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Are you ready for the big spend season?
publication date: Oct 18, 2006
*******
- Editorial
- eBay Sellers: Here's a Few
Dropshipping Secrets, Hints &
Tips to Help You Find a
Dropshipper! by ChrisVendilli
- Don't Forget It's eBay's Ball
by DaveBromley
*******
Hi,
How time flies, it seems no time
since last week's eLetter and so
much has happened in so short a
space of time.
It mainly backs what I've said
many times in the eLetter and the
newsletter, namely that Christmas
is coming really fast and you must
get your Christmas selling planned
now or you will miss out on the
big spend season.
eBay has just released a good
selection of free downloadable
reports and web site information
pages to help you make the most
of the festive season. As always,
the best information goes first to
Americans and, unless you are
sneaky, just like me, you could
miss this hoard of fabulous advice,
tips and market information. No
worries, I found them all for you,
at:
It's a long url, but well worth
accessing because you will find
several reports to help you predict
popular goods to begin stocking
now, there's even a section that
shows the precise keywords most
people use to find specific items
you soon could be selling. Or you
could look for companies to
dropship these items for you.
There's a good article included
later in this eLetter to help you
locate reliable dropshippers.
For now these are the reports
you'll find at that eBay page with
the long link:
* 2006 Holiday Hot List
* Merchandising Calendar
* Hot Items By Category - my
particular favourite and a great
way to stay abreast with popular
products in any and every eBay
category.
Go on, get on with it, you won't be
disappointed.
Happy eBaying!
Avril
P.S. I've got a great new eBay
opportunity to tell you about, but
I'll send you an email about that
tomorrow - look out for it!
***
Special Endorsement
***
"Imagine 'working' just 2
hours a day and earning an easy
£315,000+ a year selling used
books on Amazon!
Just 18 months ago I wasted my time
watching trashy TV in the evenings.
Now I have my own home business
that has paid off ALL my credit card
bills and lets me treat my family to
life's little luxuries."
You could do the same! I'll show
you how... Just click here
***
eBay Sellers: Here's A Few
Dropshipping Secrets, Hints, &
Tips To Help You Find A
Dropshipper! by ChrisVendilli
***
The concept of dropshipping is
quite simple: You list an item for
sale, then when someone buys it
you place an order with the
dropshipping company and have it
sent to the customer directly.
As you can see, dropshipping cuts
out seller handling. You can sell a
wide range of stocks and not have
to store it anywhere yourself. It
also means no trips to the post
office, and eliminates the problem
of having bought goods that
nobody wants. You only buy the
goods when they've been sold.
While all this sounds perfect, the
reality can sometimes be quite
different. For a start, dropshipping
companies can sometimes be
unreliable. If the customer doesn't
receive their order, or it's not as
described, guess who will get the
blame? You will! Even though it
may not be your fault.
Another potential problem with
dropshipping is the higher prices
charged by the suppliers. While a
dropshipping fee of a couple of
dollars may not seem like much, it
can dramatically eat into your
profit margins. Remember that
eBay buyers demand low prices
from you.
There is also the issue of not being
able to answer customer questions
so easily. If you don't have the
product right in front of you to see,
how can you accurately answer a
question someone is asking?
Also think about customer returns.
How easy will it be to return an
item to the dropshipper if someone
requests a refund from you? How
will communication with the
dropshipper work?
So having looked at both sides of
the coin, can dropshipping work
on eBay? The answer to that is
YES it can, BUT the key is to seek
out a reliable supplier. If you're
sure that a dropshipping company
is reliable and will offer a suitable
level of customer satisfaction
while providing a good profit
margin, then go for it.
Dropshipping could be the ideal
setup for an eBay business. Just be
careful of the rogue companies out
there, and make sure you plan out
the operation and consider every
eventuality. Many new eBay
sellers hear fascinating stories
about how 'thousands of people
are getting rich selling products
they don't have to see, store, or
even pay for...' Sound familiar?
Well if it sounds too good to be
true, then it probably is.
So you might be starting to think
that I don't believe in the existence
of good and reliable dropshippers.
Well, you couldn't be further from
the truth. I would like to suggest
you put a new spin on
dropshipping. Did you ever play
the game '6 Degrees Of Kevin
Bacon?' It's the one where you
start with any actor and you have
to link him to other co-stars until
you reach a movie that the actor
KevinBacon was in... well what in
the world does that have to do with
dropshipping you must be
wondering?
No matter who you are, I'm sure
you know somebody who knows
somebody else and etc. until you
reach a point where you might just
a have a friend who would be
interested in helping you out. Use
your connections to your
advantage and always try to deal
with people you trust. You would
be surprised to find that you might
just know someone in your own
network of family, friends, and
local neighborhood shops who is
not quite as eBay savvy as you -
and would love to provide you
with dropshipping services if you
would help them setup an eBay
campaign. This is just one
suggestion on how to find a
reliable dropshipper that you can
actually depend on... I can't find a
dropshipper for you, but I can help
you think outside of the box. Give
these techniques a test drive and
you might just surprise yourself.
ChrisVendilli is the owner,
founder, and CEO of the 3 Rivers
Auctions Company and an eBay
PowerSeller. If you're ready to
start your own eBay business or
improve your existing one be sure
to visit: http://www.3riverauctions.com
***
Don't Forget It's eBay's Ball by
DaveBromley
***
Recently some of the fees on eBay
were raised and what was the
immediate reaction from some
sellers?
"We will all boycott eBay, that
will bring them to their knees."
They cried.
What a load of old rubbish. eBay
is a massive company that makes
billions of dollars in profits and a
few whinging sellers throwing
their toys into a corner and sulking
is not going to make one iota of
difference.
Wake up to reality eBay can do
what they like it is their ball. They
can put the fees up, they can
change the rules, they can have the
worst customer support system
imaginable and when all said and
done there is nothing anyone can
do about it except walk away.
Any company that can grow and
develop the way eBay has is not
going to do anything to seriously
jeopardise their position in the
market place.
Since they went public their first
responsibility has to be to their
shareholders and they are always
going to be looking for ways to
increase the profits. But that is
only the same as we are all trying
to do with our eBay businesses.
Quite honestly we should all be
used to price rises by now. Look at
what has happened to fuel, gas and
electricity over the last few
months. But just because the prices
have gone up does not mean that
we are all going to stop driving or
turning on our air conditioning or
heating. I am sure that owners of
bricks and mortar businesses have
seen their rents and business taxes
rise over the years. So why get all
hot under the collar because eBay
have raised some of their fees?
As long as your business is all
about selling on eBay you are
going to be totally tied and reliant
upon them. I have no reason to
believe that eBay will not continue
into the foreseeable future
providing a service the same or
similar to the one that is available
today. But perhaps we should be
looking for ways to reduce the
reliance on a company over which
we have no control.
Just because eBay is the market
place that finds the customers for
us it does not mean that we cannot
develop a relationship with that
customer outside of eBay.
Normally you will have an e-mail
and physical address of your
auction customers and you should
be using these to build a customer
list. Many sellers who started out
selling purely on eBay now find
they are making greater sales by
emailing or sending offers by snail
mail to their loyal customer list.
The big advantage of this is of
course it does not matter how high
eBay fees go up because you so
not have to pay any fees to sell to
your list.
My advice is to stop worrying
about the odd fee increase and get
on with building your customer list
and developing your business both
inside and outside of eBay. It is a
lot more profitable than whinging.
DaveBromley has been an eBay
fan and writer for seven years. He
runs one of the UK's leading eBay
auction information sites and
offers a monthly newsletter and 6
part eBay mini course to anyone
who registers at his site at
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