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How to find the right products to sell on eBay

john dale · 2008-12-02T19:51:11+00:00

eBay is a very competitive market as I am sure many of you know. I think the best way to look for products is to clear any preconceptions about what you want to sell. I know many say to sell what you are familiar with or are interested in, but I think this is a bad way to go. You have to be a hawk. You have to sell what is wanted not what you want to sell ! Another problem I see is people looking to break into selling something that is to competitive. Like as mentioned here at SaleHoo, don't try to crack electronics or other high tech items unless you have a great connection to get them. I am constantly seeing requests here on SaleHoo for, does anyone know where I can get iPods cheap? The sooner you realize this type of product is not available to you for selling on eBay the faster you can get on with finding a good product to sell on eBay! Ipods is a dead end. So are many electronic and computer products. Here is a good research site to find products or research sales of products. terapeak.com They are a little pricey but have a 14 day trial period where you can try and cancel for a refund within 14 days if you don't want to keep the subscription. There is a vast amount of data available. You can even research 90 days of sales from sellers. You can see the amount of listings a seller had to produce to get sales; their sell through %; whether they did auction or fixed price;what time of day they listed etc... . You can even see a list of their completed listings and visit their listings on eBay. You can easily find hot/hotter and hottest items selling on eBay in real time. You can track trends for the last 2 years etc etc... . Now, what you do is find about 10 items that are hot on eBay and search for suppliers. You can do that here on Salehoo and through your own research. There are ways to check companies. I'm not going to get into that in this thread. BTY, Expect to spend not only hours doing this but days. This should take about 20 to 30 hours or more of research. Then once you find your product and supplier, expect 4 or 5 hours researching on terapeak to find how your product is sold successfully on eBay by other sellers and copy their successful habits. Then expect to spend 5 to 10 hours prepping your eBay listings to look good. ( creating a nice listing template that looks professional.) Then another 1 to 4 hours listing. Hope this helps.

cool-things-only

I had terapeak. it is a good web site very informative but not for a long periot of time. once you learn how to do your reserch on ebay you can live with out it.

haydee

Thanks for the feedback, Cool Things Only, and welcome to SaleHoo!

For more reviews on Terapeak, here are some helpful pages:

Link hidden: Login to view Link hidden: Login to view Link hidden: Login to view

Cheers,

lessen10

such a great thing to read what everybody has to say here , i did what Fudji said last saturday. went out to a sunday market and got me a bull and a bear both hand carved from marble, posted them on ebay no even one person looked at them LOL. i had my buddy to place a bid on one so at least im gonna sell it to him!!!! hey this could be my first thing sold on online

fudjj

O dear, well that little bit of advice didn't seem to work out too well for you unfortunately, sorry about that.

Judging from what you have said, I think we could pretty much narrow down what the issue is. No lookers at all would indicate that either the search words you used were not effective, perhaps the items could have been listed in the wrong category, or the listed price may have been too high.

The option I would suggest is that perhaps the market you are trying to sell to just isn't there at the moment. What I mean is those types of items suite a very specific market, they are not the everyday type of things that thousands are searching for.

I'm thinking they wouldn't really be suited to an auction format, more of a Buy It Now kind of product would be my thinking. If you have bought at the right price, then the chances are that there will be a buyer, you just have to give the products a chance to sell, and an auction is very do or die, very short window of opportunity to close a sale.

One thing that does concern me regarding the choice is the shipping weight. If these are actually marble, then shipping them may well be costly and that could hurt a sale.

Anyway, take a look at those possible issues I have highlighted there and see if there was anyway you could improve on them before taking the next step.

When buying, always bare in mind what the shipping cost of the item will be, and what type of platform would best suite the product, auction or Buy It Now.

Those two factors are really important when making your decision. I would also suggest that if you aren't quite sure as to what you could sell the item for on ebay, then don't jump in and buy it there and then. Take their number or email, say you have a friend that you think would be interested in the product and that you will pass it on.

If they sell it before hand, well that's life, but it will give you the time to research the products better and then make an educated decision on purchasing.

The more you research, the greater your understanding will be of a wider market, but to start with i always suggest the people go with products they know well, and that means knowing how well they sell and for how much as well.

Last bit of advice, don't over look the really cheap items. I still remember years ago buying some gear, car stereo gear from memory, but what stuck in my mind is that I was so determined to get the best deal possible I was trying to get as much out of the poor seller as I could lol.

Was late in the day and I figured that I could clean up on some gear because I could tell they had a slow day and just wanted to go home. Anyway, for some stupid reason I went after whatever I could, ended up getting some old lighter thrown in with the deal.

They had 5 dollars on the lighter, and while I didn't consider it of any value at all I still wanted to get what I could lol. I sold the car stereo gear and the other gear I got with the deal, but never even worried about listing the lighter till I noticed it sitting on the shelve a few weeks later.

Decided to list it on auction, just to test the market. That lighter sold for 75 dollars, actually went to a buyer in the US. I think I made more margin on that than I did on any of the gear that I was really after lol.

