Posts Tagged ‘amazon’

Making Your eBiz Legal: Why and How

If you plan on buying from Wholesale Distributors for your own stock or you intend to dropship. This is a very Informative article and if you plan on going beyond ebay with your garage sale stuff this needs to be in your plans. If you are running a retail website or would like to and you want to buy wholesale ”get legit” There is a video at the bottom that is related. the article is from Worldwide Brands, by Chris Malta & Robin Cowie

It’s not uncommon for new Internet retailers to be intimidated by the thought of acquiring reseller certificates, EINs, and DBAs. But if you sell physical goods on the ‘net, you can’t afford to let a little paperwork stop you from experiencing the benefits of being a legally recognized business. Because, if you want to buy your inventory from real wholesale suppliers, you must be an official, legal business. The Taxman Cometh According to eBiz attorney Cliff Ennico, of CliffEnnico.com, wholesalers require proof that you’re a legal business for a very good reason. They keep this proof on file, to protect themselves, should they ever be audited. In the U.S., wholesale transactions aren’t taxed. “Wholesalers don’t charge taxes to their retailer customers, because those retailers are going to charge taxes to their customers,” explains Ennico. “As long as someone is paying taxes on those goods at some point during their journey to market, the IRS is happy.” However, if the IRS were to catch a wholesaler selling tax-free goods to an end consumer, that wholesaler would wind up in a world of legal and financial trouble. So every business they sell to must demonstrate that they’re a legally authorized reseller, buying their goods for resale and not for personal enjoyment. I’ll Need to See Some ID, Please… As an online seller, you’re responsible to collect and pay sales tax on all sales to customers in your own state. Therefore, you’re required by law to register for a state sales tax ID (a.k.a. reseller certificate) when you set up your business. Registering is as easy as going to your state tax authority website, clicking on ‘Forms and Publications’, and filling out the registration form. (One helpful resource is TaxLinks.com, a website that provides links to the state tax authority websites for all fifty states.) Typically, you’ll use a copy of this document to verify your business’ legitimacy. Not every state imposes sales tax on retail items, however, and that complicates the issue. If you live in a tax-exempt state, you’re unable to acquire a reseller certificate. In that case, a wholesaler will need another form of identification proving your business’ validity. Some of the most common alternate forms of proof are as follows:

What is Bonanzle?

“Quite simply, [Bonanzle is] the best I’ve seen in my four years of reviewing and writing about start-up marketplaces” –Vangie Beal, on behalf of Ecommerce Guide.

Bonanzle

At Bonanzle, we think that online shopping is stuck where online search was 10 years ago, in the age before Google. Many users today think that eBay and Craigslist are “good enough,” and the “rules” for online shopping are set: items get posted through a series of selling pages, buyers browse static listings, buyers buy items and hope that sellers are trustable.

We think there’s still a lot of room for improvement over the precedent that eBay and Craigslist set 10 years ago (and that the eBay/Craigslist lookalikes have copied ever since).

Here’s how we think online shopping ought to be:

• Relentlessly simple. Remember five years ago when it was easy to post and browse items on eBay? We have spent more than a year designing the easiest selling process, and re-invented the concept of a “store” to revive that refreshing feeling of ease eBay once gave you.
• Instant. Every seller on Bonanzle has the option of tying their Instant Messenger to their group of items, so buyers can get questions answered (or deals made) instantly. For local items, sellers can pre-schedule pickup times to take the guesswork out of which of those Xboxes you could pick up today.
• Engaging. On Bonanzle, the journey to buy or sell your items is part of the destination. With built in user-to-user messaging and pervasive chat, you’ll find that shopping isn’t nearly as lonesome as you remember it being on Craigslist.
• Safe. It sucks to have no idea who you’re dealing with. At Bonanzle, we’re committed to building a community of friendly, everyday people. Bonanzle is not (and will never be) a place for adult content or unseemly message forums.
• Free and Almost Free. There is no reason that you should have to pay a percentage of your item sales to The Man. At Bonanzle, listing is free and fees are dirt cheap. They’re also guaranteed not to raise an iota through 2010.

What Does “Find Everything but the Ordinary” Mean?

While everybody is welcome to sell on Bonanzle, our most successful sellers are those that have items that aren’t new, shiny, and mass-produced. Why? Because we believe Amazon already does a darned good job at helping people find new DVDs, CDs, electronics, computers, and books. We specialize in helping you buy and sell everything else.

