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Niche Products to Sell on Ebay

March 28th, 2011

Now don’t get lazy and not check out the market for these items but this post will offer you some products to consider trying out. I found these lists of products in blog articles and on websites about selling online. While some have more competition than others, I’m hoping one or two of these products  will work for you! Let me know if they do!

1. Pet ProductsDog and it's toy

2. As Seen on TV

Dollar Store Products:

3. Party Supplies

4.  Pregnancy Tests

5. Kitchen Supplies

6. Air Fresheners

7. Hard to Find Craft Supplies

From a Yahoo article about the best and worst of Dollar Store Buys

8. Used Items

From a My Fox news report

Don’t forget! If you know a lot about something, don’t rule out selling it too quickly if it’s not on this list. It’s generally easier to sell something you actually enjoy and use. Your knowledge about the product could actually be a huge selling point. You could easily  blog and tweet about your experiences with the product. Good luck everyone!

Please read more of our blog or get timely tweets on our company twitter page.

 

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The problem with, “If I Were a Fish” Customer Service

March 25th, 2011

 

Fisherman with a child and his dog

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16230215@N08/3650612859/

I  went to a seminar put on by KSL Wednesday. KSL is a local news website in Utah.  KSL gets over 220M monthly page views, 3.8M of which are unique visitors. It ranks just under CBSNew.com in monthly visits.

KSL has done some very innovate things and decided to pass on some tips to the local market by hosting inexpensive business and marketing seminars. I know my co-worker and I learned a lot about branding during our seminar. I want to pass on an analogy Brett Harward used to further demonstrate the importance of research in deciding how to improve your business.

He began by explaining how you tell a novice fisherman from an expert. There’s one phrase, he related that almost always identifies a novice fisherman from an expert. It’s, “Well if I were a fish–I would eat that.” Said while looking at lures and bait. Much like novice fisherman, the biggest problem most business face is that they make assumptions about their customers or audience. They think, if I were a customer I would want this, or I would buy this.  But the obvious truth is that they’re not the customer, they are the business and they have a very different perspective than their customers who have nothing invested in the business.

He related an experience about a dive he took in a nearby lake to certify for his scuba diving test. He passed the test quickly and had a chance to go spear fishing with a friend. They swam around for awhile and found a huge school of fish.They were ecstatic to see so many huge fish in such a small area! In a frenzy, they each speared their legal limit of fish in about 3 minutes flat.

Well, they were so excited Brett thought he’d go to the top to see where they were so that they could bring some buddies back to the same spot. But when he came up, he was greeted by a group of angry fisherman. They stood up out of their lawn chairs and began yelling at him. He came up only feet from where their fishing lines had been and they assumed he had scarred their fish away. In my experience it’s not uncommon for fishermen to be possessive of their spots, but they were furious with him.

Brett however pointed out the irony of the interaction. These fishermen were angry with him, but a smart fisherman would have said,

“Wait! Don’t go! What’s going on down there? Where are the fish? What are they biting?” They had a great resource at their disposal, but treated him as a threat and lost a great opportunity.

So, what are your customers eating?

What would they like to eat?

How close is what you’re fishing with to what your customers want?

Advice from employees, vendors, customers, and other experts  is priceless. Are there resources at your disposal that you’re not tapping into? What could expert fishermen or scuba divers with perspective teach you? Are their other businessmen or competitors that would be just as willing to help?

I loved the analogy. Now statistics that you get by conducting research aren’t perfect, but learning from the past could save you from having to learn the hard way. I know. I recently learned my lesson as I thought like a novice and assumed that some products I bought at a thrift store would sell well. One of my unwise purchases was an HD set of dvds.

HD was the format before today’s blue-ray dvds. I would have to get a special player or attachment to play these dvds on a computer or my tv. So, who in their right mind would want such a difficult format?Hence, the reason I found them for such a “good deal” at a thrift store. I also bought some name brand jeans to sell, only to find out there was so much competition in the jeans category on eBay that I didn’t stand much of a chance, especially as a seller with a non-existent feedback score.

