Here are some of the places where you can find reliable eBay wholesale sourcing information and where I find mine.

• Wholesale Search Engines
• Wholesale Trade Shows and Merchandise Marts
• Worldwide Brands
• Wholesale Buying System

Lets look at each of these

Wholesale Search Engines

If you look at the top of this blog and hover over the navigation tab that says Web Wholesale Search, you will see three wholesale search engines.  Although these search engines are optimized for wholesale companies, you do have to remember that they are search engines and therefore clever SEO experts can fool them.  When you do a search you will often get results that include the big dropship companies and even discount retailers who sell under the guise of being a wholesale site.

Nevertheless, by far most of the results will be legitimate wholesale suppliers, so this can be a good place to screen for companies that you may wish to contact.

One thing to remember:  When you click on a link to one of the wholesale suppliers, you will often land on a retail site.  When this happens, look around the navigation links and find a link that says partner login or wholesale or dealer information.  Clicking on those links will usually get you to the wholesale information.

Wholesale Trade Shows and Merchandise Marts

These are one of my favorite places to find wholesale sources for the simple reason that most online sellers (eBay and Amazon sellers), rarely visit these.  This means that I can often find goods to sell that are not yet being sold on eBay.

There are both wholesale trade shows and wholesale merchandise marts in all major cities.  If you live in a smaller city like Austin, TX you may not get many trade shows. So what you want to do is look for shows in nearby cities such as Dallas and Houston, or watch for shows in Las Vegas, which is the trade show capital of the US.

The same thing goes with merchandise marts.  There are about 30 cities in the US with permanent merchandise marts. These are locations where wholesale suppliers have actual showrooms that you can browse in. You can’t buy anything to carry out –instead you place orders and the goods are shipped to you.

Entrance to both wholesale trade shows and merchandise is controlled and limited to the trade only. So you will need a business tax or sales tax certificate, and often they will want you to show other proof such as a business checking account, business cards and so on.

WorldWide Brands

WorldWide Brands is one of the oldest and largest suppliers –and in my opinion the best supplier of wholesale information.  The service is not cheap –but it is a one-time, lifetime fee. For that you get access to thousands of sources and tons of training videos.  WorldWide Brands was the first place I used to find wholesale information when I started selling on eBay and I still have my membership and use it all the time.

Many companies in this business simply research and post lists of wholesale sources, but WorldWide Brands actually contacts the wholesale sources and talks to them to make sure they will deal with small eBay and Amazon sellers.  And they are constantly updating the database –usually adding anywhere from 20 to 30 new sources each month.

Wholesale Buying System

This is a product that I wrote and produce.  It is a printed wholesale training manual that comes with membership in my members-only site where I list about 1000 wholesale sources that I have personally researched.  But most importantly, the Wholesale Buying System teaches you everything you need to know about the wholesale sourcing industry and shows you how to research and find wholesale sources for thousands of products –including those hard to find ones.

One word of caution:  If you have purchased –or plan to purchase, The Complete eBay Marketing System, then you already have the wholesale buying system as that is part of the complete eBay system training manual –so don’t buy both.

Liquidation Goods

I didn’t mention this at the beginning of the article, but wholesale liquidators –companies that liquidate surplus inventory for large retailers, are another great source of name brand wholesale goods.  If you know what you are doing you can find some fabulous deals where you can buy brand new merchandise –including popular brand name goods at literally pennies on the dollar.

Notice that I said: If you know what you are doing. The problem with this market is that it is fraught with risk and danger and the novice buyer can really get screwed.  This is where a guy named Chad Maslak comes in.  I have known Chad for about 3 years and he is the absolute master of the liquidation and surplus market.

Chad sells a training course that teaches you everything you need to know before buying from liquidation and surplus dealers. And the course comes with his favorite sources –sources that you can rely on not to get screwed.  Some time ago I asked Chad if he would give my readers a special deal and he agreed. He only offered it for a limited time, but he has opened it up again.  So click here to get a special offer for Skip McGrath readers.  BTW – Chad’s system comes with a no-questions-asked money back guarantee so you can’t really lose.

I am always a little skeptical when I hear things like that so I checked John out ahead of time and he is the real deal. I not only looked at his offer, I went to eBay and looked at his listings and his sales…

…and his system works.

