How do you even compete with the big boys?

Sandy D · #1 01-14-2010

I have found a super good dropshipper who has a large variety of good products to sell and priced reasonably.

Doing some research I find that they sell the items alittle cheaper then I can of course because of their listing fee breaks etc.

So what is the trick to get the sales, I know price is tops but how do you get sales of items that you have to sell for a small fraction more?

I see some sellers listing 20-30 items in a row to go off every 5 minutes or so.
How do you compete with these people?

And how do they pay their fees when they only sell 2-3 of those 20 items that went off?

Sorry if this has been asked before but I really need to make some money badly and have went days on end trying to figure out how to compete for "some" of those sales.

Or am I just doing this for nothing?

I see they are only making a dollar or so a sale so how do they make any money even with the breaks they get?

Thank you.

First Edition · #2 01-14-2010

This sounds like a job for John Shearer. He's the CEO and founder of videoprofessor.com. He's so confident you'll enjoy his free lesson on eBay, you'll come back to get more lessons on everything to do with computers.

coffee · #3 01-14-2010

eBay is super competitive. Keyword research is critical. Most people waste time going after the "best selling" product when there is s MUCH easier way to profit from the site. And even if you are one of the top sellers in the game, your profit margins are going got be razor thin. You will need a lot of auctions to make a full time income.

Here is a better solution - Marketing to your past customers again and again. Don't underestimate the power of this. Get a list of customers-sell to them again and again.

Another way to be successful - Avoid high competitive products if you are not an eBay Pro. Do your product research-remembering to focus on "small niches" & hard-to-find things to sell on eBay.

Sandy D · #4 01-14-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by coffee

eBay is super competitive. Keyword research is critical. Most people waste time going after the "best selling" product when there is s MUCH easier way to profit from the site. And even if you are one of the top sellers in the game, your profit margins are going got be razor thin. You will need a lot of auctions to make a full time income.

Here is a better solution - Marketing to your past customers again and again. Don't underestimate the power of this. Get a list of customers-sell to them again and again.

Another way to be successful - Avoid high competitive products if you are not an eBay Pro. Do your product research-remembering to focus on "small niches" & hard-to-find things to sell on eBay.

Thank you.

tripleflip18 · #5 01-15-2010

Make your auction look professional, not overloaded with crap. Always mention that you ship instantly within 24 hours. at first you will not make profit as you build feedback but then as your feedback gets better i believe your profits will grow a little bit.

Lyda · #6 01-15-2010

Lol! Funny, funny First Edition!

imjustme · #7 01-15-2010

If you offer quality service, people don't care about the price. I sell $40 items that others sell for $19.99 and I make a huge profit every month. The market is there. Not everyone wants everything for nothing.

NotGoodEnuff · #8 02-02-2010

This is true! I constantly sell my products higher than my competitors. Most of them have 2-3000 listings and sell for half of mine. I have about 500 listings on Ebay. My daily postage equals their daily sales. And that is only for Ebay. Once I get a buyer through Ebay, I woo them over to the website.

drgonzo2k2 · #9 02-02-2010

Yes, as usual, these are all good suggestions. I would like to mention the fact that you talked about finding a good dropshipper as your first supplier. While many people make a decent amount of cash with dropshippers, I wouldn't really recommend them as your primary supplier on a new account.

With a new account, you're trying to build feedback so that others will have confidence and Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) so that eBay will WANT you to sell on your site. Working with drop shippers right away is contrary to both those things. First, your shipping time is going to be a little longer than if you just shipped the items yourself, and this can be a KILLER to both your feedback and your DSRs. When you're starting with 0 feedback, this is especially crucial.

Next, you're putting all the hopes of your new eBay account in the hand of a 3rd party. If they screw up an order, you're on the hook for it. It also makes returns complicated, as most eBay buyers want to return the item directly to you, and when you start emailing them about returning to dropshippers, etc., they can get sketchy. Again, with a young account like this, on SNAD dispute or INR dispute could be pretty disastrous, so why risk it?

I have some thoughts/opinions of good items you should be selling your first 30 days that have worked well for me in the past. They are low or no cost to you, sell for a few bucks a piece on eBay (so you're not selling 1 cent items and get bit for selling feedback), and the packing/shipping effort is extremely minimal.

