How do I find suppliers for my eBay business?

A - This is the classic eBay "gotcha" question.

Your question is a legitimate one, but it's one that many successful sellers are very reluctant to answer because if they've found an inexpensive supplier of products that sell well they are not going to want to share it with anyone for fear that you'll become their competition and eat into their profit margins.

The other side of the gotcha is that if you search eBay for "supplier list" or "wholesale suppliers" there are plenty of unscrupulous sellers that want to sell you a list that gets you all the names and numbers of the best suppliers you can find.

Only problem is when you get the list most of the names and contact information are either out dated, bogus or both. So don't waste your money.

My best advice to you is to pick items that interest you and then start with a simple search on Alibaba (www.alibaba.com) to see if you can find a supplier that will sell to you at quantities that you can afford.

Before you go placing any orders make sure you do a "Completed Listings" search on the type of items you're interested in selling to see if you can make a profit on them. There's no use in buying a bunch of iPhone cases (as an example) for $2 a piece when you find that all you can sell them for is $1.50.

Do your homework first before you buy.

Another area you can look for is eBay itself.

Many sellers will sell bulk lots that they don't feel like sorting through to list separately. I buy a lot of camera equipment this way, often times taking a lens out of the lot that I'm interested in and relisting the rest of the items individually.

I don't make millions, but I do fund my hobby.

Anyone that wants to sell you some type of "magic" list or pamphlet for the low-low-price of $9.99 is just looking to separate you from your $9.99. Don't bother with this hokum. Take some time with Google and Yahoo! to find contacts (good searches will yield results).