855 Comments (page 7)

Hi Will, This is so helpful. Thank you so much. I got confused when I compared the top sellers or shakers and movers on Amazon and could not even find them selling on eBay. How can a top seller on Amazon not be selling at all on eBay? Also some of the potential items you mentioned above like "pet bedding" does not really fit the criteria of best products, for instance it is sold at Walmart and is a very common item that people buy. Thanks Reyna

How much profit do I need on each product to cover all expenses and still make money?

Hello, Please can we talk via private email? I would like to introduce myself to you and probably get you interested in a private venture I am into for possible funding. Thanks

Hello everyone, I must say that having gone through all the comments so far on this site, I can confidently and safely delve into the importing world. I had gotten samples of a couple of niches that are hotcakes here. But sadly I am bereft of funds to fully invest into them. Please I would appreciate if there is anyone out there who can help me with some little funds to start with. Or anyone out there who is ready to invest in me. We could get a partnership agreement drawn up to that effect. Please I need help. Thanks

Hi Will, I am going to develop online business in Vietnam. This is so helpful. Thank you so much. Regards, Minh

Great post on picking a hot product. My question is about trademarked items. Are you speaking specifically about importing products from other counties with US trademarks? To be more specific, what if you wanted to buy products from another country, such as China for example, and the company has a trademark in China. The product would be authentic from the country of purchase and not a "knock-off". Is this practice permissible? Thanks, and keep the good work coming. Jeff

Hi Will, first i wanna thank you for your great work. I wonder if its possible to set up an import business in Germany. There are a ton of customs, regulations and taxes you have to cope with when importing from outside of europe. Do you have any experience or information if it is profitable? I imagine that it is profitable if you find a really specific niche in a market where customs aren't that high. So it is probably a bit harder to find good products for europeans. Would love to hear your opinion. Keep it up! Regards, Mick

Hello! Amazing and informative articles! I am new to this... so i already know which product i would like to pursue and create a small business with. However, it already exists and its really popular BUT i am putting my own twist on it. I am trying to figure out what to do and how. My dream product is Metallic Temporary tattoos (with my own twist) but i dont have the tools to make this myself so would Alibaba be the best route for me? (even though i have no business right now but i have a plan) Any advice would be appreciated!!! Thank you so much!

Hi Will Love the post, it's really easy to understand and will help anyone to stand a chance of achieving what you have. Couple of questions; What would be your minimum profit that you would be looking to make per unit after unit costs, shipping costs, advertising costs... What would be the % you would look for? How can you find out how many units have sold on a listing on eBay in a week/month? Look forward to hearing from you Thanks F

hi i have not website yet, just asking where you ordered your LED lights.

This could have been an ebook on its own thanks for sharing all your experience here. Can you or anyone else give advice on the tax situation....is it still collect sales tax for sales within your state or is there anything on the horizon for a universal Internet tax. I've seen stuff in the news but haven't kept up on it..

Very, VERY helpfull... Thank You :-)

Hey Wil! Thanks a lot for the usefull information. I wanted to ask about the samples that you try to sell first.. How many samples do you order ?

Good Afternoon Will, i am determined to take complete control of my financial future and I believe this import business is the ticket!! I'm in the information gathering mode and your blogs are giving me the courage to go for it. Question: What are the cons to Filement by Amazon? I'm thinking about buying, branding my product finding a package designer and having amazon sell it takes the headache out of me doing that work the margins are less but I can focus on "scaling" as you say. I'm 52 and on a mission but I'm not trying to make any avoidable mistakes

HI Will Thank you for the amazing post. I am just starting out and in the 1st phase of looking for a product. Your post is super helpfull. A

Thanks a lot for this amazing blog I believe I may have learnt more here than I would have if I had taken class in college. I have been thinking about this for a while now but just got bogged down with lack of information but now having read your blog twice so not to miss any piece of information I believe Iam ready to wet my feet per say in this new venture. Once again thanks.

