Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

5 Ways to enhance your dropship business

Online entrepreneurs want to increase revenue and profit margins. If your dropship business is a success already then you shouldn't be complacent. Smart online entrepreneurs keep their heads on a swivel, they're always on the lookout for amazing solutions to make their sales even better. Aside from boosting sales with aggressive social media marketing tactics, conversion rates can be increased by simple yet effective tips.

Here are a handful of basic tips for better conversion rates:

Know your strategies. Some online entrepreneurs are clueless on what is or is not working for them in terms of marketing strategies, SEO campaigns, and social media marketing efforts. Ascertain your strategies before applying them. Dropshipping can be augmented by solutions if you know your way with it.

Track your progress. This is a no-brainer. It’s crucial to monitor your data on every ad campaign, sale or promotion! Google has a handful of free tools that will store a vast amount of information for you. It allows you to see at a glance which of your marketing techniques is performing well, and vice versa. Monitoring your progress is important in order to determine which strategies are working and the ones to be changed.

Site traffic doesn't always mean sales. It's not surprising to hear someone with an online business boasting about the number of hits he's driving to his website. Don't get me wrong, but massive traffic complements your online store. The thing is, is the traffic as high as the conversion rates? Keep in mind that traffic isn’t commensurate to your sales.  If you’re driving a gamut of traffic to your site but not making many sales, such situation calls for immediate action to determine and fix the problem.

Make the most out of window shoppers. Customers visit your website for a purpose. Yet statistics tell us that approximately 98% of those visitors will leave without buying anything. This is not suprising at all; according to internet marketing research, the average conversion rate is only 2-3%. But wait! You can still have 97-98% of visitors to actually buy anything by acquiring their email addresses for future communications. The product you'd be selling in a few months can actually turn into a future sale.

Your customers are your walking ads. Send emails, send coupon codes, send news of specials, promotions and sales. Stay in touch! But don't flood them with annoying mails, letting them know that a good offer worth checking out is enough. The idea here is to entice these buyers to buy again from your online store. Furthermore, don't be so pre-occupied to acquire new customers while ignoring your existing customer base. Every customer matters. Advertising is nothing compared to turning a buyer into a repeat customer that can tap other customers for you!

eBay’s Q1 Reports: A favorable sign for e-commerce

As an online entrepreneur, you have to be updated latest trends and news pertaining to vertical markets. It complements your annual planning for your online store. Furthermore, it gives you a heads up on how you will manage supply chain relationships in order to sustain your e-business. 

e-Commerce giant eBay recently announced its Q1 2010 results. eBay's annual report has been extremely useful for online stores and dropshippers. It has provided crucial data points for the e-business marketplace; however, market pundits are most likely to focus on the primary data point called Gross Mechandise Value (GMV). GMV is considered as the pulse of the e-business marketplace. While secondary metrics such as segment revenue, items sold, and registered users are vital data points, they don't focus on the business itself like GMV does.
eBay's overall GMV was $15.4b for the Q, but to get a true apples to apples for GMV, you have to pull out three pieces: 

• Autos - a drag on eBay's GMV growth and the economics are very different (more like a classifieds site) so they aren't applicable.
• Gmarket - eBay acquired gmarket and the gmarket is inorganically in Q110, but not in Q109.
• Currency (FX) - The GBP and Euro are fluctuating a good bit and their impact need to be taken out to compare year over year trends.

The following numbers are all ex-autos, ex-gmarket and ex-FX.

With revenue and profit margins skyrocketing beyond estimated figures, it only shows that eBay has seen a great first quarter. While eBay owes its Q1 win to PayPal, the Marketplaces division has been complementing eBay with its progress as well.
“Our first quarter results reflect another strong step toward achieving our three-year growth and profitability goals,” eBay President and CEO John Donahoe said.

“We are becoming a more customer-focused and technology-driven company, delivering more innovative products and experiences and driving operating efficiencies to reinvest in growth. We are improving the fundamentals of our business, strengthening eBay Marketplaces and aggressively growing PayPal to become the leader in global online payments,” he added.