I’m Still Not Sold. Is Bonanzle for Me?

“[Bonanzle] is without doubt the cleanest and easiest to use selling platform I’ve ever listed anything on.”
– Auction Wally, Marketplace Writer & Antiques Expert, in article eBay Alternative Bonanzle is Super Simple

“The runaway winner as our Best eBay Alternative is Bonanzle. This startup combines an easy listing process with cutting-edge features such as on-the-fly image cropping and live chat and an avid seller community.”
– SmallBusinessComuting.com, Marketplace Journal, in article 2009 Awards: Reader’s Pick the Best Small Business Tech Tools

“Bonanzle is putting the fun back into online selling.”
– Randy Smythe, Marketplace Analyst, in article You Can Find eBay’s Soul At Bonanzle.com!

“If there was just one eBay competitor to watch, I might just put my money on this one.”
– Scott Pooler, Marketplace Journalist, in article Bonanzle – Bodacious eBay Competitor Gives Birth to Fresh Merchandising Format

“There’s a reason Bonanzle is experiencing tremendous growth. Well, ten and a half reasons, actually. But it all boils down to a simple business model that promotes communication and builds trust among members, a simple interface that’s easy on the eyes and even easier to use, tools that make simple things even easier, and reasonable rates.”
– Salehoo, marketplace review blog, in article Bonanzle: An exciting eBay alternative

… And that’s not to mention the many thousand positive messages about Bonanzle on the Powersellers Unite forum, making it the most talked about eBay alternative in the four year history of this popular site!

Intrigued?

Sign up for an account now, or jump straight to selling your items. It won’t hurt a bit, that’s the whole point!

Amazon under investigation by US Postal Service

Double stunner from Amazon

I found this about amazon and it was interesting enough for me to post. Copy the link below for the full article.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/30/magazines/fortune/investing/investor_daily.fortune/

The online retailer hits the street with a two-fold gift for investors: a great quarter and a share price to match.

By Michael V. Copeland, senior writer January 30, 2009: 11:54 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (Fortune) — Finally some good news, brought to you by Jeff Bezos and the gang at Amazon.com.

In a week when company after company announced horrible earnings and pulled the plug on tens of thousands of jobs, Amazon’s fourth-quarter net profit rose 9 percent, to $225 million, or 52 cents a share, in the quarter ending December 31. Overall revenue jumped 18% (the Street was looking for 13%).

Those are good numbers by any measure, but in the context of total online retail sales down 3% over the holidays, according to ComScore, and overall retail down 5% during the same period, according to the Commerce Department – they’re stunning.

A big part of the story for Amazon appears to be international growth. While net sales for categories like media (books, DVDs and the like) in the U.S. slowed to a 7% rise versus 31% a year ago, international was on fire.

Excluding the effects of exchange rates, Amazon’s fourth-quarter net sales from sites in the U.K., Germany, Japan, France and China climbed 31%, slightly down compared to the 35% growth during the same period last year.

“But based on everything we know about the global economy,” says Thomas Weisel Partners retail analyst Matt Nemer, “That is downright shocking.”

Bezos is cagey about the future direction of his business, and he wouldn’t say which countries and which categories Amazon might tackle next. “Internationally we focus on the same things that we focus on in North America,” he said during a conference call.

According to Bezos, those are great pricing and a great customer experience. The Internet giant’s continued focus on those two areas was a refrain repeated by both Bezos and Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak throughout the earnings call. Pressure on margins was apparent, as Amazon lowered prices to keep shoppers coming, but not as bad as analysts had feared.

In general, neither Bezos or Szkutak gave away much, dodging questions about the specifics of Kindle sales, the impact of defunct competitors like Circuit City and just what Amazon might spend some of its $3.7 billion in cash on. Bezos didn’t even hint at the launch of its second-generation e-reader Kindle 2, widely expected to be revealed February 9th.

Like many companies, Amazon refrained from giving full-year guidance. Szkutak did offer broad first-quarter estimates, pegging operating income between $125 million and $210 million in the current quarter. That spans either a 37% decline, or a 6% growth in operating income compared with the first quarter of 2008. Even for the world’s largest online retailer, apparently visibility is an issue.

Investors warmed to what they heard. Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) stock rose about 18% Friday in early trading, just north of $59.

