[Zero Capital, Zero Research Skills OK] The Golden Route for Mercari Reselling That Beginners Won't Stumble On

The point where Mercari beginners
often stumble is

making unreasonable purchases
with a credit card when they have no capital.

To begin with, it's dangerous to
make large-scale purchases from the start
when you have no surplus funds,
no sales skills, and no research skills.

If you make purchases while you
haven't acquired the necessary skills...

you might end up with a large amount of inventory,
or be chased by monthly payments,
making it difficult to continue reselling.

To avoid that, let's
step up in the right order
using the correct methods.

Here is the correct step-up process for
reselling that I teach↓

Since there may be some unfamiliar terms,
I will explain them one by one.

① Sell unwanted items
Just as the name suggests,
you sell the unwanted items around you
to turn them into pocket money.

Not only will you get used to using Mercari,
but it also leads to decluttering,
which helps secure space in your room.

Since you don't need money for sourcing,
it is also perfect for beginners to practice selling.

② Do zero-yen sourcing
You might think zero-yen sourcing sounds suspicious,
but I will teach you a legitimate,
tried-and-true method.

You take on products for free and
sell them on your own Mercari account.
When they sell, you receive a certain amount of the sales profit as a reward.

By taking on products to sell,
the sourcing cost is zero yen,
and since you get a portion of the profit when they sell,
you can do it risk-free.

③ Do domestic sourcing
This means going to stores or using the internet
to choose items yourself to source and sell.

Since you will be spending your own money to source,
you need to acquire sufficient skills before attempting this.

④ Do overseas sourcing
The mainstream method is to utilize sites like
China's Alibaba or Taobao to source cheaply
from overseas and sell on Mercari.

You might have wondered,
why from China?

Well, there are many factories in China that mass-produce items,
and often you can buy the same product cheaper than in Japan.

Therefore,
when you sell the sourced products in Japan,
your profit increases because you sourced them cheaply.

To give an example...
for instance,
suppose you buy a toy in China for 300 yen each,
and sell it in Japan for 600 yen.

When the toy sells,
you get a 300 yen gain (profit).

Earning money by
"buying low and selling high" is the China import business.

⑤ Do OEM
OEM stands for
"attaching your own brand to products made by other companies and selling them".

To explain what that means...
For example,
suppose you want to sell
a "cool smartphone case" you thought of.

However,
what would you do if
you couldn't make the smartphone case yourself?

In that case,
you would outsource it to an overseas factory or similar,
and have them make your product.

The finished product
becomes the "cool smartphone case"
that you designed.

And then,
you can sell that smartphone case
under your own name or brand.

By mainly using Amazon FBA for these,
and utilizing Amazon's warehouses,
Amazon will handle the shipping for you when they sell.

By doing this,
even while you are working, doing housework,
or sleeping, products will sell and
Amazon will handle the shipping and such on your behalf.

The ability to automate
is truly
the appeal of OEM.

Summary

I have introduced the
above 5 methods.

Beginners should only
1. Sell unwanted items,
2. Source items for 0 yen, and
3. Source items domestically.

This is because
4. Overseas sourcing and
5. OEM are for advanced users,
so the hurdle is too high for beginners.

If you try to source from overseas,
you need a large amount of capital, and
it can take 14 days or more from ordering until it arrives in Japan,
and in the worst case, it could take over 30 days.

During that time, the item you thought you would source and list
might see a drop in demand and stop selling.

And
what is most surprising isthe defect rate.
Depending on the supplier you order from,
the defect rate can exceed 20%.

In other words,
if you order 100 items,
20 of them will be defective.

Of course, you will be charged for all 100 items,
so the ones that are defective are a direct loss.
It's hard to turn a profit like this, isn't it?

The cost per item inflates,
and when you actually try to sell them on Mercari,
it's common to end up in the red.

To avoid failing at sourcing,
you need research skills to select products,
and to avoid bad suppliers,
you need the knowledge to choose the right ones.

Furthermore, overseas sourcing
requires a large amount of capital because cash goes out first.

To lower the price per unit,
you have to place a lot order,
which means ordering in large quantities.

By doing this,
you can lower the sourcing cost
per item.

This means
you end up sourcing a lot in one order,
requiring a significant amount of capital.

The same can be said
for 5. OEM.

When you create and sell your own brand,
you also need to have the factory make a large quantity
to keep the sourcing cost per item low.

That means
you'll need a large amount of capital, right?

Also, if you outsource to an untrustworthy factory,
they might not make what you ordered,
or perhaps
they might even run off with your money.

To choose a reliable supplier,
you have to actually visit the local factory,
and in that case, you also need to understand
foreign languages to communicate.

Doesn't that make it
a high hurdle for beginners?

1. Large amounts of capital for purchasing
2. Research skills to identify products that will sell
3. Knowledge to choose suppliers without failing

Because the above are required,
4. overseas purchasing and 5. OEM
are not recommended for reselling beginners because the hurdle is too high.

However,
even for those without capital,

1. selling unwanted items
2. zero-cost sourcing

by doing the above,
you can start with zero capital,

and once you have saved up some funds,
3. you can challenge yourself with domestic sourcing
and increase your income.

Detailed strategies for each
are introduced in past articles, so please check them out below.

1. Selling unwanted items

2. Zero-cost sourcing

3. Domestic sourcing

If you skip these steps,
you will end up with too much inventory, fall behind on monthly payments,
and be unable to continue reselling.

To avoid that,
please make sure to follow the order
I introduced this time when doing reselling.

With that said,
thank you very much
for reading until the end.

See you
in the next post.