Help My Bro Find Suppliers For His Ebay Biz

[Andrei Rotariu]

Gday all

My older brother has been selling dvd's and blurays on ebay for a few years now, nothing HUGE just a little extra cash on the side. He asked me what i knew about finding a good supplier for things like kindle, ipod, iphone and all their associated accessories.

I told him i had heard AliBaba.com is a good place to start. But apparently all the suppliers he has contacted want direct deposit or western union. Even though alibaba.com has their own pay function called alipay.

Doe anyone have any idea how my older brother can find a good, reliable supplier?

Cheers guys

[ptone]

Try this site...I'm sure he can find a supplier there:

Wholesale Central - Directory of wholesalers and wholesale products

[Andrei Rotariu]

Have u used it?

[theimdude]

Originally Posted by Andrei Rotariu

Gday all

My older brother has been selling dvd's and blurays on ebay for a few years now, nothing HUGE just a little extra cash on the side. He asked me what i knew about finding a good supplier for things like kindle, ipod, iphone and all their associated accessories.

I told him i had heard AliBaba.com is a good place to start. But apparently all the suppliers he has contacted want direct deposit or western union. Even though alibaba.com has their own pay function called alipay.

Doe anyone have any idea how my older brother can find a good, reliable supplier?

Cheers guys

I send you a PM

[Droopy Dawg]

Make sure you guys do your research... here's a directory for dropshipping wholesalers... I can't recommend any because I've never used any, but you should make sure the company you guys choose is right for your business... what works for me may not work for your (brother's) business.

Wholesale Dropshippers Directory

[JAIDEEP2959]

You can find suppliers here :

Drop Ship, Light Bulk, Liquidation and Import Wholesalers from Worldwide Brands! - Home Page

OR

SaleHoo | Wholesale Directory & Dropship eBay Products Suppliers

Good luck.

[Lou Diamond]

Hello,
I knew the subject of dropshippers would come up in this thread.
I would never use a dropshipper in a million years if you value your Ebay account.
I like to have the item in my hand before I place an ad on Ebay.
This is just my opinion and I am sure many people will disagree with me.

[FaJeeb]

I would never use dropshippers that advertise themselves as dropshippers. Why? Because you can drop ship with non-drop shipping websites. I did it with Halloween stuff in Sept. and Oct. With using a company that advertises, chances are there is more competition. More competition means that your profits will be cut in half. Trust me, I know. I've used sites that within a month, competition grew and people were selling the same thing I was for less, so much less, that they weren't even making money with eBay and PayPal fee's. These kinds of newbies would come in waves too. I sold the very expensive version of Wall-E as soon as a dropshipping company said they had some. I sold a couple, then two weeks later I've got competition selling it for $1.00 or 2 more than what they were getting it, despite the fact that they were losing money due to fee's. They didn't care. In their mind, if they made a profit of $2.00 per toy, but sold 10 of them a day whuch they figured they could since they priced it so low, then they would do very well and probably make a good $20.00 a day doing pretty much nothing. Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if you are selling a $300 on eBay, they aren't going to charge you less than $2.00 in fee's. This is why drop-shipping for companies that advertise themselves as drop-shippers does Not work.

There's a key to earning money in wholesale, and all of the big names are doing this. First, I'm going to say SaleHoo is crap. I bought it, everything is on Google anyways. I'm not saying its a pointless product, maybe its great for someone that just doesn't feel like researching sources themselves.

Here's the layout of what wholesale is right now. Hopefully I can explain it well enough, I'm usually not the best at explaining things quickly like I am now.



A) Thats little ol' YOU. You need to buy things to sell on eBay or where ever else for profit. You go to:

B) These guys have the "connections" - They communicate to you through their advertising. They tell you they have the best sources, usually, these are the guys like SaleHoo, where you have to pay for their information. Well, all these guys know are really (C). They do not know (D). They could if they really wanted to, but they don't.

C) These guys are those little websites, sometime with broken english, poorly made websites, you know the type. All (B) really knows is (C). However, C, whom are the true middle-men of this operation, they communicate with not only people like (A) (B) but they can talk with (D) too! In fact, they pretty much represent (D).

D) Before I talk about these guys, note the big difference between (A) and (D). Notice how (A) through (D) kind of blends or transitions. Why? It's because of several things, like the huge language barrier between counties such as Taiwan, Singapore, China, Vietnam, etc. It's actually pretty hard for (A) to go directly to (D) - but that's why there is little competition. Less competition actually means more $$$. Who really are these guys in the (D) group? Well, they are regular citizens in those countries that actually produce the things you can buy. Some of them are managers that have the ability to get you deals in bulk for cheap.

