Role Overview
Clients don’t hire you to just “find products” — they hire you to find the *right* products with real resale value and connect them to reliable, cost-effective supply. Your core job is to reduce risk and raise margins by feeding the business with smart opportunities. That means knowing what sells on eBay, what doesn’t, and which suppliers can be trusted to deliver consistent stock at viable prices. When you do this right, you drive profit, improve cash flow, and give the client leverage in their niche.
This is not a guessing game, a browsing assignment, or a factory lead dump. Sending a list of random suppliers or trending products with no sourcing plan is exactly what clients *don’t* want. They expect logic, business sense, and a real eye for viable resell mechanics. If your research lacks strong ROI logic or leads to dead-end suppliers, the business loses time, money, and trust in the process. One bad buy or unreliable supplier can wipe out weeks of profit.
The upside is high: if you build strong supplier connections and consistently spot products with resale power, you become a critical growth driver. You decide how much value you create—for the business and for yourself—through the accuracy and depth of your research. Clients move fast and expect you to add certainty to their decisions. Anything less than clear, informed recommendations is a liability.
Standards You Must Meet
• You must deliver product picks backed by real eBay sales data, market demand, and competitive price positioning — not gut feel or guesswork.
• Clients expect supplier leads that are vetted for reliability, unit cost, MOQ, and shipping terms — no unverified or one-time-use contacts.
• Every product-supplier pair you recommend should have a clear resale plan showing potential ROI, breakeven numbers, and margin scenarios.
• Don’t send broad or generic lists — clients want tightly scoped, actionable options matched to their niche, goals, and buying power.
• Consistency matters: weak leads, missed product trends, or suppliers who ghost weaken client trust and kill repeat work.
• You’re judged on how well your research reduces risk and fuels profit — not how busy you look or how long your lists are.
• It’s not just about finding what’s trending; you must filter for what’s sustainable, in-demand, and actually profitable to resell.
• Clients need speed with precision — slow research or vague suggestions will be seen as lack of business acumen.
What You’ll Be Doing
• Analyze eBay sold data to identify high-demand, repeat-sell products with sustainable margin potential.
• Source and vet suppliers for consistent stock availability, fair pricing, and verified shipping and MOQ terms.
• Create resale logic for each product-supplier pair, including ROI estimates, breakeven costs, and profit range.
• Filter product-supplier selections to match the client’s niche, inventory budget, and operational goals.
• Flag resale risks early, including oversaturated listings, unfavorable supplier terms, or category restrictions.
• Deliver client-ready sourcing reports with concise rationale, not unfiltered lists or raw export files.
• Monitor the post-purchase results of your product picks to track performance and refine sourcing strategy.
• Use automation tools where possible to streamline research, organize findings, and improve turnaround speed.
What You’ll Hand Over
• A validated product shortlist with Terapeak-backed demand data, resale pricing benchmarks, and market turnover insights.
• A vetted supplier list per product, including MOQ, unit cost, lead times, and shipping terms, formatted for direct outreach.
• A resale calculator or margin analysis sheet showing breakeven points, expected ROI, and pricing flexibility.
• A risk summary outlining saturation, compliance issues, or flags by category with sourcing rationale attached.
• A sourcing report linking each product-supplier combo to the client’s niche goals, budget range, and inventory strategy.
Tools You’ll Need to Use
• Terapeak – Critical for analyzing product demand, pricing trends, and sales history within eBay.
• eBay Seller Hub – Essential for sourcing insights, tracking performance, and managing listings at scale.
• Google Sheets – Used for organizing supplier lists, calculating margins, and documenting vetted products.
• Amazon (for research only) – Provides baseline market price comparisons and identifies trending wholesale products.
• Alibaba / AliExpress – Primary platforms for sourcing suppliers and verifying product availability and MOQ.
• Keepa (Amazon Price Tracker) – Tracks product pricing history across Amazon to assist with competitive analysis.
• Inventory Source – Supports supplier integration and helps assess real-time stock and fulfillment potential.
Why Work Smarter
If you cannot automate basic steps like pulling supplier data, organizing spreadsheets, or syncing research into a shared system, the work becomes inefficient and quickly outdated. This level of automation is not officially “required” — but let’s be clear: the best clients expect it, and they’re quietly moving toward teams that deliver it.
OES sets this as a professional standard not to stay ahead — but because the market has already moved. Stay sharp, stay relevant.
Why Your Work Matters
Right now, eBay sellers cannot afford guesswork. Profit margins are tight, product cycles are short, and one misstep — a bad supplier, a poorly researched product — can drain weeks of revenue and ruin buyer trust. That’s why this role isn’t about “helping” the business grow — it *drives* growth by controlling what enters the inventory pipeline. If product-supplier logic is weak, the entire backend breaks: cash flow stalls, storage costs rise, and sellers burn valuable capital with nothing to show for it.
Clients aren’t paying for effort. They’re paying for outcomes: profitable listings, reliable supply chains, fewer risks, and faster wins in the marketplace. This role delivers that — or it costs the business money. When you keep your sourcing razor-sharp, grounded in real data, and aligned to the niche, you are not optional. You are the frontline of quality control, cash strategy, and compounding ROI — and in today’s reselling game, nothing moves without that.
What We Expect From You
As a Specialist Product and Supplier Research Expert in eBay + Reselling/Wholesale, your work is not just about finding SKUs—it’s about protecting client capital while identifying inventory streams that can scale. You are expected to make daily sourcing decisions that align with eBay marketplace demands, wholesale constraints, and seller metrics. This means exercising tight judgment over profitability, item velocity, supply chain compliance, and listing authority, even when information is partial or stakes are high. You carry the discipline to question supplier legitimacy, vet listings for policy risks, and walk away from poor product fits even when the margins look tempting. The assets you surface today directly influence client results tomorrow—profit or loss.
You are someone who works in patterns—because you’ve done the reps, seen the flags, and know when to go deeper. Strategy here is knowing when volume moves justify risk, when they don’t, and when a supplier’s value stretches beyond just their pricelist. We’re not looking for guesswork or surface-level Google-Fu; we’re looking for someone who has trained their eye to spot durability in supply and sustainability in profit. Maintain your own sourcing system, respect OES standards, and consistently deliver decision-ready options to Account Managers. This role holds weight because what you source doesn’t just fill stores—it shapes the future of the account and our trust in your call.
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$450 – $1,210
OES salary standards reflect real market benchmarks, tier and experience level, ensuring fair pay for VAs and realistic expectations for clients.
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