How To Set Up An eBay Wholesale Consignment Business

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Do you know that you can make good money selling in an eBay store? In today’s blog, I am going to discuss extensively on eBay. For the benefit of those that might be interested in selling some stuffs online, and make their commissions, this particular blog post is for you. Enjoy reading it!

An eBay wholesale consignment business can be a lucrative enterprise. Its goal is to find merchandise owners and sell their products on their behalf on eBay.  Essentially you would find retailers and wholesalers that would like to sell their goods on the auction website. You would then list their goods, take care of customer service, and fulfill their orders.

In exchange for your service, you would receive a commission on the net amount that the auction produced.  So if an auction for a Tahari women's suit netted 60.00 after any eBay fees and credit card expenses, you would keep a percentage of the 60.00 amount as your commission.

The commission that you will charge will be negotiated between you and the owner of the merchandise. You should consider how much work will be involved when agreeing on your commission. I am made to understand that some commissions may range from 25 to 50% of the net auction proceeds.

And you might consider offering discounts in your commission for certain lots, such as clothing pallets and complete store inventories. Since the price for these lots will tend to be higher, it might be worthwhile for you to sell the lot at even a smaller commission.

Read post: How To Make Money Writing An E-book.

You might wonder why wholesalers and retailers don't simply list the merchandise themselves instead of hiring an eBay seller. The reasons can vary, from insufficient time, to lack of experience, to not having an eBay account, or to other factors.

Imagine that there is a dress wholesaler that is already fully occupied with the buying and selling of wholesale dresses. That wholesaler might be able to benefit from listing his dresses on eBay, but if he does not have the time to do so he will have to skip the opportunity.

As an eBay seller, you would approach that wholesaler and offer to sell his dresses on his behalf on eBay.  It can be a win-win arrangement since the dress supplier will be able to move more dresses at no extra expense. The dress supplier will only have to share part of the proceeds once the dresses have been sold.  

The eBay seller benefits because he or she has access to merchandise without having to pay for it. Once he/she sells the dresses, she will have earned herself a nice commission.  When you approach retailers and wholesalers, you might get a surprised reaction as to why your commissions are so high. 

You need to gently explain to them all the work that is involved when it comes to selling on eBay. You will be taking pictures, writing descriptions, answering questions, processing the orders, and handling the shipping of the orders. If the owners of the products are willing to do any of these steps then you can offer them a reduction in your commission in exchange.

I would still recommend that you handle these tasks since as an experienced eBay seller you will have a better grasp on the process than someone who has not sold on eBay.  So how do you locate retailers and wholesalers that will give you merchandise to sell?

You can visit your local shopping district, walk into stores, and introduce your services to the store owners.  You can call wholesalers, manufacturers, brands, and distributors, and let them know how you can help them. Now I realize that when you first start your business people will be reluctant to simply give you their merchandise.  After all, they don't know you, and once the merchandise leaves out the door, they have no guarantee as to what will happen next.

You can address this concern by agreeing to take pictures of the items on their premises, and then returning to pick up the items once you have received payment from your eBay buyers. For example, let's say you go to a shoe boutique and offer to sell their excess inventory for them. You can take pictures of the shoes in their store, create auction listings for them, and then return back to the store once you have received payments from the auction winners.

You would then pay the boutique owner and take the shoes with you and have them shipped out. One good tip you should keep in mind is that most shipping companies will come to you to pick up your packages. That means that you can either have the packages picked up from your facility, or from the store.

The only challenge with leaving the merchandise in the location of the retailer or wholesaler is that it might get sold before you have a chance to pick it up. This should not happen if there is good communication between you and the owner of the goods.

Now while you don't necessarily need a warehouse or store to conduct an eBay wholesale consignment business I would still recommend that you get one. Having a location gives you more credibility, as well as gives you the opportunity to have people visit your location to give you merchandise to list online.

Although your goal is to source merchandise that you can list without having to buy it ahead of time, stay flexible so that you can take advantage of opportunities.

Imagine you are visiting a wholesaler in New York. You see a closeout deal that is available at a really good price, and you are sure that you can sell it on eBay at a great price. But the wholesaler does not want to give you that specific closeout on consignment since he is sure that he can sell it to his wholesale buyers.

If you are very confident that you could make auctioning it online then you should consider buying it. Although you will be laying out money to purchase it, you will also be benefiting from being able to keep all of the profits on the sale. I would like to share with you another important tip.

As your feedback on eBay increases, you will be able to sell more products and sell those items at higher prices. This is because bidders will trust you more.  Being able to sell merchandise quickly and at higher prices is a great service to the owners of the merchandise.

You have every right to charge them a higher commission for the quick turnaround and higher auction proceeds that you might be able to generate for them. But before you can start the process you need to first open an eBay account, become familiar with the auction site as a buyer and seller, and build your feedback.

Like every business, the more experience you have, the better you will be able to serve your clients. And the better you serve your clients, the better success you will have.

Also read: Video On How To Sell Your Products Online Effortlessly

 

To your online business success!