Finding wholesale products to sell on eBay

When you initially start out on eBay, you may tend to sell a few items sporadically before considering selling items on eBay fulltime. Even though setting up an eBay store to sell items may sound like a profitable idea, there are many things which you will need to consider before taking this big step.

One of the first things which you will have to consider is to decide which products you want to sell. It is a good idea to target a specify market, or better known as a niche market, since your chances of success are increased tremendously when you are able to cater to the demand and needs to a specific group of people. Once you have ear marked your target market, you will be better able to identify products which are more likely to appeal to your niche.

While the thought of having identified a product you want to sell may sound like progress to you, it will not get you very far unless you are able to source this product from a wholesaler who is able to reliably provide this product to you at a low enough price, within a relatively short period of time. This is crucial so that you are able to then resell your products on eBay for a profit.

If you are just starting out, it will be a good idea to check if the wholesaler you have located is willing to dropship for you. This begs the next question, which is how do you find wholesalers who will dropship products for you. An important thing to keep in mind is that these wholesalers have been around for a long time and have been supplying their goods to traditional brick and mortar stores. Therefore, most likely you will not be able to easily locate them online by using a search engine such as Google. Rather, these wholesalers establish their ties with their resellers through trade associations and trade shows.

Attending trade shows may not appeal to you to find wholesale products to sell on eBay, due to several reasons. For one, some trade shows will require you to be registered with the organizing trade association, which may deter people who are only just beginning to setup an online business.

The other factor to keep in mind is that it can be quite expensive to attend these trade shows, as they are usually organized in different parts of the world, incurring travel expenses. Some trade shows also impose a relatively high entrance fee to ensure the people who attend are serious buyers and not general consumers.

If the idea of attending trade shows does not appeal to you, the other option available is through wholesale directories on the Internet. These directories list list suppliers who are willing to supply you an entire range of goods at wholesale prices. You may even be able to locate wholesalers who will dropship for you through such directories. While this may sound like the perfect solution to finding wholesale products to sell on eBay, you need to exercise caution when consulting such directories. This is because you will find that there are hundreds of such websites on the Internet, most of which are scams out to cheat you of your money.

If you have decided to use eBay to sell products online, the best method is to consult eBay’s certified wholesale directories list.  This is a list of suppliers and wholesale directories which eBay has setup to protect the sellers and buyers on its site, in view of the high levels of fraud which exist on the Internet today. Two eBay certified wholesale directories worth mentioning here are World Wide Brands and Doba.

World Wide Brands has been widely acknowledged as a leading source of legitimate and trustworthy wholesalers, with a listing of thousands of suppliers shipping every imaginable kind of product. This almost guarantees that you will be able to find the wholesale product you are looking for, and will be able to locate a wholesaler who will be able to supply it to you at a low enough price to make a profit on eBay. As a matter of fact, this website offers you a one year guarantee that you will be able to find your product through them, or they will refund your money.

A resource as powerful as this comes at a price though. A one year subscription costs $299 and can be a bit steep, especially if you are just starting out. On the bright side, it is a one-time only lifetime membership fee which will more than pay for itself.

Another powerful wholesale directory you can link with is Doba. While many people believe it is not as comprehensive as World Wide Brands, many people prefer to use Doba due to its lower cost, especially for people who are just setting up their online store. Doba charges $39.95 per month to access their directory, which is a fraction of the cost of signing up for World Wide Brands. While it may be cheaper initially, World Wide Brands will work out to be cheaper in the long run, since its fee is steep but not recurring.

A good thing to do is to try out Doba during the first year, and then to switch to World Wide Brands during the second year, once your business is running a full gear. Better yet, keep your memberships to both directories running so that you are able to find the best deal on any wholesale product on the Internet.