Have you ever looked around your house and wondered if there was a way to get rid of some of the items you’ve accumulated over the years?  If you have children, finding extra, unused stuff is not that hard.  Turn those unused toys and clothes into a little extra cash by learning to sell them online with eBay.  If you’re a Stay-At-Home Mom, this is a perfect low stress work-at-home opportunity. 

As a parent, you know how quickly your child grows out of their clothes and changes their favorite toy on a daily basis.  If you’re like me, you even have some children’s clothes that haven’t been worn!  Why not turn your excess into a little extra cash?  It’s simple and it doesn’t require too much of your time to accomplish.  Selling on eBay is also a great way to learn some habits and techniques that can quickly be turned into a full-time home based business.  Clothes are just a start, there are plenty of other profitable items that can be sold online through eBay.

Thousands of people sell on eBay everyday and make a good living from it.  Since this is probably your first experience selling, start off small and focus on one idea.  Some of the best items Moms have for selling on eBay are clothes.  Take the time to go through your child’s out-grown clothes and make “packages” of related items that you can group together and sell.  Perhaps you have several articles of clothing left over from last Easter that would make a great little Easter outfit package for some child.  Be creative in designing your assortments.  Your originality is what will catch buyer’s eyes and make them view and hopefully purchase your products.

Understand that eBay does have policies on the types and condition of clothing that can be sold at auction.  Read through the policies so that you have a good understanding of what needs to be done before offering your goods for sale.  Much of the information is common sense, but you’d be surprised at what some people try to sell.

For tips and information on selling online, visit World Wide Brands for useful eBay selling strategies and marketing ideas.  Once you are comfortable with selling online, check out World Wide Brands wholesale directory called OneSource that gives you access to hundreds of legitimate distributors willing to dropship their products directly to your customers.

Remember, start off slow and learn the basics.  Trying to accomplish too much too fast will leave you feeling stressed and discourage you from completing your goals.

So, you’ve decided on a product or two to sell online and are in the process of finding yourself a good wholesaler for your product.  You sit back in your favorite chair, power up your laptop, open up your favorite web browser and type in Wholesaler or Distributor into the search box.  STOP!!!

Do not use search engines to find online wholesalers and distributors.  The vast majority of REAL wholesalers do not advertise on the Internet.  They simply don’t need or want to!  As a wholesaler, they usually do not sell directly to the public, just to other businesses.  This is why you need to make sure you’ve established your business identity before starting your wholesaler search (see my post on Establishing Your Business Financial Structures for some guidelines on starting your business).  The real wholesalers do not advertise on the Internet because they simply don’t want to be bothered by thousands of smaller companies with marginal orders.  They would prefer just dealing with the larger retailers.

Avoid the Middleman! 

When you search for wholesalers and distributors though online search engines, you’re likely to encounter middlemen pretending to be real distributors.  In fact, they’re just acting as intermediaries between the real wholesaler and you, and charging you more than what they pay the wholesaler.  This cuts back on your profit and makes the middleman big bucks since they’re not competing to sell the product to the public.  You are!

So where do you find the real wholesalers and distributors?  Are they kept a secret?

No, wholesalers and distributors are not secret, but they are hidden treasures because many people simply do not know the proper way to find them.  While finding them does take a little effort and patience, anyone can do it.

How to Manually Find a Wholesaler 

The process is simple.  Let’s say you want to sell a particular MP3 player.  If you own that MP3, look on the back of the device or in the product manuals for the manufacturer of the product.  If you don’t own the product you’re looking to sell, try going to a store that may sell it, like Best Buy.  Take a notepad with you and write down some information from the product.  Look for model and serial numbers and any references to manufacturer.

Once you know the manufacturer’s name, give them a call.  Let them know your business name and ask them if they sell to individual companies.  Chances are they will say no, but this is to be expected.  If they won’t sell directly to you, ask for an authorized list of distributors for their products.  The initial sales rep may not know the answer, but someone at their company should be able to get you a list.

