Archive for the ‘Shopping’ Category
The Wholesale Bible
Wholesale Pricing on Top Quality Merchandise
If you plan to sell products on your own website or through an eBay auction and dropship to your buyers, then the article below is a must-read. You will learn the true facts about how dropshipping really works, avoiding the myth’s, legends, and lies.
Myth #1: There are manufacturers out there willing to do drop-shipping.
The Truth:
You may have seen some of those selling wholesale lists claiming that they have in their directory manufacturers that will drop-ship single items a product to your buyers at manufacturer prices.
A manufacturer is a mass-producer of a product, with means they are set up to produce a quantity of several thousands of each item. Their staff are trained and equipped to inventory, package and load bulk quantities for shipping by container shipping, tractor trailers or rail cars. These goods are then transported to designated distributors, who then re-sell in lower quantities to wholesalers.
Manufacturers do not usually drop-ship because it is not profitable for them to sell in small quantities. Most manufacturers will not even sell to just anybody who wants to make a purchase, you would have to be an authorized distributor that can prove you have the financial resources to even purchase from the factory. The truth is that the lower quantities you sell, the higher your operating expenses, and the higher the prices you must charge to your buyers. You will never find a supplier that can drop-ship goods at manufacturers prices.
Myth #2: I can make good profits selling on eBay using third-party drop-shippers to ship the goods direct to your customers.
The Truth:
Those buying goods from an eBay auction are looking for a lower price on a product that they usually get in the stores at retail prices. Most legitimate drop-shippers offer prices similar to, or even a little higher than those offered on eBay for a specific item. EBay is an auction site not an ordinary marketplace. Third party drop-shippers cannot compete with the prices for goods being sold on eBay because the buyers have an expectation to pay less than retail, and sometimes less than wholesale.
I talked with a rep from a reputable drop-shipping company after buying their drop-shipping membership 2 years ago; and he told me that the eBay buyers expect lower prices than they can offer.
The best way to profit on eBay is to purchase your merchandise in bulk quantities from a legitimate wholesaler at bulk prices, and then ship to your eBay buyers yourself. By ordering in bulk and getting the volume discounts, you can fulfill the ‘lower price’ expectations of eBay buyers. If you desire to go into the drop-shipping business, it is best to sell the goods on your own website or even offline than on ebay.
Dropshipping 100% authentic Nike shoes
Authentic Nike shoes are the most sought after products over the internet and we get many requests for dropshipping services for Jordans, Air Force 1 and others. The truth is that no wholesale supplier of 100% authentic Nike shoes can provide dropshipping services because the cost of purchasing and warehousing the many different styles and sizes is just too high. The cost of shipping individual orders of 100% Nike shoes is very high, this is why the prices of the authentic shoes on websites like Pickyourshoes.com are so expensive.
Those sellers offering variants or AAA quality copies can provide drophipping services because their Nike shoes are grade A copies and not the originals authorized by Nike.
The best way to deal in 100% authentic Nike shoes is to purchase in small quantities, offer samples to your buyers before selling in wholesale amounts; or buy in small wholesale quantities and do the dropshipping to your buyers on your own. Your credibility as a authentic Nike shoe dropshipper will increase and so will your future orders and profits.
The best way to tell if the supplier of the shoes are 100% authentic is that the prices for each style is different. You cannot buy all the authentic Jordans for the same price because they were made and released at different times in history. Please be aware that anyone who offers you all the Air Force 1 shoes and Jordans 1-22 for the same price per pair are selling copies.
Selling your products on eBay
Keep in mind when you are looking at the auction prices on Ebay and do not be led to believe that the low prices you see in the auction are what these products are being sold for.
What Ebay does not tell you is that the auction price you see is the highest bid price, not the actual selling price. This means that if the sellers “Reserve Price” is not reached at the end of the auction then the sale will not go through. A reserve price is the lowest price that the eBay auction seller is willing to accept for the item that place on auction. If the highest bid is lower that item is not sold, but eBay still charges you for the item that was placed on auction.
The true fact is that more than 50% of the eBay auctions never sell a product because the buyer has a set reserve price that must be reached by a bidder. eBay never reveals the seller’s reserve price so you never know exactly what the buyer really wants for the item unless you see a BUY IT Now button there.
The only way to know if a certain item on auction will be sold for the price you see on the auction is to look at the bid information at the top next to the item picture; if you see the words ‘No Reserve’ then the seller will let this item go for whatever the top bid price will be at the end of that auction.
If you do not see the words ‘No Reserve’ in that area then there is a reserve price for that item in auction and if the highest bid does not match that reserve price then the that item will not be sold. Those who place items for auction with a “no reserve” price are those who sell stuff from their home or just want to get rid of something at any price that they can.
Look at the reasoning of this, if you can buy 100 Ipod Nanos for $130 each on eBay then why bother to go to a wholesaler? Everyone would just buy wholesale on eBay.
The true fact is the manufacturers control the prices of the electronics so you will not find a legit electronics wholesaler that can offer dirt cheap prices on electronics. Almost all of the wholesaler’s prices will be about the same.
The same applies with the AF1 shoes. In order to be able to sell authentic AF1 shoes for $25 a pair you would have to buy at least 5 container loads of them at one time at a tremendous cost.
Do not believe that the eBay listed prices are what the products are actually selling for, because if the product being sold is new then there will be a reserve price set forth by the seller. If the item is used, then there may not be a reserve price because the seller just wants to sell it for whatever they can get. People that shop eBay are looking for a deal, this means that they expect to pay less for the same item you would buy in the store.
The big powersellers that sell on eBay will buy the electronics or Nike shoes in very large bulk quantities then place each item on eBay, or in the eBay store. Because they have purchased these products in such large quantities they can afford to re-sell at a lower price and earn a very small profit each item. They have more control over the set prices and the shipping process because the products are shipped direct from that eBay power seller rather than a third-party dropshipper.
You can do much better when you sell your products on several wholesale trade marketplaces such as:
http://www.alibaba.com
http://www.ecrobot.com
http://www.offer21.com
http://www.ec21.com
http://www.fuzing.com
http://www.bizviet.net
http://www.ecplaza.com
http://www.tradekey.com
http://www.ec51.com
All are free to set up an account and list your products for sale. This is where buyers go to find legit suppliers. When you get your product list together and start accepting Paypal and credit cards, then you will get many new buyers because people are tired of sending their money by bank wire and Western Union to those overseas companies.