Usually a product is bought at a wholesale price and then sold while keeping a profit margin.

For an online retailer, this is a very important issue since most of your success depends on good product sourcing. There are many other aspects that a marketer has to keep in mind and product sourcing is one of them.

Product sourcing can break or increases your profit margins, allows you to have flexibility in offering discounts to your customers and you can give tough competition to your peer sellers.

There are a few tips you can keep in mind when doing product sourcing for eBay.

Unquestionably, try not to skim doing lots of research. It may seem tedious, time wasting and impossible, but this is the part which could make you money in the long run.

Be the first few to find the product source for these demand products. Usually the easiest way to sell something online is by assessing what the market wants. How can you know?

On eBay find the 'Hot items by category'. http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/hotitems.pdf

You can see the Super Hot, Very Hot and Hot items based on the demands that customers make.

There's another section called 'eBay Pulse' which lists out the words that have been used maximum number of times. You can specifically target which products to sell by knowing these keywords. http://pulse.ebay.com

Several research tools are available that are provided by third party companies to assist you in finding what your customers are actually looking for. Famous ones being Terrapeak and Hammertap.

Many product sourcing companies comes with their in-house research tools too, like Worldwide Brands and Salehoo.

I'm sure you have some ideas now on the possible products that you can sell to the market.

Now, you can start your product sourcing in the wholesale market. There is a huge range available but you have to be particular in selecting your inventory.

The right inventory collection is the first step towards a successful online business. If committing to quantities and minimum orders is a problem to you, look under 'eBay wholesale lots' portal you will find items that are being sold at wholesale prices.

Here's another place which can help you - 'eBay reseller marketplace' portal, where sellers are allowed to bid for those wholesale products that have offered for resale. http://reseller.ebay.com/ns/home.html

The 'eBay Solutions Directory' gives you a list of legitimate companies that will help you find reliable wholesale resources. http://solutions.ebay.com

90-100% of all eBay sellers are holding secrets of their success. Nobody will ever reveal the source of there products upfront.

And to find a location from where you get a stable supply of products can be a very challenging task. If you have just begun to sell online, always look for a local wholesalers.

A lot of patience is required in building your niche, but don't give up!

Copyright (c) 2008 Jenny How