6/11/09 eBay Powersellers Secrets Newsletter

“In this week’s newsletter Amanda explains why you should never be frightened of using international suppliers to source your eBay products.”  

Hello!

Well after last Monday’s awkward customer, who incidentally is currently in the running for the ‘most deluded customer of the year’ award, I have had a considerably more stress free week you’ll be pleased to hear - well, apart from yesterday’s unfortunate incident involving my dog, a sheepdog and two escapee sheep that usually reside in the field behind my house; but that’s a story for another time…

On to more important things! A couple of weeks ago I promised I would give you my views on sourcing products to sell on eBay and more specifically my opinions on product sourcing from China compared with product sourcing from within the UK.

I get loads of emails every week from people asking for reliable UK wholesale sources for this product and that product, but the truth is, whilst I do regularly use UK suppliers, I actually favour China and USA suppliers, mainly because I have always found that their prices are much more competitive - particularly when sterling is doing well!

If I wanted to source branded goods (which I personally don’t!) then I would certainly consider UK suppliers first to avoid getting into a situation where I was uncertain if I had the genuine article or not, however, when it comes to unbranded goods - which is the core of my eBay business - I look further afield every time.

I had an email earlier this week from a lady who had ordered what she thought were genuine GHD’s from a China supplier (these are top of the range hair straighteners for the men out there who don’t know what I’m talking about!) only to receive them and discover that they were fakes. Good fakes, but never-the-less they were only copies of the real thing. She was in a bit of a panic because she felt that she couldn’t knowingly sell them on eBay (and rightly so) because they weren’t genuine, but she didn’t know what the hell to do with them now that they were eye-balling her in her spare room every time she opened the door.

Oh dear. I really felt for this lady, but I’m afraid that by the time she emailed me it was a case of shutting the door after the horse had bolted, because there was absolutely nothing I could do to help her at that point. She had unfortunately already ordered, paid for and received her goods.

So to avoid this happening to you, this week I want to tell you a little bit about sourcing from China which will hopefully dispel some of the myths and confirm some of the truths that you might have heard on your eBay travels so far.

Firstly, please don’t think that I don’t know exactly how scary it is just thinking about ordering products from a supplier who is based internationally, wherever they are based - be it China, the USA or elsewhere.

I’m not going to try and paint a rosy picture here and try and convince you that it’s so terribly easy to import products from abroad - remember, I’ve been there, done that, been a quivering wreck as I hit the ‘Confirm Payment’ button, worried when orders haven’t arrived on schedule, dealt with parcels being held in customs and not being released for a week, and all the other stuff that occasionally happens when you run an eBay business - because that won’t give you a true picture.

You need to know that the things I have just mentioned might happen to you. But also they might not. And you will find that if they do happen to you, you will sort it all out and learn something along the way. Every step of your eBay business that you take, including the few inevitable mistakes that you will make, will actually teach you something positive - just remember that.

So, I know that because of these so called ‘problems’ that might or might not happen, it’s very tempting to want to stick within what you think is your comfort zone and the good old UK suppliers, thinking that nothing can go wrong because we’re all in the same country, right?

Well, you’re not wrong … but you’re also not right if that makes sense, because there are pros and cons to product sourcing, wherever your goods are originating from.

As you will more than likely be aware, China has, in recent years, become pretty much known as the ‘manufacturing centre of the world’. China manufacturers are able to produce virtually any type of product very cheaply, which has made them an absolute must have source for practically anyone who is importing. But, I’m not just talking about the big businesses and brands sourcing their goods from China. 

Small businesses, eBay sellers like you and me and other individuals who run businesses from home - we are all able to profit by sourcing our products from China suppliers. And sourcing this way can be very straight-forward and not as terrifying as you might think, especially if you use some of the excellent China wholesale websites. 

I’ve noticed that more and more China manufacturers, wholesalers and drop shippers are now putting in place, safe online payment options such as PayPal and Escrow services to give buyers like you and me more confidence to buy. The number of suppliers doing this has increased considerably over the last five years since I started selling on eBay.  

Now, this is partly due to rising competition between the huge number of China manufacturers who all want the business from us. They have realised that they absolutely must offer safe, simple payment methods, better quality goods and a reliable service to stay a step ahead of their own competition.

So, knowing that more China suppliers have safe methods in place, what’s stopping you taking a look around and seeing what’s out there? 

Now, you’ve got a couple of options when it comes to deciding what kind of supplier you should go for.  

You’ll find that you can locate thousands of manufacturers through trade magazines, international trade fairs, and business to business websites such as www.globalsources.com  

Of course, you will need to thoroughly research each supplier that you are considering sourcing from, because business to business websites will actually allow any business to advertise their goods, so it’s important that you only source from companies on these sites that have been vetted by the site they are advertising on. You can tell which companies have passed the checks because they usually have a kind of seal of authentication (which varies from site to site) next to their company details. Examples of these are ‘Trustpass’ or ‘Gold Supplier’.  

You do need to make sure that you are dealing with real manufacturers and wholesale sources, not some cobbled together ‘supplier’ that has a hastily put together website, no contact details and no guarantee that they will provide you with the goods you order and pay for.   

And just whilst we are on the subject, it goes without saying that whilst there are many genuine, reliable China suppliers that will always deliver quality goods, there are also lots of scam suppliers who advertise branded goods such as Apple iPods, Gucci handbags and sunglasses, Rolex watches, GHD hair straighteners, UGG boots etc - I could go on but all you need to know is that it’s always the branded goods. And that is why you have to be very careful. Because even though these branded goods are manufactured in China for their parent companies, the actual distribution of these goods is tightly controlled by each individual parent company, not the manufacturer, and the manufacturers can’t just go round supplying the product to anyone who asks!  

As you know, I never sell branded products and that, amongst others is one of the reasons why.  

Judging by the amount of emails I get on this subject, a common worry that you have is that you won’t be able to communicate properly with Chinese business-people because of the language barrier. But you shouldn’t worry because most Chinese business-people speak and understand English perfectly well (it’s only us English people that expect everybody in the world to speak our own language!) so telephone conversations and email messages simply shouldn’t be an issue for you. 

And here’s your second option. Designed for you if the thought of researching trade sites and contacting manufacturers still terrifies you!  

Start off nice and simply by using one of the China wholesale websites. There are plenty of these around so to start you off, take a look at the three below just to get an idea of the type of products that you might be able to source: 

www.chinavasion.com 

www.ebest24.co.uk 

and 

www.chinasourcebrands.com (you need a password to enter this site so just click the ‘click for password’ link, send a blank email and they will email you a password straight away!) 

If you are a newbie importer, sites like these are great because you can purchase small quantities of goods making it totally affordable for you and importantly very low risk. 

Now, although your wholesale prices from these kind of sites will often be higher than manufacturer direct prices, that additional outlay is often worth it because: 

• You will have safe payment method protection - usually PayPal, Escrow or Credit Cards, all dealt with online. 

• You won’t have to worry about your products meeting customs regulations - that is the wholesaler’s job. 

• If you are unhappy with the goods when they arrive, it’s much easier to deal with a wholesaler and coming to an agreement for a return than it is trying to find a solution with a foreign manufacturer. 

So, I’ve given you a few options here which I hope will motivate you to take your blinkers off and seriously consider sourcing from overseas. I will follow on from this next week with details on UK product sourcing. 

As always I wish you the best of success,

Amanda

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I produce this newsletter on the understanding that these are my own personal opinions and experiences, which are as accurate as possible at the time of publication. I cannot be held responsible for any error in details, accuracy or judgment whatsoever. 

© Amanda O’Brien 2009 

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