Being more customer-focused and technology-driven means covering the largest network of potential customers – Facebook. eBay has signed a deal with the Social Media giant to become a payment option for its virtual currency called Facebook credits. So, what does this mean for online entrepreneurs and e-businesses? eBay is still the old reliable when it comes to e-commerce. And as an online entrepreneur, you need to complement your selling solutions on eBay, Shopster will be launching its supplier network soon which makes it even easier for importers, distributors, and suppliers to add their products into the Shopster network. Every online store will be connected to each other, establishing your product while bolstering your sales!

References:
Scott Wingo, eBay Strategies, http://ebaystrategies.blogs.com/
Lucian Parfeni, PayPal Processes $21.3 Billion in Q1 2010, http://news.softpedia.com/news

How to start an eBusiness

With the online retail sales steadily growing, Forrester Research predicts that e-commerce sales in the US will continue to grow at a 10% compound annual growth rate through 2014.  For those of you interested in another statistical tidbit : Forrester is also forecasting that online retail sales will hit $250 billion this year, that’s up from $155 billion in 2009. As a budding online entrepreneur, even capturing a small piece of that pie, would be a huge success.

So how do you break into this market? What steps should you take to build an eBusiness and start selling online? And most importantly, how do you do so in a manner that sets you up for success.

1. Plan your dream
Before you start thinking about all the tactical stuff you’re going to need to accomplish over the next little while (getting a website, finding products, getting your name out there etc.). Slow down and think strategy for a moment or two. What do you want to sell – you literally have millions of options, and you can’t sell all of them, so narrow your field and look for your own little niche.  A good starting point: think about your interests and brainstorm if there’s a target market that can spin out of that. Watches, Baby Clothes, Sports Memorabilia. What strikes your fancy?

2. Create a Business Plan
Next, sit down a write a serious business plan for yourself. It doesn’t need to be a behemoth of an undertaking. Simply set a few realistic goals and take a good hard look at what you’re trying to accomplish.  Is it feasible and is it a viable money-making opportunity? Consider your target market – is it too much for a small start up to tackle? If so, focus your efforts on a smaller and more manageable niche and then work on growing it out once you’ve reached profitability.  Is it too small to reach and sustain adequate levels of profitability over time? If the answer is yes, look to expand your product offering so it meets the needs of a larger market. Or look to sell something else. Then create a road map of all the tasks you need to accomplish and the due dates and milestones you’re going to attach to each one.

3. Find Suppliers
Most online sellers, don’t create their own products from scratch, they locate a wholesale dropshipper and resell those products for a profit. A significant advantage to selling on line? You can locate a wholesale supplier who rather than shipping inventory to you, will ship straight to your end customer once an order is placed. This is called a dropshipper or dropship supplier.

The right dropship supplier is a huge asset to your business, so do your research and make sure you build a business relationship with a reputable company.

4. Look for an online storefront provider
As an entrepreneur, you have many skills, you’re resourceful, you’re creative, you’ve got a good business sense, and a whole lot of other strengths and abilities that will help you succeed. Website design however, might not make this list, and frankly, it doesn’t need to. There are a number of reputable online storebuilder solutions out there. Depending on your particular needs, you can use do any thing from using their simple tools to set up your own website to hiring one of their professional designers to build a custom site for you. And these services won’t break the bank either. A good professionally designed premium template can cost as little as $1000.

Often these services also offer integrated shopping carts and order management systems so you’re not just getting a website, you’re getting a full business solution, which is a huge time and money saver (especially if you don’t have a lot of spare start-up capital).  A select number of online storefronts will have even built relationships with a host of dropshippers so you can use them to source products too.

 5. Market your New Store
Once you’ve got your inventory built out and have your eCommerce website up and running, you’ll need to spread the word, and get your name out there. This can include submitting your site to search engines, sending out press releases, pay-per-click advertising campaigns, and a number of other options.

Whatever strategies you tackle ensure you can track the performance of each one. This allows you to assess which strategies resonate with your target market and which are a drain on your precious capital.

6. Provide Amazing Customer Service
I acknowledge that this step isn’t technically a part of getting your eBusiness set up, however, its still mission critical if you want your fledgling business to survive, so it’s worth mentioning.  Providing great customer support will set you apart from the competition and encourage repeat business, which in turn will make you money and keep you in business. Enough Said.

