a specific drop shipping program available, customers are able to change the shipping address and choose for them not to include an invoice. Their online ordering system is only for US and Canada, international customers may contact them directly and arrangements can be made.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Bluetooth headsets supplier #4

A leader in the wholesale cell phone accessories industry. They serve retailers and wholesalers of all sizes, and they stock a huge range of cell phone accessories from batteries, chargers, and Bluetooth headsets to faceplates, cases, pouches, straps, screen protectors, and more. They accept credit cards - Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express via PayPal, as well as cashier's checks and money orders.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of Bluetooth headsets wholesale suppliers and take advantage of SaleHoo’s Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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Video Blog: Optimizing your listings for eBay's 'Best Match'

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:08:53 +0000

If you want to increase your sales, or increase the profits you earn on each sale, you will love our new series of quick video blog posts. Each video blog is packed full of tips to help you boost your business.

So take a break from all the heavy reading that is normally required of online sellers and sit back and enjoy today's video!

Hi there,

I’m Alice and in this quick video blog I want to cover how you can ensure that buyers can always find your listings when you sell on eBay.

If you sell on eBay I’m sure you are already aware of the competition there and this is something that a lot of sellers struggle with. One thing you can do to help increase your sales is get your listings ranking better in search results by optimizing your listings for Best Match.

Best Match is eBay’s search algorithm and the algorithm has presets which helps it determine which listings to rank closer to the top of the search results.

So just to illustrate what I mean, if I search for nike womens shoes size 8, these listings which appear here at the top of the search results are the ones which Best Match has decided should rank here. And this is really important because many buyers do not look past the 1st page of search results, so it’s really important that your listing rank well.

So how do get your listings selected by Best Match to appear on the first page of results?

Well here are 3 quick tips.

Optimize your listing item titles

First of all, you need to optimize your listing title. Make sure it contains all the important keywords that a buyer will use when they search for something. Also make sure that these keywords are close to the beginning of the item title.

Free Shipping

Another thing you can do is offer free shipping. eBay LOVES when you offer buyers free shipping and so they reward you with higher rankings when you do. A lot of people talk about the fact that free shipping increases their sales and I believe that one of the reasons for this is because when you offer free shipping, eBay ranks your listings better, so they get more exposure and therefore, you get more sales!

Thirdly, do auction format listings with Buy It Now options.

eBay loves when sellers give buyers options so when you give buyers the opportunity to either place their bid, or buy the item right away, it will help with your rankings.

If you want more in-depth and advanced techniques about skyrocketing your listings rankings on any marketplace or on your own website, check out my video training course Online Selling Tactics.

See you next time for another of these quick-fire video blogs.

Thanks for watching.

Join Online Selling Tactics to learn more sales-pulling strategies

For a written break down of the video blog, check out the transcript below.

"Hi there,

I’m Alice and I'm back with another quick video blog and today I want to talk about how you can ensure that your listings can always be found by buyers when you sell on eBay.

Best Match is eBay’s search algorithm, and the algorithm has presets which helps it determine which listings to rank closer to the top of the search results.

So how do get your listings selected by Best Match to appear on the first page of results?

Well here are 3 quick tips.

1. Optimize your listing item titles

2. Offer free shipping

Another thing you can do is offer free shipping. eBay loves when you offer buyers free shipping and so they reward you with higher rankings when you do. A lot of people talk about the fact that free shipping increases their sales and I believe that one of the reasons for this is because when you offer free shipping, eBay ranks your listings better, so they get more exposure and therefore, you get more sales!

3. Do auction format listings with Buy It Now options.

eBay loves when sellers give buyers options, so when you give buyers the opportunity to either place their bid, or buy the item right away, it will help with your rankings.

Give these tips a go this week and try optimizing your listings for Best Match and let me know how you get on.

If you want more in-depth information on how to get your listings ranking on any marketplace, or getting your wesbite ranking in Google, I suggest you check out Online Selling Tactics, my new video course.

Thanks for watching and I will see you next time."

Thanks for watching. "

Ray Ban Sunglasses - Monday Market of the Week

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:19:29 +0000

This week we will be featuring another well known brand name – Ray Ban.

I originally searched for ‘Rayban’ on the SaleHoo Research Lab but when I saw the results for the keyword research I did on Traffic Travis, I figured I should try doing another search using ‘Ray Ban’ instead.

With the help of the SaleHoo Research Lab, let’s investigate further if Ray Ban is indeed worth the investment.

Sell-through Rate: Did you really find a hot niche?

Having a sell through rate of 51.65%, Ray Ban products barely make it within our target sell through rate of at least 50%.

So do we really have a hot niche for this week?

Median End Price: Is there enough room for profit?

Ray Ban has a median price of $82.47 the amount may not seem that promising at first glance, but you have to remember that the median price is not the real selling price rather it is the average selling price.

To give you a better idea of how much Ray Ban is selling for on eBay the SaleHoo Research Lab gives us a Snapshot and based on the screen shot below you can see that the average price of a pair of Ray Bans is $117.00 while the average Buy It Now price is $154.00. Sounds better, right?

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: How viable is your market?

As of December, there were 21,634 listings on eBay made by 9,780 sellers. Clearly the competition is a bit stiff but there is certainly room for a few more listings especially with a relatively high demand – 55,528 bids!

Data Trends: Are sellers hitting their target?

eBay sellers selling Ray Ban products are definitely hitting their target spot on! If you check the screen shot below you’ll be amazed when you see the dollar figures sellers made for the month of December. The lowest total revenue is $26,601.14, I personally find this amount far from being low. And the highest recorded total revenue is $71,980.74! Need I say more?

Going beyond eBay: How popular is Ray Ban online?

Do you have a market for Ray Ban products beyond eBay? Let’s check using Traffic Travis, free SEO software. Download your own Traffic Travis software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

What do these numbers mean?

Based on the results of our keyword search, there are a million searches globally with 200,100 from the US. I have included the original keyword ‘Rayban’ to show everyone just how important accuracy of product names is! Although ‘Rayban’ still has a relatively high search count, ‘Ray Ban’ is definitely being searched for a lot more!

Doing a quick keyword search often helps us to see the amount of traffic we can direct to our online store or eBay listings and in this case, I can see that as long as my website is ranking well in search engines like Google, I can expect to get a lot of traffic from buyers looking for Ray Bans.

Trusted Ray Ban Wholesale Suppliers

Ray Ban supplier #1

Australia and New Zealand's most exciting online bargain megastore. They offer a massive range of top international and local brands and other top quality merchandise at up to 80% below retail. Every item sold comes with full warranties and transit insurance. All their products are 100% genuine and authentic. They offer drop shipping services and anyone is welcome to purchase from them, even from their wholesale bulk lots. No ABN is required. They accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, PayPal, BPAY, and direct deposits. Currently, they only ship to Australia and New Zealand.