Hi, Will fantastic blog which has helped loads! Question: How to pay using Paypal with suppliers on Alibaba? It says on Alibaba "Currently, you are not allowed to use PayPal for Secure Payment on Alibaba.com." Again great blog.

What is your feeling on products where no 2 are alike. Let's say hand carved widgets. Is that too niche? It would be difficult to get estimates from multiple sellers for something like that. The only thing you can do is compare it to similar hand carved widgets on Ebay to get a basic idea of what you may sell it for. What is your feeling on products like this?

HI, I've read both articles you've written and its a great end to end explanation of how and what to do. I have some questions regards seperate things i've found whilst looking in to alibaba and with your experience i thought youd know (much easier to ask a chinese woman anyway) 1. Some items are buy by 1 Carton, how may single products are usually in 1 carton? 2. Shipping to me for any product or sample, if i buy a product from a supplier, do i have to pay for the posting of the product also seperate, or is that part of the product price? 3. when the product is shipped, does it get shipped to my address and how? Sorry for the bombardment, i'm just looking to invest some money, and investing in my own business seemed like a good option Thank you Antony

How would you suggest saving on shipping costs?

To start you can often use your supplier's shipping account :)

Thanks for this very interesting blog...I've learned so much from it!...'wish you all the best!

I know this is unrelated but the part where you write. "They really believe in karma over there." LMAOOOOOO

Hi Will ! Do you think this could work out for the (small) Dutch market as well? To sell items bought on Alibaba (in bulk) to the Dutch market. Thanks Alot! Sincerely Peter

Hey guys! Great posting on here! So as I've gone through and read the article I've come to the part on my end assessing my product to see if it's worth being imported and resold. So my question if anyone can answer is : Im hoping to target the Canadian Market as that is where I am based, with the niche product I am wishing to import and sell in canada I am seeing that the competition up here is about maybe 1 - 2 other resellers. My issue is that there is a bunch of resellers of my niche product based out the US. So when determining if your product is worth being imported and resold, I want to retain my Canadian buyers so will I have to compete with the US re sellers as well?

it really helps me a lot , and i have more question to ask, where do i get the link to get assistant

Hi Will, when receiving things from alibiba were labels always in other language? My question is how do you sell without English labels? Thanks

Hi Will! I need help, the thing is I found like 8 suppliers of my product and their other product categories have no relation with the product (for ex Im looking for speakers and they make phone cases) Should I keep them as an option or should I discard those? Thank you!

Hi Will, I was toying with an idea to sell t-shirts (and maybe other products) with a certain digitally created image I have yet to actually create and was wondering how would I then get a sample of a couple t-shirts with the image I have in mind? I'm so anxious to see if the samples would sell. The only problem is even if they sell, I don't know how I'd come up with the money for a bulk order. It's so true that you need money to make money. Thanks!

Hey Will, One thing I've noticed is that all the products being sold on Alibaba have a price range. As an example, if they are selling a air soft gun it would say $5-25 US. Clearly, the more product you buy, the more it will be discounted, but one of the most important components of figuring out the numbers as you stated is the Buying Price (high point). Whats your process when you see price ranges like this, especially if the volume requested to buy is quite substantial?

Hi! I love your post! I am really wanting to get into this, as a way to make a little something on the side for now and eventually hopefully use it as a way to stop working. I have a question, when signing up for Alibaba, it asks for a business name and a phone number etc etc. Did you give these things? I don't have a business name, and it is therefore not registered with any government. I am confused as to why they need this, and if I will get spam calls or messages if I supply my number. You cannot sign up without these things :(

This is one of the most helpful readings I have done for a long time on getting the good product to sell. Thanks alot.

Hi Will, Great information. Do you have any advice for a Canadian seller? Would I use the Canadian or American versions of eBay, Amazon, etc.? Any issues with shipping from Canada to the U.S.? Thanks!

How to put a price on a product i will resell. Is it fair to double the original price?

A lot of times you want to even TRIPLE the original price! It's important to consider what you can actually sell the product for though. This is a big part of the process--testing out the market.

