Re-discovering eBay & Amazon…
// I will apologize firstly for the fact that this might be a bit of a brief newsletter… The truth is that I have been absolutely up to my eyeballs with work for the past couple of months as I have been putting together a brand new website. The site is aimed purely at the UK market (sorry everyone else but if it works, the concept can be expanded…) and if you are interested in buying stock to sell pretty much anywhere (online or offline) it will be relevant to you. I can’t say much more now but I will say that the site should blow the conventional ‘wholesale directory’ type of site out of the water! All things being equal, I hope to launch the new site some time next week and my newsletter subscribers will be the first to know when the doors are open so stay subscribed! Anyway, back to the newsletter, as I say, I have been working some really long hours as the new site starts to come together and the days are all just blending into one. I usually have the newsletter written several days before publication but here we are on Wednesday evening
Buying wholesale – a few do's and don'ts…
// As most of you know, I have worked with wholesalers both on and offline for many years and a number of my websites are based around helping people find and trade with wholesale suppliers. I receive a fairly constant stream of emails from customers and potential customers asking various questions about buying from wholesalers and this has been the case for the past few years. These questions always increase in volume around this time of the year as people try and grasp a bit of buying madness that surrounds Christmas. In view of this, I would like to throw a few do’s and don’ts out there which will benefit anyone new to trading….. 1. One of the most common ‘gripes’ I get from people is that they can’t find low prices for popular products online. It never ceases to amaze me how little effort some people want to put into making money…. The fact is that it is highly unlikely that you will find the best prices for the majority of products online – this is especially the case in the UK as many of the larger wholesalers don’t even have websites. More often than not, an online wholesaler
Be realistic….
// As some of you know, I spent many years buying and selling both on and offline and several of my products are based upon my own experience in this area. I know that the vast majority of my customers and subscribers have an interest in trading whether it be on eBay or at the local market but more and more I am seeing people with completely unrealistic expectations of what they will be able to do. Most commonly these unrealistic expectations are in respect of how much it actually costs to purchase specific products and what they can then be sold on for. I regularly get emails from people who want to know where they can purchase products such as mobile (cell) phones, new release DVDs, Playstation games and similar at, say, a 50% discount to resell on eBay. The fact is that such a thing is not available – it is a simple case of supply and demand and competition. Take DVDs for example, most people think that these are excellent products to resell on eBay because they are very popular, not particularly expensive and easy to package and ship. Unfortunately, they could not be more wrong. The
Fed up with eBay?
// For many people, their first experience of working online involves selling products on eBay. This was how I got started back in 1998 and I know countless other people that have done the same. However, it is important to remember that eBay is not the ‘be all and end all’ – there is a much bigger online world out there. My reason for mentioning this is that I have spoken to three people this week who each make a decent full or part-time income on eBay but who are fed up with it and looking to move in other directions. Having sold on eBay myself, I can understand why sellers do get tired/bored/frustrated with the auction site – it is highly competitive and it takes an incredible amount of hard work to succeed. In addition, it is normally the case that the more successful you become, the harder you have to work. Listing auctions, handling customer enquiries, packing, shipping, sourcing/buying stock, keeping up with feedback, monitoring the competition – selling on eBay is a tough job and it is no wonder that after working in this way for a few years, many people wish they were back in the
Fifteen minutes of fame and why you shouldn't trust the media
// I had my fifteen minutes of fame this week as promised by Andy Warhol (actually it was closer to ten minutes so I am still owed five!). Yup, I reached the dizzy heights of participating in a live radio interview for the BBC on the subject of selling on eBay To be honest, if it hadn’t of been the BBC, I probably wouldn’t have agreed to partake in the interview since the travel to the studio/preparation etc took up half a day and as I say, I was only on air for ten minutes. However, the fact was that it was the BBC and the producer agreed that I could get a mention in for one of my websites and of course, this would have meant some superb exposure at no cost. Unfortunately, the whole experience turned out to be a lesson in dealing with the media as although I kept my half of the deal, the BBC didn’t and they made no mention of my website and prevented me from doing so also. But am I bitter? Nah, course not, as I mentioned above, I am still owed another five minutes of fame and I won’t make the
