Did $40k last month dropshipping, wanted to provide value to anyone who needs advice

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Hey Warriorforum, I've come a long way and wanted to help provide a little value to whoever needs it.

Some information to start

I spent ~$330 on FB ads before getting my first sale.

I only did about $3,000 my first month

Discouraged, I took a 2 and a half month break (I was in school and basically gave up for a little)

3 Major milestones I reached once I started up again

$300/day average

$1000/day average

$2000/day average (Very recent; did $10,066 from 6/21 to 6/25)

Heres a quick summary of my store-

I started my store late October like the 20th or something and it went nowhere fast. I decided to put some real effort into it in November and did only $3000 in revenue. I probably was just around break even due to the start-up costs and poor conversion rates at the time. I then gave it a break as the store wasn't my main source of income at the time it was more of a passion project as I was still a senior in high school. From December first through February 17th

I only did $1798.50 as i think most of that was organic ( https://imgur.com/a/42E2Tfq )

Then I picked it up again and starting working on it ( https://imgur.com/a/XsH8LE7 )

My explosive growth moment ( https://imgur.com/a/2Xd21Bd )

was primarily due to increased customer satisfaction, and a drastic increase in repeat customer rate. Customers no longer complained about the 3-4 week shipping time from China and accusing me of scamming them, instead started getting their orders in a few days after ordering allowing me to follow up with them offering them additional products. I was able to offer such quick shipping because a friend of mine owns fulfillment/dropshipping company in the U.S. which allowed me to get my customers their products quickly.

I am now working on further establishing my brand and perhaps running ads on more platforms.
#$40k #advice #dropshipping #month #provide #wanted
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  • Profile picture of the author dcmoses
    That's awesome! I want to start dropshipping but I'm afraid of receiving those same complaints in regards to slow shipping due to the items coming from China if I use Aliexpress. What is the name of your friend's dropshipping company?
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    • Profile picture of the author Pablo Visconti
      Originally Posted by dcmoses View Post

      That's awesome! I want to start dropshipping but I'm afraid of receiving those same complaints in regards to slow shipping due to the items coming from China if I use Aliexpress. What is the name of your friend's dropshipping company?
      Maybe you can do print on demand? Most of the sellers are based in the US or in Europe (in the case of Moteefe for example)
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  • Profile picture of the author Shubho C
    Wow.. that's nice bro.

    Truly an inspiration for other!
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  • Profile picture of the author Reddevil007
    What payment processor do you use for getting paid?
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  • Profile picture of the author Maxxx333
    Originally Posted by medellin93 View Post

    Hey Warriorforum, I've come a long way and wanted to help provide a little value to whoever needs it.

    Some information to start

    I spent ~$330 on FB ads before getting my first sale.

    I only did about $3,000 my first month

    Discouraged, I took a 2 and a half month break (I was in school and basically gave up for a little)

    3 Major milestones I reached once I started up again

    $300/day average

    $1000/day average

    $2000/day average (Very recent; did $10,066 from 6/21 to 6/25)

    Heres a quick summary of my store-

    I started my store late October like the 20th or something and it went nowhere fast. I decided to put some real effort into it in November and did only $3000 in revenue. I probably was just around break even due to the start-up costs and poor conversion rates at the time. I then gave it a break as the store wasn't my main source of income at the time it was more of a passion project as I was still a senior in high school. From December first through February 17th

    I only did $1798.50 as i think most of that was organic ( https://imgur.com/a/42E2Tfq )

    Then I picked it up again and starting working on it ( https://imgur.com/a/XsH8LE7 )

    My explosive growth moment ( https://imgur.com/a/2Xd21Bd )

    was primarily due to increased customer satisfaction, and a drastic increase in repeat customer rate. Customers no longer complained about the 3-4 week shipping time from China and accusing me of scamming them, instead started getting their orders in a few days after ordering allowing me to follow up with them offering them additional products. I was able to offer such quick shipping because a friend of mine owns fulfillment/dropshipping company in the U.S. which allowed me to get my customers their products quickly.

    I am now working on further establishing my brand and perhaps running ads on more platforms.
    This looks good and will definitely be inspiring for more than one in here!
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  • Profile picture of the author Pablo Visconti
    crazy stuff man. I spent $600 in fb ads before getting my first sale. I got 3 sales that same day and never made another sale ever.

    Had to shut the store down. And now i'm aiming for less :/
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    • Profile picture of the author afgan8448 mido
      hey!
      thank you for sharing with us.
      i just have have same questions:
      you told that you have spent 600 usd? is it for a month?
      as bigginer, how much i can spend everyday or monthly on facebook ads??
      thank you!
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  • Profile picture of the author Defmall
    Very encouraging.
    What is your website addy?
    I'd love to see what the store looks like...
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  • Profile picture of the author sets4life
    hi great review congrat not easy espacially when starting, what is the fullfilment company that your friend has..
    tks
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  • Profile picture of the author Importexport
    Originally Posted by medellin93 View Post

    Customers no longer complained about the 3-4 week shipping time from China and accusing me of scamming them, instead started getting their orders in a few days after ordering allowing me to follow up with them offering them additional products. I was able to offer such quick shipping because a friend of mine owns fulfillment/dropshipping company in the U.S. which allowed me to get my customers their products quickly.
    If you are using a fulfillment service in the USA, you are not really dropshipping. You must be buying inventory and shipping it to the fulfillment service who will send individual orders to your customers.