Will, English is not my first language; when you make reference to looking for a product not a nitche what do you mean? Thanks SAS

Look for whether or not the product itself will work instead of finding some small unserved market first.

Hello, I just finished readind your post abd it was really interesting, I have been looking for a while now to start selling online. I'm from canada, I live in Quebec city. I'm a frenh canadian . I've read a lot of other posts, I'm interesetd of selling with Amazon using their FBA options, so they take care of the shipping and support and they take their %. Where I'm most uncertain : choosing a good product. I understand the criterias, but it seems that everythings already being sold by a lot of people. I watched a couple videos where they insist on "creating a brand" ... taking all reviews on a product , keeping all the best and the worse and trying to get manufactured a product that have all the advantages and none of the downsides. Ok, so now....what to do ? :) I was also wondering, you seem like you have made really good in this business...why helping others achieving this , people who might be your competition ?? Thank you very much Alex

Hi Will, I love your article and can't wait to get started but I am having trouble finding products that I want to sell from Alibaba on Amazon, EBay and Etsy. Is there a certain way to look up products on these sites? I have just been typing in the product names from alibaba in the search engine of these websites. Am i going about this wrong? Is it that these products are just not on these sites? Thank you, Ryan

Hypothetically, if i ordered a bulk of a product and sold out.. Are people allowed to keep ordering it even though I have no inventory? Should I restock before I were to sell out?

Hi you said you started your business when you were 13 I am 14 how did you get paid?

Hi Will, great article! I just have a question about pricing. If I have found a product and there is one other person on Amazon selling the same product, should I list it for the same? For lower? Will they change their price once they see my listing?

Will, if i see a product in amazon at lets say $400 and i can import it and sell it at $200 and make a lot of profit, im i gonna have problem with amazon or ebay for listing the same article but for $200 less?

Amazing guide, really. It made me want to jump right in (but I'll be dipping a toe first, promised ^^). One question, which I hope isn't a stupid one : in the "sample" phase, should one already have a registered business ?

I am looking for a Chinese Importer of Switchblades. They are already being sold in America but I want to bypass the middle man?

Hey Will! I want to start my online business but am concerned about shipping to the customer - how do they pay for the shipping cost- how do you give them an estimate and what is the process on your end as far as packaging, etc. Is it expensive? Also, how much do you usually spend before turning a profit?

I've been reading up on a lot of different articles about importing from China and it seems that the more I research, the less I know. I have some questions that mainly deal with costs that I can't find the answers to anywhere: Is DHL different than FOB followed by someone in the US delivering to final location? How are Chinese sellers able to profit off of $2-3 items with free shipping listed on Ebay, and yet samples can cost "$25-45"? I guess my main concern is the landed cost that could actually cause me to lose money. I did a rate estimator on DHL today for 300 small LED accessories that I estimated could fit into a 30x45x60 cm box at 7.35kg. Because the volumetric weight was actually around double that, they charged me for ~15kg, which ended up being $500+. At $500 to ship with shipping costs to get the product to buyers, I would be losing money. Does this just meant that I need to find a better product with better margins, or did DHL grossly overestimate the international shipping ($500 sounds ridiculous for such a small, lightweight box, but it could just be newbie ignorance).

sigh...it seems so many barriers to selling even if you found a great product but there are already Powersellers selling tons of the same things...

Hi sir will thank you very much for your honesty in exposing this kind of business topic,Im Eric Zapanta from the Philippines,im interested to try the business by importing,but since im in the Philippines,isc amazon,ebay esty n alibaba can cater orders?are you familiar with copy paste from amazon to ebay the ds domination?or since china is nearer in my place is alibaba can I do same? our local here like alibaba ,amazon,is lazada.hope you can help me to start with small capital.

amazing stuff I'm having trouble on what to sell the reason is because of shipping. I'm clueless on what to buy so it won't cost a lot on shipping and what people want but not a lot sell. please help me. i saw that you said 500 was good to start but how much should an item cost to actually make profit? is an item selling for 10 dollars or less profitable?

