Ramping Up 2013 – February

If you are a member of the Facebook group, then you saw many of the members post their sales numbers for the month of December. With Amazon continuing to grow by leaps and bounds and eBay making more changes to help compete with sites like Amazon, online selling is a great way to create income. It is never too late to start. Over the next few months, I will be sharing tips and ideas to help prepare you for success. Many of these are simple things that Here are a few things you can do to get ready for the upcoming season:

1. Create a (social) media frenzy If you are not using social media to help market your online store, you should start. If you use Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest for personal posts, consider peppering in a few posts that market your store to your network. If you wish to open new accounts, try to name them as close to the name of your store as possible. Include your logo or a common picture on every profile. Doing so helps you create a brand. Your buyers will begin to recognize you and become interested in what you are offering. Remember not to flood your followers or friends with your store information. Post a few times a week. Make sure you mix some posts that show your personality with the posts that share your store or listing information. Also, start following others. Often they return the favor and their followers may find you through that connection. To make this a successful venture, make sure you set up a plan or schedule for staying in front of your fans and followers.
2. Consider new wholesale partnerships Take the opportunity while sales are not overwhelming you to look at possibly using wholesale partnerships. If you are already a reseller for a company or two (or more), look at expanding your line to include a new supplier. This is the perfect time to try them out. Watch how they deliver, monitor their customer service, and take the time to review their product offerings in depth. Look for product and company reviews online. If this is a new venture for you and you don’t know what to sell, take a look at things you would buy. Find things that you know about.
3. Consider selling St. Patrick Day itemsIncrease your income for future product sourcing by selling items for St. Patrick’s Day. Many people go all out for this holiday and are always looking for unique items that feature the holiday. If you are planning to sell by Amazon, you may want to get those items in quickly! If you are selling by eBay, there is no time like the present to start listing them!

Even if getting ready for Holiday 2013 is not your current goal. These tips can help you become successful.

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Etsy Wholesale to Connect Crafters and Sellers

Image courtesy of DeMoss Designs

As we find ways to build our inventory, we can often find ourselves moving along with the pack. Sometimes we find what we sell is being sold by many other sellers as well. It can be a waiting game. That is okay. But there are other items you could consider.

Marketplace sites like Etsy, Goodsmith, and Bonanza give crafters and other creative artists the opportunity to offer their wares to a large community of shoppers who are looking for something original. This is also an opportunity for you as a seller to find an original product to offer. Many Etsy sellers are offering wholesale pricing on the products when they are sold in lots. You may find woodcrafted items or sewn items that may be great to offer during the holiday season.

For the Etsy sellers who are looking for a little help in getting started selling wholesale, Etsy is creating a wholesale marketplace. While the site has not launched yet, Etsy is accepting sign-up for both wholesale vendors and buyers. Once the site is launched, this will allow you to connect to many sellers in the Etsy community who are looking to connect with sellers. For the crafter, it gives them an opportunity to concentrate on the actual art and not finding the individual customer. For the seller, it is a chance to find unique and uncommon items to offer your buyers. To sign-up, visit this link.

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Working with Wholesalers to Obtain eBay Inventory

Today's post is contributed by fellow seller Bruce Jeansonne, who runs the eBay store US Camo Etc. Bruce has close to 1,000 listings in his eBay store and has extensive experience working with wholesalers where he obtains his eBay inventory. Bruce does a fantastic business on eBay - selling over 900 items a month. He is a true success story! (Take a look at his store here.)

Successfully selling of new items on eBay or any other online avenue usually means finding and building a relationship with wholesalers. Finding the right wholesaler for your business can put you on a path to successful sales and profits or lots of work with little payoff.

Do a quick search of the web and you’ll find a huge number of “wholesalers” ready to set up an account for you. Many of these are not true wholesalers but re-sellers that deal in bulk quantities. These types of re-sellers usually do not require the buyer to present a copy of their business state tax sales license (which you should have to stay in compliance with state laws). A few may require an annual fee to purchase from them. These re-sellers purchase directly from “real” wholesalers and then sell to others. Thus the price one pays for product from these types of resellers is more than actual wholesale but less than retail. Profit margins for items sold in an online store purchasing from this type of supplier tend to be very small.

Purchasing from a reseller may be a good option if you want to test the waters on selling new items. It’s usually quicker and easier to set up an account and though you won’t make the better margins, if you find that this type of selling is not for you… easy in and easy out. You didn’t have to spend much to get a few items and most resellers will have a greater variety of merchandise… so start with merchandise you can use yourself, if you decide you do not want to continue selling at the least you can make use your own products.

In order to maximize profits, one should purchase from a true wholesaler. Most, if not all, wholesalers will require you to fax or mail a copy of your state sales tax license in order to set up an account. Once an account is opened for your business, it’s time to place an order. Depending on the wholesaler, you may be required to make a first purchase of a minimum amount… possibly as little as $500 or as much as $1,500 or more depending on the wholesaler and the type of product you are purchasing. Usually after the first purchase, order minimums will $100-$200 or an extra fee or percentage will be added to your total. This minimum and/or fee is to help offset expenses dealing in small amounts of items. Wholesalers are in business to sell in quantity so small orders typically will not be profitable for them, thus the minimums. In addition, a minimum annual amount may be required in order for your account to stay active.

Good wholesalers love to see a business grow and tend to be more helpful with questions and customer service than resellers. Many specialize in specific lines of products and usually offer superior knowledge of their product line.

Both selling options can work together to get you started in selling SUCCESSFULLY online. Happy Selling!

You can chat with Bruce on my Facebook group where he is a regular contributor and gives great advice to both new and experienced sellers.

Click here for a list of 395 eBay friendly wholesalers along with 5 important facts for choosing profitable wholesale products to sell on eBay.

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FREE Wholesale Sources for eBay Inventory

Finding wholesale sources for eBay, Amazon, and online inventory is not as hard as you might think. You don't have to buy lists or pay memberships to wholesaler sites. Here are a few ways to uncover sources for eBay inventory from wholesalers.

Exhaust your personal network. Do you know someone with connections? Maybe someone who owns their own business and has to order from wholesalers? Even if you think the product line won't transfer (such as a restaurant owner), investigate it anyway. You never know what connections someone else has that can help you. If you don't ask, you don't get.

Look locally. Could you possibly find this product locally through a wholesaler in your city? Check your local yellow pages – you may hit on something you didn’t even know existed. Remember, not everyone has access to the same things you do. You may be able to walk into a wholesale warehouse and shop there in person. The only way you will know is to investigate this option. (Example - I passed a billboard in Atlanta one day for a lingerie wholesaler. I went to their location and was able to deal with someone face to face, buy the quantity I wanted, and test small amounts of different kinds of inventory in a very low risk situation.)

Place ads on Craigslist. Ask for what you seek. People scour CL ads every day looking for things they may have that others will pay for. Place ads in your own city and surrounding cities. Word your ad like this:

“Cash paid for vintage rotary phones (or whatever you seek). Quality and condition of item determine the price we will pay. Email us a photo and description of your item for a quote.”

Google the product name followed by the word supplier, wholesale, wholesaler, or manufacturer. Use synonyms in your search. Stick with domestic companies at first – working with overseas suppliers is complicated and you can lose money and be scammed easily.

Click here for a list of 395 eBay friendly wholesalers along with 5 important facts for choosing profitable wholesale products to sell on eBay.

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