How to Choose Wholesale Products to Resell: An Evidence Worksheet

A bestseller list wastes the first wholesale order when the channel blocks the listing or you cannot name a buyer. Record the demand source and the date, the channel rule you opened, and the cost lines on a document, and leave every other cell blank. The sheet is for one candidate product, and it stops before you compare suppliers.

A product stays a candidate only when four records exist for that product: a demand source with the date you read it, the channel rule you opened, the condition that makes the goods sellable, and the cost lines you can point to on a document. eBay’s prohibited-items overview, read October 14, 2026, tells you to check whether eBay allows the item and whether extra listing rules apply before you list it. Amazon’s seller-policies blog, dated October 16, 2024 and re-read October 14, 2026, says some categories and products require approval before listing. The CPSC resale page captured October 11, 2026 says anyone who sells or distributes consumer products is covered by CPSC laws, and that resellers should examine inventory before resale. If a cell has no source, leave it blank. Ranks, margins, and prices stay off this page.

Input or item	Where the words have to come from	Why it matters
Demand source and the date you read it	Your own sales record, or a page you opened	A category name does not show that anyone bought the product
Channel rule for this product	The policy page for the channel you will use, with the date you read it	A supplier offer does not state that the channel allows the listing
Sellable condition	The safety or condition line that covers this product	Goods that fail that line stay off the order
Cost lines you can point to	An invoice, a supplier document, or your landed-cost sheet	A missing line stays out of the total
Cash the order ties up	The total of those documented lines	A unit count alone does not state the cash
Still unknown	Any cell you could not fill	The empty cell is part of the record

Plain brown cartons sit on a pallet. Nothing on the foreground cartons names a product.

What demand record do you already have?

Leave the demand cell blank until you can name the source and the date you read it.

Write one of these, and only when you have it in hand:

• Your own sales of this product, with the date range of that record and where the record lives.
• A page you opened that states demand for this product, with the address and the date you read it.

A category name, a trending label, or another site’s product list does not fill the cell. This page has no sales figure to copy into it.

Takeaway: If the only support for the product is a list title, stop and get a source you can date.

Does the channel allow this product?

Copy the rule from the channel you will use. A supplier offer does not state that rule.

eBay’s prohibited and restricted items policy overview, read October 14, 2026, says to make sure eBay allows the item before you list it, and to find out whether specific rules apply to how you list it. It tells you to check the list of prohibited and restricted items policies. It also says the sale has to comply with all laws and with any further restrictions that apply to payment services on eBay, such as credit card association or network rules. The overview says the policies are often based on country and state laws, and that in some cases eBay also uses input from members and its own discretion, especially for dangerous or sensitive items. On international sales, the same page says an item that is legal to sell in your country might be illegal elsewhere, and it points you to the international trading policy. It also points to the rules for listings and the rules about intellectual property. Those two pages were not opened for this guide, so write them in only after you open them.

If eBay finds that activity does not follow the policy, the user agreement, and applicable laws, the overview says eBay may remove the listing or other content, issue a warning, restrict activity, or suspend the account. It also says eBay may hide a listing until the content is fixed and eBay approves the change. Those sentences describe actions eBay says it can take. They do not tell you whether your item is allowed.

Amazon’s blog “Amazon seller policies to know to keep your business thriving,” dated October 16, 2024 and re-read October 14, 2026, is a seller blog. It is not the restricted-products policy. In the product compliance and safety section it says to start with restricted products so you avoid listing items that cannot be sold, and to follow the product compliance guidelines. It says some categories and products require approval before listing, and that you should review the relevant policies to see whether your items are affected. It says to use the condition guidelines to classify the listing. The same section points to requirements for Fulfillment by Amazon and to the intellectual property policy. Those policy pages were not opened here. The blog says ignoring or breaking the rules may result in account deactivation, loss of Featured Offer eligibility, withholding of funds, negative reviews, or other actions. Whether your item needs approval is a cell you fill from the policy that names that item.

Six plain mugs sit in an open carton, and one of them is wrapped in brown paper. The laptop beside the carton is closed.

What has to be true before the goods are sellable?

