Dropshipping advice needed (newbie alert)

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Hi,
I am planning to start a drop shipping business. I got a few questions. Please advice.
1. Any warrior forum member started a drop shipping business and able to generate positive cash flow? If yes, how much time it needed?
2. Is there any book, that you would recommend? I am planning to use shopify platform.
3. Can anybody become my mentor for a few days? I am willing to pay money if needed.
Thanks in advance.
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#advice #alert #dropshipping #needed #newbie
  • Profile picture of the author violet0176
    If you search the relevant threads, you can find a lot of start-up information.

    As far as time, If you select a profitable niche and sell on a popular marketplace, you can start making a profit within a few weeks. On the other hand, marketing your own website will take time to drive traffic unless you already have a following on social media. You can also sell on a marketplace and your own website simultaneously.

    If you have extra cash, you can buy wholesale items and make a larger profit.

    Despite my hesitations with Aliexpress, I found a lightweight $8 product and bought 20 of it. It's selling a few times daily on ebay for $24, so after fees and shipping I make a $16 profit. I'm ready to order more. Aliexpress *can* work *if* you find a reliable Seller and you buy the product upfront rather than let them drop ship which is unreliable at best.

    So, in addition to drop shipping, you can move on to wholesale, etc...if finances allow.
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    • Profile picture of the author luckfactor
      Thanks Violet.

      This is what I am planning to do (I didn't understand a few things from your post. For example - By marketplace, you mean, amazon or eBay? I don't have any following neither have a website of my own where I can sell products. I may try to sell services if product route doesn't work out. How much extra cash I will need to go the wholesale route? I can afford $1000-$2000.)
      1. Open a shopify online store taking the $14 option.
      2. Register with Aliexpress or Alibaba or any drop shipper. I will make sure that I don't need to pay them upfront if it is a drop shipper. Any drop shipper you recommend?
      3. Put the products online and try it out for 3 months.
      4. If I don't make any money, I will close the store.

      What do you think?

      Please advice.
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      • Profile picture of the author violet0176
        Originally Posted by luckfactor View Post

        Thanks Violet.

        This is what I am planning to do (I didn't understand a few things from your post. For example - By marketplace, you mean, amazon or eBay? I don't have any following neither have a website of my own where I can sell products. I may try to sell services if product route doesn't work out. How much extra cash I will need to go the wholesale route? I can afford $1000-$2000.)
        1. Open a shopify online store taking the $14 option.
        2. Register with Aliexpress or Alibaba or any drop shipper. I will make sure that I don't need to pay them upfront if it is a drop shipper. Any drop shipper you recommend?
        3. Put the products online and try it out for 3 months.
        4. If I don't make any money, I will close the store.

        What do you think?

        Please advice.


        I don't recommend Aliexpress for drop shipping. Their shipping times are 1-2 months long unless you pay $20 or more for DHL. If you use Aliexpress, buy your product in bulk and ship it yourself or use a Fulfillment center if the item is a big seller.

        As far as drop shippers go, do your research and find a profitable niche. You can look around ebay and Amazon to examine which products are selling and which products have room for growth. You don't want an over-saturated niche, but rather one that is accessible enough for you to profit with medium to low competition --unless you appreciate high competition and can attract buyers with marketing.

        To find Suppliers, contact actual Distributors, Wholesalers and Manufacturers that don't advertise drop shipping. Once you are approved for an account, ask them to drop ship for you. To apply you will need a Tax ID, business license, Sales & Use Tax Certificate number.

        It takes a bit of research to get started and you would likely require more than the $14 Shopify plan. I think that plan has a limit to products you can sell. Depending on your niche, Tictail might work. It's free other than add ons. 3 Months is definitely not enough time to market a website. I would give it at least a year, if you're serious and decide from there. You need to offer products that people actually want, not random crap.

        I suggested marketplaces because you won't have to do much marketing,as ebay, Amazon, etc...already have a built in customer base. Running your own website will require SEO and marketing knowledge to turn a profit.

        If you have capital, you can certainly buy product and store it or send it to Amazon Fulfillment or another fulfillment center. You can make that decision based on your research and which business model works best for you.


        Hopefully, others will chime in with more advice for you.
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        • Profile picture of the author freddyhawkz
          Originally Posted by violet0176 View Post

          I don't recommend Aliexpress for drop shipping. Their shipping times are 1-2 months long unless you pay $20 or more for DHL. If you use Aliexpress, buy your product in bulk and ship it yourself or use a Fulfillment center if the item is a big seller.

