I'm looking to build an online store and been doing some research on competitions and searches on google engine. I could not find any real niche that is good with many dropshipper options. I'm just wondering if anyone got tips for NICHE searching and which areas to stay away (i.e. electronics, toys, games, clothes)

Thank you in advance for your feedback!

I'm just curious as to how you are actually researching the Niche products, I'm assuming you are actually trying to sell these types of products without much luck?

This post is for Fudji.

Hi, Im Carmen, from Spain. I joined here in December/08 and always I have viewed these posts here, always think that you know very much about sell on internet and I would like talk with you, here go my questions:

I waste my time searching about niches, and much more time, looking for a good and reasonable cheap suplier, here, in alibaba, etc.. but I dont get to found it.

Actually I am a seller on ebay.es, I sell jewellery Tous, but it doest give profit, and there is a hard competition.

I have thinking about sell original brands phones: Nokia and Apple Iphone, but I am loosed, and dont found a good suplier, on Alibaba almost supliers dont accept paypal, so that I am afraid to buy them.

What do you think, its better to buy these items in China or in EEUU?

Would you recomend me a good wholesaler ?

Fudji, I would like you advised me,

Excuse by my poor English, I dont speak it very well.

I wish you answer to me soon.

Thank you very much.

Best regards for all members from Spain

Carmen

Hola Carmin, nice to hear from a Spanish member and you English is fine :)

There are a few points you make, so I'll reply to each one.

1. Searching for a niche market;

The biggest problem with niche markets is actually finding them, and that can often be very time consuming and costly as you try to sell different items in different fields.

I'm not a huge fan of droop shipping, but I do think it can be used quite effectively when researching niche markets, providing you can find a drop shipper that has the products you are interested in trailing.

Profit isn't the main focus here, you are testing the interest generated in your product, but although you aren't focused on margin, the drop ship price must still allow you to market the product at a fair market value, because even niche markets have a market value for the products sold within it.

If you can establish a link to a niche market with drop shipped items, then you can look at increasing your margin by finding a wholesale supplier or such.

I wouldn't suggest getting carried away with a large purchase, because niche markets can dry up over night, and then you could be stuck with excess product you would have to liquidate to generate cash flow once more.

2. Branded Phones from China;

Regardless of the payment options offered by Chinese companies, never try and source a branded phone from China, all you will get is fakes.

Some companies can make fakes of a very high quality, but what they can't do is provide you with an authentic brand name phone!

If you are looking at a marketplace like ebay to sell products, what you have to know is that the major sellers that deal in phones and such buy products in large volume, and sell at low margin.

Even if you were to find a genuine source, that is the type of thing you would be up against, very hard market to crack!

If want to make a start on a site like ebay, I always suggest looking at second hand items. I'm sure you have yard sales, markets, thrift (charity) shops, that type of thing.

Second hand items will be inexpensive, give you good variety, be less expensive for customers to purchase and should provide you with better margin than any new phone will if you shop well.

Selling second hand with constant listings, you may also find a lot of repeat customers coming back looking for other bargains also.

Anyway, all the best Carmen, hope that was at least some help to you.

: )

I've spent a lot of time looking for products that have low competition website (google search) and high demand (adwords search) but did not really got any luck find a niche that fit both categories. I tried to stay away from electronics since they're over saturated.

Any ideas for a niche?

One thing that is a guarantee in this world, if anyone does have a niche market they service, they will never give out the information.

They aren't easy to find, and when you do, you protect it well!

you know what's a good niche? people looking for niches! people looking for wholesale suppliers! people looking for easy ways to make money online at home!

and who benefits from that? salehoo!

yay!

(also, doba, worldwide brands, ebay, anyone selling workat home schemes, anyone selling niche ideas, most dropshippers, most wholesalers, because all they need is a steady stream of people who are interested in the whole idea of wholesale or niche or 'work at home' on a day to day basis, because even if memberships cancel or customers are dissapointed, etc, it doesnt matter, bc those companies get paid from the consistent daily flow of thousands of newbies who are willing to pay the $39.95 or whatever it is in the beginning, because there are thousands of eager newbies born every day willing to fork out the cash to get started on this whole exciting wholesale,niche,make money at home thing, because after all, its a sure thing, i mean what could possibly go wrong, right? so companies know this, and they capitalize on this niche, and why not, its money, and its a reliable market)

are you looking for the best wholesale suppliers? are you looking for the best niche? do you want to make money at home? well, youve come to the right place! this is your lucky day! i have all the answers, and your dreams will come true! i just need you to pay $39.95, and then you can start the good life!

Hello Fudji, thank you very much by your advices, you are a very kind person¡

Then, I need to know if I understand well to you:

So, arent there original brands in China? People say that all things come from there. I know they are very good with copys but actually all factories are there, arent?