Do your research. Figure out what your customers want. Test it out and then apply it. Trust me you’ll be so glad you did. Good luck!

Here as interesting online tool that can tell you a little about your and your competitors websites and help you find places online to advertise.  Double Click Marketing by Google.

For more tips about selling online and building your business please follow us on twitter or read our blog.

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Three Lessons I Learned from Japan’s Tsunami Response

March 21st, 2011

Soldier and Man after tsunami

 

Japan’s tsunami was devastating. It shook one of the world’s largest economies. But are there lessons we can learn from Japan’s response to this natural disaster?

1.Respond quickly in the face of disaster- Japan’s quick response is what impresses me most. Even with parts of their country in ruin  they continue to show courage and determination. This damage won’t stop them they’ll rebuild, and they’ll do it quickly.  Couldn’t that apply to any good business? Disasters will come. Your company may make a huge mistake, a vocal customer will hate your product or service, or you will make an unwise business decision. Disasters happen.  How will your company handle theirs?

Be like the Japanese and respond quickly! Got an angry customer? Contact them quickly. Treat them well. Use your social media  to act as a company  voice and respond directly to customer questions. After all if you don’t tell your story someone else will–and you may not like how they tell it.

Facebook, Twitter, and blogs provide solid ways to interact with your audience. But remember that if you want to engage  your customers during a disaster, you’ve got to have an audience to engage with. If you have not participated in social media previously, it it is more difficult to reach your audience since you’ll have to find them and then earn their trust before they’ll listen to you.

2.Work together- The Japanese didn’t loot each other when he tsunami  subsided. You may remember that during hurricane Katrina in the U.S., people  robbed stores and homes stealing everything from food to electronics. The looters took advantage of the lack of authority and chaos. Now surely some cultural difference between the two countries affected the two reactions, but isn’t this ultimately an ethical issue? In both cases the two societies know stealing is wrong. So what made the Japanese refrain from stealing?

The internet is a vast source of information, but it is increasingly difficult to navigate thanks to spam, duplicate content, and  many other dishonest SEO practices. People want to make money and often use dishonest practices to get themselves rated higher on Google. Search engines  are designed to rate higher the sites that contribute unique content, update frequently, contain relevant information, create value, and encourage users to bookmark or visit often. How many people visit a site is definitely taken into account when a search engine places a site in it’s search results.

Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit, encourage interaction,  service, and collaboration. Why not provide better information  by collaborating with others? A few other things you might try are,  getting the opinions of your customers, guest posting on the blogs of writers interested in your business niche, and  retweeting and @replying  people who tweet out valuable information.

3.Prepare. The Japanese prepared for disaster long before it struck by running drills, suiting their children up with earthquake hoods, and having rescue equipment close at hand. Are you currently using the tools that could help your company navigate through a disaster?

Guy Kawasaki recommends preparing a document with your co-workers that addresses what you will do if your company fails and the reasons it failed. But he recommends creating this before you actually do fail, so that you can prevent failure, but also so you can have a plan in case for some reason you do begin to fail.

This encourages problems within the company to be brought up, without the people feeling like they’ll be hated for bringing up problems in other departments or with co-workers. Planning ahead for disasters by creating an open environment can also help your business be prepared for disaster.

To get more helpful tips on improving you business please follow us on twitter or read our company blog.

 

 

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Test the Waters with Free Classifieds

March 14th, 2011
Bikes and Classifieds

Bikes and Classifieds

Online classifieds are a great way to begin your selling career. Most classifieds don’t require any fees to post on them and they take some of the complications out of selling online. The only disadvantage of classifieds is that  there are no eBay policies, return programs, or customer service to act as your safety nets.

Because you won’t have these back-ups, be cautious about the terms you set up with your buyers. Have customers pay you upfront and establish several ways to contact them. Consider establishing  a confirmation call  that ensures they gave you correct and valid contact information. This will save you if you have problems with the customers form of payment or if you suspect they are attempting to avoid payment.

Take into consideration also, that you won’t get the same outrageous amount of traffic eBay gets. But,  if your item will sell well in your area why not avoid extra fees? You will save yourself the cost of  listing fees and possibly shipping fees.

