Ask me anything about dropshipping on ebay

[Jay199391]

Appreciate the informative thread guys. I've been wanting to get into dropshipping for a little while now, but something that worries me is the fluctuating prices and how to be able to keep up with it if I were to list hundreds of items.

You mentioned a tool that you use, though I wouldn't really expect you to tell everybody what it is but I would appreciate maybe a point in the right direction, because this is the main reason I haven't started listing.

Thanks.

 

[Euphorix]

Do you guys use the gift packaging option when you ship from Amazon? If not are there ever invoices in the packaging? I would think this might be an option but I've read Amazon has gone paperless and does not send them anymore. I don't really buy things on Amazon.
The Pricematik tool looks awesome, although I haven't successfully listed anything with it yet.

Glad you did your research Don't use the "Send as a gift" option: Sending thousands of gifts (eventually hundreds a day every single day) will raise red flags on Amazon

 

[hateandbreak]

Appreciate the informative thread guys. I've been wanting to get into dropshipping for a little while now, but something that worries me is the fluctuating prices and how to be able to keep up with it if I were to list hundreds of items.

You mentioned a tool that you use, though I wouldn't really expect you to tell everybody what it is but I would appreciate maybe a point in the right direction, because this is the main reason I haven't started listing.

Thanks.

We had the same problem starting out. You really are doomed if you can't keep up with these price fluctuations and other things such as out of stock items. We use a tool that hasn't been disclosed on BHW (so i don't think) but i hear others are using one called Pricematik.

We do have a course coming out soon that takes beginners and intermediates up to the point where they can automate almost everything and make some good margins and build some nice profitable stores. We also include our item scraper which we had coded as well as the tool we use to automate our listings and item maintenance. Dropshipping isn't easy you need to do some work and build it up. Without the tools though, easy to say we wouldn't have gotten to this point.

 

[cazorp]

Update:


Today I spent some looking for a well reviewed amazon product that


A. has consistent completed sales on ebay, doesnt have a lot of ended listings that didnt sell


B. sells for $10+ on ebay vs amazon prime



I found an item that fit the requirements, sells for around 28 very consistently up to around 32 on ebay, 9.99 on prime.


I made a very simple ebay listing for $20 each and sold 2 before I had to go to work, so I shut the listing down afraid the price would jump back up and I would have to lose money or cancel sales.

I understand that generally its best to get as much margin per item as possible, but for the sake of this trial i just wanted to get a few done to see how it went.


Buyers pay, i order item to their address w gift receipt, update tracking on ebay.



Numbers:


Bought 2 item x 9.99 = 1998
Sold 2 x 20 = 40
---------------------------------------
20.02


Minus ebay fees roughly 10% and pp fees roughly 3% = Grand total $17.41 in actual profit sitting in my pp rn.



questions:


i feel safest sticking to these very high margin sales for right now, but that means the price changes will be much more volatile, meaning smaller windows to make sales. Do you ever bulk order an item that will mark up really well and then reship?


do you run into issues canceling so many listings ? as sooon as i canceled the listing it said ive been warned not to do it too much.

 

[Euphorix]

Update:


Today I spent some looking for a well reviewed amazon product that


A. has consistent completed sales on ebay, doesnt have a lot of ended listings that didnt sell


B. sells for $10+ on ebay vs amazon prime


I found an item that fit the requirements, sells for around 28 very consistently up to around 32 on ebay, 9.99 on prime.


I made a very simple ebay listing for $20 each and sold 2 before I had to go to work, so I shut the listing down afraid the price would jump back up and I would have to lose money or cancel sales.

I understand that generally its best to get as much margin per item as possible, but for the sake of this trial i just wanted to get a few done to see how it went.


Buyers pay, i order item to their address w gift receipt, update tracking on ebay.

I love that you're taking action. Time to get some systems in place that take care of Amazon's pricing fluctuations


Edit: Didn't see the rest of your post.

Primarily, your profit margins are really strong there. I personally sell at a $2 profit margin until I have over 100 positive feedback. At that point I bump it up to $4

Second, you're drop-shipping so no don't order anything you haven't sold.

Last, never cancel listings. Instead subscribe to a premium store (you'll be given access to selling manager pro). This will enable you to put your account on vacation mode. No wasted listing fees, no eBay warnings: Much safer

Bottom line though: You need software that's going to monitor the pricing fluctuations. I know that seems intense now but if you figure that part you will be ahead of 99.9% of the crowd. If you figure that out and you can scale two sales today into two hundred sales tomorrow, into an empire Saturday

 

[password01]

Hi, How do you determine the number of sales for an item on ebay? Do you use something like Terapeak?

 

[Euphorix]

Hi, How do you determine the number of sales for an item on ebay? Do you use something like Terapeak?