John recently decided to share his knowledge with a new video series. He calls his service Deals4Resale. It is a video series where he shows you how and where he buys his products and how much he sells them for. And its more than just a few videos to watch. He also publishes a newsletter and a hotlist with the latest deals. Literally you will get specific instructions from John that shows where you can buy products instantly to turn around and sell on eBay and Amazon at huge profits.

If you are like me, between the crummy economy, greater competition and eBay fees, your margins are getting smaller. I used to make 40% to 50% profit margins on eBay and Amazon. Today I am lucky to clear 20% to 25%.

The answer is to find product sources where you can buy hot products that are in high demand that sell for greater markups. And John is a master at that. I checked his current hot deals out and they are true and they work. For example, his current hotlist has a link you can click to buy an action figure for $14.95 that you can turn around and sell for over $47. Now that’s a nice markup!

Visit Deals4Resale today and read what John has to say. Like everyone I recommend, he offers a no-questions-asked money back guarantee if you are not satisfied.

I just returned from the ASD/AMD Wholesale Trade Show in Las Vegas. This is one of the largest wholesale trade shows in the world with over 4,000 vendors showing their products and looking for people like you to buy from them.

Wholesale Products for eBay & Amazon

I listed a lot of these sources in my last newsletter, The eBay & Online Seller’s News. But I have also compiled 44 of the best sources onto an interactive web page where you can click on the links to access the sources. And, I have all of the information in a Free eBook Forty-four Free Wholesale Sources.  You can download the eBook in PDF. It is completely free –you don’t even have to supply your email address to get it.  And you can freely share of give away copies of the book to anyone you want.
Out of the thousands of manufacturers, distributors and importers who exhibited, I tried to concentrate on those products and companies who had products that worked for selling on eBay and Amazon and that small sellers who cannot buy in large quantities could afford.

eBay dropshippers

On the list are three companies who drop ship for eBay sellers. One is a company that sells outdoor gear including the popular airsoft guns, another sells all types of small appliances including the Roomba Robot vaccum cleaner and a third who will drop ship musical instruments including guitars.

So just click here to get free access to 44 Wholesale Sources for eBay and Amazon Sellers. It’s free and now its yours!

I would love to hear if this information helped you and if you would like more. So leave a comment and let me know what you think and any requests or advice you might have.

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Complete eBay Marketing System

I have many more sources available at the Wholesale Resources member’s website that you get for free when you purchase The Complete eBay Marketing System.  We update the member’s area every month with new sources and new bonus materials.

The rest of them will be uploaded to the member’s area of the website where those who have purchased The Complete eBay Marketing System can get access.

The show was excellent this year. In past years a lot of wholesale vendors didn’t want to work with eBay sellers. This year they were all over me when I said I was an eBay seller. The show had fewer attendees this year which made it more pleasant –but it was busy nevertheless. And the vendors were selling.  I spoke with several vendors who said business was brisk and they seemed to be upbeat about the economy improving.

In one of my first books when I wrote about wholesale dealer auctions, I said that if you have a desire to be mugged, you can walk in Central Park after midnight or you can attend a wholesale dealer auction.

Wholesale dealer auctions are held various locations around the country but most of them tend to be in the Southeast.  Essentially they are auctions of liquidation and surplus merchandise, factory seconds and returns and warranty items.  There is no question that there are great bargains and profits to be had. Personally I have purchased goods for as little as 10¢ on the retail dollar and been able to triple or quadruple my money on eBay.  But I have also been burned.

As with my article yesterday about buying at small local auctions  –this is an area where experience counts (See that post below for more advice about buying at auctions).  The only way to get that experience is to dive in  –but make sure you aren’t jumping off a diving board into the shallow end of the pool.  Here are some tips to help you prevent getting mugged and to insure you only buy profitable merchandise.