Since this isn't the subscribers' forum, I'd rather not share publicly here, but if you're interested, PM me, I don't mind at all!

gibsonton · #10 02-02-2010

Just be careful with dropshipping as your are only as good as the shipper .. my friend was dropshipping secuity items pool alarms and such and the place has some issue after a storm so he lost his account as he got hit with 50 negs in about 7 days.

drgonzo2k2 · #11 02-02-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by gibsonton

Just be careful with dropshipping as your are only as good as the shipper ..

Could not be said better! Again, while drop shipping works out fine for some folks, I really would avoid dropshippers altogether when your accounts are first starting.

One little mistake from the 3rd party you've chosen to represent you here could cause big problems for the eBay and PayPal accounts you've worked so hard to create.

NotGoodEnuff · #12 02-03-2010

I usually start an account with something that I am able to do myself and what everyone can use. The price is low to buy and to create. I do use a drop shipper. But, I stock about 50% of my inventory and lead out with that before I add the products that I don't carry.

drgonzo2k2 · #13 02-03-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by drgonzo2k2

I have some thoughts/opinions of good items you should be selling your first 30 days that have worked well for me in the past. They are low or no cost to you, sell for a few bucks a piece on eBay (so you're not selling 1 cent items and get bit for selling feedback), and the packing/shipping effort is extremely minimal.

Since this isn't the subscribers' forum, I'd rather not share publicly here, but if you're interested, PM me, I don't mind at all!

Hey Everyone!

Could one of the good folks I sent my method to via PM yesterday kindly respond to my PM? I typed in a pretty thorough description, and now lots of people are asking for it. Unfortunately I lost my PMs, and I'd rather not have to type that all out again.

If you could just respond to my PM with a thanks or whatever, quoting my PM, I would greatly appreciate it!

gibsonton · #14 02-03-2010

SMC was my Favorite ..when you scan over their products and than check ebay you see that there jus isnt a big market for 8 inch wooden motorcycles and such at least not 3 years ago .

ibanez13 · #15 02-03-2010

I ran into the same problem. I found that when I drop ship, the price isn't that great. When I buy wholesale, the price is slightly better, but when I buy in quantity, the price can get really nice. One item I was selling, I was able to take a decent price and cut it in half by placing a $7,000 wholesale order. I was selling them for $10 profit, and now I sell them for $65 profit yet the auctions are still ending at the same price. The big boys are buying wholesale and buying in extremely large quantities. More than likely, that's all your drop shipper is doing, too.

corleone · #16 02-06-2010

It's hard to compete with the big boys. . .that's why so many of us dabble in vero

Sandy D · #17 02-07-2010

I have been following a major seller to see if I can catch onto any of his trends and found it to be amazing how someone can sell 20% of their listings and have a item going off every 1/2 from 5 pm to 11 pm and pay their ebay fees.

Doing the math there has to be something hidden such as repeat customers or something because my prices on most products are within a fraction of this seller and if I listed that much and only sold 20% the bill would be overwhelming.

gibsonton · #18 02-08-2010

I have 3500-4000 lsitings and only sell 80-150 a week ..if you use the store feature it works .

falken · #19 02-11-2010

The answer is simple, they are not dropshipping, they buy their merchandise in bulk and get a huge discount. I purchase my stock in huge lots so I can get a discount, for me it's all about the cost per unit on my orders.

Another thing to keep in mind....

Some of us sell on both Amazon and Ebay, AND we pay taxes each year.

I make WAAAAYYYY more on Amazon than I do on ebay. Since I report my taxes, I sell on ebay as well, because I can report ebay sales as nearly a 100% loss and write that difference off at the end of the year to reduce the amount I have to pay.

BTW. In case any of you didn't know, this year Amazon and ebay are required to report your sales disbursments to the IRS if you generate more than $20,000 in sales AND 200 transactions in a year.

First Edition · #20 02-11-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by falken

BTW. In case any of you didn't know, this year Amazon and ebay are required to report your sales disbursments to the IRS if you generate more than $20,000 in sales AND 200 transactions in a year.

Site your sources please.

Also, amazon fees are substantially less....

gibsonton · #21 02-11-2010

The IRS doesn not report untill the year 2011 so it will be on your 2011 tax form which you will file in 2012 .. i need my credit so i also file taxes on ebay and bring my invetory totals forward ..not much losses you can file.

gibsonton · #22 02-11-2010

Also if you are writing anything off as 100% loss for more than 1 year get ready for line by line audit .