Note: They do sell on eBay, however they only sell a limited range. There are a lot of other products on their website that eBay sellers can choose from.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Ray Ban supplier #2

The ideal source for surplus liquidators, merchandise wholesalers, overstocks retailers, auctioneers, eBay sellers and flea market sellers looking for merchandise liquidations. They offer brand new, first quality closeouts sold below wholesale prices. Most orders ship within 48 hours and your satisfaction is guaranteed. They ship orders globally. Accepted payments are credit card, PayPal & wire transfers.

Note: This supplier is a liquidator so stocks may vary on a day to day basis.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Ray Ban supplier #3

They are an American wholesaler and drop shippers of consumer electronics and accessories. Based in the San Francisco bay area, they have been trading worldwide since 1986. A free freight program is also offered under certain conditions. They accept COD via cashier's check, money order and credit card payments. A signed certificate of resale and a valid business license number is required.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of Ray Ban wholesale suppliers and take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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Video Blog: 10 Online Selling Tips (that you haven't already heard before)

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:57:54 +0000

We have an exciting new mini-series of video blogs coming your way! We have crafted this series of video blogs to give you a break from all the reading you do, and most importantly, give you some hot selling tips that will help to supercharge your business.

Check out the first in the series below and remember to keep an eye out on the blog each week for the next installment!

If you use or have used these strategies let me know how it’s affected your business by leaving me a comment.

Get Online Selling Tactics

OK, let’s get started with this week’s selling tip: The upsell.

The upsell is about maximizing profit potential from individual buyers. So when someone buys an item from you, you contact them via email or messaging systems on the marketplace you sell on, and make them an offer to encourage them to purchase a second item.

For example, if I was selling gardening accessories on Bonanza.com, I could contact the buyer and say thanks for purchasing the garden gnome you just bought, I’ve also got this really great bird bath which I think you might like.

And you really want to encourage them to buy from you again so what you could say is…

Because you are already a customer of mine, I’m happy to give you free postage on this if you buy it this week.

Or perhaps you could offer a 20% discount to encourage them to purchase?

Remember that it is really important that you create some urgency in the offer you make: Make sure the buyer understands the offer has an expiry date of a few days or a week. This provides them with an incentive to make the purchase now rather than forgetting about it and not making the secondary purchase at all.

On some marketplaces it’s really easy to offer discounts on items because you can just set a discount rate and give the buyer a coupon code which they use at the checkout to redeem the discount. Good ecommerce software, like SaleHoo Stores, also offers this functionality.

On eBay, it’s a little trickier and the best way is probably to alter the invoice after they have won the auction or used the Buy It Now button.

I hope you have enjoyed this video and that you take action and use the upsell selling strategy – it’s a great way to increase your number of sales.

If you want to get more detailed and in-depth instructions on the very best selling tactics, check out my new video training course Online Selling Tactics by clicking the link below.

Thanks for watching and keep an eye out on your email inbox and we will let you know when the next of these video blogs is ready for you.

I will see you next time.

If you prefer a readable version of this video blog, or just can't decipher Alice's funny New Zealand accent, check out the written transcript below:

"Hi guys, I’m Alice, a copywriter and seller coach here at SaleHoo.com. I’ve got an exciting new 10 part mini-series that I am going to be bringing to the blog over the next few weeks which I really think is going to help you super charge your business and give you some really cool ideas for increasing your number of sales and also increasing your profits per sale.

So what I am going to be doing is every week or so, I am going to bring you selling tips and strategies via these quick video blogs which I will try and keep to 3 or 4 minutes or less.

I know that there are a lot of tips out there on the internet about how to sell on eBay but I’m not going to bring you the usual easy ones that you probably already know – I’ll bring you more specific ones and most importantly, ones that get results.

If you use or have used these strategies let me know how it’s affected your business by leaving me a comment.

OK, let’s get started with this week’s selling tip: The upsell.

For example, if I was selling gardening accessories on Bonanza.com, I could contact the buyer and say "Thanks for purchasing the garden gnome you just bought, I’ve also got this really great bird bath which I think you might like".

And you really want to encourage them to buy from you again so what you could say is…

"Because you are already a customer of mine, I’m happy to give you free postage on this if you buy it this week."

Or perhaps you could offer a 20% discount to encourage them to purchase?

On eBay, it’s a little trickier and the best way is probably to alter the invoice after they have won the auction or used the Buy It Now button.

I hope you have enjoyed this video and that you take action and use the upsell selling strategy – it’s a great way to increase your number of sales.

If you want to get more detailed and in-depth instructions on the very best selling tactics, check out my new video training course Online Selling Tactics by clicking the link below.

Get Online Selling Tactics here.

Thanks for watching and keep an eye out on your email inbox and we will let you know when the next of these video blogs is ready for you."

Electric Can Opener - Monday Market of the Week

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:21:43 +0000

This week's niche maybe small but it’s the small conveniences that make life so much better. Just like our simple electric can opener, with just a flick of a switch your tins are open!

But is the electric can opener a viable niche? Let’s check using the SaleHoo Research Lab.

Sell-through Rate: Did you really find a hot niche?

When choosing a product always go for those that have a sell through rate which is over 50%.

Electric can openers have a sell through rate of 56.44% which makes it a good niche to explore and invest in.

Median End Price: Is there enough room for profit?

The median price for electric can openers is $19.91 which is fairly profitable depending on the brand of electric can opener you list.

Note that the median price is just the average selling price and not necessarily the actual price at which a product is sold for.

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: How viable is your market?

There are currently 780 sellers selling electric can openers with a total of roughly 792 listings on eBay. This means the competition is not that stiff especially since there are almost twice as many bids as there are listings for electric can openers.

Convinced yet? Let’s look further…

Data Trends: Are sellers hitting their target?

So how are eBay sellers doing? With the highest total revenue of $1,186.29, sellers are definitely doing well.

If you notice the graph below, the total revenue is within the $150 - $1,000 dollar range without a day with zero sales - this is a promising sign! It means buyers are consistently snapping up electric can openers.

Going beyond eBay: How popular are electric can openers online?

Using Traffic Travis, free SEO software, we can see how many people are searching for electric can openers even outside of eBay. Get your own Traffic Travis software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

What do these numbers mean?

Checking the popularity of electric can openers helps us to see the amount of traffic we can direct to our online store or eBay listings.

Based on the results of our keyword search, there are 3,600 searches globally with 1,900 from the US. This means that people are searching for electric can openers even outside eBay. But please note that not all these searches are made by consumers – a small percentage may be done by potential competitors who are also looking on how they can optimize their listings.

