Long Time Gone… Doin’ Fine on eBay!

I haven’t been here for a while.  I have been pretty busy working on my eBay business.  But, I thought now would be a good time for an update.

I have been continuing to play around with my WorldWide Brands membership but have yet to really try selling anything from there.  I seem to be addicted to the Drop Shipping Sucks stuff.  For me it is just easier and now I have experience at it so it seems to make more sense.

I have decided to do my taxes a little early this year and when my return comes I plan to really invest in some products because I think it is time to have some inventory finally.  Right now I may buy one of an item or maybe buy five or six if I think it is really a good seller.  But I would like to try and buy some quantity now.  Hopefully I won’t make a mistake and blow my tax cash!

That is it.  Between work and eBay I have very little time these days.  I promise, I will be back on this weekend and actually write something of value!!

Wish me Luck!

Drop Shipping Didn’t Work for Me on eBay and It Looks Worse Now!

Here is a copy of an article Chris sent me via email.  Well, he sent me a link to an article.  But said I could copy and paste it in my blog, so I did.  I also made the link my affiliate link so please if you buy the Better Sources guide Chris sells use my link and I will make a little money.

Here is the article.

If you are considering using dropshipping to supply your eBay auctions with products then this article might change your mind and send you in the right direction…

Dropshipping is terrible for eBay businesses!

What is dropshipping? Dropshipping is a method of buying-and-selling that requires very little money upfront and very little effort. In theory.

Here is how dropshipping works on eBay.

You look through a dropshipper’s catalog to find products you want to sell on eBay. Then, you post the products as auctions or buy it now listings on eBay. If the product sells, you collect the payment from the buyer and forward the order on to the dropshipper, using your eBay customer’s payment to fund the transaction. The dropshipper then send the product directly to your eBay customer.

The money you have left is your profit.

The profit is the difference in price between what you pay the dropshipper and what you sell the product for on eBay. So if your dropshipper sells the Nintendo Wii for $230 and you sell it on eBay for $250 have $20 in profit. However, to determine your actual profit you need to include and deduct your eBay fees, PayPal fees, etc. So your final profit is under $20 using the example given.

Why is dropshipping bad for my eBay business? Let me start by saying “bad” is an understatement. Dropshipping is not bad, it is deadly. Dropshipping makes no sense in the eBay marketplace… Just think about it!

Dropshipping is based on the concept that you can get just one of an item and pay near wholesale price. But if you just think about it, that doesn’t make any sense. If we look at how the wholesale industry works it will be obvious.

The wholesale industry works on quantity. Wholesale is all about bulk. When a huge company, such as Wal*Mart, places an order it is in huge quantity (to fill all of their stores). I’ll make you an example using dvd players…

Wal*Mart wants to order 5000 ZIP-ZAM DVD PLAYERS which retail for $105 each. Wal*Mart plans to sell them for a little under retail at $98 each. So, they contact their wholesale distributor who offers them a price of $86 each. Wal*Mart places the order and everyone is happy. But…

Using dropshipping you cannot expect to get that DVD player for anywhere near $86. The distributor offered Wal*Mart the $86 price because of the quantity they were agreeing to purchase. At the $86 price the distributor is only profiting $5 per DVD player. But that is ok. One sale of 5000 units to Wal*Mart is $25,000 in profit. But you want just one, and a $5 profit sale is not going to do.

You have to look at it from the dropshipper’s perspective. If a dropshipper had a really hot product — why would they sell it to some small businesses for very little profit? Anyone using dropshipping is not going to sell huge quantities (or they would use wholesale)… So what is in it for the dropship company? The dropshipper could even sell direct to the public and do much better. They could charge a higher price and probably sell more units. Wholesalers could do this too, but remember, they do not sell one item at a time. They have a completely different business model.

So, when you think about it even a little bit – WHY would any company sell you just one of an item for very little profit? WHAT would be the advantage?

The answer is simple. They do not. The exception to this would be companies that sell large items that most stores do not keep in stock but will special order or very unique specialty items. But in the real world; in the EBAY world, dropshipping will cost you much more than wholesale price. Since eBay is a low-price marketplace, this means that often the dropshipping price is MORE than the eBay price.

eBay is a very competitive marketplace and the profit margins with dropshipping are just too thin to allow anyone to actually make a good living with this method of product sourcing.
But even if you could find a good product with a high profit margin, you cannot use dropshipping’s main advantage. You can no longer sell the item on eBay and then use that money to buy the item from the dropshipper.

