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I have previously mentioned my interest in starting an e-commerce webstore primarily for the learning experience that it would give me in serving my QuickBooks clients with their accounting integration needs. The costs involved in starting up are reasonable enough that even if I don't sell much it will be worth the educational.
One of the big hurdles is product sourcing. I have looked at a lot of "wholesale sources" and the majority are scams. A big one is DOBA which I am highly skeptical of being a useful resource. One I found is "Worldwidebrands" that has a fixed fee to join and has been in business for over 10 years. I can find no negative feedback on the company and they are rated A+ by the BBB with only eight complaints. (mostly billing disputes)
Worldwidebrands (WWB) is basically a "screened" list of wholesalers. You have to apply to each individual wholesaler however (WWB) says you do not pay any fees to get an account with the individual wholesaler. You do need a sales tax account and company to apply to sell the products.
What WWB promises in its advertising is that these wholesalers have been screened and have agreed to work with smaller e-commerce accounts. They claim that the wholesalers will do drop shipping (for a fee), light bulk sales", "Import wholesale", and "Bulk wholesale".
In addition to the access to the wholesaler list they have an educational program included in the price. I have been through all the free educational material and it seems to be useful information.
WWB also has some pretty impressive product analysis tools to analyze the individual products such as number of searches for the product, competition from other sellers, recent E-bay auction results and current retail prices.
I know the "better way" to get into this business is to contact wholesalers directly however that would be very time consuming AND I would have to do my own product analysis without having a "starting point" to weed out the more profitable niches. I know that going to trades shows would also be a great alternative and probably be more productive but when you consider the costs it isn't going to happen for me right now.
Has anyone had any experience with them? Am I missing the "Scam" in all this? There are a couple of "Red flags" in my mind.
1) The one time fee- This company must be earning revenue from other methods. I am wondering if the wholesale prices offered by the wholesalers on the list include a premium paid to WWB.
2) You can not see product pricing until after you join and set up an account with the individual wholesalers on the lists.
I am kind of "on the fence" with this. It seems as if it would be a good way to get started. It doesn't seem like a HUGE gamble monetarily.
I realize there is a LOT MORE WORK involved in it than just finding a product source. I fully intend to pursue this and it would be a great fit with my current business activity.
OP, why do you say Doba is bad? I think the thing with them, is that after their $70 a month fee and the markup on their prices, you'll probably just break even, BUT, if you're just starting out, you need to get traffic and some feedback and this could be a good way of doing it with minimal cost.
I think the best way to get answers from the Internet is to go forums where there are experts on the subject, in this case a business forum.
I' m sure I cannot link other boards but a quick search on Google will give you the results. Once you find a thread, only trust the answers of those posters with several posts( hundreds or thousands) also check registration dates. New posters with low posting count are usually spammers.
In my line of thinking in the years I did retail. Not once did I pay a membership fee to do business with a vendor. A screened list of wholesalers seems hokey to me.
I had a core group that I would buy my goods from. I would get calls daily from some salesman wanting to be a vendor and sell me something.
OP, why do you say Doba is bad? I think the thing with them, is that after their $70 a month fee and the markup on their prices, you'll probably just break even, BUT, if you're just starting out, you need to get traffic and some feedback and this could be a good way of doing it with minimal cost.
There is no way I am going to pay 70 dollars a month for the privilege of selling product for a wholesaler. Think about it, at 70 dollars a month you have overhead of 840 dollars a year even if you don't sell a thing. They are making a profit on the spread between factory price and their "wholesale" price- to ask for a monthly fee on top of that is a huge red flag.
The pricing is not competitive. Just looking at the products they show as examples there isn't enough margin left to make the minimum you SHOULD be shooting for. They make it look good by listing cost and "retail" but the number they use for "retail" is not accurate.
They have quite a few complaints on the BBB website.
It's too easy. If all I have to do is send them 70 dollars a month and I'm "in business" you can bet that many others are doing the same. While 1,500,000 products seems like a lot but if you have hundreds of thousands of people selling the same products at the same costs it tends to reduce prices.
There is no "path for growth". Say you start using Doba and find a profitable niche. You decided that you can sell the product on a regular basis so it is worth the risk of buying in bulk at a lower per unit cost. You will have to search for a true wholesaler that will be willing to sell in container load volume- Doba doesn't do that.
I seriously was considering DOBA until I did more research. It doesn't make any sense at all to me.
I think it is a horrible idea that using DOBA would build traffic. It might be a convenient way to start out however with their pricing will not allow you to compete on price. People will have the same product they purchased in bulk and will be able to sell well below what you can.
I think the best way to get answers from the Internet is to go forums where there are experts on the subject, in this case a business forum.
I' m sure I cannot link other boards but a quick search on Google will give you the results. Once you find a thread, only trust the answers of those posters with several posts( hundreds or thousands) also check registration dates. New posters with low posting count are usually spammers.
LOL- I have tried that. All the "experts" have a "surefire" solution (aka scam) that is sure to work.
I felt I might get a more unbiased opinion from people on a different forum.
I didn't mean you would find sources on forums. I was talking specifically about this company you asked for. The question was already answered by SD4020
In my line of thinking in the years I did retail. Not once did I pay a membership fee to do business with a vendor. A screened list of wholesalers seems hokey to me.
I had a core group that I would buy my goods from. I would get calls daily from some salesman wanting to be a vendor and sell me something.
That seems to be a big issue with online retail- wholesale salespeople are not going to call, you have to contact them.
You pretty much raised my concern. The screened list seems "hokey" to me too but it is the only "red flag" I can see with this company.
I have watched the company's free "training" videos and they make a BIG point about NEVER paying a membership fee to work with a wholesaler. They specifically state that none of the wholesalers on their screened list require anything other than an account sign up with no fees.
They do claim to have 8000 wholesalers on the list that will work with small accounts.
The company has been in business since 2001 and you would think I would be able to find a few complaints if they are a scam. I checked the BBB and they have a total of 8 complaints filed against them and all have been "resolved".
I am going to do some more digging. Ideally I should go to a trade show and search there however it would cost considerably more than the 300 dollars this company is asking for.
Well they are selling you a list but they are not guaranteeing you will make money with those wholesellers. So no it's not scam but is it a waste of money?
You can send me $300 and I can send you any list too. Ill just grab the phone book, give you the main phone number of any company What makes you think their list is better than mine? Being a legit business doesn't mean you have a product that has a decent demand, and if it sells Worldwide is not guaranteeing it will sell over the wholesale value. Business is all about sourcing, researching if you don't like that aspect you need to consider doing something else, because even what it's good today, could change tomorrow.
Have you even tried to research some products? Do you know their wholesale price? How much are they selling for online? how often do they sell?
Trust me you should pay me $2,000 for the advice I just gave you for free.
If you were offering goods in a brick and motor store and bolstering sales through online you will be okay. Now some products are sold by territory and you are unable to sell online.
If you're selling someone online you will want good service. Hopefully what you're selling is something you are knowledgeable about and not just something you are hoping to make a buck selling.
If you are, finding a wholesaler should be somewhat easier. Also when talking to a vendor be clear about selling online, to make sure it doesn't violate their terms. Also be willing to pay cash or CC instead of asking them to extend you credit.
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