Trusted Electric Can Opener Wholesale Suppliers

Electric can opener supplier #1

Your #1 source for restaurant supply and equipment for professional and aspiring chefs. They offer competitive pricing on a vast selection of essential restaurant equipment, catering equipment and bar supplies. They accept credit cards - American Express, MasterCard and Visa, as well as Visa check cards, PayPal, personal checks, money orders, approved purchase order accounts, and cashier's checks.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Electric can opener supplier #2

The premiere online wholesaler and closeout company that helps small businesses to compete against larger enterprises by offering more than 25,000 high-quality goods at great prices. The minimum order you must make is for one case of any product. They sell their merchandise by the case and price their goods by the truckload. See their website for more information. They accept American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and Discover credit and debit cards, as well as PayPal and Google Checkout payments. While they do not charge any membership fees to order, they do require their customers to register to see their wholesale prices. A valid reseller tax identification certificate is also required. They offer a paid membership option, the Platinum Program, providing additional offers and discounts not available to most members. They can drop ship a case of any product, however, they do not private label their packages or blind ship. International orders can be arranged.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Electric can opener supplier #3

A Canadian supplier of appliances and appliance parts and accessories. They ship only to Canada and the US (including Alaska, Hawaii and US Military installations worldwide) but shipping on various international destinations can be arranged. Ontario customers are responsible for both GST and PST, while all other provinces are responsible for GST only. They accept Visa and MasterCard.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of electric can opener wholesale suppliers and take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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Wholesale Women's Clothing - SaleHoo Seller Spotlight

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:09:59 +0000

Hearing about SaleHoo member's successes, however big or small, is my favorite part about my job at SaleHoo and today, I'm pleased to be able to share Dana's story with you. Dana has experienced some tremendous successes in her time selling wholesale women's clothing!

Check out her profile below and if you have any questions or thoughts, be sure to leave a comment.

If you are a SaleHoo member and would like to feature on our blog, get in touch.

Name: Dana

Forum username: DPS103

What items do you sell? Mostly famous catalog clothing for women and department store clothing and handbags.

Where do you sell them? I have sold in bulk on Liquidation.com for a couple years. I have also sold in 1 day liquidation sales in large venues. Now all of my sales are done on eBay. I am currently researching alternate selling sites.

How long have you been a member of SaleHoo, and what do you like most about it? I have been a SaleHoo member for just over 2 years. I love SaleHoo! It's a great community of people who are not only the most knowledgeable in online selling, but they are happy to answer questions and share their experiences.

What one piece of advice do you have for other sellers? Research. Research. Research. Don't just jump in! Utilize SaleHoo to find out as much as you can before you start selling online. There is a wealth of expertise here to help you from making costly mistakes.

What was the biggest obstacle you've had to overcome in selling online? eBay's degradation & disregard for their sellers.

What's your favorite thing about making money from selling items online?

For many years, I was the sole owner/operator of a retail clothing store in CT. At certain times of the year, the store was open 7 days a week & it was a very busy place.

Every day, I was responsible for the staff, buying, bookkeeping, rearranging the floor plan, window displays, hiring, firing, payroll, scheduling, training, customers with issues, delivery deadlines...etc...

Now that I am an online seller, thanks to SaleHoo, here is an example of a typical day for me:

Wake up any time I feel like it.
Drink as much coffee as I want without rushing
Open my laptop to check for customer questions
Package & ship sold items were payment has cleared.

Did I mention I'm still in PJ's & fuzzy slippers?

For me, the most time consuming part of online selling is taking the photos & posting the inventory. There are days I work 10-12 hours picturing & posting. But I choose the day & I have the option to stop and finish whenever I want

Now I have the freedom to go to the gym, have lunch with friends, have dinner with my family. The possibilities are endless because I can make my own hours & I don't have the constant pressure of a staff. I'm the staff and I love my boss!

You can check out Dana's eBay My World and listings here: http://myworld.ebay.com/dps103

Lego - Monday Market of the Week

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:29:05 +0000

Growing up, I recalled how my brothers went crazy over their Lego’s and I never imagined that these toys would stay in demand several years later! With the ever-growing number of parents who love spoiling their children, coupled with all the new Lego toys emerging,this certainly is a niche worth exploring.

To check if we have indeed found a good niche, let’s consult the SaleHoo Research Lab.

Sell-through Rate: Did you really find a hot niche?

Our Research Lab shows us that Lego has a sell through rate of 50.59% meaning we are well within our target sell through rate of between 50%-60%.

Median End Price: Is there enough room for profit?

The average selling price for each Lego sold on eBay is $24.55 and depending on the type of Lego you want to sell, some of our wholesalers are selling Lego’s for as low as $9.95 giving you ample room for a decent mark up.

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: How viable is your market?

A huge number of sellers are currently selling Lego’s on eBay, with roughly 80,880 sellers we are definitely are up against a big market. But don’t let the competition discourage you. If you checked the total number of bids which basically gives us a rough idea of our market demand for Lego’s, I bet you’re smiling now – with 572,496 bids on 276,596 listings, there‘s almost 2 bids per listing! This means that while there is a lot of supply for Lego on eBay, there is also a high demand.

Data Trends: Are sellers hitting their target?

Using the SaleHoo Research Lab, we can also check how other sellers selling Lego’s are faring on eBay, in terms of the total number of items sold, the total revenue and average revenue – that’s how great our Research Lab is! You get to check your market before putting out any cash from your wallets.

When I went over the graph for total revenue I was at awe when I saw the highest income recorded last November 28, 2011 at $318,591.89 while the lowest one was far from low at $95,600.98. Imagine the potential income you can gain from selling Lego’s!

Going beyond eBay: How popular is Lego online?

Not everything happens on eBay, with the many new auction sites and private web stores, it is best to check just how popular our product is online. To help us check whether Lego is indeed popular beyond eBay, we can turn to Traffic Travis, a free SEO software program. You can get your very own Traffic Travis software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

What do these numbers mean?

There are over 3 million people around the globe searching for Lego with at least a million in the US alone. Is that popular enough for you? It sure is for me!

With the figures shown above, imagine how much traffic you can direct to your online store or eBay listings. This is definitely something to look into.

