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Is it worth buying a product wholesale that already has stron competition?

by jake12293
7 replies
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So I've managed to source a product from China using alibaba, the product is in the Amazon best sellers list and has a few thousand reviews from this one seller. And there is a lot of people selling it on eBay at around the the same price too. On Ebay for example, The one who is selling the most is the the cheapest listing. Would it be woth listing this product cheaper an starting from scratch, or is it not worth trying to beat established sellers selling a popular product?

Oh and the manufacturer on the email has quoted a few dollars more than the max unit price on Alibaba, is he trying to rip me off already?
#buying #competition #product #stron #wholesale #worth
  • Profile picture of the author rumifdx
    Originally Posted by jake12293 View Post

    So I've managed to source a product from China using alibaba, the product is in the Amazon best sellers list and has a few thousand reviews from this one seller. And there is a lot of people selling it on eBay at around the the same price too. On Ebay for example, The one who is selling the most is the the cheapest listing. Would it be woth listing this product cheaper an starting from scratch, or is it not worth trying to beat established sellers selling a popular product?

    Oh and the manufacturer on the email has quoted a few dollars more than the max unit price on Alibaba, is he trying to rip me off already?
    Hi Jake,

    As a relatively new Amazon seller I will answer your question as if I was asking myself:

    Would I?

    Maybe yes, but most likely not.

    How many sellers of the same product can you see on Amazon? (I will make a guess that if the first page shows results with 1000's of reviews, almost certainly there are dozens if not hundreds of people selling the exact same product.
    Keep turning pages: can you still see the same product after page 4, 5, 6, etc.etc.?? bad sign.Or maybe not!

    If many many people are selling the same product, you can rest assured that the following 2 things are true:

    1st thing) you have big COMPETITION: this means you will need to differentiate yourself with your product, making it stand among the multitude. You can do it by offering an amazing quality product, or adding extra-accessories (bundles), or making a better listing (HQ pictures, great copywriting, better reviews, etc.) or you may need to promote it through several other platforms and then re-direct the traffic back to your Amazon listing. Most likely you'll need to do all of these things to get your product noticed. Seems a lot to do uh?! it is. But if for instance you're planning to sell cellphone cases (!?) you need to offer something different than all the other 7 millions phone cases out there, right?!
    But your effort might be worth it. Why? Because you have the 2nd sure thing.

    2nd sure thing) you have a product that is in DEMAND. By choosing that product you're choosing to dive in where the money is. Which is great. But there are already many big sharks out there and you need to know how big and bossy you could be in those busy muddy waters...

    Or else you can go off the chart and keep drilling down the bsr's until you find that mysterious object that has 2 people selling it.. "Eureka!" Not so much really 'coz your "squirrel' scarf" no one buys..

    From what I learned and put into practice I found the following checklist useful when screening for a new product:

    1) $10 - $50 retail price range sells best

    2) < 2-3 Lb weight keeps shipping cost at a minimum

    3) No brand names within product category/niche

    4) Simple item and not easy to break

    5) 2-3 products with less than 50 reviews on the first page

    6) cost 25% or less than retail price

    7) Room for improvement and Optimization

    I think the key is finding a product that is in balance between mainstream and underground. At least when just starting out. Going to extremes will do no good to you.

    Regarding your suspicions on the Alibaba "manufacturer" I think it depends on the product itself: "few dollars more" difference on a 60 inch flat screen tv is not to worry about; on a silicone mat is the case to run!
    Make your due diligence, get samples, place very small "trial orders" and you should sort out the fakes from the goods.

    I hope this helps

    Cheers
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    Where there's a will, there is a way
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    • Profile picture of the author crediblezephyre
      You said something in your response that caught me eye and I just have to ask because it's relevant to me (though maybe slightly off topic here)

      Originally Posted by rumifdx View Post

      3) No brand names within product category/niche
      I've been working hard to launch my first dropship/ecommerce site. I thought I had found myself a wonderful niche but I've been asking myself some questions as to whether it's wise or not. Mostly because, the niche and the products I want to sell are all branded. There might be non-branded versions of this product but all the demand is for the branded. I was hoping to call up these brands and resell/dropship their products on my site.

      I realize your statement above was more specifically targeted at amazon selling from the original questions but does this extend to dropshipping on self hosted sites as well? Am I barking up the wrong tree?