You see, dropshipping is about getting paid first and then using that money to buy the product and have it shipped directly to your eBay buyer. So, you list an item on eBay then someone buys it. Then you use the money they paid you (though PayPal) to buy the item, which the drop shipper then ships directly to the buyer.

YOU LIST THE ITEM
YOU SELL THE ITEM
BUYER PAYS YOU FOR THE ITEM
YOU USE BUYER’S PAYMENT TO BUY THE ITEM FROM THE DROP SHIPPER
THE DROP SHIPPER SENDS THE ITEM DIRECTLY TO YOUR EBAY CUSTOMER

eBay’s recent policy changes will make it nearly impossible to start with dropshipping. One of the major benefits of dropshipping has been obliterated by eBay. You can no longer use the buyer’s money to pay for the product you are selling on eBay.

eBay has an new policy in place where they will start HOLDING FUNDS FOR 21 DAYS or UNTIL POSITIVE FEEDBACK IS LEFT! This applies to small sellers, new sellers, and sellers with less than stellar feedback.

Here are the details direct from eBay’s website…

FROM EBAY’S POLICY CHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Occasional holds on payment
27. Which sellers will have their payments held?
In a small percentage of cases where it has been determined the risk of dissatisfied buyers is higher, PayPal may delay release of the payment funds to the seller until the buyer has left a positive feedback or 21 days have passed without a dispute, claim, chargeback or reversal filed on that transaction.

To determine if a transaction may have a higher risk of dissatisfied buyers, eBay reports to PayPal a number of factors, including but not limited to:

Seller’s % Positive Feedback in the last 30 days
Seller’s Detailed Seller Ratings in the last 30 days
Final price for the item
Shipping & handling fee
Seller’s eBay tenure as an eBay member
Seller’s total number of Feedback

29. When will PayPal release the eBay item hold?
PayPal will release the hold when the earliest of the following occurs:

the buyer leaves positive feedback,
3 days after confirmed item delivery* or
21 days without a dispute, claim, chargeback, or reversal filed on that transaction.

* This applies to US domestic transactions that are shipped by USPS or FedEx and either (i) use PayPal shipping labels to ship items or (ii) upload tracking information to PayPal via the transaction details page.

So, now assuming you are a newer eBay seller (and if you’re established why on earth would you be considering dropshipping) you can not use the money they pay you to complete the transaction as it will be held.

You must use your own money to complete the drop ship order as the funds will not be released for 21 days. Seeing as this “pay only after you sell” feature was one of the best things about the dropshipping method of product sourcing there is really no reason whatsoever to use dropshipping any more.

While this might have you upset. I think it is a blessing in disguise. This will undoubtedly put a dent in the business of the handful of dropship sourcing companies that have made a fortune preying on eBay business hopefuls.

Dropshipping doesn’t work on eBay. It didn’t before and it definitely will not now!

If you are interested in buying products in a method similar to dropshipping (but that actually can help you profit) please visit my anti-dropshipping website at http://www.dropshippingsucks.com/sale/id-nohop

Good luck and no matter what you try remember… If it sounds too good to be true, it is!

Hopefully you enjoyed the article.  I liked it but found it a little hard to follow.  The gist is that eBay has added a 21 day hold to your money.  So, now if you wanted to use drop shipping because you didn’t have a dime to spend on products you can’t really use the buyer’s money anymore.

Although I do not use drop shipping I sure hope this doesn’t happen to me.  I am not “established” yet so they could hold my money.  =(

Wish me luck!

eBay and Me are Doin’ Swell!

Well, if you read my blog you know recently I had a little slump selling on eBay.  But things seemed to recover quickly.

Lucky for me, they have stayed that way.  And while I still do have some total product flops every once in a while, actually it is fairly common, I am back making profit.  I just love profit but who doesn’t?  I you don’t love profit then feel free to send me yours!

So, even with some listings that end without bidders, boo, I am still ending well into the profit and am actually paying some bills now.  Lucky for me this wordpress site is free or I would be doomed!  J/K

My most recent flop product, after the body lotion fiasco, was a dumb Elmo toy.  I thought it was so cute and let’s just say that the retail price on the thing was basically $20, and that is what Walmart was selling it for, and I got the cute little animated guy for $5.  Actually I got 7 of them at that price of $5 each.  I guess I could return them to Walmart for $20 each and say I lost my receipt.  J/K  I would not do that!

