How does anyone really make any money?

My story: I used to work for a local bank then Large Commercial National Bank bought us out and fired all of us with the former bank. After a year I found another job that literally pays 25K less a year. Needles to say, it has been hard on me and my family.

I have been trying to make a little extra on auction sites with no luck.

I formed a corporation, got a sale tax ID and joined salehoo and another place, just to find that others on e-bay were selling the same products at prices lower than my cost to purchase them..... unless I invest thousands on inventory of products that may or may not sell.

I have been very disappointed. Since I do not have the funds at this time to invest in inventory, I need drop shippers. But all the drop shippers I have found here so far are too expensive.

My question is; can anyone rally help? I am unable to make any profit. I have a 100% rating on e-bay, but I am not competitive on price.

I am not trying to get rich quick, I just want to supplement my income by a few hundred a week.

If anyone can truly help, please contact me at Link hidden: Login to view

The easiest way to start on ebay is to sell things from around the house that you don't need anymore, of course that's the advice ebay itself will give any new member, and too be honest it's great advice.

Why do people successfully sell their secondhand items from around the house? Two major factors come into play, one is the price, you usually sell the stuff cheap because you have already gotten your value out of it, but the second reason is that Secondhand items have always, and still are very popular with ebayers.

So many people successfully start with their own secondhand items, but then for some reason believe that they then have to start sourcing new items to keep selling.

Get out to some markets, yard sales, thrift shops and your local auction houses. You will be amazed what $20.00 can buy, and if you by smart, just how much you can turn that $20.00 into on ebay.

Secondhand items have three big advantages over new;
1. They can be in demand because the market is not flooded with everyone trying to drop ship the same thing.

2. You can generate repeat customers because you offer people something different every time they check out your listings, not the same cheap new rubbish over and over again

3. Outlay versus margin, the amount you pay to the amount you can make on good secondhand will smash new items out of the ball park all day long!

While I have no evidence, I also suspect that people will prefer to buy a secondhand brand name item over a new no name brand item because they trust it more.

Give it a try, there is a ton of secondhand items out there just waiting for someone to cash in on!

That's exacly right & I've said it here before. Go to your local places, find the brand name stuff that somene has only worn once or twice.

Usually my cost per item is about $2 & my rule of thumb is if I can't make $5 or more on the item I won't buy it.

I can fill a massive bag for $20 & have cashmere sweaters, wool sweaters & all kinds of things.

You should check your local area & give it a whirl.

So why in hell did we pay salehoo for THIS advice. My Wife and I have been selling gold jewelry on ebay for about 10 years with over 14,000 positive feedbacks. Since that market has all but dried up we thought we would expand to the world of drop shipping and after some research Salehoo appeared to be the direction to go. The only thing I have got out of it is my eyes crossed from doing the same thing as this member. Seems ironic that the first thing I read was that dropshipping was not the way to go after all the hype to get me here. The next thing I found was the the guy who owns this site trying to sell me pallets of his stuff.

The next thing I found was the the guy who owns this site trying to sell me pallets of his stuff.

Lol maybe your eyes were crossed a bit too much from reading .The owner of salehoo does not sell products. They sell information. And he own several Dot.coms

If your talking about Link hidden: Login to view which is my company. I sell pallets and truckloads. Im also a long time online powerseller with a ton of online sales experience. Im a broker for many retailers now. Ive run my own company successfully through very hard work(100+) hours a week.And currently have supplied thousands of ebay sellers with products. Im not the owner of salehoo. Im just the community manager.And always willing to share my knowledge and experiences with online selling when I have the free time to answer questions.

I do not control the advertising methods of salehoo. But I will do my best to keep members from making mistakes in online selling.

There is money to be made in dropshipping. But its small peas if your trying to sell on just ebay. 5 years ago it was the best way. Right now selling second hand items and selling liquidations are the top profit makers on ebay. With the economy in the slumps it is right now, more people are flocking online to buy items to save money vs buying retail.

They are not concerned if the item is new versus if the item is cheap and can be used. This is where selling liquidated goods and second hand items come into play. Ebay is the worlds largest garage sale. Although ebay is trying to remove that image they will not entirely get rid of it.

The best way to start is to sell your own stuff. Others do the thrift shop thing for additional money. And the big boys go into buying large liquidation loads for maximum profits.

Retail is going out. Dropshipping is slowly becomming the worst way to make money online.

Why the hell did you pay for THIS advice?

Firstly, you didn't pay anyone for any advice, you payed Salehoo, the advice given here in the forum is given free of any charge from other members trying their best to assist where they can.

It's up to you to accept the information as useful, or not, however I would suggest that if you don't want to draw comment, then don't post questions. If you are just wanting to whine about something, then do not pose that as a question, leaving members to assist others who really need it.

