“Instead of thinking outside the box, get rid of the box.”
If you are a long term subscriber of mine, you’ll know by now that product sourcing is my thing! It’s a task that I generally fit into my schedule most days, because I know from more than 12 years of experience that you can never do too much research, and you can never have too many potential products waiting in the wings!
I talk about product sourcing a lot particularly on my Facebook page! If you haven’t had a peek yet, pop on over and take a look as I post helpful information daily, yet despite me blathering on about products all the time, I still receive email after email from people who want to start selling online but have got it stuck in their heads that to sell successfully – particularly on eBay – they must acquire a large stock of designer or branded goods.
Where this myth came from I have absolutely no idea and in fact it’s a load of rubbish.
It is far better to sell unbranded products on eBay.
You might be thinking, but Amanda, does it really matter what you are selling as long as you are making a profit? Well, actually yes it does matter, because there is making money and there is turning money.
Designer or branded goods are unlikely to give you any profit. Once you have taken into account your selling fees and postage costs, you will be lucky to break even and this is because genuine designer goods cannot be found at true wholesale prices.
Some designer accessories brands will not even contemplate offering wholesale pricing to anyone but specific outlets that they have pre-qualified themselves to make certain that their brand does not become cheapened.
Now, you’ll notice I say ‘genuine’ here because it’s simple to source designer knock-offs from China, anyone can do that, but it is a road you most definitely do not want to travel.
The fact is that if you really want to make a comfortable income selling online then you must first uncover in demand products which you can source easily and inexpensively without cutting corners on quality. Then, listed correctly, your products will give you a regular income with very little hassle.
I can help you with both of these things!
Simply claim your free trial of The Source Report if you need product inspiration. I upload new product suggestions, suppliers and full profit calculations regularly to save you the hard work.
Alternatively, if you’ve sourced your products but you don’t know where to start with writing effective product descriptions, head over to my current Product Descriptions Special Offer here and I’ll help you with that too.
This service in particular has proved very popular and I can only take on a limited number of descriptions at a time, so you’ll need to be quick!
But, now back to product sourcing! Selling unbranded products online has been my strategy, almost from the day I first started selling. I have tons of experience on this topic so in this week’s eletter I’ll tell you the top 8 reasons why you should consider sourcing and selling unbranded products, with some hints and tips along the way to help you put this into practice.
1. Unbranded products are generic
This is the most important part of the idea that you should sell unbranded products. The products are generic. This means that these are items that come with no brand name at all. Of course all products start their lives like this until branding is added by individual companies, but what this means is that it is quite possible to source a product in its unbranded state that is selling as a branded product on the High Street. It just doesn’t have the brand name on it, but it will still do the same job! The advantage is that you will pay less at wholesale for it. Once you have the product you can resell it at a lower price than the branded version.
2. Buyers are lazy!
The great thing about unbranded products is that buyers cannot be bothered to compare like for like products and this is a huge advantage to you as it means you remain competitive at all times no matter what product you are selling. The trick when describing your product is to convince potential buyers that they will only be paying extra with the other seller for the ‘brand name’.
Contrary to popular belief, many buyers just want to quickly find the item that does the job at a good price and that’s where unbranded products do well.
3. Unbranded products don’t have RRP’s
It’s so easy to totally thrash the competition in your chosen niche if you are selling an unbranded product because there is no set or recommended retail price (RRP). It’s up to you, and as long as you are making a decent profit then the decision is yours. On the other hand, if you were selling genuine designer or branded goods it’s likely that there will always be an upper and lower cap that you just can’t cross. This is restrictive and means the market will be much harder to crack.
4. There are no listing restrictions for unbranded products
You will also discover that there are no listing restrictions on unbranded products. You can list as many unbranded items as you like in as many different niches as you like, another immediate advantage for you!
5. You will find cheaper wholesale pricing and a larger number of suppliers who are prepared to negotiate on unbranded products
Unbranded products will always be cheaper to purchase at wholesale than branded products because they are not ‘well-known’ makes. There is no ‘reputation’ as such that goes before them and so you are not paying through the nose for the brand. Wholesale suppliers want to make a sale – it’s their business – so by showing an interest in their unbranded products you will be able to negotiate a better deal, simply because there is usually no recommended price and also because fewer resellers will be purchasing the unbranded versions of products from each supplier.
6. Unbranded products can only be 100% genuine!
By choosing unbranded products you will have a much wider product choice. Imagine running a Google search for an Apple iPad wholesaler for example. I just did this, and I got over 40 million results. The chances of you finding a genuine supplier in amongst that lot are slim, but choose to search for a generic ‘android tablet’ and you will still get a huge selection of results, 16.1 million to be precise, but you won’t have to worry about fakes.
7. Find several niches or micro-niches and unbranded products will fly from your shelves
The trick with unbranded products is not to limit yourself to just one niche. Often the quirkier the niche the better. I know of one ebay powerseller who has sold thousands of bird boxes – not just standard wooden bird boxes that you can buy at your local garden centre, but unbranded bird boxes that come in all shapes and sizes, colours, designs, castles, palaces, union jack prints, that sort of thing – just something a little different. This is a real niche within a niche for unbranded products and is something that you could do very easily. Be quirky!
8. Unbranded products can be sourced and re-branded!
This will immediately cut out even more competition for you! Creating your own brand is one of the best decisions you can make for your online business and should be seriously considered once you have researched, sourced and tested products and know you have a strong product line.
Now, finally I must just also point out that I have absolutely nothing against selling branded or designer goods and if you choose to do so then that is your decision, but unbranded or own branded products, in my opinion, will continue to consistently bring in the profits for you and is a sure-fire way to succeed.