Now, something you have to realize. Is that (D) wants to make profit, but as mean and degrading as it this may sound, they don't understand the key points in business that (B) and (C) do, and that's usually why they Are in group (D). It's just how it is. (D) will sometimes try to be (C) by cutting deals with us English speaking folks, because of the assumption that we all have a bunch of money. Most of the time, it's a great deal too! However, if you want to maximize your profits, you have to get down to their level, and make the same kinds of deals that they do with other people in group (D). People in (D) trade things amongst themselves based on their economic prices and the value of their currency. You want to do that, you want to convert your money to theirs, and buy things at their prices.



Now, with some simple research, you can find your contacts in group (C). This is usually pretty reliable, and you can make some good money selling pretty much anything you want, however, you have another middle-man, and they make profit every time you buy, which means less money for you. It's all about getting to (D). All of the really successful people that sell things online is going to group (D) to find their products, and it's not impossible if you don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend.

I got my contacts through (C). How? I used to live in China for a couple months. I went to one of the best places to find deals on things, several things, which is the massive market in Yiwu. Heres a small video I found on Youtube.

YouTube- Yiwu china trading

That's (C) - They have their contacts with (D), but thats how they make money. Well, it took me a while to realize and find out how to go directly to (D) after I spent a couple months already buying and reselling from (C). Am I going to tell you? Well, maybe if you paid me, since I'm writing massive eBook right now about the topic anyways. If you have any interest in paying me for my bit of "know-how" then feel free to PM me.

I just wanted to make a long winded post to show my understanding of reselling wholesale products on the consumer market place, such as eBay.

[FaJeeb]

I'm surprised nobody has commented on my wall of text, lol.

[Online Business Mentor]

Originally Posted by FaJeeb

I'm surprised nobody has commented on my wall of text, lol.

you got a thanks of me

and 2ndly i'd use www.alibaba.com...just check each persons rating and historylike wiv ebay before you deal

do not waste time on dropshippers or silly paid programs like salehoo, you do need too

its like paying to find out where you can advertise for ppc..., or where you can buy your bread and eggs!

[AspiringEntrepreneur]

I'm not sure if I am allowed to post this link, but blackhatworld.com has a nice dropshipping section to get discounts.

[nicholasb]

check http://dvaspecial.com/ they have a lot of blu ray dvd's and basically any other type of media you can think of they even dropship I think.

[FaJeeb]

Originally Posted by nicholasb

check http://dvaspecial.com/ they have a lot of blu ray dvd's and basically any other type of media you can think of they even dropship I think.

This is actually a pretty good website, I ordered a lot of 60 from them about two months ago. This is one of those websites I recommend to people new to wholesale who don't have a whole lot to invest.

[steveniam]

Nice information. You can also visit Guangzhou where there is a street near the city and provincial transport station with lots of wholesalers which sell consumer products with smaller quantity. You will find foreigners especially from Africa looking for products and to have it exported to their home countries.

Originally Posted by FaJeeb

I would never use dropshippers that advertise themselves as dropshippers. Why? Because you can drop ship with non-drop shipping websites. I did it with Halloween stuff in Sept. and Oct. With using a company that advertises, chances are there is more competition. More competition means that your profits will be cut in half. Trust me, I know. I've used sites that within a month, competition grew and people were selling the same thing I was for less, so much less, that they weren't even making money with eBay and PayPal fee's. These kinds of newbies would come in waves too. I sold the very expensive version of Wall-E as soon as a dropshipping company said they had some. I sold a couple, then two weeks later I've got competition selling it for $1.00 or 2 more than what they were getting it, despite the fact that they were losing money due to fee's. They didn't care. In their mind, if they made a profit of $2.00 per toy, but sold 10 of them a day whuch they figured they could since they priced it so low, then they would do very well and probably make a good $20.00 a day doing pretty much nothing. Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if you are selling a $300 on eBay, they aren't going to charge you less than $2.00 in fee's. This is why drop-shipping for companies that advertise themselves as drop-shippers does Not work.

There's a key to earning money in wholesale, and all of the big names are doing this. First, I'm going to say SaleHoo is crap. I bought it, everything is on Google anyways. I'm not saying its a pointless product, maybe its great for someone that just doesn't feel like researching sources themselves.

Here's the layout of what wholesale is right now. Hopefully I can explain it well enough, I'm usually not the best at explaining things quickly like I am now.



A) Thats little ol' YOU. You need to buy things to sell on eBay or where ever else for profit. You go to:

B) These guys have the "connections" - They communicate to you through their advertising. They tell you they have the best sources, usually, these are the guys like SaleHoo, where you have to pay for their information. Well, all these guys know are really (C). They do not know (D). They could if they really wanted to, but they don't.