I listed little Elmo on eBay with a buy-it-now of $10 + $5.95 S&H, which would have me profiting about $7 each, and he did not go anywhere.  But that is ok, I will take Chris’ advice from his Better Sources guide and save it for the Christmas season.  Then I am sure it will sell but I thought if I could offer a lower price than Walmart I could maybe sell them now.  Oops!  Sorry Elmo, nobody wants you.

I have to get back to my auctions now.  I just wanted to keep the blog alive and remind those of you who are struggling that everyone has some flops.  You just need to keep at it.  I mean if I, the super eBay guru with a whole month of success, can have a flop then so can anyone.    Maybe this is going to my head a bit.  I guess when I look at my feedback score and my total profits I am still a newbie.  But hey, I am profiting and my feedback is getting higher all the time!

Wish me luck and I will do the same for you!

Enough Money on eBay to Take the WorldWide Brands $300 Leap!

Ok.  I have done it.  I have purchased a Worldwide Brands membership to their Onesource program!  Since Chris gave it a good review (see review here) I decided once I had made enough money on my eBay sales using the tips from the Better Sources guide I would take the $300 plunge.

So far, it looks good but it is kind of overwhelming.  I really don’t know where to start.  Also, it seems like there is some upselling going on.  Did anyone else notice this?  Are the extra paid features worth the money?

There are definately tons of wholesalers and (uh-oh!) drop shippers.  Don’t worry, I will not use the drop shippers.

I think I will play around in here for a few days before I actually buy any products.  I am happy with what I am doing right now so there is no need to be in a rush.  But at first glance Onesource looks really complete even without the additional things available.

I just thought you would like to hear that I finally did join Worldwide Brands like I was saying I would eventually do.  I will write my OWN complete review once have really looked around in there.  I also notice they have an affiliate program like Chris does so I will join that so when I write my review maybe you can use my link to signup and earn me some money!

Let me just add too that other people have said that Worldwide Brands and DOBA are that same.  Now, having joined both, I can say they are not at all.  DOBA was like a big online store with products that could be drop shipped.  Worldwide brands is a bunch of suppliers and tools.  I have not made an opinion on Worldwide Bands yet but as you know if you read my blog, I did not like DOBA at all.

Wish me luck!

eBay Sales Better After a Little Slump, Phew!

I have not written here in a while and it was not for a good reason.  My eBay sales started to slump.  Granted it was only for a few days but I must admit I did panic.  I even got paranoid and wondered if it didn’t have something to do with that mentoring telemarketing call I got at the end of Jan.

As it turns out, I just happened to run into some unwanted products mixed with what I think was a slow week on eBay.  Maybe it was all the Superbowl hype keeping people off of eBay?  I do not know, but I do know I was scared.

For the first time since I bought the Better Sources guide from DropShippingSucks.com (if you buy this guide please use my affiliate link) I had a bunch of auctions close without a sale.  I was selling some body lotion I thought would be good for Valentine’s Day but it seems nobody wanted lotion or maybe it is just that eBay was oversaturated with it.

At least I will smell good and have soft skin for a few weeks now!

But starting on Monday everything started getting bids on eBay again and selling on my buy-it-now auctions.  So all is peaceful and happy in eBay Seller Land.

Recently I have been considering posting my eBay ID on this blog, maybe in the about me page.  But I am a little worried as Chris advised against it and so did my friend John who has also started selling on eBay lately.  The concern is that people will then simply look at my auctions and sell exactly what I am selling using my listing headers and auction descriptions and everything.

I am slightly concerned that it might happen, especially since I am very vocal about where I get the products.  Not exactly where, but everyone who reads my blog knows I use the recommendations from Better Sources.  So, they could potentially steal my eBay listings to compete with me.  But will people really do this?  I am not making millions or anything so will anyone really care?  Is there really a danger?

I AM ASKING FOR YOUR EXPERIENCES?  IF I POST MY EBAY USER ID WILL IT HURT ME IN SOME WAY?  MIGHT SOMEONE REALLY STEAL MY AUCTION LISTINGS TO COMPETE WITH ME?

Please post your comments.  And “The Man Man” if you read my blog still, sorry I deleted your comment by accident.  I love getting comments and I don’t want you to think it was something personal.

That’s all for today.  Wish me luck in my quest for total eBay domination.  Ok, maybe not total eBay domination but I do want to eventually quit my job and become a full time eBay junkie!