Getting Data for Wordpress Database Sites + PHPBay???

Hi...

Let's say you want to create a review site of uh "women's shoes". You will import some descriptions of shoes then list phpbay ebay shoes for sale.

My question is, where could you get the database info?

I know of people scraping like bestbuy.com but is there like a GENERAL place where you can go to get database info?

Please let me know (btw, check out the new google squared and the review plugin for wordpress at: -the plugin is worth every penny....reviewpluginforwordpress.cOm)

Well, there are a variety of sources.

One option is to sign up with a wholesaler of the type of item you want to sell. Many wholesalers have data feeds that they'll give you. However, you need to find them first, and you need to convince them you'll be a legitimate customer (i.e. actually sell their stuff, not just use their data.) I did this for my electronics sites, but I could because they were legitimate ecommerce sites (albeit ones designed to drive people to affiliate offers and only actually sell stuff as a last resort.) The easiest way to find wholesalers with data feeds is to buy a Worldwide Brands membership (it's about $300, but it is by far the best source there is for wholesalers and if you ever plan to go into ecommerce it's essential.)

Another alternative is to sign up with a catalog-based drop shipper like Doba.com, Shopster, or National Dropshippers. These services are, in general, shit -- they charge such high markups that you often find your "wholesale" price is higher than retail. However, they give you data feeds, they sell everything (so you can get a feed for electronics, or pet supplies, or women's shoes all from the same place), and they have no standards -- real wholesalers sometimes want you to prove you can sell some serious volume, while Doba will take a psychotic monkey on crack as long as the monkey will shell out $49.95. And if all you want is the data, you can sign up, download it, then cancel during the free trial.

Finally, there are real professional ecommerce data providers. They will give you fantastic feeds, with images, UPC numbers, full product descriptions, spec sheets, even reviews, for millions of items. This is where all the sources I listed until now get their data. You will, however, pay out the ass for it, so I don't recommend going this route for a phpbay autoblog.