C) These guys are those little websites, sometime with broken english, poorly made websites, you know the type. All (B) really knows is (C). However, C, whom are the true middle-men of this operation, they communicate with not only people like (A) (B) but they can talk with (D) too! In fact, they pretty much represent (D).

D) Before I talk about these guys, note the big difference between (A) and (D). Notice how (A) through (D) kind of blends or transitions. Why? It's because of several things, like the huge language barrier between counties such as Taiwan, Singapore, China, Vietnam, etc. It's actually pretty hard for (A) to go directly to (D) - but that's why there is little competition. Less competition actually means more $$$. Who really are these guys in the (D) group? Well, they are regular citizens in those countries that actually produce the things you can buy. Some of them are managers that have the ability to get you deals in bulk for cheap.

Now, something you have to realize. Is that (D) wants to make profit, but as mean and degrading as it this may sound, they don't understand the key points in business that (B) and (C) do, and that's usually why they Are in group (D). It's just how it is. (D) will sometimes try to be (C) by cutting deals with us English speaking folks, because of the assumption that we all have a bunch of money. Most of the time, it's a great deal too! However, if you want to maximize your profits, you have to get down to their level, and make the same kinds of deals that they do with other people in group (D). People in (D) trade things amongst themselves based on their economic prices and the value of their currency. You want to do that, you want to convert your money to theirs, and buy things at their prices.



Now, with some simple research, you can find your contacts in group (C). This is usually pretty reliable, and you can make some good money selling pretty much anything you want, however, you have another middle-man, and they make profit every time you buy, which means less money for you. It's all about getting to (D). All of the really successful people that sell things online is going to group (D) to find their products, and it's not impossible if you don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend.

I got my contacts through (C). How? I used to live in China for a couple months. I went to one of the best places to find deals on things, several things, which is the massive market in Yiwu. Heres a small video I found on Youtube.

YouTube- Yiwu china trading

That's (C) - They have their contacts with (D), but thats how they make money. Well, it took me a while to realize and find out how to go directly to (D) after I spent a couple months already buying and reselling from (C). Am I going to tell you? Well, maybe if you paid me, since I'm writing massive eBook right now about the topic anyways. If you have any interest in paying me for my bit of "know-how" then feel free to PM me.

I just wanted to make a long winded post to show my understanding of reselling wholesale products on the consumer market place, such as eBay.

[Matias1021]

Originally Posted by nicholasb

check http://dvaspecial.com/ they have a lot of blu ray dvd's and basically any other type of media you can think of they even dropship I think.

thanks but my question is, how did someone go about finding that?..or like fajeeb said, finding legit under the radar dropshippers?....not the ones that advertise themselves as dropshippers where theyre really middle man and there is no profit.

[webtrix]

Originally Posted by Andrei Rotariu

Gday all

Doe anyone have any idea how my older brother can find a good, reliable supplier?

Cheers guys

I do..
Well, he'll need to go to China. Yiwu is a great place to start with.. Shenzhen too
Off course, he doesn't have to, but it's in his best interest to do so.

Finding an online supplier is nice and easy, but having a chance to meet him, sit down, talk, get to know him/them etc, that's another level.
Chances of being scammed are dramatically lowered (still can happen!) and he'll GET A MUCH BETTER PRICE.
(Don't think about travel costs etc. that will pay off from order #1.)

And I can email/PM you a one or two suppliers info.. I found them interesting, but we never decided to enter that market...

BTW, I'm in construction/building materials market, imported 100's of containers for the company I work for ..


Cheers,
Emir

[FaJeeb]

Originally Posted by Matias1021

thanks but my question is, how did someone go about finding that?..or like fajeeb said, finding legit under the radar dropshippers?....not the ones that advertise themselves as dropshippers where theyre really middle man and there is no profit.

That's just how it is, people just seem to stumble across sites and sources, sometimes to build up lists to sell (and also lie to their customers and say that they've purchased from them before when they haven't), sometimes its from the profits being tapped out from one source, so people go out on a hunt to find the next new source or company that provide better profits, often eliminating others when searching based on past experiences.

There were a few items that do provide a couple dollars in profit when they are bought in bulk of 5 or more. The ones I remember from yesterday when I skimmed over that site again, was the "Full Metal Jacket" Poster and the Mr. Bean Bobble Heads. I think even the Leapster Star Wars Jedi Math on the main page was a good deal too, wait, actually, let me do my math....


Here's the Math:

Find the price with shipping to your door step, for example, Wholesale Video Game Distrivbutor ~ LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game: Star Wars - Jedi Math ~ New Game

With the purchase of 5 to get the deal, and USPS Media Mail shipping to my home address, the total comes to $43.74. You have 5 items, so that comes to $8.75 per item, just to get them to your house.

