What are the first steps to do before selling online?

ausafk123

Hello Everyone,

I have just joined this site and read different post here. I'm getting kind of confused about selling products.

Can you guys please guide me?

Should I start with dropshipping or buying products from wholesaler and sell on eBay?

Some people said I should find a niche to sell. What are niche items? What does that mean? Some say look for liquidation products. Whare can I find those products? And to do a research about the product before you sell them. What does that mean?

Lastly, I have found some wholesale websites but how can I be sure they are wholesalers and not middlemen?

If you could please clear this confusion so I can finally start selling.

Thanks a lot guys for all the help! I would really appreciate replies.

planes

Welcome to Salehoo!

Niche means, in this business, an item which not many, or any are selling that has a public. For example, let's pick collectible coins. Lets say someone has a custom coin holder that no one else is selling. Now they could list under the coin auctions their coin holder. Say it has some feature no other holder has such as an interchangeable coin slot where any size coin would fit. (Just making this up as I go.) Then maybe all the coin buyers would want it. What would make it even more of a niche is if this seller was making the item. That would mean no other buyer could source this item. So until another seller makes a similar item the original seller would have cornered the market. Any buyer that wants this item would have to purchase from him.

In searching for products to sell, you need one very handy piece of software

found here Link hidden: Login to view

You will then be able to take any product and see if you can compete on eBay.

Once you find the product you then have to make sure the source is legit which you can do right here on Salehoo by asking. After awhile you will learn to do your own research as well.

One final word of advice is to never take a reference as fact from anyone but do your own research to see if you really can make a profit with the above tool.

Good luck.

wholesalelist101

If you are going to be selling on eBay and you are brand new I would suggest selling a few items around your house that you want to get rid of to start off. This will give you some practice and experience before you jump in head first with a wholesaler or dropshipper.

ausafk123

If you are going to be selling on eBay and you are brand new I would suggest selling a few items around your house that you want to get rid of to start off. This will give you some practice and experience before you jump in head first with a wholesaler or dropshipper.

I HAVE SOLD SOME ITEMS BEFORE

THANKS

ausafk123

You will then be able to take any product and see if you can compete on eBay.
Once you find the product you then have to make sure the source is legit which you can do right here on Salehoo by asking. After awhile you will learn to do your own research as well.
One final word of advice is to never take a reference as fact from anyone but do your own research to see if you really can make a profit with the above tool.
Good luck.

THANKYOU

bizhope

it is good learning all this cool new stuff - never know enough - thanks planes for sharing that bit of info, something else to add to my growing list of aids.

Peace

planes

Your welcome! I like to use the eBay calculator to quickly sum up a supplier. I usually pick ten items and run them through the calc. If I get through 10 items and no profit I stop and move on to the next supplier. Make sure to pick 10 items from as many different categories as possible. This gives you a good snapshot of the supplier.

Go to eBay and search for the product you are running numbers on, sign-in. Once you are, search for the product and click completed listings. This will give you the completed sales and non sales for the past week.

Then take the average price and use that as your sell price in the calc. Anything from a 2 dollar profit and under is a no go in my book unless the item is under 10 dollars. Some might argue but 3$ is my cut off point and honestly I dont sell anything with under a 5$ profit.

Some cookie cutter supplier sites I will only test 5 items.

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