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Wholesale Suppliers

Product supply becomes increasingly important as your business grows. You’ll find that you will need at least two sources for each product you sell in order to have a reliable re-stock system. Large amounts of product usually only come from one place: wholesale suppliers. There are two different types of wholesale supply:

Bulk Lots: This is where you purchase large quantities at regular intervals from the supplier. The goods are sent to you where you store them and package and post them as you make a sale.
Drop Shipping: You pay for the goods but you never see them. The wholesaler packages and posts the goods straight to your customer for you.
The best way to find wholesalers is to use directories. It’s important to realize that legitimate wholesalers won’t go out of their way to seek business from low-volume sellers (i.e. eBay sellers), and thus, probably won’t optimize their website for generic keywords such as ‘wholesale supplier’ for that reason. They might do business with you if you go to the trouble of contacting them, but they won’t seek you out. Thus, be very wary of sites that appear in a Google search for ‘wholesale suppliers’ – they may very well be illegitimate.

The problem is though, everyone who uses eBay knows about a lot of these sites. You’ll still be able to get some good deals, but the best bargains to be found will be when you find and approach a wholesaler yourself. As your confidence grows, trying searching for wholesalers by using cold calling.

When contacting a wholesaler, you need to consider the following:

If you are purchasing in bulk, have you got enough room to store your stock? Or do you need to pursue drop shipping?
What quantities will you need to buy to ensure you not only have a good supply for a month or so, but will meet the wholesale supplier’s demands?
Buying from a smaller wholesaler might be easier at first as they will be more inclined to need your business. But what happens as your business grows? Often small wholesalers have trouble keeping up in fast-paced sales seasons.
How long will it take for the product to be restocked?
How big or heavy is your item? If you are selling furniture or something quite large, then you might find it difficult to manage without a drop shipper.
Buy one or two of the products first to not only test the quality for yourself, but to see if they sell well on eBay.
You may also find that it is difficult getting wholesalers to open an account for you when you are a new seller. It is a lot easier if your business has been established for some time already before you go seeking a wholesale supplier. Then you can answer with confidence questions such as:

What other products are you carrying?
Who are you customers?
How much inventory do you expect to sell in a month?
How long has your business been running? And so on.
Just be sure not to inflate how much stock you sell in order to get the wholesaler on board. You’ll only find yourself in deep water when you have too much stock on your hands later on!
SaleHoo.com

If you have spent hours searching for a great drop shipper and have had no luck, or perhaps have had issues in the past with choosing the wrong drop shippers, you have come to the right place! This article highlights some of the key things you should look for when you are next on the hunt for a reliable drop shipper.

A Reliable Payment Method such as PayPal, PayMate or Google Checkout. When you can pay your drop ship supplier via a reliable payment method, it means you have protection against them scamming you by taking your money and running – leaving you and your buyer with a big fat question mark hovering above your head.

Competitive Prices! Drop shippers must charge their retailers anywhere from US$2-US$5 per item in order to cover their costs of storing and shipping the item on your behalf, therefore, it’s important to make sure that the prices they can offer will be competitive.

Exceptional customer service: This is very important when drop shipping. Once you have taken your buyer’s money and placed the order with your supplier, what happens next is 100% out of your hands, and completely up to your drop shipper. To succeed, you will need a supplier who appreciates timeliness in sending the item out and emailing through tracking numbers. You can easily test out a new drop shipper you are looking into by ordering from them and having the item sent to your address.

A clean track record: As with all suppliers, you need to make sure that your drop shipper has a clean record. There are a few ways to do this. First, visit Domain Tools and enter the URL of a supplier you are looking into. Look under ‘Registration Record’ and see when the site was created. If it is less than 2 years old, we recommend you find yourself another supplier. Don’t be tempted to give them a try because they are the cheapest you can find. New suppliers are much more likely to be questionable than established ones. Second, check their contact details. Look for email addresses that end with @companyname, for example, if you are buying gardening supplies from Nebraskan Gardening Ltd, expect to see an email address that goes something like ‘bob@nebraskengardening.com.

