Locating products to sell
Posted in Seller Help on March 11th, 2009 by admin – Be the first to commentAmazon does all the marketing for you, so sometimes the key is just finding the right product to sell.
A helpful website is http://www.alibaba.com/
This lists all the different products which can be imported. Its one of the best places on the internet for buying wholesale. Virtually anything you can think of, you can buy in bulk there.
Beware of grey imports though. I once got burned selling mp3 players which I had imported. Sales were doing great, I was making about $1500 per month just from one product alone. Then one day, I received an email from a lawyer at VR3, they said what I sold violated their patent. They told me to stop selling, or face legal action. So, that killed my product line.
I found most sellers on Alibaba very easy to deal with.
Contacting the seller
To contact the seller, just leave then a contact message at Alibaba.com. But be sure to state exactly what product your are interested in.
Ask them to give you a price quote, and state the quantity that you are interested in. Also ask how much a sample is.
You generally have to pay for a sample. but that’s OK. Always get a sample, before ordering in bulk. Its the best way to establish a trust relationship.
If the seller wont send you a sample first, then just walk away. All reputable sellers are prepared to offer a sample Always, order a sample first
Sending the money
Often you can wire the money to them, I found western union the cheapest way. They charge about $14 if sending under 1000 dollars. Or $17 if sending over 1000 dollars. Locate a western union near you, see WesternUnion.com. Try and find one that lets you pay via debit card. When you pay, they will give you a transaction number, which you send to the seller. The seller can get the money, just by taking the transaction number to the western union in China, or wherever.
Alibaba is a great place to find things to import. Trouble is, sometimes its just too easy to import stuff. If you are selling a good product on Amazon, then other sellers can locate your supplier, and undercut you. The more you charge for your product the more likely this is to happen. just keep trying to find new products.
I found that each product you find can earn you about $500-$1000 per month in sales on Amazon. Typically you can sell the product for 3 times what you buy it for on Alibaba.com For example, if you buy 100 units in bulk, total cost of 1000 dollars. You can sell each unit at $30 each on Amazon.
Importing and reselling on Amazon is a viable way to make a living. Start slow, pay attention to customer feedback.. Sometimes its just locating the right product is all you need to do.