stevo

If one wanted to start an ebay business, where would one find the products to sell?
Do people import products, stock them at home, and then sell them one by one on eBay?

How do the high volume eBay sellers handle their stock?

Julian

Interesting topic, as I've just finished reading a related article in the latest Business2.0.

From what I have perceived, a typical power seller finds a public warehouse (which I can't remember what they directly reffered to it as) and stores their self-purchased wholesale products in a garage given to them by the warehouse company, in exchange for a percent of sales.

I'll grab the article real quick, it was interesting and could be of use.

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Jimmeh

I would be interested in reading this article too. I do no business on eBay at this point, but from time to time I have felt that eBay might be a nice place to make a few bucks each month.

darren

when i first started an ebay business I bought all of my stock from wholesalers and kept it at home.

I had to stop doing it though because a) I got too big and run out of room and b) ebay keeps putting there prices up.

stevo

I've read of people using Dropshippers, and I know there are some topics here on that subject.
I'm wary of that though, I wouldnt like to keep my delivery's up to someone else in another country.

Where does one find a wholesaler to purchase cheap stock from?

darren

I live int he uk and we have a magazine calle dthe trader that list loads of wholesalers (http://www.the-trader.co.uk/) but another way of doing it is by using a turnkey website maker who has links to dropshippers.

Josie

I think it really depends on how large an eBay business you want to do.

For example, I did a lot of selling on eBay about 9 years ago and made a fair profit from it. All I did was keep my inventory in my apartment and use the good old USPS for transport (my products fit into their then-free priority mail boxes perfectly for a mere $3 each box). I would send out perhaps 5 or 6 packages a day - they sure got to know me down at the post office, which helped in getting a good supply of those free boxes!

I would probably net about $40 per day which was pretty good for basically an hour's worth of work once I had a system down pat.

However, if you want to become a power buyer or start an eBay store, then you've got to approach it very differently as others have pointed out.

Key to success on eBay was (and I'm sure still is) your seller reputation. After all, you're asking people who don't know you from a hole in the ground to send you money BEFORE you send them the product, and that makes people pretty nervous, especially if it's a high-ticket item.

I guess I'd suggest if you are planning to get into eBay, to establish yourself on a small scale and build up your seller reputation rating and then expand out if you wish to.

Tim

I know that for almost every product on ebay, there is a large amount of competition and very low profit margins.
Especially if you are dealing with things like electronic products and jewelry whereby people might make a 1% profit on the items they are selling - hardly worth the effort.

stella7

I think this depends on what you want to sell.For some people forexample those who sell books,the first place the look for the product is at their nearest book store,thrift stores and many other places which will not involve alot of costs.When you are begining the last thing you want to do is to incur costs or loses before you even start selling.So...start even from your house like the things you dont need forexample,old clothes,baby toys and all those .
Then when you build your business,you can importing or buying the products which cost more.

SeeMe

You do have to do a lot of research on the product you want to sell on Ebay. As Stella7 said, there is a lot of competition, outside of other sellers on Ebay, for certain products. You have to determine if what you want to sell is cost effective when you take shipping and auction fees, and any associated payment processing fees into account. If you aren't careful, you could end up paying to sell your product.