Here are a few classified options I stumbled across:

Craig’s List: A very common and trusted source of online classifieds. This site has by far the most traffic of any classified site I came across. But, the traffic it receives from your area will depend on where you live.

Ebay Classifieds: A very professional classifieds option. While interaction on the eBay classifieds varies in every area,  you’ll find much less competition than on eBay. Of course, this is partially due to the fact that the site gets less traffic than eBay, but it’s a great place to experiment.  Plus, the risk is a lot lower since there are no listing fees. You’ve really got nothing to lose!

Localized Classifieds:

Local news stations or newspapers: For example KSL 5 of Utah offers a great website that is largely free. Local online classifieds can be a great way to get local business. Selling locally could save you loads of money on shipping charges. Your local sites may even get more local traffic than eBay Classified or Craig’s List.

Your postings could include a call to action to view your blog or website. This allows another point of entry and a back-link to your website. Plus, it gives you an example to try out product descriptions and pictures before investing money in them on eBay.

I’d like to end this post with some advice from entrepreneur Jason Fried’s post, “Making Money.” He advised, “Go buy something on Craig’s List or eBay. Find something that’s a bit of a commodity, so you know there’s always plenty of supply and demand. An iPod is a good test. Buy it, and then immediately resell it. Then buy it again. Each time, try selling it for more than you paid for it. See how far you can push it. See how much profit you can make off 10 transactions.

I love doing this, because there’s no real risk involved. If you already have a business, you don’t need to dream up a new product line or rock the boat with crazy experiments. If you don’t have a business, it’s a perfect way to work on your chops.”

 

 

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Six Ways to Find New Customers:One Way to Keep Them

March 9th, 2011

Customers are the life blood of any organization. Loyal customers bring in a consistent revenue stream while new customers ensure the survival of a company. So how do you reach out and find your customers?

1. Know your customers. Your customers or your target market should be thoroughly defined as you strive to reach new customers. Why? Lets compare trying to reach your market to a funnel. If you’re trying to pour water into a milk jug without a funnel, you’ll probably spill a lot of water and loose a lot of water that could potentially have been poured into the jug. With a small funnel, you can simply pour in the water and it’s automatically directed to where it needs to go. Less water is wasted and you’re going to meet your goal of filling the milk jug that much quicker. Targeted results keep you from wasting your money.

Throwing money into advertising without knowing who your target market is, is like pouring water into a milk jug without a funnel. It is not efficient and is probably wasting a lot of time. Good research is like a funnel directing our marketing efforts to directly to where they are needed.

It is important to know basic demo graphical information like a customer’s sex, age, and where they are from, along with psycho-graphics like where they spend their time, where they spend their money, and what entices them to spend their money. If you know  your customer you can direct your advertising to where your customers are, instead of paying to advertise to people who could care less about your product or message.

2. Develop an offer with a partner of affiliate.For example, a hair salon may offer a free sample of a new men’s shampoo. This particular offer will help the salon, because customers love that they get something free with every haircut. The shampoo will win as well, since it receives free exposure and endorsement by a popular salon.

3.Contact former customers or potential customers. Maybe a company makes a small mistake and an online shopping cart is abandoned. Why not contact these people and work it out. Personal contact means a lot and these customers could become your greatest source of word of mouth advertising. Plus, finding out what made them abandon their purchase may clue you into improvements that need to be made before you lose more customers.

4. Offer a coupon or deal to new customers driving them to enter and then match it with a loyalty card or  discount that encourages them to return.  I think this must be why loyalty cards are so popular. Though they drive me crazy, they are a good way to encourage repeat business.

5. Be creative! Guerrilla marketing is any non-traditional marketing technique that attracts interest or creates buzz centered around a brand. Have a look at these guerrilla marketing campaigns. The best part about this type of marketing is that it can be very inexpensive. When I attended BYU-Idaho Sammy’s, a new restaurant, advertised by placing plastic Easter eggs on and near major walkways that college students took to get to class. I was ecstatic to get the coupons and loved talking to everyone about the plastic eggs I found on the way to class. The word of mouth they got with such an inexpensive investment was well worth their time and efforts.