Once you have obtained a list from the manufacturer of their authorized distributors, simply give the distributors a call and setup an account with them.  If they have multiple distributors, see if they have a website listed and visit each.  If no website is available, give each company a call.  You’re looking to see which distributor offers the best services for your needs.  Do you need them to drop ship for you?  If so, this would be an important question to ask them.

Bottom line, if you want a real wholesaler, you’ll have to do some homework.  The process is not difficult, but will involve a little research and effort.  Remember, avoid searching the online search engines for this information.  Wholesalers and distributors don’t advertise, so 99% of the time the ones you see listed online are fake wholesalers run by middlemen.

If you are looking to sell products on the Internet, finding a good wholesale supplier is a must.  With such a crowded online marketplace, distinguishing yourself from all the other competitors can be difficult, and many times, price is the determining factor.  The better price you can get from your wholesaler, the better profit margins you can squeeze from your customers.

But how does one go about finding a good wholesaler, and how do they differ from one another?

First, let’s discuss what a wholesale supplier is, and how some “middlemen” disguise themselves as wholesalers in search of profit.  A wholesale supplier is a company that can offer you products at a significant discount to the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP).  You purchase the product from the wholesale supplier and resell it to your customers at a higher price.  The difference in these two prices is your profit.

Wholesale suppliers generally do not sell to customers directly, but only to legitimate resellers with valid reseller certificates (see my article on Setting Up Your Business Financial Structures for more information).  So if you find a company claiming to be a wholesale supplier and they will sell to you without a reseller’s certificate, then chances are, they are acting as a “middleman”.  A middleman is simply a person, or company, that pretends to be a wholesaler offering a low price.  While in fact, they are acting as the purchaser for the real wholesale supplier.  The price they charge you is higher that what they purchase the product for from the real wholesaler.  They keep the difference as their profit.

Another feature of a fake wholesale supplier is the charging of monthly account fees to do business with them.  The only fee true wholesale suppliers usually charge valid customers is what they call a drop-ship fee, and on very rare occasions, an initial setup fee.  This drop-ship fee, usually in the range of $1 - $5, covers the cost to the wholesaler for the services of processing, packaging and shipping your order directly to your customer.  This is also known as blind drop-shipping since they usually include your name on the packing slip, not theirs.  Even though it is an additional expense to you, think about the benefits to you.  You have no inventory, no warehouse, no personnel to handle packaging, and basically, no overhead.  It’s well worth the fee, and as always, the cheaper the fee the better, since it does eat into your profits.

Wholesale suppliers usually differ from one another in the selection of goods available for purchase, their wholesale costs, and the fees they charge you (if any) to drop-ship the product to your customer.  Suppliers with a narrow focus of product lines tend to give a better base discounts on items verses a supplier that offers many product lines.  That is usually because they buy more from a certain manufacturer and qualify for a better discount, which is then passed along to you, the reseller.  The suppliers with a wide selection of product lines hope to lure those resellers looking for a single supplier for many types of goods.

So, where do you find a good wholesale supplier?  There are many places on the Internet that will try to sell you wholesaler/drop-shipper lists, but most are old, out-dated copies of the same lists that have been floating around the Internet for years.  While there is no single source for finding valid drop-shippers, the site that I found to be very helpful and informative is World Wide Brands.  They not only have a current directory of wholesalers, but articles and videos about the do’s and don’ts of drop-shipping.  If you are interested in selling online and are looking for a wholesaler, give World Wide Brands a look.  Chances are you’ll find a good wholesaler from them.  I did. 

Regardless of whether you need only one product type, or access to hundreds of products, do your homework.  Verify that the company is in good standing with the Better Business Bureau and check the web to see if others have done business with them and reported problems.  Chances are that if you’ve found a true wholesaler, you won’t find them listed all over the Internet.  Online merchants are usually tight-lipped about where they get their products from.  This is because they don’t want competitors undercutting their sales.