Why I prefer eCommerce over other types of Internet Marketing...

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I think the eCommerce subsection of the Warrior Forum was created about one month ago now.. I was excited when I first saw it go up because I've made most of money via eCommerce and I think it's the best way to make money online... I was looking forward to speaking to others who feel the same.

Unfortunately it seems that there aren't all that many people posting in this section.

While the Main Internet Marketing forums here typically have thousands and thousands of members discussing how to make money online, this section usually has less then 100.

I thought I would share why I prefer eCommerce over other types of internet marketing (which I still do participate in).

Hopefully this will help other members see why this is a great way to make real money that many members here are missing out on...

So why do I prefer starting an eCommerce business over any other type of online business?

• You can get started with a very small out of pocket investment
• You can manage the business in your spare time
• You do not need years of schooling or experience to succeed
• You will be building a real business of great financial value that you can sell for A LOT of money in as little as 12 - 18 months
• The techniques you learn for building your business can be repeated over and over until you reach your target level of income
• What you learn in eCommerce can be applied when starting other types of Internet Marketing businesses if you want to expand your income channels

I will tell you right now most of the preconceived ideas about starting an eCommerce business are totally false..

• You do not need to pay a web designer thousands of dollars to build you an online store
• You do not need to invest thousands of dollars into SEO and PPC campaigns
• You do not need to purchase ANY inventory to get started
• You do not need to sell a unique product with no competition

If anyone has ANY questions please ask me.

If anyone has already found success in eCommerce please post about it.

Let's get this eCommerce section filled up with people who are making some REAL money online.
#drop shipping #ecommerce #internet #marketing #shopify
  • Profile picture of the author pavv
    Great post Alksense! I agree I'd love to have more people on here!

    Ecommerce is one of my favourite things to do online too. Like most people I make money a few other ways like internet marketing, web development and seo services but I'm focusing a lot of attention on my own ecommerce business because it's snowballing in growth.

    I love reading success stories, they motivate the hell out of me. I'm far from driving a Lamborghini but I'd say I'm a fair way ahead of most people on this forum in terms of ecommerce. So here is my story......

    I started my first ecommerce store in 2008. I ran it for about 18 months before selling it. I worked a full time 9-5 job the whole time. It was selling around $3k per month and almost double that in Dec for Xmas. I did a lot of things wrong which equated to making basically nothing, but I learnt heaps. I pulled roughly $3k out of the business for the whole 18 months and I put a lot of man hours in.

    Since I did not have capital I would accept orders on my site, then roughly once per week I would place the order with the supplier and ship it to my house. I would pack orders of a evening and post them on my lunch break at work. While the profit margins on the product were quite good it took a lot of my time and the double shipping was killing most of the profits.

    It came to a point where it got far too busy to meet the demands of the business in my spare time, but it wasn't making anywhere near enough money to live off - so I sold in 2010.

    I had a break for about a year and got back into it with a like minded business partner (my bro). We started a few stores and only drop shipped. It made some money but not much since it wasn't our main focus, we both had other things on the go.

    This year we decided to ramp up operations significantly all while creating a scalable business model that runs (mostly) on autopilot. Before entering a niche we research it thoroughly. We only drop ship. We setup a store, drive traffic, conversion rate optimize, outsource order processing and customer service and move on to the next store. We have built a team of employees who handle jobs like writing, adwords management, customer service, data entry and web development. We have documentation and systems in place so everything is getting easier and faster. When can have an ecommerce store setup in under one day including all products added, design, shipping pages etc.We are just using WooCommerce now - it's so damn easy and cheap.

    So I don't really want to disclose specific figures but we have been experiencing double digit growth for most months of this year. Our work mainly consists of growing as the stores essentially run on their own once set up and running - we just oversee everything and manage training/workers.

    I think anyone can be successful with ecommerce but you have to treat it like a real business. It seems most people have just 1 or 2 stores and make a little bit of money. They treat it like a hobby. If you want to make big money you need to get serious. Hold yourself accountable and focus your efforts on the bottom line (growing revenue and profit). Don't stuff around on the little tasks - you can outsource these to very skilled people for very little money. You don't need to be a professional website developer, adwords gun, or customer service guru. You need to focus on the bigger picture.

    Anyway I'll leave it at that, I've gotten carried away with this post but hopefully this motivates/educates someone about how good ecommerce can be!!
    Signature
    Let Me Build Your Ecommerce Store!

    New to eCommerce? Please take a look at my product which teaches you how to find and research a product/niche, then how to build your own store.
    [WSO]I Made $70,689.71 Sales In The Last 31 Days, Let Me Show You How To Do It Too
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7434603].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author tepublico
      You use woocomerce
      before that how many ecomerce cms tested ?

      I will try now Woocomerce, I hope it works fine on SEO and Multilingual stores.
      I Work a lot over Joomla, but is to many time consuming.
      Magento and prestashop look fine, but if you need a SEO-Multilingual Store,
      Really I dont Know how Magento or Prestashop gonna work :/

      What do you Know about it ?
      Best SEO-Mutilingula Store, With a Nice convertion % ?


      Sorry about my english Iam native spanish spoken XD

      ---

      Originally Posted by pavv View Post

      Great post Alksense! I agree I'd love to have more people on here!

      Ecommerce is one of my favourite things to do online too. Like most people I make money a few other ways like internet marketing, web development and seo services but I'm focusing a lot of attention on my own ecommerce business because it's snowballing in growth.

      I love reading success stories, they motivate the hell out of me. I'm far from driving a Lamborghini but I'd say I'm a fair way ahead of most people on this forum in terms of ecommerce. So here is my story......

      I started my first ecommerce store in 2008. I ran it for about 18 months before selling it. I worked a full time 9-5 job the whole time. It was selling around $3k per month and almost double that in Dec for Xmas. I did a lot of things wrong which equated to making basically nothing, but I learnt heaps. I pulled roughly $3k out of the business for the whole 18 months and I put a lot of man hours in.

      Since I did not have capital I would accept orders on my site, then roughly once per week I would place the order with the supplier and ship it to my house. I would pack orders of a evening and post them on my lunch break at work. While the profit margins on the product were quite good it took a lot of my time and the double shipping was killing most of the profits.

      It came to a point where it got far too busy to meet the demands of the business in my spare time, but it wasn't making anywhere near enough money to live off - so I sold in 2010.

      I had a break for about a year and got back into it with a like minded business partner (my bro). We started a few stores and only drop shipped. It made some money but not much since it wasn't our main focus, we both had other things on the go.

      This year we decided to ramp up operations significantly all while creating a scalable business model that runs (mostly) on autopilot. Before entering a niche we research it thoroughly. We only drop ship. We setup a store, drive traffic, conversion rate optimize, outsource order processing and customer service and move on to the next store. We have built a team of employees who handle jobs like writing, adwords management, customer service, data entry and web development. We have documentation and systems in place so everything is getting easier and faster. When can have an ecommerce store setup in under one day including all products added, design, shipping pages etc.We are just using WooCommerce now - it's so damn easy and cheap.

      So I don't really want to disclose specific figures but we have been experiencing double digit growth for most months of this year. Our work mainly consists of growing as the stores essentially run on their own once set up and running - we just oversee everything and manage training/workers.

      I think anyone can be successful with ecommerce but you have to treat it like a real business. It seems most people have just 1 or 2 stores and make a little bit of money. They treat it like a hobby. If you want to make big money you need to get serious. Hold yourself accountable and focus your efforts on the bottom line (growing revenue and profit). Don't stuff around on the little tasks - you can outsource these to very skilled people for very little money. You don't need to be a professional website developer, adwords gun, or customer service guru. You need to focus on the bigger picture.

      Anyway I'll leave it at that, I've gotten carried away with this post but hopefully this motivates/educates someone about how good ecommerce can be!!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8182835].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    @pavv

    Thanks for sharing your story!

    I started in a similar way almost seven years ago... I didn't drop ship but I brought in products directly from from China to the US and sold them online. I then discovered the power of drop shipping and learned that I could still make HUGE profits while eliminating 90% of the work I had been doing!

    I immediately cut all ties with my overseas manufacturers, started ONLY working with drop ship suppliers, expanded to over 50 different niches, and put all my stores on autopilot. Now I just start new stores and oversee the operations to make sure I keep getting paid!

    The best part is the cost of building each new store is next to nothing when you compare it to potential profit.... and once you learn how to identify hot niches and find drop shippers you can repeat the processes over and over (just like you and your brother are doing).

    I'm glad the two of you found success and I hope there are many more to come!

    This business really is a lot easier then most people think AND there is a ton of untapped potential out there.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7434654].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author pavv
      Originally Posted by alksense View Post

      I'm glad the two of you found success and I hope there are many more to come!

      This business really is a lot easier then most people think AND there is a ton of untapped potential out there.
      Thanks for your kind words. I agree this can be done by anyone they just need to jump in. You can read and learn as much as you like but until you start taking action, making mistakes and learning from them you are going nowhere. It's all about the journey.
      Signature
      Let Me Build Your Ecommerce Store!

      New to eCommerce? Please take a look at my product which teaches you how to find and research a product/niche, then how to build your own store.
      [WSO]I Made $70,689.71 Sales In The Last 31 Days, Let Me Show You How To Do It Too
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7434691].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author imtheone281
        Originally Posted by pavv View Post

        Thanks for your kind words. I agree this can be done by anyone they just need to jump in. You can read and learn as much as you like but until you start taking action, making mistakes and learning from them you are going nowhere. It's all about the journey.
        Taking action is the key to all success....
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8152179].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          [quote=mguy;8151125]
          Originally Posted by alksense View Post

          Drop shipping is just one of many ways to make money via eCommerce. Basically; instead of purchasing inventory in bulk and then creating an online store to sell the inventory you are selling inventory for wholesalers who warehouse the items themselves.

          I promote physical products as an affiliate as well (mainly as an Amazon Associate) and although there is some overlap between running an affiliate store and running an eCommerce I can tell you they are very different business models.

          /QUOTE]

          Would you please elaborate on how they are different models?

          Also, are you in the country or are you outside the country? Can dropshipping work if one is outside the USA like you are in Thailand for example?
          With eCommerce you are handling everything internally... the payment processing, the inventory (which can be your own or drop shipped), the shipping and the customer service.

          On my Amazon affiliate stores all I have to do get the customer to buy something there with my cookie within 24 hours of leaving my site and then Amazon handles everything on their end. It sounds great (and it can be) but the margins are much larger with eCommerce and it's easier to drive traffic to eCommerce stores because many highly converting traffic sources don't allow the promotion of affiliate stores.

          Originally Posted by Art of Marketing View Post

          Hi Anton,

          Congrats on your success with eCommerce! And thank you for the great follow up you provide!

          So I had to go check out the links in your sig as well and just went straight to the last page to see if customers are still happy....Heck Yea.

          So here you are you have great success with eCommerce and you do know how it feels to create a quality product, have a list that loves you, and also provide coaching if they need it...and you are still telling me that if you had to decide you would choose eCommerce?

          Fact is you are doing both and I am totally loving that! Rock On!

          -Art
          Hi Art,

          I'm loving both business models!

          I still prefer eCommerce for the $$$ and the ability to grow extremely scalable and flipable businesses but for me eCommerce is a numbers game and I sell in niches that I have no real interest in (I go where the money is) so I guess that could be a disadvantage. My real interest is in the business side of things and seeing how much I can accomplish.

          What's great about the product I created are the connections and sense of community that it brings. I had no idea that it would take off it like it did when I published it. It's already turned into something much larger than I ever expected. It's allowed me to do interviews and meet with successful internet marketers from all different niches. It also has lead to lots of emails from course members thanking me for helping them to make money online and not to sound cheesy but that's worth a lot more than I've been paid out from Clickbank.

          So basically I prefer eCommerce for the money and I prefer my product for the networking and I don't plan to slow down with either anytime soon
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          • Profile picture of the author Jayy
            [quote=alksense;8152235]
            Originally Posted by mguy View Post


            With eCommerce you are handling everything internally... the payment processing, the inventory (which can be your own or drop shipped), the shipping and the customer service.

            On my Amazon affiliate stores all I have to do get the customer to buy something there with my cookie within 24 hours of leaving my site and then Amazon handles everything on their end. It sounds great (and it can be) but the margins are much larger with eCommerce and it's easier to drive traffic to eCommerce stores because many highly converting traffic sources don't allow the promotion of affiliate stores.



            Hi Art,

            I'm loving both business models!

            I still prefer eCommerce for the $$$ and the ability to grow extremely scalable and flipable businesses but for me eCommerce is a numbers game and I sell in niches that I have no real interest in (I go where the money is) so I guess that could be a disadvantage. My real interest is in the business side of things and seeing how much I can accomplish.

            What's great about the product I created are the connections and sense of community that it brings. I had no idea that it would take off it like it did when I published it. It's already turned into something much larger than I ever expected. It's allowed me to do interviews and meet with successful internet marketers from all different niches. It also has lead to lots of emails from course members thanking me for helping them to make money online and not to sound cheesy but that's worth a lot more than I've been paid out from Clickbank.

            So basically I prefer eCommerce for the money and I prefer my product for the networking and I don't plan to slow down with either anytime soon
            So do you use SEO to get traffic for your amazon sites then?
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8161708].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author alksense
              Originally Posted by Jayy View Post

              So do you use SEO to get traffic for your amazon sites then?
              Yes, SEO and social media. I had an AMAZING run with Amazon for about a year ago but my rankings have been hurt by all of the recent Google updates. It's OK because this was a secondary income stream and I never relied on it but it was fun while it lasted. I'm still get decent payouts every month but nowhere near what I was bringing in before the Google updates.

              It's funny because my eCommerce store rankings didn't change at all... I guess Google really does not like affiliate stores.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jayroo
      Originally Posted by alksense View Post

      @pavv

      Thanks for sharing your story!

      I started in a similar way almost seven years ago... I didn't drop ship but I brought in products directly from from China to the US and sold them online. I then discovered the power of drop shipping and learned that I could still make HUGE profits while eliminating 90% of the work I had been doing!

      I immediately cut all ties with my overseas manufacturers, started ONLY working with drop ship suppliers, expanded to over 50 different niches, and put all my stores on autopilot. Now I just start new stores and oversee the operations to make sure I keep getting paid!

      The best part is the cost of building each new store is next to nothing when you compare it to potential profit.... and once you learn how to identify hot niches and find drop shippers you can repeat the processes over and over (just like you and your brother are doing).

      I'm glad the two of you found success and I hope there are many more to come!

      This business really is a lot easier then most people think AND there is a ton of untapped potential out there.

      Congratulations on your success, I too love EComm sites, making decent money, just wondering aren't your profits smaller buy just dealing with drop shipping companies as opposed to buying from China? I'm from Australia and I don't think we have drop shipping here I might look into it, but just wondering how much do drop ship companies in the US markup the prices on products?

      Also what tool are you using for finding niches? I am using Ultimate Niche Finder, but I still have to have an idea on what specific area to work in, it doesn't do all the work completely like coming up with the Niche from scratch, please share some thoughts, since we are not in the same geographic market.

      Feel free to PM me if you do not wish to discuss some methods on here, thank you.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8079576].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by Jayroo View Post

        Congratulations on your success, I too love EComm sites, making decent money, just wondering aren't your profits smaller buy just dealing with drop shipping companies as opposed to buying from China? I'm from Australia and I don't think we have drop shipping here I might look into it, but just wondering how much do drop ship companies in the US markup the prices on products?

        Also what tool are you using for finding niches? I am using Ultimate Niche Finder, but I still have to have an idea on what specific area to work in, it doesn't do all the work completely like coming up with the Niche from scratch, please share some thoughts, since we are not in the same geographic market.
        Yes, profits are smaller than when importing but I prefer this business model.

        When I started 7 years go I only imported. I brought in over 20 40' containers from multiple warehouses in China to the US and made excellent margins but I had to lay out A LOT of cash to keep up with demand and I was doing A LOT of work (this is back before I even knew what drop shipping was).

        After awhile my first store starting ranking organically for a lot of niche keywords and I began receiving phone calls and emails from big companies who warehoused similar (and even the same) items that I had been selling in the US (they imported from China themselves and brought in so much volume that they received great discounts and offered really good wholesale pricing). They sent me pricelists and told me that I could list their items on my store and buy them when I received orders on my own site and they would ship direct to my customers. I started listing and selling for these companies almost immediately and my sales skyrocketed... I began seeking other companies that offered drop shipping in my niche (and other niches) and within a few months I totally stopped importing and I was making more money then ever. I haven't went back to importing since.

        Advantages of drop shipping over importing for someone like me (loves to travel and only work 2 -4 hours/day):

        - Order processing can be automated (sent to suppliers) via Apps that costs under $10/month
        - No warehouse expense (or other fixed expenses related to inventory)
        - Returns go back to the supplier
        - You can (usually) pay suppliers via credit card. I use a Southwest card and have been able to fly for free just about everywhere I've gone for the past 5 years (and I travel A LOT)

        When I was importing I used a fulfillment center to hold and ship my inventory. I was still making good margins but I had pay rent every month for the space my items were taking up, I had to pay every time I shipped an order out, I had to pay every time an item was returned there, etc, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, it's a great way to make money but it's too time consuming for me and the lifestyle that I live.

        Regarding niche selection; I could write a 10 page book covering all of things I look at but in reality what I do is look at sites that are already successful and try to emulate what they are doing.

        Hope that helps!
        Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author Anton543
    Great thread. I have a dropship store that does around $150 to $300 in terms of net profit every month, but I really can't scale it up much because its a tight niche. Having said that, I am planning on doing some PPC to try and divert some of the traffic that would otherwise land on other stores by hopefully outbidding them on some carefully chosen words.

    I really want to scale my dropship business and move into the other niche areas. I would really appreciate the help if you can tell me where I can source products to dropship to the American market, particularly in health and skincare. For my current store I was lucky in the sense that one of my 'competitors' offers reseller prices. So, effectively, I just buy from him and mark the prices up a bit (enought to ensure I make at least $10 to $20 an item) and sell on. All without actually 'buying' since I only do that after an order comes in and I then email dropship partner, who then sends the item out. I don't physically need to get hold of the products which makes my job much easier.

    By the way, which store scripts are you guys using? Though I am not using Wordpress for my only store, I am thinking I might use for other stores I am planning on building. Would WP Store lack the professional look? What you reckon? There should be some themes around.

    Do you think I can manage 10 stores all by myself in terms of SEO, Adwords, email management with dropship partners, customer service (email help)?

    I think building an email list is a good idea where people can opt into receive information in the future. The opt in can be done in the store and also as part of the buying process.

    My main stumbling block is not knowing where to source dropship partners.
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    • Profile picture of the author pavv
      Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

      I would really appreciate the help if you can tell me where I can source products to dropship.....
      This is a big bottleneck in my business. I can do everything else much faster than I can find good reliable suppliers in niches that are profitable and not over saturated. I think it's something you just need to find yourself though. Do some Google searching and make some inquiries. If you like at Alksense other posts he writes a fair bit about finding suppliers.

      Also, once someone finds a good supplier it's unlikely they will want to share (me inclusive) as that will just increase their competition!
      Signature
      Let Me Build Your Ecommerce Store!

      New to eCommerce? Please take a look at my product which teaches you how to find and research a product/niche, then how to build your own store.
      [WSO]I Made $70,689.71 Sales In The Last 31 Days, Let Me Show You How To Do It Too
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      "I would really appreciate the help if you can tell me where I can source products to dropship to the American market"
      - What I do is actually LOOK for competition. I brainstorm niche ideas that meet certain criteria and then I look for people who are already selling what I want to sell. I look for other online retailers who only sell for drop ship suppliers. Those who do not have warehouses, retail stores or showrooms.

      "By the way, which store scripts are you guys using? Though I am not using Wordpress for my only store, I am thinking I might use for other stores I am planning on building. Would WP Store lack the professional look? What you reckon? There should be some themes around."
      - I have tried almost every eCommerce CMS out there but at this point I ONLY use Shopify. They have the best customer support, the smallest learning curve and you will save a ton of money if you upgrade features of your store by using plugins from their "app store". Many off their apps that costs $20 and less would cost hundreds to have implemented into other eCommerce platforms.

      "Do you think I can manage 10 stores all by myself in terms of SEO, Adwords, email management with dropship partners, customer service (email help)?"
      - Yes, I run dozens at any given time with the help of a call center. Once you learn how to automated your businesses and choose niches that are not "customer service intensive" things will become much easier and require much less "hands-on" work.