6. As Laura Spencer recommends, Tell your story. Start a company blog that is informative, entertaining, and visual. Find a good angle centered around your product and run it by a newspaper or a popular blog and see if they’d be interested in publishing it.  And take every opportunity to tell others about your product. Put in plug for all of your social media and reward people that are referred to you by social media.

Poor Customer Complaint Department

Yikes! Customers run for cover!

 

» Read more: Six Ways to Find New Customers:One Way to Keep Them

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Brand Yourself As. . .

March 4th, 2011

Whether you know it or not, you’re being branded. Do you sell the cheapest shoes? Maybe you’re the cheap shoe store. Do you ignore customer complaints? Maybe your the store with terrible customer service. From your actions to your products, down to the way your website looks, judgments are being made by your customers and becoming a part of your online businesses brand.

When something goes wrong and you need a product that will fix it, experts say that generally one to three brands of products will come to a customer’s mind due to perceived value and advertising. If your brand is not one of the three brands to come to mind, you won’t see the loyalty or the sales that will come to those top three brands. This is why it is crucial that your product has a strong brand attached to it. People attribute value, benefits, and prices to brands.

At a speech to Utah State University, VP of Marketing, Rick Haskins, on the CW network talked about the importance of branding. “Trying to be all things to all people will fail, because it is impossible.” That is why it is so important to establish yourself as the best at something in your niche.

Haskins went on to talk about the first time CW auditioned women for “America’s Next Top Model.”  Few could handle a runway walk or talk about their reasons for applying. Now, applicants can walk the walk and talk the talk, declaring themselves as “the smart one,” “the fun one,” or “the one who is going to win.” Young people who grew up watching reality television get the concept of self-branding, Haskins said. ( Nancy Van Valkenburg)

What should your company be branded as? Look at your strengths as a company and the benefits you can offer. If you don’t plan on competing on price, something else should set you apart. Quality or speed of delivery may be your strengths. Find them and stick to your guns.

Your brand should dictate all your company does. Your brand should seep into the way your business is run. When it does your customers will have no trouble identifying what you stand for and what they can expect to receive.

Branding

Redbox's Ingenious Branding

Redbox is a great example of extensive branding. Convenience is one of Redbox’s most important benefits. They position their products in convenient locations like grocery and retail stores, gas stations, and pharmacies. Considering customers are always present in these locations, picking up a movie is that much easier. It’s just one less stop they have to make.

They continue to make the movie rental process easier by listening to their customers and participating in social media. For example, “Consumer requests for a more convenient return program, for instance, spurred Redbox to launch its ‘rent and return anywhere’ program.” Refusing to stop at that, they’ve encouraged online registrations that reserve your video and let you know which Redbox location has the dvd you want to rent. This eliminates the disappointment of arriving at a location and finding out that none are available.

The very design and vending system of Redbox screams convenience. The movies are easy to find and quick to rent, and their kiosks are easy to identify in stark red. They even incorporate their brand onto the dvd cases that are encased in simple packaging with clear directions on how to return the dvd. Ingenious! The branding is incorporated into everything!

What benefit does your company, or you as a seller, want to be known for? What will resonate with your customers? How should you portray the benefit? The answers are different for every business. However, a strong brand adds value, trust, and eventually profit to any business. Think of all the value a strong brand could add to your business.

For more tips about selling online and building your business, please follow us on twitter: @gogodropship or visit our blog.

If you’d like to sell well-known brands, consider drop shipping with GoGo Dropship. With millions of brands to choose from you’re sure to find something that interests you.

http://adage.com/article/print-edition/redbox-america-s-hottest-brands-2010/147056/

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Calculating Shipping Costs. Is it Worth it?

February 20th, 2011

Shipping can be expensive and a hassle. Yet shipping is part of running an eBay business right? So what tips are sellers offering to bring down the costs of shipping?

1. You can print the labels from home and take advantage of free carrier pickup through priority mail. These two eBay options will save you time and money in postage and gas. The greatest things about these services is that they are free.

