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eBay Info from Amanda

 eBay info from Amanda
In this article, Retirement Revenue's friendly eBay guru, Amanda O'Brien, explains why you should buy small first and then think big later.  Look out for the other eBay tips from Amanda elsewhere on the Retirement Revenue site.
 

Why you should buy small first, then think big later

There is one extremely important question that I am asked quite frequently and that is simply to do with the question of quantities.

Imagine the scenario: You have found what you think to be the perfect product. It ticks all the boxes; you’ve done your research. This is the product that is going to make you a huge profit, the product that the whole world needs to own, the product that you can source for an incredibly cheap price with a bulk buy. So you go ahead and order a quantity of 500. Imagine your excitement as you wait for your shipment to arrive. You have planned your listing description and you are all set to go. So when your items arrive you start your listings immediately and….

Your products fail to sell as expected.

This is one of the most disheartening things that you might face as an eBay seller. I've been there myself as has any successful eBay seller at some point or other and it’s something that I want you to avoid.

Start small

Unfortunately no matter how much research you conduct into how successfully a certain item will sell, you really can't ever know the true results until you create your listings and start seeing the profits roll in. That's not to say you shouldn't bother with any research, because the proper research is extremely important when you are selecting a product. But it is important to remember that there are other factors that you may not initially count on that can affect your success in any niche. It could be a sudden surge of competition, a freak change in the market reducing the popularity of your product, a reduction in cost from other bigger online retailers reducing your profit margins; all are factors that you might face at some point in your eBay selling career.

The important thing though is to use your common sense and this is where the importance of buying in small quantities to start with really comes into its own. There's no denying that buying in bulk is certainly one of the cheapest ways to get your hands on some great goods, maximising your profits in the process. But buying a product in bulk that you haven’t researched or even tested could leave you out of pocket, not to mention out of storage space! That's why it is absolutely imperative that you should start by buying a small amount of any product that you are considering selling, before signing yourself up to a larger order.

Dip your toe in the water before diving in headfirst

With the correct and sufficient research it is absolutely possible to know, to a certain extent, if a product is likely to sell well. Once you have found a reliable supplier, you then need to test your product. This is so important.

A good wholesale, supplier will be more than happy to send you a test sample or allow you to place a small quantity order before you commit to a larger order. If they won’t, then perhaps they are not the right supplier to consider. There are two things that buying a sample or test batch will allow you to do. Not only can you get your hands on the product that you will be selling to check its quality and/or functionality, but you will also be able to create listings to actually start to sell this smaller quantity initially to see just how much profit you can definitely make per sale.

If it becomes apparent early on that your products simply aren’t going to sell in the quantities you anticipated, you won't have lost much. But also when you find yourself with an incredibly successful item you will be in a position to confidently buy in bulk, knowing full well that sales and significant profits will follow.

Paying out less cash upfront helps you budget

Another advantage of buying a smaller quantity or sample of goods before committing yourself to a large bulk buy is that you will need less capital at the outset. If the product that you choose to sell isn't too expensive then this won’t be a factor anyway, but more expensive items such as larger electrical goods might cost you much more in initial outlay.

Learning that your product is likely to sell without spending too much money at the outset makes it much easier to make the decision to stretch your budget a little more for the successfully selling product.

But that's not all! When your initial small quantity of goods sell well then you will find yourself with a tidy profit that you can then put towards buying more stock. The more you sell, the more money will be accessible to put towards more of the product in question.

Save storage space for your successful products!

I don't know about you but I'm not a great fan of seeing endless boxes of products littering every room of my house. In fact I have a special section now reserved specifically for ‘products’! It’s even worse if the boxes that you are constantly tripping over are full of things that seem to be taking an age to sell and I know that if you don't have an empty garage to use or a spare room to fill, storage space will be at a premium.

So ordering a huge quantity of a product before being sure that it will sell might end up being an enormous hassle when you do find an item that will work because you’ll have nowhere to store it! A small amount of goods ordered just to test the water of won't take up too much room. And remember that you don't have to limit yourself to trying out one product at a time; instead why not sample a few different products to see exactly where your profits can be maximised. Once you see the success of some goods over others, you will be much more inclined to dedicate your storage space to the right cause.

In a nutshell

My advice to you is this; always buy small quantities first – just a sample amount if you can. If you see a supplier with a minimum order quantity of 500 or 1000, don’t take this as read – contact them and negotiate. Any genuine supplier will have no problem with you ordering a sample or reducing the initial quantity. After all this could mean further business for them in the future. As a rule stick to 5 or 10 of a product to test and then up your order to 50 or 100 once you judge its success. Once you are successfully selling all your stock within the timeframe expected, then you can think about ordering in much larger quantities and can take advantage of lower wholesale prices.

Just remember that your profits may not be as large to begin with but it’s worth the drop to be sure that you are on to a winner.

I hope you can see the benefits of purchasing a smaller amount of products before signing your hard earned cash away on a bulk load of an item that you are not sure will sell for a reasonable profit.

Make this general practice in your eBay selling career to stay on a profitable road.

As always I wish you the best of success,

Amanda

If you would like a copy of Amanda's great book, "The £2,500 Per Week eBay Powersellers Secrets", just click on this link: http://www.powersellerprofiteer.co.uk

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