Need help dropshipping pleeze!!!

1 year ago

Originally Posted by CoffeeFan

I live in a small town with next to none interesting jobs and am desperate for income to pay my rent, any help appreciated! My little side business isn't attracting clients.
I have an etsy store, ofhandmade things I make, hasn't made sales, I think there are too many people on there. So much hype. All thesevideos about printing mugs but there are 10,000 people selling mugs on there.

When the pandemic hit, I had $600 in sales in a few days or a week!! Just ordinary grocery store stuff. But now the same online store, similar to ebay, no sales or one $20 sale a month. What can be dropshipped?

Hey there...

I sell on Etsy... yes, there are a lot of people selling the "Same" thing, but you have to somehow separate yourself, and I'll get to that... but for starters, lets look at what was working for you. Do you still have the same items listed? did you change anything?

Selling on Etsy... success is found pretty much at a real basic level... and that level is how your listing is presented. so someone searches X and a list of X appears. Everyone selling has the same fundamental elements of a listing to draw a customer and make a sale. So specifically there is an Image, the product name, the price, and a discount of "Free Shipping".

if you goto my thread on eBay: ( https://www.warriorforum.com/warrior...days-ebay.html ) and in the first post there are links to all of the Main content of the thread. The topics of "Photoggraphy" and "Title" apply to you selling on Etsy.

Specifically the use of a white background. a case and point. Do a search on Etsy for "Cat Toys", and then scroll down and look for "Bestseller" with VERY FEW exceptions if you look at this search term or any other..."Bestsellers" will have WHITE backgrounds.

As goof ball as this sounds... The concept has been tested by any and all major Brands... eBay and Amazon, just short of require it ( actually, I think Amazon does ) There is a BOOST in sales conversions with just this little element.

Your Product title..I personally have been paying attention to this with my listings...the first 3 words... I will say that again the FIRST THREE WORDS - need to very clearly describe what you are selling. Why this is - Their numbers not mine states that 61% of sales made on Etsy are from Mobile devices. Smaller screens means the Product titles are cut shorter usaully 3 words followed by "..." right?

Again use a search to find "Bestsellers" and look at the first 3 words of the listings. Between the photo and the title, it is very clear what the potential buyer is clicking on. things like Made in USA, or Handmade this or that.. should be placed to the end of a title vs the front. make sense?

So for Etsy specifically... you can read this post I left about specifically how Etsy works and what you need to focus on: ( https://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...l#post11683716 )

Another interesting read ( I think anyways ) is the posiibility of expanding to other platforms... Another post on that: ( https://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...l#post11697039 ) for YOU, I might suggest Facebook Marketplace. Once you have the store set up - its pretty easy ) you can then join groups that would have an interest in what you sell collectively, or a single item.

Now on the subject of so many people selling the same thing.... they may ALL be coffee cups, but its not the "Mug" its whats ON the mug.

So maybe give a try at being "different". What experience could you share in words that someone else might relate to? Im thinking "Small Town" right? Do a search and see what "Small Town Mugs" there are... I noticed none say "Bestseller" do another search for "Small Town Boy" and dang if it aint about crickets... Just thinking out of the box "Small Town Dad" and if "Small Town Boy" was crickets... "Dad" is absolute silence. "Mom" aint much louder... and I didnt even start looking at "Grandma" and "Grandpa" or Pop or Nana or any of that.

Instead of chasing dollars and trying to be like everyone else... BE YOU... do what you know best... you might think its silly... but there are plenty of other people out there JUST LIKE YOU...looking for something, that embodies who they are - who YOU are. Be true to yourself, and it might just get interesting

And please.. just give me a "Watch This!!!!" before you start!

Hope that Helps! and any questions, I will be around

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CoffeeFan 1 year ago

Thank you.
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mairsol

1 year ago

Its better to work on your own brand and start working on its ranking

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crownecom

1 year ago

Try to sell product from lowe's, walmart or homedepot, look for those clearance items and list on ebay

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dave_hermansen

1 year ago

Originally Posted by crownecom

Try to sell product from lowe's, walmart or homedepot, look for those clearance items and list on ebay

That IS NOT dropshipping (it's "arbitrage") and is a sure-fire way to not only get your eBay account banned eventually, but also is against the rules of every single payment processor I know of (including PayPal).

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savidge4

1 year ago

Originally Posted by dave_hermansen

That IS NOT dropshipping (it's "arbitrage") and is a sure-fire way to not only get your eBay account banned eventually, but also is against the rules of every single payment processor I know of (including PayPal).

