Where to start my eBay store?

:? Confused as where to start. I have an ebay store...Daisies Deals
its just starting out. in only have a 7- 100% positive feedback.. not much but that is where i am at.
What do i do now.
Do i have to get a business license?
Do i need a wholesale number.
Its all confusing that i am reading...cause its a lot of info to take in with out someone saying, laura...this is what you do.

i have an idea of what i want to sell., but i am not sure if its gonna be profitable for me..so right now i have a little of everything on my site.

but i only have a little bit of investment money and i don't want to waste my time on things that will not help me at all.

I have looked at wholesale sites...i don't understand the drop shipping.
if i could get someone to just enlighten me a bit or give me a quick virtual kick...i don't know...some words of encouragement maybe might help. I'm awfully scared in this venture...cause i don't want to loose all my money that i cant afford to throw away.


anyways, i dont know if i got my question across or not...but a reply would sure help me.
thanks bunches...
laura ann

:( :( :( :( :(
I have noticed a lot of people looking, but no words of incouragement.
did i not make myself clear. is that why not one person is answering me.
upset and fedup.
Laura ann

:( :( :( :( :(
I have noticed a lot of people looking, but no words of incouragement.
did i not make myself clear. is that why not one person is answering me.
upset and fedup.
Laura ann

Hi lauraann,

I'm a novice too, but perhaps I can help stem your fears.

For one thing you may want to first consider what your market is. If you sell alot of one particular item, you may be ready to buy in bulk at a liquidation sale.

There is alot of liquidation sites around I'm sure you know by now.

On the other end, if what you're doing is selling simply one at a time selected items so that you can slowly grow your store...a dropshipper is a must then.

One of the better dropshippers I have run into I am going to have to say is Link hidden: Login to view . They have alot of items always in stock, different digital products etc, similar to Link hidden: Login to view and offer an astonishing low price. Just make sure you have Paypal if you deal with China, and you have researched the company first.

Since you are starting out small, you may want to just pick a niche in an area you're familiar with. On the opposite end, I started out with just stocking my own store full of products. But that was due to the fact mine was an electronics store.

The catergory is broad enough for me, that I can be particularly choosy with dropshippers and have alot of them as open options.

If I look at it from supplying my store with products, I could for instance order from Gamestop, tiger direct, ChinaVasion or any brand name online dropshipper / retailer.

I could choose to do that one week, and then the next week find something more profitable that has more stock.

The narrower your catergory is, makes it less feasible to pick and choose however. Your particular field may be only one type of product or offer, because you may be filling a niche. So while you couldn't neccesarily pick who your dropshipper is going to be, you could buy your product in bulk and then fill the store first.

Or you could find your best dropshipper for the items you sell, and tell them ahead of time that you want to do a special and order a lot from them at wholesale. Or better yet, have them help you out by offering to restock your shelves one at a time on demand.

It takes out alot of the guesswork. Oh and always research the prices! I can't emphasize how important that is. Good luck, hope you can do it!

thanks so much for your reply....
I loved that you did so and with so much info.

I have decided to start out with my hobby which is scrap booking and card making.

I want to offer quality items.
I think a business licence is in order, because i can not register with a wholesaler until i have a number. I have gone to every scrapbooking wholesaler imaginable and its gonna have to be a licence i get.

I have a little bit of money to spend. so to start i can do this...but right now...i am not finding a supplier.

drop shipping is not available to a lot of scrapbooking areas. i dont like a lot of the quality of product. i think ebay.com... is going to have to supply me with my wholesale for a little bit.

but then i was thinking of opening a storefront. but i dont know what is involved with that or if its worth my time.

I really dont mind the product and shipping that i have to do. it fills my days and makes life fun for me. so i am not worried about whether or not i have a drop shipper....just a supplier right now.

do you have any more advice on this>>>
laura ann

thanks so much for your reply....
I loved that you did so and with so much info.

I have decided to start out with my hobby which is scrap booking and card making.

I want to offer quality items.
I think a business licence is in order, because i can not register with a wholesaler until i have a number. I have gone to every scrapbooking wholesaler imaginable and its gonna have to be a licence i get.

I have a little bit of money to spend. so to start i can do this...but right now...i am not finding a supplier.

drop shipping is not available to a lot of scrapbooking areas. i dont like a lot of the quality of product. i think ebay.com... is going to have to supply me with my wholesale for a little bit.

but then i was thinking of opening a storefront. but i dont know what is involved with that or if its worth my time.

I really dont mind the product and shipping that i have to do. it fills my days and makes life fun for me. so i am not worried about whether or not i have a drop shipper....just a supplier right now.

do you have any more advice on this>>>
laura ann

If you're only going to be doing scrapbooking, I would still suggest just to do a single bulk mail order. Photos and scrapbooks are so cheap, you'd be shocked at how many you could get from a simple niche online retailer.

Plus that almost eliminates the need for stock, and cuts out all the extra fees right away.

Dropshipping is reccomended if you find you sell out of one item over and over again, and see a prime seller in your field. For me dropshipping has been important, but you must make sure the right dropshipper or dropshippers do business with you.

Then if you really want to make a profit, I would reccomend opening up a store later. Catergorize it and get it listed first. Having a store allowed me to sell out of a number of products in a matter of days, so it is definitely profitable to create a storefront.

If you do one outside of eBay do more research on your field though. If you're only selling like say one or two of your photo albums or products a week, there's no need for all the other addons. And there's definitely no need to be high in the search engines if that's the case.

You can stay in a particular niche almost 24/7, especially if that is all you opt to offer, which will make it so your competition is not an issue because they wouldn't even be selling in your market. Great advice for startups.