      Signed,
      Another Anton
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      • Profile picture of the author chipreneur
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        - What I do is actually LOOK for competition. I brainstorm niche ideas that meet certain criteria and then I look for people who are already selling what I want to sell. I look for other online retailers who only sell for drop ship suppliers. Those who do not have warehouses, retail stores or showrooms.
        Thanks for starting a very insightful thread! I started an e-commerce site nearly 2 years ago. We sell 50% from inventory and dropship the other 50%. Would really love to dropship more in our current busienss or even potentially start a new niche.

        So back to your comment, how do you identify other online retailers who sell through dropshippers only? It's easy to find out whether they have a retail store/showroom. But how do you find out that they don't have warehouses?

        Thanks,
        Chip
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by chipreneur View Post

          Thanks for starting a very insightful thread! I started an e-commerce site nearly 2 years ago. We sell 50% from inventory and dropship the other 50%. Would really love to dropship more in our current busienss or even potentially start a new niche.

          So back to your comment, how do you identify other online retailers who sell through dropshippers only? It's easy to find out whether they have a retail store/showroom. But how do you find out that they don't have warehouses?

          Thanks,
          Chip
          I'm at the point where I can tell by looking at a few key factors on the competitors website but when I first started I would just call or live chat with them and ask "do you ship directly from your own warehouse?"

          - Anton
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      • Profile picture of the author barefut
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        "I would really appreciate the help if you can tell me where I can source products to dropship to the American market"
        - What I do is actually LOOK for competition. I brainstorm niche ideas that meet certain criteria and then I look for people who are already selling what I want to sell. I look for other online retailers who only sell for drop ship suppliers. Those who do not have warehouses, retail stores or showrooms.

        "By the way, which store scripts are you guys using? Though I am not using Wordpress for my only store, I am thinking I might use for other stores I am planning on building. Would WP Store lack the professional look? What you reckon? There should be some themes around."
        - I have tried almost every eCommerce CMS out there but at this point I ONLY use Shopify. They have the best customer support, the smallest learning curve and you will save a ton of money if you upgrade features of your store by using plugins from their "app store". Many off their apps that costs $20 and less would cost hundreds to have implemented into other eCommerce platforms.

        "Do you think I can manage 10 stores all by myself in terms of SEO, Adwords, email management with dropship partners, customer service (email help)?"
        - Yes, I run dozens at any given time with the help of a call center. Once you learn how to automated your businesses and choose niches that are not "customer service intensive" things will become much easier and require much less "hands-on" work.

        Signed,
        Another Anton

        Any call centers you have used I can have handle all of my calls that can answer complex product questions? I only have maybe 5-10 calls a week . . .
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

      My main stumbling block is not knowing where to source dropship partners.
      This part is the most time consuming part for me. I can get a dropship store up and running in no time, but finding the best wholesalers/dropshippers is the trickiest part. I don't want dropshippers that compete with their resellers, so I eliminate them right off the bat. It takes a lot of digging until I'm happy with the products I'm selling.

      But other than that, I love ecommerce, certainly more than any other type of Internet Marketing.
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        This part is the most time consuming part for me. I can get a dropship store up and running in no time, but finding the best wholesalers/dropshippers is the trickiest part. I don't want dropshippers that compete with their resellers, so I eliminate them right off the bat. It takes a lot of digging until I'm happy with the products I'm selling.

        But other than that, I love ecommerce, certainly more than any other type of Internet Marketing.
        I totally agree. Creating the website and getting traffic is the easy part. The real bulk of your work should go into niche selection and sourcing suppliers who enforce a MAP policy. You can do everything else right but if you don't get started on the right path you'll just be wasting your time...
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  • Profile picture of the author Anton543
    How do you ensure your prices are competitive? These days many web shoppers use price comparison sites just before purchase, and even when you Google a product quite often one of the results is a price comparison between different stores. As a dropship store, quite often your prices need to be slightly more than competitors in order to make a profit , so how do identify a price that won't tempt people to leave your store to and go elsewhere?

    But I do think dropship is a great way to build up an internet business. If done scuccessfully its actually better than marketing to email lists who you always have to keep 'warm' to ensure they won't go cold on you. Not to mention, many people won't open the email in the first place.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      "How do you ensure your prices are competitive? These days many web shoppers use price comparison sites just before purchase, and even when you Google a product quite often one of the results is a price comparison between different stores."

      I use these price comparison websites myself. That is how I get the majority of my traffic!

      You will notice if you search on price comparison engine it may say $1,343.52 from 76 stores.

      This isn't because the 76 stores magically priced their items the same.

      It's because their drop ship suppliers MAKE THEM price them the same. This protects every retailers profit. It is called MAP pricing (Minimum Advertised Price) and all legitimate drop ship suppliers enforce it.

      They are the ones you want to sell for.
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  • Profile picture of the author pavv
    @Anton543

    You just need to experiment with pricing. You can get a good idea from competitors but there are other reasons people will buy from you like guarantees, site design, branding, product quality, social proof, product reviews etc.

    One of my stores is in a fairly high margin yet competitive niche so we are able to be one of the cheapest and still make a solid profit. We also get a lot of sales because of it. We also clearly communicate to customers that great prices and great customer services is what we focus on.

    Another store I have the margins in the industry vary a lot. Some competitors are MUCH cheaper but these products are not dominated by big brands so it's hard to differentiate products between stores. We sell at quite a high margin but we still get sales even though our competitors ads are right next to ours. We offer things like free shipping, great customer service (live chat, fast communication) and quality products.

    The thing you have to think about is if you drop your margin how much more do you have to sell to make the same or more money? If you drop your margin from $50 profit to $25 then you have to sell twice as much.

    You are better off selling 100 orders at $50 profit ($5,000) than 180 orders at $25 profit ($4,500).
    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author Anton543
    That helps. At the beginning I think I will to build up two more stores, one focusing one higher margin goods and one on lower (but not too low) as those are very frustrating. I mean if yous ell something you want to make at least $15-$20 from it.

    Do you employ someone for live chat? I don't think I will need to that at the beginning, but through great product descriptions and store Q&As, I think that process can be eliminated at first since people will probably find answers to any questions they have.

    With fewer and fewer people shopping on the high street, I think its a great time to to get on to eCommerce. But the biggest challenge is finding dropshippers.
    I suppose that will be my task for the next few weeks.

    Even though I am in the UK I only want a store selling to American customers. The international shipping costs often make it prohibitive. However, my current store, a UK based one, I offer free shipping to the UK and small fee rest of the world. Of course, my dropshipper takes care of everything in terms of sending it out, returns and so on.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      "I mean if yous ell something you want to make at least $15-$20 from it."
      - I personal want to make at least $40 off each sale from my drop ship websites.

      "Do you employ someone for live chat?"
      - I do now, but in the past I've handled it all myself. You basically get the same questions over and over and it's easy to train someone to answer them.

      "Even though I am in the UK I only want a store selling to American customers. The international shipping costs often make it prohibitive. However, my current store, a UK based one, I offer free shipping to the UK and small fee rest of the world. Of course, my dropshipper takes care of everything in terms of sending it out, returns and so on."
      - If you want to sell to US customers you can open a store that is targeted to US customers. I work with people who live all over the world and do business in the US. To get started you would however need a US corporation, a US bank account and a US merchant account.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jetplane
        Hi All,

        I was thinking the same thing, how come there is not much activity on the e-commerce channel as other channels here in Warrior Forum. I guess most people here sells to the Bizopp Niche or IM niche only.

        I use a slightly different model that what has been talked about. I have 7 sites using either the Group Buying or Flash Sales model in different niches. All scripts are self hosted and built from scratch and replicated across the different niches. I only focus on niches that i can get dropshippers suppliers. The good thing about dropshipping is not only delivery less hassle, but with certain amount of volume, i can get up to 60 days credit, which is helpful.

        The only i thing i would love to do is to drive sufficient traffic using SEO and other Free methods. That would increase by net margins significantly. If anyone could point me to someone or something than can help me get organic traffic in huge volumes, please let me know.
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by Jetplane View Post

          Hi All,

          I was thinking the same thing, how come there is not much activity on the e-commerce channel as other channels here in Warrior Forum. I guess most people here sells to the Bizopp Niche or IM niche only.

          I use a slightly different model that what has been talked about. I have 7 sites using either the Group Buying or Flash Sales model in different niches. All scripts are self hosted and built from scratch and replicated across the different niches. I only focus on niches that i can get dropshippers suppliers. The good thing about dropshipping is not only delivery less hassle, but with certain amount of volume, i can get up to 60 days credit, which is helpful.

          The only i thing i would love to do is to drive sufficient traffic using SEO and other Free methods. That would increase by net margins significantly. If anyone could point me to someone or something than can help me get organic traffic in huge volumes, please let me know.
          I always see the same ads on my Facebook news feed over and over for sites similar to the ones that you own. I know it's not free at first (use sponsored ads to get the ball rolling and get likes) but once you have a solid customer base they should start "liking" the daily deal links you post, which their friends will see and hopefully "like", which their friends will see and hopefully "like", which their friends will see and hopefully "like".... that's what I would try if I was you.

          Good Luck!
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      • Profile picture of the author Anton543
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        "I mean if yous ell something you want to make at least $15-$20 from it."
        - I personal want to make at least $40 off each sale from my drop ship websites.

        "Do you employ someone for live chat?"
        - I do now, but in the past I've handled it all myself. You basically get the same questions over and over and it's easy to train someone to answer them.

        "Even though I am in the UK I only want a store selling to American customers. The international shipping costs often make it prohibitive. However, my current store, a UK based one, I offer free shipping to the UK and small fee rest of the world. Of course, my dropshipper takes care of everything in terms of sending it out, returns and so on."
        - If you want to sell to US customers you can open a store that is targeted to US customers. I work with people who live all over the world and do business in the US. To get started you would however need a US corporation, a US bank account and a US merchant account.
        In the beginning I think I will just and try and set up a few UK stores to avoid the complications of setting up a US based merchant account. The UK is a huge online market in its own right so it will probably be easiest for me to go this route. Either market, the real test is finding the dropshippers of course.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jacky12
    But the country where i live, I can't able to start eCommerce business. It is good for US/Canada/Uk. I live in the third world country. So it's hard to start. Do you have some tips for Asians/African?
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Lavoie
    alksense, great post.

    Ive just started this type of business lately and so far what I do is buy in bulk at low prices, take the cheapest shipper possible, mostly free 90% of the time (I dont mind waiting 2-3 weeks to get it and not pay for shipping), then I put all the stuff in my basement and do the shipping to the customers as the orders are coming in.

    What I sell is quite small so it doesnt take much space in my basement. I dont think it would be viable or as much profitable to dropship in my case because Im selling in Canada mainly and my products are bought overseas, delays and shipping fee would kill this.

    I use this business mainly as a learning bacon since I had no experience in this field before so I dont mind losing some profit or putting tons of effort into this, im learning so much!

    After reading your posts, I might consider going for dropshippers and with higher priced item for my next projects but I wonder if this would be a viable alternative in Canada since the dropshipers will probably come from the USA and the random custom fees and shipping delays might become a pain at some point.. I dont think dropshipping from overseas to Canada is a great idea either... which is why I prefer getting the stuff by myself right now.

    In other words, the best thing would be to open an eShop in the USA right? Is is hard to get the US merchant account, papers, numbers, bank account?

    Thanks for your time !
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  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    Hey Justin,

    I've never actually went through the process of setting up a US bank account and merchant account for a non US resident so I personally don't know how hard it is or what it costs but I know it's possible.

    I've worked with people from the UK, India and even Israel who set up drop shipping businesses in the USA.

    It's great that you independently starting taking action. I'm sure you're learning a lot.

    Obviously, I would recommend you get into drop shipping because you will have the potential to make A LOT of money and you will never have to ship anything on your own again!

    Have you ever thought of starting a drop ship business only selling to Canada (from Canadian suppliers) to get started?

    I actually have some drop ship suppliers who are located in Canada and I ship their items to my customers in the US (as well as in Canada). I' would think they sell through a lot of Canadian retail websites as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Lavoie
    My mistake, I thought you were from the UK.

    Thats a good point, I might start looking for dropshippers in Canada and maybe limit my online store to what they have to offer and see from there what can be done, then I could find and add dropshipers from the US.

    Im currently using Prestashop and WooCommerce for another store, did you ever give those a shot? What is it you didnt like ?

    I'll take your words and give shopify a try

    Thanks for you help, this is serious business.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by Justin Lavoie View Post

      Im currently using Prestashop and WooCommerce for another store, did you ever give those a shot? What is it you didnt like ?
      I actually have used WooCommerce and I personally didn't have any problems with them. There are tons of other great eCommerce solutions out there that work great as well... it's not that I dislike them, it's just that I like Shopify more.

      I said it earlier in this thread but I'll say it again; they have the best customer support, the smallest learning curve and you will save a ton of money if you upgrade features of your store by using plugins from their "app store". Many off their apps that costs $20 and less would cost hundreds to have implemented into other eCommerce platforms.

      I like them because they save me money long term and because I can launch highly converting stores with them in just days. No waiting around for programmers and designers who I have to keep paying for updates. Just a solid infrastructure that's easy to modify.
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      • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
        [DELETED]
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          "Do you think creating a YouTube promo for some of my better selling products would be worth the effort? Have you tried it with any success?"

          I have never tried this.. my online stores literally each sell thousands and thousands of products so I've never even considered testing it. I don't think it would be cost effective for me.

          "Do you think submitting good service articles about these products with the top article sites would drive enough quality traffic to my site to justify the time and effort? Have you ever tried this method? "

          I would think yes, it would drive traffic.. but would it cost effective? I don't think so. There are better ways to promote eCommerce products online that are faster and less labor intensive.


          It's important to note that my answers are based on the types of products I sell... goods that are drop shipped and already sold all over the internet and protected by MAP pricing. The way I advertise and get traffic is based on what works for that type of eCommerce store.
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Lavoie
    Excellent, I'm gonna give it a try in the next days for another project.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Hower
    Originally Posted by alksense View Post

    Unfortunately it seems that there aren't all that many people posting in this section.

    While the Main Internet Marketing forums here typically have thousands and thousands of members discussing how to make money online, this section usually has less then 100.
    Thanks for making me aware of that. I must admit I never even thought about getting into eCommerce, I don't even know why.

    Maybe my subconscious mind told me that is way too complicated and expensive to set up even one shop.

    So at least you got me started to learn more about eCommerce though I still read it and tend to say, sounds nice but how would I do that?

    I always thought best is to make money from real things like a commission for peoples' purchases from amazon, however, never thought about selling myself.

    Cheers
    Dan Hower
    Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    I saw this thread and decided to join the conversation. I've been in ecommerce for a little over a year now and learned a lot. I am trying to get to $100k/month in sales but its damn hard to scale that much, so far my best month was $45k.

    I can tell you one thing about prices though, they don't matter. You could sell at additional 10-20% markup over your competitors and still get majority of sales. You know how? Reviews. What matters is your reviews and customer service. Once you get good amount of positive reviews syndicated into your comparison shopping listings, as well as those star ratings... It's on.

    Alksense, I've read your ecommerce starting guide, it's quite good. Thanks for sharing.

    I almost think there should be a system/website/marketplace where this whole dropship dilemma/bottleneck should be addressed. Hmm, maybe that will be my next startup
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by Danceparty View Post

      I almost think there should be a system/website/marketplace where this whole dropship dilemma/bottleneck should be addressed. Hmm, maybe that will be my next startup
      You're absolutely right! There are companies out there that try to make drop shipping easier for newbies but in opinion all they do is hurt their customers by not leaving enough room for profit.

      To help, I've created my course (which getting AMAZING feedback!) and I'm working on a BIG project right now that puts seven years of drop ship supplier sourcing into one resource.

      Stay Tuned!
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      • Profile picture of the author oscarb
        Dang, Alksense and others here, you seem to have a ton of experience. Why don't you join forces and create kick butt membership site? That would draw the WSO-seekers en masse. LOL.

        I think one of the reasons this forum thread doesn't get read as much as others is that most of the people perusing WF are looking for the quick fix and e-commerce just isn't quick enough in their mind or sounds too complicated or whatever. It's harder to hype widget sales than the latest Wordpress plug-in.

        As a recovering biz-opp seeker, I can speak from authority on WF mindset.
        In September, my wife actually didn't roll her eyes when I mentioned e-commerce and we started business together, forming an LLC. We are selling strictly via Fulfillment by Amazon and our sales have doubled each month on a serious shoe-string budget (hawking stuff from our garage to raise capital for product sourcing.) Our goal is to make this our retirement nest egg. It comes at a critical time, though most business experts would probably have frowned on us starting any business in our financial situation. We both lost our jobs in 2010 and haven't found new ones to replace them. We're in our 50s. We've spent down almost all of my retirement. Our backs really have been against the wall. We lost our house and moved into our "second home." We're teetering on the edge of financial ruin even now as we plod forward selling books and games at gross margins of 300 percent to 1,700 percent.
        But we're realists. We know this is just the beginning; that we're probably under-capitalized. That we must re-invest any profits back into the business to scale.
        The other issue that isn't lost on me is the fact that we don't own our relationship with our customers. They're Amazon's customers. Sure, we provide stellar customer service on our end to please the big A but in the end, Amazon gets the customer, not us.
        So for me, this strategy must include adding a merchant-fulfilled element. Our future steps include moving more toward wholesale suppliers, some of whom will drop-ship on our behalf, adding e-bay into our mix, drilling down to niche product(s) with our own Web site.
        For now, though, we're learning the basics by taking advantage of Amazon's monster traffic and sick conversion ratios. We don't store any product on site (except small quantities short-term). We pay $40 a month for our back office analytics --all supplied by the big A, which takes about 30 percent in fees plus very inexpensive UPS shipping rates thanks to the big A. We gladly accept those fees in exchange for access to a high-converting site and done-for-us fulfillment.
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        • Profile picture of the author Elisha Goodman
          We purchased your WSO this afternoon and watched the 1st video; compiled a list of products and ready to move to the next step. Now, wanted to get back to watch the 2nd video. We were not able to login in. Would you please help? Below is the transaction payment transaction reference number to Clickbank.

          Thanks in advance for your help.

          Transaction ID: 70532086N10995712

          Nocticed this number on my printed receipt. ClickBank order number: N5C7WWE9
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          • Profile picture of the author alksense
            Originally Posted by Elisha Goodman View Post

            We purchased your WSO this afternoon and watched the 1st video; compiled a list of products and ready to move to the next step. Now, wanted to get back to watch the 2nd video. We were not able to login in. Would you please help? Below is the transaction payment transaction reference number to Clickbank.

            Thanks in advance for your help.

            Transaction ID: 70532086N10995712

            Nocticed this number on my printed receipt. ClickBank order number: N5C7WWE9
            I sent you a PM!
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by oscarb View Post

          Dang, Alksense and others here, you seem to have a ton of experience. Why don't you join forces and create kick butt membership site? That would draw the WSO-seekers en masse. LOL.

          I think one of the reasons this forum thread doesn't get read as much as others is that most of the people perusing WF are looking for the quick fix and e-commerce just isn't quick enough in their mind or sounds too complicated or whatever. It's harder to hype widget sales than the latest Wordpress plug-in.

          As a recovering biz-opp seeker, I can speak from authority on WF mindset.
          In September, my wife actually didn't roll her eyes when I mentioned e-commerce and we started business together, forming an LLC. We are selling strictly via Fulfillment by Amazon and our sales have doubled each month on a serious shoe-string budget (hawking stuff from our garage to raise capital for product sourcing.) Our goal is to make this our retirement nest egg. It comes at a critical time, though most business experts would probably have frowned on us starting any business in our financial situation. We both lost our jobs in 2010 and haven't found new ones to replace them. We're in our 50s. We've spent down almost all of my retirement. Our backs really have been against the wall. We lost our house and moved into our "second home." We're teetering on the edge of financial ruin even now as we plod forward selling books and games at gross margins of 300 percent to 1,700 percent.
          But we're realists. We know this is just the beginning; that we're probably under-capitalized. That we must re-invest any profits back into the business to scale.
          The other issue that isn't lost on me is the fact that we don't own our relationship with our customers. They're Amazon's customers. Sure, we provide stellar customer service on our end to please the big A but in the end, Amazon gets the customer, not us.
          So for me, this strategy must include adding a merchant-fulfilled element. Our future steps include moving more toward wholesale suppliers, some of whom will drop-ship on our behalf, adding e-bay into our mix, drilling down to niche product(s) with our own Web site.
          For now, though, we're learning the basics by taking advantage of Amazon's monster traffic and sick conversion ratios. We don't store any product on site (except small quantities short-term). We pay $40 a month for our back office analytics --all supplied by the big A, which takes about 30 percent in fees plus very inexpensive UPS shipping rates thanks to the big A. We gladly accept those fees in exchange for access to a high-converting site and done-for-us fulfillment.
          I'm sad to hear that you and your wife lost your jobs but I'm glad you're taking action!

