This is a very common question I get asked all the time, and I must say… It’s the million dollar question!

Before you committee your time and money into building your online empire, you must first do your research.

Here are some questions you need to ask:

1. When you go shopping, what products have you found to be ultra-expensive?
2. What products have you noticed that are being sold online?
3. Let’s assume you want to sell Camper Trailers, do you know how many Camper Trailers are being sold online every month or every year?
4. Is the product a novelty with a short life cycle?
5. eg fidget spinners
6. How many competitors are there online?
7. Are your competitors good at marketing?
8. How easy is it for you to get your hands on the products?
9. Do you need an upfront large investment to commence the business?
10. Are there good profit margins?
11. Do you know specialists within the industry that you turn to for advice?
12. Does your product have a POD to what’s currently available in the market?
13. Are there tools that can provide you the answers to these questions above?

Lucky for you, the answer is yes!

Two of the largest online platforms turning over millions of dollars per day is eBay and Amazon.

If you want to know exactly what’s being sold on Ebay, you need to sign up to https://www.terapeak.com/

Here’s an extract from my Internationally best-selling book Internet Riches about Terapeak.

Terapeak is virtually a crystal ball for online marketers; a versatile search tool that provides comprehensive statistical data that can be used to determine what to sell optimally at any given time. The data on Terapeak is not only comprehensive, it is very, very specific. You can see what products are selling most, the date and time of the transactions, the sales volumes, the best prices in the market and so on. You can even see who the top sellers are in a particular niche, their volume turnover, and how much money they make in a specified period!

Terapeak has been basically designed to provide statistical data for sellers on eBay. However, the Terapeak data can be valuable to you for selling products and services on your website. After all, eBay is an online marketplace where people go to buy products and what goes on in eBay in any particular niche is a fair, or rather, a great indication of the entire online market place.

A neat feature in Terapeak is called Hot Research. When you click on Hot Research, it will list all the top selling categories on eBay. The Terapeak Hot Research helps you to identify the hottest-selling items and discover evolving niche markets.

In fact, if you start using this feature, you will find that Terapeak has, done most of the market research for you for the product or service categories you may be investigating.

Let us now do a small exercise. Remember the list of 20 items that I asked you to write down earlier? Go through this list once again. Your objective in this exercise is to research the items on your list on Terapeak and find out who the major players for the product category on eBay are, and see how much money they are making per month, quarter and annually.

Theoretically, if you find the turnover to be good, you need to be able to offer the product in the market at least at the price that the competition is offering, or lower.

In a real life situation, the best way to source products economically is to tie-up directly with manufacturers. You can research for local manufacturers, contact them, and inquire about the possibility of selling their products online.

It’s a great way to set up a drop shipping arrangement. When you approach manufacturers, you need to appear to be an experienced professional in online marketing. Most manufacturers are not marketers and if you point out the benefits that working with you will give them, you can be sure of getting their interest.

If you want to know what’s selling on Amazon, then you need to sign up for https://www.junglescout.com/

Here is what this tool will give you:

1. The product database feature – this feature will eliminate the need for you to digging through Amazon’s millions of products just to find a good niche? The product database gives you powerful new filters to let you cut to the good stuff.
2. Product tracker feature – this will allow you to spy on your competitors and tell you exactly how well your competitors are doing. You can put their products into the product tracker and see their day-to-day sales.
3. The keyword scout feature – this feature will help you generate thousands of keywords to use in your listings and Amazon PPC Campaigns. Plus it will tell your real time bid costs and search volumes.
4. The supplier database feature – this unique will also show you a quality database of potential factories with a valid shipment history. This will allow you to instantly find and validate suppliers for your products.

You can also research overseas manufacturers by visiting http://www.alibaba.com/ or http://www.madeinchina.com if you are open to importing.

I personally find www.alibaba.com to be the best place to locate prospective manufacturers. Once you are certain of having access to products and also have the prices, ask yourself the all-important question, “Can I offer the market a product of the same quality for the same price or better, at the same time making a reasonable profit?” If your answer is “Yes” you know that you are on the right track!

For more information on how to make money online, here are a few options available to you:

1. Check out my internationally best-selling book “Internet Riches – The Ultimate Guide To Your Online Success”.  You can purchase it on eBay now for just $15.00 + free delivery click here.
2. If your website is not converting or you need online leads fast, contact us today and make an appointment click here.