7. Keep it Fresh
Last but not least, you’ve gone to all this trouble to create a plan, find dropshippers, build an online storefront, market your new ecommerce store, provide fantastic customer service, so what’s next? Don’t let all your hard work fall down the wayside by walking away from your business and letting it manage itself. Keep updating your product lines, your website, stay in contact with your customer base so they keep coming back and you keep making sales.

References:
Melissa Campanelli, Entrepreneur, How to Set Up an E-Commerce Site

Erick Schonfeld, Tech Crunch, Forrester Forecast: Online Retail Sales Will Grow To $250 Billion By 2014

My Own Business, Internet Business & Search Engine Marketing

Armando Roggio, Practical ECommerce, Ecommerce Know-How: Seven Steps to Starting Your eBusiness in a Recession

The Glass is Half Full, Because the Other Half is on My Pants

Guest Blog provided by KikScore

Optimism.  That’s the number one characteristic of most entrepreneurs.  Is it raining today?  No worries, because I look great in my raincoat.  No food at the party?  Not a problem, people just come for the beer.  The economy is on the verge of the second Great Depression?  Hmmm…I guess, no worries, because I look great in my raincoat. 

What made me think about the preponderance of sunshine in most entrepenuers’ outlooks?  Well, as usual, it began with a margarita (actually 2 and 1/2 margaritas).  My wife and I were having lunch at Rosa Mexicano.  And as the saying goes, “When in Rosa, order at least three pomegranate margaritas.”  It could have been the humidity, or the sheer weight of the glass, but as I gripped the drink and raised it to my mouth, it just fell into my lap.  I could have quit, but I started scooping the pooled liquid back into the glass (see above drink picture and realize most of that was sitting on my jeans prior to being salvaged).

So, how does this relate to small business and optimism?  I guess it’s a bit tenuous, but making the best of whatever the economy or marketplace throws you (or what you throw on yourself) appears to be a cornerstone for successful entrepreneurs. 

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business did a thorough study on optimism as it relates to an investment standard for start-ups.  The outcome of the study is not shocking (but when you have a GSB study to back you up, you sound more impressive).  The overall gist was that entrepreneurs generally are overally optimistic in their assessment of their own businesses.  This has both good and bad implications for investors in these start-ups.  The Bad:  optimism makes it difficult for the founders to truly asses market acceptance and overall value of the business.  The Good:  Because of their optimism, most founders will work the required nights and weekends to make sure the business is successful.  Of course, the study hedges the overall take-away by claiming that “realistic” entrepreneurs will have a better ability to value the business.

So, is optimism a curse or a blessing?  And did I actually drink the salvaged margarita?

 

Why Dropshipping Works

Business owners who aren’t familiar with drop shipping are missing out big time. Basically, this is a supply chain management technique that allows retailers to focus on more important aspects of their business.

If you’re thinking about building an online store an selling products online but don’t have the capital to start big, then consider this your best option.  First off, you don’t have to purchase any inventory upfront.  This also means saving a huge amount on the cost of storage. Second, it removes the hassles of shipping and handling from your end.

Dropshipping entails selling goods on behalf of a supplier. All the backend work involved in order fulfillment are handled by the said dropship supplier – this includes filling the order and shipping it out to the customer.

The trick to making money via a dropship business is finding a supplier with good pricing. Remember, dropship suppliers are not necessarily wholesalers. While there are those that offer items in bulk, some dropshippers are willing to supply to sellers looking for only a small amount of items.  You can make profit off the dropshipped items with the difference between the supplier’s price and yours – this is called the profit margin.

Essentially, dropshipping is a good way to enter the retail business because it removes overhead cost while still offering you profit.  Here’s a tip: choose items that are popular among young, internet savvy buyers. Plus points if the product is difficult to find in local stores. 

One of the most successful dropship items last year was the Nintendo WII.  Stocks were depleted in most local stores and the market – the younger audience – had no qualms about making purchases online. This combination made the Nintendo WII a huge seller in the dropship world.

So, whether you’re starting your own online store or using popular sales channels like eBay or Multiply, dropshipping can work for you.

Creating an effective eBay Listing with Shopster's Listing Manager for eBay

Hi everyone, today's blog is going to be a bit different. Previously we've talked about building your online store and some things you can do to get it going. But once your online store is firing on all cylinders, you may want to consider getting into dropshipping and selling on eBay.

