How profitable it is to sell your things abroad, even without having international stores
The conversation was conducted by Kateryna Romanenko
Every Ukrainian who sells goods abroad knows about Western Bid.
Western Bid is a trading agency that helps Ukrainian sellers to accept payments, work with international platforms and buyers, and for the past few years also deliver goods to the doors of customers in different countries of the world. However, not everyone who has good merchandise or vintage items has their own stores and is willing to be a seller.
Today we are talking with one of the managers of the Western Bid company in Ukraine Oleksandr Radich about a special project – “Komok”, which gives an opportunity to both ordinary Ukrainians and manufacturers to sell goods abroad, delegating all care to professionals.
– Oleksandr, please tell me how the idea of creating an online commission service – “Komok” was born?
– We have been helping Ukrainian sellers to sell their goods on international marketplaces for a long time. Western Bid Agency has been providing brokerage services in the field of e-commerce on the international platforms eBay and Etsy since 2001, but people often ask if they can completely outsource the sale and focus on the production or procurement of the necessary goods. For someone to take on all the work related to the sale, and they only received money for the sold goods. Since our mission is to make e-commerce as accessible as possible to every Ukrainian, the idea of the “Komok” service – the first Ukrainian online thrift store for international markets – appeared based on such requests. It is suitable both for manufacturers and for selling their own items that have been used.
– So “Komok” essentially accepts goods for sale?
– Exactly. You provide the product to us, it is stored with us and sold on international platforms. And after the sale, we send the goods to the customer, and you receive payment.
– What can be sold through “Komok”?
– In fact, everything that is not prohibited for shipment across the border. Every home has many vintage items that no longer have enough value for the owner.
Even what once pleased and filled with memories of the past, antiques or souvenirs from distant lands. Figurines, musical instruments, clocks, mechanical toys, cameras, bronze tableware, chess pieces or a painting. These can be long-forgotten things – books, jewelry, home decor. This is natural, because we are changing, and our interests are not the same as before. Some of the things are no longer interesting to us and seem to take up extra space, but something prevents us from getting rid of them, suddenly agree. This is where our “Komok” comes in handy, through which you can put all this up for sale.
– Okay, such a product is displayed on an international platform and it can really be interesting to Western buyers and you can get good money for it?
– It may come as a surprise to you, but foreign collectors can sometimes pay a royal price for some trinket. However, it is very difficult for an ordinary Ukrainian to find such a buyer himself – we do not go to global auctions, and we cannot display our treasure at a flea market somewhere in the suburbs of Sacramento or Chicago. But thanks to Komko, we can put it on the same Ebay, on the American promoted account of our company. And there to find the same buyer.
Please note that the items mentioned are only an approximate list of items that may be of interest to collectors, and it is not exhaustive. It is also important to note that the value and demand for these items can vary greatly depending on the individual item, its condition and current market conditions.
– And can manufacturers of modern products sell through your service?
– Must sell! There is a great demand for it. In Ukraine, we have many small and medium-sized factories that produce very popular goods from leather, wood, metal, stone, acrylic, matter, and even a combination of them.
Manufacturers are interested in cooperating with us because their goods are available in a certain quantity or with different variations. Through our service, many sell thematic souvenirs, decor and decorations for home and offices, wooden lamps, bags, belts and leather clothing items, steampunk metal figurines, carved wooden figurines, knitted amigurumi toys, embroidered dolls, handmade jewelry robots and various pet items.
In addition, manufacturers can usually do personalization on their own goods, which is quite attractive to foreign buyers.
– Why can’t these same people sell it abroad on their own?
– Why, they can. But in practice, not many people manage to do this. In fact, those who managed to open stores on foreign platforms a few years ago. Starting in 2021, it is impossible to open a new shop on Etsy from Ukraine. eBay has its own characteristics – a long way to a real opportunity to sell and a high frequency of blocking newcomers.
In addition, on marketplaces, you have to go through a difficult path with a lot of potential organizational, even bureaucratic obstacles before launching your store. Due to a considerable number of restrictions, even an account that has been working for a long time can be banally banned. To put a product up for sale, you need to make professional descriptions and photos, carefully select names and tags that correlate with search queries. Usually, beginners have no sales for months and this significantly reduces their motivation and desire to continue something. And after the sale, the goods must be packed and sent to the buyer on the other side of the world. All this – time, effort, skills and abilities, which not everyone wants and is ready to acquire. Especially if he has only a few units of the product that need to be sold.
