So you’ve decided to take a chance and try to make some extra cash on eBay, or even more, a full time income. Not a bad choice, fact of the matter is hundreds of thousands of people ranging from individuals to small, medium and even large businesses have decided to take part or all of their business to eBay to market their product in a high traffic community of buyers and sellers. You may have dreams of making a successful living working online for various reasons, whether It’s to spend more time with family, concur your own schedule and get away from “working for the boss”, whatever your reason, if you’ve thought about it, it’s legitimate and achievable and I’m going to give you a head start so that YOU can start reaping the benefits of the flourishing online community of eBay almost instantly.

I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of potentially earning a full time income online which has lead me to testing different methods to try to achieve that goal. I’ve owned a steady e-commerce website only to be stunned at how much it can cost to run. Sure there are minimal costs associated with getting a functional website up and running, but once it’s done, how do you effectively drive traffic? I soon found out that the two markets I had indulged in actually had the most competition online, aside from adult websites. Needless to say, online marketing through various Internet channels was proving to be a huge investment with mediocre return.

I’ve had a personal eBay account since 2004. I would use it predominantly to purchase products here and there when I wanted to catch a good deal. In 2006 I started selling products around the house to make a little bit of extra money on items that I didn’t use anymore and I started to familiarize myself with the “eBay system”. Shortly after I realized the vast amount of potential this community had, I started to source products and take it to the next level…

Product Sourcing

Where do I find a reliable wholesaler with quality product to purchase from? This is typically the number one question for the starter eBay entrepreneur. I will give you some information on some good places to start searching for legitimate wholesale suppliers a little bit later on, but for now let’s concentrate on the fundamentals.

I like to abide by a few rules when I’m product sourcing, they are the following:

1. Legitimate wholesale suppliers aren’t easy to find. It takes a lot of leg work and they’re typically NOT advertised in search engines (although there are a few very good drop shippers that are).

2. DON’T JUMP IN TOO FAST. Although some offers may sound intriguing and get you excited, make sure you’ve done adequate research to make sure the company you’re dealing with is legitimate and has a proven track record.

3. Real wholesale suppliers, or manufacturers are very busy and don’t have an abundance of time to be dealing with small orders (typically anything under $20,000). You really do have to create and maintain a rapport with a prospective wholesaler for them to do business with you. It’s important to stress that you are interested in selling their product and maintain contact with them as often as possible. MSN Messenger, as well as email are both a great way to keep in contact if you both have access to it, as you probably wouldn’t want to be making a long distance phone call to speak with them every day, as most of the time the supplier is outside of your local calling area.

Also keep in mind that many people contact them on a daily basis with the same initiative, to purchase wholesale product, but not all follow through. Once you’ve built some rapport and have a proven track record of the company by doing some research, place some sample orders to show them your not just “all talk”.

Researching a Prospective Wholesaler

This can be a difficult task as well, especially if the supplier is based internationally. If the supplier is based within North America, a good place to start would be the BBB (Better Business Beuro). If the company isn’t registered with the BBB, don’t be too alarmed, but heighten your awareness. Do Internet searches to see if the company name comes up with any fraudulent activity. You can complete this by doing a simple Google search (ex. ABC Company LTD scam). This will yield results for anyone who has reported their negative experience with the company in a forum, blog or scammer list. You would be surprised how effective this method can be.

Drop Shipping

Q: What is drop shipping?

A: Drop shipping is a method of shipping directly from your wholesaler warehouse. The client makes a purchase from you on eBay, you place the order with your supplier, pay your cost on that product, the supplier then ships the product to your clients door and you bank the profit.

As mentioned, drop shippers can be a very effective way to manage up front costs associated with carrying your own physical inventory and also create a professional look to your business. Most legitimate wholesale suppliers, or manufacturers have been in business for quite a while (the good ones) and know what they’re doing when it comes to managing a warehouse and shipping product. Your product will arrive to the end client in a professionally packaged shipping container with a packing slip with your business logo and information on it (very important that you arrange this with the drop shipper. The last thing you want is their company logo and contact information on the package being delivered to your client).

With all that being said, if you decide to drop ship directly from your supplier, your cost on the item is typically a little bit higher, due to the fact you’re not purchasing the product in bulk and the supplier really won’t know how much you will actually be selling until you build rapport and a history with them. This is something you will have to work out with your supplier once the time comes.

In conclusion drop shipping can be a very valuable tool, especially starting out, but please remember it’s hard to find legitimate suppliers on search engines and if you do, you may be paying too much and it will be extremely hard to compete with other companies in your niche market that purchase from legitimate wholesalers.

Quality Places To Start Searching For a Real Whole Sale Supplier

There’s a few places on line that offer third party verification services to help you rest easy that you’re dealing with legitimate suppliers.

Here’s a few that I use quite frequently:

http://www.worldwidebrands.com

http://www.doba.com

http://www.salehoo.com

http://www.globalsources.com

http://www.made-in-china.com

http://www.alibaba.com

These sources for obtaining contact information on wholesaler suppliers and manufacturers are quite good. The reason I’ve listed them from 1-6 is in relation to my positive experiences with the websites.

Here’s some additional information on these databases:

WorldWideBrands.com – Very robust database of high quality wholesale leads. This source was the way I found one of my major suppliers whom I work with to this day. World Wide Brands acts as a bridge to connect you with top quality wholesale suppliers. You may have to pay an upfront membership fee (one time), but it’s definitely worth it in the long run, as they’re information is updated very regularly and suppliers must meet stringent guidelines to become accepted in to the program. They also have very valuable free information located on their website.

Doba.com – Doba is a direct drop shipping company. They purchase goods from major suppliers and ship them direct from their warehouse to your end clients for a small monthly membership fee.I’ve also had the chance to utilize their services and there were many positive aspects. Product was reasonably priced and shipping/handling times were fast. The product always arrived professionally packaged in a prompt manor.

SaleHoo.com – SaleHoo is much like World Wide Brands in the sense that the connect you with wholesale suppliers who have opt in to work with the little guy, you! They also charge a one time fee and have proven to be a very reliable source for reliable wholesale suppliers.

GlobalSources.com – This free website is packed with thousands of quality suppliers. GlobalSources.com is one of the more expensive advertising websites for suppliers to enroll in, which may state something in itself when it comes to the legitimacy of the supplier.

Made-In-China.com – Another free website. Made-In-China has a similar verification method as GlobalSources, but a little bit easier to get by without being a fully legitimate manufacturer, or wholesaler. Some middle men do get in to this website and you will find out quite quickly when you ask for a quotation of their product line up.

Alibaba.com – Also a free website. Alibaba is also a great way to meet a TON of suppliers very quickly, but the amount of crooks on this website can be over whelming. The supplier verification procedures are much less stringent than those of both 1 and 2. Alibaba is one of the largest sourcing websites to date and with that many suppliers you just have to anticipate some cheaters.

Conclusion

eBay can be a very profitable marketplace if you take the appropriate measures prior to jumping in to the first “wholesale” supplier you find.

Drop shipping is a very good method to start your online business, as you will not have to stock any of your own physical inventory. I do have drop shipping company links on this website that I have worked with in the past and are highly rated companies, please check out the links.

Remember, legitimate wholesale suppliers can be hard to find and typically aren’t listed on search engines, with the exception of a small portion.