Trusted Lego Wholesale Suppliers

Lego supplier #1

A wholesale supplier and distributor of toys, action figures, collectible statues, prop replicas, television and movie memorabilia, comic book figures, board games, pop culture toys, dolls, gifts, sports action figures and more. They accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover/Novus, American Express, and JCB debit and credit cards. They also accept money orders and cashier's checks. They can ship to most countries worldwide.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Lego supplier #2

Their main products are toys and costumes. They carry the latest collectible toys, action figures, replicas/props, statues/busts and other collectible items. Their selection varies from mass-market toys (dolls, sports figures, etc), specialty market toys (limited edition props, statues, etc), imported toys not available in the US, and their ever-expanding costume section (over 2000 costumes & props). They ship to all 50 states and virtually every country worldwide. All shipments within Illinois will be charged 8% sales tax. They accept major credit cards through PayPal and Google Checkout.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Lego supplier #3

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of Lego wholesale suppliers as well take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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eBay Alternatives: The rise and fall since 2009

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:32:16 +0000

In 2009, I made a list of alternative places to sell items so that eBay users could test some new markets, and newbie sellers can see the options outside of selling on eBay.

Among other things, my list of marketplaces showcased their fees and levels of traffic, both of which are important for all online retailers.

I recently updated this list, over two years later, and found some interesting results, particularly in regard to the change in the levels of traffic coming to these sites.

I’ve listed these findings below so that you can check out which ‘alternative’ marketplaces have grown the most and which have slid a little.

Check it out below. If you’re surprised by the results or sell on any of these marketplaces, let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Note: Traffic ratings are based on data from Alexa.com and based on using a combination of average daily visitors and page views over the last three months. The lower the rank, the more visitors the site gets. For example, Google.com has a ranking of 1 because it is the most visited website in the world.

Bonanza.com (was ‘Bonanzle.com’ in 2009)

2009 Fees: Free to list items and final value fees ranging from $1-$5

2011 Fees: Free to list items and 3.5% flat rate final value fees ranging from $0.50-$17.50

2009 Traffic rating: 10,863

2011 Traffic rating: A rise to 5,554 (remember, the lower the number here, the higher the traffic levels. For example, Google the most visited website in the world, has a rank of 1)

My two cents: Since 2009, Bonanza has emerged as the new darling among marketplaces and seen some incredible growth. The raise in fees mirrors a raise in traffic which is a trend you will see in the other sites below who also saw growth in traffic rates.

Amazon.com

2009 Fees: Final value fees of 8-15% plus a closing fee of around $0.60

2011 Fees: Pay a referral fee of 6-25%, a variable closing fee ($0.80-$1.35) and a fixed fee of 0.99 cents. Note: The $0.99 per-item fee is waived for Pro Merchant Subscribers.

Complicated enough for you?

2009 Traffic rating: 29

2011 Traffic rating: A rise to 14

My two cents: A jump from a traffic rating of 29 to a very impressive 14 echoes Amazon’s rapid rate of growth in the last couple of years. Their fees however, which were already on the high end of the spectrum are a sore point among some sellers there.

Etsy.com

2009 Fees: $0.20 per listing and 3.5% final value fee

2011 Fees: No change

2009 Traffic rating: 507

2011 Traffic rating: A rise to 177

My two cents: The only marketplace on my list who saw huge growth in traffic, but didn’t increase their fees. The leap from a 507 traffic rank to 177 is fantastic also. High five, Etsy!

Craigslist.org

2009 Fees: Free (unless posting a job or service in some areas)

2011 Fees: No change!

2009 Traffic rating: 26

2011 Traffic rating: A drop to 36

My two cents: I was surprised by Craigslist’s drop in traffic rank but it’s important to note that Craigslist may not have actually experienced a reduction in traffic, but other sites might have simply overtaken them due to the web seeing an overall increase in traffic.

Gumtree.com

2009 Fees: Generally free, some small fees apply to some categories or to listing upgrades

2011 Fees: No change!

2009 Traffic rating: 763

2011 Traffic rating: A drop to 941

My two cents: It’s great to see that this grass-roots marketplace has remained mostly free to use. The drop in traffic is a significant one, but like Craigslist, may not have actually seen a drop in their actual traffic, they may simply have been overtaken by other websites that are rapidly gaining popularity.

What changes in marketplace traffic and fees have you noticed recently? Leave a comment below.

Coffee Makers - Monday Market of the Week

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:53:38 +0000

How do you start your day? Like 54% of the adults in the US, I start mine with a warm cup of coffee! According to the National Coffee Association (US), 86% of coffee consumers enjoy their coffee at home. With such promising data, coffee makers definitely sound like a good niche to invest in!

Let’s investigate further using our Research Lab!

Sell-through Rate: Will you make enough sales?

Coffee makers have a sell through rate of 54.10% which makes it an ideal niche to invest in.

Remember, it’s best to sell products that have at least a 50%-60% sell through rate.

Median End Price: Do the number work?

The median price is the average selling price per unit sold for the month of November. Checking through our featured suppliers I was able to find a Cusinart Coffee maker for only $37.95 so the median price of $66.70 will certainly give you a good profit!

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: Scoping out the competition

Although you will be competing with 12,930 sellers on eBay, there are obviously more than enough bids to go around with only 15,798 listings with 56,885 buyers bidding on those listings.

Data Trends: What are other sellers earning?

Our Research Lab gives you a rough idea of the market you are about to dive into. You can easily check the total number of items sold, total revenue and average revenue.

Referring to the graph below you can easily see that coffee maker sellers are definitely making money with the highest income recorded at $68,569.13 last November 28, 2011 while the lowest one was recorded last November 11 at $21,848.43 which is still relatively high considering that the amount is a 5 figure amount!

Going beyond eBay: Are web users searching Google for Coffee makers?

To help us verify just how in demand coffee makers are even outside of eBay we refer to our free SEO software. Get your very own Traffic Travis software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

Just how popular are coffee makers?

What do these numbers mean?

There are at least 33,100 searches worldwide and 14,800 searches in the US for the month of November. The numbers appear reasonable and convincing!

For comparative purposes, I also showed the search results for coffee makers which have slightly higher search counts than coffee maker which means you might be able to direct a bit more traffic using the keyword coffee makers. Either way, if you are ranking well in search engines, you’ll be sure to get ample traffic to your online store or eBay listings.

Reliable Coffee Makers Suppliers

Coffee Makers supplier #1

The world's largest online gourmet coffee and tea company, they are known for offering the highest quality of coffees, they also offer other items including gourmet teas, gourmet candies, and beverage accessories. They accept major credit cards. They ship to many countries around the world.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Coffee Makers supplier #2

A family owned and operated business offering one of the largest selections of quality gourmet espresso, coffee and tea products. They accept major credit cards including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover, as well as checks and money orders. Sales tax is charged to Ohio deliveries only at a rate of 6.5% applied to taxable items and shipping and handling charges per state requirements.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Coffee Makers supplier #3

They offer the finest name brand kitchen tools at great prices and provide personal service both before and after your purchase. They carry brands like Bosch, Cuisinart, Nesco, Kuhn Rikon, Norpro, Chef's Choice, Edgecraft, Berkey, and more! They accept credit cards - Visa, MasterCard and Discover, checks and money orders. They offer a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Sales tax will only be charged to orders shipped to a Nebraska address. Ground shipping to the 48 United States is free on orders that total over $99 (terms and conditions apply). Orders for shipment to AK, HI, Canada, and international destinations can be arranged. Warranties for products they sell are offered and provided solely by the product's manufacturer.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of coffee makers suppliers as well take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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Optimize Your eBay Photos with Windows Live Photo Gallery

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:36:31 +0000

This is a guest post written by Lace Llanora from The Wholesale Forums, the UK’s leading B2B networking community & advice forum for wholesalers, distributors, importers, dropshippers and retailers. You can follow them on Twitter and on Facebook.

