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4 Killer Tips–Hot Tricks to Finding Your Own Wholesale and Drop Ship Sources

Those in the know would just about kill for the right wholesale drop ship eBay products suppliers. Discover reliable product sourcing for home business so that you can get the small business profits you deserve only possible with legitimate drop shippers and legitimate wholesalers. You owe it to yourself to be at the cutting edge of product sourcing information for home-based business. Read on, baby, read on . . .

If you are just starting out, prepare yourself for a trip that will hand you the key to self-sufficiency finding your own reliable product suppliers. This article is not a plug for an online directory or another so-called definitive list of drop ship wholesalers. Although many of these products are very good, in the end you are left with your own capacity for solving problems, and I hope this article will help free you up from the problem of product sourcing.

Tip #1: Understand Your Selling Environment So, what exactly does that mean? Consider eBay. Even though you might think that this is a retail environment, in reality, it is wholesale venue. For a professional seller, that is one of the first things you must understand about eBay. If you are currently buying goods from a true wholesaler or from a drop shipper and trying to retail them on eBay, I understand your howls of frustration. The fact is, almost all mass market consumer goods found on eBay are already at or below wholesale prices. How can you hope to compete selling at retail prices? EBay Power Sellers understand the importance of identifying the right products and then buying in bulk lots where the prices will be lowest. They also understand that eBay is not retail as are many ecommerce sites. Products that sell very well on retail ecommerce sites may die on eBay.

Tip #2: Know the Difference Between True Wholesale and Bogus Wholesale A true wholesale business is licensed as a wholesaler and is legally obligated to require proof of your sales tax permit. In some states this referred to as a resale certificate. A sales tax permit is provided by your state is usually very easy to apply for and receive and is usually free. Don’t be intimidated by the notion of a business license or having to communicate with a state agency. Chances are, you can register for this online and have it in your hands in a few days. Any business that does not require a sales tax permit is not a true wholesale business.

Now, many businesses selling low-cost products are not wholesalers, but that does not mean they are not legitimate. Some businesses sell liquidated stock while others sell surplus items of one sort or another. There are so many kinds of businesses selling cheap goods that I can’t list them all. My point is that a legitimate wholesaler is one specific type of product supplier and in order to purchase you would be required to show proof of a sales tax permit. Some businesses like to broadcast that they have wholesale prices, but wholesale prices are really just whatever prices a legitimate wholesaler happens to be charging.

Tip #3: Where We Cut to the Chase Let’s talk about finding your own wholesale distributors. Many people want to know if they really need to join an online wholesale directory membership in order to find suppliers. While some of these memberships are very good (I’m a member of two), it isn’t necessary. Yes, some of these directories can lead you to product sourcing “paradise,” but in order to be self sufficient, you need to know how to do this for yourself. We will help you get started, and in a moment you’ll be finding your own supplier for eBay, ecommerce, flea markets, and for just about any other kind of selling situation.

This is just a sampling, but I believe you will find more product suppliers than you will know what to do with: (1) The Google Directory. Google “wholesale trade” and that will open the doors to many wholesaler. (2) The DMOZ directory. Search “wholesale” + the name of the product you want to sell. (3) The Thomas Register. This is available at your library, but you can also search at thomasnet.com. (4) Thomas Publishing at thomasglobla.com. (5) Legitimate Wholesale at legitimatewholesale.com. Last, try Proproductsourcing.com. Not a directory but a product supply resource for much helpful information.

With the leads above, you will find contact information for well over 1000 legitimate wholesalers and manufacturers to help solve product sourcing for eBay and home business. You will find even more information by following the bread crumbs in our resource box.

