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Using a dropship wholesale directory is one of the best ways to find a reliable and inexpensive dropshipper for your online business. There are numerous quality directories on the Web that meets all your needs, and save a ton of research and energy by doing it all yourself.

The main advantages of using a first-rate dropship wholesale directory can turn your online business from mediocre to a flourishing success. A directory is a meticulously compiled list of suitable dropship companies online as well as offline that are authentic and available for fair practical solutions for your online business. Not only will a directory save heaps of time that you could otherwise spend on other aspects of your business, it could save you money by elimination the tough work to find an actual wholesaler and not a middleman.

A complete dropship wholesale directory will present categories of well recognizable and lesser-known wholesalers that often are harder to find and may not have an online site. You can find some real gems that you would not otherwise be aware of in your search. Yet how can you tell if a directory is first rate? A comprehensive and reputable directory always keeps its information updated regularly so that you know about any new wholesale companies that have come on the market. Being at the forefront of what your industry is doing and the resources available to you can expand your business to new horizons.

Another great advantage of a dropship wholesale directory is that you can weigh against the prices and the quality of services and goods of each of the wholesalers offerings side by side. With overwhelming selection of products types out there, a directory helps you find a dropshipping company that meets all your requirements and needs.

Many online entrepreneurs want to expand beyond their local market and search for partnerships with an international wholesale companies that often is regarded as the most economical and reliable source. Experienced dropship wholesale directory will review local dropshippers and foreign sources of opportunities as well to offer you the best of available dropshippers around the world.

Just in case you are serious about launching an online business successfully such a wealth of information is created for owners like you expending a lot of time, manpower and effort that costs money. A dropship wholesale directory is also in the business to stay in business by offering you a subscription to use their resources. There are free directories out there, which most of them provide useless and hopelessly obsolete information, and the quality of service is not first rate. Subscribing to online directories, on the other hand, are substantially different. With a monthly membership, you gain invaluable access to the wealth of resources and research that has been already done for you. Some others offer unlimited, lifetime membership to access their resources for a one-time fee, which is ideal for the serious online businessperson.

For anyone just starting their Ebay business, the easiest way to make money is by choosing one or two wholesalers for Ebay sellers. However, there are some pitfalls awaiting the unwary. Here is a brief list you need to be careful of when doing product sourcing for Ebay:

1. Compensation procedures - Remember that you are running your Ebay business to make money, not for fun. Different dropship partners operate their compensation programs differently. The most common model allows you to set your own retail rate: your partner's unit wholesale price for each product plus your own markup. So the minimum bid you will accept in your auctions is your retail rate. Every time you sell an item, you earn at least your markup. This method is straightforward and easy to track. Some wholesalers operate different compensation models, so remember to double-check the terms and conditions. Make sure you understand the compensation model. Here are some questions you need to ask:

• Is payment by check only? Is direct deposit available?
• Is there a minimum amount you need to earn before they pay you your commission?
• Who handles taxes?
• Are you required to make a long term commitment?

2. Shipping, postage and handling - Make sure your partner handles the shipping and handling. Also make sure you pass the postage and handling costs to the customer. One of the main attractions of using a wholesale dropship supply partner is to avoid having to go to the post office yourself. Make sure that your partners directly ship the products from their warehouses within one or two days after the payment is received. Here are the pitfalls to be aware of:

• Do you need to maintain any inventory? The answer had better be "No!"
• Do you need to pay postage out of your own pocket? You are supposed to pass this cost directly to your customer.
• Does your partner charge you any additional administrative costs?
• Do you have to pay any storage costs?

If you have to answer "Yes" to any of the 4 questions above, find another vendor!

3. Sell only what's hot on Ebay currently - To make money right from the start, you need to offer only the best items to sell on Ebay. Most wholesalers specialize (e.g. a music CDs dropshipper only offers music CDs). When doing product sourcing for Ebay, always find the partner who offers what's hot on Ebay currently. For example, do not limit yourself to a pet accessories dropshipper during the Christmas season. Here are some questions to ask yourself before you setup your Ebay shop or auction:

• Do you know what is hot this season?
• Does this wholesaler offer these items?
• Is this model new, or has it been offered the past umpteen years?