          As far as drop shippers go, do your research and find a profitable niche. You can look around ebay and Amazon to examine which products are selling and which products have room for growth. You don't want an over-saturated niche, but rather one that is accessible enough for you to profit with medium to low competition --unless you appreciate high competition and can attract buyers with marketing.

          To find Suppliers, contact actual Distributors, Wholesalers and Manufacturers that don't advertise drop shipping. Once you are approved for an account, ask them to drop ship for you. To apply you will need a Tax ID, business license, Sales & Use Tax Certificate number.
          It takes a bit of research to get started and you would likely require more than the $14 Shopify plan. I think that plan has a limit to products you can sell. Depending on your niche, Tictail might work. It's free other than add ons. 3 Months is definitely not enough time to market a website. I would give it at least a year, if you're serious and decide from there. You need to offer products that people actually want, not random crap.

          I suggested marketplaces because you won't have to do much marketing,as ebay, Amazon, etc...already have a built in customer base. Running your own website will require SEO and marketing knowledge to turn a profit.

          If you have capital, you can certainly buy product and store it or send it to Amazon Fulfillment or another fulfillment center. You can make that decision based on your research and which business model works best for you.


          Hopefully, others will chime in with more advice for you.

          Is there any way people outside US can start dropshipping in USA?
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          • Profile picture of the author violet0176
            Originally Posted by freddyhawkz View Post

            Is there any way people outside US can start dropshipping in USA?
            You would need to set up an LLC (Limited Liability Company), set up a US Bank Account and Federal Tax ID for the business. The LLC process would cost around $900. --to cover the cost of a firm filing for you

            More info

            How to Form an LLC for Non Resident Aliens | Secret Entourage
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      • Profile picture of the author Importexport
        Originally Posted by luckfactor View Post

        How much extra cash I will need to go the wholesale route? I can afford $1000-$2000.)
        I have had quite a few of my students start off and succeed with a lot less than you have available, but they don't buy from wholesalers.

        You don't need a lot of money to buy direct from genuine manufacturers in China and other countries.

        Be sure to avoid dealing with the traders on the big popular B2B sites where they pretend to be manufacturers. For some ideas and help you might like to have a look here: Ask Me Anything About Product Sourcing And Importing For Profit. ― Veteran Importer Here.

        You can ask me questions there about safe product sourcing and importing.
        Walter Hay.
        "If you think education is expensive - consider the cost of ignorance."
        Signature
        Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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  • Profile picture of the author chuff1026
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  • Profile picture of the author webbill
    It all depends on your type of niche and audience I am selling Clothing and last month did 10 k but that was december so most of the time its around 3 4 k per month.
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    • Profile picture of the author JoeyPal
      Originally Posted by webbill View Post

      It all depends on your type of niche and audience I am selling Clothing and last month did 10 k but that was december so most of the time its around 3 4 k per month.
      Hey WebBill,

      If you're dropshipping clothing online then you might want to check out Clothing Dropshippers - Automated Inventory Management

      I'm using this company and they have a great selection with even better prices per unit. To top if all off, they have a dropship robot! The robot updates your inventory on your site AUTOMATICALLY Yup.. so this means, if there's an item out of stock, it will remove it automatically for you from your site so you don't end up selling something that's out of stock. It's really great. Check them out and hope that helps!
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  • it takes some research to find the products and then create the website then get customers to buy from it.

    Find what you want to share and help people out with and that passion and interest in any particular subject will get others interested in buying the products you have to offer through dropshipping.
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  • Profile picture of the author RJKushner
    I've seen some people on here make decent money with drop shipping.

    It's hard to tell how quickly you will make money without knowing how exactly you plan on getting traffic. Since you are planning on using the Shopify platform there are a few ways I could think of on how to get traffic to your listings.

    One would be by advertising your products through Google ads and trying to get leads and conversions that way.

    Another way would to be create a Facebook page for your business and then trying to promote your products through Facebook ads.

    You can also check out Udemy.com and search for drop shipping and you'll find a lot of courses teaching the basics of drop shipping. If you search Google for Udemy coupons you should be able to find some that take 50 or so percent off most of the courses.
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  • Profile picture of the author westgateok
    I have had some success (this is only my 2nd month) but I am definitely turning a profit. I do some drop shipping, have a few of my own products that solved a problem for myself so I started selling it online. Aliexpress is an option, but I typically buy a fair amount of an item and wait for it to get here before I list it (the shipping times are nuts and definitely not the way to go for dropshipping)
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