Hello Nairalanders,
This post and comments are quite interesting but here are two questions i would like everyone to answer .

1 what do you think about someone managing your customers on your behalf ? : that is , receiving and resolving complaints, updating your customers with recent product upgrades or new products and keep the interaction between you and them fresh to a point where your business becomes part of their lives.

2 How much are you willing to pay for this services, considering sms,calls and services cost?


your answers will be highly appreciated and rewarded with an amazing gift.

You also have access to free business advisory services.

olaghogho:
Hello Nairalanders,
This post and comments are quite interesting but here are two questions i would like everyone to answer .

1 what do you think about someone managing your customers on your behalf ? : that is , receiving and resolving complaints, updating your customers with recent product upgrades or new products and keep the interaction between you and them fresh to a point where your business becomes part of their lives.

2 How much are you willing to pay for this services, considering sms,calls and services cost?


your answers will be highly appreciated and rewarded with an amazing gift.

You also have access to free business advisory services.

does this also include sourcing for new customers?

DealFinder:


I won't disclose my store name on this thread. One of the major areas I'll focus on is sourcing your products. I will show from experience the things to look out for when sourcing products to sell.

Showing my store will also show my products and I prefer those interested in selling online to go for their own products because Dealdey tends to favour those who sell unique products, or relatively uncommon ones. However, if what you seek is evidence, I'll address it.

#Smiles.

Like I said I am here to just read comments.

You need not show or tell us your store, I already know it.

Your Konga Store is on Vacation.

The DealDey store start with O and you also have another moniker on Nairaland that started with F.

Ciao

iMerchant:


#Smiles.

Like I said I am here to just read comments.

You need not show or tell us your store, I already know it.

Your Konga Store is on Vacation.

The DealDey store start with O and you also have another moniker on Nairaland that started with F.

Ciao

2sex:
Well, I am aware of people make that kind of money selling on DealDEY but if you would be willing to answer these questions without holding anything back, then I would say you are a rare being just like ymodulus.

Now let me ask you this question... Note, it's not a must that you answer since you are doing this out of freewill and not getting paid. But then, not answer would only mean that the purpose of this thread has been defeated or that you had other agenda, at least that's what would be read.

1. How do you research HOT, FAST, IN DEMAND products, something that will sell pretty fast... That is, what gives you the confidence that what you are about to import will sell, what are your thought process when searching for these products? we all know virtually everyone buys from.aliexpress, 1688

2. When you receive orders, how do you send it to the buyer, what is the name of the logistic company that you use or would recommend? Does distance of the buyer affect you? Does DealDey have drop off point like Jumia and co?

3. How do you get goods at cheaper rate? Are you a member of group buying and splitting?

The OP (DealFinder) don answer your question but permit me to add this to it:

1. I did like to answer your question but I really don't wanna reveal too much. HOT, FAST and IN DEMAND products varies according to environments, states and region. You also need to understand word like FAD, Trend, Season etc when you are sourcing for products. Also I will advise you play to your strength when sourcing your products. I can tell you fast selling products to import and you can still end up making loss importing or buying it because of our different skill sets. If you have not start yet, do a little home work within your environment but if you have started, how many products do you sell and which one sell fast among them. The OP sell different products in 3 categories. All the categories are money maker in any environment. I can't tell you but if he choose too, that will good of him. His product categories starts with F, S and A.

2. On Konga, you drop at nearest K-Express Centre, On Jumia, you are either on Pick Up or Drop Off. You can only drop off your Jumia Orders in the Hub you used in processing the Order. If you choose Ikeja Fleet, Ajah or Surulere Fleet will not process the order. Only Ikeja Warehouse can process it. The main and cheapest shipper on DealDey is FEDEX for nationwide delivery.

3. Research product price before importing your products. If you don't do your homework before importing it, its too late.

iMerchant:


#Smiles.

Like I said I am here to just read comments.