Then, where do people get original Iphone Apple (for exemple) to sell on Ebay. I see on ebay piles of iphone selling , especially on ebay eeuu? How can they get them? Because I have heard that Apple Store California only sells two items per person.

What kind of items do you think it could be able to buy from China, what about original brands cosmetics and make up? This kind of things like me very much too¡

At least, I have read on Salehoo about liquidations stocks, lots over stocks,

Salehoo offers these lots to members? And what about you, do you sell lots of liquidations? Please, talk me about this, I have a premonition of you are a honest person, and I could be interested.

I am a person who likes to sell, markets, traes, very much but I am very lose because , really I dont know how goes all this of wholesaler , suplier, agent, liquidations, etc.... and I am getting crazy¡¡

Well Fudji, to finish, remember feel free to ask me anything you need from Spain, ok?

See you soon,

Carmen

I

Hola again Carmen, no problems at all, happy to help if I can anytime.

Original brands in China;

You are right by saying that almost everything is made in China these days, however things are made under licence and such licensing contracts are very defined.

Of course they have to be or a company would be undersold on their own products, and put out of business over night!

What happens is once the items are made, they are distributed through the licence holders legal distribution channels, that could be their wholesaler/s or even distributed direct by themselves.

Look at it like this, just because something is made in Spain, it doesn't mean you can get your hands on the item outside of the authorised distribution avenues, being made in China makes it no different.

The only difference is in China, you can get away with making replicas, where as you would no be able to in Spain, and so you don't see products for sale locally at insane prices.

It is a very common mistake that people make, assuming because an item is made in China, then they should be able to get the product there themselves cheaper than what the company actually sells the items for themselves, and of course it is what the replica market now thrives on.

iPhones;

I do believe that Apple does have a limit on the amount that can be purchased, but if I were you I would contact an Apple office close to you, they will be happy to inform you of purchasing requirements and any restrictions.

Ebay;

Not everything you see on ebay is genuine, so always remember that. I personally know someone who has been selling fake phones he imports from China, and he has been doing it for two years!

He asked for my advice at the time he was thinking of starting, and I advised him against doing it, but he went ahead and now here we are two years later and he does very well from it.

That doesn't mean he won't get caught, in fact I am shocked that he hasn't been caught yet. You see you have people like him selling fakes, then you also have the innocent ones also selling fakes, but believing they are selling genuine items.

It all adds up driving the ebay prices way below wholesale, because the prices are not reflective of genuine items, and therefore just make it harder to complete.

China;

It's an excellent market to have anything off brand made, by the term 'off brand', I mean unbranded products. For example, iPods, many have iPod replicas made, but without the branding so that they do not breach any trademark or other related licensing issues.

These types of products can be manufactured at a price that will allow good margin, given the fact that you order in a big enough volume.

Of course that is just an example, maybe not the best one I could have used, but it makes the point.

There is quite a bit involved in dealing with Chinese companies. The best thing you can do is visit in person, that is always respected by Chinese business people as they love dealing in person!

If you can't visit in person, I would always suggest going through an Asian sourcing agency. You will of course have to pay their commission, but they already have contacts that can make it easy to set up deals, and can often get you a better price than you are able to when dealing with a company yourself.

liquidated stock;

Your biggest issue would be shipping, along with your exchange rate against the US dollar. I am not aware what the rate currently is, but my best guess would be that it is not great, and may not represent good value for importing.

If you were in the US, I would seriously suggest that you take a look at the liquidation market as a possible avenue to source products, but in Spain, I'm not so sure.

Of course it would be up to you if you chose to import from the US, but I would suggest that unless you were buying in large volume, it may not be financially viable in the current economic climate.

There are a few liquidators in the Salehoo directory that you could consider if you chose to move froward in that direction. I think you will find that myself and jimmy are the two most active on the forum.

Jimmy is the community manager here, and he runs Link hidden: Login to view. Unfortunately I am pretty sure he is not shipping internationally, but you could double check with him to make sure.

We can also offer you a range of liquidated stock, and we do ship internationally if you wanted to use our services, but again, I suggest that you do plenty of research into your market there to firstly make sure it would be viable for you.

You can PM me with any further info if you like Carmen, always happy to help.

: )

When looking for niche markets on eBay is is wise to drill down to the many levels under the particular niche. For instance, say you were interested in marketing to cyclists. Instead of trying to source a great price on bicycles, look deeper into bike racks, bike locks, mudguards, pumps, bags, heart rate monitors, helmets, gloves, jerseys and bike pants, and not forgetting bicycle parts. While not everybody is into cycling, it has become more and more popular in recent times especially with the over-40s and the niche is huge. This is just one area. There are a million others and you can find great little niches right on eBay by drilling down through their main categories

TO ALL WHO LOOKING SOME PROFITABLE!