Tip #4: Attend Trade Shows You are likely to develop your best wholesale and dropship industry insider contacts by attending trade shows for the product lines of interest to you. You can research trade shows by checking with your chamber of commerce, local newspaper, and online trade show directories. Simply use “trade show” or “trade shows” as your search terms. Here is a link to a valuable trade show directory resource: BAO Link at baolink [dot com]

Earlier in this article I mentioned online memberships. Many people starting out spend a great deal of time trying to figure out if they should sign up for one of these directories. Ultimately, this is a personal decision. I am a member of two such memberships that are very different but both quite good. One was free when I joined and the other had a one-time fee. Both were learning experiences. In hindsight, neither was necessary, but I have never regretted joining and have learned from both. If you decide to sign up with a membership, I suggest choosing one with an active member forum as the opportunity to network can be invaluable.

If you follow the tips given in this article, there is really no reason why can’t put yourself on the cutting edge of wholesale and drop ship product sourcing and supply especially where online home business is concerned.

Must Know Facts About Drop Ship Wholesale Companies

Internet home business is a topic so hot that it’s on fire; just about everybody wants to know how to leverage the Internet to make money. Igniting the fire is the desire for trustworthy information on how to find products to sell. The exchange of physical products for money is a tried and true business model. If you have something that people want and your price is right, then you will make money. However, knowing how to find the right products to sell is not always easy requires some know-how.

There are many ways of solving product sourcing problems. Retail business, whether online or off has often relied on wholesale distributors to provide affordable goods. Drop ship suppliers have also filled a niche for retail marketers and have become especially popular with the increase of online e-business. Before you throw yourself into this subject, however, it is best to pick up a few basics.

Drop shipping and wholesale are often confused, and even the term wholesale is frequently misunderstood. Drop shipping has become very popular with the advent of the Internet commerce, but to understand it, you have to first understand the term “wholesale.” A true wholesale business is licensed to buy goods from manufacturers for resale to retailers. The wholesale business license allows the purchase of products without paying sales tax as that is charged by retailers to the buying public. Wholesalers and their client retail customers bargain for the best prices, the lowest prices given for the largest bulk orders. In other words, the larger the order the lower the per unit price.

By law, a legitimate, licensed wholesale company is required to sell only to merchants having a sales tax permit, which is authorized by the state of residence. Sales tax permits sometimes have different names depending on the state, but they essential mean the same thing. This is the permit allowing retailers to buy goods from wholesalers without paying sales tax. The sales tax permit is simple to acquire from your state of residence. The sales tax requirement makes it very easy to distinguish true wholesalers from other kinds of product sourcing. If a business does not require proof of your tax permit, then it is not a true wholesaler. This is important in identifying so-called “middlemen” dealers who sometimes claim or imply that they are wholesalers when in fact they are not.

Drop shipping is not the same thing as wholesale supply. A drop shipper may be a wholesaler, and a wholesaler may offer a drop shipping service, but as mentioned above, the two are not the same. Drop shippers are product suppliers who stock and warehouse an inventory of products that are sold through you, the retailer, to your customers. When a buyer pays you for the item, you pay the drop shipper, who then ships the product out to your customer under your business name. This is the true meaning of drop shipping. Your customer is never directly aware of the drop shipper operating behind the scene of the sale.

Where this gets tricky is that some drop shippers are merely discount retailers selling to other retail store owners. However, some drop shippers are also legitimate wholesalers authorized by manufacturers to distribute their goods. In other cases, some wholesalers offer drop shipping to their retail clients as an added service. As someone who may be starting out, you need to be aware that just because a business may advertise low prices or even claim they sell at wholesale prices does not mean they are a true wholesale product supplier. Unless they require proof of your sales tax permit, they are doing retail business, not wholesale business. Examples of legitimate drop ship companies who are not true wholesaler would be dropshipdesign.com, shopster.com, and megagoods.com, to name a few. Examples of legitimate wholesale companies who offer a drop shipping service upon request would be WYNIT and DBL–two of the major names wholesale, consumer electronics.

Drop shipping and wholesale distributors are standard means of solving the product sourcing problem for your home business. The information in these few paragraphs should save you misunderstanding down the road and hopefully prevent you from making purchasing mistakes that would otherwise cost you money. Buying low cost products and selling them at a slightly higher price is standard business practice, but in order to succeed, you must be sure of your product sourcing.