Listing on eBay is a very lucrative revenue stream for those that are selling online. If you already have a presence in an online store and want to expand your sales through dropshipping, eBay is the perfect place to go. Although there are several advantages to listing onto eBay, one of the biggest ones, in my opinion, is that eBay already has the traffic and market penetration you're after. Hundreds of thousands of people are going to eBay daily to see if they can score a deal on an item they've been looking for. But how can you catch their eye?

The first important piece is the price. I know that when I go to eBay and take a look at products, I'm usually sorting by the price. When using the Listing Manager for eBay in your Shopster account you can set your starting price of your auction to whatever you want it to be. To play on the safe side though you should set your starting price at the Network Price of the product - this is what you'll be paying the supplying merchant for the product. This way any bid that you receive on the item is profit. Once you have your pricing set, you need to make sure your listing's title is clear and attractive enough to catch your customer's eye.

Having an effective title that catches your customer's eye and lets them know what you're selling will make their job as a buyer a lot easier. There are a number of things that you can do to make sure that your eBay listing title is descriptive enough to catch your customer's eye. Here are just a few things that eBay recommends you do:

• Include the item's brand name
• State the condition of them item - New? Used? Reconditioned?
• Include any specific attributes of the item - color, size, etc.

Once you have an effective title for your eBay listing and your customer's clicked to view the auction, they'll want to read over the description. Another advantage of using Shopster' Listing Manager for eBay is that this already included in your listing when you make it! That's right, whatever is in the description for the product you're listing is already included, no work needed on your end. eBay has a full help page on how to write a good title and description and includes some examples of a good title and description. Click here. Make sure to read that over as well. Once you've drawn the customer in with your listing, they'll make their bid and you're on your way to a sale.

Happy Selling!

Shipping Deadlines for the Holidays

Hi Everyone

With the holiday season in full stride it’s important that you keep in mind the last shipping dates to ensure orders get to your customers before Christmas. We have listed our recommended last shipping dates below, however please keep in mind that each supplier and carrier company are different.

As part of your marketing efforts, we highly recommend that you place holiday shipping dates onto your stores as it ensures that expectations are met and it has also been shown to help increase conversions.

Recommended holiday shipping dates to ensure Christmas delivery:

1. Recommended last day for standard shipping:  December 16th, 2009
2. Recommended last day for expedited shipping:  December 20th, 2009

(Please note:  These dates do not represent a guarantee.  They present the timeframe for a reasonable expectation of delivery only.)

All dates are based on shipping to the continental United States (excluding Alaska).  For shipping to Canada:  Expect delays on all cross-border shipments.  Be sure to give yourself enough time.

Happy Selling.

Sell Online with Shopster for the Holiday Season

We’ve mentioned this a couple times now and we’ll probably mention it a couple more in the coming weeks: Christmas is just around the corner.  As we've already discussed changes you should address on the policy side of things, we thought now might be a good time to throw out some sales tips.

 

One of the easiest things to do this holiday season is to add some seasonal touches to your store's design. By changing the aesthetic of your store to reflect the holiday season, you let your customers know that you’re ready for Christmas. Customers doing their holiday shopping want to be surrounded by the sights and sounds of the season. It keeps them in the giving mood and adds a little falala to their experience (please note that we’re using “the sounds of the season” metaphorically in this instance- music on a storefront is never a good idea!). Some things to try are: changing your stores logo's text to red and green, adding seasonal graphics to the top of your home page and spicing up your site content to match the mood of the season.

 

We also recommend that you scour the Hot Holiday Products List we’ve got available for members in the warehouse (we update it regularly). Find products that match your niche and then add them to your store as feature "Holiday Specials". Chances are buyers are already looking for these products, so highlighting these top sellers and placing them front and center on your site makes it easier for store visitors to buy them. Remember, the easier you make it for someone to buy, the less time they have to convince themselves that they don’t reaaallly need to pickup that Wii Resort for their little nephew Billy.

 

The closer you get to Christmas and holiday shipping deadlines, consider offering coupons to aggressively push for last minute sales. People are looking for deals and being able to use a coupon to further their savings will help draw in those last minute shoppers and make you more money.  Wal-Mart and Amazon do it, why can’t you?