Never use suppliers with free accounts such as hotmail.com or gmail.com. It’s unlikely that a reputable drop shipper will invest thousands of dollars into a wholesale business and neglect to set up proper business email accounts.

A will to help grow your business: A supplier can do a lot to help you grow your drop shipping business. Most importantly, drop shippers can help you generate more sales by providing additional services such as inserting your provided brochures, discount vouchers, thank you notes, and compliments slips. This really personalizes the items you sell and helps build a relationship between you and your buyers. Talk to your supplier about whether they are able to do this for you. Many suppliers are more than happy to do this, as it means they will gain more sales from you in the future.

SaleHoo.com

Drop shipping is when the product distributor takes care of all the shipping for you. Rather than ordering stock in bulk, the stock remains with the distributor then when you make a sale, they pack up the item and send it straight to your customer with your company label on the box.

Drop shipping is great for those who are new to online selling as it means there is little to no start-up cost and virtually no risk involved, as you won’t need to invest in a bulk lot of items that you aren’t 100% sure will sell. Using drop shipping services also eliminates the issue faced by many online sellers: where they will store their items – there is no need to hire any storage which means big savings for you!

However, drop shipping does have some drawbacks. Firstly, drop shipping is slightly more expensive than buying in bulk. Often a drop shipper will add US$2-US$5 dollars onto the cost of the item to cover their costs of processing the item. This means that keeping up with the staying competitive in high profile categories like electronics and clothing may be difficult but it certainly does not mean that you cannot make money when you drop ship, it simply means that finding a niche market will be even more important.

The 5 step guide to drop shipping:
Step 1: Find a drop shipper

You can do this by either Googling your product name + “drop shipper” or you can check out online wholesale directories.

Step 2: Set up an account with your drop shipper

You may have to pay a small account set up fee – while this isn’t always ideal, it is common practice for drop shippers. You should be weary, however, of suppliers who insist on you paying monthly or annual fees.

Different drop shippers have different types of accounts which you can set up. You can either credit your account and use the credit to pay for items you purchase for your buyers or you can pay as you go and use the money you receive from buyers to purchase the items

Step 3: List the items you wish to sell on your website, estore or online auction site such as eBay. You can list as many as you like, seeing as you don’t have to pay for them until they sell! Use the photos and item descriptions that your drop shipper supplies.

Step 4. When the item has sold and you have received payment from your buyer, log on to your suppliers web site and purchase the item you have sold and have it sent out to your buyers address. If your drop shipper does not have an ecommerce site set-up which you can buy directly from, simply send them an email with the details of what you want and where to send it to.

Step 5. It’s all up to the drop shipper now! They will package and ship the item out to your awaiting buyer.

SaleHoo.com

Market research is the best way to find new products and more importantly, determine whether they will sell. When we perform market research, we are researching three things (1) the audience (2) the products and (3) the competition. Think about it this way: would you ever open a cafe in a street without knowing if there are other cafes nearby, or without researching how many people walk by each day? It’s highly unlikely! Without performing adequate market research, online sellers can find themselves with a garage full of $5000 worth of stock and no interested buyers. To avoid getting yourself into that kind of dreaded situation, read on for my 5 step guide to easy online market research.

Step 1 Come up with a few product ideas. You may already have a few to get you started. Keep in mind the best items to sell are niche items which means they will appeal to only a small audience. This might seem strange, but new sellers become PowerSellers by appealing to a very small number of people then expanding their product range later. A few examples might be: plus size men’s sleepwear, fishing rod holders, left handed can-openers or women’s golf shoes.

