Why get into wholesale jewelry?

July 11th, 2011 by admin No comments »

Jewelry is a huge market, especially online. It makes a great gift, either for yourself or for a friend or loved one. Plus it’s universal – jewelry is recognized by cultures all over the world as a symbol of wealth and well being, and as a reflection of personal style so there is plenty of room to make money in selling jewelry!

Is wholesale jewelry hard to source?

Sourcing jewelry is not difficult. There are hundreds of online wholesalers who you can easily get in touch with and buy from, however, filtering out the sub-standard ones and finding the very best suppliers, can be difficult. When you meet with or talk to suppliers, here is what you should look out for:

  • Excellent customer service. There is nothing worse than a supplier who doesn’t reply to emails or return your calls. Make sure customer service is something your supplier takes very seriously.
  • A perfect 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. If the complaints are all about product quality, this indicates that they might not be the best supplier to work with.
  • Suppliers with a wide range of products. This will not only help with your jewelry selling as you can have a broad range of items for sale, but also because further down the track, you may want to expand your product range and if you already have a great supplier, you’ll be one step ahead. As a repeat customer, you should be able to get their rock-bottom prices too!

Sourcing anything can be tricky, particularly for first-timers so it is important to do plenty of research before you dive right in and invest a lot of money in buying stock which you aren’t 100% sure will sell.  To avoid this dreaded situation, you will need to spend a lot of time researching the jewelry market by looking at which products sell best.

Check out the SaleHoo Research Labs, which will give you an exciting insight to the current selling trends on eBay. Even if you are not planning on selling your jewelry on eBay, it’s still a first-rate way to see what people are buying.

Alternatively, talk to suppliers about which products are top sellers, they can be a great source of information and asking them can also give you an idea of how helpful they are in giving out information and answering your enquiries.

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Online Selling Tactics

July 4th, 2011 by admin No comments »

Finding a niche market is one of the key ingredients to really making it in online selling. Did you know that beginner sellers are much more successful when they appeal to a very small market, rather than trying to appeal to everyone?

Finding a niche isn’t always easy – it takes time and persistence to find the right product to sell. To get you thinking, and to give you a few inspiring ideas, we have researched 5 product niche ideas to share with you. While some niche ideas might seem abstract to newbie sellers, that is exactly what a great niche is – very precise and seemingly difficult to source.

Niche Item #1: Heart Rate Monitors

These are used by athletes and gym bunnies or by people who need to keep an eye on their heart rate.

Why they are an exciting niche item:

  • They have a 75% success rate on eBay (75% of all monitors listed on eBay in the last three months sold!)
  • They are lightweight and easy to ship and store
  • One size fits all

Niche Item #2: Plus Size Shoes

Many big-foot’s out there find it very difficult to find shoes that will fit them comfortably from regular retail stores.

Why they are a super niche item:

  • While these are commonly made by popular shoe makers, stores often order only a handful of pairs in larger sizes, which means that more and more, our big-footed friends must turn to buying online to get what they need.
  • They have a high success rate on eBay (women’s size 11 sell at 61.9% and men’s size 14 at 75%
  • Both men and women alike can require plus size shoes (Hot tip: women’s size 11+ high heels could make a great little niche)

Niche Item #3: Plus Size Maternity Wear

Another plus-size item with huge success on eBay

It’s a profitable niche because:

  • Maternity and baby gear always works because people are always going to have babies, so you’ll never run out of customers!
  • Clothing items are easy to ship as they light and not fragile.

Niche Item #4: Military Insignia

Collectibles always make great niches and you can dig really deep to find the best ones. They are also perfect for people who are interested in them – you’ll find it much easier and much more rewarding when you sell something you enjoy. To really niche it up, go for US military insignia from the Vietnam War which is big on eBay.

Why military insignia makes an excellent niche:

  • It rarely dates or goes out of fashion
  • There are so many sub-niches to discover like Russian war medals and World War 2 helmets.

Niche Item #5: Antique Clocks

Another great collectible item

They are a first-rate niche because:

  • You’ll appeal to both collectors and home decorators
  • They have an eBay success rate of over 67%
  • You can often pick these up very cheaply from flea markets and yard sales, then sell them on to make a profit

Niche items really are the way to go for newbie sellers and there are so many out there to keep you interested and best of all, make you money!

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5 Things to Look for When Choosing a Drop Shipper

July 1st, 2011 by admin No comments »

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.

online selling dropshipNever 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.

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What is a wholesale price?

July 1st, 2011 by admin No comments »

When you hear the words “wholesale price” do you immediately deduct 50% off the retail price? It’s no surprise if you do, as there are so many sources out there telling us that this is what wholesale is, because every item is different. For example, electronics stores selling iPods make as little as 10% from each sale. It’s the same for a lot of designer cosmetics. If you would like to clear up a few things about what wholesale price really means, read on as I show you the real ins and outs of wholesale pricing, as well as how to ensure you are always paying the true wholesale price when you buy in bulk!

How is a wholesale price calculated?

It’s really not that complicated: a wholesale price is based on four different factors:

  1. The commodity price. e.g. the price of the raw materials which are used to produce the product
  2. The manufacturing costs (including labor)
  3. The packaging costs
  4. And finally, the cost of the mark-up the wholesaler adds on from the price they pay when they buy from a manufacturer.

Why do wholesale costs vary so much?

Quite simply because the costs above can vary greatly from product to product. For example, an item which requires very little specialized human labor,  for example, someone to turn on a machine and watch that items don’t fall off a conveyor belt will cost a lot less than a product which requires a lot of expertise to produce. Likewise, a plastic bottle with the main raw material being petroleum will cost much less than a ring made from gold. Surprisingly though, a cheaper item made from plastic will often have a higher percentage mark-up than a luxury item such as a bottle of perfume.

online selling tacticsHow do you know if a supplier has true wholesale prices?

To get true wholesale prices, you need to buy from a true wholesaler. In order to be able to sell at or below wholesale prices, a supplier must be a well established wholesaler with a proper business set up (with a business license and tax ID). The only way a supplier can sell to you at a price that is truly wholesale is if they buy from a manufacturer in massive bulk.

The difference between a true wholesaler and a fake wholesaler lies in who they buy from, and how much they spend. A true wholesaler will invest tens of thousands of dollars at a time when buying from a manufacturer. A fake wholesaler will buy from larger wholesalers in medium to light bulk and therefore, they won’t get items at the best possible prices and be able to pass them on to you, the retailer at the best price possible.

Unfortunately, many retailers are fooled by individuals acting as wholesalers when really they are simply middlemen who don’t have the money or the contacts to invest in huge bulk.

To really ensure that you are only dealing with true wholesalers you need to make sure they are trusted and legitimate. The best way to do this is to access supplier databases from trusted sources. You can find these online by Googling “product sourcing directories”. Most directories will charge a joining fee, but this is worth it as it can save you a lot of money by preventing you from being scammed in the future. SaleHoo.com is a trusted and reputable directory which also acts as an online community for online sellers with regular blogs and plenty of information and support for sellers to take advantage of.

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