It will say inside the listing https://gyazo.com/112e419e0d2e523da280b2e6f00a8683

 

[cazorp]

so what happens if you have an ebay store ? do you have unlimited listings or what is vacation mode? i mean if you wanna list something and it doesnt sell by the time amazon goes back up is it just stuck in your store forever?


u probly saw my post before i finished i keep getting the automoderator thing and i cant figure out what its flagging so i post in chunks

 

[cazorp]

Glad you did your research Don't use the "Send as a gift" option: Sending thousands of gifts (eventually hundreds a day every single day) will raise red flags on Amazon

further clarification please, so if you do not use the send as gift option will there be an invoice in the package?

cant remember if my amazon packages show prices lol i wanna say they dont?

 

[hateandbreak]

further clarification please, so if you do not use the send as gift option will there be an invoice in the package?

cant remember if my amazon packages show prices lol i wanna say they dont?

There will NOT be an invoice whether the gift option is checked or not. Best to untick the option for gift.

 

[password01]

I think it is a good idea to accept returns.. but causes hassle.

Is it possible to configure eBay to say you accept returns but charge a re-stocking fee for non faulty items.

I would like to add a re-stocking fee to deter people from returning but still give them the option if they really want to.

Thanks.

 

[Ambitious12]

What could be the relation between fake reviews and dropshipping??I mean any product have all fake review that anyone can guess,and now time to dropshipping.

 

[david g rees]

Great thread, thankyou.
Been wanting to get back on the EBAY selling bandwagon for a while.
I did well a few years ago (not dropshipping) and made a good profit but had a big fallout with Paypal over some refunds so stopped doing it. I still have my 10 year + Ebay account with over 1200 positive feedbacks but had to open a new Paypal account, so will i have limits on that to start with?
What about fees? Listing so many items will surely cost you a fortune in fees,especially if many don't sell.
How do you tell if another Ebay seller is drop-shipping?
Have you had many complaining about it arriving in Amazon packaging?
Do you offer free shipping on your items?
Do you recommend a shop or just list normally (if a shop do you specialize in certain products rather than just a mish mash)
Finally are your listings basic or do you have an html template to make them look fancy?
Thanks again, following this thread with great interest.

 

[theknott]

Just wanna thank these guys. Definitely possible if you action. Sold three items overnight on my own ecommerce site (not eBay) . Two of these items I am drop shipping from Amazon, and one is a wholesale item that I have in stock myself. I'm about to place the order on Amazon. Thanks again guys.

 

[theknott]

Quick Question, Amazon is asking for a phone number for the shipping address. This may be printed on the label. What do you guys do for this?
EDIT: Didn't see my buyer provided a number. Does eBay give you a phone number as well?

 

[AkademikJeanius]

Simple. Make a new account and link the same paypal. eBay allows multiple accounts but don't over do it.

Your new account will be a 500/25000 after you list an item (can be anything to activate the seller account).

Fill out everything you possibly can inside the eBay account. Hope this helps!

So THAT'S how these guys are creating the high limit accts. Much thanks for that jewel dropped.

Is it possible, then, that you guys might offer tiered premium accts w/ varying amounts feedback already available? Another stream of income for something that you can pump up rather quickly...

 

[theknott]

So far so good with this. Over $120.00 in sales today. Also looked on Facebook and someone happened to share my website to two pages I am part of (I am in the automotive niche). I was kind of nervous at first. Do people really not care about receiving a box from amazon?

 

[password01]

So far so good with this. Over $120.00 in sales today. Also looked on Facebook and someone happened to share my website to two pages I am part of (I am in the automotive niche). I was kind of nervous at first. Do people really not care about receiving a box from amazon?

Yea, I've been kind of wondering about this too. Supposedly it's not really an issue - people don't care and only a few people post negative feedback because of it.

I am thinking about putting into my Terms and Conditions of each listing something along the following lines ::

From time to time "We" run out of inventory on hand due to system irregularities. In an attempt to deliver the best customer service we may use a backup fulfilment service to get items to buyers without delay. An example of this would be Amazon.

 

[Euphorix]

so what happens if you have an ebay store ? do you have unlimited listings or what is vacation mode? i mean if you wanna list something and it doesnt sell by the time amazon goes back up is it just stuck in your store forever?


u probly saw my post before i finished i keep getting the automoderator thing and i cant figure out what its flagging so i post in chunks

Ahh that makes sense. eBay stores save you a TON of time and money. Check out what they do here

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/stores/Subscriptions.html

The premium option is best because you get 500 free listings a month, massively reduced re-listing fees, AND selling manager pro for FREE

Vacation mode allows you to put your account on hold without taking down your listings. Remember listings usually cost 30 cents to list

So if you had to turn off your account for a reason and you didn't have a store you would be forced to end your listings. That may seem fine at 100 items, but at 5,000 items you'd be wasting 60 cents an item ($3k)

they're other reasons to get a store but that alone is huge^

 

[Euphorix]

I think it is a good idea to accept returns.. but causes hassle.

Is it possible to configure eBay to say you accept returns but charge a re-stocking fee for non faulty items.

I would like to add a re-stocking fee to deter people from returning but still give them the option if they really want to.

Thanks.

You need to have free 14-day returns in order to become a power seller. They may seem bad right now but they're really not a big deal at all

Side note: I used to be lazy so I would just refund them and let them keep the item (Got some + feedback but I still wouldn't recommend doing that)