The CPSC Resale/Thrift Stores information center, captured October 11, 2026, says CPSC laws and regulations apply to anyone who sells or distributes consumer products. The same page names thrift stores, consignment stores, charities, and people holding yard sales and flea markets. It says resellers should examine products in inventory before resale so the products are safe and compliant with federal laws. It says used products have caused injuries and deaths and have been the subject of numerous recalls.

On nursery goods, that page says products used in the nursery, especially cribs and bassinets, have caused deaths and have been the subject of numerous recalls of millions of units. It says not to sell broken or wobbly nursery furniture, or a durable infant product that is missing parts, even when that item has not been recalled. That instruction is limited to the products the page names.

An October 14, 2026 request for the same CPSC address returned HTTP 403, so these sentences come from the October 11 capture. This page does not claim the text stayed the same after that date.

If the candidate is end-of-line electronics, the checks for that stock are on the end-of-line electronics page. Here, write the safety or recall line you opened, with the page and the date. A full account of every restricted category sits outside this sheet.

Takeaway: Write the safety line you opened. If you opened none, the cell stays blank.

Which cost lines can you fill from a document?

Use the formula on the landed-cost guide. That page states landed cost per unit as the total of all components divided by the units that arrive sellable. The components it names are the goods, origin charges, freight, insurance, import charges, destination handling, inland delivery, financing, and a defect allowance. It then states contribution per unit as the retail price, minus that landed cost, minus platform and payment fees, minus fulfilment and packing, minus a returns allowance, minus marketing cost per sale.

Copy a line onto this sheet only when a document states it for this order. Leave the amount blank when you do not have that document. The worked amounts on the landed-cost guide are labeled illustrative. They stay on that page. This worksheet sets no margin, return rate, or sales benchmark.

Duty still needs the classification and the country of origin for the importer and the destination. The landed-cost guide says to confirm both, and to use qualified customs or legal advice when the classification is unclear.

How much cash does this order tie up?

The cash cell is the order total: the sum of the component lines you documented. It stays blank until those lines are filled. A unit count multiplied by a price you do not have does not fill the cell.

The landed-cost guide says a higher volume can spread fixed charges across more units, and that the same volume increases the cash and inventory at risk. It gives no cash figure for a product category. Your unit count and your documented total are the inputs.

A dark calculator lies face down beside a sealed carton. The kraft sheet and the white sheet on the carton are blank.

Copy one product onto the sheet

Use one row per field. The last column is yours. This page does not fill it.

Field	What belongs in the cell	Stays empty if	Your product
Demand source and date	Your sales record, with its date range, or a page you opened, with the address and the date you read it	You only have a list title or a category name
Channel eligibility	The rule from the channel page you opened, with that date	The supplier offer is the only document, or you have not opened the policy for this item
Sellable condition	The safety or condition line for this product, with the page and the date	You have not opened that line
Cost inputs	Each component the landed-cost guide names, when a document states it for this order	The line is missing from your documents
Cash exposure	The total of the documented component lines	A component you still need is blank
Unknowns	Every cell above that you could not fill	You leave this row unused

When this sheet does not apply

A map of product categories sits on the industries hub. After this sheet has a demand source, a channel rule, a sellable condition, and documented cost lines, or an explicit blank in each of those cells, compare suppliers of that same product on the supplier selection guide. The wider sourcing sequence sits on the ecommerce sourcing hub.

How these pages were read

The eBay lines are from the prohibited and restricted items policy overview on eBay Help, read October 14, 2026. The overview points to the international trading policy, the rules for listings, and the rules about intellectual property. Those three pages were not opened, so this guide does not quote them.

The Amazon lines are from the product compliance and safety section of the seller blog dated October 16, 2024, re-read October 14, 2026. The blog names restricted products, approval before listing, condition guidelines, Fulfillment by Amazon requirements, and the intellectual property policy. The policy pages themselves were not opened.

The CPSC lines are from the Resale/Thrift Stores information center as captured October 11, 2026. A request for the same address on October 14, 2026 returned HTTP 403.

The cost formula is the one on this site’s landed-cost guide. No amount from its worked example is reused. The three photographs show cartons, mugs, paper, and a face-down calculator. They are not a supplier visit, a filled order, or an inspection.