Step 2 Next, research these products individually. You can do this by searching through eBay’s completed listings. This will take couple of hours of your time but won’t cost a thing. Start by going to eBay.com and clicking the “advanced search” icon right next to the search bar. Find the heading “search including” and check the box for “completed listings”

Step 3 Next enter a few keywords describing the item you are selling, select a category and hit the search button

Step 4 You’ll now be presented with a list of search results. Scroll through the results and look at how many items sold (represented by their price being written in green) and how many did not sell (represented by their price being written in red). Count up the number of green listings in relation to the number of red. To find a profitable niche product, you need to find a product with at least 60% of its completed listings being green. Scroll through at least 5 pages to really make sure you are onto a good thing.

Step 5 If you’re item meets the 60% threshold; it’s time to find a supplier! If you’re item doesn’t hit the 60% mark, enter a new product idea into the search bar and start over!

SaleHoo.com

The prospect of sourcing items from China is both exciting and daunting for most sellers, so when you throw trying to source branded items into the equation, it can make an online seller very nervous!

The answer is yes, you can import branded items from China, but it’s not easy.

This is because most branded items which come out of China are fake which makes sourcing genuine brands very difficult for retailers as many suppliers will try to convince you they are the real thing.

These days, it’s not just Louis Vuitton bags and Rolex watches that are replicated and sold as genuine in China. Here is a quick list of the most common replicas to come out of China:

• Consumer electronic goods such as iPods
• Designer Jeans
• Surf brand clothing like Billabong board shorts and bikinis
• Designer spectacles
• Perfume
• Cosmetics and skin care
• Computer software
• Brand name power tools
• CD’s and DVD’s
• Designer jewelry

So with that many fakes out there, how can you be sure you are going to get the real thing?

 . Firstly, genuine branded goods are not cheap! Wholesale authentic branded goods are only between 5-30% discounted from the local retail price Therefore, if a supplier is offering you for example, a tube of Crème de la Mer at the same price as a tub of Nivea face cream, it’s defiantly fake!

However, be aware that some sellers of replicas know that a higher price makes their items seem more genuine so they hike up their prices accordingly.

  . You also need to check the quality of the items. Do this by ordering a sample or two from your supplier and really analyzing the item. Check for things like the quality of stitching, the quality of the print in the design, the label and care instructions (poor English is a giveaway e.g “do no wash in washing machine”, or “dry cleaner only”).

However, keep in mind, that just like suppliers know all about what retailers look for in pricing, they also know that a retailer will largely judge whether an item is genuine based on the sample they are given, so sometimes you will be sent out a sample which is of much better quality than what you will receive if you bulk buy, and for this reason, you cannot rely on the quality of a sample item to determine whether a supplier is selling the real deal (hey like I said, you can buy branded items from China, but it ain’t easy!).

  . Ask the supplier to supply photos of the stock you want to buy with their own company branding in the photo. This will prove whether they actually have the stock on site. Don’t feel like you are being pushy or rude by asking for this, as it is essential to ensure that you and your money stay safe from scammers.
  . Request to see their documentation from their manufacturer which authorizes them to re sell the branded merchandise.

If you are still unsure, the best idea is to call the branded items local or national headquarters nearest you. You can find their contact details easily by doing a Google search, and they will be able to tell you if the name of the supplier’s company is one of their licensed distributors, which will mean you can finally put your mind to ease.

SaleHoo.com

Retailers need to be highly wary of suppliers claiming to be selling authentic branded or designer goods because often their products will be fakes. If you buy into re selling fakes, you could face severe consequences including prosecution. Furthermore, when you buy fakes, you are supporting a syndicate of crime gangs who run the counterfeit industry and often enslave children to produce these fake goods, which is hardly something most people would want to associate with.

Buying branded or designer items and managing to distance yourself from such syndicates of crime is not easy and finding a genuine supplier will take a lot of time. To help you along on your quest, I have put together this trusty step-by-step check list for retailers to refer to when they are researching new suppliers:

Step 1: Check the supplier’s web site and contact details

Before you do anything else, start by checking how old their website is by visiting Domain Tools and entering their URL and checking how long their site has been online for. If they have been around for anything less than two years, they are much more likely to be selling fakes.

