| I spent nearly three months trying to sell products on | | | | have to pay the wholesaler, say $25 for a nice lambs |
| eBay using a strategy called drop shipping. For those | | | | wool sweater, you have to either start the auction at |
| of you not familiar with the concept, here's how it | | | | $25 to keep from losing money, or do a "buy it now" |
| works. You find a wholesaler who is willing to work | | | | for maybe $40 to get a $15 profit. But wait a minute. |
| with you on a drop shipping basis. (Note: there are | | | | You have to pay your wholesaler to pack and ship the |
| several fine directories available of just such | | | | product - say $5 -- so your profit drops to $15. Plus, |
| wholesalers.) You put some of this company's | | | | you check eBay and find the same sweaters are |
| products on eBay, sell them, and then pay the | | | | selling for $25. So, what are the chances you'll be able |
| wholesaler who packs and ships the products for you. | | | | to sell yours for $40 or even $35? |
| Sounds pretty cool, huh? You never have to take | | | | Now comes my secret fear |
| possession of any products so you don't need | | | | I tried to sell a lot of products from a lot of different |
| warehouse space.. There's no packing and shipping. | | | | wholesalers. What I found is that no matter what |
| You just market the products and count your profits. | | | | products I put up for auction or buy it now, the same |
| As the punch line in one old joke would have it, "not so | | | | item was always available for less. In fact, hmm, some |
| fast there, Abernathy." | | | | were available at the exact same price I had to pay |
| First, the market niche | | | | my wholesalers. |
| First, you have to find a profitable market niche and | | | | So my secret fear is that there are wholesalers who |
| this just ain't easy. You might say that eBay has been | | | | are selling products on eBay for the same amount |
| too successful as it is now darn near impossible to find | | | | they wanted me to pay for identical items - making it |
| a market niche that isn't already very, very competitive. | | | | almost impossible for me to make a profit. |
| If you don't believe me, go to eBay and type in some | | | | Can I prove this? Of course not, because the sellers |
| uoffbeat search term such as "emperor penguins." I did | | | | on eBay always had these really generic names such |
| this when writing this article and found two pages of | | | | as "bargainprinters" and "memory4less." But who's to |
| stuff related to these birds, including penguin crossing | | | | say what companies are really behind them? |
| signs (who would have guessed?), penguin art, and | | | | Am I being paranoid? It's possible. But if you want to |
| glass penguin figurines. | | | | try drop shipping, I would suggest two things. First, stay |
| Second, you have to find a niche where you can | | | | away from computer stuff and consumer electronics. |
| expect a good mark-up. This is because your profit is | | | | It is a jungle out there. Second, try to find a small |
| the difference between what you will have to pay the | | | | market niche where there isn't enough volume to |
| wholesaler and what you can sell the item for on | | | | attract the big guys and where you can earn a fair |
| eBay. | | | | mark up. |
| And there's the catch. Since you know what you will | | | | It's not easy but it is doable. |