Not all photos are created equal. Successful eBay sellers know that only top notch imagery deserve a spot on their listings. But don’t sign-up for a $100 photography class just yet, continue reading and discover how easy it is to enhance your product shots to boost your eBay profits!

Windows Live Photo Gallery – Totally Free

Surprise! Windows Live Photo Gallery could be already installed in your computer, so go ahead and browse for it under the Programs menu. Don’t despair if you can’t find it - download Windows Live Photo Gallery, absolutely free.

Image adjustment tools explained

Photo Gallery has awesome yet simple editing tools to improve the appearance of your photos. Does your photo appear too heavy on one side? You can automatically straighten it with a click (you’ll see how below). Other adjustments include exposure, color settings, noise reduction, and more. Continue reading for each tool’s explanation.

Exposure

Unlike complicated photo editing software (read: Photoshop), Photo Gallery has a more user-friendly interface that’s easy to understand. For instance, if you choose to adjust exposure – you won’t be presented with numbers and scales but thumbnail buttons that display varying modes:

Choose exposure adjustment to enhance your photo’s mid-tone. Here’s an example of a product image before and after an adjusted exposure.

Notice how a correct level of exposure easily provides a clean, professional-looking background for your item? Now this product shot would look even better - if only the item looked upright! So, if we click on the straighten button we’ll end up with an even more professional-looking photo as seen on Figure 3.

Noise Reduction

Ever produced a photo that’s too grainy? Digital cameras are susceptible to noise which produce a grainy image. Noise can be picked up from a variety of sources but all it takes is one click for noise to be reduced. Here’s an example of a grainy photo whose noise is auto reduced with Photo Gallery:

Again, all you have to do is click on the ‘noise reduction’ button once, if the image is too reduced that details are blurred – you can select ‘fine tune’ wherein you can adjust noise reduction manually.

Retouch

If like most sellers, you want your photos to be flawless then you’ll love the ‘retouch’ feature of Photo Gallery. In the example above (using the cooking sheet), you’ll see that the background image is a bit crumpled and that’s because a white sheet of paper is used to act as a background. Now let’s try to eliminate that using the ‘retouch’ tool.

Select the retouch tool and drag a rectangle on the ugly spots on your photo (check out the sub-illustration). The larger image shows how Photo Gallery automatically fixed the crumpled area.

Auto Adjust

So no matter how easy it is to use the tools above, Photo Gallery has added a feature especially for the lazy bones or let’s say, you’re in a real hurry to upload images on eBay. Load your image onto Photo Gallery and simply select ‘Auto Adjust’ and it will do just that. No more tinkering with each tool but again, you can manually adjust elements by selecting ‘Fine Tune’.

More eBay Photography Tips

Take photos during the day because natural light always makes for attractive photos. Read more tips on How to Take Fantastic Photos for eBay.

You don’t need to break the bank to produce great shots. You don’t even need to buy a light box – you can replicate the ‘light box effect’ even without one! Dive into our community discussion How to Take Good eBay Product Photos Without a Lightbox

Own your photos. You spent precious time taking those shots and processing them with Photo Gallery – don’t let anyone steal your work! Use a watermarking software to label your photos and complain without contest to eBay when you see your images on another’s listing. For starters, you can use simple programs like Microsoft’s Paint to insert a label on your image - but make sure it can’t be cropped easily.

Have you tried using Windows Live Photo Gallery? What’s your experience and how has it improved your listings? Share your thoughts and experiences below!

RC Cars - Monday Market of the Week

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:42:04 +0000

We are all big kids at heart! Our featured niche this week is definitely a toy that is not easily out grown. Radio controlled, or 'RC' cars are popular even among the not so young ones and some hobbyist are known to really open their wallets when it comes to RC cars.

Sell-through Rate: Will you make enough sales?

After doing several searches on our Research Lab, I was certainly glad to find that RC cars has a sell-through rate of 56.54%, which means that our goal of selling products with a 50-60% sell-through rate has been satisfied.

Median End Price: Do the number work?

This depends on the type of RC car you plan to sell. The featured median price is within a profitable range, based on our suppliers wholesale prices. In fact, one of our featured suppliers is actually having a sale and selling RC cars for as low as $8.95!

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: Scoping out the competition

As of October, there are only 711 listings made by only 690 sellers on eBay with a total of 1,584 bids. You can easily see that the market is not saturated, with a rough ratio of at least 2 bids per listing. Good market to invest in, right?

Data Trends: What are other sellers earning?

Our Research Lab also allows you to check the selling trend for any given product. So even before you start buying stock you will already have a rough idea of the market you will be venturing into by checking the number of items sold, total revenue and average revenue.

As shown on the graph below RC cars sellers are making a reasonable amount of money on a daily basis. With the highest income recorded at $2,290.78 last October 6, 2011.

Going beyond eBay: Are web users searching Google for RC cars?

Using our reliable keyword tool, Traffic Travis we can see if RC cars are popular outside of eBay. You can download your free SEO software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

It lets you check how many people are searching for RC cars which will give you a rough estimate as to how popular RC cars are beyond eBay.

What do these numbers mean?

As you can see in the screenshot above, with at least 110,000 searches worldwide and 60,500 searches in the US for the month of October, RC cars is definitely a good product choice!

If you notice I also showed the search results for remote control cars which basically is the same thing with RC cars, yet look at the big difference in the total search counts. This shows the importance of using the correct keyword in your listings, so be sure to use the more popular one at all times so you can direct the needed traffic to your online store or eBay listings.