What? How exactly is this against the rules of every single payment processor? Buying low and selling high regardless of the place the item is purchased is the life blood of eBay ( minus theft of said item ) this will NOT get your eBay account banned - TRUST ME.

Maybe read the post again? buy an item at a store... then list it on eBay. As in physically have the product in your hand, and physically ship it to the buyer when its sold.

And You are correct, this is not drop shipping... but far far far from bad bad bad and losing your accounts.

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DABK

1 year ago

A few years ago, I came across a bunch of people who claimed they did arbitrage.

What they did was to find products on sale on amazon.com, promote them, get someone to pay them, then, after the payment cleared, place an order on amazon.com with the delivery address of the person who paid them. They sold the item for more than they paid amazon.com.

A couple of them complained a while later that amazon.com banned their accounts.

So, they called it arbitrage, but, since they never actually owned the product, it was not.

One of them, friend of one of my relatives, claimed he was making 3 to 4k a month doing that. Also one of the people who now hates amazon.com for its willingness to ban honest, hard-working people's accounts.

I've never done it, they never showed me their amazon.com accounts. But some of them tried to sell me their course (one was $99 but I could have had it for a measly $27, if only I had bought in the next 5 hours... timer started the second I got on the landing page.)

Originally Posted by savidge4

Maybe read the post again?

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dave_hermansen

1 year ago

Originally Posted by DABK

A few years ago, I came across a bunch of people who claimed they did arbitrage.

What they did was to find products on sale on amazon.com, promote them, get someone to pay them, then, after the payment cleared, place an order on amazon.com with the delivery address of the person who paid them. They sold the item for more than they paid amazon.com.

A couple of them complained a while later that amazon.com banned their accounts.

So, they called it arbitrage, but, since they never actually owned the product, it was not.

One of them, friend of one of my relatives, claimed he was making 3 to 4k a month doing that. Also one of the people who now hates amazon.com for its willingness to ban honest, hard-working people's accounts.

I've never done it, they never showed me their amazon.com accounts. But some of them tried to sell me their course (one was $99 but I could have had it for a measly $27, if only I had bought in the next 5 hours... timer started the second I got on the landing page.)

While it is not true arbitrage, it is best called "dropship arbitrage" and no, "buying low and selling high" is not the only thing that matters. What most marketplaces and certainly all payment processors are against is buying at retail, shipping from that original retail establishment and selling for a higher retail price to morons who don't know any better. You are exploiting the stupidity of the dumbest of the dumb instead of buying at a wholesale price and selling at a market retail price.

The real problem comes when someone receives a product with an Amazon or Home Depot or Walmart label on it and they go look up the price on those sites and see that they were totally ripped off. That blows back on the platform they bought it from as well as the payment processing company you used.

You may not have been caught yet, but I assure you, it is totally against their policies, as DABK demonstrated when accounts were banned.

Now, if you are doing true arbitrage - going into retail stores (or ordering online), purchasing things yourself (or shipping to yourself if bought from a retail store online), stocking them and shipping them, then there is no problem. That is true arbitrage and it is a very legitimate way of making money if you have the money and room for inventory. That was not the premise of this post. It was about dropshipping and dropshipping from a third party retail establishment is not condoned.

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boblev 1 year ago

I love comments like this

"What most marketplaces and certainly all payment processors are against is buying at retail, shipping from that original retail establishment and selling for a higher retail price to morons who don't know any better. You are exploiting the stupidity of the dumbest of the dumb instead of buying at a wholesale price and selling at a market retail price."

It's funny how drop-shippers get a bad rap, but you can clean out the shelves of your local store at retail, box and ship it to amazon FBA - mark it up 100% , give it a fancy name like "replens" and you're hailed as a super ethical, hard working home business owner.

"Most" problems associate with dropshipping can be alleviated by promptly issuing refunds when warranted and letting the customer keep the product. (that isn't always possible on high dollar items)

and

If you get a complaint about price gouging, explain that you would be happy to issue a refund for the difference + 5%.It's only happened to me a few times and I explained that I didn't have the item in stock and had to use a competitor to fulfill the purchase rather than cancel. I have never gotten any negative feedback over it.

Anyways, your post so far are very informative and you clearly have a lot of experience.

Peace

Bob
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ashtondunhill

1 year ago

Originally Posted by DABK

A few years ago, I came across a bunch of people who claimed they did arbitrage.

What they did was to find products on sale on amazon.com, promote them, get someone to pay them, then, after the payment cleared, place an order on amazon.com with the delivery address of the person who paid them. They sold the item for more than they paid amazon.com.

A couple of them complained a while later that amazon.com banned their accounts.

So, they called it arbitrage, but, since they never actually owned the product, it was not.