When picking your partnerships for product sourcing for Ebay, keep these 2 points in mind - minimum costs and maximum simplicity. Otherwise you may as well set up a workshop to produce your own products for sale.

Have you thought about making money with auction websites like eBay, Yahoo, and Amazon? Do you wonder how it is that some people are not just making a living, but are making a fortune with these websites? there are many ways to make money online and one of them is to buy from a supplier and sell on auction websites for a profit. Here is how to do that.

First, you have to get to know a set of products or items that you would like to sell. You will need to know what these items are worth, how much you can potentially sell them for, and where you can get them for a fair enough price to allow you to make at least a 30% profit margin. This is the first step and once you have your research done it is time to buy your items.

Now, you need to buy the items you wish to sell. You can do this through a wholesaler, supplier of some sort, or other auctions. There are some people that make a living just by purchasing items from one online auction and turning around and selling them on another online auctions. It sounds strange, but it works and it can work for you if you know what you are doing.

One of the most popular ways to buy and sell with auction websites for a profit is to buy from auctions that are not online and sell with auctions that are online. You can usually find many auctions in your area to attend and you can pick up items for very cheap at these auctions. You can also buy lots and pallets, which allow for you to be able to test some items for very cheap if you prefer.

He graduated from St Andrew's in 1984 and from Tufts University in 1988 with a degree in computer science. While working for Claris, an Apple Computer subsidiary, he co-founded Ink Development, that later developed into an e-commerce company called eShop.

After his fiancé, Pamela Wesley shared with him that she had an old hobby collecting and trading Pez candy dispensers but that there was no facility for trading them in the Bay area, he took up the challenge. Over a long holiday weekend he wrote the original computer code for an auction site. The site was launched on September 4, 1995 as Auction Web. He later re-named it eBay after Echo Bay his consulting firm, when echobay.com was unavailable.

As of July 2008, after taking the company public, Omidyar's 178 million eBay shares were worth around $4.45 billion. Pierre and his now wife Pamela, have become major philanthropists and he states on his blog at pierre.typepad.com that his foundation has created a new organization, the Omidyar Network, to fund for-profit as well as non-profit organizations. He explains that to understand why they did this you have to understand how he himself looks at eBay. Pierre says that "when he talks about eBay he likes to emphasize the way eBay has helped people pursue their individual passions and discover their own power to make good things happen; how they've become empowered by participating in an open and honest marketplace, in a level playing field, meeting and working/trading with people who share their interests."

Pierre believes in the self-empowerment of working from the bottom-up and starting a home based eBay business is one of the fastest and easiest ways to do it for most people especially stay at home moms. But if you live in a remote area a satellite internet connection can be your only alternative. As anyone who has had the experience with any online auction can tell you, speed is most important and with a satellite internet connection living in a rural area will not be a deterrent. You would be extremely frustrated and most often not able to purchase anything on eBay or run your own auction if you did not have a high-speed connection. There is one seller, in a remote area, who has made a deal with his wife that if he quits smoking she will agree to purchase satellite internet to replace his dial-up, which will in turn increase his business and decrease his frustration level and need to smoke!

Product sourcing for home business--your home business, or what I call the micro business, is a crucial issue for those of us wishing a greater measure of financial freedom. We--you and I--may even like our day jobs and the people with whom we work. The fact of the matter is, that your micro business, regardless of how successful, allows you a say in your fate and control over your life that could otherwise be missing. The psychological equivalent of a cleansing deep breath of fresh mountain air.