As to what you read in the forum about drop shipping not being in line with the marketing hype that Salehoo uses, you should consider this fact. The advice and opinions shared by members in the forum is NOT designed to simply rubber stamp that of Salehoo itself.

The forum is an independent platform for the exchange of information between members, not a marketing tool for Salehoo. It's true that some new members don't see any value in the forum, only in finding a supplier, but most seem to take the time, listen and perhaps even learn from others willing to share their experiences and opinions.

Of course some people already have all the answers, but I'm assuming because you joined Salehoo in the first place, that isn't the case with you or your wife.

As for attacking Jimmy, not such a good idea. Jimmy is extremely well respected in this forum. As he has said, he is not the owner, and he has never pretended to be so, and accusing him of being such is just bizarre.

Jimmy's liquidation business was born from a group of us Salehoo members all getting together to form an investment group that could buy in bulk to make good margin. Jimmy not only worked his butt off for that venture, but then built his own business from it, and focused it on providing other Salehoo members money making opportunities.

No one here should begrudge Jimmy and his family an opportunity to make money from his own business. He should be applauded for his effort in creating opportunities for other members to make money as well.

To insinuate that jimmy is trying to lure members out of their cash is not only insulting to those of us who consider him a friend, but is complete ignorance. If you had of taken the time to research the forum a little more you would have found plenty of members all benefiting from what jimmy offers, and are a lot happier for it.

In fact you will find quite a few members here all working on ways of creating ventures that will assist Salehoo members in various ways. If that means they get a successful business out of it, then that's what it's all about as far as I'm concerned....more power to them.

You don't get to sell the amount you have by being a complete idiot, and you would no doubt have experience that would be invaluable to other members here if you wanted to share, as other members will try to assist you in your inquiries.

If you are not one to share, and the type to sit and take shots at other members who are freely giving their time to ad value to your membership fee, then you should perhaps consider getting a refund, because I seriously doubt if you will get any satisfaction from your membership.

Just my opinion of course, and can I just clarify that I am also in no way the owner of any part of Salehoo, just a participating member in the forum to help out where I can.

It would appear that I owe Jimmy an apology. I joined salehoo as a result of news letters I was receiving from him, most of which was promoting it, and therefore assumed that he was the owner.

I can tell you that I have spent many hours trying to find even a decent price on various products and found it to be nothing more than an exercise in futility. The eyes crossed comment was referring to the hours spent in front of the computer screen. I have sent applications and tax resale certificates to several 5 star suppliers and found mostly overpriced no name merchandise. Seems I keep ending up on that bridge to nowhere. To put it quite simply I am totally frustrated with the whole process.

Again I apologize to Jimmy and all others on this forum that I have offended. It was a total misunderstanding on my part.

Gary Grubbs

Cheers Gary, you are not the only one that feels frustration around here, it's a pretty common theme, but most of us chip in and kick around some ideas and opinions to see if we call all benefit in someway.

I agree with you 100% about prices from suppliers, especially if you are talking about drop shipping. Some members they that they do ok, although I freely admit that I am one that believes that the cards are stacked in the favour of the drop shipper, and getting a deal with any margin left in it to sell through avenues such as ebay is virtually impossible.

Perhaps liquidation is an area that you might find helpful. Not just suggesting jimmy here, but there are plenty of companies to choose from in the US, depending on the items you are looking to source.

When looking towards ebay as a market, you are already looking at a market set at wholesale and below. It's almost impossible to buy from a wholesaler and then resell on sites such as ebay, wholesale price just doesn't cut it there anymore.

You either need to be sourcing at rock bottom prices, and it's hard to beat true liquidation prices. About the only other option available is a large investment in volume purchasing.

If you are looking to establish a new market then perhaps you could consider sourcing liquidated stock to test market some different products, if you find a strong market you could then look at volume buying to capitilize on it.

Don't be shy about floating joint venture ideas on here, all sorts of members here all looking for opportunities mate, you never quite know what will take off.

Hello all I am a new member I am located in Japan through my contacts I have a connection to buy car amplifiers and 2 way car audio component systems direct from manufacturer that are good quality at a great price. My resources are limited I am active duty Navy serving in Japan if a group of us would like to talk about a group purchase please contact me and we can go over some details if interested just a thought not a sales pitch lets all help ourselves help eachother.the 1000 watt mono and 4 channel amplifiers that can go for as much as $200.00 which would let us make 100% profit and on the component systems there are two kinds which can sell on ebay for $65.00 and $85.00 for a 400% profit or there just about please be serious as I am also.These items will sell cause they are good quility and priced right

instead of trying to sell on ebay, why not go to clickbank and sell digital products for up to 75% profit. It is not that easy but you can do this without a website and go to hubpages and squidoo and make lenses for free to generate traffic for free and you can do pay per click with google if you want to spend a little money. Going with digital products you don't have any inventory or have to worry about dropshipping because they can download what ever they purchase right after they pay for it. All you do is advertise a product and collect the commissions.