However, take into consideration how much it’s costing you to print labels. Are the labels or paper and ink expensive to buy? If so,  it may be worth a trip to the post office. Consider your options.  Maybe convenience will outweigh any costs you encounter.

2.Recycling boxes can be another way to save on shipping. Collect boxes and packaging materials you’ve received and use them again to ship your merchandise. Not only are you helping the environment, you’re saving yourself lots of money in packaging. Just remember to use the standard sized boxes you can so your aren’t charged extra for large dimensions. Using too large of a box for your product may also cost you extra, and cause damage to your product if it shifts around and is broken.

3.Package your goods tightly and if it something of greater value consider buying insurance on the item. In the long run it may be worth it if the item breaks and you can’t receive payment from the buyer due to the damage.

3.Avoid shipping outside of the continental U.S. Shipments to Alaska and Hawaii can add up quick and aren’t generally worth the extra shipping costs. International costs may even hike your price up more. It’s just not worth it, especially in a countries without as rigid and organized shipping protocols as  the USA. What a moral defeat to be out the money you spent on your product, the shipping, and get back feedback. Don’t do this to yourself!

4.Drop Ship. Drop shipping an item is convenient and often cheaper than paying to store and ship and item from your home. When you buy from suppliers who drop ship, your product is delivered straight from the supplier’s warehouse to your customer’s door.  This hands off method of selling is a great alternative to traditional selling on eBay.

The truth is that everyone  runs their business their way. Shipping works fine for some, while for others it is an unnecessary hassle. In the end, the choice is yours.

For specific shipping costs check out these sites:

Ebay Packaging Costs

UPS

United States Postal Service

Fed Ex

For more about selling on eBay, starting an online business, or staying on top of social media follow us on twitter @gogodropship

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Tips for Selling on Ebay

February 18th, 2011

Starting an eBay business can be tough. You may wonder how to even go about starting out. But, thanks to a few experts like Erica Mueller, I’ll help you  begin selling on eBay with some simple and valuable eBay tips.

Buy or Collect the Following Items:

1. A digital camera that will take close-up and crisp pictures including the items you want to sell.

2.A white sheet and a black bed sheet- Put your objects in front of these sheets to get clear pictures and make your product stand out. If possible take these pictures outside, because the light is generally better outside.  If not possible, shine a light or lights on your product.

3. A scale- This will give you an idea of how much to charge for shipping.

4. Packaging Materials

Set Up a Few Accounts:

2. Paypal- Allows your customer to purchase items with a credit or debit card and adds trust to your site.

3. Flickr- This site allows you to host your eBay pictures for free since eBay charges you to host your photos.

Research:

On eBay- Look at the categories that other sellers are selling under. Look at the very top of the eBay page after typing in a search inquiry.  Find the category and sub category the product was listed under. It will look like this:

picture frame lot,  collage picture frames,  vintage picture frames,  wooden picture frame

This should give you some ideas in terms of what category in which to list your product.

Now take a look at pricing.  What is that specific product generally selling for?  Can you even compete?  Can you perhaps include shipping in your overall price to make it more attractive to the buyer?  If there’s too much competition, consider finding a product to sell in a less competitive category.

Also, take this opportunity to look at the titles and descriptions the sellers are using. A product description can make or break a sale.  Is it new and still in its original packaging?  Be accurate.  Be specific.  Put your product on a pedestal. Every product has a story, so tell it.  Remember, besides the title (which is crucial), the first two lines of your product description will help spark the buyer’s interest so give it thoughtful consideration in describing it.

Give Your Items Strong Titles:

You only have so much space when you create a title so think seriously about Erica’s tips on the subject. Using a man’s dress shirt as an example she said :

“Here’s a little secret: in as few words as possible list the size, color, sleeve length, gender, and brand. Then put USED or NEW at the end. Do NOT put things like Excellent Condition, Like New, Beautiful, Barely Used, etc. People are not going to search for “Excellent Condition” or “Barely Used,” they are going to search for “Men’s Long Sleeve Blue L.” Using “Like New” is against eBay policy.”