Reliable RC Cars Suppliers

RC cars supplier #1

Offers the latest in remote control toys and hobby items, they accept credit cards - Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. They do not ship to any destination outside the United States at this time.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

RC cars supplier #2

One of the world's best online distributors of radio-controlled models including planes, tanks, cars, boats and helicopters, they also offer stock spare parts for all their advanced models. Wholesale and drop ship programs are available. They accept major credit and debit cards, PayPal, bank transfers, cash or postal orders, and cheques. They can ship worldwide.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

RC cars supplier #3

They offer a huge range of airsoft guns, RC toys and many other toys. They accept credit cards, money orders, and bank wire transfers as forms of payment. International orders are welcome.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of RC cars suppliers as well take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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BPA Free Pacifiers - Monday Market of the Week

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:59:36 +0000

This week’s niche is one that most, if not all, babies can’t live without – a pacifier! It’s sometimes referred to as a paci, a nuk, a binky or a dummy. Most mother’s use them to pacify their babies or help them sleep.

A few weeks back we featured BPA free baby bottles and coincidentally BPA free pacifiers are selling just as well!

Again, BPA is Bisphenol A. This chemical has been known to be found in the plastic lining of canned foods and polycarbonate plastics, especially those that are cleaned with harsh detergents or those which contain acidic or high-temperature liquids. Constant exposure is said to result in health conditions like cancer and may affect neurological development in fetuses and infants.

Time to check out trusty Research Lab and see just how well our niche is doing in the market!

Sell-through Rate: Will you make enough sales?

As of October BPA free pacifiers have a sell-through rate of 69.29%, definitely well within the good range set for sell through rates. Buyers are indeed looking to buy BPA free pacifiers!

Always remember our magic number is at least 50%-60%.

Median End Price: Do the number work?

The median end price of BPA free pacifiers is $5.37. I checked our recommended suppliers and found out that you can get one pacifier at less than $3 making them a profitable niche! When you buy in larger bulk, you can expect even lower prices.

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: Scoping out the competition

The SaleHoo Research Lab allows you to check if your product of choice has a promising market or one which is already saturated.

With 384 bids made on 150 listings by 140 sellers we have definitely found a promising niche with plenty of room for you to start listing your own products!

Data Trends: What are other sellers earning?

Knowing the market before pushing through with your investment is essential in your success. The Research Lab gives you the chance to take a sneak peak through its data trends feature. Here you can see figures for the number of items sold, total revenue and average revenue for your chosen niche.

The graph below shows us that last October 9, BPA free pacifiers’ sellers reached their highest total revenue of $194.

Notice how our graph ended with a rising trend!

Going beyond eBay: Are web users searching Google for BPA free baby pacifiers?

To stay competitive on and off eBay you have to take your market research beyond eBay.

Checking just how many people search for BPA free pacifiers on the net may help you direct more traffic to your online store or eBay listing. To help you check if people are searching for your keyword, I recommend getting your own Traffic Travis software. You can download your free SEO software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

What do these numbers mean?

In a month, there are only 73 searches globally and another 58 searches in the US. The numbers look a bit less than expected.

But please do not rely completely on the number of searches on Google. It doesn’t necessarily mean that if there are low search counts on Google the product is not being sought after by potential buyers.

Trusted BPA Free Baby Bottles Suppliers

BPA Free Pacifiers Supplier #1

A B2B supplier of wholesale name-brand general merchandise closeouts such as stationery, school supplies, office supplies, hardware supplies, kitchenware, toys, party supplies, baby products, gift bags, greeting cards, and more. They accept major credit cards and PayPal as forms of payment. Sales tax applies to all orders shipped to California unless a resale number is provided.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

BPA Free Pacifiers Supplier #2

They are the US’ first specialty distributor of exclusively natural and sustainable products. Serving retailers and e-tailers, they provide blind fulfillment/drop ship services offering a wide variety of green and eco-friendly products. Light bulk purchasing is also available. They accept major credit cards and PayPal as forms of payment. They only ship to US and Canada addresses at this time.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

BPA Free Pacifiers Supplier #3

Offering premium quality products at competitive wholesale pricing, they also offer blind dropshipping. They accept credit cards – American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover, as well as PayPal, checks, money orders, cash orders, and wire transfers. International orders are accepted.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

BPA Free Pacifiers Supplier #4

They are your number one source for wholesale closeouts and liquidations. Payments accepted include credit cards - MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover, as well as PayPal. They can ship to most countries worldwide.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

BPA Free Pacifiers Supplier #5

Host to over 20,000 herbal supplements, natural remedies, sports nutrition, organic food and grocery, vitamins, minerals and alternative medicine products. Whether you are a small or large retailer, alternative health provider, individual with a broad network of associates or a large distributor, Alternative Health Care has a reseller program designed just for you. Anyone can sell their products but they do require that you have the appropriate tax information that your state or local laws require. Wholesale and drop ship options are available at no extra cost. Fully managed drop ship websites are also available for a fee. They accept most major credit cards, wire transfers, money orders and Western Union.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of BPA free pacifiers suppliers as well take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above then sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including a few eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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Increase Your Products Visibility with Google Merchant Center

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:02:07 +0000

As online selling grows to become an attractive occupation, it’s no surprise how competitive the online marketplace has become. If you haven’t heard of Google Merchant Center, keep on reading to discover how it can help your products stand out.

What is Google Merchant Center and how’s it different from Google Base?

Google Merchant Center was formerly known as Google Base but provides a better, more optimized experience specifically for product listings. This free tool relies on data feeds that merchants submit so that products are easily found on Google Product Search (items occasionally show up in a regular Google Search too!). I’ll tell you more about data feeds but first, let’s find out if Google Merchant Center is for you.

Who can use Google Merchant Center?

Online retailers who run their own websites or e-shops are free to use Google Merchant Center. If you are an individual marketplace seller (i.e. on Amazon or eBay), you should submit your data directly from the marketplace and the marketplace should submit the items to the Merchant Center on your behalf. According to Google, marketplaces are responsible for answering Merchant Center-related questions from their individual marketplace sellers.

Creating your first Product Data Feed

After signing up with Google Merchant Center, you will be required to submit a product data feed – simply put this is a list of items with their respective attributes like availability, price, URL, and image. It may sound complicated but actually it’s not. Anyone can do it using a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel but be sure to save your work as “tab deliminated” or in .txt. Here’s an example of a simple product data feed:

Click here for a list of other attributes you can use in Google Merchant Center. Now that you have your Product Data Feed ready, you can choose to upload the file directly via the Data Feeds Page or upload it to your website and set a regular schedule for Google to download the file from your website and upload it to your account.

Easy peasy! Now your products can enjoy the attention they deserve whether on Google Product Search, Google.com or even on Mobile Product Search and Google Shopper for Android. Don’t fret if you don’t see your listings right away, it takes several weeks for your items to be reviewed if submitting for the first time. Remember to regularly update your feed to reflect new items and to keep abreast with changes in the Merchant Center. Bookmark and follow the Google Commerce Blog to stay a step ahead.

Do you submit your products to the Google Merchant feed? If so, have you noticed any difference in traffic levels to your listings/store? Share your thoughts and experiences below!

