Introduction

Hello and welcome to today’s workshop!

My name is Lisa Suttora and I’m the Founder and CEO of WhatDoISell.com™. It was great to meet so many of you at eBay Live 2007 in Boston!

For those of you who are new to eBay workshops, I’d like to welcome you to today’s workshop and tell you a little bit about WhatDoISell.com

What Do I Sell is an eBay Certified Service Provider helping eBay sellers to find their niche on eBay through identifying the products buyers want and locating legitimate suppliers. If you want to find your niche on eBay and sell profitably in the marketplace, let WhatDoISell.com help you achieve your goals!

Who is this workshop for?

The information in this workshop is for all levels of eBay sellers. These product sourcing essentials apply to every eBay seller. If you are just beginning, you’ll start with a few. As you advance, you’ll add more to your repertoire. Experienced sellers should be doing all 10!

Element #1: Find a Niche. Specialize!

Finding a niche and specializing has always been the fastest way to success for the online or offline entrepreneur. Studies after study of successful entrepreneurial businesses have shown that it is the niche seller who achieves stellar results.

In June 2007, a new study just released by Internet Retailer revealed that the fastest-growing merchants are smaller niche retailers who specialize and understand what makes their customers tick.

They are the “go-to” guys. The businesses that are perceived as experts in the niche they sell in.

If you are just starting out selling on eBay, your long term goal should be to find a niche. If you are currently selling on eBay and thinking of expanding – look to specialize in a niche. If you a PowerSeller selling in an established niche, focus on what you can do to expand your product line deeper into that niche.

Note: Finding your niche on eBay does take time. If you are just starting out to sell on eBay you want to start as a generalist. What I mean by that is start selling everything and anything to hone your selling skills while you identify a niche to sell in. Don’t pressure yourself to pick your niche too soon. Selecting your niche on eBay should be done while you are gaining valuable selling experience.

Hi Deidre, Hi Lisa....

I am not new to eBay, but I am currently in the process of setting up a store through Auctiva. I am interested in learning what the 7 strategies are. eBay seems to be a whole different animal. People seem to want you to sell your items to them for less than wholesale, which is unrealistic, and to be honest, I am worried that we might take a loss if we embark on this.

Thanks for any input you can offer!

Trish

Element #3: Use Hot Lists Only as a Springboard

Have you ever gone to a Hot List looking for products to sell? Once there have you found a product and said to yourself “I want to sell THAT!” only to find that everyone else is selling THAT?

By the time a specific product makes it to a Hot List it is already being sold successfully in the marketplace. Most times there is no room for you to break into a crowded marketplace with the same product UNLESS you are introducing a new style, version, brand etc. of the same product.

Hot Lists are GREAT idea generators or as we call them at WhatDoISell.com Idea Hotspots™. They give you a snapshot of what is going on in the marketplace, they give you ideas for niches to sell in, the show you what products are out there, and what people are buying TODAY.

It’s your job as an eBay seller to then “step slightly to the right” of those products and look at offshoots of those products to see what will sell tomorrow.

Element #5: Don’t Turn a Supplier Down on Price Alone

You’re on the path of successful product sourcing – you’ve found a niche, you’re immersing yourself in the world that your buyers live in and you’re keeping up on trends. And now it’s time to start buying your inventory.

Imagine this scenario. You discover a great product, locate the supplier, contact them, set up and account to make your inventory purchases and BOOM! The wholesale price you can purchase the product at is higher than you want. It does not give you the profit margin you desire.

It’s at this point many people stop the buying process, get frustrated and go in search of a new supplier.

Unfortunately this is a big mistake and leads you on a wild goose chase with no hope of ever finding the golden goose.

When you initiate a purchase with a supplier you will NOT get their best price the first time around. That supplier will not give you deals until you show them that you can sell their merchandise, that you are a return customer. They are trying you out as much as you are trying them out.

And think of it this way – why haggle on price when you don’t even know for sure if their product is one you want to sell long term in your product line? The initial purchase from a supplier is a TEST order. Nothing more. You are testing the product to see if your customer likes it.

It this is the RIGHT product for YOUR product line and your customers like it, THEN you can go back and negotiate a better unit cost with your supplier. Additionally, as you sell more and order more you will be eligible for volume discounts, shipping specials etc.

Element #7: Test Market! Test Market! Test Market!

1) Do you place your inventory orders in bulk, sight unseen?
2) Do you buy a couple units of product and test them on eBay first?

If the answer is #1, that’s an easy one to fix! Unfortunately, many eBay sellers do the first – they pick a product to sell, call the distributor, place an order for a Lot of 50 units and list them on eBay.

They skip the testing.

Unfortunately, it is only after the inventory money is spent and the products are listed that they find out that the stainless steel shiny version of the product they ordered is “out” with the consumers and the wood grain earthy version they order is sizzling hot!

Now they are stuck with 25 units that won’t sell and they are sold out of the 25 hot sellers that flew out the door.

This could all be avoided by test marketing! Did you know that even the biggest name buyers in the biggest name stores ALWAYS do test marketing?

I was talking to an established merchandise buyer for one of the top name stores here in Seattle. We were talking about test marketing. Her comment was “My inventory budget is too small NOT to test market. I can’t afford to make mistakes. Test marketing minimizes that.”

Her “small” annual inventory budget? 1.2 million dollars.

You can’t afford NOT to test market your products before you spend your inventory capital on bulk purchases.