Verify their contact details by calling and asking a few questions, and sending a few emails to get a feel for the people you will be dealing with. When you call, check that the person answers the phone professionally by telling you the company name and their personal name. When emailing, you should expect to have a fast and thorough response to all your questions.

Step 2: Check that they have safe payment methods such as PayPal or Escrow.com. If they only accept Western Union or telegraphic or wire transfers, do not do business with them! PayPal and Escrow offer buyer security which means that the buyer only gets paid when you receive your shipment , which means if there is ever an issue, you can get your money back much more easily.

Step 3: Ask the supplier for original documentation from the manufacturer or product owner. This is the best proof that the supplier is an authorized distributor of genuine merchandise. If they don’t have original paperwork, ask for a Sanitized Invoice. This should show the legal trademark of the product owner with the price, date, contact info blanked out. It’s not as good as original paperwork though.

Step 4: Order in a few samples from the supplier you are researching. When you receive the items, you’ll need to go through them with a fine tooth comb to ensure that they are legitimate.

 Still worried about winding up with fake goods? Find great suppliers with 100% authentic goods at SaleHoo.com

Are you wondering how some sellers can survive (let alone make any money) on the rock bottom prices they sell their items for? Believe it or not, many long running sellers are not only surviving while selling at those rock-bottom prices, many are also be making more profit than others who are listing the same items at a much higher price! This is because these big-time sellers can get their goods super-cheap from the very best wholesalers, meaning they can buy more, sell more and make more profit!

Why can large retailers can sell goods so cheaply?
Because they buy their items in big bulk (and I mean big!) and as a result, they can sell their items for very competitive prices. They order huge quantities at a time, often spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single bulk order which considerably reduces the price per unit. Large retailers have often spent years building relationships with their suppliers which means they get the best possible deals when they buy in such high volume. While you might be a few years away from being able to spend a few hundred thousand on making a bulk order, there are plenty of things you can do to help you get the best deals possible from the very best suppliers. Here are a few tips to follow when you search for new suppliers:

• Avoid any suppliers who charge extra fees. This will help to keep your costs per unit down and there are plenty of suppliers out there who will not charge any extra fees such as monthly memberships or charges to access their web site’s store – you wouldn’t pay a supermarket to look around at what they have to offer would you? So don’t do it with any suppliers!

• Be prepared to spend a lot of time do conducting pricing research. This is absolutely essential for all retailer sellers. Top sellers differ from other sellers in that they understand the amount of time that goes into pricing research and they get stuck in and do it! Pricing research will help you to determine whether it is possible for you to compete in a particular market.

• Go for suppliers who offer a guarantee or warranty for all items they sell to you. This is very important for keeping your costs down and profits up, as if you end up with a few faulty items, you need to be able to return them to your supplier, rather than refund your buyer yourself. This also helps to increase your sales as it gives buyers confidence in your products and your customer service. Usually, the warranty will be between you and the supplier – meaning if the items proves to be faulty, your buyer will return it to you then you will return the item to your supplier for a refund or exchange.
  Import your items! You can save (and make!) a lot of money by

• importing goods from abroad. Countries such as China and India are much cheaper to produce items in than Western countries which means you can make a lot of money when you sell them in your own country.
  How do they find these amazing suppliers?
  There are several ways to find the very best suppliers out there:

1)  Call manufacturers directly – this can help you get in touch with the very best of their retail suppliers, and if you can call and say “Hi, I’m Mike. Gary from Precision Manufacturing gave me your number and told me you are the man to talk to about…”. You can find names of manufacturers by visiting Manta.com an online directory of businesses in the US, UK, Australia, Canada as well as other countries. Here you can search for manufacturers by entering the name of the product you are looking into sourcing then following the links to the contact information for the manufacturer.

2)  Use online wholesale directories such as SaleHoo which lists over 8,000 of the very best suppliers on the web.

