EBay Colossus Starting To Shake?

EBay has been the towering titan of the auction sites for years. It has seen off all the smaller competitors and appeared indestructible. Until now. EBay has, over the last few years made a number of unpopular changes that have angered many of its sellers who have shut up shop and moved on. The biggest gripe sellers have with eBay is the cost of selling which has been rising slowly over the years. It has not become known as “feebay” for nothing. There have also been a number of policy changes that have upset sellers.

The problem that angry sellers have had is where to go if they shut up shop on EBay. There have always been a number of smaller auction sites competing on the fringes waiting to take in EBay refugees. The problem with these sites however has not been their ability to attract sellers. Sellers are constantly on the lookout for alternatives. The problem has been attracting buyers.

There’s no point opening a shop on a site which few people visit. This has been the strength that EBay has flourished on. Millions of people go to EBay every day searching for products. Unaware of other sites. However, as more and more sellers decide it is simply too expensive to sell on EBay and leave other sites are starting to come into their own. Ready to mop up this market of eager sellers looking for a new home.

Developers have been chipping away at the EBay monolith while the EBay management, like all managements of monopolies have become arrogant and smug. Believing they can issue fee rises and policy changes at will with the attitude that if you don’t like it then leave. The result of this off-handed policy is an army of sellers just looking for somewhere else to jump to.

They may not have long to wait. Alternatives to EBay are starting to appear, they are armed with many advantages, like for example, the ability to import their listings from EBay. This is an attractive function for someone with an eBay shop containing hundreds of products. The new players also have bulk-loading facilities built into their sites. They look mean, keen and sleek and appear to mean business.

They also appear to be overcoming their biggest challenge which has eluded many trying to break into EBay’s market, namely the ability to attract enough buyers to their sites. Without hungry buyers no auction site can survive.

Who are these new kids on the block? There’s eCrater, launched in 2004 is thriving. A number of new stores have also arrived on the scence; Wigix, Bonanzle and Atomic Mall to name a few. They are been helped by new technology which is making ecommerce sites easier to use and search-engine friendly. Google Base is allowing people to display their products without the need for EBay.

There’s little doubt that changing technology and a ready market for alternative auction sites is driving new players into the market. The question is how will EBay react? If it continues to issue unpopular policy changes and keep squeezing sellers for more fees it may go the way of the dinosaurs. If it accepts the challenges heading towards it may survive and thrive. For online seller the growing choice can only be good.

Finding Wholesalers

Finding a genuine wholesaler is one of the hardest parts about starting a business. You can easily start selling on Ebay straight away by getting rid of old items you no longer want. If you are looking to start a long-term business however, then you need to find a wholesaler. A supplier who you can rely on to deliver orders to you fast and consistently. This is not as easy as it seems.

When I first started out this was one of the biggest problems I had to overcome. I eventually succeeded but only after a number of false starts. By giving you my experience, it may save you some time researching this aspect of business.

Wholesalers Online

The truth is that the majority of companies online advertising themselves as wholesalers are not. They are retailers pretending to be wholesalers. If you wanted to buy something for your personal use, you may get a bargain. If you want to buy stock to resell however, then you will be disappointed. The prices these companies charge will not enable you to have a decent mark-up for yourself on reselling. By decent profit margin, I’m talking a minimum of 35%.

So how can you tell a real wholesaler from a retailer in wholesaler’s clothing? It’s not difficult. The genuine wholesaler will have a “trade only” section to their site, which is only accessible with a password. To get the password you have to contact the wholesaler who will send you out some forms to fill in. They will ask you some questions about your business.

Once you have filled out the required forms they will then give you access to their trade only section. Real wholesalers will have a minimum order, this can be anything from £50.00 plus. The sure way to check if you are dealing with a real wholesaler is to look at the prices and compare them to retail prices on the net. Look on Ebay and on the websites of companies selling the same products. If the retail price is close to the wholesale price then you are not been given real wholesale prices.

You want to be getting at least 40% plus discount for buying wholesale. The wholesalers I use don’t have ecommerce sites, they send out catalogues to their customers who choose the products they want then order, usually by fax.

Wholesale Clubs

There are a number of businesses online where for a monthly fee you get access to their wholesale lists. These companies specialize in getting together all the wholesalers in every market and putting them on their member’s only websites. Members can then access the website and find wholesalers.

