How to increase eBay and Amazon sales during Coronavirus outbreak

How to increase Ebay and Amazon sales during Coronavirus outbreak|

How to increase eBay and Amazon sales during Coronavirus outbreak

Hey guys, Neil Waterhouse. This week’s video is about how to increase Ebay and Amazon sales during this coronavirus outbreak. Now what’s the best strategy? Importing, dropshipping, Ebay, Amazon FBA or Amazon FBA private labeling, et cetera? You know, what’s the best? Well, it’s sure been an interesting six months. From a record drought to record bush fires, and flooding, and now the coronavirus.

Australian dollar now is looking like it’s hitting a seven year low and now a good chance Australia and the USA will go into recession in 2020 due to the effect of tourism and trade

And now the Australian dollar now is looking like it’s hitting a seven year low. And now a good chance Australia and the USA will go into recession in 2020. Due to the effect of tourism and trade. So how to increase Ebay and Amazon sales during this coronavirus outbreak? Do people still purchase from Ebay and Amazon with all this economic and world uncertainty? Well I’ve been importing for over 30 years and selling online for over 20 years. I’ve been through many economic declines and challenging times. Not the same as this though.

The one thing I’ve learned is human beings love retail therapy

The one thing I’ve learned is human beings love retail therapy. When finances tighten up people stop buying new houses, cars, boats, caravans, overseas holidays, et cetera, but instead they switch to purchasing cheaper things as I’ll explain in this video. This week I’ve been getting many emails from people asking how does this coronavirus pandemic affect people with Ebay and Amazon dropship businesses?

It’s much easier to not only weather the storm with dropshipping but even grow your sales

Well the good news is it’s much easier to not only weather the storm with dropshipping but even grow your sales. And it is with the traditional business model of pre-purchasing inventory before it sells like a import business or private labeling business or Amazon FBA, et cetera. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve been importing for over 30 years and I’m no way slowing down now.

Easier to manage our dropship businesses right now than our import businesses

I’m just saying it’s a whole lot easier to manage our dropship businesses right now than our import businesses. With our import businesses we, like many other sellers, have decided to double our orders and even triple our orders for some items with our suppliers. So we can try, well try to not run out of stock throughout this coronavirus episode.

the big problem with the coronavirus is it only takes one factory to close

Now the big problem with the coronavirus is it only takes one factory to close. If that factory produces one component for a product that product cannot be produced and then we cannot get the shipment of that item. You know, it’s like the old saying of manufacturing motor vehicles, if one supplier who makes a light bulb for a particular vehicle cannot supply it it can hold up the whole assembly line for that particular motor vehicle. This is exactly what is happening now.

Individual factories all over the world are closing which creates supply issues

Individual factories all over the world are closing which creates supply issues. If a supplier cannot get one component it could delay production for your whole order. And for that order you may have paid a 40% deposit for your supplier. It could also take two months to arrive. And this does not happen with drop shipping as you only use local suppliers in your country and you could use automated software that continually checks your suppliers to make sure they have inventory available.

The problem with not dropshipping but importing double and triple the amount that you normally stock is of course the cash flow required to purchase the extra inventory

Now the problem with not dropshipping but importing double and triple the amount that you normally stock is of course the cash flow required to purchase the extra inventory. You now need to outlay twice or three times the cash. As well you need to double or triple the space to store it if you use a third party warehouse or Amazon FBA to warehouse your products. Now of course your warehousing costs have double or tripled.

With dropshipping you don’t have those issues as you only order items after they’ve been sold and you’ve been paid

Again, with dropshipping you don’t have those issues as you only order items after they’ve been sold and you’ve been paid. Also with non-dropshipping business if you place the orders today for items that you’ve not yet sold the other big issue is the volatility of our dollar which is currently having massive movements.

For instance for our Australian import business the dollar today has dropped only 61 cents

For instance for our Australian import business the dollar today has dropped only 61 cents which means the cost to pre-purchase the goods has just escalated another 10%. And this leads to the next issue with a non-dropship business which is with all the stock that you pre-purchase today paying, say, 61 cents against the USD, if the dollar bounces back between now and when your inventory arrives which could be a couple of months from now by the time they produce it and ship it and whatever, you could easily end up selling your goods at a loss.

If you import, private labeling, FBA, et cetera, it’s very hard to predict this since we’re going through some very volatile unprecedented times

So yes, if you import, private labeling, FBA, et cetera, it’s very hard to predict this since we’re going through some very volatile unprecedented times. Dropshipping in comparison doesn’t have these issues, that is unless you dropship from China or AliExpress, et cetera, which I’ve been saying for years and years and years to not do. A number one rule for dropshipping has always been to only use dropships supplies in your own country.

A number one rule for dropshipping has always been to only use dropships supplies in your own country

For example, if you have an Ebay or Amazon dropship business in, say, Australia, only use Australian suppliers. If you have a Ebay, Amazon dropship business in, say, the USA, only use suppliers in the USA. And the second rule for dropshipped suppliers is to only use suppliers who have dynamic websites that show live if they have the item in stock. This way you could use automatic software like Scarcity Manager to continually check to make sure that they have their items in stock.