          Age is of no importance in this business and I'm sure if you stick with it you will find success.

          I've never experimented with Amazon fulfillment before but it looks like it is working out great for you. All of my success comes from using drop ship suppliers so I personally would recommend adding some of them to the mix as well to increase sales/profits.

          Good Luck!
          Anton
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        • Profile picture of the author malia
          Originally Posted by oscarb View Post

          We are selling strictly via Fulfillment by Amazon and our sales have doubled each month on a serious shoe-string budget (hawking stuff from our garage to raise capital for product sourcing.) Our goal is to make this our retirement nest egg.... We're teetering on the edge of financial ruin even now as we plod forward selling books and games at gross margins of 300 percent to 1,700 percent.
          But we're realists. We know this is just the beginning; that we're probably under-capitalized. That we must re-invest any profits back into the business to scale.
          The other issue that isn't lost on me is the fact that we don't own our relationship with our customers. They're Amazon's customers. Sure, we provide stellar customer service on our end to please the big A but in the end, Amazon gets the customer, not us.
          So for me, this strategy must include adding a merchant-fulfilled element. Our future steps include moving more toward wholesale suppliers, some of whom will drop-ship on our behalf, adding e-bay into our mix, drilling down to niche product(s) with our own Web site.
          For now, though, we're learning the basics by taking advantage of Amazon's monster traffic and sick conversion ratios. We don't store any product on site (except small quantities short-term). We pay $40 a month for our back office analytics --all supplied by the big A, which takes about 30 percent in fees plus very inexpensive UPS shipping rates thanks to the big A. We gladly accept those fees in exchange for access to a high-converting site and done-for-us fulfillment.
          I think I've done just about everything when it comes to ecommerce. From eBay to self-fulfilled, to fulfillment centers and now to Amazon. I have two ecommerce websites, one self-fulfilled and one a combination of self-fulfilled and Amazon fulfilled (FBA). I love FBA but I don't like that they make it difficult to ship internationally, and I do VERY WELL internationally.

          I've also done dropship merchandise years ago. Back then, I didn't have the resources or know-how to scale beyond what I could do. If I found a good drop ship niche NOW, I would do it again-- IN A HEARTBEAT, knowing what I know now.

          My advice to you is to get offline for your product sourcing. I am a self-proclaimed trade show addict. If you only spend your time online, you will be limited to the same suppliers others are finding and while you will find lesser known gems (drop shippers), others find them also. Going offline puts you in the top 10% because most won't do that. most WILL NOT step outside the computer to source merchandise.

          I wouldn't go back to eBay. Maybe only with imported merchandise if you can find a niche that isn't already saturated by the Chinese. For Amazon, I sell branded merchandise and some private label. Order by the case, ship to Amazon.

          I know you said you're building a business but Amazon owns that customer but you need to pursue a different strategy when it comes to Amazon. I think ecommerce is different. My ecommerce websites are branded and get searches by the website name. My Amazon stuff is "on the side" separate from that and I respect that as Amazon's customer. I have the privilege of supplying inventory into their pipeline, but don't consider that as a legit "business" because of the way someone can come in, price just a tad lower, and steal the buy box and knock me out of the running unless I want to keep dropping my price.

          So keep selling on Amazon and when it comes to your own website, look at something that you can truly own, brand and scale. Random games and toys isn't it. And also consider amazon webstore since you are already selling on amazon.
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        • Profile picture of the author maximumrecovery
          Hi,

          Try hiring your own fulfillment centre for some products you own not all at once but ease into it, this way you'll get names and address for the customers you are sending your products to and you can direct mail them, either seperately or with a leaflet with their purchased item promoting your website with say 10% off, it works a treat and you end up with repeat business, especially great for consumable products.
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        • Profile picture of the author Palomino
          Originally Posted by oscarb View Post

          I think one of the reasons this forum thread doesn't get read as much as others is that most of the people perusing WF are looking for the quick fix and e-commerce just isn't quick enough in their mind or sounds too complicated or whatever. It's harder to hype widget sales than the latest Wordpress plug-in.

          As a recovering biz-opp seeker, I can speak from authority on WF mindset.
          Haha, this is so true! It's interesting, in my 4 years of Internet Marketing and related activity, I've grown my knowledge so much. I came into WF again for the first time since last October, and it amazed me how much further along in knowledge I am then a lot of the people in the main threads. I know I started out there, and everything seems to be glittery, but wow.
          A lot of people are hocking unsustainable, flavor of the week methods, and most of them are garbage as it is.

          Anyway, back to the topic on hand, I wanted to point out that some ecommerce businesses can get started extremely fast.
          Case in point- we set up an in-house shop in November and got it launched in December, just in time for Christmas. It cleared a little over $6,000 in December, its first month in business. Most of that business was derived from eBay, but all the products were pushed to eBay from Magento using the free M2E plugin.
          The products on average range between $130 to $400, with the average right around $250. The products appeal to people with some disposable income. Male, age range from between 12-40, and most tend to be white, middle income.
          These all meet Alksense's points covered in his Getting Started post (good job on that, by the way), and I think he hit the nail on the head- that's really the "sweet spot" demographic.
          I'm busy setting up an ecommerce store right now, but it takes third seat to my daily business and my freelance business, so I have set a goal to have it up by the end of the month.
          Then, I'll branch out to additional niches, doing at least one a month. We'll see how it goes w/ the time suck involved, haha.
          Signature

          Ryne Landers
          Lover/Fighter/Gamer/Serial Entrepreneur
          McKinney Web Design
          Skype Me: ryne.landers

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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    On the bigger note, I feel like eCommerce is going to replace a lot of physical shopping. I believe I heard this on Bloomberg the other day that traffic to the malls is decreasing thanks to online comparison shopping.

    any thoughts?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by Danceparty View Post

      On the bigger note, I feel like eCommerce is going to replace a lot of physical shopping. I believe I heard this on Bloomberg the other day that traffic to the malls is decreasing thanks to online comparison shopping.

      any thoughts?
      I completely agree. This is why a lot of big box stores are going out of business.

      Customers get their ads and even sometimes go to their stores to test the products, then they jump on google with their smart phone and buy at the store with the best price.
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  • Profile picture of the author Natasha2003
    Alksense- thanks for your story...I have read about this business a while back but never took part in seeing what it was all about, but now you have me wanting to get more information. Your a life saver!
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  • Profile picture of the author Anton543
    alksense,

    How do you take care of returned items from your dropship businesses, particularly product that are physically big in size. Do you have your customers return the item directly to yourself or have them return to your dropship partners who then deal with the returns? Wouldn't this involve extra costs and you customers finding out that another company was actually involved?

    For my own store, my dropshipper has any returned items sent straight back to him. But we are talking about small items here and he doesn't put his own label.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

      alksense,

      How do you take care of returned items from your dropship businesses, particularly product that are physically big in size. Do you have your customers return the item directly to yourself or have them return to your dropship partners who then deal with the returns? Wouldn't this involve extra costs and you customers finding out that another company was actually involved?
      I only work with drop ship suppliers who accept returns. With that being said, every supplier has their own return policy and their own terms. I make the return policy on my stores basically a summary of my suppliers polices to protect myself.

      It typically works like this:

      If the customer receives their item(s) and are unhappy with them for any reason they have 5 - 10 days to return them (this varies on my sites based on my niche and based on what my competition is doing).

      If a customer wants to return any item they have to first email my company for an RA# (return authorization number).

      To return an item is has to be repackaged the way it was received.

      I provide my customer with the drop ship suppliers warehouse information for the return and obtain return shipping labels from my suppliers to send to my customer.

      If the customer does decide to return the item they are responsible for actual return shipping charges and their calculated refund is issued once their item(s) arrive at my suppliers warehouse. (this is also when my suppliers refund me or provide me with credits towards future orders).

      Regarding the customer finding out another company is involved; it's no big deal. If you go to Best Buy tonight and buy a 70'' Sharp LED TV that you have problems with they are going to tell you to call Sharp about it. We are not branding the products we sell as our own (at least that's not what I teach).

      Hope that helps!

      Thanks,
      Anton
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      • Profile picture of the author Anton543
        Thanks. That does help.

        Another thing I've read in one of your posts is that you don't much recommend SEO for stores, why is that? If you are using PPC, what kind of bids are you making? I know it will depend on the niche but are you generally getting the traffic at low costs. Also, is PPC the only traffic strategy you are using?
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

          Thanks. That does help.

          Another thing I've read in one of your posts is that you don't much recommend SEO for stores, why is that? If you are using PPC, what kind of bids are you making? I know it will depend on the niche but are you generally getting the traffic at low costs. Also, is PPC the only traffic strategy you are using?
          I recommend ON SITE SEO... what I don't recommend is paying for SEO services because I've been burned so many times. They keywords I go after (product names, SKU #s and supplier names) don't require the use of an SEO company to obtain great rankings for. My sites rank very well organically because of how I optimize them and then how build authority to them.

          I use six different traffic generation methods including shopping comparison engines (both free and paid), blog ads and on site SEO.
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          • Profile picture of the author Anton543
            Originally Posted by alksense View Post

            I recommend ON SITE SEO... what I don't recommend is paying for SEO services because I've been burned so many times. They keywords I go after (product names, SKU #s and supplier names) don't require the use of an SEO company to obtain great rankings for. My sites rank very well organically because of how I optimize them and then how build authority to them.

            I use six different traffic generation methods including shopping comparison engines (both free and paid), blog ads and on site SEO.
            I know what you mean. I think title and product descriptions are excellent ways to boost SEO. By blog ads, do you mean banner advertising on related blogs? Do you not do any PPC?
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            • Profile picture of the author alksense
              Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

              I know what you mean. I think title and product descriptions are excellent ways to boost SEO. By blog ads, do you mean banner advertising on related blogs? Do you not do any PPC?
              Correct; I find related blogs and post banners on them. I do PPC but I use Shopping engines that are free or .01 cents/click. If you sell for suppliers who enforce MAP policies you'd be surprised how much traffic they can bring.

              I also advertise some of my sites on Amazon Product Ads but their PPC pricing is not cheap. I always test new sites and track my results with them before committing any type of ad budget.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    One of the main reasons I like eCommerce over any other type of marketing is because I own the customer, and they're on my list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    Interesting points, OP! I'll have to think about this more.
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  • Profile picture of the author clintmyers
    World Wide Brands is where I get all of my dropshippers from. Also, I like the MAP pricing to keep the competition from pricing too low. I was trying to sell on Ebay but there are a ton of people on there cutting the prices to the bone so I couldn't make any money.
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    • Profile picture of the author jswanson
      This has been a great thread so far. I've been dabbling in IM for the last 4 years, but have always thought about getting involved in e-commerce. It seems more stable and the kind of business you can truly sell at a later time.

      Thanks for the info!
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by jswanson View Post

        This has been a great thread so far. I've been dabbling in IM for the last 4 years, but have always thought about getting involved in e-commerce. It seems more stable and the kind of business you can truly sell at a later time.

        Thanks for the info!
        That is what I really like about this business too. You're not just making a few bucks here and there, you're building an actual business that becomes a HUGE asset.
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        • Profile picture of the author oscarb
          It's not easy to find a product that isn't being hawked and sold with razor slim margins by hundreds of other dealers.

          Good point
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          • Profile picture of the author alksense
            Originally Posted by oscarb View Post

            It's not easy to find a product that isn't being hawked and sold with razor slim margins by hundreds of other dealers.

            Good point
            It is if you only sell for suppliers who enforce MAP
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            • Profile picture of the author AAAWebstore
              Ecommerce is also the technique of generating massive income on the internet that I suggest to anyone just getting began with Ecommerce.
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              • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
                Originally Posted by AAAWebstore View Post

                Ecommerce is also the technique of generating massive income on the internet that I suggest to anyone just getting began with Ecommerce.
                VERY insightful!
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                • Profile picture of the author AAAWebstore
                  As the customizations/changes are needed, it relies on how exclusive you want to make your item webpages. The more original material your item webpages have the simpler it will be to get listed and rated well in Search engines. In modern Search engines, webpages that contain no real original material and webpages that are incredibly slim on material are challenging to even get listed.
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                  • Profile picture of the author AAAWebstore
                    Ecommerce is a technique of generating massive income on the internet that it is very helpful for online sales and business.
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    • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
      It's not easy to find a product that isn't being hawked and sold with razor slim margins by hundreds of other dealers.

      In the last two years I have found three. It took me a lot of trial and error. However, those 3 product lines are putting a lot of money in my pocket this holiday season.

      But I spend several thousand dollars and three months before I made a dime.
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      • Profile picture of the author SteveJo
        Originally Posted by lastreporter View Post


        But I spend several thousand dollars and three months before I made a dime.
        Takes a big heart and big pocket to go that. It is always about calculated risk and that's the art..
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by clintmyers View Post

      World Wide Brands is where I get all of my dropshippers from. Also, I like the MAP pricing to keep the competition from pricing too low. I was trying to sell on Ebay but there are a ton of people on there cutting the prices to the bone so I couldn't make any money.
      MAP is a huge part of being successful in this business. I will ONLY sell for suppliers who enforce it and if I see competitors who are undercutting it and find out the suppliers are not taking action I remove all of their products from my stores immediately.

      Think of it like this; If sell for suppliers who don't enforce MAP policies all you are doing is advertising for your competitor who is willing to make the least amount of profit.
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    • Profile picture of the author Monsterd
      Originally Posted by clintmyers View Post

      World Wide Brands is where I get all of my dropshippers from. Also, I like the MAP pricing to keep the competition from pricing too low. I was trying to sell on Ebay but there are a ton of people on there cutting the prices to the bone so I couldn't make any money.
      Need to have a niche on eBay these days. Simply trying to make a buck consistently over time now takes a much more business minded approach than the average seller cleaning out his closet. eBay has mad a lot of changes that have been frustrating to many but at the end of the day it's because they needed to clean a very dirty house and slow down the invasion of it's customer base that migrated to Amazon for their purchases.

      Again, it does take a bit more work but the long term benefits will really kick in and you'll have something worth while where all your no longer competing with so many sellers that had the same excuse for abandoning eBay.com as a sales channel all together.
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  • Profile picture of the author clickingkeeko
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
      Originally Posted by lastreporter View Post

      It's not easy to find a product that isn't being hawked and sold with razor slim margins by hundreds of other dealers.

      In the last two years I have found three. It took me a lot of trial and error. However, those 3 product lines are putting a lot of money in my pocket this holiday season.

      But I spend several thousand dollars and three months before I made a dime.
      can I ask if your niche is big or not? 3 suppliers in a year, seems super low

      Originally Posted by alksense View Post

      MAP is a huge part of being successful in this business. I will ONLY sell for suppliers who enforce it and if I see competitors who are undercutting it and find out the suppliers are not taking action I remove all of their products from my stores immediately.

      Think of it like this; If sell for suppliers who don't enforce MAP policies all you are doing is advertising for your competitor who is willing to make the least amount of profit.
      How would you go about checking if MAP is enforced. Would you email your rep and ask them "wtf is this?" type question? Is there a way to find out if they enforce map policy without having to upload thousands of products and spend a bunch of time signing up with suppliers?

      Thanks!
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by Danceparty View Post

        How would you go about checking if MAP is enforced. Would you email your rep and ask them "wtf is this?" type question? Is there a way to find out if they enforce map policy without having to upload thousands of products and spend a bunch of time signing up with suppliers?
        Thanks!
        Good question! When I reach out suppliers I always ask if they do enforce MAP. If they don't have a MAP policy I move on (not worth my time to sell items where's the no room for profit).

        If they tell me they do enforce MAP I move forward, get their application, get their price lists and then I will pick a few randoms items from their price list and do a quick search on Google Shopping. My results should say some like $423.99 from 40+ stores... meaning every store sells the item at the same price (MAP). If I see prices are all over the place, or that certain stores are undercutting everyone I email my sales rep at the supplier and make sure that company changes their price.
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    • Profile picture of the author karlossalidos
      How is it that having a dropshipping site can be successful, when most people have not established trust with your site ? Isn't it easier for customers to just go to Amazon and shop from there ?
      Looking forward to your feedback.
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by karlossalidos View Post

        How is it that having a dropshipping site can be successful, when most people have not established trust with your site ? Isn't it easier for customers to just go to Amazon and shop from there ?
        Looking forward to your feedback.
        Here is what I posted on this exact topic on another forum when someone asked how we can compete with Amazon & Walmart:

        Just to clarify, I DO NOT recommend trying to compete with products (brands) that are sold in brick and mortar stores like Walmart or any other big box stores and I would never use walmart.com or a similar site to research brands to sell.

        The brands we sell for are brands that are often only sold online and that may also be sold in a few specialty stores as well.

        Why can we compete with Amazon? To be honest, we're not really "competing" with them. We're looking to take a small part of total sales from them and from all the other online retailers.

        In 2011 Amazon did over 48 BILLION dollars in sales and they are on pace to do well over 50 billion this year.

        $48,080,000,000!

        (source: Revenue for Amazon.com (AMZN) 2011 - Wikinvest)

        Again, we're not trying to compete with them. We are trying to a piece of what they (and many other similar sites) are doing. Even the smallest piece can equal HUGE profits.

        So why would someone choose a smaller website over an Amazon or a Wayfair? I don't have an exact answer but I can tell you there are enough people out there who make those choices every day for it to equal BIG business.
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by karlossalidos View Post

        How is it that having a dropshipping site can be successful, when most people have not established trust with your site ? Isn't it easier for customers to just go to Amazon and shop from there ?
        Looking forward to your feedback.
        Two out the three ecommerce sites I have (I'm not including the digital products one I have) sell stuff that isn't available at Amazon or Walmart. If you dig around for a niche, it's possible to find sort of off the wall but still popular types of products that the mainstream sites don't sell. I do have plenty of competitors, but not the big guys.
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  • Profile picture of the author satriasaka
    yes , im can started with little investmen
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  • Profile picture of the author MobiDev
    Online business gives you access to the largest market available, with billions of people currently connected and that number growing on a daily basis. One of the greatest advantages of e-Commerce is cost. It simply is the most cost effective way to open a business that is opened 24 hours a day.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vulk
    I'm also glad there's an eCommerce section now, I've always wanted to create one.
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  • Profile picture of the author anwar001
    Normally how many products you should put up in your ecommerce store for making decent amount of money monthly?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by anwar001 View Post

      Normally how many products you should put up in your ecommerce store for making decent amount of money monthly?
      It depends on how many I can find in any given niche... It can be as low as ~100 or well over 10,000. My average is probably around 3,500 though.
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      • Profile picture of the author Anton543
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        It depends on how many I can find in any given niche... It can be as low as ~100 or well over 10,000. My average is probably around 3,500 though.
        I think you mentioned this before to me, I imagine your products-to-the-store process is automated. Otherwise its seems like an extraordinary time consuming work to list 10,000 products on a store.

        But I agree that its completely dependent on the niche. In my one and only dropship store I have been running for a few years I only had around 6 products for some time and still got a few sales each month. I then expanded the list a bit.

        However, this time around I would like to delve into eCommerce with greater vigor and possibly change my direction of online business towards eCommerce to a 70%-30% ratio whereas before I focused almost entirely on informational content sites.

        I just feel eCommerce sites is like owning a proper online business where its more tangible and potentially very lucrative if you can master it. In contrast, with informational sites you are always having to fight the elements in ranking the sites well and then being able to monetize properly.
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

          I think you mentioned this before to me, I imagine your products-to-the-store process is automated. Otherwise its seems like an extraordinary time consuming work to list 10,000 products on a store.
          Right.. I don't upload products manually (it would probably take me a year to get a new store up that way ). Everything is uploaded in bulk via a CSV.

          I get product lists from suppliers and I work one supplier at a time.

          I use formulas in Excel to edit all of the data in bulk to make it unique to my store. Depending on how the suppliers product spreadsheet is formatted this can take between 30 minutes and a few hours.

          Once my CSV is customized I click "upload" and about 30 minutes later my store(s) have that many products more to sell..
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          • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
            Banned
            Originally Posted by anwar001 View Post

            Thanks for sharing your traffic sources for us.

            By the way, have you tried Youtube traffic by creating simple videos of your products? It can be an interesting experiment. You need to mass produce videos like 100 or more per ecommerce store. Just target some highly searched keywords and create a video with picture slideshows of the products and their brief descriptions.
            I'm slow to adopt YouTube. I live in the country and connect to the Internet via my Android so videos aren't something I can watch or upload easily.