You can bet some of that is a short-squeeze being felt. There isn’t likely to be a sustained run-up is its price, because at $59, Amazon is trading at around 36 to 40 times 2009 projected earnings (depending on whose projections you use), far exceeding its Internet peers like Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) (16 times) Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) (29 times) eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) (8 times) and retail competition like Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) (13 times).

Had Bezos ventured full-year guidance he could have instilled enough confidence in investors to take the plunge at $59 or more. Without it, too much uncertainty remains to send the stock appreciably higher.

“The problem is, in a tough economy Amazon doesn’t get a lot of margin for error,” says Nemer, who has a “hold” rating on Amazon. “You can’t take away what they have done, but if they have a blip the other way, stocks trading at 36 times can get hurt.”

Of course, if Amazon keeps nailing its quarters (and not just sand-bagging them as they seem to be inclined to) $59 could start to look pretty cheap.

Dropshipping or stocking and why is it important to you?

Along with good customer service, finding the right products to offer to the public is probably one of the most significant challenges for those wanting to sell on eBay, amazon or any other online business. The main goal is to buy at low prices and to sell high. Of course, the majority of people just starting out on eBay begin by selling their own personal goods, all of that generally surplus merchandise they have in the attic, garage or basement. This is a good route to take with eBay, as it will help you to become familiar with the basics of listing, shipping, pictures, description writing and general customer service but at some point you will have an empty home if you keep moving in this direction.

When the house is empty you will need to find more items to sell. Many sellers will spend Saturday and Sunday searching around garage sales and flea markets, looking for merchandise and it soon becomes apparent that this it taking up a lot of time and money although I have found a lot of great things that I decided to keep for myself. What you really need is to find a wholesaler where you can buy in bulk at inexpensive prices and make your mark up on eBay then box and ship yourself. Search the items you want to sell for sales numbers before purchasing for stock. You do not want to get stuck with this stuff. Buy wisely.

 When you have decided to start trading seriously on eBay, amazon or with any other online retailing business, there are some things to remember about the businesses where you are likely to be buying your stock.

·         Have a Business corporation, llc, partnership or sole proprietor set up.

·         Make sure your paperwork to purchase wholesale is in order, since this will be required by the supplier.

·         The wholesaler will provide you with all of the necessary information for you to buy from him with confidence.

·         Have your merchant account in place whether it is paypal or credit card processing center.

·         Search, Search and do more Searching, do as much research as possible. Be Confident in the items you choose.

After you have some of the basics covered you should have a great start on your online adventure. Good Luck!

Finding Merchandise to Sell Online is easier then you think.

Maybe you have found something everyone is talking about or all the kids are pestering their parents for. That’s great. Now, how do you get hold of it to sell? Well, that’s one of the biggest challenges you will face when building your online business.

 There are a few very simple ways to track down manufacturers details. It’s actually easier than you think. The most important thing to remember is that you just need a few pieces of information to get your search started, a name or website address is often all you need to track down the full details. Here are some methods that you can try out.

 Lets say there is a fashion label that you really like and would love to sell online, they sell it in your town but you have no idea where it comes from. The first way is simple. Just ask. It sounds silly, but quite often if you ask the person at the counter or get friendly with someone in the shop they might just tell you that most of the time the owner of the shop doesn’t work there all the time. It’s worthwhile sometimes to ask the Saturday clerk, “Do you know the name of the company on the invoices that you get for these clothes?” You will be surprised how many people will tell you if they have the information available. If they are the only one in the shop they might have to go out the back to look it up. It’s possible that the chances are slim, but it’s definitely worth asking.

Keep an eye open for when they receive their stock arrivals. Usually a truck will pull up first thing in the morning to bring in the stock. This is a good time to take a good look. It ’s not unusual for the driver to leave a large number of boxes on the sidewalk for a while. If you can get close enough, just glance at the labels on the boxes as you walk by and look for the suppliers name or website address, or anything you can use to look them up. Perhaps, if the driver is friendly, he might tell you who the supplier is. He might even as he delivers exclusively for them. You only have to ask. Both these methods have been used by prospective sellers when tracking down specific brands, and they do work. It takes some confidence and a little aggression, but it could make a real difference to your business.

Why not try it out this week as an exercise with something you would like to sell.

Thanks – R.W. Casandra