I must say that this have been very help full, thanks for sharing and all the lesson I will be starting and I hope that I can call on you for in getting started. Once again thanks.

I am wanting to start to sell and I love the advice that you gave. I did what you said and went onto Alibaba to start to find a product. The first supplier that responded to me was willing to send a sample but is charging $20 for shipping. This price seems very high to me. What do you suggest?

I comment whenever I like a article on a website or I havbe something to valuable to contribute to thee conversation. Usually it is triggered by tthe passion displayed in the article Iread. And on this post Step-by-Step Guide on How To Find A Profitable Product To Sell - StartupBros. I was actually excited enough to post a thought :-P I do have 2 questions for you if it's okay. Is it only me or doo a few off these comments appezr like coming from brain dead visitors? :-P And, if you are postingg on other online sites, I'd like to follow anything new you have to post. Would you make a list all of your community pages like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?

Hi, Thank you for writing your blog. I live in LA, CA and just started a new business. One of my goals for my business is an online store, which I'm working on right now. 1. If I buy items from China that get shipped directly to my door, do I have to pay importing fees? What's a good resource for dealing with importing taxes? 2. Somebody else told me that if I import goods I may have to clear the goods in customs or hire a broker to clear it for me. Have you gone through this process? Could you share your experience? 3. I was also told that if the items are not tagged properly that I may get in trouble with the law if they find out. Have you ever had any goods shipped to you from a gold seller on alibaba and they weren't tagged properly? 4. Amazon: have you lost money or barely broke even after paying all the Amazon fees? I was looking at their storage fees and the rate increases after 6 months. Do you remove your items and then ship the items back out to them? How do you go about their fees and still make money. Thank you!

I found your GREAT site 2 days after contacting a seller in China. It's our first contact and our first use of Alibaba so obviously we don't know what we are doing. After reading your site we are beginning to learn that we really don't know what we are doing. The item sells from $2.00 to $2.10 from several vendors in China and is already on eBay selling for $6.97. From your teaching we know the spread wont leave any profit after shipping so we will walk away from that item. The one vendor we contacted has a MOQ of 100 but backtracked from that when I asked for 3 variations of his product. It is a jewelry item, just with different designs. They said we could mix the 3 to meet the MOQ. I asked for a sample, thinking it would be free, because other vendors with the same item advertised free sample. I assumed I would have to pay the shipping but at that time had no clue as to what it would be. Here is my question: They sent me an invoice for one sample product each of the three designs with a cost of $8.20 each, plus $30.00 shipping. Is this a rip off because they have correctly figured out I don't know what I'm doing?

Hi, your website is awesomely helpful. Just one comment, it would be great if you allowed the date of comments to be posted. Without the date there's no context as to whether the information being discussed is still relevant. Thanks so much, best wishes.

Great article! Im still confused on how to pick a product to sell. Reading this article, it seems I would have to select items I see are selling on Amazon, Ebay, Etsy etc. but I wouldn't know if they are actually worth selling until I get a price list from a supplier. Is that right? I feel like I missed a step. Thanks! Maya

Hi. I so appreciate wah u guys r doing. Question. Am in Nigeria. Wah do u know about the nigerian market regarding how to source for hot in demand products here. Which platform can I best make use of. In fact jst give me your generic thought about Import from China to Nigeria and stuff Thanks in anticipation.

Great article you have made. Actually I have known this business mode for many years :-) We are a paper roll factory and supplier in Chiina (www.pandapaperroll.com). our product is light,small but profitable. Many of our US customers are importing them from us, then resell in the US. But one thing is different, they are not sellingon Ebay or Amazon, they are building their own website to dominate the traffic, and it does work. Believe or not, try to search "thermal paper roll", the 1st suppliers you find on Google are using this way for many years, and they got MUCH profit.

great points altogether, you simply gained a new reader. What could you recommend in regards to your publish that you just made some days ago? Any positive?