            Originally Posted by ryshark View Post

            Which of the social media sites delivers the most sales on your website? If you could elaborate on this a little more with how you get the sales to convert, it would be appreciated.
            Facebook

            Originally Posted by alksense View Post

            Right.. I don't upload products manually (it would probably take me a year to get a new store up that way ). Everything is uploaded in bulk via a CSV.

            I get product lists from suppliers and I work one supplier at a time.

            I use formulas in Excel to edit all of the data in bulk to make it unique to my store. Depending on how the suppliers product spreadsheet is formatted this can take between 30 minutes and a few hours.

            Once my CSV is customized I click "upload" and about 30 minutes later my store(s) have that many products more to sell..
            Me too. God bless CSV files. Not all wholesalers have them.
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          • Profile picture of the author overtonis
            alksense. I started my first ecommerce site about 5 months ago. I ended up using opencart as it was free opensource program and paid something like 40 dollars for theme ...so initially cost were very low. Here is that site: Guuky. After reading your 'Getting Started with eCommerce' I am considering starting new project using your guide and shopify. How was your transition from other ecommerce sites to shopify?
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            • Profile picture of the author ryshark
              Originally Posted by overtonis View Post

              alksense. I started my first ecommerce site about 5 months ago. I ended up using opencart as it was free opensource program and paid something like 40 dollars for theme ...so initially cost were very low. Here is that site: Guuky. After reading your 'Getting Started with eCommerce' I am considering starting new project using your guide and shopify. How was your transition from other ecommerce sites to shopify?
              Your store looks nice. How do you get the code to make all your social media buttons in the footer look the same? My buttons are directly through FB,Twitter, etc, so they all look different. If anyone could help it would be appreciated.
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            • Profile picture of the author alksense
              Originally Posted by overtonis View Post

              alksense. I started my first ecommerce site about 5 months ago. I ended up using opencart as it was free opensource program and paid something like 40 dollars for theme ...so initially cost were very low. Here is that site: Guuky. After reading your 'Getting Started with eCommerce' I am considering starting new project using your guide and shopify. How was your transition from other ecommerce sites to shopify?
              Are you planning on moving guuky to Shopify? If so, that wouldn't be hard at all. Their UI is extremely user friendly and you can probably have everything copied and pasted over within an hour or so. Then you would just reroute your domain to your Shopify store.

              I just checked and because you don't have a lot of items I would recommend you do it manually.

              If you wanted to automate it you could use a service like this:

              Cart2Cart - Automated Shopping Cart Migration Service

              If you're planning on building a new eCommerce store in a different niche I would 100% recommend using Shopify. It's very easy to learn and they offer a 30 day free trial. You should sign up and play around with the UI in the backend to see how you like it.

              Hope that helps.

              Thanks,
              Anton
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              • Profile picture of the author overtonis
                Originally Posted by alksense View Post

                Are you planning on moving guuky to Shopify? If so, that wouldn't be hard at all. Their UI is extremely user friendly and you can probably have everything copied and pasted over within an hour or so. Then you would just reroute your domain to your Shopify store.

                I just checked and because you don't have a lot of items I would recommend you do it manually.

                If you wanted to automate it you could use a service like this:

                Cart2Cart - Automated Shopping Cart Migration Service

                If you're planning on building a new eCommerce store in a different niche I would 100% recommend using Shopify. It's very easy to learn and they offer a 30 day free trial. You should sign up and play around with the UI in the backend to see how you like it.

                Hope that helps.

                Thanks,
                Anton
                thanks anton,
                I might just keep our first ecommerce site on the opencart program. But I have made deal with my wife that once our site is finished (we are close) I want to take a look at drop-shipping ecommerce site with shopify. I have read your guide about 4 times by now. I work 3 days week as critical care nurse...so my time is somewhat limited.

                I purchased Market Samurai few years ago and didn't touch it for 1 1/2 years...but now I am starting to actually use it and maybe use it to help narrow-down a niche. I am trying to stay with niche in medical field because I am most familiar with it.

                If everyone put our heads together we could form a awesome group. About 6 months ago I posted ad on craiglist list to form a ecommerce entrepreneur group locally and received over 50 responses...so the need is there to form a group.
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                • Profile picture of the author ldb102082
                  Ewenmack you might consider contacting some of the suppliers on tindie directly and trying to form some sort of partnership.
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          • Profile picture of the author sairon
            Originally Posted by alksense View Post

            Right.. I don't upload products manually (it would probably take me a year to get a new store up that way ). Everything is uploaded in bulk via a CSV.

            I get product lists from suppliers and I work one supplier at a time.

            I use formulas in Excel to edit all of the data in bulk to make it unique to my store. Depending on how the suppliers product spreadsheet is formatted this can take between 30 minutes and a few hours.

            Once my CSV is customized I click "upload" and about 30 minutes later my store(s) have that many products more to sell..
            Do you teach this process "use of Excel formulas" since I have to deal with over 30k products in my store and looking to migrate to another shopping cart?
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by anwar001 View Post

      Normally how many products you should put up in your ecommerce store for making decent amount of money monthly?
      I've got 3 ecommerce sites with about 1,000 each that I put in manually. Got another one with 10,000 that is fed by a datafeed.
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      • Profile picture of the author Anton543
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        I've got 3 ecommerce sites with about 1,000 each that I put in manually. Got another one with 10,000 that is fed by a datafeed.
        Wouldn't the data feed mean you reduce your chances of ranking well because the product descriptions and what have you will match exactly that of another site and therefore be considered duplicate content?
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

          Wouldn't the data feed mean you reduce your chances of ranking well because the product descriptions and what have you will match exactly that of another site and therefore be considered duplicate content?
          I don't rely on Google for traffic. I use social media, Pinterest, Facebook Ads, media buys, PPC, etc.
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          • Profile picture of the author oscarb
            My advice to you is to get offline for your product sourcing. I am a self-proclaimed trade show addict. If you only spend your time online, you will be limited to the same suppliers others are finding and while you will find lesser known gems (drop shippers), others find them also. Going offline puts you in the top 10% because most won't do that. most WILL NOT step outside the computer to source merchandise.

            Malia,

            Not sure where you got the idea that we source online exclusively. As a matter of fact, ALL of our sourcing is offline: thrift shops, library sales, individuals. Because of this, we can buy games for $1 that we sell for $80 or turn $4 into $95 --which we did this week, in fact.

            Try getting those margins via wholesaling or retail arbitrage!!
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          • Profile picture of the author anwar001
            Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

            I don't rely on Google for traffic. I use social media, Pinterest, Facebook Ads, media buys, PPC, etc.
            Thanks for sharing your traffic sources for us.

            By the way, have you tried Youtube traffic by creating simple videos of your products? It can be an interesting experiment. You need to mass produce videos like 100 or more per ecommerce store. Just target some highly searched keywords and create a video with picture slideshows of the products and their brief descriptions.
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          • Profile picture of the author ryshark
            Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

            I don't rely on Google for traffic. I use social media, Pinterest, Facebook Ads, media buys, PPC, etc.
            Which of the social media sites delivers the most sales on your website? If you could elaborate on this a little more with how you get the sales to convert, it would be appreciated.
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  • Profile picture of the author overtonis
    Originally Posted by alksense View Post

    I think the eCommerce subsection of the Warrior Forum was created about one month ago now.. I was excited when I first saw it go up because I've made most of money via eCommerce and I think it's the best way to make money online... I was looking forward to speaking to others who feel the same.

    Unfortunately it seems that there aren't all that many people posting in this section.

    While the Main Internet Marketing forums here typically have thousands and thousands of members discussing how to make money online, this section usually has less then 100.


    Let's get this eCommerce section filled up with people who are making some REAL money online.

    I have always been little surprised more people are not doing ecommerce. Maybe its cultural and people think pure blogging is either easier or quicker way of making money. But I agree with you...ecommerce is not only more profitable its the direction of future internet marketing. I will take it one step future...being the manufacture of the your product, setting up ecommerce site with parallel blog gives you total control from top to bottom and 100% of the profits.
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    • Profile picture of the author Anton543
      Originally Posted by overtonis View Post

      I have always been little surprised more people are not doing ecommerce. Maybe its cultural and people think pure blogging is either easier or quicker way of making money. But I agree with you...ecommerce is not only more profitable its the direction of future internet marketing. I will take it one step future...being the manufacture of the your product, setting up ecommerce site with parallel blog gives you total control from top to bottom and 100% of the profits.

      Two reasons. One, stocking your own items and selling is a lot of work; secondly, if they go for the dropship method its not easy sourcing businesses that will do that for you.

      The former is more profitable but carries with it greater risk and more more work.

      It does mean barriers to entry is higher in ecommerce compared to blogging, which in my opinion is not a bad thing as it means less competition for people who do it well.
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      • Profile picture of the author indata7800
        hi,

        for products do you use dropshipping? I don't quite understand how you make a profit. do you mark up the prices on your site or is there a way to get products cheaply.

        thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author cybercli
    Great thread especially on the subject of drop shipping. Speaking from the other side of the floor I recently started manufacturing my own candle accessory and am struggling with the cost of shipping. Sales to date estimate the retail value around $15, cost is $3 but I can't find ground shipping for less than 7 USPS and 9 for FedEx. What can I expect a reasonable profit margin to be for an eCommerce site? How much would you charge the customer for shipping or would you offer free shipping?

    Thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by cybercli View Post

      Great thread especially on the subject of drop shipping. Speaking from the other side of the floor I recently started manufacturing my own candle accessory and am struggling with the cost of shipping. Sales to date estimate the retail value around $15, cost is $3 but I can't find ground shipping for less than 7 USPS and 9 for FedEx. What can I expect a reasonable profit margin to be for an eCommerce site? How much would you charge the customer for shipping or would you offer free shipping?

      Thanks
      Either tack the price of shipping onto the price and offer "free shipping." Personally, it's just not worth it to me to offer products in that price range.
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      • Profile picture of the author cybercli
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        Either tack the price of shipping onto the price and offer "free shipping." Personally, it's just not worth it to me to offer products in that price range.
        I decided to stick with the existing retail of $15 and just absorb the USPS shipping of up to $6. Being the manufacturer I have a lot of room, I just had to get over it and focus on higher volume instead of higher margin.
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  • Profile picture of the author ramonakicks
    just wanted to know what MAP is

    and for those using dropshippers what happens when they don't deliver and you lose money/customers which will in turn tarnish your (business) reputation
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by ramonakicks View Post

      just wanted to know what MAP is

      and for those using dropshippers what happens when they don't deliver and you lose money/customers which will in turn tarnish your (business) reputation
      MAP stands for Minimum Advertised Price. Reputable brands (who drop ship) enforce these policies to make sure that retailers don't lessen the value of their brands by selling their products for cheap prices. This protects the suppliers brand and protects the retailers profit margins.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by ramonakicks View Post

      just wanted to know what MAP is

      and for those using dropshippers what happens when they don't deliver and you lose money/customers which will in turn tarnish your (business) reputation
      The MAP question has already been answered, but I've only run into the dropshipper problem once and that was with Aliexpress. Fortunately, it was a test purchase and I'm the one who didn't get the product. You need to choose your dropshipping companies carefully and choose companies with good reputations.
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  • Profile picture of the author lindasdd
    I'm officially jumping into discussions on this forum. I do about 2 million right now between sites and amazon. No dropshipping.

    Currently struggling with generating targeted traffic and growing my email list.

    My niche (just 1) is growing more competitive by the day which is why we've branched into our own brand as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by lindasdd View Post

      I'm officially jumping into discussions on this forum. I do about 2 million right now between sites and amazon. No dropshipping.

      Currently struggling with generating targeted traffic and growing my email list.

      My niche (just 1) is growing more competitive by the day which is why we've branched into our own brand as well.
      Do you drop ship for other online retailers? If you set up a drop ship program you could contact all of your competition and try to get them to carry your brand...
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      • Profile picture of the author lindasdd
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        Do you drop ship for other online retailers? If you set up a drop ship program you could contact all of your competition and try to get them to carry your brand...
        We wholesale to other retailers in our niche, both online and offline (niche stores, soon supermarkets).
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    • Profile picture of the author ramonakicks
      Originally Posted by lindasdd View Post

      I'm officially jumping into discussions on this forum. I do about 2 million right now between sites and amazon. No dropshipping.

      Currently struggling with generating targeted traffic and growing my email list.

      My niche (just 1) is growing more competitive by the day which is why we've branched into our own brand as well.

      what is your niche
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      • Profile picture of the author lindasdd
        Originally Posted by ramonakicks View Post

        what is your niche
        I'll keep that to myself even though replicating my business would be a herculean task not worth the effort.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danceparty
    If you have distribution part figured out, branding products is the single best thing you can do. I made an automotive brand and sold it couple months ago. When you brand stuff just make sure you trademark your logos, so that you can send cease and desist letters to everyone piggy backing off your product on amazon and everywhere else...

    It's madness out there but it's worth the stretch.
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  • Profile picture of the author shuwangyan
    hello,alksense.can i take a look some of your ecommercie websites?I also added you on my skype.thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    @shuwangyan

    Sorry, but no. Most people here are looking to start an ecommerce business so I'm not going to give away my niches.
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  • Profile picture of the author joinreview
    That is what I really like about eCommerce sites. Anyone can do it.
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  • Profile picture of the author rugman
    This is a great thread! In the past I have toyed around with the idea of e commerce as an income stream - bought a WSO by Sam England and learned tons. Put it on the backshelf as I did some other things. Lately been working a couple of Amazon sites - still new so not much activity.
    AS to the poster in his 50's - so am I. I agree that this and other vehicles on "the net" can make for a great retirement income so keep at it.
    Alksense - I see you are in NY - me too. Where abouts? Would love to chat over a cold beverage with you! PM me if you don't want to disclose here or don't if you want to keep it a secret.
    I will be reading this section more and more as time goes by.
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by rugman View Post

      This is a great thread! In the past I have toyed around with the idea of e commerce as an income stream - bought a WSO by Sam England and learned tons. Put it on the backshelf as I did some other things. Lately been working a couple of Amazon sites - still new so not much activity.
      AS to the poster in his 50's - so am I. I agree that this and other vehicles on "the net" can make for a great retirement income so keep at it.
      Alksense - I see you are in NY - me too. Where abouts? Would love to chat over a cold beverage with you! PM me if you don't want to disclose here or don't if you want to keep it a secret.
      I will be reading this section more and more as time goes by.
      Sam's ecommerce WSOs are great. Got one myself.
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      • Profile picture of the author kimbb
        hi alksense, from you experience what percentage of the niches you tried have MAP suppliers?
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  • Profile picture of the author wills777
    Alksense, very excited to come across this thread. I have not ventured into ecommerce as yet, but was always thinking to venture in that direction. I was made very aware of it recently because of coincidence via connections, in this case my cousin. I know about a launch taking place next month - a new software that allows for professional online shops to be created automatically within minutes with over 50 000 000 products to choose from. Templates provided with script license. I know about this as my cousin is the creator (joint venture with his business partner) and I was asked to create the video that will go on the website. I have received a license for free and will keep you posted how it works for me. I am looking forward to learn much from you as you are already experienced in this field
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  • Profile picture of the author ryshark
    Alksense and others, do you feel it is important for ecommerce stores to have a favicon up in the address bar?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by ryshark View Post

      Alksense and others, do you feel it is important for ecommerce stores to have a favicon up in the address bar?
      I don't know how much of a difference it makes but I add them to all of my stores.

      I just take take my logos and have them converted to .ico files here:

      favicon.ico Generator
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      • Profile picture of the author ryshark
        Thanks for that link, I was going to have somebody do it for me. They probably would have used the same free tool
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    • Profile picture of the author lindasdd
      Originally Posted by ryshark View Post

      Alksense and others, do you feel it is important for ecommerce stores to have a favicon up in the address bar?
      This would be an item included on the ridiculously long list of "things that have almost no impact on sales which I will get to when the important stuff is done."
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  • Profile picture of the author Hisma
    Hello All

    This will be one of my first posts on warrior forum.

    I want to talk about the experience I've had being a newb and trying to start my own ecommerce website.

    I have ALWAYS wanted to get into ecommerce, as I've always been the tech geek, coupled with a crazy imagination and lots of ambition. It's essentially the perfect combination for success, in my own mind.

    When I got married, I started getting onto my wife on what she would like to sell. She's brazilian, and loves lingerie (lucky for me). She knows of a small town in her home state of rio where they do nothing but make lingerie, and sell it to distributors. But you can go to this town yourself and buy direct for insanely good prices, on very high quality apparel. So being that I had some money to invest, we bought a couple grand of stock with the intention of selling it online.

    I tried to go big right from the start. I didn't want to invest too much money, but I knew people want to buy from "reputable" sites. So I designed a web page using magento, bought some themes to spruce it up, and paid someone to do logo design etc. Then, I put up some shared hosting. Then, I decided I should give buyers the option of paying by credit card without using paypal. So I jumped through all the hoops I needed to get a merchant account, got a legit business license, etc.

    Do you see where this is going?

    I was investing serious amounts of time, energy, and money (okay, not big money, but for a side business $5,000 is not fun to just throw around). Once the website went live, I knew I needed some SEO, but with all the money I'd spent, I realized even if I sold all the stock I bought, I wouldn't even break even, and then I'd still have to go through the bullshit of having to constantly restock with the distributors in Brazil, pay for SEO, etc etc.

    Fastforward a few months. The website is still alive, but not a single sale was made. I cancelled the business license, ditched the merchant account, and moved overseas due to my primary career. I still have all the stock I purchased.

    I have no idea what I should do from here.

    I want to get rid of my stock, but reading this forum, I was going about it all wrong from the beginning. **** trying to do it all myself, carrying a large stock and handling every single detail. Even if the business was "successful", the amount of time and energy required to make it work wouldn't be worth the potential profit.

    Hope to get some inspiration for my next venture.

    I'm hungry, and I'm ready to do what it takes. I just need some damn direction. Jumping in head-first without any research wasn't my brightest of ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hisma
    and I want to be clear that ecommerce is where I feel I should be. I tried like hell to get motivated to do affiliate marketing, especially seeing how many people were making huge paydays. But it's just not my thing. And if your heart is not 100% in it, you'll never truly be successful at it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eyetrap
      I've contacted 5 different drop ship companies... They all say I need a brick and mortar store before I can sell their stuff online or they have too many drop shippers or only deal with large websites.

      It's very frustrating.

      I guess I'll try to visit some random trade shows and hope to get lucky.
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Eyetrap View Post

        I've contacted 5 different drop ship companies... They all say I need a brick and mortar store before I can sell their stuff online or they have too many drop shippers or only deal with large websites.

        It's very frustrating.

        I guess I'll try to visit some random trade shows and hope to get lucky.
        What I would do and did was to set up my website in advance, so that when I applied, there was a professional looking site there with enough products in it to fill it out a bit. You can use Chinavasion for the initial products, as they don't require approval of any kind.

        I haven't run into that, either because of the website I already have or you just got unlucky in dropshippers, don't know which.
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        • Profile picture of the author Anton543
          Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

          What I would do and did was to set up my website in advance, so that when I applied, there was a professional looking site there with enough products in it to fill it out a bit. You can use Chinavasion for the initial products, as they don't require approval of any kind.

          I haven't run into that, either because of the website I already have or you just got unlucky in dropshippers, don't know which.
          I am curious how you get your products delivered to your customers in good time when dropshipping out of China?
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          • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
            Banned
            Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

            I am curious how you get your products delivered to your customers in good time when dropshipping out of China?
            A lot of the products should arrive in 6-8 days. If you choose their free shipping option, it may take a lot longer.
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            • Profile picture of the author Anton543
              Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

              A lot of the products should arrive in 6-8 days. If you choose their free shipping option, it may take a lot longer.
              And you customers do not mind such a long delay?
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              • Profile picture of the author pavv
                Originally Posted by Anton543 View Post

                And you customers do not mind such a long delay?
                I have suppliers in China too that drop ship globally. As mentioned 6-8 days with expedited shipping to anywhere in the world is fast I think. Mention that time frame on your shipping page so people who care will check and find out. You can also give them tracking details.

                With the amount of freight that goes through Shenzen/HK you honestly wouldn't believe how fast logistics are these days. The tracking generally goes something like this:
                Day 1 - Shenzen lodged
                Day 2 - HK sorting
                Day 3-4 - <insert major city> depot
                Day 5-8 - Delivered to customer
                Its the same story wherever the package is going.
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                Let Me Build Your Ecommerce Store!

                New to eCommerce? Please take a look at my product which teaches you how to find and research a product/niche, then how to build your own store.
                [WSO]I Made $70,689.71 Sales In The Last 31 Days, Let Me Show You How To Do It Too
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        • Profile picture of the author Eyetrap
          Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

          What I would do and did was to set up my website in advance, so that when I applied, there was a professional looking site there with enough products in it to fill it out a bit. You can use Chinavasion for the initial products, as they don't require approval of any kind.