I was a member of one of these sites for a while and to be honest was disappointed. I didn’t find a single wholesaler that I could use. Many of the wholesalers on the list were just selling cheap toys, which were no use to me. Others were in china, which I didn’t trust. After a while, I discovered that nearly all the wholesalers on the site were easily found by spending a little time on the net.

I cancelled my membership without any problems but I have heard that some of these sites make it very difficult for you to cancel once you sign up. So if you are thinking of joining one of these sites then before you commit yourself check that you can easily cancel at any time. Ask what the cancelling procedure is.

After a lot of wasted time searching out wholesalers and a few false starts I eventually found what I was looking for and have established good relationships with my suppliers. I didn’t find any of my wholesalers on the net because most of them are not there. They don’t need to be. They sell to regular customers who search them out and find them. So what’s the best way to find them?

As many genuine wholesalers have a poor web, presence you will have to research through the business pages. You can do this through the internet or through your local library. If you research on the net, you will eventually find some contacts. They will probably not have a website but a phone number and Email address are all you need.

Once you get a phone number then make contact with them. Don’t be afraid. Wholesalers want to sell to you, that’s their business. They’re not interested in selling you single items but they are interested in supplying you multiple items. Don’t be put off if they require proof of trading. If you are a start-up then you’ don’t have any proof.

When I contacted my first wholesaler by the phone, they asked for proof of trading. I explained that I was just starting up and didn’t have any evidence of trading. They asked me to fax them a letter header with my trading name on. Unfortunately, at that time I didn’t have a fax machine. Feeling very unprofessional, I explained this to the sales manager. He said ok email him a header. I did. My account was set-up and I began ordering and opened my business.

Many wholesalers are dropping their minimum order in the recession. Some will require you to make a purchase with an initial minimum order then allow you to buy small quantities the wholesaler you contact requires you to buy large minimum orders say £300.00 plus then don’t use them. Look around until you find the right one. Remember you are the customer, don’t go cap in hand, go confidently into wholesale negotiations.

If you persist, you will eventually find the wholesaler for you. You will probably have some false starts. One of the first wholesalers I contacted interviewed me over the phone and said he would send a catalogue out straight away. I was happy that I’d found a good source and waited eagerly for the catalogue to arrive. When it did, I was disappointed to discover that the prices were so high I could buy much of the stock from retailers on the net cheaper.

I didn’t place any orders despite receiving numerous follow up phone calls. When looking for wholesalers you will need to persevere to find the one you want. When you eventually find one who looks suitable read their terms and conditions to ensure they are suitable for you. If the minimum order is too high then don’t use them. Move on. You will eventually succeed.

Dare To Act

If you want to succeed in an online business. If you want to create an extra income stream and test yourself in the marketplace. If you want to build something wonderful, something of value which will grow and grow. You must act. You need to stop procrastinating and move into the battle zone. You need to pick up your rusty sword and jump into the pit. You need to advance.

Yes, you need to research your target market to see if your idea has legs. You need a little plan to drive forward. I say a little plan because I am not in favour of drawing up elaborate plans with three-year income forecasts. This may be ok once you have established yourself in the market but for a start up, three-year projections based on nothing are a waste of time.

You can get bogged down in planning, using it as an excuse to start. Constant planning is a way to stay safe. To stay comfortable in the headquarters behind a desk; to avoid the risk. If you don’t act, you won’t accomplish anything. Once you’ve got a basic plan then put it into operation. Get your battle gear on, leave the headquarters and go into the field. Enter the battle.

The feedback you will get from the market once you start will need to alter your plans anyway. The market will give you back live data, this is better than any projections, you can act on this. Once you act your confidence will grow and you will wonder why you waited for so long. You can’t wait until everything is just right because everything will never be just right. Once you commit to action your determination and inner strength will come into play. You will take advantage of bad circumstances and move with them.

A good way to get over the fear is not to look too far ahead. The plan I have for my business is simple, I want to build a successful business over the course of the next ten years. I have a vision of where I want it to be in ten years. To achieve it I have to accomplish many small goals, each goal will drive me further forward towards the grand vision. The goals are broken down into months and days. I know what I need to do today. Small things like altering a few items on my website, bringing my accounts up-to-date and sourcing a designer for my newsletter.

If you have a plan but are reluctant to start then break down your goals into small steps. Just decide to do one thing and do it. Once you start to move forward you will be committed to achieving the first goal you have set yourself. Before you know it your business will spring to life and you will wonder why you delayed so long. Once you are in the field, new opportunities will show themselves, things you never could have expected will come into play bringing with them new ideas . So roll up the map, put the battle plan into your pocket, strap on your tin hat and move to the front.

