SaleHoo

[T_J_Enterprises]

Dear all,

I am from the UK so forgive my English examples...Also this is a long post so get a cup of tea for this one!

I just do not belive it is possible to earn a decent income (£50 - £100 per day without fail every day) selling goods online unless you are VERY well connected OR have LOTS of money to invest.

1) Unless you buy products in MASSIVE quantaties - I.E spend $100,000 USD or more - its impossible to get prices that are worthwhile to trade on.

Think about it - If a dealer makes only 10c - $1 per item passing goods on to you. That's still a good profit on a $100,000 order of small items.

But for most people who buy maybe a few hundred or up to $20,000 (some people have clamied to buy this much stock here on salehoo) the dealer just does not make enough money to bother. Hence why most of the so called wholesale websites I have visited - sell the goods MORE expensively than can be found on ebay for example.

OK yes you can buy DVD's for a few dollars and sell them for a few dollars profit - but has anyone ever done the accounts for such a business. You spend days going through hundreds of sales with a total profit of maybe $300 and then realise you have no friends and the cat has gone mental and 2 weeks have passed cuase you were doing the accounts!!!

I KNOW for a fact this is how it works. A good friend of my dad is the No.1 importer for a very popular and very famous kids, family film, soft toy company etc. - he is based here in the UK. He had to BUY the rights to become the sole trader. He had to promise not to alter pricing or resale the goods etc. I.E. The company controls the terms of sale to protect thier profits and not oversaturate the market etc. with to much stuff at once.

What does this mean? Unless you spend all day online and happen to get lucky with some good deals. Forget it. It's just not gonna happen.

How many millions of people online think about making money selling stuff from the comfot of ones home? EVERYONE DOES.

I know its possible - but 97% waste to much time and end up getting so upset they go back to work.

Even my Chinese friends tell me many the big players/factory owners are well aware of the profits to be made in the western world. Do you think they will kindly allow us to profit from thier hard work? No chance. Hence many factories simply operate direct selling links with relatives/contacts at point of sale. Or again enforce large profits only by setting terms of trade. I.E you must invest big time for them to love you and give you prices worhwhile. Otherwise you are just another one of thousands of "excited" but clueless people to them.

For example -

I used to sell .925 jewellery a few years ago on ebay.co.uk

I started off doing very, very well. I could not believe how easy it was to make 100% - 300% profit on items. I had stumbled across an excellent whoesaler in Los Angeles, USA - The prices were so cheap at first I was a little worried it was a con.

When the goods arrived I knew I was on to a winner as the .925 mens bracelet I had bought for £25 on ebay and got excited at the vaule - was the same one but for only for about £5.00! This made me think the jewellers in the shops were having a right laugh making silly money. (however try getting insurance for shop - you need to sell your sole just to get the deposit!)

But as time passed - more and more people starting selling jewellery and my sales went from 80% - 90% to around 10% - 20%
and before long the profits were so low I would have made more money sweeping the streets at night for the local council. (no joke)

When I factor in all the hours I spent creating a very proffesional business (logo, websites, ebay template, pro photos) all done myself taking up hundreds of hours - but on the cheap. I was at a big loss overall. I.E. I was stuck with stock not selling and a very bored (now ex) girlfriend.

Example 2 - I used to make very good money buying a selling army surplus stock. Some times the deals were VERY good. I got army DPC suits (expired chemical suits - high quality jacket and trousers etc) for £2 and sold them for £30!!! But only 50 units. Maybe if I could source 1000 over and over - but then I'd feel guilty for our boys on the frint line as they seem to be short of equipment anyways.

But again - these were one offs. I found a great general supplier but they got so sick of people selling thier high quality goods for pennies online - they banned ebay selling!!!

I contacted both companies (jewelley and army stuff) and told them I wanted to make serious money. What did I need to invest to get the prices as low as possible?

An investment of at least £50,000 was required and even then the prices were not so clever.

So unless you got serious money - or you are sleeping with the boss - its not going to be easy. Take it from me.

Prove me wrong please! I've still got the bug nd I am not making enough money to satisfy my new girlfriend ;-)

All the best,
Tim

[bayericlowe]

Correction.....it is VERY possible to make a large profit selling goods online.

What it takes is careful research, and then direct, and productive, traffic.

I already have people making instant purchases from me and I have invested basically hardly ZILCH startup capital.

People from all over the world, are actively seeking out items.

The only way to do it, is research the suppliers and beat them to the punch every time. That way you are the one who knows ahead of time what item is going to be hot or not.

And now, AFTER you know the facts about that item....buy a liquidation sale or buy in bulk of a company (any) who is simply getting rid of them.

100% profits every time!

