selling on ebay

**javaIdiot** · 07-18-2008 03:46 AM

I am planning to do sell on ebay. But i am still in the phase of product sourcing. So my question is, do you all it is good to buy product from alibaba.com and sell them on ebay?
Or do you all have any other product sourcing method?
You suggestion will be highly appreciated. :-)

**Mega B** · 07-18-2008 04:04 AM

The trouble with asking questions like this on what people sell or who supplies them for Ebay they are not going to provide the information freely as this would be seen as competition !!! Ebay can be good but you have to find a very unique niche product or service as the normal run of the mill items are so cut throat that people only make a very small profit but finding a niche is the hard bit.You will find everyone is selling games and electrical items etc and if you do a search you will get page after page of results but a mate of mine over in the UK sells only Kites and he also has a little website that sells them but because it is so unique he makes a fantastic profit.

**javaIdiot** · 07-18-2008 04:31 AM

Thanks for the reply. I concern about what you have said also. And i totally agree with you that finding a niche is extremely important instead of fighting with those big guys. But i was just wondering is there any people out there buying from alibaba and sell it on ebay? And i wonder whether this will work?
Really thanks for the suggestion anyway. :-)

**1entrepreneur** · 07-18-2008 04:33 AM

Selling on ebay can be tough business:

Mom-and-Pops, All Grown Up - washingtonpost.com

It is not the dream that many people think it is.

**javaIdiot** · 07-18-2008 08:36 AM

THanks for the reply and article. But i suppose it will not be easy to success in any kind of business? Let's learn together and become successful!!

**Hockey4Life** · 07-18-2008 09:34 AM

Alibaba is 95% overseas and 99% of the items on there are counterfeit. I'd recommend staying away from that site. Try getting a tax id then researching some distributors.

**millionaireposer** · 07-19-2008 01:21 AM

I believe ebay is saturated. You're going to have a difficult time competing and the first few months are going to be hell unless you've got a lot of money to invest in it. I would find something else to venture into.

**matt_15** · 07-19-2008 07:22 AM

there are lots of trade portals such as alibaba. There definetly are legitimate companies on there, but also there are fakes. If your selling on ebay you need to have a good niche, but you can definately make profit on eBay. Have you considered dropshipping ?

**Lambo** · 07-19-2008 06:27 PM

i sourced products from alibaba and sold them on ebay. I didnt exactly make the profit i wanted because there is fierce competition on ebay. ALthough i did sell all my inventory, it wasnt worth it.

If you have a good product which you can get for a really low price then by all means

**zharlene** · 07-19-2008 08:12 PM

I found this guy from Hong Kong selling fake iPods on eBay. He seemed to have been selling quite a bit...

I wouldn't deal with Alibaba.com esp. if I was looking for cheap stuff. I once asked them for a quotation of a container load of plain white T-shirts and they priced it at $1.5 a shirt. That's the RETAIL price of plain white shirts in China!

**javaIdiot** · 07-21-2008 08:11 AM

Originally Posted by matt_15

there are lots of trade portals such as alibaba. There definetly are legitimate companies on there, but also there are fakes. If your selling on ebay you need to have a good niche, but you can definately make profit on eBay. Have you considered dropshipping ?

Dropshipping seems to be very trendy nowaday, but i dun really know how it works and how am i going to make it work. Mind to provide some details? Thanks!

**javaIdiot** · 07-21-2008 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by zharlene

I found this guy from Hong Kong selling fake iPods on eBay. He seemed to have been selling quite a bit...

I wouldn't deal with Alibaba.com esp. if I was looking for cheap stuff. I once asked them for a quotation of a container load of plain white T-shirts and they priced it at $1.5 a shirt. That's the RETAIL price of plain white shirts in China!

It seems that buying things from alibaba is very risky. So i am thinking maybe the best method to source product from china is to go to china personally and bargain the price with the wholesaler there?? ?_?

**1entrepreneur** · 07-21-2008 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by javaIdiot

So i am thinking maybe the best method to source product from china is to go to china personally and bargain the price with the wholesaler there?? ?_?

This is a good idea, but you are at least 4-5 years too late.

Back then, entrepreneurs were going to china to import products back to their own countries, to sell on ebay, which wasn't available to the Chinese at the time.

Now that there is ebay China, suppliers and manufacturers in China are selling directly on ebay themselves.

So the method of going to China to source products is old and redundant.

**gregdavidson** · 07-21-2008 11:48 AM

There's a 50% chances you're going to be scammed by somebody in China. The main reason is because most people in China don't use credit cards therefore you'll have to wire them the money or transfer is to them through Western Union or Money Gram. Even if you did find a legitimate wholesaler you would still need to order thousands of dollars worth to get a price that is considered wholesale. People who order is smaller quantities often end up paying more than it would cost them to order from a local wholesaler. Finding a supplier within your country is the BEST way to source for products.

**Aletheides** · 07-22-2008 12:41 AM

Saying ebay is saturated is like saying the marketplace for all goods is saturated - it just doesn't work.

If you source correctly you can ALWAYS make money.

Originally Posted by gregdavidson

There's a 50% chances you're going to be scammed by somebody in China. The main reason is because most people in China don't use credit cards therefore you'll have to wire them the money or transfer is to them through Western Union or Money Gram. Even if you did find a legitimate wholesaler you would still need to order thousands of dollars worth to get a price that is considered wholesale. People who order is smaller quantities often end up paying more than it would cost them to order from a local wholesaler. Finding a supplier within your country is the BEST way to source for products.

Couldn't disagree with you more.

Originally Posted by javaIdiot

It seems that buying things from alibaba is very risky. So i am thinking maybe the best method to source product from china is to go to china personally and bargain the price with the wholesaler there?? ?_?

I've heard getting a business visa to China is hell, but I could be wrong.