In addition, sometimes the product may arrive damaged or even get lost on the way, and in some cases, the client-buyer wants to return his money for the paid and already received product, because he did not like it for some reason. And these are risks, nerves and, again, valuable time for communication with clients, appealing to complaints and resolving problematic disputes with payment systems.
– That is, it turns out that the solution for someone who is not ready to do all this, but wants to sell his “treasure” is “Komok”?
– So. Komok makes any refusals impossible and makes the process of selling your goods as acceptable and simple as possible for any person, no matter how far he is from sales and business. Our company is located in the USA, so our stores have American registration. I lead to the fact that for Americans, products from our stores will be shown higher in the search than from stores from other countries. Some Ukrainian manufacturers use “Komok” as a business tool, which gives an opportunity to test the attention of foreign buyers to their products, to determine the market value and to find their own niche in order to further specialize exclusively in a certain product.
– Of course. And on which platforms are the products published that customers add to “Clump”?
– We exhibit goods on four marketplaces:
- EBAY is one of the most popular marketplaces in the west where everything is sold. According to statistics, there are approximately 135 million buyers on eBay. All goods from “Komka” first of all end up here.
- BONANZA is the next American marketplace where lots of our customers’ products are also put up for sale.
- LAVKY is the third marketplace. It is created by the Western Bid company and is gaining more and more popularity among buyers.
- ETSY is the fourth marketplace where we place products. But it is not suitable for all products. While all previous marketplaces have the ability to place different types of products in one store, Etsy needs stores to be themed.
Our Etsy shops for wood products and textile products are currently active. If the product falls under at least one of these categories, it will definitely be placed on Etsy. Over time, the list of shops and, accordingly, the products that we can publish on Etsy through Komok will expand.
In general, Western marketplaces are an opportunity to show your goods to a wide international audience that is ready to buy them for good money. And with us, clients get such an opportunity!
The only condition is that you have the same wonderful, unique, desirable thing that a buyer in overseas countries wants to get.
And, indeed, selling your stuff on the biggest marketplaces in the world through an American middleman is a good approach. It turns out that Komok does all the “dirty” work, and you only provide your product and get paid when it is sold.
– Can you provide a step-by-step plan of what needs to be done?
– Everything is very simple.
First, if you are a manufacturer, select a product that you would like to put up for sale. And if you just want to sell something, look for something in your home that can be useful and interesting to another person. Something potentially valuable, but you don’t need it right now.
At this stage, a good idea is to look at the same Ebay.com or other platforms to see how many dollars are being sold and, most importantly, bought, for similar products. After all, you need to determine what price to set for the product. On our website and Instagram, we share tips on this and other steps of cooperation with us.
Second, we go to register in the Komok system. Link at the end of the article. Everything is simple there – basic registration.
Third, add your product (photos and description) and pay the system fee for putting the product up for sale. How to take photos for sale and how to write a description to increase the likelihood of a sale – we also provide advice for you on our website.
The goods must be sent to Kyiv or Lviv, or brought to one of our numerous offices in Ukraine. We are present in almost all regional centers, with the exception of the temporarily occupied territory. So, you can also come to get to know each other and ask questions.
For those who do not have a photo, we provide a service of professional subject photography.
After receiving and processing the product, we will place it at once on several platforms, depending on the category to which your product belongs.
In case of sale of the goods, we independently communicate with the buyer, pack, promptly make international shipment through our own forwarding service, pay commissions of trading platforms, agree on problematic points in case of their occurrence.
And the icing on the cake is payment to you for the sold product, which will encourage you to sell through us again and again. As a rule, we make payments on the 2nd business day after receiving payment from the buyer.
– Can you give a link, where to go, where to read information and where to register?
– Yes, of course. Learn more about how the online thrift store “Komok” works – register and add your product so that it will be in front of foreign buyers in a few days.
Through our service, hundreds of a wide variety of goods have already been put up for sale – some put up their Soviet items for sale, and some did not have time to create their shop on Etsy and now occupy their niche there thanks to Komko.