You need not show or tell us your store, I already know it.

Your Konga Store is on Vacation.

The DealDey store start with O and you also have another moniker on Nairaland that started with F.

Ciao

Impressive. Did I also state in any of my earlier posts that I have clients?

I didn't add details of their sales in this thread. Strictly my store.

It's obvious that most of the comments made are by those who have experience with selling online. There's actually nothing majorly difficult with setting up and running a store on any of the online platforms. Even running your own E-commerce platform, it's just that you have more challenges to cope with.

There are lots of online platforms, most people are familiar with them. Even as I write, new platforms are springing forth. But I particularly use just 4 of them, though not frequently. This is my list of best 4

1. Konga
2. Jumia
3. Kaymu
4. Dealdey

Konga offers marketplace and allows you to sell on their platform. The unique thing about Konga is that they allow self fulfillment. I use this a lot. Reason? When an order is made from your store, you 2 options, either you drop off at any of their K-express locations, or you ship directly to the buyer (self fulfillment)

If you ship through Konga, there's a 7-day return back policy in place. This means Konga holds on to the money paid for your product for 7 days, and only pays the money into your wallet if there's no complaint from the buyer. You can then request a pay out from your wallet into your bank account, and this takes anything from 2 working days for the money to hit your account.

For self fulfillment, you ship yourself, most often through a delivery company. They deliver to the buyer, pick up the money and pay into your bank account. This can take anything from 2 days to 4 days from the time you ship to when you get your money. Of course, with self fulfillment, Konga expects you to remit the commission on the item bought to them. I use this option more because it takes between 2 days to 4 days for me to get payment for my product, as against 9 days to 2 or 3 weeks (7 day return back policy and the time it takes from the date of payout request and when the money hits your account). The downside to this is that most delivery companies only deliver within Lagos.

Jumia also allows you sell. But no provision of self fulfillment. The good side to Jumia is that there are lots of orders from it. Though they also have lots of returned and cancelled orders. The major advantage is that you can mark up your products very well, and still remain competitive on this platform. They pay weekly, which is good news for those merchants want their money paid asap. Though there can be issues of over due payment.

Kaymu offers opportunity for you to sell on their platform. You get orders, and fulfill yourself. However, you're expected to remit their commission back to them, otherwise you would be penalized.

Dealdey is a deal site that offers the most attractive prices for items sold. Dealdey recently started allowing for self fulfillment, but you don't pick up the money directly because it's prepaid. The money is held by Dealdey for 7 days (return back policy) and after then paid into your wallet. I sell mostly on this platform for reasons I'm disclosing on this platform.

Making the most of your online sales depends on being able to achieve a healthy mix on these platforms. Some items sell better on certain platforms, and from their modus operandi, there are benefits unique to each of them.

I'll profile Dealdey next

We dey wait. Hurry up

it seems that lately Dealdey takes forever for payouts ,

this is really affecting my turn over rate.

@DealFinder any heads up

following

will259:
it seems that lately Dealdey takes forever for payouts ,

this is really affecting my turn over rate.

@DealFinder any heads up

Certain banks receive payment earlier. This is actually no fault of anyone.

Also, current accounts receive payment earlier than savings

Interesting.

08166954158 is my whatsapp number

kennyman2000:

Bro, you on whatsapp or how do i contact you? need to make one or two enquries from you.

will259:
it seems that lately Dealdey takes forever for payouts ,

this is really affecting my turn over rate.

@DealFinder any heads up

I have to apologize for the response I gave earlier concerning late payment.

There seems to be an issue with Dealdey and payment.

While preparing my next post for this thread, I got a mail from Dealdey on one of my accounts. The contents of the mail is regrettably disheartening

The implication is that those who had their orders delivered in January would get the proceeds of the sales not less than 5 weeks from when the product was delivered to the buyer.

" We are having some technical challenges with our Payment Reconciliation Platforms and we want to assure you that we are working tirelessly to resolve these issues.