When you come to the subtitle option, it’s your choice. It costs extra, but it may be worth it.

Now it’s time to list! Make sure and list all the details you can about your product. Be honest and make it unique. If their is a small stain, or a missing part make sure and list that. Erica suggests that these details be listed in small red print. Remember if you don’t list these details you will hear about it by means of poor feedback scores. So be upfront.  Customers will appreciate you for it.

Shipping:

Make sure you charge a fair amount for shipping. Get estimates of shipping costs using the weight of the product and the size of the box or envelop you will be using.  You don’t want to lose money here. Ebay even offers a service where you can print out your shipping labels and pay for the shipping costs through Paypal. It doesn’t cost extra and will save you a trip to the post office.

Better yet,  if you don’t want to bother with the pains of postage and shipping products consider drop shipping. When you drop ship you buy a product from a manufacturer, who then ships the product from their warehouse directly to your customer. You can even purchase a drop ship directory which will list thousands of suppliers in one convenient place. This directory will give you access to millions of products.

With some novice and expert advice you’re ready to get started. Don’t lose momentum. You won’t need to be an expert to enjoy selling online, all you’ve got to do is take the first step.

Visit Erica Mueller’s and the HubPages sites for even more eBay selling information.

For more tips on starting your eBay business and even more business ideas follow us on twitter: @gogodropship

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How do I Know What to Sell on eBay?

February 16th, 2011
Ebay

Ebay

How do I Know What to Sell on eBay?

This is a fair question. There are some guides for potential sellers, but the truth is that a little creativity and a lot of research are what will really help a seller do well on eBay. Ebay Pulse is a guide that will give you an overall idea, but remember that many of these products are within markets that are already over-run with sellers. Categories like electronics and phones have so much competition, it’s almost impossible for a new seller to compete. So how can you compete?

Find a Niche Market

Niche markets are the key. Are you involved in social media? What topics are trending? Justin Bieber  has been a popular topic as of late. Could you sell a product based on a celebrity or news? You bet.

I  had a professor suggest that his students sell shirts with funny slogans about the latest celebrity scandals. By watching what key words are popular on Google, he said we’d know what kind of shirts to sell. Looking at current trends and news may inspire you. Just remember that in this type of business, you have to know when to stop selling. You don’t want your product to be old news.

Stay Ahead of the Game

Trending products can be the same way so don’t wait until you see that an item is gaining popularity in retail stores to move forward with it. Why? 1. Retailers will be hard to compete with because they buy in bulk and can get lower prices than the average seller. 2.The fad will be ready to end and you’ll get stuck with unsold merchandise. You have to stay ahead of the game.

So much of success is timing, luck, price, and/or innovation. You really have to nail one or two of these categories to be successful. If your product is creative enough or sought after enough, you’ll never have a problem selling it. However, you may have just as much luck selling something as common as a hot dog by selling it at the right time or for the right price.

My alma mater allows the business program to sell items on campus as part of their entrepreneur curriculum every semester. For some students, it’s their most dreaded semester.  For others, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity they’ll never forget.  Some of them included things like stick-on covers for laptops and cell phones, and wood plaques with etched poems, photos, and pictures on them.  But some of the most profitable businesses included a hot dog stand, a sunglasses booth, and a garbage service.

Make Your Product Successful Using Timing, Price, or Innovation

The hot dog stand offered a cheap, accessible meal to the students on campus. The sunglasses booth offered a seasonal item in high demand, at the right time, and benefited from the great weather on campus.  The garbage collectors heard that girls struggled to take their garbage all the way across the parking lot to their dumpsters. They offered an innovative convenience which was simply taking out the garbage for them at the right price.  Because their overhead minimal and there was no other competition, outperformed every other student-run business.  They didn’t  become millionaires from it by any means, but sometimes half the battle is succeeding at something small.

The less saturated your market the better.  But then you’ll have to create a need for your product. You’ll need to advertise your product extensively to create awareness. But if competition already exists, don’t worry. Let them open the door of awareness and you can enter the market as another, perhaps, better option.