More Shocks For Retirement Savings

If you trusted the system and followed the conventional route through life. The news gets worse. Like. Norwich union have just announced a cut in payouts for over 2 million of its with profits customers. This means that payouts will now be on average 15% lower than a year ago.

Remember all those years ago when we were told that with profits endowments were the greatest thing ever to come from the financial industry. I remember well taking out my mortgage and sitting in front of a financial advisor. He told my wife and me that we should forget about repayment mortgages. A with profits endowment was the way to go.

I remember him telling us that after fifteen years we will be able to cash it in, pay off our mortgage ten years early and walk away with a huge profit. When you’re in your early twenties, know little about financial products and are been told this from a suited and very plausible financial “expert” you believe it.

We did. Fifteen years later instead of being able to cash our endowment in and pay off the mortgage, we received a letter telling us that the endowment wasn’t performing and we need to make provisions to ensure we can repay the mortgage. I went down to the building society and changed the mortgage over to a repayment mortgage.

The irony is if I had taken out a repayment mortgage to begin with my house would have been paid off years earlier. Like many, however, we were fooled by a financial “expert” in a suit, unaware that he was working for his own commission. We still have the endowment policy. I refuse to cash it in early. I intend to let it run its course and squeeze, as much from it as possible, though it won’t be much.

Now as millions of people’s savings policies come up for payment we see the banks and building societies cutting payments, this along with the attacks by the government on the private pension industry will leave millions of people who have worked and paid their way all their lives heading towards a bleak retirement. Conned by the banks and building societies and robbed by the government. You have to ask, was it worth trying to save?

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Nice work if you can get it.

The man who destroyed our private pensions has ensured his own is safe from his meddling. Gordon Brown has a personal pension pot of £274,000 courtesy of the British taxpayer. His sidekicks are equally well provided for, with Jack straw having a pot of £294,000, which would pay him a yearly pension of £20,500. Alistair Darling has a pot worth £235,000. Not bad for having the best non-jobs in the country.

These ministerial pensions are on top of their Mps pensions.

Figures compiled by the Liberal Democrats also reveal that while our MPs are living it large at our expense the average private sector pension pot is just £25,000, which will produce a yearly income of just £1600. If you are not mad, you should be.

This is unacceptable. The very people who have been misruling us for years, lying to us for years, forcing policies onto us for years that have downgraded our lives, are cocooned from the effects of their mismanagement.

Lord Oakeshott a Liberal Democrat peer uncovered the figures. Lord Oakeshotte summed this situation up when he said:

Well said your lordship.

Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “Ministers will enjoy a comfortable retirement at the expense of poverty-stricken pensioners.” That about sums it up.

Meanwhile, back in the real world. Those of us in the private sector can only watch as our pension funds take hit after hit in the recession. Billions of pounds have been wiped off private company pensions. While ministers’ pensions have risen by double the rate of inflation. Recession? What recession? Private pensions are becoming so severely damaged that private companies are trying to plug a £130 billion shortfall. And the recession hasn’t even started yet!

It’s time we challenged this situation. It’s time we started writing to our MPs and telling them, we are not happy. We are not going to sit back and take any more of it. The time for passivity is over. Everyone should write to their MP today and tell him or her that we are sick of it all and we want our pensions protecting as well.

We are in this mess because of the mismanagement of successive governments. Forget Gordon Brown’s attempts to blame America. It’s not America’s fault that our economy is so weak it depends on people shopping. This is the fault of governments who have encouraged the destruction of our manufacturing industry.

Mps have argued that it is simply market forces at work and there is nothing they can do about it. The crowd of freeloaders in Westminster are happy to throw the rest of us out of the door to face the harsh winds of capitalism while they stay inside, insulated from the policies they have created.

Before I sign off for today, here’s a question that’s been puzzling me for some time. Our manufacturing industry has disappeared because other countries can do it cheaper. People who were employed in manufacturing are either sitting in call centres or struggling on the dole.

What I cannot understand is if over ninety percent of our laws are made in Brussels and our MPs can’t do anything about it. Why do we still have the same number of MPs? Manufacturing jobs have gone because it is now been done overseas, so why haven’t we lost most of our Mps now that most of their jobs is done over seas?

« Previous Page — Next Page »