China used to be known as manufacturers of cheap easily breakable garbage. But has that changed and is it now a viable option to sell cheap electronics from China on eBay?
If you saw the tag 'Made In China' five years ago you would have known that you were probably in the two dollar store.
Ah how times have changed.
These days China plays such a big part in manufacturing that it's hard to find anything that isn't made in China. What's more,
the overall quality of products hasn't deteriorated to any extent.
In fact some very famous quality brands have outsourced their production lines here and are getting their exclusive goods made in the same factories as those 'cheap' copies are made.
There's a good chance that the Prada or Louis Vuitton bag you desperately want, or that Macbook Air or IPhone you plan on upgrading to came from a China factory.
So how is it these big name brands can get products made in China and avoid the whole stigma of 'cheap and nasty'?
Can people working from home do the same too with items like cheap electronics?
The answer is yes, it is possible for people to sell cheap electronics online for twice the price and not have people complain about quality. The secret is all in customer service and sourcing.
The most important thing for you as a seller is to keep your customers satisfied. This is achieved by the quality of your service and also by the quality of merchandise you are selling. To guard yourself from the quality issues you need to make sure that your electronic goods are of good quality.
But how can you guarantee that you will get good products?
When looking at some of the many China wholesale sites online you need to ensure that they are the genuine article and that people have had a good experience dealing with them.
The first thing to do when coming across a new supplier is to do a search for reviews and see how the company manages its online reputation in review and forum sites.
If feedback is generally good then you can go onto the next step which is checking out the quality of the site and the service functions they offer.
Things to check out include:
* The presence of a QC check
* Their supply chain management system (do they keep warehoused stock or do they rely on Just In Time order fulfillment?)
* Their delivery and manufacturers' warranty (don't do business without one)
* The quality of their pictures and descriptions, (have they copied them off another site or are they genuinely their own?)
Make sure you get emails, phone numbers and other contact details to make dealing with any potential problems easier in the future.
If all of this passes muster then you can start to examine the products you could potentially sell. Ensure that anything you list will work in the region you want to sell them in.
For example, don't try to sell DVB-T products in the US or cell phones that only work on the 850Mhz frequency to France.
Once you have done that you will have hopefully managed to negate all the cheap, nasty and unsupported concepts your potential customers may have of Cheap electronics.
All that leaves you to do is to make your first step towards this venture.
A first step towards a successful online business when it comes to electronics is to determine the market's demand. Browse a bit and see which electronic devices and gadgets are popular, check their prices and after that check where you can get them cheaper.
This is a start and the rest, which has already been explained in this article, should follow if you really plan to make a steady online business with electronics.