3) Go beyond the Internet. There are other ways to find great suppliers – try trade magazines and trade shows – a great way to build all-important relationships with suppliers. You can find trade shows near you by Googling ‘your state + trade fair/trade show’ or if you are really serious, you can visit the massive trade shows held in China.

By using the above tips and information to find your next supplier, you’ll be profiting like an eBay PowerSeller in no time!

SaleHoo.com

Did you know that clothing, shoes and accessories are eBay’s second top seller? Clothing is a great market to get into for several reasons; there are so many different categories; there is always a demand for clothing; shipping of clothing is low risk; and there are many niche markets to explore such as men’s plus size swim wear, petite maternity wear, and kids colored jeans.

What does drop shipping clothing involve?

As with all drop shipping, selling clothing through a drop ship supplier starts with finding a reliable supplier who stocks the items you want to sell. Finding a supplier who stocks the items you want isn’t always easy, but there are several ways you can go about finding yourself a drop ship supplier:

Try Googling ‘the name of your product you want to sell + drop shipper’. Remember that the best suppliers aren’t always on the first page of search results. Keep in mind that when you search for suppliers this way, you run the risk of encountering con artists who prey on taking newbies sellers for a ride (and taking their money for a ride to down to the bank!). One way to check that a supplier is legitimate to visit Domain Tools and enter the URL of a supplier you are looking into. Look under ‘Registration Record’ and see when the site was created. If it is less than 2 years old, we recommend that you find yourself another supplier, don’t be tempted to give them a try because they are the cheapest you can find, they are highly likely to be a fake supplier who is attempting to lure you in then take your money and run!
Use a reliable supplier directory such as SaleHoo which guarantees their suppliers as safe and legitimate.
Look through trade magazines – TradePub.com offers free downloadable trade magazines with information on suppliers as well as handy tips about what products are up and coming for the next season
Once you have found your drop ship supplier, it’s time to start listing! Pull the photos and product descriptions from your supplier’s site and make your own listings on eBay or wherever you intend to sell. When deciding on a price to sell your goods at, keep in mind the extra charges involved with drop shipping. Usually, a drop shipper will attach around US$2-US$5 onto the advertised price.

When the item sells, visit your supplier’s site and buy the item which you have just sold and enter the buyer’s delivery address at the checkout.

Your drop shipper will then send the item out to your awaiting buyer. Easy!

Tips for successfully selling clothing

When selling on eBay, make use of acronyms. These help to give you better item titles and tell the buyer a lot about the item you are selling. For example, NWT = New with tags, so the buyer will know that the item is brand new, unworn and because it still has tags attached, it’s suitable as a gift, if necessary. Here are a few more helpful acronyms you may wish to use when selling clothing:
EUC: Excellent used condition

FC: Fine condition

G: Good condition

HTF: Hard to find

NBW: Never been worn

NM: Near mint (condition)

NWOT: New without original tags

Describe the item in detail. Does it have pockets? Where? How many? Does it have vintage buttons or perhaps French cuffs? Make sure you describe the item as accurately and with as much detail as possible. This helps the buyer make an informed decision, and prevents any surprises when they open the parcel later
List basic measurements such as armpit-to-armpit and shoulder-to-waist. If drop shipping, your supplier will have to provide you with these details. This is essential for encouraging buyers when they are skeptical about wasting time and money on buying something online that may not fit them.
Keep up with trends by reading fashion blogs and articles so you can source next season’s hot items
Sell easy-fit items like scarves, hats and neck ties. People are more likely to buy these as there is little to no risk of them not fitting the buyers.

