Ever wished you could be like one of those eBay powersellers, earning profits by selling online? The truth is, anyone can be successful in online businesses, especially on eBay. The question is not on ‘who’s doing it’ but rather on ‘how you do it’. Here are some rules-of-thumb that most successful online entrepreneurs have been adhering to.

Rule No.1 Research your market thoroughly

Deciding on which product to sell can be troublesome, but not difficult. List down numerous possible products that you can sell. Perform a market research on each of them respectively. You can research on eBay to find out how many people are searching for the products (demand) and how many products are on listings (supply). Look at the sale-through rates of products, while noting the products’ prices. If the price is too high, there will be less clicks or views on that particular item and otherwise, if it is too low. By using this information, sum up a rough market price for the products you intend to sell. Perform a keyword search at Overture or Wordtracker’s free keyword tool to roughly learn how many searches are done daily on the particular keyword relating the product you intend to sell.

Rule No.2 Add up all costs

Believe it or not, most amateur sellers online tend to calculate their profits by subtracting the retail price sold with the cost of purchasing the items from wholesalers. Eventually, they get hyped up from the ‘net profit’ derived from this calculation. They failed to include in additional costs such as eBay fees, shipping fees, insurance payments, PayPal or credit/debit card fees, packaging costs, advertising costs and so on. What they did not realize was that these costs can be a real killer on your net profit. After taking these costs into consideration, if the net profit is still reasonable, then the product is worth selling.

Rule No.3 Reliable and Verified Suppliers

Like what I have mentioned in most of my articles, suppliers are very important. Most sellers concentrated too much on gaining customers and failed to pay any attention to their suppliers. Suppliers are equally important as well. Management gurus came up with various new suppliers management models to manage their suppliers, in addition to customer management such as the CRM (Customer-Relationship Management) model. Fraudulent suppliers or unreliable ones are those we intend to keep away from. Here are some tips to help verify your suppliers:-

Check if the website has a full business name and address with company registration number. Verify that they provided a real telephone number by giving them a ring. Do not accept mobile phone numbers alone. All registered companies should have a land line. Proceed to whois.sc and check on the suppliers’ domain registration. Check their details. The details there should tally with the details provided by them on their website, such as phone number and address. Check their domain expiration date. Most companies should have registered their domain names for a few years in advance. Test their customer service by communicating with them. A company with poor customer service is usually not the ideal ones.

Rule No.4 Chinese Suppliers Gives the Competitive Edge

Nowadays, Chinese suppliers are required to really make huge profits online. China has the ability to manufacture in big bulks while maintaining extremely low manufacturing costs. Therefore, you can buy extremely low and sell high, thus making profits. However, the downside of Chinese suppliers are extremely risky. Therefore, you should always insure yourself with shipping insurance and pay using secured payment methods. Also, you can indulge into wholesale supplier directories where suppliers are reviewed by previous customers. Choose reputable Chinese suppliers.

Rule No.5 Closeouts and Liquidations are Not Always a Good Option

While closeout and liquidation sales may seem to be a good option, they are not always viable. Some closeout and liquidation supplies may seem to good to be true, still, it is safer to obtain the reasons for closeouts and liquidation sales. Sometimes, closeouts and liquidations may be due to the fact that the products are not suitable to be sold anymore. Make it a point to specifically ask whether broken items or returns are included before you buy.