          I haven't run into that, either because of the website I already have or you just got unlucky in dropshippers, don't know which.
          Thanks, I do have a super professional looking site with products. I guess I was just picking larger drop ship companies.
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          • Profile picture of the author alksense
            Originally Posted by Eyetrap View Post

            Thanks, I do have a super professional looking site with products. I guess I was just picking larger drop ship companies.
            You also have to remember that calling five companies can be a VERY small percentage of the drop ship suppliers in your niche... I sell in one niche with over 400 suppliers. Of course, I want to get approved with as many as possible but I don't get discouraged over a few rejections here and there.

            Also, maybe you need to change the way you find these suppliers you are contacting before making the calls to give yourself the best chances of finding ones who are willing to work with online retailers.

            Good Luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ashlindz
    This post is great information!

    I have sold on ebay and amazon and by far these are the easiest and quickest ways to make long term money online. It does take some time to build up but once you get it going you can really make some bucks.

    Proper research online can help you find products and items that will fly off the shelf.
    I would recommend you spend a good chunk of time doing so because it can be the difference between making or loosing money.

    I typically use alibaba as a source for finding products and sourcing. Just starting off with an idea or products you can sell and working backwards can give you some really great ideas.

    I have never tried droppshiping but may invest some more time into that route.
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  • Profile picture of the author nightxowl
    Those of you who do dropshipping, how do you know whether a niche is going to be profitable before you know what the suppliers prices are?

    There seems to be a bit of a chicken & egg element to it, because before a supplier will accecpt you as a retailer, you need to at least set up a website to show that you can sell their products, but surely you don't know what kind of margin you can make until that supplier accepts you and sends you a price list? Are people hedging their bets, or is there something I'm missing?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by nightxowl View Post

      Those of you who do dropshipping, how do you know whether a niche is going to be profitable before you know what the suppliers prices are?

      There seems to be a bit of a chicken & egg element to it, because before a supplier will accept you as a retailer, you need to at least set up a website to show that you can sell their products, but surely you don't know what kind of margin you can make until that supplier accepts you and sends you a price list? Are people hedging their bets, or is there something I'm missing?
      I always set up my websites prior to contacting drop ship suppliers in whatever niche I am entering and you're right, I personally don't know what my profit margin will be prior to getting approved for accounts and seeing price lists.

      From my experience the average NET profit on my stores is ~20%. I have some stores where it's as high as ~40% and some where it is as low as 15%, but it's typically averages out to be right around 20%.

      To have the best chance of getting yourself into a profitable niche you have to put most of your work in PRIOR to building you first store while doing your market research.

      There are a lot of things I look for prior to choosing a new niche to enter but the main things that I need to find are at least 30 suppliers of whom all enforce MAP policies.

      Hope that helps!
      - Anton
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      • Profile picture of the author nightxowl
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        I always set up my websites prior to contacting drop ship suppliers in whatever niche I am entering and you're right, I personally don't know what my profit margin will be prior to getting approved for accounts and seeing price lists.

        From my experience the average NET profit on my stores is ~20%. I have some stores where it's as high as ~40% and some where it is as low as 15%, but it's typically averages out to be right around 20%.

        To have the best chance of getting yourself into a profitable niche you have to put most of your work in PRIOR to building you first store while doing your market research.

        There are a lot of things I look for prior to choosing a new niche to enter but the main things that I need to find are at least 30 suppliers of whom all enforce MAP policies.

        Hope that helps!
        - Anton
        Thanks Alksense. I suppose if there are lots of suppliers and they enforce a minimum pricing policy then that's a good sign.

        I noticed on your website that you recommend Shopify for building ecommerce stores. How much of the ordering process from customer to your supplier is automated? Also, does it create any problems if you want to later sell your website having built it using the Shopify CMS?
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by nightxowl View Post

          Thanks Alksense. I suppose if there are lots of suppliers and they enforce a minimum pricing policy then that's a good sign.

          I noticed on your website that you recommend Shopify for building ecommerce stores. How much of the ordering process from customer to your supplier is automated? Also, does it create any problems if you want to later sell your website having built it using the Shopify CMS?
          I use eComHub (an app that integrates with Shopify) to automate everything. You set the app to recognize which vendor provides which SKUs and the app automatically sends POs (purchase orders) to the supplier when the order is placed on your store. The vendor can then enter tracking information and it is send directly to you and to your customer.

          Also, it's just as easy to sell a Shopify store as it is to sell a store on any other platform. Hope that heps
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      • Profile picture of the author nedudgi
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        I always set up my websites prior to contacting drop ship suppliers in whatever niche I am entering and you're right, I personally don't know what my profit margin will be prior to getting approved for accounts and seeing price lists.

        From my experience the average NET profit on my stores is ~20%. I have some stores where it's as high as ~40% and some where it is as low as 15%, but it's typically averages out to be right around 20%.

        To have the best chance of getting yourself into a profitable niche you have to put most of your work in PRIOR to building you first store while doing your market research.

        There are a lot of things I look for prior to choosing a new niche to enter but the main things that I need to find are at least 30 suppliers of whom all enforce MAP policies.

        Hope that helps!
        - Anton
        Hi Anton,

        Now here is the part I'd love to hear more about: "There are a lot of things I look for prior to choosing a new niche to enter..." Other factors, like suppliers, traffic generation, conversion etc. can be tested in some ways but how can I identify if it's simply the niche that doesn't work?
        Could you please go into some detail? For example, what factors would mean major "yes" and major "no" for a niche?
        Best,
        nedudgi
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        • Profile picture of the author malchiang
          Do you tend to go for big ticket items or small items?
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by nightxowl View Post

      Those of you who do dropshipping, how do you know whether a niche is going to be profitable before you know what the suppliers prices are?

      There seems to be a bit of a chicken & egg element to it, because before a supplier will accecpt you as a retailer, you need to at least set up a website to show that you can sell their products, but surely you don't know what kind of margin you can make until that supplier accepts you and sends you a price list? Are people hedging their bets, or is there something I'm missing?
      I don't always know what the pricing is before I'm accepted by a wholesaler, but I do know that if they are too high, there's no contract that says I have to sell their stuff. There's often/usually at least several if not more, wholesalers for a good niche. I use more than one and won't hesitate to drop one if I can't make a profit from them.
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  • Profile picture of the author juztin
    I used to dropship for 3 years and trust me, there is more workload involving Ecommerce than IM.

    The price changes, shipping updates, client's complaints, missing items etc.
    You dont have any of those problems with Internet Marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy Lemos
    cool stuff
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  • Profile picture of the author lalo039
    Hey Guys,

    I am really glad WF finally has an e-commerce area.

    I need some help. I have two stores that combined do about 2-3k profit per month. My traffic is 90% paid advertising. I have about 5 different areas where visitors come from.

    Lately the profits have dropped about 20% and I can't keep paying all the paid advertising as I was before.

    So I was hoping someone could help me out with recommending someone trustworthy that has ecommerce google analytics experience to help me set up my sites to track a visitor to sale/abandonment.

    I would appreciate any help or suggestions.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by lalo039 View Post

      Hey Guys,

      I am really glad WF finally has an e-commerce area.

      I need some help. I have two stores that combined do about 2-3k profit per month. My traffic is 90% paid advertising. I have about 5 different areas where visitors come from.

      Lately the profits have dropped about 20% and I can't keep paying all the paid advertising as I was before.

      So I was hoping someone could help me out with recommending someone trustworthy that has ecommerce google analytics experience to help me set up my sites to track a visitor to sale/abandonment.

      I would appreciate any help or suggestions.
      Which eCommerce platform are you using?

      It's typically very simple to install the tracking code... you should just Google "your eCommerce platform + Google Analytics for eCommerce" and try to find installation instructions.

      Good Luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author RobOrracle
      Originally Posted by lalo039 View Post

      Hey Guys,

      I am really glad WF finally has an e-commerce area.

      I need some help. I have two stores that combined do about 2-3k profit per month. My traffic is 90% paid advertising. I have about 5 different areas where visitors come from.

      Lately the profits have dropped about 20% and I can't keep paying all the paid advertising as I was before.

      So I was hoping someone could help me out with recommending someone trustworthy that has ecommerce google analytics experience to help me set up my sites to track a visitor to sale/abandonment.

      I would appreciate any help or suggestions.
      Are you listing your items in the various shoping feeds? That's where I'd start. Make sure you're using every one of them.

      Another quick question - do you do any content creation to supplement your products? that could be a good way of attracting visitors using more traditional SEO principles. I've worked with folks who published "how-to" guides for their products, and put all their instructional material online and that's been helpful. If you could create content based on how to get the best use out of your products, that would help too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Audarah
    I must admit, that drop shipping attracts my attention much more than IM does; but I find IM challenging and fun in some odd fashion. I have done SOME IM, but no drop shipping and I surely want to, so this post is a great starting point for me. I have dug into information on it before and just set it and rested it when I probably shouldnt have. I know this question is doing to seem off to the subject, but with IM I was never interested in selling and promoting books from Amazon or another venue. I am interested in actual physical products from Amazon other than books (although I do enjoy IM clickbank products). So let me ask you this: say you see a product on Amazon ( like a piece of exercise equipment for 899.00 bucks). Would you go out and make an entire website dedicated to that product and solely that product? This is where my mind gets a bit confused and how to marketing Amazon products other than books. I can write an entire website based on a book and its contents as I will have alot to say, but when it comes to a product how can I write about that other than "heres my review" and making it a one page site? See my confusion?

    Also, where are you finding the companies that allow drop shipping at? Once you find the drop shippers that you want in your niche, you would make a website and then apply ( I get that part, even add in chinavision to have some products already on there to sell), but how is everyone finding these companies??
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  • Profile picture of the author rana1863
    @alksense Hi, It could sound a very dumb question, but I am very new to this and have no idea at the moment. Right now, I've an amazon affiliate site(3 months old) which is still very new so just 4 sales until now. I am interested in eCommerce. What I know about this is that in eCommerce we need to find suppliers, create a site, get orders and forward the shipping details to the supplier and that's all what I know. I am not sure who receive the payments? Me or supplier? And another thing, if most of the customers are located in a specific country(say USA), then do I need to find a supplier within USA(to reduce shipping cost)? What if I find a good supplier outside that specific market(country), how to manage things then?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by rana1863 View Post

      @alksense Hi, It could sound a very dumb question, but I am very new to this and have no idea at the moment. Right now, I've an amazon affiliate site(3 months old) which is still very new so just 4 sales until now. I am interested in eCommerce. What I know about this is that in eCommerce we need to find suppliers, create a site, get orders and forward the shipping details to the supplier and that's all what I know. I am not sure who receive the payments? Me or supplier? And another thing, if most of the customers are located in a specific country(say USA), then do I need to find a supplier within USA(to reduce shipping cost)? What if I find a good supplier outside that specific market(country), how to manage things then?
      Hi,

      With a drop ship business you receive the payments directly from the customer. I use a merchant account, PayPal and Google Checkout to give my customers the most options as possible at checkout.

      I own some stores that ship internationally but by far the majority of my sales come from the USA (with Canada being a distant second).

      I've never targeted overseas markets but if you're planning on doing business in the US I would 100% recommend sourcing suppliers from the US.

      Hope that helps!

      - Anton
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      • Profile picture of the author rana1863
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        Hi,

        With a drop ship business you receive the payments directly from the customer. I use a merchant account, PayPal and Google Checkout to give my customers the most options as possible at checkout.

        I own some stores that ship internationally but by far the majority of my sales come from the USA (with Canada being a distant second).

        I've never targeted overseas markets but if you're planning on doing business in the US I would 100% recommend sourcing suppliers from the US.

        Hope that helps!

        - Anton
        Yes it helped and picture is way more clear now
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  • Profile picture of the author Hampton44
    A great read indeed. I have a pretty good start in the eCommerce world with my one site, and I am building my second next week in a great niche market. I have a strong social media following but am developing that further. No SEO on my site right now.

    However---my downfall is I really have one supplier---now I can get my product from other suppliers--but I choose to just work with one. I am adding a second next week for different products. The issue I see ---if I have customer John Smith order products A, B and C and they are all shipped from different drop shipping companies? What do I do then? That is a lot of shipping?

    My big question. I am planning on adding my products---some niche products too--but I am worries about the shipping issue. I do ship from overseas, but new source is USA--as well as developing my own brand.

    Thanks!
    Signature

    "Because in the end, you won't remember the time spent working in the office, or mowing the lawn. Climb that damn mountain."

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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by Hampton44 View Post

      A great read indeed. I have a pretty good start in the eCommerce world with my one site, and I am building my second next week in a great niche market. I have a strong social media following but am developing that further. No SEO on my site right now.

      However---my downfall is I really have one supplier---now I can get my product from other suppliers--but I choose to just work with one. I am adding a second next week for different products. The issue I see ---if I have customer John Smith order products A, B and C and they are all shipped from different drop shipping companies? What do I do then? That is a lot of shipping?

      My big question. I am planning on adding my products---some niche products too--but I am worries about the shipping issue. I do ship from overseas, but new source is USA--as well as developing my own brand.

      Thanks!
      I mostly sell large and expensive items items online so I am able to offer free shipping and absorb the cost myself.

      Most of my sites sell for 20+ suppliers so it's common to ship from various places. I can tell you that customers do not mind this at all. You just need to keep them informed and send them tracking info for each individual piece as it becomes available and you will not have any problems

      - Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author Giselle85G
    Thanks for sharing ! I totally agree with what you said about Ecommerce and that why im trying it out. Im about to launch my first ecommerce site and facing many problems.. but i will take them down one by one.

    It seems like i know nothing about dropshipping....shame...
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by Giselle85G View Post

      Thanks for sharing ! I totally agree with what you said about Ecommerce and that why im trying it out. Im about to launch my first ecommerce site and facing many problems.. but i will take them down one by one.

      It seems like i know nothing about dropshipping....shame...
      The first time is always the hardest

      The good news is you can take all of information you are learning by correcting your problems now and then use that knowledge going forward entering more and more niches.
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      • Profile picture of the author SGTech
        I asked this in another thread and didn't receive any replies so I will ask here. What are your thoughts on buying items through liquidation channels and selling them through an ecommerce site? I know that means handling shipping and so on but I am ok with that. Any thoughts on that business model?
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by SGTech View Post

          I asked this in another thread and didn't receive any replies so I will ask here. What are your thoughts on buying items through liquidation channels and selling them through an ecommerce site? I know that means handling shipping and so on but I am ok with that. Any thoughts on that business model?
          That's way different then what I do so I don't have any advice other then to see what the items that are being liquidated are selling for on other retail websites.

          If there's room for a nice profit then why not go for it?

          That's how overstock got started...
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  • Profile picture of the author malia
    @Hisma

    Lingerie is super competitive and highly saturated. I have a website in that niche, but it's branded/designer. If you want to be in that niche, you have to heavily invest in branding/pr/etc to differentiate yourself from the drop ship sites, chinese sites, affiliate sites, etc., If your merchandise is unique, you may want to try selling on Amazon.
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    • Profile picture of the author Audarah
      I am still stumped by this question that another user asked:

      ":The issue I see ---if I have customer John Smith order products A, B and C and they are all shipped from different drop shipping companies? What do I do then? That is a lot of shipping"

      I was thinking about that last night.If someone comes to my site and say they grab up five products which happen to be from five different suppliers, and the shipping is 5.00 a piece for example, I doubt they are going to be happy paying a total of 25.00 shipping and would probably leave my site to go to another site. So there is absolutely no way around this other than keep the customer informed?
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      • Profile picture of the author Palomino
        Originally Posted by Audarah View Post

        I am still stumped by this question that another user asked:

        ":The issue I see ---if I have customer John Smith order products A, B and C and they are all shipped from different drop shipping companies? What do I do then? That is a lot of shipping"

        I was thinking about that last night.If someone comes to my site and say they grab up five products which happen to be from five different suppliers, and the shipping is 5.00 a piece for example, I doubt they are going to be happy paying a total of 25.00 shipping and would probably leave my site to go to another site. So there is absolutely no way around this other than keep the customer informed?
        So, there are a couple of ways to go about this.
        1) Buy the product from the wholesaler at discount rates as your income allows, store at your location, and then ship from there. You can markup your shipping a bit by providing a flat rate.
        2) Utilize a plugin like WebShopApps' Dropship Multi-origin Shipping Solution which will automatically calculate all of the shipping fees and find the lowest shipping rates by utilizing the closest vendor shipping point to the client. The client will only see one, final shipping rate, just like most ecommerce sites, and you won't have to show them separate rates for each drop shipping point.
        Yes, it IS expensive, but only up front. If you clear a few grand in a couple of months, then you can buy it from the profits.
        3) Don't roll with multiple vendors! This is the option if you don't have the money to buy bulk up front and ship from your place (#1 above), or cannot afford a plugin that handles the multi-point shipping calculations (#2 above). You may have to start with one Supplier at first, until you can grow enough to do one of the other two mentioned above.
        Signature

        Ryne Landers
        Lover/Fighter/Gamer/Serial Entrepreneur
        McKinney Web Design
        Skype Me: ryne.landers

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  • Profile picture of the author Hampton44
    Yes--that is where I guess I just break even on some items? Or dont make as much profit. I need to actually run those numbers as I am adding ...slowly....more products from different makers.
    Signature

    "Because in the end, you won't remember the time spent working in the office, or mowing the lawn. Climb that damn mountain."

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    • Profile picture of the author malchiang
      So product variety is important to attract customers?
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  • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
    Hi Anton,

    Let me get this right, I stock up the web store,
    then contact suppliers. After contacting them all,
    isn't there a distinct possibility none of them drop ship?

    Is there a way to minimize that possibility in my research phase?

    Thank you.

    Best,
    Ewen
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    • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
      Banned
      Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

      Let me get this right, I stock up the web store,
      then contact suppliers. After contacting them all,
      isn't there a distinct possibility none of them drop ship?

      Is there a way to minimize that possibility in my research phase?

      Thank you.

      Best,
      Ewen
      I don't stock up a store until I've been accepted by the wholesaler and know that I can make a profit from their products.
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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

        I don't stock up a store until I've been accepted by the wholesaler and know that I can make a profit from their products.
        To be accepted as a reseller, don't they want to see a e-commerce site set up though?

        So you have everything set except products on display?

        Thanks.
        Ewen
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        • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
          Banned
          Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

          To be accepted as a reseller, don't they want to see a e-commerce site set up though?

          So you have everything set except products on display?

          Thanks.
          Ewen
          You can set up products from places like chinavasion without jumping through any hoops to be accepted. That's what I do to get a presence to show. I don't want to spend time with other products until I know what their prices are and if they accept me.
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          • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
            Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

            You can set up products from places like chinavasion without jumping through any hoops to be accepted. That's what I do to get a presence to show. I don't want to spend time with other products until I know what their prices are and if they accept me.
            Any other suggestion since I'm not dealing with gadgets?

            Thank you.

            Ewen
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            • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
              Banned
              Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

              Any other suggestion since I'm not dealing with gadgets?

              Thank you.

              Ewen

              aliexpress, chinavasion, ankhara, etc. do not deal exclusively with gadegets. Without knowing what you are selling, the chinese wholesalers are all I can suggest.
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              • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
                Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

                aliexpress, chinavasion, ankhara, etc. do not deal exclusively with gadegets. Without knowing what you are selling, the chinese wholesalers are all I can suggest.
                Thanks.

                I'm going after American suppliers.

                Best,
                Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author dvm3
    Just have to chime in here to say that Anton (Alksense) is the man when it comes to ecommerce. I was one of the first to buy his course (well worth it!) but his site is full of a ton of great free info.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    what an great ecommerce millionaire thread!

    Anton for me, its not easy to find europe dropshippers (I'm from europe) and when I have it understood right, as an dropshipper you can not sell on amazon, then you must send these products first to their amazon store before amazon sell it for you, so you must buy these products first. or you not buy and sell it on ebay.

    In europe I have found 1 serious supplier, but you must pay 70$ to get their csv,yeah I think the most suppliers want money from you first, so how I find serious dropship suppliers without spend an investment? That is the big quiz show millionaire question.

    And notice, these one europe dropship supplier I must pay weekly per bank account direct debit, but he makes not an fix datum with me as dropshipper, so I don't know the weekly day he makes the bank account direct debit, that is very fatal if you not have an bank credit line,when you bank account has not parallel turnover coverage. And then?

    All that together does scare me off to make business with this supplier.