1. Visit at least one dealer or closeout auction where you just observe. Don’t buy anything at your first auction no matter how tempted you are. Look at the people. See how they dress, how they act, which ones hang out together. Look at what the professional dealers are buying and the prices they pay. Take a small notebook and jot down information to review later. You will be surprised at what you can learn by just watching.
2. Look out for shill bidders.  If you observe carefully they are actually pretty easy to spot and they tend to congregate together during the breaks
3. Never buy a “lot” of boxed mixed merchandise[1]. It has been picked over and all the premium goods have been removed. If the seller or auctioneer swears it hasn’t been picked through (called cherry picking in the trade) – run the other way.
4. Buy only new merchandise (they are called “shelf pulls” in the trade). This is typically merchandise that didn’t sell during the season, or didn’t sell well at all. Sometimes that means it was not a saleable product, but it could also mean the store just bought too much of it, or another hotter product came along and the storeowner needed the shelf space.
5. Be careful with items described as “returns,” or "store returns." Ask if they are "shelf pulls" or "customer returns." There will almost always be some damaged or non-working items in a “customer returns” lot. It is ok to buy returns from established closeout dealers who will tell you the mixture. If you can buy returns at 10 to 15 cents on the dollar you will probably do okay because there will be enough good stuff mixed with the bad.
6. Stay away from freight damaged goods unless you can visually inspect all the products in the box. Some times it’s just the boxes that are damaged. If this is the case, and you can be sure, then go ahead and bid.
7. Never buy merchandise you cannot physically and visually inspect. Buying goods at a closeout auction is a case of Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware).
8. Never buy “damaged returns” unless you are capable of repairing the items yourself. If something looks great but is not attracting any bids, leave it alone. There are a lot of professionals at these auctions. If they are not bidding there is usually a reason.

See Also

• Learn How To Start and Run a profitable eBay Business with The Complete eBay Marketing System
  Printed training manual written by an eBay Power Seller who sells on eBay every day

Readers have a choice of several magazines –just select your product category. They include:

Sports & Leisure	Auto Parts & Accessories
Baby & Children’s Products  & Apparel	Hardware, Tools & DIY
Computer Products & Components	Apparel & Fashion Accessories
Underwear & Swimwear	Home & Garden products

These magazines are meant for importers, but they are really valuable for any seller. Most of the sources sell in large quantities, but many of them import directly and will sell direct from their US warehouses.  Also if you ever thought you may want to try importing, there is a ton of useful information in each issue.  These sourcing magazines normally charge over $20 per issue, but you can get a sample issue now for free.  Click Here to get your Free Product Sourcing Guide.

See Also

• Out of Work? The Used Book Business is a low cost – low risk – easy to enter business
  Complete sales manual shows how to make good money quickly selling used books on eBay, Amazon and other internet sites.

This is a great little wholesale sourcing secret and it’s a free way to find eBay wholesale sources. I told my readers about this tip last year and several of them wrote me that they had great luck with this.  It is not a way to find millions of products in all the popular categories –but that is OK, because those categories are pretty crowded and competitive. But, it is a great way to find those little niche suppliers that other sellers don’t have.

The secret: Free Trade Magazines.  If you don’t know what a trade magazine is, let me explain.  Almost every industry and product has an association or publishers who make money publishing free trade magazines about the specific industry or topic.  The magazines are free because they are completely advertiser supported. This is what is known in the publishing trade as Controlled Circulation Publishing.  The advertisers pay the magazines because they go out to a targeted audience –rather than just anyone.

To subscribe to a trade publication, you fill out a qualification form. For example, I subscribe to Hearth & Home, a magazine for the outdoor fireplace and BBQ industry. I had to fill out a form saying that I was an online retailer and list what products I sold (firepits and BBQ grills). It is done on the honor system –no one checks up on you.

So where do you find these trade magazines?

You can Google around for them, or you can go to one of the sites that list many of the magazines. The one I like the best is Tradepub. Tradepub not only has over 200 free magazines you can subscribe to, they also have dozens of free whitepapers on various aspects of marketing and selling that can really help your online sales –even if you only do eBay. I have read several of these white papers and learned a lot from them.

The other free magazine everyone should get if you sell online (eBay, Amazon your own website, etc.), is Website Magazine. There is a ton of great marketing advice in every issue and I have used it to find some excellent affiliate programs that have earned me a great deal of money.  Best of all when I signed up, I never got any spam from them.

See Also

• The Official Geezer Guide to Starting an Online Business
  We show you seven, low cost, low risk online businesses anyone can start to make extra money online

First off I’d like to wish you a very happy holiday season. I hope that you are enjoying the time with your loved ones.

I want to give you a quick heads up. I just heard from the nice folks at Worldwide Brands. They are running a special holiday promotion on the best source of wholesale information, resources and training for eBay sellers.  

