Expert: Marvinator - 8/29/2006

Question
I am new to ebay selling...I don't have a product to sell in ebay..I stay in India

can u explain me how/where to find a product to sell in ebay ??


I just read your answer about drop shipper it was really excellent.. I do agree finding a good dropshiper is real mess.  

Answer
For the home hobbyist, finding ‘product’ is easy. Look at the shelves 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 need 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.  Look under shipping on the next few pages to learn how to check the weight and cost to ship any item.

Once you have an idea of WHAT you’re going to sell, you will probably already have a good idea of where to go looking for these items.  In order to give you a few MORE ideas, here are places that some of my seller friends use.  The idea, of course, is always to buy as low as possible in order to maximize profits.

 Thrift Stores and Garage Sales  Many sellers find things to sell at local thrift stores and garage sales.  In order to do this, one must know what they are looking at in order to know the value and how to sell it.

 Local Stores Sales and Closeouts  A seller I know is great at buying items at Wal-mart that are on end-of-season final close out, holding them until the following year, and then selling them on Ebay.  She says it’s great especially for the big holidays like Halloween, Valentines Day and Christmas.

 Online Closeout Stores and Catalog Sales Closeouts.  This works the same as the paragraph above but can be done online.  

 Local Craft Shows and Flea Markets  Buying at Flea Markets is a great way to find discontinued items and buy them at next to nothing!  Crafts have always done well on Ebay so long as they are shippable.

 Wholesale Product Companies  You can, of course, work with some company and purchase their product wholesale and sell it online.  Finding the right company to deal with and getting the order is not as hard as many may say it is.  You need to just write to the company and ask for their ‘Wholesale Catalog and Pricing’.  Along with it, you will get all their rules for ordering.  (Things like Cash for the first order, etc.)

  Purchase Clubs  There are a couple of big Purchase Clubs in the US.  How it works is that you pay for a membership and for the privilege of purchasing from the club’s warehouse.  You may get email or fax updates on items which are available for purchase, and there is no guarantee that any item received one month will be available the next month.  When an item comes in that you are interested in, you must decide immediately if you wish to buy it.  You then buy it and – hopefully – sell it on Ebay.  If it does not sell however, you are stuck with the entire shipment – even if it is one or two items.