 

Finally, if you are selling on eBay or using eBay as a secondary sales channel, make sure your regularly check our Hot Holiday Products List for top seasonal sellers. It’s very common for local bricks and mortar stores to sell out of key products early on in the shopping season.  This doesn’t mean that shoppers are going to give up on finding these products, it just means they’re going to look online.  And eBay is usually the first place people turn. So jump on this bandwagon and make sure you’re listing these products. You’ll up your sales volumes make harried Christmas Shoppers very happy.

 

Happy Selling!

Dropshippers give retailers an advantage

Dropshippers can help you expand your current product selection or give you a base product offering to start selling.  Finding respectable dropship suppliers gives you an advantage:

You don't have to worry about the supply chain side of your business.

Shopster seeks out and integrates with dropshippers that meet our stringent criteria.  You benefit from the relationships we build with an ever-growing list of suppliers.  They need to have good products, reliable inventory, accurate data, and excellent fulfillment rates and times.  That means that you don't have to spend time making sure that the warehouse is processing your orders and shipping directly to your customers.  So, you can focus on the marketing and sales aspects of your business.

With money getting a little tight, there's something to be said for not physically stocking and managing your own products.  Utilize the quality dropshippers Shopster has integrated into our online warehouse.

New Year, New Sales Channels to Consider

By Michael Topham

I've talked a little about alternatives to eBay (here).  It seems like with a new year, we should consider new ways to make money online.  But, I'll get to that after a quick change in topic. It looks like there's going to be two trends as we wade through the economic worries.

1. Retailers pouring less money into their businesses.
2. More amateur retailers coming online to make a couple extra bucks to compensate for the effects on their wallets.

That's where the savvy retailer will see opportunity this year.  First off, keep building your business.  While fair-weather sellers remove themselves from the market, take their place and build a legitimate, lasting business so you're all set up when consumer confidence returns (and it will).  Second, know your competition.  There are going to be droves of inexperienced sellers coming into the market.  Create your business strategy with that in mind.  Put in the due diligence, hard work, and perseverance and you'll realize real profit in 2009.

There's a great opportunity for motivated sellers right now.  Anyone getting the Shopster monthly newsletter will see a great quote from Thomas Edison: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."  I've been using that tidbit of wisdom to represent the theme of building a thriving business in a down economy.  But, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't give you some advice on how to capitalize on the opportunity ahead.

The following is a list of eBay alternatives borrowed from a recent ecommerce-guide.com article. (Editor suggestion: Subscribe to their RSS feed - it has a ton of info for anyone selling online.)  You can extend your sales reach by using Shopster as your product source to sell via these growing channels:

1. eBid.net
2. iOffer.com
3. Atomic Mall

Try not to focus all of your effort on building a single sales channel.  While your own branded online storefront is the best bet for lasting business, diversify your income potential by utilizing the buyers that visit the above sites.  Think of it as bringing your business to the consumer until they know where to find you.

Have other ideas or feedback on the suggestions above?  Please help us out by leaving a comment.
To read ecommerce-guide's article, January 14th's "This Week in Alternative News", click here.

The Benefits of Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a business strategy best utilized by those who want to sell online, but are unable to invest in purchasing inventory, or the storage space to keep it. In basic terms, to dropship is to sells goods on behalf of a supplier who then fills the order and ships it to the purchasing customer on behalf of the seller.

There are several benefits to dropshipping, but the two main ones are: no upfront inventory to purchase and a low start up cost. Dropshipping is ideal for those who want to start a business, but can not afford high start up costs. For example, with Shopster you can begin to sell products online for as little as $49.95 a month.

Other benefits of dropshipping include:

• Allows the retailer to focus on making sales, and making more money. As it is the supplier that packs and ships orders, once a sale is made the retailer does not have to do anything except focus on making more sales.
• Dropshipping can reduce shipping and handling costs. As the product is delivered directly to the customer it does not have to be shipped to the retailer. Thus saving the cost of that one delivery. The savings can then be passed onto the customer by the retailer. 
• It gives retailers the opportunity to test out new products lines without having to buy the inventory up front.