I was so impressed with the interest in the auction, and the price I got, that I was going to go off and research the lighter market lol, never did get around to it, but I know well that there are little gold mines out there on market tables and garage sale floors, all just waiting for someone with a keen eye to snap them up for next to nothing and clean up big time!

Stick with it, just limit your budget to start with until you are confident with what you are buying. I would also suggest trying a garage sale, yard sale next time. There you will be more likely dealing with a private seller and be able to talk a better deal. Markets can provide some great products, but they do have dealers there, and if you are really inexperienced a good dealer will end up taking far more money for a product that you will ever be able to sell it for, so you really do need to know your stuff.

userexists

Oh this all sounds like too much trouble. I didn't want to actually do any work. I thought I could find cheap ipods and list them on eBay, hop in my Beemer and spend the rest of my time at my fabulous beach home.

jheminger

I'm new to this. I've looked on Ebay pulse, but still have no idea what to sell on Ebay. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to start? Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I have no idea where to start!!

richelle_salehoo1

Hi and welcome to SaleHoo jheminger :)

If you are just not sure at the moment I would suggest looking around your own home - sell a few things you no longer use. This way you get to test the market to learn what products will work well for you without spending too much! In the process, you will often stumble across items that sell really well that you would never have otherwise picked!

Here are some products we have found to have good profit margins (most if not all can be found in your own home):

- Clothing

- Skin care (e.g. anti-ageing & acne treatment)

- Vacation-related items (swimsuits, crocs, sunblock)

- Homewares (towels, sheets)

- Accessories for electronics

- Crafts & hobby items

- Sporting goods

- Computers & computer parts

- Auto & motorbike

- Unique items/collectibles

Hope this helps. If you need more ideas please feel free to let us know us.

Cheers!

ericlee

Come to here www.chinazrh.com, you will find here has more than 4,000 items for sell and all items with clear pictures and good price. If you get products from China and sell on your country, it's the best place from here www.chinazrh.com .

Happy New Year!

Cheers!

pfanelli

Come to here www.chinazrh.com, you will find here has more than 4,000 items for sell and all items with clear pictures and good price. If you get products from China and sell on your country, it's the best place from here www.chinazrh.com .
Happy New Year!
Cheers!

With all due respect I reviewed your site, I dont see anything that is sellable on ebay, prices are simply to high.

aznvcboi

I have tons of apple products like ipod touch 4g, ipad, ipod shuffle 2G, ebay just recently limited amount of apple products you can sell on ebay without being authorized reseller certificate. The fees are off the hook - cost around $25-30 for each ipod touch I sold, any other suggestion on how to be success with ebay?

richelle_salehoo1

I have tons of apple products like ipod touch 4g, ipad, ipod shuffle 2G, ebay just recently limited amount of apple products you can sell on ebay without being authorized reseller certificate. The fees are off the hook - cost around $25-30 for each ipod touch I sold, any other suggestion on how to be success with ebay?

Hi aznvcboi,

Since eBay has imposed the authorized reseller certificate then for sure there is no way around it. Unless you want to continue paying for the certificates, it might be best if you take your merchandize to another auction site and start selling there instead. You can try out Addoway, Bonanza, eCrater and Craigslist to name a few.

Hope this helps :)

just-me

Hello all, it has been a while since my last post. Been revamping things but glad to be back. I would like to put in my two cents on some things. I may be repeating alot of what may have already been said but here goes.

I use to sell on ebay but I no longer sell because I choose not to compete with my clients so I mainly run my website at Link hidden: Login to view but when I use to sell on ebay I used this strategy.

1) At first I knew I had to make some sacrifices and take a hit on profit. I did this to build up my feedback. It is hard to compete with the big boys when you have ZERO feedback. If you have limited funds then perhaps you should sell items with smaller values like no more then 5 bucks or somewhere along there.

2) If you just opened a paypal account beware..they like to mess with newbies a little and place a 21 day hold before paying and then after some time of trust they will lift this hold. With this being said, be prepared to come out of pocket for the first few orders. Paypal is also known to place account on limited to verify a few things but after about a month or so of this back and forth, they will eventually leave you alone.

The old saying is true. In order to make money you have to invest money.

....I think that is how it goes.... anyway

3) Once you have built up your feedback and are cool with paypal then you are set to start making a profit. (This is assuming that you already have a reliable supplier and have found your niche as to what you have decided to sell and focus on..I could tell you more about this but it would be a whole new Oprah Winfrey show...LOL...perhaps in another thread I will discuss this) What you have to do is monitor what others are selling thier items for and measure the profit margin against your supplier. If there is not profit margin then it is time to find a new supplier. DO NOT FORGET TO ADD SHIPPING. Some deals may sound good at first glance but be sure to get a closer look..are they used..are they refurbished...is the shipping charges high...ect. You will find that what apprears to be a good deal may not be. If you are selling new then focus on new products only. Perhaps you can spice up your auction by offering additional items for free. For example, if you are selling a cellphone, add free memory (if your supplier does not offer this then you can easily purchase it from another vendor for a good price and ship seperate). People love the word FREE. It feels good when it rolls off the tongue...:-)

3) Customer Service can make or break you. If you wait to long to answer a buyer then you may lose a sale. People have many selections to choose from on ebay. There is no room for poor customer support. Also, be nice. Do not treat your customer like they are stupid...even if you have to answer the question 1 million times..always act like it was asked the first time to each customer. Some customers have one hundred billion questions to ask...answer them and do it professionally.