SaleHoo.com

What to look for in a great wholesale electronics supplier:

Quality products. To make it big in selling electronics, you need exceptional quality of products. Unless you are dealing in second hand or factory seconds items, you will need flawless products and packaging with manuals and instructions. It’s so worth the time it takes to find a supplier with great quality items as it will save you a lot of time spent on processing refunds and dealing with angry emails from frustrated customers.
Quality Service. You need a supplier who will deliver on time and will respond to any queries thoroughly and quickly. The very best suppliers will communicate with you regularly, even long after you have placed a large order with them. You should also go for a supplier with a strong personal interest in electronics and technology – this will help when you have technical questions and will help to ensure that they will stock the latest products.
Product guarantees: Of all the products you could sell, electronics is probably one of the most potentially problematic. Your supplier should be able to guarantee all their products.
A partnership approach. A strong and mutual relationship will benefit both you and your supplier, and will have your supplier acknowledge how important your business is, and you acknowledge how valuable their great service and product range is for your business.
A clean record. For online suppliers, you can conduct a search on them on the Better Business Bureau’s site which can tell you if the site has had complaints laid against them. Look closely at the results – even some of the best sites have had complaints lodged on BBB but if there are many that are consistently about the quality of the products, it’s best to take this as a sign that they aren’t a great supplier.
Where can I find the best wholesale electronics suppliers?

The best suppliers aren’t always easy to find but with a few hours of solid searching and researching, you can definitely find some great online suppliers.

Google searches work well, but to really narrow your results down to finding only the best search for “award winning + electronics suppliers” or use other key words like “legitimate”, “trusted” or “recommended”.

To really ensure that you get the best possible suppliers, use a reputable online supplier directory. The best of these are regularly updated and list only trusted suppliers. To find a list of reputable suppliers, try Googling “product sourcing directories”.
To find local suppliers, you can try visiting local trade fairs or simply pull out your Yellow Pages and looking for manufacturers, suppliers or wholesalers near you.

SaleHoo.com

Are you looking into selling wholesale clothing but don’t where to start? Or have you been wondering where your competitors get their amazing products from (and how they get them so cheap!)? Read on to find out how to find the very best clothing wholesalers on the web!

What to look for in a wholesale clothing supplier:
A wide range of products: A supplier who caters for everyone from babies to fashionistas won’t just offer you convenience; they will offer you more opportunities to sell to a wider audience.

A taste for what’s hot: Fashion moves very quickly with some fads only lasting a few months (remember those awful scarves with skulls on them? Thank God they only lasted a few weeks!), but during those few months, fads can be highly profitable. Therefore you need a supplier who can quickly sniff out the new trends and source them from the manufacturers to bring them to you.

Quality products: Before you place any big orders, get a few samples to take a look at. Suppliers are more than happy to do this – some even expect it. Take a close look at the quality (wear them around and wash them, if you can, you’ll get a great idea of how they will wear). Order a few different items like shirts, jeans and coats to really get an idea of their quality standards. Better quality clothing will mean more repeat customers so make sure you spend some time doing this.

Exceptional customer service: When things go wrong, like shipments going astray, or orders are incorrect, the last thing you want is an irresponsive supplier who doesn’t return your calls. Before you place an order with your new supplier, make sure you do a little test by emailing or calling them with a few questions. See how helpful they are, how thoroughly they answer your questions and if emailing, how quickly they respond.

How to find the best suppliers
So where will you find suppliers who offer all of the above, I hear you ask? Well, the best suppliers aren’t always easy to find but with some time and persistence, you can definitely get there! Unfortunately, it’s not really an option to email your competitors and ask them where they source their items from, but with some patience and persistence, you too can find great suppliers who will help to propel you to PowerSeller status before you can say “bootleg jeans”!

Performing a Google search is a great start, but remember that the best sellers aren’t always on the first page of search results. Also keep in mind that when you search for suppliers on Google or any other search engine, you make yourself vulnerable to con artists out there who will take your money and run off into cyber space, never to be heard from again.
To really ensure that you get the best possible suppliers, use a reputable online supplier directory, such as SaleHoo.com. Be wary of small lesser-known directories, as there are actually only a few reputable ones.
To find local suppliers, trade fairs or shows are a great way to find out about the latest products and to meet suppliers face to face. Or for a simple option which you can do from home, simply pull out your Yellow Pages and look for manufacturers, suppliers or wholesalers near you.

SaleHoo.com