    So the other option is to make money as affiliate, you must not buy,you must know to write good content,backlink and seo. It is not possible selling on ebay as affiliate, please correct me if I'm wrong.


    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author mikeb1
      Big Thanks to Anton

      spent a full day reading this thread, only clicked on it to find out the best way to SEO e-commerce sites, as an SEOr I have been getting a ton of requests lately from local businesses to seo their e=commerce sites like local jewlers etc, so copied and pasted a lot of the methods you guys have posted here, but been thinking on building my own e-commerce site since reading the 4HWW by Tim F a couple of months ago.

      And I guess on the time and money it would cost me to SEO some other persons e-commerce site, I would be better building my own e-commerce site,and start to dropship...

      I will have to politely say goodbye can't do it, businesses with ecommerce sites think you are way to expensive because the joiner down the road got a page 1 listing for a couple of hundred quid. (uk)

      Anyway enough of the rant. If I have understood everything correctly, I can source U.S. dropshippers sell to U.S. and Canada etc, but because I am from the U.K. I won't be able to get a U.S. bank account set up, so I would have to use paypal and Google pay etc ?

      Has anyone outside the U.S. done this successfully ?

      best Mike
      Signature
      Affiliate links are not allowed.
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  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    @marco005

    I wish I could be of more help to you but all of my business is done in the US and I really don't know how the wholesale/drop ship system is different in Europe (if it is at all).

    I can tell you that I've never had to pay to be approved with a supplier but again, things may be different overseas.

    I typically set up "pre pay" terms with all of my suppliers, meaning that I pay them (via credit card to build up rewards) every time that I place an order with them. They also offer credit terms but I love to travel so I take advantage of being able to build up lots of flight miles very quickly

    Being an affiliate is a totally different ball game. I do A LOT of business as an Amazon affiliate through my Amazon stores BUT I do not use the same traffic techniques as I do with my eCommerce sites because affiliate links are usually not allowed.

    @mikeb1

    I just replied to your PM.

    My friend from Israel was able to set up his US based LLC and bank account while he was living in NY for the summer. I also have a course member from Singapore who isn't planning on traveling to the US anytime soon who took a different approach to this (see PM for details).
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    • Profile picture of the author malchiang
      Thanks for the very helpful info.
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    • Profile picture of the author jta1234
      Originally Posted by alksense View Post

      @mikeb1

      I just replied to your PM.

      My friend from Israel was able to set up his US based LLC and bank account while he was living in NY for the summer. I also have a course member from Singapore who isn't planning on traveling to the US anytime soon who took a different approach to this (see PM for details).
      Hi Alksense,

      Could you share the info on how your Singapore course member set up his account? I'm from Malaysia and am interested in getting into dropshipping.

      Thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author dcap
        Originally Posted by dcap View Post
        I am brand new to ecommerce and just starting out. I have located suppliers in Brazil for unique beauty and skin care products. Currently, in the process of negotiating exclusivity agreements for US distribution. In this case where I am not in need of product, would you recommend still using a drop shipper or handling fulfillment myself ? Also, should I start on eBay and Amazon in addition to spending some SEO $$ on Google and FB ? I can afford a decent ad budget.




        For the type of business that you are planning on running I would recommend advertising after placing a very small test order (or before even ordering at all) to gauge what type of inventory you need to purchase.

        Assuming you've done all of your market research and you truly believe that this product will sell at a profitable price point here is what I would do:

        - set up a full blown eCommerce store or just a really nice sales page depending on how many products you will be offering
        - send traffic to this website via an extremely targeted Adwords campaign
        - have the add to cart button link to a pop out contact form that says something like "Sorry, this item is out of stock due to high demand. Our next shipment is due to arrive in xx days. Please enter your email address below to be notified as soon as we are accepting new orders".

        This will build you a list of potential customers and also give you an estimate of how many people are serious about taking out their credit cards and ordering your product(s).

        Once you know the product converts at a certain price you can start bringing in inventory and testing eBay and Amazon as additional sources of revenue.

        Hope that helps,
        Anton


        Thanks Anton. Great feedback and duly noted. Much appreciated. - dcap
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Thanks for your helping information.
    I will not give up and look for dropship suppliers in europe.

    But I be little little afraid with ebay business and paypal, hm, there are enough sellers who paypal has freezing their account/money, so you not can pay your dropship supplier, but I as an sole priorship, has unlimited liability to pay the dropshipper..........this is a risk with paypal.

    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Thanks for your helping information.
      I will not give up and look for dropship suppliers in europe.

      But I be little little afraid with ebay business and paypal, hm, there are enough sellers who paypal has freezing their account/money, so you not can pay your dropship supplier, but I as an sole priorship, has unlimited liability to pay the dropshipper..........this is a risk with paypal.

      marco005
      Yes, that is true.

      In 2006 when I first started doing big money with PayPal (tens of thousands of dollars/month) they locked our account BUT I was able to have it resolved very quickly.

      It was basically my fault because my business partner and I were not entering all of the tracking information into PayPal so we were flagged for the liability on their end. I had to enter tracking information for about 20 shipments or so and once PayPal confirmed everything was delivered (about a week later) they unlocked our account.

      Another thing to consider with PayPal (and some other merchant accounts) is that if they think your business is even the least bit "risky" they will attach a rolling reserve to your account.

      In my situation they told me it was based on volume but I have a 7% 90 day rolling reserve on mine. Meaning they hold 7% of every sale from my company and deposit it into my account 90 days after the sale is made.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    ah, I think when I hold every month 10-15% of my sales income in paypal account as reserve for chargebacks, then paypal will be satisfied with me (my theory).

    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author overtonis
      curious if anyone who recently started this can update their progress. I am going to start next week with 4 days off. What is your monthly cost when starting. Let me know if I missed something:

      Monthly cost:
      1) Shopify - $30
      2) Shopify transaction fees
      3) Paypal transaction fees
      4) Advertising ??

      One-time Fixed Cost:
      1) web-design

      Annual cost:
      1) Domain - $10


      Thanks
      Carl
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    • Profile picture of the author adsmantis
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi,

      ah, I think when I hold every month 10-15% of my sales income in paypal account as reserve for chargebacks, then paypal will be satisfied with me (my theory).

      marco005
      I believe once you hit a certain level, you be assigned an account manager. Everything will be a breeze then. I got a 5% rolling with a 75 days rolling reserve(down from 10%, 90 days). Every business model is different. You got to speak to your account manager. They will help you to resolve most issues you have.
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  • Profile picture of the author CarstenK
    Could you scale up 1 (or 2) shops max to make you good money every month? Or does it have to be 50? lol^^ I'm talking about effective branding.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hampton44
    Just an FYI--if you pay Shopify all at once for the entire year, you have no fees.
    Signature

    "Because in the end, you won't remember the time spent working in the office, or mowing the lawn. Climb that damn mountain."

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  • Profile picture of the author ares1980
    Very nice thread .Finally something what is really profitable like e commerce and much more real than IM as tried many things and nothing has worked as i wanted so far,There are so many people telling you how to make£ 1 mln or how to make 2k$ in week ,day or seconds.))
    The e commerce conversion is much higher than IM things.Iam selling on Amazon,i have around 1200-1500 views a day with around 60-80 items sold and profit around 200-300£ a day.That makes more than 35000 view on my pages.

    Many street retailers are already out of the game because of the more online buying customers especialy in UK and USA.Lets say some Jessops (some of the biggest ),Comet(also big chain) etc etc
    The bright future is for those who realize all that))
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  • Profile picture of the author Hampton44
    To be honest--I even find myself shopping online more and more. And I am one who never did. It is just so much more convenient.
    Signature

    "Because in the end, you won't remember the time spent working in the office, or mowing the lawn. Climb that damn mountain."

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  • Profile picture of the author ares1980
    I would like to make my own website but dont have any experience in web design or control panels etc.Is Shopify the best solution for me.Also,at the moment iam selling on amazon and have chinece supplier .Iam happy with him and do a good business but i would like to find droppshipers .Would you tell me if its good idea to deal with Chinece droppshipers or not.Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author gax444
    Sounds like a good reason to use eCommerce.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Ah thanks for this paypal tip.

    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author FreshAndThemes
    Love these types of threads! always learn something new!
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  • Profile picture of the author kooldesigning
    E commerce increasing your products worth and easily available for internet.e commerce easy to understanding and easy to using for any purpose .
    Signature
    Landing page design focus to improve Inquiry or Sales.
    Get Custom website design of your dreams
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  • Profile picture of the author andyredsox
    - Ecommerce site is also a good site to have your own online business. You don't need to spend a lot of money for the investment and you can manage the business easily, without any hassle and no overtime.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Tovey
    Not sure if anybody mentioned Shopify, but it won't have any fees attached to it!
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    • Profile picture of the author kettlecorn
      Originally Posted by Paul Tovey View Post

      Not sure if anybody mentioned Shopify, but it won't have any fees attached to it!
      Only Shopify Unlimited has no fees. The other ones have transaction fees.
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  • Profile picture of the author bigles75
    I am very new to this forum but I have been very successful with ecommerce and I have had my biggest month being 55,000. I sell Ewaste that I get sometimes from many companies for free and some I pay a little of nothing for . I have found 3 solid Platforms to move my products and since my overhead is so low I have been able to do really well. However I am here to learn affilate and Cpa marketing and if anyone is wanting to learn some trick and secrets of success with ecommerce I will be glad to trade information . Im not looking for a guru and I am not a super noob as I have been studying affiliate and Cpa 2 years I just havent put together any rteally successful campaigns and I would like to. HBO HELP A BROTHER OUT . Thanks Warriors!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author dswconsulting
    IMO, the reason this forum has been a little slow on the draw is that most IM's don't jump into ecommerce is because it does require a bit of investment on your part. The higher the threshhold to entry - the fewer will enter... Another great thing about ecomm is that Google loves em! Most anyone that has done kw research will notice that 60 to 80% of the top 10 are ecomm sites..... I started my first ecomm site over 1 yr ago, unfortunately it has bombed!!! However I have learned a great deal about website construction, seo, market research, kw research....So now I'm starting my 2nd ecomm site that should really perform well. Thanks to Alksense and Pavv for the great contributions!
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by dswconsulting View Post

      IMO, the reason this forum has been a little slow on the draw is that most IM's don't jump into ecommerce is because it does require a bit of investment on your part. The higher the threshhold to entry - the fewer will enter... Another great thing about ecomm is that Google loves em! Most anyone that has done kw research will notice that 60 to 80% of the top 10 are ecomm sites..... I started my first ecomm site over 1 yr ago, unfortunately it has bombed!!! However I have learned a great deal about website construction, seo, market research, kw research....So now I'm starting my 2nd ecomm site that should really perform well. Thanks to Alksense and Pavv for the great contributions!
      You're very welcome! and congrats on applying your knowledge and taking another shot at eCommerce.

      There definitely can be a steep learning curve if you just jump into this business blindly... That's how I got started and when I look back now I can't believe some of things that I did wrong in the beginning! I had no clue about SEO or any type of advertising but I took a chance and modified what I was doing as I grew my business. This just goes to show that you don't need to know it all to get started, but you need to get started to have a shot at making it work.

      Good luck to you on your new venture. If you ever have any questions I'd be glad to help.

      - Anton
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    • Profile picture of the author Hampton44
      Originally Posted by dswconsulting View Post

      IMO, the reason this forum has been a little slow on the draw is that most IM's don't jump into ecommerce is because it does require a bit of investment on your part. The higher the threshhold to entry - the fewer will enter... Another great thing about ecomm is that Google loves em! Most anyone that has done kw research will notice that 60 to 80% of the top 10 are ecomm sites..... I started my first ecomm site over 1 yr ago, unfortunately it has bombed!!! However I have learned a great deal about website construction, seo, market research, kw research....So now I'm starting my 2nd ecomm site that should really perform well. Thanks to Alksense and Pavv for the great contributions!
      So what would you say you are doing differently know in round 2? I am a totally newbie and bought a website from someone---yes, i am actually making money---but I am still not sure if I can make it off of this. I am pretty sure I am making mistakes left and right---but I just need to keep reading and learning.
      Signature

      "Because in the end, you won't remember the time spent working in the office, or mowing the lawn. Climb that damn mountain."

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      • Profile picture of the author dswconsulting
        My 1st attempt was formed out of the "build it and they will come mentality" now i focus heavily on kw, market and competition analysis. You must target low comp yet moderate search volume kws.....next consider your competition. Is pg 1 of google a bunch ofresults like ezine articles, youtube, ebay, squidoo or etc? If so its a weak market...finally traffic. The #1way to jump in the search results and get organic traffic is to own your seo real estate. Find high quality expired domains that you can pick up and turn into a private link network....it boosts rankings and is a busniness in itself. Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan David
    I've been doing e-commerce since 2005 and I'm always curious why people consider it to be "too much work" when compared with running a content site. Once the initial setup on the sites is done, I do less work than any other content sites I've managed. And if you want to avoid over-reliance on certain traffic sources (like Google) ,then selling e-commerce products is the way to do that i.e. earning more per visitor so that you need LESS traffic to hit a certain income target.

    In terms of how many products you need, my most successful site is very niche and only has 10-15 products. That site does over $650K per year in revenue with 40-50% gross margins. But that's a specific niche where there aren't a lot of additional products needed. Other sites that I have will have closer to 1000 products with the top product accounting for 6% of sales, 10-15 accounting for 1-5% of sales, and the remainder being under 1%. So it's all 80/20.
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  • Profile picture of the author ZestMedia
    How about Magento eCommerce shopping cart?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by ZestMedia View Post

      How about Magento eCommerce shopping cart?
      What would you like to know about them? I personally use Shopify as the platform for my stores but there are a lot of people on this forum that use Magento who would be able to help you with any detailed questions...
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      • Profile picture of the author makesense
        Hello all,

        Just wanted to thank you for all of the time and great information you've put out here for us to digest. It really helps!

        I have decided to finally jump into the water, after years of putting it off. I have always been interested in Ecom and IM but never took the time to get started, perhaps it was a lack of a good information source and a bit of being overwhelmed with every one trying to sell you on their success story.

        I started freelance as well as production-company last year and have certainly learned a tremendous amount, since leaving my job.

        ECommerce is something I'm especially interested in and fascinated by!

        Going to be doing a ton more research in the coming months, then narrowing down a Niche and looking for suppliers.

        Thanks again! I'll probably be asking tons of questions once I get going.
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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        What would you like to know about them? I personally use Shopify as the platform for my stores but there are a lot of people on this forum that use Magento who would be able to help you with any detailed questions...

        You've got questions on your WSO thread that haven't been answered for 3 days as well on your Pm...both from customers.

        Care to follow up on them?

        Thanks,
        Ewen
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

          You've got questions on your WSO thread that haven't been answered for 3 days as well on your Pm...both from customers.

          Care to follow up on them?

          Thanks,
          Ewen
          Hey Ewan,

          Hope all is well.

          I took my girlfriend to the beach for a few days and had my smartphone but didn't have access to the support system.

          I've just sent you a PM and as soon as I have your username I'll reset your account info.

          Thanks!
          Anton
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          • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
            Originally Posted by alksense View Post

            Hey Ewan,

            Hope all is well.

            I took my girlfriend to the beach for a few days and had my smartphone but didn't have access to the support system.

            I've just sent you a PM and as soon as I have your username I'll reset your account info.

            Thanks!
            Anton
            Thank you Anton.

            Replied to your PM.

            Best,
            Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author CynthiaAngel
    Such a great thread, read through all the thoughtful comments.

    Was wondering if there is a WSO ecommerce any of you would recommend, that focuses specifically on how to get traffic to ecommerce sites?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by makesense View Post

      Hello all,

      Just wanted to thank you for all of the time and great information you've put out here for us to digest. It really helps!

      I have decided to finally jump into the water, after years of putting it off. I have always been interested in Ecom and IM but never took the time to get started, perhaps it was a lack of a good information source and a bit of being overwhelmed with every one trying to sell you on their success story.

      I started freelance as well as production-company last year and have certainly learned a tremendous amount, since leaving my job.

      ECommerce is something I'm especially interested in and fascinated by!

      Going to be doing a ton more research in the coming months, then narrowing down a Niche and looking for suppliers.

      Thanks again! I'll probably be asking tons of questions once I get going.
      Congrats on getting started with eCommerce! I'd be glad to answer any questions you have and as you can see there are A LOT of people on these forums who have valuable information to exchange with everyone.

      Originally Posted by CynthiaAngel View Post

      Such a great thread, read through all the thoughtful comments.

      Was wondering if there is a WSO ecommerce any of you would recommend, that focuses specifically on how to get traffic to ecommerce sites?
      Hey Cynthia,

      What type of eCommerce sites do you currently own/operate? Do you sell for established brands or sell unique products?
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      • Profile picture of the author CynthiaAngel
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        Congrats on getting started with eCommerce! I'd be glad to answer any questions you have and as you can see there are A LOT of people on these forums who have valuable information to exchange with everyone.



        Hey Cynthia,

        What type of eCommerce sites do you currently own/operate? Do you sell for established brands or sell unique products?

        alksense, sorry I missed your response. I sell unique products in a specific niche. Am looking for a step by step marketing specific to Ecommerce. Thanks
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by CynthiaAngel View Post

          alksense, sorry I missed your response. I sell unique products in a specific niche. Am looking for a step by step marketing specific to Ecommerce. Thanks
          No worries... I won't recommend any WSO but I'll tell you what has worked for me.

          When advertising my sites that sell for drop ship suppliers (branded products) my highest converting traffic sources are Google Shopping, TheFind.com, Amazon Product Ads, SEO for product pages and banner ads placed on niche relevant blogs.

          When advertising unique products (ones that I've imported myself and that I sell under a unique brand that no one else offers) my biggest source of traffic has been Adwords. The other methods work but if you're selling a unique product with no search volume (for your brand) it can be hard to scale up the traffic from the other methods.

          The main thing I would recommend is before you start investing funds into traffic is to enable eCommerce tracking on your Google Analytics account. You can literally see exactly which traffic sources are converting for you and scale those up (while cutting the ones that don't convert for your store(s)).

          Good Luck!
          - Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author betterwtveter
    Well said, yes it is very rewarding having such a business especially when getting a positive return.
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  • Profile picture of the author simonjnh
    Banned
    Been moving towards ecommerce myself quite a bit recently starting with focus on ebay dropshipping but am creating personal dropshipping sites now.
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  • Profile picture of the author makesense
    I'm currently in Toronto, Canada and our taxes here are absolutely ridiculous. I was wondering if opening a corporation and doing business out of Panama would be problematic at all for shipping to the United States, through drop-shipping or setting up links with suppliers? I personally, don't see why not. Any advise?

    Panama deals largely with US Dollars and they are the hub of international trade.
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    • Profile picture of the author barefut
      Originally Posted by makesense View Post

      I'm currently in Toronto, Canada and our taxes here are absolutely ridiculous. I was wondering if opening a corporation and doing business out of Panama would be problematic at all for shipping to the United States, through drop-shipping or setting up links with suppliers? I personally, don't see why not. Any advise?

      Panama deals largely with US Dollars and they are the hub of international trade.
      I ran into a guy here in NZ who set up these entities (Foundation in Panama), and I would not recommend it. You will eventually get nailed - sooner or later. I believe in paying taxes, as the government creates the infrastructure in which you live in - roads, hospitals, military, libraries, police, etc.

      Dolce / Gabbana got busted for this type of structure:
      Dolce & Gabbana Fined Millions For Tax Evasion - Forbes
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    • Profile picture of the author RossBytes
      Originally Posted by makesense View Post

      I'm currently in Toronto, Canada and our taxes here are absolutely ridiculous. I was wondering if opening a corporation and doing business out of Panama would be problematic at all for shipping to the United States, through drop-shipping or setting up links with suppliers? I personally, don't see why not. Any advise?

      Panama deals largely with US Dollars and they are the hub of international trade.
      I wouldn't try to avoid taxes... especially with today's climate. Most the Euro banks that were used in U.S. tax evasion are changing their laws so the customers name can be given. And plus, you'll still have to pay taxes on your income.
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      • Profile picture of the author makesense
        Originally Posted by RossBytes View Post

        I wouldn't try to avoid taxes... especially with today's climate. Most the Euro banks that were used in U.S. tax evasion are changing their laws so the customers name can be given. And plus, you'll still have to pay taxes on your income.
        Well I'm actually planning to live in Panama part time so it wouldn't really be tax evasion in the general sense. I would be running my business out of Panama but also remotely.
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  • Profile picture of the author barefut
    I have been looking for this type of forum for a long time. It has been a roller coaster the past couple of years, especially with the new Google algorithm a year ago. We dropship products from a very reputable company (lucky to get an account) and we handle all of the fulfillment, calls, and customer service. We were ranked #1 for 4-6 high volume, low competition keywords, with no SEO competition, and projected to do around $250,000 profit per year. Then Penguin came along and wiped it all out. We had to start over with a new brand and website.

