If you are serious about selling products like gifts, you need to buy much of your products directly. This means overseas.
If you are not what you will find, your supplier buys it for X and sells it to you at X plus extra, so you have to sell it to make a profit for X plus a lot more. Then what you will often find is that the gifts you have are not particularly difficult to get. Many other shops are selling what you have. So you do not get much margin.
The ones that make good profits in the gifts industry specialise in a product line and import direct.
Now it is a bit harder to buy overseas, but it is also more profitable. This is because of the recent movements in world currencies. It also depends on when you or your supplier has paid for the goods. Plus how much they have in stock and their movements etc. This is why the difference in prices on offer for the same goods often are now huge.
So my tip is now is a good time to shop between suppliers.
One site I recommend which has everything is Alibaba. Look at what you are buying now and see what you can get it there. Do not be afraid to bargain with them over quantity and price. That is why the site is there. Try a few orders and see how you go.
A tip I recommend is always buying from overseas suppliers with PayPal or Alibaba. That way, you get a guarantee if something is not right, the fact is that you do not know them.
I had one client that decided to buy mobile cases. He contacted a few overseas suppliers and decided on a few. Over time, he built up his purchases. He now sells a lot of mobile cases with decent margins.