One of them, friend of one of my relatives, claimed he was making 3 to 4k a month doing that. Also one of the people who now hates amazon.com for its willingness to ban honest, hard-working people's accounts.

I've never done it, they never showed me their amazon.com accounts. But some of them tried to sell me their course (one was $99 but I could have had it for a measly $27, if only I had bought in the next 5 hours... timer started the second I got on the landing page.)

One of the biggest problems people had when it came to this was using their prime account to get free shipping. This is how Amazon caught on.

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dave_hermansen

1 year ago

Originally Posted by savidge4

What? How exactly is this against the rules of every single payment processor? Buying low and selling high regardless of the place the item is purchased is the life blood of eBay ( minus theft of said item ) this will NOT get your eBay account banned - TRUST ME.

Maybe read the post again? buy an item at a store... then list it on eBay. As in physically have the product in your hand, and physically ship it to the buyer when its sold.

And You are correct, this is not drop shipping... but far far far from bad bad bad and losing your accounts.

The OP's post was about dropshipping - not selling things that they stock and ship, regardless of where they purchased them.

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savidge4

1 year ago

Originally Posted by dave_hermansen

The OP's post was about dropshipping - not selling things that they stock and ship, regardless of where they purchased them.

Thats all fine and dandy if they post you were responding to was from the OP... but it was someone else adding their 2 cents worth. And regardless of all of the apparent smoke and mirrors and shenanigans... going to a store and buying Clearance to sell on eBay is not going to get your account closed... I sure hope not anyways because then I am going to have to find my wife a new job.

I understand what @crownecom was saying because it is essence ( minus the smoke, mirrors, and shenanigans ) it's the same business model for my eBay stores, Amazon Stores, and Facebook Marketplace store. Buy a product, have it in hand, and ship / deliver the item to the buyer.

January and February are OPTIMAL times to be stopping through Lowes and Walmart for deep discounted product... Every year its the same thing... A retail Arbitrage secret if you will.

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dave_hermansen

1 year ago

Originally Posted by savidge4

Thats all fine and dandy if they post you were responding to was from the OP... but it was someone else adding their 2 cents worth. And regardless of all of the apparent smoke and mirrors and shenanigans... going to a store and buying Clearance to sell on eBay is not going to get your account closed... I sure hope not anyways because then I am going to have to find my wife a new job.

I understand what @crownecom was saying because it is essence ( minus the smoke, mirrors, and shenanigans ) it's the same business model for my eBay stores, Amazon Stores, and Facebook Marketplace store. Buy a product, have it in hand, and ship / deliver the item to the buyer.

January and February are OPTIMAL times to be stopping through Lowes and Walmart for deep discounted product... Every year its the same thing... A retail Arbitrage secret if you will.

Nowhere in @crowncom's post did he say to physically go to those stores, buy the items and ship them yourself. His response was directly made to the OP's question about dropshipping, so it was only natural for me to infer that was what he meant - dropshipping from those places directly to a customer. I don't have to tell you that there are many people on this forum who think that is "dropshipping" and a legitimate way of selling to the public (it is not). There have been plenty of threads here about it.

I think I already have intimated that true arbitrage - buying at clearance and shipping yourself is a legitimate eCommerce strategy. Just read the post two above your latest one.

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Kay King

1 year ago

Maybe read the post again?

That post says 'try to sell' - 'look for clearance items' and 'list on ebay'....nothing about 'buying' it before listing it. Caught my attention, too.

Perhaps 'buy' is inferred.

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savidge4

1 year ago

Actually "Buy" is a bit more than inferred. Lets put this idea to practice... "Clearance" items at Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowes... are items that are priced as such in store ONLY. There are a ton of Youtube videos that go over this concept.

So you can walk into any of these 3 stores in particular and find the yellow marked clearance sections and find items ( sometimes ) on deep discount. IF you were to look up the item using the stores app you would find that they are generally if not always listed at retail, and not the "Clearance" price. Neither of the 3 do "Clearance" on their websites.

Another hurdle in this is the 2 hardware stores in question do not allow for "Gift" purchase... meaning you could not "Arbitrage" IE buy from one site and sell on another.

Interestingly enough, im not so sure the term for that is exactly "Arbitrage" because the act of going into the store and buying the item, to then list and sell on eBay or Facebook, or Amazon is in itself called "Retail Arbitrage".

The process of buying of selling on one site and buying and shipping from another ( in my book at least ) would be a form of drop shipping. One that will indeed get accounts closed etc over time. A shady form.. but a form none the less.