Hi! I could have sworn I've been to this blog before but after checking through some of the post I realized it's new to me. Nonetheless, I'm definitely happy I found it and I'll be book-marking and checking back frequently!

Will, This was a great article, it is inspiring and insightful. I know you say you look for specific items - Silver Owl Pendant Necklace, etc. But at the same time you caution against using brand name items. If you have a minute could you help me resolve this apparent contradiction? I'm sure this is a matter of my not reading closely enough. Thank you for the article, Look forward to a response, -Taylor

When you get a request for return and refund, how do you process it? How do you get the item from the buyers's address? Do you pay him back in the specific method he opted for to buy your product? How do you make a proof for COD orders? And thanks a pile, for this detailed post. It gave a great insight into the entire process!

Great posting. Thank you!

Great Article. Thank you very much. I have one important question about all of this. Is it important to incorporate a company for this kind of thing so that you are not personally liable? If so, would you give the same answer if this was something I wanted to try once or twice to even see if i'm interested? Thanks!, Anthony

HI Will, I read your full article as I have been following Anik Singal and Mark Ling on Youtube and have been thinking about purchasing their courses to start up the affiliate business. Again, after I read your blog, you have pretty much laid out all the detail 7 steps (they always refer in their course) for FREE. Awesome Will, thanks a bunch! Andy

You did not discuss import Duty/tax all things imported from China to the US has to clear customers and Duty must be paid. How did you deal with this? Also did you have your suppliers send the priducts directly to Amazon or disntounhave them shipped to yourself and then forwarded to Amazon.

How do you calculate the volume on your spreadsheet? I don't seem to understand how you get the low medium and high for that.

Greetings everyone So I have been in contact with a few suppliers on Alibaba regarding purchasing a few products that are related to a niche market that I want to sell into. After searching through a few suppliers I found one that looks very professional and have been trading on Alibaba for about 8 years. They make the same product that alot of the other suppliers do. The difference is the other suppliers are making the same old looking product over and over again. This supplier is making something that looks pretty pleasing and everyone hat has seen the images say it looks really good and that they would buy one. I sent them an email regarding buying this product, and they told me it is still just in design, and that they dont actively make it. They told me if I wanted to actually have it made that they would require $3400 to cover the material costs and labour costs of producing it. This does not include the cost of the MOQ which they are saying is 500. I am trying to negotiate with them to get a lower MOQ, but they are not budging and are saying it is not worth their while to go lower. I am trying to get samples from them but they are saying they will only 1-2 samples, and those samples would be without the part that needs to be designed and produced, hence the $3400 i was quoted earlier on. Which really dosnt seem worth it to me. Without samples, and samples with the main part how can I even know how good the product is My questions is really why would they actively be selling something on Alibaba and then saying it requires $3400 to go in to production, which dosnt include MOQ. To order MOQ + cost would be $5500. They dont look like a scam company and have been trading on Alibaba for 8 years, and they are a gold supplier, and have been site assessed, and I really want to source this product. Does anyone have any advice?

Hi, I would like to ask a burning question. Few years back, I got a great idea to solve a daily problem and assembled a team to make it and it kinda failed. So, I decided to go through Alibaba and purchase them bulk and sell the product which has similar traits to my idea. But, I think I can set up booth at my university and sell the product at my university. Do you think it is better than setting up an online shop? in my country, online shops are still a new thing and a booming sort of industry. Apart from that, I was thinking of putting it in a nice packaging to sell it in my university compound. Usually a nice packaging might trick consumers and I can increase the price of th e product just because it looks much more premium looking. What do you think?

thank you for this writing.. very inspiring, i will do this soon

I attended the webinar and am following the tips you provided. I have found a item I want to sell, and have requested the 10 samples like you suggested. However, the shipping is insane. is there a way to negotiate the shipping costs.

