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Dropshipping in the UK

by Walshie1987
9 replies
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Hi,

I'm newly registered to WF but have read many articles here before. I thought I'd actually post as I am trying to get into dropshipping in the UK. I run a few affiliate marketing websites and have earned a few thousand from them in the last few years. But commission is low and trying to rank when a site is full of affiliate links and in many cases duplicated content is very hard work.

I'm now looking into dropshipping to try and make a full time living out of it and wondered if any UK users could give me any pointers? I've done some research and have setup a shopify account and I've also been playing around with Oberlo. I like the look of shopify, it seems very simple (compared to magento which I'm used to) but as most of the products on Oberlo are in China the leads times are either too long (in my opinion) or the shipping is too high.

I have a niche that I really enjoy and it allows me to start off small and grow the number of products with ease. I just don't know where to find the best dropshippers - I've looked at goodbang.com but I know some users on here recommend against it, plus the prices are already quite high so it would be hard to compete.

Any tips on strategy or how to find good dropshippers, or even any names of good dropshippers would be very much appreciated!

Cheers
Chris
#dropshipping
  • Profile picture of the author freddyhawkz
    Hey Chris,

    You can use AliExpress to find drop ship products for your website. I believe, the products you found through Oberlo are from Alibaba. I know the delivery time is very long, but there are sellers who will ship to UK for free.
    Go to Aliexpress.com and make sure the Deliver to option at the top right hand corner of the page is set to UK.
    Enter a search term related to the niche you chose.
    Check the option Free Delivery just above the search results.

    You can find an interesting dropshipping post by Yaros here

    All the best for your dropshipping business.

    Regards
    Fred
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  • Profile picture of the author Walshie1987
    Thanks Fred, I actually spent a bit of time reading that article and as a result bought his plugin! $71 seems a bargain, it's better then the shopify monthly fee, plus I've used WordPress many times before.

    I'm going to start small and just try to get things rolling. I may have been too concerned about the lead times, I'm just impatient and want items the next day when I order then (I think Amazon got my in this mindset!) but many sites with long lead times seem to make many sales. I suppose the cost saving outweighs the need for instant delivery.

    When I get the site up and running (hopefully this week) I'll post a few updates.

    Cheers
    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author freddyhawkz
      Hi Chris,

      Amazon has really corrupted our patience by delivering products in a day. Even I tend to get irritated when the delivery takes more than 2 days.

      But if you are in a exclusive niche like artifacts or collectibles, you can use this to your advantage. Like MValmont mentioned, you can make your products seem high in demand and use it as a reason for the long delivery period. This will in turn bring you more sales.

      Regards
      Fred
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  • Profile picture of the author KeyEnterprise
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  • Profile picture of the author MValmont
    Don't worry about the shipping time. If you select Epacket, it will take 2-3 weeks for the shipping. If you do your marketing right and you play the ¨These products are so high in demand that it will take 2-3 weeks¨ people won't care at all.

    I would also use Shopified app instead of Oberlo. Shopified app is 10 times better than Oberlo.
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    • Profile picture of the author Walshie1987
      Thanks MValmont. I've started selecting epacket only. I'm just waiting for my license key for the Alidropship plugin I purchased for wordpress but from what I can see from it so far the plugin looks great!

      I'll see how I get on with WordPress and may look at shopify in future.

      Great time for the lead times, never thought of putting it like that

      Cheers
      Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    If AliExpress is not to your liking, why not do dropshipping the correct way and contact the actual brands to see if they will dropship for you? More and more, brands are dropshipping if they feel compfortable that they are dealing with a professional with a decent website.

    If the brand will not dropship, ask them who their big buyers/distributors are in your country and contact those distributors. Distributors almost always will dropship.

    Most of all, do not use a dropship directory and do not rely on finding real dropshippers through Google searches. More often than not, you'll end up with a supplier who is really a retailer, pretending to be a wholesaler, and you will never be able to be competitive on price.
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    • Profile picture of the author Walshie1987
      Thanks Dave, I'll give this a go. As I'm used to getting affiliate links I tend to just use google as you said. I need to get out of the "affiliate" mindset as this is a different game - and at first glance seems to be much more rewarding!

      I'll get contacting suppliers!

      Cheers
      Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author cryptogld
    In 2016, the UK's internet business industry was worth $153 billion making it an awesome nation to begin a dropshipping UK business. Truth be told, in 2016, web based business deals in the UK developed by 16% demonstrating that now's an ideal opportunity to begin offering items on the web. With regards to piece of the pie, people offering on the web just make up 18% of every single online retailer in the UK which features space for new business people to come in and increment their piece of the overall industry. Those with restricted web based business or business foundation would ease be able to into the business through the minimal effort dropshipping plan of action. The normal web based business site in the UK changes over at 3.6% on a desktop which is better than expected making it more probable for a business person to have the capacity to pitch to their crowd. Be that as it may, those in the UK dropshipping items aren't restricted to their nation as they would sell be able to products globally with negligible extra sending costs.
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    • Profile picture of the author Walshie1987
      Great stats. I want a piece of that $153bn

      Cheers
      Chris
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