If they run out programs like Scarcity Manager will automatically make your Ebay listings go to zero

Then if they run out programs like Scarcity Manager will automatically make your Ebay listings go to zero. And by the way, Scarcity Manager is currently in beta test for Amazon so that’ll be available for Amazon very shortly. So the big advantage with dropshipping is you do not need to pre-purchase any inventory until it is sold. You only purchase the inventory after it sells. How to increase Ebay and Amazon sales

Another huge advantage with dropshipping is that you can also quickly pivot to items that sell well in these economic conditions

And another huge advantage with dropshipping is that you can also quickly pivot to items that sell well in these economic conditions, you know, i.e. your face masks and toilet paper, all the stuff that everyone’s going berserk buying is obviously selling like hotcakes. And you can very quickly pivot to this without having to go and try and buy it from suppliers and warehouses, et cetera. You can just start selling it straight away. And this is why seller research and not product research is so important. With seller research you can quickly pivot to the latest hot-selling items.

Make sure you continually list more products so in case one of your suppliers runs out of stock of one or more of your items you still have many more hot-selling items

Now to keep your dropship business growing in this hectic worldwide climate. It’s more important than ever to make sure you continually list more products. So in case one of your suppliers runs out of stock of one or more of your items you still have many more hot-selling items. Now like the old saying goes many streams make a river.

As your business grows you should be having overseas virtual assistants continuously listing more products for you

As your business grows you should be having overseas virtual assistants continuously listing more products for you. And like I’ve mentioned many times before, you do this by sending. You do this by spending 10% of your profits on low-cost overseas virtual assistants which you can get from one dollar per hour. Again, I’ll put a link on the screen to where you can find them if you haven’t seen that before.

If you’re brand new to selling online, you don’t have to employ a virtual assistant full-time

And if you’re brand new to selling online, you don’t have to employ a virtual assistant full-time. You can start with someone doing just, say, one hour a week and then ramp it up from there. Another great advantage of dropshipping is you can have your staff in overseas places. Like the Philippines. And because you’re only paying them one or two dollars per hour you can make sure they’re all cross-trained. If one person’s away for whatever reason, they’re task. Whether it being product research, listing, ordering, or customer service. Another virtual assistant can quickly take over the task. Then they can cross-train another staff member for you.

So you don’t have to do it yourself

So you don’t have to do it yourself. And another question that keeps coming up a lot lately is what happens if the coronavirus puts us in a recession. Well I have to say that in Australia in 2020 there’s a very real chance of Australia going into recession. Due to the impact of the bush fires and the coronavirus having such a huge impact on tourism and so many other businesses.

The ripple effect of the coronavirus is quite staggering

The ripple effect of the coronavirus is quite staggering. Only this morning I received an email from my daughter’s school. Informing us all that all the events that they’ve, just my daughter’s school’s canceled. And every one of those canceled events, it effects so many families. Tomorrow one of my daughters, Sienna, was supposed to be going on a school camp for two days. And of course that’s now been canceled. You have to think how many families has that affected financially. From the coach driver or bus driver to take all the kids to the camp. To the teachers who were going to go to the camp. To all the staff at the camp, the food that’d be supplied.

The ripple effect is huge

The ripple effect is huge. Even our local shows have been canceled. I drove past our local showground on the weekend and they were setting up all the rides. And now they’ve just found out the show is canceled. And I really feel for the owners. I’ve been a self-employed entrepreneur now for over 30 years. And I really feel for the owners of those rides who they might have massive leases on those rides. And the semi-trailer to tow them around the country. How to increase Ebay and Amazon sales

We can only hope and pray that this won’t cost them their house

We can only hope and pray that this won’t cost them their house. Over the last 30 years of importing and the last 21 years of selling online. In Australia, Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, in Europe. I’ve seen and traded through many financial crises. From the US recession in ’07 to ’09, to Paul Keating’s recession we had to have back in the ’90s. And many smaller events like flights grounded from volcanic ash, et cetera.

But one thing I’ve noticed throughout the years, in recession and when there’s financial tightening people don’t stop buying

But one thing I’ve noticed throughout the years. In recession and when there’s financial tightening people don’t stop buying. Yes, they stop buying the houses, cars, boats, et cetera. But human being love retail therapy. Instead of purchasing a new Harley Davidson or a car, or house, whatever, they then instead purchase cheap items. And by cheap I mean items under $200. This includes gadgets, makeup for the women, tools. In fact anything to do with repair and maintenance. Because if people don’t purchase the new houses and cars and boats, et cetera, they instead maintain and improve what they have.

And this is another great advantage of dropshipping

They also purchase many little things to make them happy. And this is another great advantage of dropshipping. You can quickly pivot to the hottest selling dropshipped items. Whereas with importing, private labeling, FBA, et cetera, we cannot quickly pivot as normally. Often we have inventory on hand. Or we might have allocated all the cash to the items that we’ve pre-ordered which haven’t arrived yet. Or we’ve allocated all the space in our warehouse. So we can’t put anything else in it. So bottom line, we’re dropshipping to weather the storm.

Just keep listing more proven items that are in stock with your local suppliers

Just keep listing more proven items that are in stock with your local suppliers. As always, with dropshipping only use suppliers in your own country. And only use suppliers who have dynamic websites which show live if items are in stock. And again, with dropshipping, as always, make sure you have methodology in place. To continually check if your dropship supplier has inventory in stock. That’s all for this week. Please scroll down and leave me a comment below. And when you’re there make sure you hit the subscribe button for more Ebay and Amazon hints and tips. Stay safe, guys, and until next week list more, sell more, this is Neil. How to increase Ebay and Amazon sales

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