    Since we tried every avenue possible to get sales (Facebook Ads, Adwords, Affiliates, SortPrice, funneling, etc), the only thing that has worked for us is high Google rankings. I'm sure that there are other ways, but we have been unsuccessful as of late. Our customers are very fickle, and take (an average) of 3 months to make a decision. The average price for our product is around $850.

    We were able to jump back onto the high rankings last November, but they have slipped lately. I'm always loosing sleep worrying about the next Google update, and having our income evaporate.

    My background: Web Developer/Designer for 15 years. Owned my own Web Development company and it crashed and burned because my partner was a dope addict and had been stealing from the company - lost everything. Moved to New Zealand and started over (with my web business). First time I have had a successful business - since everything is so low stress here.

    I use OsCommerce, since I have experience with it, and I can build something custom over the top of it.

    I love HostGator as a host - they have been the best by far. DreamHost, BlueHost, JustHost, etc are junk.

    If you want to be walked through the whole ecommerce business, you can try out StoreCoach.com. He is pretty good at walking you through the whole thing, but I left after a short amount of time, as I already knew most of what he was teaching.

    I would welcome any guidance on how we can diversify our income. I am a very quick learner and a very fast implementer (I am a doer, not a slacker). I would welcome some help on how I can start doing other dropship businesses.

    Alksense - thanks for starting this thread. Sorry I arrived late. I really like what you have done. Hopefully I can build some trust here, and perhaps move past my comfort zone and do what you have done.

    Great Thread!
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    • Profile picture of the author makesense
      Originally Posted by barefut View Post

      I have been looking for this type of forum for a long time. It has been a roller coaster the past couple of years, especially with the new Google algorithm a year ago. We dropship products from a very reputable company (lucky to get an account) and we handle all of the fulfillment, calls, and customer service. We were ranked #1 for 4-6 high volume, low competition keywords, with no SEO competition, and projected to do around $250,000 profit per year. Then Penguin came along and wiped it all out. We had to start over with a new brand and website.

      Since we tried every avenue possible to get sales (Facebook Ads, Adwords, Affiliates, SortPrice, funneling, etc), the only thing that has worked for us is high Google rankings. I'm sure that there are other ways, but we have been unsuccessful as of late. Our customers are very fickle, and take (an average) of 3 months to make a decision. The average price for our product is around $850.

      We were able to jump back onto the high rankings last November, but they have slipped lately. I'm always loosing sleep worrying about the next Google update, and having our income evaporate.

      My background: Web Developer/Designer for 15 years. Owned my own Web Development company and it crashed and burned because my partner was a dope addict and had been stealing from the company - lost everything. Moved to New Zealand and started over (with my web business). First time I have had a successful business - since everything is so low stress here.

      I use OsCommerce, since I have experience with it, and I can build something custom over the top of it.

      I love HostGator as a host - they have been the best by far. DreamHost, BlueHost, JustHost, etc are junk.

      If you want to be walked through the whole ecommerce business, you can try out StoreCoach.com. He is pretty good at walking you through the whole thing, but I left after a short amount of time, as I already knew most of what he was teaching.

      I would welcome any guidance on how we can diversify our income. I am a very quick learner and a very fast implementer (I am a doer, not a slacker). I would welcome some help on how I can start doing other dropship businesses.

      Alksense - thanks for starting this thread. Sorry I arrived late. I really like what you have done. Hopefully I can build some trust here, and perhaps move past my comfort zone and do what you have done.

      Great Thread!
      Storecoach seems quite pricey. Have you tried it?
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      • Profile picture of the author barefut
        Originally Posted by makesense View Post

        Storecoach seems quite pricey. Have you tried it?

        Yes, but the price has gone up since I started, but if you are new to ecommerce, definitely worth paying for.

        They have weekly calls where you can ask any question, problem you are having, etc
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by makesense View Post

          I'm currently in Toronto, Canada and our taxes here are absolutely ridiculous. I was wondering if opening a corporation and doing business out of Panama would be problematic at all for shipping to the United States, through drop-shipping or setting up links with suppliers? I personally, don't see why not. Any advise?

          Panama deals largely with US Dollars and they are the hub of international trade.
          I always thought that US based suppliers would prefer to work with US based retailers. However, I launched an eCom training course a few months ago and I have members from all over the world doing business in their countries as well as the US. From what I'm hearing no one is having problems getting approved for accounts with their foreign business info.

          I guess money is money

          Originally Posted by barefut View Post

          I have been looking for this type of forum for a long time. It has been a roller coaster the past couple of years, especially with the new Google algorithm a year ago. We dropship products from a very reputable company (lucky to get an account) and we handle all of the fulfillment, calls, and customer service. We were ranked #1 for 4-6 high volume, low competition keywords, with no SEO competition, and projected to do around $250,000 profit per year. Then Penguin came along and wiped it all out. We had to start over with a new brand and website.

          Since we tried every avenue possible to get sales (Facebook Ads, Adwords, Affiliates, SortPrice, funneling, etc), the only thing that has worked for us is high Google rankings. I'm sure that there are other ways, but we have been unsuccessful as of late. Our customers are very fickle, and take (an average) of 3 months to make a decision. The average price for our product is around $850.

          We were able to jump back onto the high rankings last November, but they have slipped lately. I'm always loosing sleep worrying about the next Google update, and having our income evaporate.

          My background: Web Developer/Designer for 15 years. Owned my own Web Development company and it crashed and burned because my partner was a dope addict and had been stealing from the company - lost everything. Moved to New Zealand and started over (with my web business). First time I have had a successful business - since everything is so low stress here.

          I use OsCommerce, since I have experience with it, and I can build something custom over the top of it.

          I love HostGator as a host - they have been the best by far. DreamHost, BlueHost, JustHost, etc are junk.

          If you want to be walked through the whole ecommerce business, you can try out StoreCoach.com. He is pretty good at walking you through the whole thing, but I left after a short amount of time, as I already knew most of what he was teaching.

          I would welcome any guidance on how we can diversify our income. I am a very quick learner and a very fast implementer (I am a doer, not a slacker). I would welcome some help on how I can start doing other dropship businesses.

          Alksense - thanks for starting this thread. Sorry I arrived late. I really like what you have done. Hopefully I can build some trust here, and perhaps move past my comfort zone and do what you have done.

          Great Thread!
          Congrats on having so much success already!

          I totally hear you about losing sleep over Google updates. My product pages all rank very well and were not effected by any of the recent updates but I can't even imagine relying totally on organic results for sales... I try to diversify my traffic sources as much as possible but also run with what works.

          Have you tried Google Shopping, TheFind, Amazon Product Ads, Blog Ads or anything similar?

          Originally Posted by abbe77 View Post

          What is Dropshipping by the way and anyone knows how it will be helpful to establish eCommerce business in Sweden?
          Drop shipping basically works likes this:

          - Customer places order on your website (paying retail)
          - You place order with your drop ship suppliers (pay them wholesale (this can be automated))
          - Drop Ship Supplier sends your customer their items and tracking number
          - You keep the profit (Retail - (Wholesale + your other expenses))

          It's a very simple business model but there are a lot of variables that determine how much money you can make. The main thing of importance is finding great suppliers. I always try to go straight to the source and sell for manufactures who warehouse their items in the US for retailers to sell, who enforce MAP polices and who do not sell directly to the public.

          Hope that helps!
          Anton
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          • Profile picture of the author nedudgi
            I've bought Anton's course and I'm extremely happy with it. In the course he gives the basics in a detailed and clear way and which is even more, he gives ongoing support throughout the implementation. He does it through prompt replies to support tickets and a forum where members can post their questions and Anton replies most of the time within 24 hours. I find the forum very good and informative. You may get answers to questions you haven't even thought of but it came up for someone else and got answered by another member who already encountered the problem and found the solution. I think this forum is much better than "weekly calls" because you don't have to wait for a week and also, you can search for topics and solutions that came up earlier. The atmosphere among members is very supportive.
            To anyone who buys the 7-day trial, I strongly recommend to check out the forum. In my opinion, just the forum membership, which is basically access to Anton's obviously vast knowledge, is worth more than the price of the course.
            Good luck to everybody!
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            • Profile picture of the author leokoo
              Originally Posted by nedudgi View Post

              I've bought Anton's course and I'm extremely happy with it!
              Sorry guy, still new to this. Where to we buy Anton's course?
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          • Profile picture of the author barefut
            Originally Posted by alksense View Post

            Have you tried Google Shopping, TheFind, Amazon Product Ads, Blog Ads or anything similar?
            Looking into it, but it's a very competitive niche, but I am in a secret subniche that not many people know about, stumbled onto it by accident. Thanks for the tips

            Alksense - do you have a solution for a call center that can handle my customer service and be able to handle complex product questions?

            Thanks!
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            • Profile picture of the author alksense
              Originally Posted by barefut View Post

              Alksense - do you have a solution for a call center that can handle my customer service and be able to handle complex product questions?

              Thanks!
              I found mine by posting ads on Craigslist in middle America (cheaper labor costs then in big cities). I received a lot of interest and I interviewed a few different companies and then chose one who I've worked with ever since.

              I provided basic scripts at first and gave them a list of FAQs and answers. Whenever they can't answer a question I have them tell the customer they will have to check and call them back. I have them email me these questions so when I reply they will have the answer on file and be able to use it for future customers.

              Hope that helps!
              Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author abbe77
    What is Dropshipping by the way and anyone knows how it will be helpful to establish eCommerce business in Sweden?
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  • Profile picture of the author haero
    Good tips man, much appreciated for putting the efforts and time to write it up!
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  • Profile picture of the author christiangrey
    Banned
    Great story!

    I myself have never tried eCommerce. At the moment, I'm concentrating on affiliate marketing but I might give it a shot in the near future. I know some IM'ers who are doing eCommerce and they are doing really well. If I were to enter it, I'd rather do it with digital products over physical.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jon Patrick
      Anton, forgive me if this has been answered in this thread or on your website (I have done my best to read through both), but won't the suppliers want references as part of the application process?

      How does one get over that initial hurdle and get approved for accounts without any references?
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by Jon Patrick View Post

        Anton, forgive me if this has been answered in this thread or on your website (I have done my best to read through both), but won't the suppliers want references as part of the application process?

        How does one get over that initial hurdle and get approved for accounts without any references?
        Hi Jon,

        After you build your store and start applying for accounts it is true that some suppliers will ask for references. Most of the time they are required only if you are applying for credit terms (net 30 or 60). If you apply for prepay terms (meaning you pay for orders as you place them) then suppliers typically do not ask for references. However, if they still do then you can simply get approved with those who do not at first and then list those suppliers as references with the suppliers who are more strict.

        Hope that helps!
        -Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author Vortex015
    Very helpful thread. Thanks for sharing all this information.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    alksense, how do you rank your ecommerce pages?
    Do you make long product reviews with 800 words or so or lesser,say 250 word product descriptions?

    What payment options you offer? pre payment (bank withdraw), paypal and more???
    For europe when you will use "fofortüberweisen.de" you must pay for this module.

    Build an ecommerce store with oscommerce is free.
    I think to load your store full with hundred of items, you need the csv file from your dropship supplier?
    My experience with europe suppliers is that they charge extra money for a csv file.

    And does it brings lot of sales when you list your items in google base and other free comparison sites, does this alone brings enough traffic and sales, when I list 100 items as example?

    Is the shop platform you recommend only for the us market or can I use it for the european market too?

    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi,

      alksense, how do you rank your ecommerce pages?
      Do you make long product reviews with 800 words or so or lesser,say 250 word product descriptions?

      What payment options you offer? pre payment (bank withdraw), paypal and more???
      For europe when you will use "fofortüberweisen.de" you must pay for this module.

      Build an ecommerce store with oscommerce is free.
      I think to load your store full with hundred of items, you need the csv file from your dropship supplier?
      My experience with europe suppliers is that they charge extra money for a csv file.

      And does it brings lot of sales when you list your items in google base and other free comparison sites, does this alone brings enough traffic and sales, when I list 100 items as example?

      Is the shop platform you recommend only for the us market or can I use it for the european market too?

      best wishes
      marco005
      Hey Marco,

      All of my product pages rank very well for supplier name, product name and SKU# search inquiries. I typically do not have unique descriptions created but instead use those provided by the supplier along with all other relevant product information that they send to my company.

      I think the main reason my product pages rank so high is because of the meta tags I use. I have great page titles, meta keywords and meta descriptions for each product and this usually allows me to outrank the majority of competition.

      I've never been charged for a CSV file before but I don't know if things are different overseas... I've only ever done business with companies from America and Canada (while drop shipping).

      I can't answer your question about 100 products and free shopping engines being enough to generate sales because there are wayyyyy too many variables from product to product and from niche to niche. You really need to spend the bulk of your time research different markets before entering a niche. It can be annoying because you don't make any money at this point but if you get started on the wrong path then it's likely that you're store will never be successful no matter what you do.

      Shopify (the eCommerce platform that I use) works in just about every country in the world and is available in almost every language.

      Hope that helps.

      Thanks,
      Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author anne785
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author marco005
      Hi,

      @alksense; thanks for your great reply!

      But how I find out which niches/products sell good list on free comparison sites?
      How I find that out?

      PS: If I understand you right,products who are in demand, I should list more than 100 items on free cmparison sites to see good results, also 100 items are not enough?


      best wishes
      marco005
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

        Hi,

        @alksense; thanks for your great reply!

        But how I find out which niches/products sell good list on free comparison sites?
        How I find that out?

        PS: If I understand you right,products who are in demand, I should list more than 100 items on free cmparison sites to see good results, also 100 items are not enough?


        best wishes
        marco005
        Research, research, research. There is no easy way to just pick a niche but I can tell you some things I look into before having a new site built.

        - I only like selling expensive products (at least $200 or more). The profit margins when drop shipping are usually the same if you're selling a $7 product or a $700 product and it's the same amount of work on your end.

        - I find suppliers before entering a niche (use Google) to take the guess work out of it.

        - I try to only work with suppliers who enforce strict MAP policies so that I don't have to worry about competition who is willing to work on 5% margins. Who do I know who adheres to MAP? I use Google Shopping and search for the brand names to make sure all of their retailers sell at the same price prior to applying for accounts with them.

        - Again, I can't answer your question about 100 products being enough because there are too many variables. I've had successful stores with 100 products or less but my average store has thousands of thousands of products. I always make it my goal to get approved for as many suppliers (who enforce MAP) as I can find in any niche and to upload all of their products to more the stores.

        More suppliers equals more products which equals more traffic which leads to more sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author jmharris48
    I have never used ecommerce to make any money simply because it has always seemed more difficult and harder to manage than other internet marking techniques, but the way you talk about it and explain how successful you have been makes it sound quite easy...

    I currently use Instant Payday Network to make my income online and a few other things (such as being an affiliate) and make very good money doing these few things, but I would like to try to get into ecommerce and give it a shot after reading the posts here!

    Glad everything is working out for all of you!
    Signature

    100% FREE System Generates $395/Day
    http://fastcashsystem.vze.com

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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    @alksense; thanks for your great tips, i will try this ecommerce method, in europe are not so many dropshippers who gives free csv file,but I have found 5 suppliers (5 different niches), or I make 1 ecommerece shop with these 5 different niche products to have a bigger store similiar method you use.

    I think with free comparison sites or google base it is so; more products listed, more traffic =more sales.

    Damn that I can not make this method with amazon products (here I have a good method to find good niches with less competition), but with amazon products it's not possible to build an own store, or I must deep search in amazon in these niches to look at the suppliers and then look at their website to see if they are make dropshipping for resellers.

    best wishes
    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    most europe dropshippers are scammers; they want money for their webshop abo, or an extra charge for the csv file and such unserious things.

    And important, some of them use dropship with you the reseller, only with enhanced direct debit payment!
    This is against all dropship rules! For this you must have an bank credit line,without this payment method is not possible, to start with zero/less money.

    Shame that some of them do such criminal things;

    charge for webshop abo (you must use!)
    extra charge for csv file
    only accept payment via enhanced direct debit

    This is all against dropship rules!
    Shame of them!

    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author NataliaF
    Great Post. I've just started my e-commerce business and I can see that there are lots of benefits and much more waiting for me. I share your opinion and would love to see more participants here in this e-commerce forum.
    Signature

    Content and Design have never been closer than today, because neither can win alone. Both Copywriting and Designing delivered by one person http://contentsia.com/

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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    I hope google base is free now...

    But is there a way to build an store with 1000's of products without have an csv file?
    Plugins or scripts who do that?


    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi,

      I hope google base is free now...

      But is there a way to build an store with 1000's of products without have an csv file?
      Plugins or scripts who do that?


      best wishes
      marco005
      Hey Marco,

      If a supplier does not have a CSV of their products to send you there are always other options... one would be to extract the data from their site and/or catalog manually (which is a nightmare but usually pays off), another would be hire an outsources of freelancer.com or a similar site and have them extract the data manually for you for cheap, and another option would be to hire someone with scraping software to automatically extract the data from your suppliers website.

      Hope that helps!
      Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    Great share and a good business idea,but for me, the most european product portals include google base, are not free,they cost money based on cpc pay model.
    You need big money to list there 1000's of products,you don't know before how much clicks you must pay for 1 sale.

    This is a game only for the big boys, the big shopping companys with huge capital, not for the small business beginners, they will be eaten up by the big boys.

    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author mguy
    Isn't dropshipping like an affiliate program?

    From what I see, you are affiliating yourself with a dropshipper's products. Then you build a website and start promoting these products through IM which is like affiliate marketing but with a checkout box instead of a link. Where is the value added coming from in this model?

    Please explain.
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  • Profile picture of the author Meta Morph
    hi, great thread I've learned a lot...by get on google shopping do you mean start an adwords campaign?

    Also I wanted to ask how you handle business licenses and reseller permits for wholesaling, is it necessary?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by mguy View Post

      Isn't dropshipping like an affiliate program?

      From what I see, you are affiliating yourself with a dropshipper's products. Then you build a website and start promoting these products through IM which is like affiliate marketing but with a checkout box instead of a link. Where is the value added coming from in this model?

      Please explain.
      Drop shipping is just one of many ways to make money via eCommerce. Basically; instead of purchasing inventory in bulk and then creating an online store to sell the inventory you are selling inventory for wholesalers who warehouse the items themselves.

      I promote physical products as an affiliate as well (mainly as an Amazon Associate) and although there is some overlap between running an affiliate store and running an eCommerce I can tell you they are very different business models.


      Originally Posted by Meta Morph View Post

      hi, great thread I've learned a lot...by get on google shopping do you mean start an adwords campaign?

      Also I wanted to ask how you handle business licenses and reseller permits for wholesaling, is it necessary?
      Back in October Google Shopping switched from free to a PPC model so now you do have to link your Google Merchant Center account to your Google Adwords account if you want your Product Listing Ads to run.

      It's very easy to do. You can set up your account here: www.google.com/merchants

      Regarding your second question; some suppliers will approve you with just an EIN# which is how I got started. Once I started making money I had my accountant open an S Corp for me and I got my sales tax certificate.
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      • Profile picture of the author Meta Morph
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post

        Drop shipping is just one of many ways to make money via eCommerce. Basically; instead of purchasing inventory in bulk and then creating an online store to sell the inventory you are selling inventory for wholesalers who warehouse the items themselves.

        I promote physical products as an affiliate as well (mainly as an Amazon Associate) and although there is some overlap between running an affiliate store and running an eCommerce I can tell you they are very different business models.




        Back in October Google Shopping switched from free to a PPC model so now you do have to link your Google Merchant Center account to your Google Adwords account if you want your Product Listing Ads to run.

        It's very easy to do. You can set up your account here: www.google.com/merchants

        Regarding your second question; some suppliers will approve you with just an EIN# which is how I got started. Once I started making money I had my accountant open an S Corp for me and I got my sales tax certificate.
        thanks! very good info and very impressive web site as well.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jayy
        Originally Posted by alksense View Post


        I promote physical products as an affiliate as well (mainly as an Amazon Associate) and although there is some overlap between running an affiliate store and running an eCommerce I can tell you they are very different business models.



        Do you sell your amazon affiliate websites as well? do these normally sell for 2 years worth of profit too or is it different compared to a drop ship website.

        also do you send any ppc traffic to amazon websites or do you use only free traffic for amazon sites?
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by Jayy View Post

          Do you sell your amazon affiliate websites as well? do these normally sell for 2 years worth of profit too or is it different compared to a drop ship website.

          also do you send any ppc traffic to amazon websites or do you use only free traffic for amazon sites?
          I have never sold any of these sites. When I was first getting started I was building a lot of businesses and flipping them to build a big bankroll. Now that I feel more comfortable knowing that I'll never have to go back to a 9 - 5 I am building businesses and holding them. That's not to say Ill never sell, but at this point it's not something I'm considering.