One criticism of dropshipping is that at times it can be challenging to find competitive pricing on an item, especially if it is popular. The base price on dropshipped products is not as competitive as wholesale or bulk, but for the most part the prices are cheaper than what you would find in a store, and the retailer can still offer competitive pricing.

Finding well priced dropship products is possible with research and a competitive niche or growing market opportunity. Watch out for over saturated markets, like the Nintendo Wii for example. While these items are popular with buyers, there are thousands of sellers trying to offer the product at the lowest price, resulting in small (if any) margins.

Happy selling!

eBay is having a sale

Good news for all you retailers that sell on eBay, eBay is having a sale!

For the rest of the month eBay is offering sellers who list 1 and 3 day Auction-style items 50% off the Insertion Fees per item listed. That can mean huge savings if you are listing multiple products.

The only caveat is that the seller must have a 12 month Detailed Seller Rating of 4.5 or higher on all criteria. But don’t worry if you are a new seller, you may still be eligible.

If you haven’t sold on eBay before this may be a great opportunity for you to get your hands wet. Shopster makes selling on eBay easier by giving you access to over 1,000,000 products, and an eBay listing manager tool. Sign up for Shopster’s 7 day free trial and give it a try.

Fraud and Dropshipping: What you need to know

As with any business, businesses that sell items online are not immune to fraud. If you utilize a service that aggregates suppliers that will dropship products, such as Shopster, you need to be aware of the risks and take steps to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud.

Shopster offers protection to retailers who sell items out of their Shopster hosted storefront. We review all orders and put them through our robust fraud process. If an order is deemed to be fraudulent we cancel it, and the retailer does not have to sacrifice their own money to pay for lost product.

Shopster is able to conduct a full review of orders placed through Shopster hosted storefronts because the customer uses the Shopster system to order and pay for the item. We receive all the information necessary on the customer to make a judgment on whether the order is legitimate or fraudulent.

But if the retailer’s dropship products are sold from another website, such as eBay, the end consumer does not use the Shopster system to order or pay. They use the retailers. Because the Shopster system was not used, the Shopster Fraud Prevention Team does not have all of the information necessary to conduct a full review.

That is why it is important for you, the retailer, to conduct your own review on orders that you accept from other sites.

A simple first step to avoid fraudulent orders is to learn more about your customer. Do a quick background check into their reputation on eBay or the site the item is being purchased from. If you want more information, or if you want to confirm their identity call the customer. Sometimes a phone call is the simplest and most effective way to verify if a customer is legit.

You should also understand how your payment service can protect you. If you accept credit cards, make sure your merchant account supports AVS and CVV2 checks. And you may want to consider only accepting PayPal transactions if the user is verified or confirmed.

PayPal is in the business of making financial transaction secure. It is one of the safest ways to transfer money, and they take fraud very seriously. For small business owners, or eBay only users, I strongly recommend that you only accept payment through PayPal.

Selling dropship products on sites such as eBay can be very lucrative. And if you are diligent, and review each order carefully, you may never experience an act of fraud. But it’s important that you educate yourself on what to look out for and take pre-cautions when ever possible.

Wholesale Expectations

There's an excellent expectations-setting article about wholesale over at Skip McGrath's Auction Seller's Resource.  Written by Chris Malta of WorldWide Brands, "The Wholesale Misconception" talks (rather candidly) about peoples' expectations when they hear the word "wholesale".

Some people think that working with a real Wholesale Supplier means that they will magically be able to sell products for less than anybody else on the planet, for ever and ever. They'll be the only one who ever gets such good prices, and they'll earn millions because no competition can touch them. They're retire happily in a couple of months, and buy a big house in Beverly Hills, complete with a butler, a private chef, and a little satin doggie bed in every room for the casual use of the family Basset Hound, Duke.

It's kind of a harsh eye-opener for potential online sellers looking for that quick fix to their product sourcing problems.  Short of a semantics argument about the true definition of "wholesale", the article talks about the realities of the wholesale supplier industry.  Malta further delves into what expectations online sellers should have when it comes to wholesale sourcing. It's not enough, however, to simply tear down the illusion about wholesale that hopeful aspirations create.  Here's the advice to top it off:

You need to be comparing prices against sites that will be seen in the same places that your site will be seen, and even if your prices are higher, you can bring in sales by building a clean, focused site. Alternatively, you can simply sell the models that others are NOT selling. After you begin to earn some profit, you can then start to buy and stock the better sellers in quantity, lowering your price, if you really want to.

