Wholesale Dropship Products Right From Your Home

By David Hermansen

If you’ve read anything at all about starting an internet business, you’ve heard about wholesale dropshipping products. There’s good reason it’s such a hot topic. Using wholesale dropshippers is one of the very few ways any “Average Joe” can start an internet business. It’s how I got started online, and it’s how most of the successful online internet marketers that I know got started as well. 3 years ago I was on the verge of bankruptcy, and it’s an eCommerce store that was run solely using dropshippers that saved me.

No joke, my monthly expenses heavily outweighed my monthly income, and me and my family were struggling to get by each month. But, with a few hundred dollars, some hard work, and a couple good dropshippers, I built an online store that cleared over $100,000 over that next year. That wasn’t a fluke either; since then I’ve created one that cleared $35,000 in 4 months before I sold it for $40,000, and another that cleared $6,200 in one month before I sold it for $60,000. You can see a pattern here, using wholesale dropship products clearly works.

So it’s safe to say I’m a strong believer in using wholesale dropship products to fulfill orders for my web stores. In fact, 3 of the 4 successful online eCommerce stores I’ve created in the past 3 years have been run exclusively using wholesale dropship products. Even if you intend to eventually stock the products, it’s always smart to start off by using wholesale dropshippers. It allows you to test the market before investing tons of money into stock. It also gives you a chance to analyze what products will sell well and what products wont sell so well.

Keep in mind though that sourcing products is just one piece of the puzzle, and you need all the pieces to have real success. I highly recommend learning everything you need to know about creating, running, and marketing an eCommerce store before taking the plunge. Otherwise you’ll just be wasting your time and your money. You don’t need to necessarily be an expert on everything, but you need to know a decent amount about all aspects of running a successful internet business before you can launch one. I had 2 failed eCommerce stores prior to my successful ones.

I don’t regret creating them, because they did teach me a lot. However, after failed store #2 I came to the realization that I needed to learn all aspects of running an eCommerce store before I could create a truly successful internet business. So there was about a 6 to 8 month “break” between store #2 and store #3 where I researched a lot. I read an excellent book that put me on the right path, and it lead me to some other research material that really taught me what I needed to know to be successful. Store #3 was the store that cleared over $100,000 in net profit from September 2005 to October 2006, and another $112,000 from Sept 2006 through the end of 2007. I recently sold it for nearly $200k and I’m now focusing on teaching others how to do what I’ve done. There’s nothing better than being able to work from your own home. I’m thankful for every day I continue to do so, and I’m passionate about teaching others to do the same.

David Hermansen is the owner of TalkHomeBusiness.com, the web’s #1 work from home forum. The forum has a section that teaches it members how to wholesale dropship products for their home business. David is also writing a book that’s aimed at showing the average person exactly how to create a successful internet store right from their home by using dropshipped products. To learn more about the release of this book visit the TalkHomeBusiness Forum. Alternatively, you can send a blank email to book@talkhomebusiness.com and you’ll receive an email notification when the book is about to be released.

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• Learn How to Sell on eBay and Make Money from eBay Auctions

How do I Find Something to Sell?

Written by SaleHoo.com © All Rights Reserved

Many people wanting to start an eBay business spend a lot of time fretting over what they will sell. Perhaps these questions are familiar: Where do I find ideas? Should I sell the most popular items? How do I know a good idea? These are important questions everyone faces.eBay already contains so many items for sale that some sellers feel overwhelmed from the start wondering how they can possibly find a product idea when the market appears to be full anyway.

So where should you start then?

1. Your hobbies

This can be a great way of establishing a niche. Perhaps you love embroidery or making model airplanes? Chances are a lot of other people share this passion and are looking for related supplies. Crafts and hobbies is big market - however, before you jump in headfirst, make sure you do some research to back up the feasibility of your idea. eBay is a numbers game and no matter how great your idea is, it won’t work if not enough people are interested. So be sure to use the completed listings search and test the market with some of your own supplies first.

2. Listen to what your friends and family are talking about

Sometimes the best ideas can arise from your friends and family. One seller says she overheard some women at the table next to her talking about the trouble they were having finding a particular brand of baby slings. This got her thinking, and, after a bit of research, she realized they were a foreign brand and hard to find in the USA. A wee bit of research later and she had found a supplier and was successfully selling online. So keep your eyes and ears open! If people you know are looking for a particular item, chances are others will too.

3. Research newspapers and magazines

Newspapers and magazines can provide a ton of information on trends and styles. Just browsing the headlines can often be enough to spark a new idea. Try sitting down with a pen and notebook and skimming the pages of popular magazines and daily newspapers. You should have a list of at least 10 ideas by the end.

4. eBay Seller Central

eBay itself has a fantastic resource in the Seller Central area ‘What’s Hot’. Every month, a list of super hot, very hot and hot items are published. This is a great way to find ideas but remember that everyone on eBay also has access to this information! The merchandising calendar is also a useful resource.

All successful sellers sell several products, rather than putting all of their eggs into one basket. Not only can trends change with the wind, but some products are only popular during a particular season. For example, dehumidifiers are more popular during winter than summer, while lawnmowers are super hot in spring and have a practically non-existent market in the winter.

5. Find out what your buyers are buying

A good way of expanding your product range is by ’spying’ on your buyers. After making a sale, check your buyer’s feedback and find out what other items they have been purchasing recently. This will help you get to know what your target market are interested in and expand your range accordingly.

Finding something to sell can seem daunting at first, but I guarantee that once you think of one idea, plenty of others will quickly follow!

About the Author: SaleHoo is one of the fastest growing product sourcing portals on the internet. It contains a database of drop ship, wholesale, closeout and manufacturing suppliers offering thousands of product suppliers to consumers! Located at http://www.salehoo.com, visitors are allowed to sign up for unlimited and lifetime access to the completely searchable database of products and suppliers. The database is regularly updated, ensuring that the latest retail products are always available for purchase and SaleHoo carries the BBB Reliability Seal!

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