[push]

I'm interested in starting a small online e-business just selling items. Now I don't plan to become huge but to stay on a smaller scale and just do this to make a couple extra dollars each month. Does anyone know of a site where I could order items in bulk or at low prices to re-sell? Thanks

[Steve]

Be creative.

I know a guy who sells Lord of the Rings Swords he is making lots of money. I know quite a few people who sell Bling items (like me). Just find something and stick with it until the site is finished, don't second guess yourself!

[push]

Yeah I'm not saying it can't get big. If it ends up that way i'm all for it. My problem is finding distributors that I can get actual product from to re-sell. Any good places to start looking? I've tried googling but nothing good has turned up thus far. Any sites you guys know of as more seasoned veterans that I should take a look at?

[Steve]

What kind of products are you looking for.

Email your new competition and see if they'll "drop ship" for you.

Thats how I started.

[push]

I was looking into either selling shoes or replica jewerly etc on ebay as it seems there is quite a market for it. But i'm still brainstorming and researching for other potential items to sell.

[jpomerenke]

Originally posted by Steve
What kind of products are you looking for.

Email your new competition and see if they'll "drop ship" for you.

Thats how I started.

Why would you email your competition and see if they will dropship for you? To be even minutely competitive with them your margins would have to be very very thin.

Unless they actually had a huge warehouse and a actual distrubution arm of business were they keep the margins good for wholesale accounts.

I actually talked with my competition at one time because they did have a distrubution arm, but ended up not using them because there slection was null.

I guess do whatever you can to get started but having a "retail" business dropship for you wont get you anywhere fast that is forsure.

[push]

Originally posted by jpomerenke
Why would you email your competition and see if they will dropship for you? To be even minutely competitive with them your margins would have to be very very thin.

Unless they actually had a huge warehouse and a actual distrubution arm of business were they keep the margins good for wholesale accounts.

I actually talked with my competition at one time because they did have a distrubution arm, but ended up not using them because there slection was null.

I guess do whatever you can to get started but having a "retail" business dropship for you wont get you anywhere fast that is forsure.

That's why I want to find somewhere where I can invest a few hundred bucks get a lot of product and then I market the product myself instead of sending my orders to competitors to be "drop shipped". This way my profit margin will be bigger and I wont have to worry about them shipping to the right place as everything will be done by me and I know it was done right.

[jpomerenke]

Well most of the time a drop shipped price and a small bulk order is going to be relatively the same price. They key is to find a distrubutor of your products that is willing to dropship. They will sell the products the same price as someone that came in and bought 10,000 dollars wort of the product. When people think of dropshipping the imediatly think of actual sites dedicated to dropshipping. All they are is glorified retail shops that wills hip produts to people. Ive never came across a actual dropship company that thier prices are close to a distrubutors price. But let me tell you, finding a distrubutor to dropship can be very very hard. Why you may ask? Because distrubutors margins are very thin so they only take large orders to compensate for the small margins. Its not cost effective for them to dropship. I perosonally dont know why they wouldnt because they are still selling products and if they looked more long term in sure someone that was buying bulk 6 times a year compared to someone dropshipping small orders 350+ times a year, it would all be the same. I think its more or less the work involved.

[Karen]

Originally posted by Steve
I know a guy who sells Lord of the Rings Swords he is making lots of money.

Hey Steve, are you talking about Chris? He doesn't use a drop shipping company for the swords, he actually has them at his house and packages them up and mails them.

Push,

What about an affiliate program from one or two companies who products you like?


Karen

[Steve]

Karen,

You are right. He buys bulk. You probably know him better than me.

When I was talking about dropshipping portion of things, I was talking more about the 3-4 different people I know who sell Bling items.

[push]

Originally posted by Karen
Hey Steve, are you talking about Chris? He doesn't use a drop shipping company for the swords, he actually has them at his house and packages them up and mails them.

Push,

What about an affiliate program from one or two companies who products you like?


Karen

I'm not big on affiliate programs, for the same reasons as drop shipping. Affiliate programs usually give you a very small amount of profit per unit sold. With buying in bulk the price per unit is very cheap and when you go to re-sell your profit margin is much better than any affiliate program I've seen will give you for a similar product. Right now i'm just trying to find out what industries are hot, and where I can get it in bulk.

[OSUbowen]

Have you ever checked out the Thomas Register? Every library has one or you can check them out online at http://www.thomasregister.com/ It is basically a large phone book of manufacturers and distributors in the US.