Nintendo DS Games - Monday Market of the Week

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:07:53 +0000

Electronic products are one of the more popular products sellers wants to sell. Electronic gadgets are a favourite niche among sellers but it’s a common notion that the competition among electronic sellers is quite stiff, and that good profits can be hard to come by. So rather than battling with high competition, why not sell an electronic accessory instead?

Using SaleHoo’s Research Lab I was able to narrow down my search and discovered a really promising accessory - Nintendo DS games.

Let’s investigate further and see if we have indeed found a good niche!

Sell-through Rate: Will you make enough sales?

One of the most important numbers to check before considering any product is the sell through rate. A product with a sell through of 50% or more is worth a closer look.

Nintendo DS games have a 66.83% sell through rate so we definitely found ourselves a good niche.

Median End Price: Do the number work?

The price of Nintendo DS games may vary depending on the release date but the most affordable ones I saw were being sold by wholesalers at $5 each making the median end price of $44.86 very profitable.

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: Scoping out the competition

So far we've checked our chances of successfully selling Nintendo DS games, now it’s time to take a closer look at the actual market for this product.

Currently there are 5,568 live listings made by 4,050 sellers on eBay. The number seems big but if you check the total bids being made by potential buyers you’ll easily be awed! As of October there were 30,400 bids made on only 5,568 listings. This means that the supply and demand for this product is very favorable for eBay sellers!

Data Trends: What are other sellers earning?

So just how well are Nintendo DS games sellers doing?

Using our Research Lab you can easily see the sales trend for the games. You can check the number items sold, total revenue and average revenue. This gives you a quick view of the market you are about to invest in.

Based on the graph below you can easily see that sellers are definitely making money selling Nintendo DS games, with the highest total revenue of $8,915.44 and the lowest total revenue of $4,039.56 which is still relatively high!

Going beyond eBay: Are web users searching Google for Nintendo DS games

With a product as promising as this we shouldn’t limit our research just to eBay. Instead, let’s check just how many people are in search for Nintendo DS games worldwide. A tool that’s really easy to use for keyword research is Traffic Travis. You can download your free SEO software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

Traffic Travis lets you check how popular Nintendo DS games are in search engines like Google and gives you an approximate idea of the potential traffic you can direct to your online store or eBay listings.

What do these numbers mean?

For the month of October there were at least 49,500 searches worldwide for Nintendo DS games on Google and 18,100 searches were made within the US alone.

To illustrate further the importance of using the correct set of keywords, I included the keyword Nintendo games which has roughly half the search counts as Nintendo DS games. So if you are selling Nintendo DS games be sure to list them as ‘Nintendo DS games’.

Reliable Nintendo DS Games Suppliers

Nintendo DS games supplier #1

Buy blockbuster movies for under $4 and video games starting at $5.49. They have the lowest wholesale DVD and video Game game prices in the business. Over 1,500 wholesale DVD titles in stock. All stocks are new/sealed and official NTSC product.

Free UPS shipping on all USA orders over $300. International shipping available via USPS express mail international, fully insured (free shipping does not apply). Gladly accept all major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express).

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Nintendo DS games supplier #2

This company began buying and selling used video games in 1989. They currently sell new and used video games and accessories for virtually all game systems dating back to the Atari 2600 through the current PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP and Nintendo DS systems. The company offers wholesale and drop shipping services. They have an online store and also sell their products through eBay. Their online wholesale price list is updated several times per week with actual inventory and price changes. They accept PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, wire transfer and cashier's check. They ship worldwide.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Nintendo DS games supplier #3

A wholesale video game distributor that offers the most complete selection of video games, offering them at wholesale prices to video stores and commercial outlets across the country. They provide expedient shipping with an unconditional, 30-day guarantee. They also offer free posters & POP displays, as well as tracking services to hunt down any special requests within 10 business days.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Nintendo DS games supplier #4

They are a worldwide wholesale distributor of video games offering a wide array of products that range from software to hardware and accessories. They accept major credit cards and PayPal as forms of payment.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Nintendo DS games supplier #5

They hold a vast range of games and consoles across many of the most popular formats, which include Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, XBOX and XBOX 360. They accept major credit and debit cards, as well as bank transfers as forms of payment. They ship worldwide.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of Nintendo DS games suppliers as well take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

Making sure you are ready for Cyber Monday

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 01:28:53 +0000

As part of SaleHoo's partnership with Addoway.com, business mogul and Co Founder of Addoway, Fredrick Nijm has agreed to shared some of his entrepreneurial wisdom with you, our faithful blog readers.

Cyber Monday is just days away and if you haven’t been preparing, then it’s going to be a very busy week for you. The majority of sellers rely heavily on their marketplaces to drive traffic coupled with Bing and Google sending everyone their way. If you have Google analytics set up or any other analytics for that matter, I am sure you are noticing higher traffic this month then last. This is because shoppers are comparison shopping and they will continue to do that for the next several weeks even long after Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over. It might not seem like you have much control over getting buyers to your stores, but you actually do.

Educate and Inform - If you have a Facebook Fan Page and you spend time on forums and other social sites like Twitter spend the time educating on your product line and on the specials you have or will be launching soon. Write a blog post about what you are giving away and what shoppers can expect from you this time of the year. Ask questions everywhere you can to generate engagement from others. The more content the better this time of the year!

Offer Free Shipping - If you are offering free shipping this year, then you should sign up for Free Shipping Day at freeshippingday.com and you should send out emails to your old buyers letting them know you are offering it for the holidays. They already know what it is like to buy from you, so give them that extra incentive to buy again and you are sure to get some easy orders this time of the year.

Combine Deals with Friends - Make friends with a fellow seller and set up a combined deal between your stores this holiday. Promote one another and help drive business as a team. It might seem like you are in this business alone, but there is no reason to feel like that during the holiday season. I know some sellers actually get together and do group specials with three different stores. Think about it, you are getting two other sellers promoting your store as you do the same for each of them. It’s a win-win this time of year!

Make a Holiday Video and post it YouTube and then share - On Addoway you have the ability to post this video in your stores, so when shoppers visit for the first time, they can actually get a real good idea of who you are before they buy. Eliminate angst in the buying cycle and you will see orders flying through. The video can be about you wishing everyone a happy holiday or it can be about how sales have been or even make it about introducing yourself and your product line and thanking everyone for stopping by.

Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you spend the time preparing. It is also easy to get all caught up in the busy work, but don’t forget holidays are for spending time with our families, so always remember what we are all in this for in the end. Good luck and happy selling!