So, what should we take away from this?  Have realistic expectations.  If it were easy to get rich quick, everybody would be.  Do yourself a big favour by reading Malta's whole article.  There are solutions out there to help you build your business, but you have to be ready for the reality of creating a legitimate, lasting business.

Your customers are at Amazon. Why are you at eBay?

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration.  But it just might be true soon.  According to AuctionBytes (where I get all my auction selling news - and where you should, too), Amazon Marketplace's market share is growing... and eBay's is shrinking.

Amazon saw an almost 8% increase in the number of unique visitors.  eBay saw an almost 10% decrease in the same.  The same article goes on to mention that Amazon customer traffic peaks in December, while eBay's peaks in November.  This comes back to consumer trust.  Consumers are beginning to trust that shipments from Amazon will come on time, whereas ones from eBay sellers will not.  While eBay sellers (especially PowerSellers) are not factually more likely to ship late, that is the perception of consumers.

That means you should be looking to include Amazon Marketplace in your sales efforts - especially as we get closer to Christmas.  As your customers start to look more and more at Amazon, you should look at moving, too.

Read AuctionBytes' full article on Amazon's growth.  Or read about selling on Amazon Marketplace.

Happy selling!

Thoughts about drop-shipping as a part time business

I was recently in conversation with an entrepreneur/blogger from Romania about Shopster.  Cristian Dorobantescu writes a blog called the Small Business Entrepreneur blog.  He explores the options available to people who want to sell online (or anywhere, really).  He creates a lot of content and tries out a lot of solutions for entrepreneurs.  He seemed like a good fit for a review of Shopster.  Cristian was kind enough to indulge us.  From his recent post "Thoughts about drop-shipping as a part time business":

As you know I’m a great fan of part time entrepreneurship - I’ve started my company almost 4 years ago and I’m still moonlighting. Working for your own company after the 9 to 5 job is not easy, unless is something you could do from home, without having to meet customers very often and stuff like this. That’s why I had a look at starting a drop-shipping business as part time with Shopster.

As initially I wanted to write something on Shopster, I thought how on Earth could I write something that is meaningful and to provide a real value? After all, drop-shipping is not really spread in Europe, and not at all in Eastern Europe where I come from.

Read the whole article...

The post at Small Business Entrepreneur blog raises some interesting points (five of them, in fact).  After reading through the post, I had a couple thoughts: (1) "Wow, I'm actually working on this with a guy in Romania... the Internet is awesome" and (2) "Hm... Being in Eastern Europe doesn't preclude someone from taking advantage of the sales opportunities in North America.  Just because someone isn't where their product source/supply chain is doesn't mean they can't sell to anywhere in the world... the Internet is awesome."

I'm hoping to work a little more with someone in the entrepreneurial blogspace, like Cristian, about the opportunities offered by Shopster.

Best selling products for Christmas 2008

As you may know, Shopster does weekly updates to our Hot Products page. Every Tuesday we go through sales numbers for the previous week and post some interesting high volume items - along with the top four selling products to date.

I took a look through the list this morning, and had a startling revelation - It's tough to guess what the top selling products are going to be. There are products in the list I haven't even heard of. And they're outperforming proven sellers. While it's not entirely unfeasible that some liberties are being taken with the order of products on the list, products won't show up there unless they are making sales... and they'd better appear on the first page of our sales reports.

My grandpa tells me any time I see him that "you learn something everyday". He insists on hearing what it was that you learned, too. To wit: Your best guess isn't always a reliable indicator. Even if you scour the Internet everyday picking up rumors and industry speculation, nothing can replace the value of looking at actual data. We've got some smart people working with our data, so if they tell me something's a "hot product", I tend to believe them... even when there are some big surprises.

So, take a look at the list. Check it weekly (updated Tuesday afternoons). And don't be too surprised if electronics - that oh-so-reliable refuge of the online seller - aren't in all the top positions. Maybe electronics like Garmin 350 GPS, Apple iPod Touch, and Motorola W375 will get replaced by Burberry London, stuffed animals, and Bratz dolls. Well, if that happens, you should be a little surprised.