Why stop at the university, it is easy to try and sell online(do both in parallel).

only prob I see is you light bulb example...you buy per see a 100 units..1 dollar a piece..you sell for the 9.50..but shipping is 5 to 10 bucks...who is going to buy 1 bulb and pay 10 extra dollars..when I can goto store and get for 10 myself...

Hi, In China, we can ship directly to Amazon FBA, and also have shipping method that is free of import tax during delivery. Means tax is included with the shipping cost .

Hello Nick, As a Chinese supplier, here are some tips hope can help you. Do not take too serious on price or MOQ that is list on alibaba, it is not true. It is better send mail ask supplier about price and MOQ. Regarding MOQ, usually there is some chance to negotiate a lower MOQ with further communication. Leah

Hi Will, It is very great writing, very good. Not only helpful for sellers on E-commerce, but also helpful for Chinese suppliers to do better to meet the request and care the concerns of customers. As a Chinese supplier on alibaba, hope our experience to deal with different kinds of issue can help friends here. Leah

you cant purchase without being a legally registered company??

Of all the people who read this blog, has any one of you actually started making money using this method?

Well there we go, thanks. Breezed through, and will take another look. We are a specialty paint contract service company. Currently doing research (especially water based paints) to invent a market interest that maintains our goals. Looking for funding options this article helps us resource our research as well in several ways. Thanks, timetwopaint

Hi Leah, Can you please email me at [redacted] so that I can see what products you sell? You seem like a good contact to work with.

Can you do this business idea in the UK?

I've done something similar, but going to the post office every day to so was a killer... Do you just have to do it or employ someone? And what's th eal with prepaid packages for shipping?

Go form t if you can undercut them all, it's a good thing because it means there is a high demand, but only if your an get a cheaper supplier and hence sell cheaper

What all shipping costs do I need to bear in importing and selling?

Hello!!! What is your email please? I couldnt find it and i have some questions to ask... Thank you for all of the good information. Its really great!!

Hey StartUpBros, do i need to be a legally registered company and will the samples be given free and how do i package my items? Sorry i'm a 14 year old interested in getting to know the business.

send me email--want to get started at [redacted]

and a list of products you sell

sounds interesting... hope i will find someone oat koocam to provide personalize info. thanks

Solid information. Not often are articles of this nature as thorough. Appreciate it.

if you can send also an email it will be great. [redacted]

how can you tell if a product has multiple power sellers already selling it?

Hi I will like to know how do you know how many items are being sold and the traffic. Than l s

How can you track how frequently products are selling on ebay? ~~~eBay search filters – When searching for products on eBay, always make sure you have the “Completed Listings” button checked. This will allow you to see what prices things are selling at and how frequently they are selling.~~~

Will, thank you very much for this guide. It is very informative and still very relevant.

I expected to read more about how to find intresting products not by a random search, but by analyzing g first the demand for a certain nische. Can you elaborate?

Hello everybody! I am a trade business owner from Riga, Latvia (Europe), currently I am looking for some new trade partners from all over the world to provide our consumers with new and interesting products. If you are selling (or willing to sell) anything what qualifies for European union standards, I would be happy to review your products. So as if you are willing to sell in your region European origin products . I can advice and get you very competitive wholesale prices for almost everything (Now concentrating on food & beverage items) to start your import business whenever you are located. I'll be happy to discuss what is demanded by consumers in our regions and what we can Import or Export to make some profit. I have many ideas and I look forward to establish new connections from different countries. I look forward to build long lasting cooperation with people who run their businesses or just thinking about becoming entrepreneurs. Don't hesitate to write me - [redacted]

What a great article. I'm from Australia and this has been most helpful. Thanks

Excellent information! This is a dynamic I was looking to develop recently having difficulty keeping and finding work in my industry. I've had enough. I've been considering engaging in an entrepreneurial activity such this since I have a bit of capital, and I'm grateful that you've opened up to share your experience with others (and I didn't even have to 'buy the book'.). I understand I have much to learn , but you've nicely answered most of the immediate questions I had. Thanks again!