Oakley Sunglasses - Monday Market of the Week

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:33:58 +0000

A pair of really good looking sunglasses is an accessory everyone should have! It just so happens that one of the most sought after sunglasses’ brands is Oakley and the data from our Research Lab shows us just how profitable a niche they can be!

Not convinced? Let’s take a closer look at how in demand Oakley sunglasses are.

Sell-through Rate: Will you make enough sales?

With my previous searches on the Research Lab, branded products usually did not have a very promising sell through rate but with a sell through rate of 68.17% Oakley sunglasses are definitely promising!

When you do research using the SaleHoo Research Lab, keep in mind that, ideally it’s best to sell products with a sell through rate of at least 50%-60%.

Median End Price: Do the number work?

As of September 2011, the median end price for a pair of Oakley sunglasses is $87.85. Remember that the median end price is the average price that the item sold for the month before and basically gives you an idea of how much the item sold for.

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: Scoping out the competition

So just how good is the market for Oakley sunglasses? Based on the data gathered by our Research Lab, you can see that there are twice as many listings as there are sellers but look closer and you’ll see that there is at least five times are many bidders as there are listings!

Although there are currently 18,854 listings from 9,150 sellers, there are also currently 96,196 bids on eBay alone. The market definitely looks good.

Data Trends: What are other sellers earning?

Using our Research Lab you can also check the number of items sold, total revenue and average revenue within a one month period. The Data Trends feature helps you see when your product’s sales peaked and when it didn't do too good on eBay.

The graph below shows the total revenue made by sellers selling Oakley sunglasses from August 30 to October 1. Within those dates the highest total revenue was $54,764.40 while the lowest total revenue was $36,096.12 which is still relatively high.

Going beyond eBay: Are web users searching Google for Oakley sunglasses?

Get to direct potential traffic towards your online store or eBay listing by checking just how many people are searching for your product on Google. My tool of choice for keyword research is Traffic Travis. You can download your free SEO software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

Using Traffic Travis you can check how many people are searching for Oakley sunglasses in search engines like Google.

What do these numbers mean?

For the month of September, there were 165,000 searches globally and another 110,000 searches in the US alone clearly showing that people are indeed searching for the perfect pair of Oakley Sunglasses!

Although the number of searches are high you have to take into consideration that some of these people searching on Google may not necessarily be buyers rather sellers checking out their competition.

Trusted Oakley Sunglasses Suppliers

Oakley Sunglasses Supplier #1

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Oakley Sunglasses Supplier #2

They have been selling quality watches and sunglasses for nearly ten years. They accept major credit cards for payment and can ship worldwide.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Oakley Sunglasses Supplier #3

This company, which has been trading online for over 8 years, is one of Europe's largest distributors of 100% genuine designer sunglasses and accessories. In terms of authenticity, all their products come with various means of demonstrating authenticity ranging from holographic markings on sunglasses, branded care leaflets, and manufacturers and brand labelling. You need to register as a wholesale user to qualify for wholesale prices. They accept major credit cards. They can ship worldwide.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of Oakley sunglasses suppliers as well take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above, sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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Personalized Party Favors - Monday Market of the Week

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 01:57:20 +0000

A personal touch is something that makes everyone smile! Our niche for this week is all about that little personal touch that makes everything just a bit more special.

This week we are going to check just how well the market is for personalized party favors with the help of our trusty Research lab.

Just how profitable is a personalized party favor as a niche?

Sell-through Rate: Will you make enough sales?

With a sell through rate of 66.08% we’ve definitely hit our target, looking at this percentage we can say that this a good market to check out.

Remember that you should consider selling products with 50%-60% sell through rate.

Median End Price: Do the number work?

The wholesale prices of personalized party favors vary depending on the type you select, but the cheapest one I saw a personalized cappuccino baby shower favor costs as low as $1.30 each which makes the median rate of $11.04 reasonably profitable.

Total Listings, Total Bids and Total Sellers: Scoping out the competition

Now we know how well you can sell personalized party favors on eBay, we should also check on the market demand and of course the competition!

Based on the data gathered by our Research Lab, you can see that there are 1019 bids for 451 listings by 390 sellers. There is more than twice the number of bids as there are listings. Good sign? Definitely!

Data Trends: What are other sellers earning?

The Research lab also has graphs to show you the number of items sold, total revenue and average revenue to provide you with a more concrete picture.

As shown in the graph below, last September 29, the total revenue was at it’s highest at $712.40. Although the lowest total revenue is a bit low at $79.76, the graph clearly shows that on most days sellers are indeed making a decent number of sales.

Going beyond eBay: Are web users searching Google for personalized party favors?

With a niche as promising as personalized party favors it is worth the extra research to check just how much traffic we can get outside of eBay. So you can tap and direct traffic towards your store or eBay listing. For easy keyword research, Traffic Travis is my tool of choice. You can download your free SEO software by visiting www.traffictravis.com

With the help of Traffic Travis I am able to illustrate how important it is to select and use the correct keyword or set of keywords, I also searched for personalized party favors and notice the big difference in the search volume! The keyword ‘personalized party favors’ gets over 4,000 more searches than that of ‘personalized party favor’.

What do these numbers mean?

For the month of September, there were 4,400 searches globally and another 3,600 searches in the US which means that there is definitely a demand online for personalized party favors!

While there are a lot of monthly searches for personalized party favors, keep in mind that not everyone who is searching for these are looking to buy. Some searchers are simply looking for ideas or information on party favors.

Trusted Personalized Party Favor Suppliers

Personalized Party Favor Supplier #1

A wholesale supplier of personalized gifts and favors. Payments can be made by credit cards - Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover, as well as debit cards connected with either Visa or MasterCard. Orders shipping to PA are charged 6% sales tax. International orders are accepted. Drop shipping may be available upon request.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Personalized Party Favor Supplier #2

A leading online baby gift store for personalized and specialty baby gifts. Now offering over 500 products, the store features many keepsakes created by entrepreneurial moms and family owned businesses. They accept MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover credit cards, as well as personal checks and money orders. They offer a drop ship program and charge a small drop ship fee of $2.25 per order. They ship to various international destinations.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

Personalized Party Favor Supplier #3

One of the fastest growing online shopping superstore in today's marketplace. They design and manufacture bags, rubber toys and a huge range of merchandise. Sales tax applies to orders shipped within the state of California. They accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express. They only ship within the United States at this time.

View their SaleHoo listing (requires SaleHoo account)

To access our list of personalized party favor suppliers as well take advantage of SaleHoo’s brand new Research Lab mentioned above then sign up as a SaleHoo member now.

Inside you will get access to over 8000 suppliers, comprehensive training to help you find the best products to sell online and access to our members only forum full of tips and secrets from other members (including eBay Powersellers) to help you make money online. Join SaleHoo today

See you next Monday!

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