Check out Shopster's list of the top selling products going into the holidays!

Happy selling!

PS: The Nintendo Wii, Wii Fit, Wii Music, etc... are all still safe bets, though.

Nintendo Wii Fit - Top Christmas Product Showcase

Even if you haven't been doing a ton of product research for the top-selling products this holiday season, you probably still know about the Wii Fit.  Nintendo's been driving some serious sales the last couple years with their Wii console. The Wii has unparalleled functionality - it incorporates more movement and (I'd argue) more intuitive gameplay with its unique control setup.

The first I heard of the Wii Fit, it was from a friend who wanted me to watch a video of a girl in her underwear playing the game.  That video (with 7,174,314 views on YouTube) generated more than a little interest in the game.  As the holidays began to loom, stock began to disappear.

My first touch point with the exact nature of the stock issues came when I decided to get a Wii Fit for my wife for Christmas.  Out of stock at Walmart, Zellers, EB Games, HMV, Best Buy... basically any store that sold them.  I kept hearing rumors that they'd come in stock at about 3AM on Monday mornings at Walmart.  According to everyone talking about it, if I wanted one that was my best shot.

Of course, everyone who was telling me where to find one forgot one thing: The Internet - which is where I eventually got one (unless my wife is reading this - then I got her something else... like a life size Olmec statue that'll look great next to my recliner).  If you're looking to buy something, and you don't want to drive to a different city to get it, go online.  If you're looking to sell, the same holds true.

Last year, a respectable number of Shopster retailers made huge sales with the Wii.  They were selling them on eBay or Amazon Marketplace to go along with the sales they were making on their online storefronts.  As it got closer to Christmas (and buyers were getting more desperate), the prices started going up (and so did their profit).

To take advantage of a similar expected spike this year, online sellers need to have a source for the Wii Fit.  Product sources - like Shopster - that have a large inventory of dropship electronics supplier products are a good resource to complement your existing sources.

If you're not currently selling the Wii Fit, but are looking for a respectable and reliable product source, try Shopster.  You get a seven day free trial.  Come in, check out our prices and sales channel tools, and sign up to start selling one of this year's hottest products.

eBay Fixed-Price Listings and Terapeak

Writing for ecommerce-guide.com, Ira Steiner (publisher for AuctionBytes.com) says:

"EBay's new 30-day fixed-price listing format is throwing a wrench in tools used to conduct research on eBay sales."

We thought we'd report the issue because Shopster integrates Terapeak's product data directly into our dropship product warehouse.  If you're utilizing Terapeak's data to make decisions about which products to sell this Christmas, you might be in for a surprise.

Due to a glitch, the way the 30-day fixed-price listing format hands information to Terapeak about product sales causes serious lags in sales number updates.  The example given by Steiner is:

"Terapeak confirmed that, if a seller lists a 30-day fixed-price listing for, say, 200 iPods, and 150 sell in the first week, Terapeak data would not capture those 150 sales until that 30-day listing has closed."

Basically, until this gets fixed, it'd be prudent to diversify the list of sources for your product data.  When you're reviewing the top-selling products going into Christmas 2008 and making decisions about which products to sell, be sure to look at a couple places that aren't being fed by Terapeak.

Read Ira Steiner's full article: eBay Glitches to Cause Grinchy Holiday Selling Season?

Top Products for Christmas 2008

As we get closer and closer to the holiday shopping season, everyone's going to be looking for predictions for the top selling products for Christmas gifts.  Shopster will be doing weekly updates to our Hot Products page to keep up with the trends.  Every week will feature six new dropship products that are making great sales.  In addition, the top four selling products will be included at the bottom of the page.  While the Nintendo Wii, Apple iPod Touch, Motorola w375, and Garmin nvi 350 GPS Receiver are consistently amongst the top selling dropship electronics products - we'll keep the list up-to-date with rising products.

Click here to see the current Hot Products.

Hot product updates will come on Wednesdays up until the shipping-freeze date (usually around December 12th for standard shipping, December 16th for expedited - but we'll post the exact dates once UPS and FedEx cement them).
Keep checking back to get updates on this holiday season's best selling Christmas products.

Happy selling!