Expert: Marvinator - 11/20/2006

Question
hi, could you tell me what type of product sells best on ebay and is dropshipping a good way to sell items?


Answer
WHAT DO I SELL?
For the home hobbyist, finding ‘product’ is easy. Look at the shelves in your home and find those nifty collectibles that are cluttering up the place and start selling. Every home usually has a few collectibles or interesting items which can be sold on Ebay. However, for those looking to make a constant living or part time income, a product base is important. You’ll to find items you can sell consistently and dependably.

The one thing I tell every aspiring seller is that you have to sell what you know. If you know nothing about Depression Glass then you won’t do well selling it. If, however, you have a collection of model trains, you may find that your knowledge of this hobby will give you a hand in selling such
items. Every one knows a little about something, or knows enough to get started with a particular item. Barbie Dolls, collectible toys or costume jewelry – it really doesn’t matter what, so long as you use what you know.

When searching for an item or product base, you also need to consider how the item will ship. Heavy bulky items of little value may not get any bids because of the cost of shipping. One seller I know wanted to sell an item which weighed nearly 10 pounds. This more than doubled the cost to the bidder and he was amazed he got no bids! Make sure that your item’s value will also include the shipping which will be needed to get the item to most of the country or to another country in some cases.

DROP SHIPPERS
Not a week goes by without someone asking me about Drop Shippers. Drop Shippers are a good way to go if you don’t mind the business of being in business. What I mean is that you need to consider several things about Drop Shippers.

First, You are not the only customer of the Drop Shipper. You are not among an elite group of 20-50 sellers either. The company couldn’t stay in business with just 20-50 clients. This means that you are selling the same things as hundreds to several thousand other Ebay sellers. Each of you is hoping for the same sales and probably the same clients – and you all bought the same item for the same price!

Second, if you do actually end up making a sale, there is no guarantee that the Drop Shipping company will have that item in stock when you go to order it and they are not obligated to get the item back in stock just for your one customer, either. You and your customer can end up waiting 6 – 8 weeks or more!  In fact, it may end up that you are forced to refund the customer’s money just because the Drop Shipper oversold and didn’t have it in stock when YOU needed it.

The fact is that YOU as a PAID seller are obligated to ship the item to the customer within 30 days.  This is a hard and fast rule of Ebay AND of the FTC.  The fine point of this rule is that you've just been paid for the item (and let's face it, you're not going to ORDER it from the Drop Shipper until you ARE paid.)  Since you do not pay for a Drop Shipped item until it is shipped, the Drop shipping company is not tied to this same 30 day rule.  The FTC agrees with this, again by that fine point of received (or rather NOT received) payment.  When will the item come in?  Again the company is not required to get the item in stock for you or for your customer or for anyone for that matter. Even if they ARE going to order it again, they are not obligated to get it in quickly just for you.  

I’m not saying this WILL happen, but it does happen and more often than Drop Shippers will admit.