Currently, all payments are manually managed and this has led to the delay and backlog in our processing time.

Complete restoration of automated payments would be effected from 29-02-2016 and normal payment cycles should commence."

Nevertheless, I'm obligated to complete this thread. But wanna serve a Caveat here that dealings with Dealdey should be based on your own discretion.

As for me, I've concluded plans on a more reliable solution.

DealFinder:
While preparing my next post for this thread, I got a mail from Dealdey on one of my accounts. The contents of the mail is regrettably disheartening
The implication is that those who had their orders delivered in January would get the proceeds of the sales not less than 5 weeks from when the product was delivered to the buyer.
" We are having some technical challenges with our Payment Reconciliation Platforms and we want to assure you that we are working tirelessly to resolve these issues.
Currently, all payments are manually managed and this has led to the delay and backlog in our processing time.
Complete restoration of automated payments would be effected from 29-02-2016 and normal payment cycles should commence."
Nevertheless, I'm obligated to complete this thread. But wanna serve a Caveat here that dealings with Dealdey should be based on your own discretion.
As for me, I've concluded plans on a more reliable solution.

I have my money trapped with them since 13th January,and they havent really given reasonable explanations for the delayed payment.
I think they should include self fulfiment option like konga did.
If not,they may loose credibility and thats one asset you cannot toy with in the nigerian e commerce market

@dealfinder, quick one, please how do one sell on jumia. I mean the procedure?

babaloke:



I have my money trapped with them since 13th January,and they havent really given reasonable explanations for the delayed payment.
I think they should include self fulfiment option like konga did.
If not,they may loose credibility and thats one asset you cannot toy with in the nigerian e commerce market

self fulfilment is already an option. guess you meant Pay On Delivery?

that will complicate things further.

the advantage of selling on DealDey compared to others is that you are 99.99% sure sales are final/certain before shipping.

with other sites, sales aren't final/guaranteed till you deliver and customer pays.

DealFinder:


I have to apologize for the response I gave earlier concerning late payment.

There seems to be an issue with Dealdey and payment.

have you tried other deal sites like KokoDeals and GbanjoDeals?

this might be a good time for those to gain traction but tbh, DealDey still remains the biggest fish.

DealFinder:
While preparing my next post for this thread, I got a mail from Dealdey on one of my accounts. The contents of the mail is regrettably disheartening

The implication is that those who had their orders delivered in January would get the proceeds of the sales not less than 5 weeks from when the product was delivered to the buyer.

" We are having some technical challenges with our Payment Reconciliation Platforms and we want to assure you that we are working tirelessly to resolve these issues.

Currently, all payments are manually managed and this has led to the delay and backlog in our processing time.

Complete restoration of automated payments would be effected from 29-02-2016 and normal payment cycles should commence."

Nevertheless, I'm obligated to complete this thread. But wanna serve a Caveat here that dealings with Dealdey should be based on your own discretion.

As for me, I've concluded plans on a more reliable solution.

Hello sir. We are still waiting for you to share the information in line with the topic of this thread.

Delay may send the wrong signal. Do you need 7 days to share information you already know?

EnterPRO:


self fulfilment is already an option. guess you meant Pay On Delivery?

that will complicate things further.

the advantage of selling on DealDey compared to others is that you are 99.99% sure sales are final/certain before shipping.

with other sites, sales aren't final/guaranteed till you deliver and customer pays.

What I meant was pay on delivery.
But how will that complicate things further.
I get an order, confirm the buyers interest and location, I ship the product, delivery is confirmed and payment is done on the day of delivery.
The only concern is with how soon the delivery company will remit payment.

musicboy:
@dealfinder, quick one, please how do one sell on jumia. I mean the procedure?

I'm assuming you're already signed up as a merchant.

You upload your products and after approval goes live. Once an order is made on your store, you process it and print out shipping mandate for onward delivery to their closest warehouse to you.

