Tuesday, May 13, 2008

MAKE MONEY ONLINE DROP SHIPPING

Just as the best stock portfolio is based on diversification, the most successful power sellers on eBay utilize a multi tiered strategy. In addition to selling assets acquired from Liquidation.com on their eBay store, they will also engage in what is called drop shipping. While this method is used by retailers, We will focus on the entrepreneurial aspect.
Drop shipping involves wholesalers who take orders from companies and then ship goods directly to the customers. Using this method on your eBay store will greatly improve your level of income. This should be used in addition to selling below wholesale stock from liquidation.com on your website. While you may not make as much from this method, because you will be paying close to wholesale, the advantage is that you can list items for sale on your eBay store that you have not bought yet. The lack of need for an upfront inventory in addition to the fact that you will be paid from your buyers from your store first, means there is no level of risk involved.
Basically the process is as follows; once you have set up your store and as we discussed earlier, you should start off slowly, selling small quantities of merchandise from liquidation.com or items that you already have. Once you are established on eBay, the next step is to find a good drop shipper. One thing to note here is the existence of scams related to this. Many websites will have offers to sell you lists of wholesalers and drop shippers; but in fact they are scam artists who set up phony or knock off companies and then pose as middlemen. They get the products from the real drop shippers and then sell them to you at a much higher price. In addition they fill out the list with real companies that are second rate and have prices that are too close to retail to give you a decent profit, in addition to charging you extra high membership prices.
Here is one legitimate place that you can check the price lists for a number of dropshippers for free. One dropshipper that may want to be cautious with is Doba. Though they are well known and offer a free trial, some people have found them to be problematic. Now that you have your drop shipper, make sure you take care of any preliminary paperwork that they require. Next you can start choosing the products to place in your store(make sure to follow eBay's policy on pre-sale items). As you do with Liquidation.com, you should always check on eBay to see what the current price and demand for any particular item is. In your store you should price your items just below the average. This way they sell faster, but you still make a profit on the difference between wholesale and retail. After someone buys one of your items from your eBay store and you have received their payment, you then place the order for the item with the drop shipper, giving them the appropriate mailing information, and they will send it directly to the customer. Also make sure you have the drop shipper put your label on the package(you don't want to give away your source).

Saturday, May 10, 2008

ANOTHER AUCTION VENUE TO SELL FROM

Once you establish a growing income reselling from liquidation.com, you may consider growing your business through an additional sales channel. Prostores, which is an eBay company, may be a good investment. Prostores will enable you to set up, design, and manage a customizable storefront, and allows you to manage both your eBay business and off-eBay sales from one centralized location. They have several store tier levels to choose from and offer a 30 day free trial. As an added bonus, active eBay store subscribers get 30% discount off the subscription price, following the one month free trial.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

MAKING MONEY ONLINE

Many of us have at one time or another thought about leaving the 9-5 workplace to pursue various entrepreneurial ventures geared toward self employment and an early retirement. Recent years have evidenced this exodus of some from traditional jobs to make money online. When it comes to making money online though, legitimate and lucrative opportunities are few and far between; one must first navigate a minefield of scams and dead ends. The few who have successfully navigated this gauntlet have found a Holy Grail in the form of power selling merchandise on an eBay store. Their profit margin is exponential because they purchase their product in bulk from Liquidation.com at a price that is far below wholesale.



I personally know several individuals, who using this method, move over $10,000 of merchandise per week, and make a net annual profit in excess of $300,000. The level of success that you can achieve in regards to this method is dictated by how knowledgeable you are of it, how persistent you are, and how resourceful and adept you become at it. One of the benefits is that the start up cost is extremely low. Registering with and opening an eBay store is fairly simple and the cheapest of the 3 store options is only $15.95 per month and they offer a 30 day free trial. Although you might want to upgrade to get more exposure later on, this is adequate to start out with. This will get you a storefront to begin selling from as well as provide you with sales and marketing tools.



Liquidation.com which is an online auction marketplace for professional buyers and sellers is free to register with. Though it is mostly designed for business to business transactions, individuals who are endeavoring to become self employed can register as well. Liquidation.com enables you to search for merchandise by a combination of product category, warehouse location, lot size, condition, shipping option, and keyword. You can buy single items or up to a truckload. In order to maximize your profit margin, you will want to buy from locations close to you; this way you can cut down on shipping cost and maybe even eliminate them by driving to the warehouse. If you don't live close by, search by "buyer may arrange shipping", as it is usually more expensive if Liquidation.com arranges it. If you are just starting out, you will probably want to stick with merchandise in the new category. Auctions will be listed by those closing soonest, and you are able to proxy bid. If a bid is placed right before the auction closes, the auction will be extended by three minutes.



If you are just starting out, I would recommend opening an eBay store and beginning slowly, perhaps by selling in small quantities until you are familiar with the process. Signing up with Liquidation.com would be a good thing to do early on, since it is free and you can opt to have them email you upcoming auctions that fit your criteria. This way you can get a feel for how it works. One important thing you will want to do before you bid on a lot is to check the average price that the item is selling for on eBay, so that you can make an educated bid. When checking the average price, also keep in mind the quantity that is up for auction on eBay, so that you can avoid any items that have excessive supply.