Your own online home business that you run from your apartment or dorm room is not so far removed from a vegetable garden, the produce from which you sell at a local farmers' market or by the side of a road. That is your patch of freedom that no one else owns. Although growing your own products is one way to source your home business, in this article I hope to clarify some of the issues surrounding the use of drop ship wholesale and wholesale items to solve the problem of product sourcing where your home business is concerned.

Dropshipping can be a wonderful service if properly understood and can provide a solution to many of the problems surrounding home business product sourcing. Dropshipping generally refers to a product distributor who agrees to ship inventory to your customers under your business name. In other words, the dropshipper warehouses all inventory. Your customers buy a product from you, you then send the dropshipper payment and shipping information, and the dropshipper ships the goods under your business name to your buyers. This is actually called blind dropshipping. You profit from this by marking up the cost of your items from the dropshipper cost. For that reason, a low single item cost from the dropshipper is important. And that means it is also important to understand that some drop shippers are retailers selling to you at a discount, whereas others are true wholesalers selling at wholesale prices.

What is a true wholesaler? A genuine wholesale business is a company with a special business license that allows them to sell only to resellers (or retailers) without charging sales tax. Therefore, any wholesale business that requires proof of your sales tax permit is a genuine wholesaler, and you can rest assured that your buying directly from an authorized distributor and not from another retailer. When you evaluate product suppliers, it is important to remember that no matter how frequently the terms "wholesale," "wholesale prices," and "wholesale to the public" are used, unless a business requires proof of a sales tax permit, it is not a true wholesaler. A sales tax permit, by the way, is simply your permit from your state of residence that allows you to buy goods without paying sales tax. These are usually easy to get and free of charge.

A third means of product sourcing that works well for almost any home business is retail liquidation inventory and closeout stock. Liquidation-closeout product supply refers to inventory sold off from retail outlets for literally pennies on the dollar. Closeout items often come from major retail businesses such as Macy's or Neiman Marcus, they are often brand names, and in new or good-as-new condition. If you've ever wondered how some eBay sellers are able to sell legitimate Nike's for $40 a pair, brand name baby items, and bedding and high quality linens at prices that make K-Mart look expensive, liquidation stock is one of the secrets. The trick, here, is buying in bulk. Liquidated inventory is frequently sold by the truck and pallet load; however, it is an investment that should turn over quickly once you've established the means of selling.

In this short article, I've only been able to just touch on the "how to" of home business product sourcing. Buying cheap and selling dear is a time honored means of cultivating sustainable income. To get detailed wholesale seller secrets, specific product suppliers, and information on how to find drop shippers and wholesalers, please be sure to follow the breadcrumbs to success in the resource box just below.

Are you tired of getting scammed by fake Chinese wholesalers? Do you need to find a reliable Chinese wholesaler in order to give your eBay business a boost? In an earlier article I gave you five essential precepts for separating the scammers from the real deal. In this article I will give you five more. Follow these exactly and your chances of being scammed will decrease dramatically.

I - Contact Emails, Legitimate or Free-mail?
Legitimate wholesale suppliers do not use free-mail like Yahoo.com or Gmail.com for their contact information. A wholesaler's contact email should be based on the domain name of the wholesaler's website. If the wholesaler's website is "moneyline.com" their contact email should be something like "contact@moneyline.com" not "moneylinecontact@gmail.com."

II - Check "Who IS" to Find Out Who They Are.
If you want to find out if a wholesaler is legitimate try checking for them on WhoIs.net. This handy website will be able to tell you how long their website has been in operation and who the official owner is. If the date of the website's initiation is far back, this is good; and if the owner name posted on WhoIs.net matches either the name of the wholesaler or the name of the wholesaler's executive this is even better.

III - Fair Prices or Fake Prices?
Before you even think about buying products from a wholesaler, have some idea about what a normal prices for these items are. Find out how much similar products sell for on other websites and see how much they sell for on eBay. If prices on the wholesaler's website are vastly different from your expectations this may be a bad sign. If the prices are too high, they may be trying to rip you off; and if the prices are WAY TOO LOW then they are probably trying to scam you. Now I'm not saying that you won't be able to find great deals, just make sure that they make sense logically.