Link hidden: Login to view

I would like to throw my two cents in here. But I think fudjj pretty much covered it...LOL. He is always so well spoken.
And WBAOYD58 dude.... it says right on Clickbank you have to have a website and that it can't be a free one?? You have to have a landing page, a discription page and a thank you page???How can you do it without a website??? Ok so I haven't clicked on your link in the forum yet but still??

Hello,

1.make sure you have a website
2.Pick what products you want to sell
3.Put those products on your website
4.Try to have a fair price
5.Example:Say you sell thermometers, BP cuffs, nursing shoes,and whatever other nursing stuff you can find.
You then call local hospitals and say im such and such i need your fax number to your unit..You then send your fax with your website.
Do like i do on the fax..ATTN ALL NURSING STAFF PLEASE GO TO
Link hidden: Login to view
you do this with nursing homes and doctor offices,and other places.
Another thing is to have other products a woman will buy on impulse,on your website.
Easy 1,000 usd a week with return customers.
So dont foreget the fax machine!

hello,again

I typed in 'as seen on tv' and didnt find one of the major asian suppliers to usa on salehoo?
Since i live in asia i am very surprised not to find this supplier!
If anyone wants to know this supplier let me know.
The supplier i know has way better prices than whats supplied here!
AND they even arned me to not buy the solar car cooler! they said its inferior and dosnt work very good.
As long as salehoo allows me to post it ill post it.
if not email me at Link hidden: Login to view

Dropshipping. It can work. However, the best way to make any money by dropshiping is definitely NOT by finding an online dropshipper. You can search your own area for businesses who may have products that they would be happy for you to sell online for them. Many businesses in your area could have loads of product in their back room which are perhaps out of date or were not sold in the conventional way for one reason or another. I'm thinking there are businesses all over who would have unsold product taking up space in their warehouses that they would gladly give you a great percentage of the selling price just to get more storage space. Think outside the box and keep your eyes and ears open every time you leave your house. Look through your local yellow pages and community newspapers for some of these opportunities which could turn into great partnerships. For large items these businesses could already have relationships with couriers in place. All you need to do is sell the item and then the business ships it for you.

I have not been able to cash in on the big bucks, but i have sold 3 items on ebay for a total of 52.97 from the small profit pack.. there were many more items in that pack (havent listed yet) and for already making half of my money back with only 3 of the items makes me think that it may be the way to go... there were probably 30 items or so in the box, and one of them may bring about $60.00...so that would finish paying for the box iteself.. lol 4 items out of 30 ish and already made my money back..
As for big profits, which i know nothing about... I sell mainly items from my home like an earlier post suggests..
I also have found yard sales in my small town where ive been able to get whole bags of childrens clothing for 1.00 for a small bag and $20.00 for a large black garbage bag (lawn size) the $1.00 bag held approx 8 pr of jeans and they have sold from about $5.99 to 9.99 each. so my profit there was $63.00 on average. from a $1 investment.. Now if I had the time and was able to devote my days to shopping for deals and my weekends to just listing (time consuming) I could pull that 300 per week for about $5.00 investment + my time... once you factor in the ebay fees and paypal fees, you may have to spend $8.00... but that is the avenue that I am most profitable from today...tomorrow is always another day and the needs of my customers are ever changing, so I try to keep a basic variety of anytime items. Buy good quality brand name items, less damage the better, clean them iron them shine them up and take exceleent pictures and be specific about flaws and the positives!

Hello everybody, I'm from Brazil and new here and I like it too salehoo this Forum, here in Brazil we do not have that opportunity to anyone who wants to start or who already sells to exchange ideas through a Forum (here is each one by itself). Before becoming a member researched a lot on site and all was possitivo PRACTICAL INFORMATION for Forum and it really is true, glad to have this opportunity.

Being from Brazil I'm looking for business opportunities if anyone is interested in some product here and I can look ok and do business.

Hello again Portal2012,

When extending help, please be sure not to sell on the forum. Otherwise you will need to register as an approved directory supplier.

All the best!

Hello again Portal2012,

When extending help, please be sure not to sell on the forum. Otherwise you will need to register as an approved directory supplier.

All the best!

Sorry did not understand, but can not do business in a forum? I am not nor wholesaler company, I became a member of an interest to sell something you do not know what exactly, as I live in Brazil and I saw people interested in products in my country thought that perhaps can leave businesses.

Hello Portla2012,

Only approved Directory suppliers are allowed to promote and sell products via the forum to our members.

We encourage you to sell online but just not through our forum (or SaleHoo), unless you become an approved directory supplier.

All the best!