I am man from Latvia. And I have same experience in e-commerce.

I would like to say that this site is simply best. When I have buy this account I thing OMG what I buy. But now I have changed my opinion. I have made 1000$ per day only use this site Link hidden: Login to view I have foud this link via salehoo.com! ONLY WATH THIS AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND.

^if youre making $1000 a day, then why are you trying to make money as an affiliate?

see, this illustrates my point precisely: want to make money? i just need $79 (we just need this money because it proves to us that you are serious) and then, all your dreams will come true and you will make thousands a day!

i guess there are enough suckers (who are 'looking some profitable' ) born every day to keep scamsters like these in business...

^if youre making $1000 a day, then why are you trying to make money as an affiliate?

see, this illustrates my point precisely: want to make money? i just need $79 (we just need this money because it proves to us that you are serious) and then, all your dreams will come true and you will make thousands a day!

i guess there are enough suckers (who are 'looking some profitable' ) born every day to keep scamsters like these in business...

It doesn't matter how expensive Snake Oil is these days, there is still people lining up to buy it, and so shortage of people ready to sell it to them.

I'm not a huge fan of droop shipping, but I do think it can be used quite effectively when researching niche markets, providing you can find a drop shipper that has the products you are interested in trailing.

Drop shipping can be good if you find a reliable supplier. It is a good way for new people who don't have cash on hand to buy inventory to resell. Or not having a place to store inventory when they do purchase from suppliers/wholesalers/liquidators.

I have used drop shippers for the last couple of years. As the seller you just have to keep a close eye on their products to make sure the inventory is still in stock.

Some will send you updates when their inventory falls below 100 items or goes out of stock.

^were you able to find a reliable dropshipper who actually had items in stock and are you able to get worthwhile profit margins minus all dropship/paypal/ebay/etc fees on products? i ask, because i ran out of all my money and i am in deep trouble and if i can find a reliable dropshipper with worthwhile profits, that would help. but so far, i havent been able to find any dropshipper where i can get a profit, and everyone seems to complain about dropshippers, that they dont have items in stock, that they have all kinds of problems, unreliable, little profit, etc. and i am just talking about ebay and maybe bonanzle and ioffer and overstock, because amazon commission fees are way too high, and most buyers on craigslist dont want items shipped, and i cant afford to make my own website.

HI, THIS MAY SOUND TO GOOD TO BE TRUE , BUT I A NICHE MARKET BY MISTAKE ITS A LITTLE KNOWN MARKET, AND IT DOSE TAKE SOME KNOW HOW IN THE FEILD OF PROSPECTING FOR GOLD. WICH I HAVE BEEN DOING ALL MY LIFE AS A HOBBY. TO CUT IT SHORT, EVERY LISTING THAT I PUT UP IN THIS CAT. SELLS!!!! AT A PROFIT!!!!!! SO WHEN LOOKING FOR A MARKET LOOK WITHIN AT ANY SPECAIL INTREST YOU MAY HAVE. A HOBBY,A PASSION YOU HAVE FOR SOMTHING. THEN YOU WILL BE ON YOUR WAY. I JUST BEGUN SELLING IN DEC 09 WITH ZERO FEEDBACK IM NOW OVER 100 STRONG 98.9% POSSITIVE WITH OVER 3000 IN SALES SO FAR!!!!!!! ALL A MISTAKE!!!!!!

Hello;

I think the best things to sell are the seasonal surges, there are enough of them spread out throughout the year that can keep you busy.

Hi lveika;

Nobody (no robot) ever made money out of day trading in stock market. stock trading is a long run commitment and to do it right one needs a fund manager to manage it.

day trading is riskier than playing rollet at the Vegas.

don't do it man, don't through away your hard earned money like this.

WHATEVER YOU DO STAY AWAY FROM MK ENTERPRISE i PLACED AN ORDER WITH THIS DROPSHIPPER FOR ALMOST US$1000 WIRED THE FUNDS TO THEM AND ITS GOING ALMOST 3MONTHS AND CAN'T HEARE ANYTHING FROM THEM, EVERYBODY IS TRYING TO SEPARATE YOU FROM YOUR MONEY.

WHATEVER YOU DO STAY AWAY FROM MK ENTERPRISE i PLACED AN ORDER WITH THIS DROPSHIPPER FOR ALMOST US$1000 WIRED THE FUNDS TO THEM AND ITS GOING ALMOST 3MONTHS AND CAN'T HEARE ANYTHING FROM THEM, EVERYBODY IS TRYING TO SEPARATE YOU FROM YOUR MONEY.

Suggest that you contact support here at Salehoo, I know they used to have quite good open communication with the company and may, I stress may, be in a position to open some doors towards resolving the issue for you.

I would PM Richelle, and outline the issue in detail.