SaleHoo wholesale directory shares the inside story on some of the best sourcing methods used by eBay’s top powersellers.

• Flea markets and Garage sales

Flea markets and garage sales are a great place to pick up collectibles, second-hand clothing and DVDs selling for pennies on the dollar.

On the downside, it takes time to get around all those stalls and you never know whether your efforts will be worthwhile.

One week you might strike it lucky with a Lionel train set that you can resell for a tidy $100 profit. The following week might see you wandering aimlessly for 5 hours with only a couple of DVDs to show for your effort.

SaleHoo Tip: Save time by getting to know the regular stall owners and asking them to ring you if they get hold of something special.

• Cut deals with local stores and buy up overstock and liquidation

There are certain times when stores are desperate to get rid of as much stock as they can, no matter how small the profit.

Stock take, store relocation and going out of business are just three of the situations that might make a shop owner desperate to sell merchandise as fast as possible. For enterprising eBay sellers, this is a perfect opportunity to cut a deal that gets you a load of brand new product at a bargain-basement price.

In return, the store owner gets rid of their stock for minimal effort and a guaranteed price. If you can pluck up the courage to ask, it’s not actually that difficult to broker a deal of this kind.

SaleHoo Tip: Doing a deal with a local store is best because it allows you to inspect the goods before you buy, ensuring you don’t waste good money on broken or damaged items.

• Estate sales

Estate sales are held to get rid of the belongings of someone who has died or is moving. They are a great place for eBay sellers to pick up vintage clothing, costume and fine jewelry, collectibles, furniture and china.

However, they are usually run by professionals with a vast knowledge of the market value of each and every item for sale, so don’t expect to get something for nothing.

The worst thing you can do is go along to an estate sale without doing your eBay research first. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the moment and pay full market price for something that actually sells for less on eBay.

SaleHoo Tip: Wait until the auction comes to an end and offer to buy up all remaining items for a fixed price.

• Tradeshows

Tradeshows bring suppliers and resellers together for mutual benefit. They are normally industry specific, so they are one of the best ways to meet the top product suppliers in the country.

Another excellent reason for going along is the fantastic ‘trade-show only’ discounts most suppliers offer on their merchandise, reducing the wholesale price even further.

Online directories such as http://www.tsnn.com/ and http://www.biztradeshows.com/ make it easy for anyone to find tradeshows in their area and see which suppliers are going to be involved.

SaleHoo Tip: Read up on suppliers before you go and take along some questions to ask. Large manufacturers don’t want to deal with time wasters.

• Finding suppliers online

These days, lots of wholesalers have an online presence, making it easy for eBay sellers to negotiate deals with suppliers anywhere in the world. If you choose to give this method a go, be sure to stay in high alert.

There are plenty of scammers on the internet and it can be quite difficult to sort out the legitimate suppliers from the fraudsters if you don’t have any experience.

Another thing to watch out for is middlemen selling at prices that are discounted retail rather than wholesale.

SaleHoo Tip: Before you whip out the credit card, do some detective work and try to figure out whether or not the supplier is legit. Make sure the site has been around for at least 1 year by carrying out a domain Whois search, and check that the wholesaler provides full contact details, not just a hotmail address or cell phone number.

• Wholesale directories

Wholesale directories are databases of suppliers. There are a number of advantages to joining a directory, one of the best being that all the suppliers are guaranteed to be legitimate. SaleHoo is a searchable database containing manufacturers, wholesalers, drop shippers and liquidators for thousands of different products.

Benefits of joining SaleHoo include being able to read supplier reviews from other members and eBay powersellers, access to resources that teach you the secrets of getting a good wholesale deal and selling products on eBay, and last but not least, admission to the renowned SaleHoo member’s wholesale forum, where you can discuss wholesale sourcing with over 50,000 other members.

Join SaleHoo now to access over 5,000 suppliers and kick-start your eBay career.

This post is guest blogged by Simon Slade of Salehoo.