IV - Can't Find them on Google?
If you can't find the wholesale website by searching for it on Google, this is a very bad sign. If the site is legitimate it should be in fairly heavy use and should then show up in Google's search results. If you want more complex feedback on a wholesaler try searching for them on TheWholeSaleForums.com

V - Just Use Common Sense
This is the most obvious tip concerning how to import products from China; and yet, it's also the most crucial. Don't trust wholesalers that offer prices that you know to be impossible. If it seems too good to be true, it's probably a scam. If you're still not sure about a particular wholesaler (or, for good measure, even if you are) try contacting them by email and see how long it takes for them to respond. Do they answer your questions promptly or evasively? Make a small insignificant order first. If this one works out well, then try to make a large order.

Selling items on eBay may not make you rich. In fact, selling on eBay may actually cost you more money than the items are worth. You should make informed decisions before you sell on eBay and research your items first. Be aware of all the associated selling costs before you post to eBay.

Before you start selling:

1. Use the income/ expense formula to determine what you could make selling on eBay. This basic formula also can assist you in determining how much you may owe in taxes.

Income/ Expense Formula

Income minus Expense = the amount of money you made or lost selling on eBay

Income:

Shipping cost included with your eBay listing (if item sells)
plus...
What person pays for the item they won (if item sells)
equals? $$$$

Expense:

Cost of purchasing the item
minus
Initial eBay listing fees
minus
Percentage fees after item sells eBay fees (if item sells)
minus
Cost of shipping materials (if item sells)
minus
PayPal fees (if you use PayPal and if item sells)
minus
Cost of gas to drive the item to the post office or FedEx etc (if item sells)
minus
Actual cost of shipping an item (take this from your shipping receipts after you mail your package if item sells)
equals? $$$

2. Know the cost of selling. Conduct research of eBay and PayPal rates.

eBay rates include how much you pay to post an item and how much you pay once/ if an item sells. eBay bills you monthly seller fees based on your sales per month.

PayPal is the preferred method for eBay buyers and sellers to transfer money. PayPal acts as an intermediary between you (the seller), your bank, and the eBay buyer and their bank. Money electronically moves from the buyer's bank account into a seller's account. You and the buyer must sign up for PayPal and link it to a bank account before you can use it.

PayPal takes a percentage of your auction earnings for the privilege of using their services and takes their fees from you for each transaction.

3. Look at past eBay sales to determine the auction worth of your items. Actively check completed items on eBay. This will give you an idea for how much similar items sell, and if they are actually selling. Stay competitive with your pricing. You should not ask for an unreasonable amount as the item probably will not sell.

My son is a great example. He wanted to sell his baseball card collection and looked up active auction items. He saw a similar card listed for $100 on eBay and was convinced he would get that price if he listed his. I showed him the same item in the eBay completed items section. The card sold for $20. No one was buying these cards at $100. He wasn't happy with me but we saved some disappointment by researching the item sale history before we listed.

You should consider actively use this eBay feature.

To research completed items you must have an eBay account and you must be signed into it. Completed items are a checkmark box option in the advanced options tab and prices show up as red and green. The red did not sell, the green sold.

Completed items only go back two weeks, however, so it may be worthwhile to research regularly. You may see the price go up and down throughout the year and selling when the price is high will mean more money for you.

A while ago a new Nancy Drew movie came out and the selling price for vintage Nancy Drew book sets listed on eBay doubled for about a month. They normally sell for $150-$350 but because of the movie they sold, for a brief time, from $700-$900. Nice, although I had already sold my set and I wish I'd had another.

4. Find your niche. A lot of people specialize in certain types of items on eBay. They do their research and find items that sell well. There are collectors of baseball cards and Three Stooges bubble gum cards. Some people collect antiques and college textbooks. Find the items you want to sell and hopefully they will sell well.