4) Congratulations...you sold your auction..now what. Do not rush into asking your customer for payment. That seems to pushy and may turn the customer off. Give them time. at least 4 days. Many may not have the money up front and is waiting for payday or something. This is where many ebayers lose sales because they place in thier add that they need payment by yesturday. Be patient. You will get alot of sales by doing so.

5)When you do get your payment be swift to ship. Process the order as soon as you can and provide tracking number to customer. Communicate with them often and do not leave them in limbo about thier order.

6) Send them a thank you message. Everyone like to be appreciated.

This is my two cents on the basics. I hope someone finds this informative.

sherymedo3606

Hello, i'm so new to selling online and to salehoo.

I have an ebay store, started with buying products from liquidation.com and it's been two months now since i started but to be onest i don't find it worth the hassel as the wholesellers' prices are little pit high to make a good profit out of it as the ebay prices are so competitive. i have to lower the price to even not making a profit at all plus the high fees i have to pay to ebay, paypal and ofcourse shipping.

the same thing regarding the dropshippers, i paid $85 for European Luxury Imports Preferred Wholesale Membership then i found that their prices are too high to sell on ebay just even for a little profit.

please if anyone could give me tips and recommendations of good suppliers with real wholesale prices i'll appreciate it.

plus i need to know do all sellers get the same prices i get? and if so how could they sell those products for too little and still make profit?

richelle_salehoo1

Hi and welcome to SaleHoo, sherymedo3606 :)

Nice to have you here with us!

Sorry to hear of your past experiences. There are so many so called wholesalers online but you have to be really witty to find the real ones.

The key trick in wholesale is the volume or quantity of your order. The more or the larger the volume of your order is the lower the available wholesale price will drop. Buying power is a key factor so to answer your question no not all sellers will get the same wholesale price.

But there are also sellers who are willing to actually make very little or none at all on some of their products in order to drive customers to their stores who will hopefully buy other products (where the sellers can earn a respectable profit).

It would be a challenge to recommend suppliers without knowing what type of products you prefer. Please let us know and we would be more than happy to do a search for you.

To help you find the right product I would suggest trying out our Link hidden: Login to view. You can also do the following -

1) Check out the popular searches and most popular products on eBay:

Popular searches: Link hidden: Login to view

Best selling products: Link hidden: Login to view

eBay pulse: Link hidden: Login to view

2) Perform completed listings searches for products or brand names to see the conversion rate and average selling price.

To do a completed listings search, simply click the Advanced Search button next to the main eBay search box. Enter your search keywords as usual, and then check the Completed Listings box. Hit search and you'll see historical data for the previous 30 days. Successful items are in green; unsuccessful items are in red.

Once you've found something you think would be a good niche please feel free to let us know so we can help you search for suitable dropshippers.

Hope this helps!

sherymedo3606

Hello, thank you so much for your reply.

I started with lot of 70 pairs women slippers and another one of 4 Ipad 1st generation.

I sold 7 pairs of slippers and two Ipads but the profit after all the fees i had to pay was almost nothing to mention. I'd like to try dropshipping women shoes, handbags, fragrances and makeup from authentic brand designers plus some little lots of shoes from any brands so i need to know good dropshippers and wholesellers and please give me an idea what to expect in the biginning may be i'm expecting somthing not realistic.

thank you and have a great one.

richelle_salehoo1

Hello sherymedo3603,

I'm glad to have been of help :)

Dropshipping won't really help you earn more profits than what you can earn from buying through wholesale or liquidations.

But I want to be of help so here are dropshippers that might have what you are looking for -

Women's Shoes -

Link hidden: Login to view

Women's Handbags -

Link hidden: Login to view

Fragrances and Make-up

Link hidden: Login to view

Hope this helps, please let us know how you get on.

All the best!

sherymedo3606

Thank you richellemonfort,

Those are so helpful sites, if you think wholesalers and liquidators are best please help me find some of them which are trustable and with reasonable prices.

thanks again and have a great one.

richelle_salehoo1

Hi Sherymedo3606,

Here are wholesalers and liquidators for the products you previously requested dropshippers for -

Women's shoes, handbags and make-up

Link hidden: Login to view

Hope this helps :)

Please let us know how you get on! All the best!

sherymedo3606

thank you so much richellemonfort,

those are nice sites but i have a question about Ceriwholesale.com so have any idea how do they work? as their review report was not that good, if anyone tried i need to know how does it exactly work?

jkent

Come to here www.chinazrh.com, you will find here has more than 4,000 items for sell and all items with clear pictures and good price. If you get products from China and sell on your country, it's the best place from here www.chinazrh.com .
Happy New Year!
Cheers!

With all due respect I reviewed your site, I dont see anything that is sellable on ebay, prices are simply to high.

I agree, I checked out the site and found that eBay sellers are selling the products for less and that for drop ship orders they require Western Union or Bank transfer for payment which will eat any profit one may have.

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