Here is my review of Waterhouse Research as requested by a few members here.
Firstly, I really want to make this as in-depth and coherent as possible. Apologies for the length, and if it is at all confusing.
So how did I find out about Waterhouse Research?
I listened to an audio book called Million Dollar eBay Business from Home by Neil Waterhouse (Yes. Waterhouse, the same company providing the research). Waterhouse Research amongst a few other websites are mentioned throughout the book.
The book itself is fine for eBay beginners - I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else as the information is stuff that most people will figure out for themselves after a short while researching/selling on ebay.
Why did I decide to use the services of Waterhouse Research?
After selling for a few years on ebay, I wanted to take a big step up and grow. The service that Waterhouse Research provided seemed to fit my needs perfectly.
-It would save me time. Sometimes I can spend 2-3 weeks looking for a product, calculating figures, speaking with suppliers, etc.
-I didn’t feel like it was over priced for the information that I thought I’d be receiving.
-I was somewhat comforted that they had a contact phone number in Australia.
-I also had a snoop of various social media profiles of Neil Waterhouse and found that he does regular
MeetUps - So I didn’t think that there was someone hiding behind a computer selling dodgy information.
Prior to ordering:
I sent multiple emails to Waterhouse Research prior to buying one of their packages. They replied promptly and answered all of my questions. However they did deny my one and only request to have a product not in the clothing category on ebay.
The response I received was: “In regards to selecting a category, we cannot accept orders for different catagories sorry as it takes to long to fullfill the orders.”
This seemed pretty bogus after I received my product because it seemed like each product was actually manually personalised and sent out. But whatever, didn’t matter that much.
Once I ordered:
I received the order within 24 hours.
eBay Top Selling Items
This wasn’t the product that I received. But this is the layout that I received with everything filled out. if all of the fields are blank, you can play around with the numbers 30737 to get different products. They do delete this information so it may be blank.
Up to this stage, they delivered everything as promised. But everything went down hill from here.
I spent about a week in denial. Thinking that surely I am doing something wrong in my analysis. But turned out that Waterhouse Research was simply missing too many things to make my particular product worth while.
I have a sneaky suspicion that the majority of their other so called ‘hot products’ are the same.
Some basic information about my product (From Waterhouse Research): All calculations are based on FOB and MOQ.
Supplier Cost (Local Currency): $22
Average Sell Price: $60.45
eb + pp fees: $7.86
Profit Per Sale: $26.74
MOQ: 50 Pieces
Air Shipping: $1200
FOB: $175
Profit Per 90 Days: $1791.58
At first glance to someone who is looking to grow their ebay business, these numbers look great. But at the end of the day they are not even close to accurate.
- When contacting the supplier their provided, I was unable to get the same pricing for the product or shipping fob. Once I complained to Waterhouse, they sent me a revised form with a reference number to quote the supplier.
- In Australia we have a $1,000 tax-free threshold on importing. This product was exceeding $1,000 and the mandatory tax was not included anywhere in calculations.
- Displaying FOB pricing is fine, but using fob figures to calculate true profit is obviously unrealistic. After contacting Waterhouse with this particular concern this is the reply that I received:
“There are a couple of ways to economically make the numbers work
better while you are starting out.
1. Try to import more than 1 order at a time as the fees can be split
over all the different orders. Even 2 orders effectively halves the
fees as the fees can be divided between the 2 orders. Over time the
more orders you can combine from different suppliers, the more cost
effective it is. Of course 10 orders splits the fees by 10.
2. To also get around this and help new people build up their
businesses, Neil Watgerhouse have been putting together groups of
people who can import together and split the local fees between each
other. As an example, Neil has a group in Sydney who does this and
the total cost to import goods from China to Sydney is $150 per cubic
meter including all fees and charges. There is however a $50 charge
per supplier which goes to the organizer of each group. For more
information on this, please see China eBay Import Groups
Telling me to import more that one order at a time just won't cut it, especially when the majority of shipping companies charge by cubic meter, and unless I am importing an entire container this isn't a viable option, nor a cost cutting option.
Additional costs:
Tax: $110
Import fees, duties, unloading, etc: $800-$1,100
All port fees where calculated for total package size per cubic meter (4.5CBM). I received 3 quotes which all varied.
So from what I gathered - Actually calculations where closer to:
Supplier Cost (Local Currency): $22
MOQ: 50 Pieces
FOB: $175
Tax: $110
Port Fees: $800*
Avg cost after fees: $41.50
Average Sell Price: $60.45**
Shipping Price to Customer: $6.00
eb + pp fees: $8.21
Cost to ship: $9.75***
Profit Per Sale: $6.99
Profit Per 90 Days: $468.33
*Lowest quote from 3 companies.
**Would obviously have to undercut the competitor.
***Waterhouse actually quoted this to be $6. Then gave me a rubbish excuse how they only write what the seller advertises and that they do not like to speculate shippings costs. Absolute rubbish imo.
I guess this is what annoyed me most about the entire situation. If I had bought the cheapest package from Waterhouse Research, the information that they provided me probably would’ve been fine. But the Gold Package was advertised as product making between $1,001 and $3,000.
I sent multiple emails to the Waterhouse company, explaining my figures, thoroughly detailing my concerns. Yet, I received generic replies and answers that did not fully satisfy me. I was never after a refund, I just wanted the correct information they promised however as soon as I floated the idea that I want a refund - they issued me with a full refund. Like they knew they were in the wrong.
But these types of experiences really just drill in the fact that you have to be super careful with companies who are selling you information to assist you in making money.
If I was unaware of all the actual fees and costs involved with importing goods into Australia. My shipment would’ve got to the port and I would have been forced to pay upwards of $1,000 or forfeit my goods. Leaving me with a profit margin that I am personally not interested at all.
I do not regret giving Waterhouse Research a chance to help me, because sometimes you stumble across amazing places on the internet (Like this forum, or cat videos on youtube) which have people who are genuinely interested in helping people.
I guess that this review is more for the newer, unexperienced ebay sellers who are looking to get an easy step up. Be careful when the man in the white van offers you free candy!
My experiences with Waterhouse Research 