    That is a very normal service provided by fulfillment services, and is not dropshipping.

    Dropshipping is not carrying any inventory, and having the owner of the goods ship them direct to your customers.

    I am pleased to see that you have given up on dropshipping from China, which is a sure fire way to get unhappy customers, and instead adopting a more reliable method of getting happy customers.

    See my AMA thread for help on how to safely source and import: Ask Me Anything About Product Sourcing And Importing For Profit. ― Veteran Importer Here. (

    Walter Hay
    Importexport
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    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 MSutton
      Originally Posted by Importexport View Post

      If you are using a fulfillment service in the USA, you are not really dropshipping. You must be buying inventory and shipping it to the fulfillment service who will send individual orders to your customers.

      Dropshipping is not carrying any inventory, and having the owner of the goods ship them direct to your customers.
      Walter is 100% correct. But using a fulfillment company is kinda like dropshipping and technically it is considered a "drop shipment", it's just not the kind of "drop shipment" people think of in the Internet Marketing world.

      Using a fulfillment service can be a good way to go if you have the $$$ to hire one, as not only do you have to have $$$ for inventory purchases, but also fulfillment companies can tend to have rather high fees and shipping prices to cover the cost of renting the space to you and paying for the materials and $$$LABOR$$$.

      Using a fulfillment company (aka 3PL - 3rd part logistics company) is not a good way to go when your margins aren't so high. And you have to do your research because there are a lot of bad ones out there. LOTS. 3PL has exploded in the past 3-5 years and when that happens you always have a bunch of bad players coming into the mix. And the legit ones don't come cheap.
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  • Profile picture of the author MakerHai
    Nice job man! Can you share with us your store website?
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    The key component to this success story is that the OP switched from the dropshipping model to a fulfillment center.

    One of the things we tell people when they choose the AliExpress dropship model is that a whole lot of customers will be dissatisfied with the amount of time it takes to receive orders, so it is extremely important to quickly take note of the things that sell well. Then, get those items manufactured for you as your own brand and buy them in light bulk, using a fulfillment center in the country where your customers are to pack and ship the orders.

    Dropshipping from China is fine for figuring out what sells and at what price but it rarely is a long term model for success - especially for niches that have the type of base who will be repeat customers.

    Dropshipping does work extremely well when your customers and suppliers are in the same country. If you are selling to the U.S., that means finding manufacturers or real distributors in the U.S. who will give you wholesale pricing and dropship to your customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author klik sandwich
    Hi Medellin 93 - I have a question about dropshipping items on ebay. I'm not sure if that's within your area of expertise, but it sounds like it, so I would like to ask - My question is: I have heard that ebay is enforcing their rule where you have to state where your dropshipped item is coming from.

    So, if you dropship say from Walmart (US), and they have multiple shipping locations/warehouses, how do you know where your item will be shipped from ? Or, how do you handle this problem ?

    great info, btw
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    • Profile picture of the author medellin93
      I actually haven't dropshipped through ebay so I'm not quite sure. Let me know if you can't find an answer to your question and I will reach out to some of my mates and see what they say.
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    • Profile picture of the author MSutton
      Originally Posted by klik sandwich View Post

      So, if you dropship say from Walmart (US)
      Using a retailer as your supplier isn't really what is considered dropshipping since the retailer does not know you are using them as a wholesaler and they do not exist for that purpose. They won't ship your items with a blind address or unbranded box or invoice.

      What you are describing is called retail arbitrage, when you take advantage of sale or clearance prices from a retailer and sell them as a retailer to consumers on a marketplace like ebay or even on your own site (although that would never work that well, usually).

      Dropshipping entails finding a wholesale supplier who gives you below-street retail prices and you markup from there. they then ship in a blind box with a blind return address or with your brand.

      If your supplier is a retailer, 99.999999999% of the time you have to sell at way above going street retail price to just break even and that means you better be one heck of a marketer to get people to buy stuff that high or have some other extenuating circumstance that allows you to command higher then street retail prices.

      Also, walmart (or any other retailer that has multiple warehouses) never usually tell which warehouse location your item will be shipping from, so you're outta luck there. The only think you can deduce is, if you don't pay sales tax, that usually tells you that the item isn't being shipped from the US state where you are having the item shipping, but that's about all you'll ever be able to deduce. You usually will never know where your item is shipped from until a tracking # is posted.
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  • Profile picture of the author joren
    Here is e actual results and as a newbie, I'm am happy to hear it can be done, something I can look into,
    thank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author deprhino
    He is not going to give up his supplier/dropshipper. What for? To increase his competition and to have you snoop around to find what products his is selling so you can copy him?
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  • Profile picture of the author techwizard
    For people asking what is the website URL? Really??


    Good luck OP. Can you share some details on your scaling method? Was it a vertical or horizontal process. I'm sure you already know this but try to increase more your AOV. You seem to hit a good targeting combination, I would recommend setting multiple upsells with your products.


    Best of luck!
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