Worldwide Brands has reduced the price by $100 and for the next 5 days, they are offering a 4-payment plan so you can spread the cost out.

By purchasing Worldwide Brands now you  will have immediate
access to:

• Over 8,000 wholesale suppliers and drop shippers who represent over 8 Million Products!
• 19 chapters of eBiz education
• A community forum to guide & support the internet seller
  (Including Direct access to the Worldwide Brands CEO who posts regularly)
• A ton of great content and valuable resources, and specials only
  available to the Worldwide Brands Members

BUT this offer is coming to quick end.

It’s a lot easier to make little payments over time. But they can’t do it much longer. This offer goes away Dec. 31st!

Click here to read about the service and get this limited-time offer.

When the ball falls in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, the payment plan offer is over.

Don’t miss out on this great resource for eBay and small website sellers. I have been using WorldWide Brands personally for the past 5 years and still use it today. This is the only wholesale information service I recommend to my readers.

Click here to read about the service and get this limited-time offer.

See Also

• The Official Geezer Guide to Starting an Online Business from Home, by Skip McGrath
  Learn about six different home business opportuinities that work for seniors

My regular readers know that I not only personally use Worldwide Brands (WWB), but I have been recommending their sourcing tools and educational service for several years. This week WWB realigned their product offering by combining their product sourcing service and their educational product -The Whole $ale – into one integrated product offering and reduced the price by $100. You only pay one lifetime fee –they do NOT charge any monthly or ongoing fees.

However, my readers can also save an additional $20 if you use this link to order: www.worldwidebrands.com/skipmcgrath.

If you are not yet familiar with WWB, then use this link to read about the program and watch a short video that explains all of their services.  But be sure and go back to this link to get the additional $20 discount: www.worldwidebrands.com/skipmcgrath

Also they have created a great little eBook on wholesale sourcing for my readers. It is called Successful Product Sourcing – How To Find Real Products You Can Sell Online.  Just Click Here to download your free copy.

If you sell on eBay or Amazon or your own website WWB offers a great resource for one lifetime fee to help you source products, avoid wholesale scams and learn about the wholesale industry and how it really works.

Unless some big news happens, this will be my last post before Christmas, so let me take this moment to wish all of my readers a wonderful and Merry Christmas and Joyous Hanukkah and a happy, prosperous and successful New Year.

Skip McGrath

See Also

• The Complete eBay Marketing System – A complete training manual to help you start and run a professional eBay business
  Written by an eBay Gold PowerSeller who sells on eBay every day

Wholesale Sourcing for eBay

The series consists of 5 videos and several free bonuses for opting in
to see the series. I have seen the first two videos and they are excellent.
Each video is 8 to 10 minutes long and packed with great information for
the eBay or small website seller.

And it’s not just about wholesale sourcing. These videos contain lots of information you can put to use right away to build your business during this difficult economic environment.

Here is the link to see the first video and sign up for the whole series. And
yes –they are completely free.  http://tinyurl.com/4u3pzk

In case you missed it, my June 08 Newsletter is now available on the website at:

http://www.skipmcgrath.com/newsletters/current.shtml

Look for my next newsletter right after eBay Live. In the meantime be sure
and check my blog.skipmcgrath.com for any breaking news or events

eBay Live Info

If you are going to eBay Live, be sure and attend the free eBay Meet and Greet party on the evening of Wednesday the 18th, in the M/X Lounge at the Hyatt Hotel right next to the eBay convention center. The party starts at 6:30 and is a great chance to meet and greet your fellow eBay sellers.  This is NOT an official eBay event. This is just a bunch of sellers who get together each year to network and socialize.

I will be giving away a door prize –A set of DVDs from my latest eBay Boot Camp. Raffle tickets will be given out at the door between 6:30 and 7:30 with the drawing at 8PM.

Hope to see you there

Skip McGrath

See Also

• The Complete eBay Marketing System –a printed manual and workbook to help you start, build and grow a professional eBay business
  Learn to sell on eBay from a Power Seller who has been selling on eBay for 9 years and makes his full-time living on eBay
• The eBay Seller’s News is the largest and oldest FREE NEWSLETTER for professional eBay sellers
  Our twice monthly newsletter contains news, tips and techniques to help you build your eBay business