Products
What kind of Products
work with this theory?:
Generally, I have found that
BUSINESS and INDUSTRIAL related items work best. People such as:
Locksmiths, Plumbers, Doctors, Electricians, Airplane Technicians,
Computer Technicians, Roofing Contractors and every other specialized
profession utilize specific tools and machinery to complete their jobs.
These tools are necessary to these professionals and these items are very
expensive to buy directly from the manufacturer. However, the products
have little, or no value, to people unrelated to the industry.
Where can I get ideas for item to
sell on Ebay?
DailyPowerSearch.com has a “find ideas” section. This is breeding
ground for niche product ideas. Log in and explore as often and you like.
You get a free 1 year membership with your ebook purchase!
Ebay's WANT IT NOW section: To be
more precise Ebay's Want it Now, Business & Industrial section. In this
section of Ebays website, users request items that they want to purchase
but they could not find on Ebay. How much more niche can you get! This is
a great starting point for finding quality niche items to buy for resale
on Ebay. This is a database on Niche ideas that is updated on a daily
basis.
Get ideas from other Ebay Sellers and On-line stores: Once you identify a
niche product that you may want to sell, search for this item on Ebay.
Look through the auction listings. If you notice a seller with a high
feedback score and possibly an Ebay store, have a look at the sellers
other items. Some sellers have hundreds of niche items that you can get
ideas from. This concept applies to regular on-line shops too. Simply do
a Google search for the niche item you have targeted. Once you have
identified a store, view their other items. Some shops can have thousands
of items to apply to this system.
Find ideas in Industry Catalogs: See
www.catalogs.com or just google the term “free catalogs” or “ X (your
industry) catalog”. My shrink wrap tunnel deal/idea came from a catalog
sent me by Uline.com.
Attend trade shows for a particular trade: Look up
list of local conventions, automotive, medical, nurses, outdoor signage,
printing, ANYTHING! Collect literature on the high priced items. Go home
and research them on Ebay.
Building a Niche:
Once I find a product that I have successfully
bought and sold several times I start to investigate this item further. I
ask myself: Where can I buy more of these? Is there a consistent supplier
that can supply me? As I get more involved with the product, I may
contact others in the field and go to trade shows related to the product.
This is called developing a niche product/market.
I was able to develop a niche
market with car parts. I found that I was able to buy them for very
inexpensive from one particular supplier and resell them for parts. The
best part is these items sold like hot cakes. I am constantly looking to
buy car parts. This is one niche I developed.
Once I carved the car parts niche
for myself, I was looking to purchase larger quantities. I went to
Elance.com and hired a company in India to do data mining for me. I asked
them to research all related companies in the USA. I asked them to get me
a list of the:
Head Sales Person
Sales Persons Email address
Phone Number
Mailing Address
I paid .50/lead. I then sent bulk
emails to my list. I followed up with phone calls.
Being 100% honest, I did not get
a good initial response, mostly b/c I did not do the best job following
up. However, my main supplier was one of the companies on that list!
Since we were already doing business, I did not send them an email.
However, I realized that the list they created for me was worth hundreds
of thousands. That’s what my car parts supplier is worth to me. The list
they created is still mine. I can resend emails to those suppliers every
3-6 months. I’m sure that eventually a great deal and/or relationship
will arise from it. With large companies, timing is a key factor. You can
approach a company two different times and get two completely different
results. Do not get discouraged. Keep pushing, you will eventually get
in.
Once
a buyer finds a niche, there are two directions that he, or she, may take
in the future: He may decide to stay in a particular trade of items or
diversify and have a variety of trades' items that he buys and sells.
Both directions have their
advantages and disadvantages, so choose which method suits you best. The
advantage of choosing a single niche is that you become an expert. You
can make connections with suppliers and get great deals. You can
diversify and offer machine repair in your field. The negative aspect is
if your item becomes obsolete by something newer, you may find yourself
having to start from scratch. If you sell different items from the same
trade or many trades you will not become as knowledgeable about your
items, but you will also not be relying on one item as your entire
business.
Developing a Relationship with Suppliers:
Our system is a platform for
developing your business. One of the possibilities you'll encounter with
our system is developing a relationship with a worthy supplier. My
definition of a worthy supplier is someone who has the ability to provide
you a consistent flow of goods in which you can turn a significant
profit. I was lucky enough to find a consistent supplier in which I
purchase $50,000+/year. In reality, you only need to get lucky once with
developing the right relationship and you can be set in your business for
many years to come.
Worthy supplier are usually larger companies. The
larger the company the better chance you have at getting deals. I like
working with companies that have 100+ employees and who do millions in
sales. The reason these relationships work well is because large
companies do not pay close attention to smaller deals. A Mom and Pop
operation would not sell you an item for $10 if they knew that they could
sell it on Ebay for $50. However, bigger companies may sell items at such
great margins. They may not have the time to sell on Ebay, they may not
be aware of the Ebay market. Sometimes larger companies just need to
clear space in their warehouse so they'll give you a good deal to make
room for new shipments.
The key is developing the relationship(s) with key
personnel is the company. This can be a salesman, or even the head of
sales. I always tell my suppliers, "I'm looking to develop a long term
buying relationship where both you and I can make money for years to
come. I want to buy 100,000K this year and more and more each year."
How much should you be paying
your suppliers?: At this point my only avenue in reselling my items are
on Ebay. This may change in the future as my operation expands (Amazon
shops, personal Webstore), however this is what I do know. Knowing that
Ebay is my only resell market, I study the prices of items sold on Ebay
to determine what I am willing to pay my supplier for the item. For the
most part, I will only pay my suppliers 35%-40% of items sales value on
Ebay. If an item sells on Ebay for $100, I would only be willing to pay
my supplier $40 at the most. Keep in mind you have to pay to ship the
item to your location, you also have the expense of packaging, ebay fees,
paypal fees and the time you spend testing the item. Therefore, you need
to leave yourself enough margin to turn a decent profit. If you cant buy
an item for a good enough price to turn a good profit, dont bother buying
it at all. There is always another great deal around the corner.
Specialize in an Item: Another
possibility is that you may learn a product so well that you specialize
in it. Other areas are repair, wholesale sales and rental. Its amazing
how you can turn one product into 3-4 businesses. This is another great
possibility in this system. Once you stumble upon a niche product, you
can specialize in it and turn it into a complete business.