And here is something else I discovered.....the long way.

If you keep stock around, even if it is not in your possession, you can sell all of it out in weeks or months over time by simply keeping the stock fully avaialble on your front website.

Yes you can have a storefront, but the key is to put all the stock in it.

Then, no matter what isn't selling you can drive a continuous freight-train of traffic to the website (websites?) and still, sell out of all the products eventually to whomever. And they can be actively sold and thrown out all over the world, it doesn't matter then. All you need is a hard work ethic, and an automatic truckload of traffic hitting your website 24/7. The business can then finally run itself. That is the only time it becomes nearly 100% automatic. :)

[jimmy_salehoo]

Yes it is very possible. But you have to think as an online entrpenuer. You cant just sell one thing and expect that to be a permanant money maker. You have to follow trends as they change. If an item stops making money then move to another.

Times change and if you cant have something to fall back on then the only thing you will be falling back on is a full time physical job.

You have to always be on the lookout for that niche market to keep you going. I started selling just dvd's . Yeah its decent money. But I have to sell alot to keep the money comming in. I also have to work it very smart to keep from loosing money. Decide which titles are more for a lot because normally trying to sell it would be a waste of listing fees. I got to the point where I can pick through a lot and tell you by title what It will sell for and how fast.

I also find items here and there that are a guaranteed sell nomatter what. Every item sells and makes me a few bucks. Hey I might not get rich from it but that item is making me money every single listing. Then I move to other lines and risk a few bucks to see how well it works. If I loose out Oh well. Right now I think we have 11 different categories were selling in. Me and my wife are currently working nonstop. But i completely replaced the income my physical job was paying me. And now I only work part time for them. I was working 65 hours a week, Now I work about 20 just to keep my insurance. And as of this comming friday im taking a whole month off and Im not too worried about income.

Plus were home all the time. When Im waiting for listings to close I work for salehoo helping others and making a few bucks in the process. When Im not setting up auctions Im researching more Ideas.

Nobody said its an easy thing. I have literally been stuck to my computerdesk chair. I have permanant impressions on my desk from where my arms lay next to the keyboard and have rubbed off the varnish on the desk lol.

But I can gladly say I can turn around anytime My daughters ask me and not have to stress about, Oh I have to goto work. I pretty much set my own hours and work my physical job when thier asleep.

My wife is a hard shopper. Sometimes we blow all of our profits on ebay on complete crap. But I aways make sure to refresh my inventories as much as possible. That way I dont worry because I know I can start up and generate an income off of several different selling markets were into.

Were not super sellers and were not rich. We sell a total of maybe 500 items a month. But with the constant time spent researching new areas were growing our business and growing our average monthly income almost $400 to $600 per month over the previous month. If one of our markets stop making profits we will just fall back on another and keep searching for more to make money on.

Dont give up, Dont let one thing get in your way. Just move on and keep looking forward :D :D :D

[T_J_Enterprises]

Bayericlowe + Jimmy

Yes please don't get me wrong. I know its possible - I did it for a while and I understand you have to build up slowly. It's the only way becuase even if you have lots of capital its easy to get ripped off, pay to high for items that don't sell etc.

I also understand you have to keep adding to your options. For example I repair PC's build websites and sell parts to locals while my auctions run etc - But what I mean is going straght to the top to get goods as cheap as possible so its really worthwhile.

I recently contacted an new distributor for a PC monitor I have noticed is selling very well but not by many. Again I need a large investment to import them.

To me - the time it takes looking for contstant suppliers is impossible.

I do read about ebay powersellers effectivley drop shipping from large fitness companies for example - Maybe I have not been looking hard enough.

All I can say is I now it can be done. BUT it takes a lot of work and I am not there yet even after years of part time work.

Many thanks for the positive responses. I must admit I was hopeing for people to challenge what I am saying - and hopefully give me some good ideas.

Many Thanks,
Tim

[haus1028]

In my line, which is not half as big as PCs. I had my manufacturer turn me on to one of their distributors that is now dropshipping for me. I am only about a week into it but I am making about a 25-40% mark-up. I am only charged a small dropship fee per order.

[bayericlowe]

Let the suppliers come to you not the other way around....

Look at how many offerings by the hour go on at this place.

** Link Removed: Only Available to Registered Members**

Well all I can say is it is hard initial work but stays rather easy....I think my website was built in february and now I am just about to reach 2000 hits already. And you must constantly expand your products estimates....then start selling the more expensive products after you have.

Find products that are going to start selling, and you know they are and have done the research and then supply them right away until they are all gone. And always hunt for the lowest price, be actively smart...don't just pick up the first that comes to you. There are millions of suppliers, even your local flea market is one.