Let me ask you something. Are you interested in selling less inventory, making more money, and doing the bare minimum amount of work required? Of course you are. How silly of me. You might not believe me, but I'm telling you that you can do less work than you're currently doing and make more money doing it.
It's possible to make this happen. How? By taking on the tasks nobody else wants to deal with, in other words, selling items with low competition simply because they're difficult to ship.
I like to call these Pain-in-the-Ass (PITA for short) items. PITA items are large, unwieldy, heavy, and difficult to package. And though the initial process of moving this inventory might be difficult, once the business is up and running, it's much less legwork than running a high-volume online sales operation.
Making more bread with PITA items
The reason these items work so well for your business is because they're more expensive. They might require a much higher initial investment, but they will make way more money per sale. So much more, in fact, that a seller can get away with selling as few as two items per week and still make a handsome living.
Prices can be kept this high because of the lower levels of competition involved in these specialty markets. For example, take a look at the data for gas grills:
Note the average "buy it now" price for a gas grill is nearly a thousand dollars. That's not too shabby. The average sale price for one of these items is probably lower considering the metrics take into account any listing with the words "gas grills" included. That would include plenty of cheaper accessories.
The competition rating and number of listings are what's more exciting. The difficulties involved in shipping a large and unwieldy item such as a gas grill severely limit the amount of sellers you're competing with.
These are pricey, yet popular items. Everyone loves a good steak seared to perfection, and though charcoal may taste a little better, you can't beat the convenience of propane.
Let's take a look at another product: kettle bells.
Kettle bells, for the uninitiated, are ancient yet effective workout implements. They also happen to be heavy iron balls that cost quite a bit to ship. The SaleHoo Research Lab (SRL) shows again that there is a huge difference in average sale price and the "buy it now" price, but the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction this time. Again, it should be noted that the SRL collects data on all listings with the search terms included. In this case that would include instructional materials both printed and in video format.
The real takeaway here, however, is that you can sell one of these heavy iron balls to fitness enthusiasts around the world without worrying about being buried by the competition. Because that competition, as you can tell, is virtually nonexistent.
Struggles with sourcing PITA inventory
Like I said, getting started with PITA items isn't easy. Finding reliable suppliers for your inventory is especially taxing.
For one thing, it's expensive to purchase your inventory, and then you have to sell it (unless you're drop shipping, but I'll talk more about that in a moment). You'll also have to deal with high MOQs, or Minimum Order Quantities. These are the smallest volume of units a wholesale supplier is willing to sell in one go.
As I just mentioned, drop shipping is by far the best way to begin selling PITA items. It eliminates initial investment costs, allows you to perform market research, and make money to reinvest later with a different supplier.
After making some dough drop shipping, you can build a steady relationship with multiple suppliers. To do this, you should look for the three major types:
- Wholesalers
- Liquidators
- Manufacturers
Build relationships with each one by purchasing high volumes of cheaper items before inquiring about their PITA selection. But let me take a moment to get a bit more specific with the ins and outs of each of the major types of suppliers.
Wholesalers
First off, wholesalers are very reliable. They carry a wide range of items and will deliver them to you without fail. The problems begin with those pesky MOQs. A minimum order quantity on a big unit can be pretty pricey. Fortunately, a lot of wholesalers won't always have a MOQ for a PITA item, though it's completely dependent on the individual supplier.
Again, it's very important to build relationships with your supplier in order to circumvent the MOQ as well as get other perks, such as a discounted rate.
Liquidators
Liquidators are businesses that buy their products from manufacturers and stores who are trying to get rid of their stock quickly. They usually have cheaply priced brand-name items as well as some refurbished stock.
The problem with them is that some will only deal in left-over inventory, which is obviously difficult to sell because nobody bought it in the first place. Liquidators are also notoriously unreliable. Finally, they will often only sell by the palette, and that can mean you'll find broken, damaged, and downright useless stock in the middle of the palette.
Manufacturers
Getting your inventory direct from the manufacturer is the best option as far as pricing goes. Manufacturers create their products from raw materials so there is very little in the way of markup.
The only problem is they will only sell in bulk, and the average MOQ for an item straight from the manufacturer is much higher than that of a wholesaler or liquidator.
Unconventional sources
Your final sourcing option is a series of out-of-the-box solutions. You can make a great deal of profit by examining local brick-and-mortar resources such as flea markets, storage auctions, and secondhand dealers.These are likely to bring you very high profit margins, but very little in terms of unit volume.
Selling PITA items
The main problem you'll have selling PITA items, (assuming you aren't drop shipping) will all be associated with shipping costs. Once again, this is a very good reason to attempt to drop ship your PITA items before looking at other sourcing opportunities.
Shipping large and unwieldy items can be difficult: You'll have to contact freight companies, compare prices and establish relationships with reliable sources.
One quick way to find quotes for your shipping needs is by visiting Freightquote.com.
Here you can compare quotes from different shipping companies and get customized quotes for all the most awkward items in your inventory. Not only that, but you can begin building those all important relationships with your freight companies by making a high volume of shipments. This can, again, lead to better rates for you. And those are savings you can pass onto your customers.
This site is particularly helpful considering that it's a good practice to use multiple shipping companies to deliver your different items. This is because some might be better suited for a particular task, and they may be able to give you a better quote as a result.
You'll need to know all the ins and outs of your shipping costs when you're inevitably approached with questions about it from customers.
The best way of dealing with such questions is to be upfront and specific. Explain to your customers exactly how the shipping process will work, and more importantly, how much it will cost.
To recap, whenever you're selling PITA items, this is the process you must apply:
- Identify the PITA product.
- Find a drop shipping supplier.
- If no one is drop shipping your item, then use another type of supplier and research freight costs.
- Add your product to eBay, or create your own store.
- Market your product.
- Watch the conversions roll in.
Join SaleHoo today and get instant access to suppliers with fantastic deals on PITA items that you can sell to earn a full-time income each week (with minimal time spent!)
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