(Also, on this website, you can submit an offer, so I would probably offer 20% less, if they said no, I would offer 18% less, then 16% less, you get the picture, anything to get that extra little deal. If you were comfortable with being able to sell 40 of them, that would give you more leg room to barter with.)

So, you go on eBay and use the ADVANCED SEARCH link to find out the average of THREE recent ones that have sold... RECENTLY. Not last week, not four days ago, as recent as possible. Also make sure they match. Average the three together. Here's an example of one I found that sold recently fitting the same description.

Here's one: eBay item number: 180429729219
Link: Wholesale Video Game Distrivbutor ~ LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game: Star Wars - Jedi Math ~ New Game

Remember to average three of them.

Now... you've got a price of $14.99, subtract the price you get it for. $6.24 - but that isn't what you are actually going to make per item, since there are fee's and shipping to your customer involved.

Head to the eBay fee calculator tool:


which is at: eBay Fee Calculator by Ryan Olbe

Ouch! As a non-powerseller, you make $1.78 profit. As a powerseller with 20% off FVF's, you get a little over 2.00 but still not much. I quoted 2.18 for shipping from my house to a customers house in the U.S.

And to be honest, that 1.79 Profit for selling each one is quickly consumed by gas to drop off the item at the post office, packing supplies, printer ink and paper to make the labels, computer usage, and all other overhead...

Maybe with a really nice description you can make 16.99, and you could always offer a lower price of 20% off the price the site quoted you if you bought 20 of them (6.53 per item) and then you sold all 20 that week with your super appealing eBay description, you'd profit $122.25 for that week, but your still spending that money on overhead so I'm not sure how much you would actually come out ahead, but it would probably be about $100 which isn't bad... at least not when your starting off and you have nothing else to sell on eBay so you can focus on this item specifically.

I know your question was really more about knowing if that site was legit or not, but now you can kind of see that through the math, (and the fact that these people sell on eBay too) that these people are also an additional middle-man.

[FaJeeb]

Also, on the section about the offer, in China... I offer 90% less at public markets. Pretty crazy, right? You'd think so, but most of the people I talked to would first sound upset and offended and would insist on only 10% off... then I would walk away. Almost every single time, they would chase me down and say "yes, we do that price" - then another guy behind me, another tourist, would end up paying 10 times the amount I paid for the same price thinking they got one hell of a deal.

That's whats great about actually going there.

I feel like I could write a book on the differences between the Chinese people, and the Western people.

[webtrix]

Originally Posted by FaJeeb

That's whats great about actually going there.

That's so true..

Originally Posted by FaJeeb

I feel like I could write a book on the differences between the Chinese people, and the Western people.

Oh and on the differences between the Chinese people, and Chinese people, too.

[JAIDEEP2959]

Originally Posted by Lou Diamond

Hello,
I knew the subject of dropshippers would come up in this thread.
I would never use a dropshipper in a million years if you value your Ebay account.
I like to have the item in my hand before I place an ad on Ebay.
This is just my opinion and I am sure many people will disagree with me.

I recommended him Drop Ship, Light Bulk, Liquidation and Import Wholesalers from Worldwide Brands! - Home Page as it is Ebay certified solution provider and Ebay developers program member.

You can trust Drop Ship, Light Bulk, Liquidation and Import Wholesalers from Worldwide Brands! - Home Page

[marin7]

Sydney Johnston at AuctionKnowHow.com .:. THE Highend eBay Training Company is supposed to teach you how to find product sources on your own, although I don't know if she goes into overseas wholesaling.

She was on Stompernet a couple of years ago as the Ebay trainer and is also a partner with worldwidebrands.com, so she may be worth looking into.

[khamleetran]

Salehoo.com is the answer.

Salehoo puts manufacturers, wholesalers & dropshippers through a qualifying process prior to adding them to their list.

They even act as customers in order to rate the suppliers product quality & services.
Yes you get to see members ratings too.

The suppliers on this list are real and contactable.

The benefits of SaleHoo is enormous, and their support team are very responsive & helpful.

SaleHoo only charge a small one-time fee which gives you lifetime membership so check it out yourself.

However, do your due diligence, contact the supplier directly, ask questions, consider ordering a sample or small volume to test them out.

[TrafficMystic]

Some good sites to try are

Wholesale - Buy China Wholesale Products from Chinese Wholesalers on DHgate.com

and

DealExtreme: Cool Gadgets at the Right Price - Site-Wide Free Shipping (Page 1)

I've used both of these when I was running my ebay business and never had any troubles with either of them.

Steve

[cigarsolutions]

I have done well with Alibaba.