      I haven't called the manufacturers/brands yet because I'm trying to make myself look legitimate first.
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      • Profile picture of the author rumifdx
        Originally Posted by crediblezephyre View Post

        You said something in your response that caught me eye and I just have to ask because it's relevant to me (though maybe slightly off topic here)



        I've been working hard to launch my first dropship/ecommerce site. I thought I had found myself a wonderful niche but I've been asking myself some questions as to whether it's wise or not. Mostly because, the niche and the products I want to sell are all branded. There might be non-branded versions of this product but all the demand is for the branded. I was hoping to call up these brands and resell/dropship their products on my site.

        I realize your statement above was more specifically targeted at amazon selling from the original questions but does this extend to dropshipping on self hosted sites as well? Am I barking up the wrong tree?

        I haven't called the manufacturers/brands yet because I'm trying to make myself look legitimate first.
        I wish I could answer with 100% confidence but I'm afraid I cannot due to my lack of experience.

        However I do believe that "no brand names within product category/niche" best applies when going for private labeling. Common sense told me that I can't compete with the likes of Nike or Apple, even though I'd created the best sneakers or cell-phone replicas.

        I would say that there are basically 2 main strategies from which you must choose if you are planning to sell on Amazon: Retail Arbitrage or Private Labeling

        The first one is when you buy retail products (mainly branded products) for then reselling them online.
        The second one is when you sell generic products with no brands or, for instance, with your own brand on it.

        I think these strategies can still work even If you're planning to drop-ship from your self-hosted site, although in this case is your responsibility to drive traffic to your shop, while on Amazon you can count with the credibility of a huge-well established platform when not to mention the millions of customers whom daily navigate through it, one click away from closing a purchase.

        Regarding the sourcing process it really depends on the kind of products you're planning to sell: in some case you might find it easy to directly contact a manufacturer and get a contract with them to resell their products. In others it might be impossible and your only choice will be to go through a distributor/wholesaler.

        In any case the most important factor to bear in mind is the PROFIT MARGIN you can count with: branded products will almost certainly NEVER make you as much as private labeled products; on the other hand a branded product pretty much sells alone, while you'll need to create your brand image from scratch in order to instill trust and readiness to buy on your customers.

        Hundreds of experienced drop-shippers on the WF can help you better than I did though, being Amazon my only field of experience.

        Regards
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        Where there's a will, there is a way
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        • Profile picture of the author crediblezephyre
          Thanks for that long response, it really did answer what I was wondering (sort of). It essentially reaffirmed the way I've been going about it or planning to (build my own site to resell retail products) and most of what I wanted to know was whether it was a viable strategy or not. Seem it is, with it's own pros and cons but doesn't every strategy have ups and downs?

          Thank you very much for your response
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  • Profile picture of the author jake12293
    Thanks for taking the time to respond with useful information! I will definitely be taking it on board. ive heard mixed reviews in terms of sourcing on alibaba. Is that your main place for products or do you use other methods?

    Thanks
    Jake
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  • Profile picture of the author odaine21
    Originally Posted by jake12293 View Post

    So I've managed to source a product from China using alibaba, the product is in the Amazon best sellers list and has a few thousand reviews from this one seller. And there is a lot of people selling it on eBay at around the the same price too. On Ebay for example, The one who is selling the most is the the cheapest listing. Would it be woth listing this product cheaper an starting from scratch, or is it not worth trying to beat established sellers selling a popular product?

    Oh and the manufacturer on the email has quoted a few dollars more than the max unit price on Alibaba, is he trying to rip me off already?
    It'd be better if you sold the product yourself on Amazon. You can easily hop onto the current one selling on amazon and get sales as well. Do some research on Google about "online arbitrage" for amazon
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  • Profile picture of the author Auctiondebteliminator
    I love competition! It means I have data.

    Plus, if you were to sell something that was original, or had no competition, what makes you think people would buy from you?

    It's expensive to educate the public on a new product.

    Plus, if you're going to compete, it's a good idea to see what your competition is doing!

    After all, we all want to massacre our competition, so we'll need to research them to see how to do it.

    So long as you're willing to be better, you become the competition. Good luck! We're all here rooting for you.
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    Famous for my '$1000 dollar challenge,' I've been teaching people how to DOMINATE on eBay for YEARS. Sell 100% of your items FOR A PROFIT. Rank higher, sell faster, sell more, and DESTROY your competition with a data-based approach. Quit listening to Guru's-in-training! Click now below!
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