Jumia will handle the rest

babaloke:



I have my money trapped with them since 13th January,and they havent really given reasonable explanations for the delayed payment.
I think they should include self fulfiment option like konga did.
If not,they may loose credibility and thats one asset you cannot toy with in the nigerian e commerce market

Fortunately for buyers, they aren't aware of delayed payment by Dealdey towards to sellers.

Hello guys, I need Wholesalers of watches, Jewellery and accessories in Lagos
Now if you are a small mini importation, please this is not for you and you need to be a wholesaler because I will compare the prices with aliexpress goods.
Also I need products that are not sold on aliexpress or china site IE products that are not produce from asia, mainly sold on ebay like hublot, tag heuer,

P.S scammer please to avoid ending the rest of my life in prison because of alleged murder, please dont try anything I will regret because you wont live to regret it..

DealFinder:


I'm assuming you're already signed up as a merchant.

You upload your products and after approval goes live. Once an order is made on your store, you process it and print out shipping mandate for onward delivery to their closest warehouse to you.

Jumia will handle the rest

Can someone who resides outside lagos sell on dealdey?

bobojoshua:
Can someone who resides outside lagos sell on dealdey?

Yea, it's possible. As long as you know how to source your products, and deliver when orders are placed. However, having the assistance of someone on ground would reduce the stress of commuting inter-state.

mrsage:


Hello sir. We are still waiting for you to share the information in line with the topic of this thread.

Delay may send the wrong signal. Do you need 7 days to share information you already know?

My thoughts exactly

Dealdey was set up as an online deal site where merchants offer price slashes and discounts. The idea was to give buyers prices that would not be found in any other online store. And that primarily, is the reason why buyers are willing to pay before receiving their orders.

This is the same reason why lots of merchants shy away from selling on Dealdey, because you were expected to sell your products lower than the likes of Jumia and Konga. And Dealdey had a 25% commission on each sale (now its a maximum of 15% commission). Sell low with very high commissions just doesn't seem like a good bargain.

What the successful merchants discovered was that they had to import their products themselves, or source them from importers in order to be able to sell profitably, while meeting Dealdey's requirements.

The good side to all this is that Dealdey operates a prepaid system (buyers have to pay for any order made before delivery is made). So the case of having returned or cancelled orders are minimal, in most cases non-existent. Most cancellations were as a result of sellers not being able to meet up with the supply deadline.

Some simple methods I discovered that worked well

1. Buy directly from importers or wholesalers

2. Products that are so rare that you can barely find them on other stores

3. Targeted products at the females

4. The pricing of the products

5. A modified method of dropshipping

6. The high rate of turnover monthly

7. Quick response to orders made

1. Buy directly from importers or wholesalers - Everyone knows that to get the best price for any product, you'll have to bypass the middlemen. That will mean dealing directly with the importer. The downside to this is that importers don't sell in units. They sell in cartons, and one of the ones I deal with sells only in round figures. He only sells 10, 20, 30 etc cartons. And these cartons contain anything from 6 to 48 or more units of the items you're buying. As a merchant, you need to be able to sell off these items as soon as possible.

One strategy that could help is that you list them on as many stores as possible. During the time Jumia ran Deal of the Day, you could also list it for those deals. If the products are attractive, and the prices good, you're sure to make substantial sales within the period of 1 month. Wholesalers can also give you competitive prices, but would definitely be higher than what the importer sells since they buy from the importers. Activities in this area never ends cause you have to be constantly on the watch out for those who can offer you great products are the most competitive prices.

2. Products that are so rare that you can barely find them on other stores - If you can find great products from reputable brands that are not sold on any other online store, you may have struck a goldmine. What it means is that you're the pioneer of that product online, and you invariably have the privilege of fixing the price. The prices must reflect the perceived value of the product, or else you end up not making a single sale. I know the feeling, cause I've being there quite a number of times.

