112: So You Wanna Sell On eBay - Keith Ritchie

Keith is a former factory worker turned professional dropshipper. He has been dropshipping on eBay full-time since 2014. He employs virtual assistants to make his life easier & enjoys learning new skills and traveling. He also enjoys teaching others how to make a living online through e-commerce. Interesting Notes Keith defines Dropshipping as simply taking a product from one store or one vendor and placing it on a marketplace or website for sale with a markup. He likes MAP (Minimum Advertised Pricing) price for wholesale, as long as there is profit. He said that you will find good wholesale companies that police their MAP. There are some that don't care. And those are the ones that you have to let go. When Keith was still doing the wholesale, he would look and monitor the competitor's prices. Then he would make a phone call to the company and report a competitor who is breaking the MAP. He would then see what the company would do. After 2 to 3 times that the company would not do anything, he would not continue to dropship. When he first started, he would give a virtual address, a phone number, and a professional business email. He would come up with a big beautiful building when in reality he is only in his living room. Dropshipping has a small barrier to entry. You need to know what you are doing. It is not something that you dive in and not have any direction. If you have a solid system and guidelines to follow, you'll be the next success. Keith cited that the good thing about eBay is you are not necessarily competing on the price. You can change your keywords or images. You can do other things your competitors are doing to drive those buyers to your listings. He uses the stock images of the manufacturer. He would resize them to make his stuff stand out in the searches. Keith does Dropshipping for full-time since 2014. He used to work 6 to 7 days a week in factories. He would get as much overtime as he wants it. But when 2008 came, he gets lucky if he can get 48 hours of work. Like any other people, he is looking for stability. Then came the great recession, and boom! He was gone. Keith did not like his factory job anyway. He took his job out of desperation. He has to pay the bills. While doing his job, he listens to a podcast or an audio to feed his mind and help his belief. He is selling on eBay and working at the same time. One time, he made an $80 profit out of a sale. That is almost his entire day's wage. He thinks of ways to improve and have more sales. He is trying to build enough so he can quit his job. One day at work, he told a guy in-charged that he would quit. The guy looked at him and said "there is nothing I can do. Once you say it, then it's done". The guy asked him if his decision is final and Keith said yes. So Keith ended his employment that day. Keith always wanted to look for different ways for ways out - an entrepreneurial spirit. Then, he stumbled across dropshipping and decided to make it full-time. He started and found Dropshipping half worth. It was in the later part of Q4 (late in November, early December). Everything was selling. So he thought that it is easy money. In the mid of January, it came to a screeching point. He can still sell here and there, but he learned that he should have treated it like a business, as it should have been. At the time of this interview, Keith got a negative feedback. It is a product review. The customer bought the product 5 or 6 months ago. They did not like it. So Keith called eBay and talked to a representative. Keith created a dropshipping course - Easy Dropshipping. This is the kind of dropshipping from online stores. It is not a wholesale account. It places an overstock, that is, how to find items that are already selling and make them better. In his course, he shows his system. He shows the different tools he uses to list and revise an inventory. He also teaches sourcing. He covers as much as he can in the course. What he does not cover there, he answers in the group. He is constantly updating the course. He has a private group for all the members of the course. There are seasoned Dropshippers. There are brand new people too. He also has another Facebook group, All Out e-Commerce. It is a bigger community for multi-channel selling and dropshipping. With dropshipping, you get paid first. Then you spend the money to buy the item and you keep the difference. A lot of people have misconceptions about Dropshipping. They are scared to death of it. If you do not know what you are doing, you are likely to fail. If you get in there, start to dropship items, and you are not keeping track of your stuff for the price changes, you will only get broke. It took Keith 94 days to get the $50,000 in 31 days in sales. For someone who has a selling history on eBay and with a big selling limit, it will not take you long to hit your target. If you are a new seller and you have smaller selling limits, it may take you for a while. Making it work depends on how dedicated you are. It depends on how much time do you have to put into it to make it work. Keith's business grow leaps and bounds when he started employing Virtual Assistants (VAs). His VAs do product listings, place orders, all kinds of stuff that he no longer has to do. He can now afford to travel because he got people who list, track information, and do different things for him. Today, Keith praises God every day that he has the freedom. His only regret is not doing it years before. For the listeners of this podcast, you will get a $50 off discount if you join Keith's course now. Click on this link: soyouwannasellonebay.com/easydrop You will get an email from Keith with instructions on how to create an account, how to log in, and how to join their private group. His private group now has only 20 members. It is the best time to get in so you can get all the attention you need. Don't forget to click on this link: soyouwannasellonebay.com/easydrop and get your $50 off. Advice, Tips, and Tricks 1. Feel each of your suppliers on how soon can they deliver the items. Keith put in his listing how many days is the handling time. 2. If the buyer message you, give an excellent service. Be happy to help. Be happy to answer any questions. 3. Learn how to handle customers even if they come out of the gate like a real jerk. Don't snap back. Apologize, even if it is not your fault. Apologize, even if you did everything you could. Say something like, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. We're doing the best we can." 4. Say up front that you are selling on eBay. If a wholesaler/company would not let you do it, ask for reasons why they would not allow you. If they insist, let them go and move on. There's a ton of accounts. 5. There are name brands that would not let you list their items on eBay. The best thing to do is to get all the name brands. Do a research before you list their items. 6. It is exhausting when you get to several 100 items and find yourself checking your inventory twice a day. When Keith reached that point, he decided to outsource, took the leap, and train the VAs. Quotes "It is a blessing in disguise." "You need to know what you are doing." "There is just no way of controlling. There is just a way of handling." "Everybody does it differently." "If you are doing it right and you have a system in place, you are pretty well on the road to success." "I wanted to learn to be able to help people. To help people do what I did and get away from the grind." "As long as you are dedicated, you can get results." Only do the things that only you can do!" - Jim Cockman Contact Information Facebook Group: alloutecommerce Facebook Page: alloutecommerce Sponsors Premium DIY eBay Template MyCost Pro