dropshipping and ebay

I agree that the return per hour for time spent on selling dropshipped products is not worth the effort. I also understand that from darbok's perspective any profit is better than nothing.

For those people who are not so poor and could find a few hundred dollars to put into a business the most profitable use of your investment (TIME and MONEY) is to buy a small inventory direct from overseas manufacturers.

The profit margins are such that even on a small investment you can earn a huge rate per hour. I would never look at a product unless I could sell it at landed cost x 250%, but I often made a lot more.

You can find manufacturers who will quote an MOQ of 100 items and by taking the right approach you can get them to agree to supply 10. For a few hundred dollars you can import a small quantity and make a profit that dropshippers would only dream about. You then put the money back into more inventory and you are on your way to building a highly profitable business.

If you make one sale with a profit of $100 after all costs, that beats slaving away to make 10 or even 20 sales to earn $100. You might get it automated, but there is still more work involved, and there is more risk.

You won't find wholesalers on the big sourcing sites willing to negotiate small orders at such low prices; you have to go direct to the manufacturers, and you will have trouble finding them on those popular sites.

I learned my lesson about doing the math, now that I have a better understanding of the math... my goal is to sell small things till I get to the point I dont have to pre ship items to get paid then try to find items of a higher payout for a better profit margin. I can't do expensive items and having to prepay for them because I'm simply poor.

darbok, I just started this dropshipping business too on eBay.

The way I see it, I don't need to make any remarkable profit for now, breaking even would be also OK, but what I'm trying to do is LEARN the business...

And btw, put more effort on the marketing side. Don't bother yourself with the profit for now. Once you master the marketing aspect of the business, you're through...

Hi Sean,

I am not saying this applies to you but there seems to be a fixation on volume. I see people quoting their huge turnover figures but they don't often quote their profits.

Business is all about profit, and in my opinion profit begins with buying. If you pay too much you obviously can't make so much profit.

That is why importing direct is appealing to more and more people. The profit margins when buying direct from overseas manufacturers absolutely eclipse the pathetic margins usually quoted by dropshippers.

The result is that total profit on a small turnover often far exceeds total profit on a huge turnover. I for one like the idea of bigger profits for less work.

I also like the idea of being in control of my own business rather than rely on some wholesaler for building and maintaining my customer goodwill. How many posts are there on the forum in which members have bewailed being let down by their dropship suppliers?