Dropshipping? Niches?

I cant find a place to start....its frustrating haha

Run as fast as you can!

Don't even think of importing branded goods. They will be confiscated at the border, and you can be subject to heavy penalties.

If you are drophipping, your customer will not get the goods and you will get bad feedback. Their name and address will be flagged by Customs and every item sent to them for years to come will be delayed for inspection.

You have highlighted one of the major problems in dealing with suppliers on AliExpress. Many of them sell big brand goods or knockoffs, any of which will get you into trouble if you import them. If you are lucky you will just lose your money.

My question is that if a B2B sourcing website allows such sellers, how good is their verification process? They know it is illegal to import such goods.

In fact I know how good their verification process is, as well as the same process used by almost every major B2B sourcing site. All they do is check that the business really exists. What a great indicator of trustworthiness!

In case you think that buying from Gold or Premium suppliers on some sourcing sites gives you greater protection; think again. After the normal "verification" process they can buy their way to the higher status, for amounts ranging from $2,999 (Alibaba) to $5,480 (Global Sources). There is no extra checking on them unless they are willing to pay more, in which case some real checks will be made.

One of the extra checks is what they call a credit report. That is nothing like what Westerners would expect to see in a credit report, it just shows how much their paid up capital is.

Time and again I see people without any real knowledge of the risk in sourcing overseas get burned; sometimes for big bucks.

To add to what others have said and what you have figured out, finding the niche to target is probably the hardest part of the entire drop shipping process and where you will and should spend a good chunk of your time. Remember, niche doesn't necessarily mean, what products, but going even narrower within that product area. Using the example above, instead of doing a computer store, you niche down and do the hard drive super store. It also goes to things like service. For example, Best Buy and Amazon have cheaper prices on stereo equipment, but people still buy from Crutchfield for the great customer experience. I sell coffee online (a ridiculously over saturated market) and do ok because I have some very unique coffees that are only sold at a few of the high end restaurants and you can only get through me.

That being said, your profitable niches will not be the over saturated products like you are looking at. Electronics can be a huge dead-end due to high competition, low margins and lots of price transparency. Unless you are a a big retailer, or authorized apple reseller, most people that buy wholesale are doing it as part of value added services. i.e. I am buying a computer so I can charge you for the install services. If you look at most successful niche stores they are in things you would never have considered.

As for shipping from China, that is a no no. Unless you are providing a super deep discounts customers expect things to ship within 3 days and get there within 7. If you are going to be buying from China then you look for the best deal and take inventory in, or you find a local (US Based) distributor that can drop ship on your behalf. I took inventory on one product I sell because it is so small it fits in my closet and I can ship with first class mail. Everything else (including my coffee) I drop ship from distributors on the mainland.