17

Finding Products to Sell

Let's start with what you don't want to sell. You don't want to go into competition with Tesco or Wal-Mart. We're not interested in low margins or price wars. You want high margin products that are relatively easy to ship. You also want simple products that don't require lots of technical support. These include books (print and electronic), DVDs, audio CDs, jewelry, gift items, and niche markets.

There are three ways to find products:

1. Produce your own product
This is the most advantageous product-sourcing method, as it means you keep all the profits. You can also outsource some of the production. For example, if you're writing a course on how to start a window cleaning business, you can pay someone else to do the writing.
2. Buy low-cost products in bulk, then resell them
You could, for example, buy fashionable handbags from the Far East (but not designer fakes), and resell them in the United States or UK.
3. Act as an affiliate or drop ship
This can be okay to begin with, but as an affiliate you only get a small percentage of the sale. Often, you won't get paid any ongoing commission.
4. Buy reprint and resale rights
You can buy the rights to reprint and sell books and reports, without paying the author any further commission. If you take a look at http://www.master-resale-rights.com or search “PRL resell,” you will find plenty of sources.

In reality, you may do all four of the above, and mix and match. For example, you might part-write an eBook ...

Get The Millionaire Dropout: Fire Your Boss. Do What You Love. Reclaim Your Life! now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.