Hope that clears things up

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Kay King

1 year ago

Below is an excerpt from an unapproved thread by the same poster (unapproved due to promotional content) - it explains the 'concept' mentioned above. Too complex for my small brain.

hi, i offer walmart 15% (8%tax included) say u buy walmart item $100, u pay me $108*0.85= 91.8,
orders will be placed within 2-3 days

for homedpot, i offer 4% (tax exempted), say the item is $100, u pay me $96 without tax. so u get discounted for every item u purchase.

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savidge4

1 year ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

Below is an excerpt from an unapproved thread by the same poster (unapproved due to promotional content) - it explains the 'concept' mentioned above. Too complex for my small brain.

And again... you cant use this in particular with an online purchase and send as a "gift" read this: ( https://www.homedepot.com/c/Pro_TaxExempt ) the item will be sent to the address on file... How do I know? because #1 I have one such account, and #2 I order online for delivery, and in store pick-up. They are VERY particular as to who comes in to the store to pick-up... and I can only ship to the address on file... and again from experience trying to ship things direct to jobsite vs the office became a whole thing.

The extreme unfortunate part in all of this.. is the OP obviously lives in the States... goes into these stores to make the purchase... probably gets a Veterans discount on top of what is mentioned here ( 10% for those keeping a score card ) and then ships the item to said customer.... They are obviously being paid electronically and if you read my thread here: ( https://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...le-2022-a.html ) you would understand that anything over $600.00 paid to you through a payment service is going to kick a 1099 at the end of the year... meaning the IRS is on the other side of this "Hussle" to grab its share.

The OP is headed to a financial nightmare. And not just any nightmare... an IRS Nightmare - the WORST of the worst.

In all instances the OP is BUYING the goods... having them in their grubby little scheming paws and then selling the product... Avoiding State taxes and thinking they are side stepping Federal taxes... this gets you either State or Federal Penitentiary time all day long.

But regardless of who what why and how... this is Retail Arbitrage as a worst case example, and not drop shipping.

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Kay King

1 year ago

is the OP obviously lives in the States

Yes, the OP does - but the person with the 'plan' is posting from Hong Kong.

Sometimes trying to understand things here I feel like the wading is just getting deeper....at least this one made me think.

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Brian Black

1 year ago

Live broadcast your manual process every day, if the finished product is good and stick to it, someone will buy it directly.

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Cabsshop

1 year ago

I have been reading forums and community messages and the mood of shop owners is not bright as the online sales have come down drastically no matter on what platform you sell. That is because of COVID relaxation, people flocking to Brick and Mortar stores. Hence in addition to all the feedback received about product and listing etc, it is important to note that the online sales are generally low as compared to previous year.

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dave_hermansen

1 year ago

Originally Posted by Cabsshop

I have been reading forums and community messages and the mood of shop owners is not bright as the online sales have come down drastically no matter on what platform you sell. That is because of COVID relaxation, people flocking to Brick and Mortar stores. Hence in addition to all the feedback received about product and listing etc, it is important to note that the online sales are generally low as compared to previous year.

Well, it's also important to point out that in many parts of the world, the only you really could shop was online in 2020 and 2021. Many websites saw MASSIVE gains in sales those two years and now have returned to their regular sales patterns, similar to 2019.

So, while some may see that as a "loss", it's just the economy slowly returning to normal. Count those two years as anomalies and years of unexpected abundance if your website was in the type of niche that did well during the crux of COVID (i.e. selling stuff you can do at home, especially).

Anyone who expected that boom to continue in perpetuity was kidding themselves. I figure 10% growth year over year (eliminating the last 2 years as outliers) and with our stores that have been around for a number of years, it's about right - 10% growth vs. 2019 numbers (a little more than that since we got 2 extra years of rankings boosts).

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spartan14

1 year ago

My friend go on youtube and search for this channels : incognito money ,wisdom speak ,franklyn hatchet .These guys have awesome step by step guides on how you can make money with affiluate marketing .Now you dont havr an excuse to make money

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Seven Chan

1 year ago

how about now.i am an amazon seller.but have same stituation now

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savidge4 1 year ago

Originally Posted by Seven Chan

how about now.i am an amazon seller.but have same stituation now

How long have you been a Amazon Seller?

2020 and 2021 where by far my best years reselling online. To compare THIS year 2022 to either of those years is... well... depressing LOL. But going big picture and looking at 2019 or 2016 02 2014 - 2022 is on track to being "Normal" and depending on the year I look at, maybe a bit above normal.

So to think that the market is dropping as compared to last year is just not a good - an accurate way of looking at things. The flip side of this is - people are now far more conditioned to buy online vs prior to 2020 - so with the right targeting and product selection you should be alright.
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