3. Targeted products at the females - From my study, females shop more than males. So if I have to choose between a product that appeals to males or females, I'll go for the fairer sex. I'm not sure of the reason, but I know this strategy pays very well.

4. The pricing of the products - There's a limit to the amount anyone can walk away from. Each individual have different amounts, but people are more willing to buy more of products that fall into a particular price range. Anything higher than their range is perceived a luxury good. For some, it may be N5,000, while some others could comfortably shop online in excess of N100,000. For the items that are higher in prices, the volume of sales cannot be generally compared to the lower priced ones. From experience, items between the ranges of N1,500 to N10,000 sell very well.

Of course if you have a high priced item, say a solar power system or a car, if the price is right, you'll get orders. However, let the pricing of products remains a guide when sourcing for products.

5. A modified method of dropshipping - Dropshipping basically is a supply chain strategy where a seller displays items for sale he doesn't have, and forwards the details of the order to the wholesaler or supplier to fulfill. It means that the merchant doesn't need to have inventory of the products. When an order is made, he reaches out to the supplier who delivers the product to the buyer, gets paid, and then pays the merchant a commission.

I call my system modified cause when an order is made, I do the shipping instead of my supplier. The advantage is that I don't need to have the products in stock before putting them on sale. Once orders are made, I reach out to the supplier, get his money to him, and he in turn gets the items to me. This saves me money since I don't have to hold stock, and no need of securing a storage space. There will be cases when you need to hold stock of some items, especially those that may go out of stock anytime.

6. The high rate of turnover monthly - This was the exclusive enjoyment of the old policy, where you have to make supply for the Purchasing Order (PO) received from your sales. This was usually done twice weekly and you get paid within 24 - 48 hours after supplying. This gave the opportunity to turnover your investment twice weekly, and 8 times monthly.

Let's do a simple calculation of someone starting out with N100,000 and making a 10% profit on sales throughout the month

1st supply - N100,000 + 10,000 (10% interest) = N110,000
2nd supply - N110,000 + 11,000 (10% interest) = N121,000
3rd supply - N121,000 + 12,100 (10% interest) = N133,100
4th supply - N133,100 + 13,310 (10% interest) = N146,410
5th supply - N146,410 + 14,641 (10% interest) = N161,051
6th supply - N161,051 + 16,105 (10% interest) = N177,156
7th supply - N177,156 + 17,715 (10% interest) = N194,871
8th supply - N194,871 + 19,487 (10% interest) = N214,358

The result gives you more than 100% profit just for selling at 10% profit. It gets higher if you mark up higher. Especially if you're the first to introduce that product.

7. Quick response to orders made - The main reason for cancellation of orders on Dealdey is inability to deliver the products on time. You have to be very fast in responding, especially if you're running the type of modified dropshipping method I mentioned earlier.

These are my main strategies, which have proven to be successful. Unfortunately, the change in policy has made a number of these strategies impossible to deploy. Konga seems to be the next best thing for these, because they allow for self fulfillment and cash handling by the merchant

Interesting

DealFinder:


Yea, it's possible. As long as you know how to source your products, and deliver when orders are placed. However, having the assistance of someone on ground would reduce the stress of commuting inter-state.

hello op,

do you think this model will still be sustainable at N400-N500 per dollar? or N1000 soon sef.

I foresee a lot of online shops closing down. do you share the same thoughts?

EnterPRO:


hello op,

do you think this model will still be sustainable at N400-N500 per dollar? or N1000 soon sef.

I foresee a lot of online shops closing down. do you share the same thoughts?

It's in the news today that certain sectors of the economy still recorded increased sales, despite the rising prices occasioned by the falling value of the naira.

Yes its very sustainable, it just means that you the merchant will have to work harder in sourcing your products, find ways to reduce cost, and handle your business more efficiently so that your selling price will still be competitive. Don't forget that the dollar affects every other merchant.