So what technique will help your product succeed? Will it be timing, price, innovation, or pure luck? While we all hope for a little luck, why not make a plan and stick to it? You can’t generally compete on all of these levels, so why not pick one or two and concentrate on competing on those levels.

There’s a rule of thumb in advertising that I’ll call the “Business Triangle.” Each corner of the triangle represent three things. 1. Price 2. Quality 3. Speed. Like the principles above, you can’t have all three without at least one corner of the triangle suffering. If you pick speed and price, quality will generally suffer. If you pick price and quality, the speed will be affected. Think about this and use this to market your products. If you take more time because you are looking to deliver quality to your customer, advertise this on your website. Pick two of these qualities and apply the principles to your products and your website.

Lastly, if you want to be innovative, be innovative.  Retail chains like Walmart do well because they offer everyday items, but there is something to be said of the smaller company that offers unique, handmade, or one-of-a-kind items.  There is value in it.  Take Etsy for example.  They have become a popular website for this very reason.  So although there is plenty of thinking and products to offer “inside the box,” don’t be afraid to venture outside of it.

So as a recap, remember:

1. Do your research

2. Find your niche

3. Let timing, price, and/or innovation work for you

4. Find a market that isn’t over-saturated

5. Pick two areas of the business triangle in which to compete

6. If you’re going for innovation, consider the value of a one-of-a-kind product

Be fair to yourself and sell a product that can be successful. By doing your research and taking into account these tips, you can build yourself a profitable business on eBay. Good luck, but then again, with the right product you won’t need it.

Want to get more tips for having a successful online business? Visit us on Twitter: @gogodropship or read other posts on our blog.

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How to Recognize A Drop Ship Scam

February 11th, 2011

“Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.” C.E. Stowe

Today, I want to help you do things as they ought to be done, by helping you avoid drop shipping scams. They happen all too often and ruin so many dreams of starting an online business. So how can you tell the difference between a scam and a great opportunity?

I hate to sound cliche, but gut does have something to do with it. Does it sound too good to be true? Does the reward outweigh the risk involved?  If something is inexpensive, I always ask myself, “Now what does this business stand to gain by offering this so cheap?” If you can’t think of a good answer, be suspicious.

Get as much information as you can about the offer before diving in. Also, perform your proper due diligence beforehand. It’s amazing how much information you can find on the internet just by doing a few quick searches. My Dad always jokes that if you type in a product name and then “sucks,” you can find out any problems people have with a product. Of course there will always be at least one or two sour grapes that are angry. But if you find lists of complaints, don’t do business with that company period.

If you want to check if the company has a history of problems with the public, you can check them out with these three sources:
1.http://www.bbb.org/
2.http://www.complaintsboard.com
3.http://www.ripoffreport.com.

These sites are a quick way to avoid a scam.

As far as drop shipping is concerned,drop ship directories will charge a fee because you’re paying for their directory and customer service, freeing you of the stress and hassle of finding a supplier.

If a drop ship directory offers you its directory for free, I would be suspicious. Putting together a directory and customer service to back it up is a time consuming and an expensive process. Most legitimate companies don’t just give away such valuable information. So check out the costs. Are they unbelievably cheap or outrageously expensive? If so, be careful.

If the business is from overseas, you also have a higher risk of being scammed, especially if you’re a new seller. Consider keeping your first transactions within the united states. If you do decide to do business overseas, Matt Siltala recommends that you ” . . . call your merchant account company, or bank and ask them what are the proper steps to take in order to confirm an overseas payment.”

I hope that fear of being scammed won’t make you opt out on a great opportunity to sell online. Selling online can be so rewarding and quite profitable with a little hard work. Just remember to put your common sense to work and invest in what will help you succeed; not something that will waste your money. Let’s not let the scammers rob us of what could be a great opportunity.

For more information on recognizing scams check out these websites:

http://www.allbusiness.com/specialty-businesses/home-based-businesses/3875805-1.html
http://www.smallbusinessbrief.com/articles/products/004603.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Drop-Shipping-Scams&id=530537
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/GoGo-Dropship.aspx (Customer protection Site)

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