Preparing For Your Trade Show Visit To Make Money Selling On Ebay
Some may see attending trade shows as an opportunity to take a vacation. After all, often they are held in popular tourist locales. However, it is a mistake to take that approach. Trade shows are really the perfect place to start your investigation to locate great new suppliers. There is preplanning to do before you attend. By taking a little time and assembling the right information and plans you can walk away from each trade show with not only some great new prospective suppliers, but also some great bargain prices on merchandise being offered. In this article I present preparing for your trade show visit to make money selling on eBay.
Know exactly the products you are targeting. This is as simple as developing a list of your current core products. You’ll use your product list to identify companies you feel you must meet once you arrive at the show. Don’t stop there, however. Add products within your current niche you have an interest in adding to your sales offerings. What better way to make a decision about those products then to view them at the show? Finally add a third category of products for future expansion into new niches. If time allows, these are vendors you can meet with while there.
With your product lists develop, start your preparation for the show by obtaining a list of all vendors prior to arriving at the show. Use the list to develop your plans while at the show. Use your product lists to match up with vendors supplying products. The first group to list would be the vendors you consider to be ‘must see’ while there. Move onto a second tier group of vendors that would be nice to visit if time allows. You might even want to add a third tier of vendors to meet as potential future suppliers.
Most show lists include the location of displays by the various sellers. Use the location map to create your own personal plan for the show. Since your goal is to make money selling on eBay, minimize your time and walking by grouping your path around the vendors that are closest to each other. Taking this approach will minimize the miles of walking as well as the amount of time it actually takes to see all of the products and meet with the vendors of interest to you.
Arrive at the trade show early. You’ll find arriving the first day is best. While many of the other buyers will wait until later the first day, or even until the second day to arrive, your goal is to get there early. There’s an important reason for this tactic. Arriving early means you will beat the crowd. You will have time to meet with the vendors of interest without fighting huge crowds. A more relaxed tour will make decision making less of a hassle for you. You will be able to ask your questions and you can examine the merchandise of interest as well as pricing options.
Don’t forget to ask every company you meet about their trade show specials and other closeout merchandise. If your goal is to make money selling on eBay, you will find these are rare buys that add to profits. Often vendors will have limited quantities of specially priced merchandise available so buy the specials early. If you are interested in a company and its products then continue the discussion. Consider placing a small sample order to test whether everything is as claimed. Continue to build relationships with companies of interest after the show to set you up to make money selling on eBay in the future.
To Your eBay Success!
By: Bob Hamilton
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A wholesale drop shipper allows you to sell items without keeping a physical inventory. The company provides and stores products, then, when someone buys an item from an eBay business owner for example, that owner simply processes the order and sends it and payment onto the drop shippers who then package and ship the product to the customer. All you have to do is sell the products listed on the pages of a wholesale drop shipper’s web site for more than the drop shipper is charging and you’ll be on the way to an easy profit.
Basically, time is the only thing that an eBay business owner must invest when using drop shipping. And the majority of that time is spent on research, trying to find the best wholesale drop shippers to supply the quality products they wish to sell.
A middleman drop ship company positions itself between the manufacturer/distributor wholesale drop shipper and the retailer. They generally aggregate many different suppliers and present them under ‘one roof’. Many charge a monthly fee and also have per order drop ship fees. In general, middlemen are best avoided as it is difficult to find profitable product lines given their mark up, participation fees, and per order drop ship fees. However, some companies do offer money making potential and if you have lots of time to spare this may be worth pursuing, for example the free trial at Doba.
If your goal is to make money selling on eBay, you may be concerned about shipping methods you can choose to get your packages to your customers in the time they require it to be delivered. Some customers may require over night delivery, and if they are willing to pay for this service, it will be handy to have this option available to them as well. Federal Express or FedEx is probably one of the most well known names in over night shipping. But most people do not know that FedEx also has a ground service at a lower rate than over night. In this article I present make money selling on eBay by shipping with Federal Express.
There are a few things you will need to know before setting up your shipping costs for each item. You should know the shipping package dimensions, package weight, and location or zip code you are shipping from. You can calculate how much it will cost to ship anywhere in the world from there. By using FedEx, you can just input this information into their web site and they will tell you exactly how much it will cost, leaving no room for error on your part.
Discover how you can start making some extra money quickly and easily working online or offline. Learn some great ideas and see tips on how to get started.
Auction + Flee Market = Money – I did this myself for a year and each weekend I would pocket over $500. What you do is go to an auction and buy some things you think would sell (TV’s, Children’s books, Toys, Tools, Electronics etc.) Then go to an indoor or outdoor flee market and setup up a stand (usually it cost about $50 – $100 to have a stand for the day). Once you have your stand simply sell the items you got at the auction for a little more then you paid.