          Regarding your second question; I do not send any paid traffic to my Amazon stores.
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          • Profile picture of the author Jayy
            Originally Posted by alksense View Post

            I have never sold any of these sites. When I was first getting started I was building a lot of businesses and flipping them to build a big bankroll. Now that I feel more comfortable knowing that I'll never have to go back to a 9 - 5 I am building businesses and holding them. That's not to say Ill never sell, but at this point it's not something I'm considering.

            Regarding your second question; I do not send any paid traffic to my Amazon stores.
            If i live in uk can i sell in the us with drop shippers? or would i have to form an company etc. like that? could i not just use paypal and shopify do i really need all the other stuff like llc, us id etc.
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            • Profile picture of the author alksense
              Originally Posted by Jayy View Post

              If i live in uk can i sell in the us with drop shippers? or would i have to form an company etc. like that? could i not just use paypal and shopify do i really need all the other stuff like llc, us id etc.
              I'm probably the wrong person to ask about this because I've always done business in the US as a business registered here so all I can tell you is what I've heard from others... people from France, Canada, Australia and China have told me that they are getting approved with US suppliers while using their home countries business info but again I've never done this myself so I really can't be of much help here.
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      • Profile picture of the author mguy
        [QUOTE=alksense;8127947]Drop shipping is just one of many ways to make money via eCommerce. Basically; instead of purchasing inventory in bulk and then creating an online store to sell the inventory you are selling inventory for wholesalers who warehouse the items themselves.

        I promote physical products as an affiliate as well (mainly as an Amazon Associate) and although there is some overlap between running an affiliate store and running an eCommerce I can tell you they are very different business models.

        /QUOTE]

        Would you please elaborate on how they are different models?

        Also, are you in the country or are you outside the country? Can dropshipping work if one is outside the USA like you are in Thailand for example?
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  • Profile picture of the author TheGreatDress
    Great post, very informative.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    To run an own dropship ecommerce store, the prices on the price/product search enginges are not cheap. You must pay 1000's of $$ when you have 1000's products on your store for 1 product search engine!

    Or you make seo to get seo traffic that is in buyer modus,then you will make sales with free traffic .
    This is a business who will work but you need capital for that especial for the price/product search engines who are not cheap.

    best wishes
    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    then seo is the only one possible option to make money with an own dropship store when most or all product search engines are not free and costs money.

    Is free seo traffic good enough for sales?


    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi,

      then seo is the only one possible option to make money with an own dropship store when most or all product search engines are not free and costs money.

      Is free seo traffic good enough for sales?


      best wishes
      marco005
      Hey Marco,

      I think you meant to say is that the only possible way to make money with a drop ship store without paying for advertising is SEO traffic. I'm editing your statement because there are a lot of paid advertising sources that bring in a lot of highly converting traffic and obviously you can make money with paid traffic.

      If you're only looking for free sources of traffic then some that work well are:

      - On site SEO
      - Guest Blog Posts
      - Niche Related Forum Posting
      - Social Media
      - TheFind.com
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    Alksense, that sound is hearing good that this free options are good enough (when it is niche target) to make sales with an dropship store.

    Thanks for the tips.



    best wishes
    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    I look for an plugin who shows a product comparison grid from different affiliate networks and scrape the products from them.

    Like this site (a german site example) :Preisvergleich - Rabatt99.de
    They scrape prodcuts from different sites like otto,ebay,amazon etc,etc,etc........

    Can you recommend me such plugins who show such a grid comparison table and scrape products from ebay,walmart,amazon and so on..........?


    LOL last notice; most european dropshippers you must pay for their csv file....
    and remaining whoelsale places are not free, you must pay heavy membership fees 1 year payment before you can buy items......

    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi,

      I look for an plugin who shows a product comparison grid from different affiliate networks and scrape the products from them.

      Like this site (a german site example) :Preisvergleich - Rabatt99.de
      They scrape prodcuts from different sites like otto,ebay,amazon etc,etc,etc........

      Can you recommend me such plugins who show such a grid comparison table and scrape products from ebay,walmart,amazon and so on..........?


      LOL last notice; most european dropshippers you must pay for their csv file....
      and remaining whoelsale places are not free, you must pay heavy membership fees 1 year payment before you can buy items......

      best wishes
      marco005
      Hi Marco,

      I don't use any plugins like that. I would recommended asking for advice in the main forum here. Maybe someone can help you out.

      That's too bad about suppliers in Europe. I only do business in the US so I have no expierence with your market.

      Thanks,
      Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    Ok alksense, you don't use plugins, but how you build your big stores only with 1 dropshipper and csv file from them?
    Yes this is sad about european suppliers I don't understand why they do that that is nonsense.

    best wishes
    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author anton433
    marco005 have you checked out this forum: www.dropshipforum.co.uk

    That's a UK forum but there's discussion about drop shipping in elsewhere in Europe too.

    I don't think you have to pay an honest drop ship supplier in Europe either to be able to sell their products. It sounds like you have found some sort of a middle man.

    The drop ship supplier catalogs etc. that are sold in Europe are usually worthless. There's no room for profit. Only the guy selling that catalog or membership is making any money.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Oh, thanks for this tip alksense!


    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Oh, thanks for this tip alksense!


      best wishes
      marco005
      haha, thanks but someone else actually shared that tip (another person named Anton). Hopefully it helps you figure out how to do business in your country. Good Luck!
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      • Profile picture of the author Wendell
        Alksense, this is going to be a moderately long post, so I apologize in advance for that. I have a few questions which I'd be grateful if you could answer. I hope you don't mind that in some of these, I play Devil's Advocate. Some are also a little intrusive and you may not want to answer them, which is fine and I will rerspect that.

        1. Isn't there a real danger that attracting so many people into ecommerce with drop-shipped goods will quickly saturate the market for this type of online business?
        2. In spite of what you say, isn't running an ecommerce site with MAP drop-shipping just a glorified form of affiliate marketing in the sense that you're selling what is ultimately someone else's product alongside and with the sam piece of the pie as dozens of other ecom operators just like youl? Isn't it just that there are relatively fewer people in this business compared to IMers that makes it a better business investment right now?
        3. Does your course provide guidance on how to customize wholesalers' csv files?
        4. Do you work for or do you have some form of a partnership with World Wide Brands. Do you earn money sending new ecommerce traders to any of your dropshippers?
        5. if the answer to question 4 is no, are your dropshippers mostly ones that are listed on WWB?
        5. Why do you recommend Shopify and not, say, BigCommerce?
        6. Does your course cover how to create a branded (ecommerce) produict?
        7. When you say that to determine what's a good niche, you look at sites that are already successful and emulate them, all other things being equal, how do you determine which of these sites are generating large revenue and which are not?

        By the way, I'm very impressed with how patient you are in answering all our questions. It's quite magnificent, really! Your heart seems to be as big as your mind.
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Hi Wendell,

          I've answered your questions below:

          Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

          1. Isn't there a real danger that attracting so many people into ecommerce with drop-shipped goods will quickly saturate the market for this type of online business?
          - Over 80% of people who use the internet have made at least one purchase online and the eCommerce industry will reach over one trillion dollars this year; I'm not worried about a lack of customers. If I shared my niches and suppliers then there would be an issue but I teach people that I work with to think outside of the box and find their own niches.

          Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

          2. In spite of what you say, isn't running an ecommerce site with MAP drop-shipping just a glorified form of affiliate marketing in the sense that you're selling what is ultimately someone else's product alongside and with the sam piece of the pie as dozens of other ecom operators just like youl? Isn't it just that there are relatively fewer people in this business compared to IMers that makes it a better business investment right now?
          - No, not at all. Owning an eCommerce store is a REAL business where your customers are your customers and your profit is based on your spending. Affiliates just send customers to a another store for a tiny fixed percentage and then the store has the customer for life and can continue to earn more and more from them. With eCommerce you are in control of your profit margins and the sustainability of your business. Affiliate stores and eCommerce stores are totally different.

          Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

          3. Does your course provide guidance on how to customize wholesalers' csv files?
          - Yes, if you use Shopify. I recommend people use it because it is the cart that I use and the cart that I teach the course based on. It's much easier to follow along if you use the same.

          Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

          4. Do you work for or do you have some form of a partnership with World Wide Brands. Do you earn money sending new ecommerce traders to any of your dropshippers?
          - No, I'm not a member or affiliate of their site. I find my own suppliers. For free.

          Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

          5. if the answer to question 4 is no, are your dropshippers mostly ones that are listed on WWB?
          - I have no idea, see answer 4.

          Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

          5. Why do you recommend Shopify and not, say, BigCommerce?
          - I've answered this in a lot of older posts when everyone goes back and forth about which cart they like the best and I don't want to get into a huge discussion about it again because everyone has their favorites and it's pointless. Shopify is simple to use, great for niche stores, and they offer excellent customer support. There are lots of other quality options out there that do the job as well but I prefer Shopify.

          Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

          6. Does your course cover how to create a branded (ecommerce) produict?
          - No, it's about drop shipping.

          Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

          7. When you say that to determine what's a good niche, you look at sites that are already successful and emulate them, all other things being equal, how do you determine which of these sites are generating large revenue and which are not?
          - Seven years of learning have provided me with a great basis of what to look for. There's not just one factor but instead a large "picture" that competitors sites paint for me that I then dissect to get a general idea of how many sales a site can be generating.

          Hope that helps!
          Anton
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          • Profile picture of the author Wendell
            Thank you, Anton, for answering those questions, and so quickly too!

            So here's one more. :-P How confident are you that your typical newbie to ecommerce can hit, say, $10K in sales in his first or second month of operation, assuming he or she follows all of your advice and in the following two cases?

            a. With a well researched niche.
            b. With just an average niche that is close to being, but it not yet fully saturated.
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            • Profile picture of the author alksense
              Originally Posted by Wendell View Post

              Thank you, Anton, for answering those questions, and so quickly too!

              So here's one more. :-P How confident are you that your typical newbie to ecommerce can hit, say, $10K in sales in his first or second month of operation, assuming he or she follows all of your advice and in the following two cases?

              a. With a well researched niche.
              b. With just an average niche that is close to being, but it not yet fully saturated.
              I think your question is in regards to my drop shipping WSO so if you have any more questions on my program please post them there because this is not a sales thread.

              To answer your question though; I have no idea what the chances are of someone reaching $10k per month in sales their first or second month. I can tell you that every store I've ever started has been profitable but some earn wayyy more than others. I do a lot of research prior to entering any niche to know I will make money but there's no set formula to determine exactly how many sales you will make. I have some stores that I thought would be $50k/month business that do 10% of that and I have some stores that I thought would gross $5k/month that have turned into HUGE earners.

              My advice is to do your research and just get started. That's how you can learn the most and once you have a business you can always improve it and earn more and more. Before you start it's just an idea that's not worth much of anything

              Hope that helps,
              Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    But for the US market you will need an US bankaccount or something similiar recommend account to do this business?

    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author anton433
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi,

      But for the US market you will need an US bankaccount or something similiar recommend account to do this business?

      best wishes
      marco005
      You don't really need a US bank account. You just have to be able to pay and get paid. Paying suppliers is very easy, I have never had any problems paying American suppliers with my European credit cards.

      There are many ways to accept payments online. Maybe the best thing to do is first study the differences between payment gateway, merchant account and 3rd party processor and then decide what option is best for you. There are many options available for people outside the US too.

      A US bank account would probably help in some situations when doing business in the US but it's definitely not a must.
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    Having a US business entity, bank account, merchant account and debit or credit card certainly makes things easier, but I agree that it's not 100% mandatory. Many US suppliers will accept international credit cards or even PayPal to pay for products.

    That said, at bare minimum I would get a US business entity just because it opens you up to a lot more suppliers. Most US based suppliers won't care how they are paid, but a lot of them WILL want an EIN and seller's permit to set you up with an account.

    Getting a US business entity set up isn't all that hard or expensive either. Here's a step-by-step guide that we have published on our site. The steps published are to get a Delaware LLC, but I would recommend getting a New Mexico LLC instead. The process is a bit easier in NM and they don't have an annual fee like Delaware does. See a full explanation of why New Mexico is better here.
    Signature
    StoreCoach.com - FREE TRAINING - Learn How to Build Your Own eCommerce Website
    My PROVEN ecommerce process, as seen on: Fox Business News, the NY Times & Flippa
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    Wow, thanks for the helping tips.

    @anton433; aht type of "modules" or so you recommend me to handle the payment process with the supliers and the shop consumers? What type of modules shopify has for european dropshipers to handle payment process in the us market?

    Then the shop consumers pay me first and then I pay the dropship supplier(?)

    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author anton433
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      @anton433; aht type of "modules" or so you recommend me to handle the payment process with the supliers and the shop consumers? What type of modules shopify has for european dropshipers to handle payment process in the us market?
      I'm sorry I don't use Shopify so I can't give you any hints. But I know there are always options.

      Just two examples:

      - 2Checkout is a very popular 3rd party processor and available almost worldwide.

      - Authorize.net is a very popular payment gateway and you can get a European merchant account to go with it.

      No one in the states will ever see any difference when making a payment.

      But you really need to do your own studying and find the best option for you. It depends on many factors.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hydraman
    Ecommerce is certainly the way to go. what I find though is all your knowledge from internet marketing gives you an edge. I can take any physical product, choose relevant keywords and rank them to drive traffic to my website. Someone with no SEO knowledge would struggle in this regard.
    IM knowledge also means you can start your business with very littke capital because you can do a lot of things yourself.



    Originally Posted by alksense View Post

    I think the eCommerce subsection of the Warrior Forum was created about one month ago now.. I was excited when I first saw it go up because I've made most of money via eCommerce and I think it's the best way to make money online... I was looking forward to speaking to others who feel the same.

    Unfortunately it seems that there aren't all that many people posting in this section.

    While the Main Internet Marketing forums here typically have thousands and thousands of members discussing how to make money online, this section usually has less then 100.

    I thought I would share why I prefer eCommerce over other types of internet marketing (which I still do participate in).

    Hopefully this will help other members see why this is a great way to make real money that many members here are missing out on...

    So why do I prefer starting an eCommerce business over any other type of online business?

    • You can get started with a very small out of pocket investment
    • You can manage the business in your spare time
    • You do not need years of schooling or experience to succeed
    • You will be building a real business of great financial value that you can sell for A LOT of money in as little as 12 - 18 months
    • The techniques you learn for building your business can be repeated over and over until you reach your target level of income
    • What you learn in eCommerce can be applied when starting other types of Internet Marketing businesses if you want to expand your income channels

    I will tell you right now most of the preconceived ideas about starting an eCommerce business are totally false..

    • You do not need to pay a web designer thousands of dollars to build you an online store
    • You do not need to invest thousands of dollars into SEO and PPC campaigns
    • You do not need to purchase ANY inventory to get started
    • You do not need to sell a unique product with no competition

    If anyone has ANY questions please ask me.

    If anyone has already found success in eCommerce please post about it.

    Let's get this eCommerce section filled up with people who are making some REAL money online.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi ,

    @anton433; can I here work with the payoneer card, or moneybooker card, with them I have an virtual us bank account so people can make payment through them and I have my money and can pay the dropshipper supplier?

    ??

    And these two payment systemns you recommend like 2Checkout and Authorize.net, does they cost me money to use it with shopify system also one time payment "install fees" or such things? And how the payment process works with them for non us marketers?

    How handle returns with this business model as non us marketer?
    I think use it as an affiliate is the best, shipping and handling is work of the product supplier.

    Build this business as an affiliate store-is this possible?


    best wishes
    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi again,

    @alksense; how you do handle returns from consumers?

    And how I handle that as an non us marketer (when this is possible)?
    Or is it for non us marketer better to build only affiliate stores?

    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi again,

      @alksense; how you do handle returns from consumers?

      And how I handle that as an non us marketer (when this is possible)?
      Or is it for non us marketer better to build only affiliate stores?

      best wishes
      marco005
      Sorry for the delayed reply. I've been away from the forums for awhile while traveling around Thailand...

      To answer your question; each supplier you work with will have their own return policies. I typically only work with suppliers who accept returns back to their own warehouses.

      It's very important to read all of the policies that you are agreeing to when applying for new supplier accounts. Other things to look out for is who's account they will ship on (yours or theirs) and if they charge restocking fees.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi

    Question again please; How I handle the csv file from the dropship supplier? HO much I must work/adjust them before uploading to my store.- each of the 1000's products manually in the csv file?

    Are there free alternative Shopsystems like Shopify for beginners?

    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi

      Question again please; How I handle the csv file from the dropship supplier? HO much I must work/adjust them before uploading to my store.- each of the 1000's products manually in the csv file?

      Are there free alternative Shopsystems like Shopify for beginners?

      best wishes
      marco005
      You basically want to pull all the columns and move them into a templated spreadsheet that shows all the column names your particular cart of choice uses. For example, a column in your supplier's feed may be called 'Name' and you will want to copy & paste all of the cells in that column into the 'Title' column in your cart's templated feed file. Once you have all of the desired columns in place you can save and upload the feed file.

      As far as how much customizations/changes are required, it depends on how unique you want to make your product pages. The more unique content your product pages have the easier it will be to get indexed and ranked well in Google. In today's Google, pages that contain no real unique content and pages that are extremely thin on content are tough to even get indexed.

      I recommend learning the concatenate function in Excel (or OpenOffice). It's a powerful function that allows you to create generic "templated" product descriptions and then snag portions of the data from within other cells in the spreadsheet. This allows you to create one solid product description for each product type, and then customize all simultaneously by using concatenate to pull in data elsewhere on each product row. Very powerful stuff!
      Signature
      StoreCoach.com - FREE TRAINING - Learn How to Build Your Own eCommerce Website
      My PROVEN ecommerce process, as seen on: Fox Business News, the NY Times & Flippa
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  • Profile picture of the author dragsternj
    never found any products i could actually sell
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by dragsternj View Post

      never found any products i could actually sell
      To brainstorm ideas for new niches I usually think of things that I've recently bought online, I ask family and friends what they've bought online, and I check business brokers websites to see what "big money" eCommerce sites are being sold (not the small time ones on flippa).

      I then research all of these niches and try to "reverse engineer" the businesses to see if I can compete.
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    • Profile picture of the author ReferralCandy
      Originally Posted by dragsternj View Post

      never found any products i could actually sell
      My recommendation is always to figure out what YOU would be willing to pay for, and then sell that.

      Ecommerce is ultimately a way of selling people things that solve their problems. Start by identifying a problem that isn't being solved the way you want it to. There are definitely people out there who have the same problem as you.

      This seems to be how a lot of the biggest and best stores started out.
      Signature

      Measure, manage and incentivize customer referrals with ReferralCandy.

      PS: Looking to get more repeat customers for a physical store? Check out CandyBar's digital loyalty cards!

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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    is that not a google ranking problem with an dropship store, when you have the same pictures and descriptions as the drpship supplier?
    Or do you change some item product titles-manually when you have hundreds of products?

    best wishes
    marco005
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    • Profile picture of the author AAAWebstore
      E-commerce is certainly the way to go,al the information from online marketing gives you an advantage. I can take any actual product, choose appropriate search phrases and position them to targeted visitors for a website.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by marco005 View Post

      Hi,

      is that not a google ranking problem with an dropship store, when you have the same pictures and descriptions as the drpship supplier?
      Or do you change some item product titles-manually when you have hundreds of products?

      best wishes
      marco005
      I find that I can still rank very high with supplier provided content as long as I have unique page titles, meta keywords & meta descriptions.
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  • Profile picture of the author 1on1business
    Ecommerce is great because it can be done without leaving your computer. There are also countless forums (such as this) that have tips and pointers on how to better run your business. When you have the software that gives you features that no one else has and a solid business plan, the sky is truly the limit.
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  • Profile picture of the author Meta Morph
    What is a good way to stand out when contacting suppliers to get them to want to sell their products through your store? Right now I'm using the "I have a business license and resale certificate and expect revenues of 5k a month within 6 months" angle and nobody seems to be biting. Are there any special tips or tricks you have to get noticed by a supplier and improve your chances of sealing the deal?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by Meta Morph View Post

      What is a good way to stand out when contacting suppliers to get them to want to sell their products through your store? Right now I'm using the "I have a business license and resale certificate and expect revenues of 5k a month within 6 months" angle and nobody seems to be biting. Are there any special tips or tricks you have to get noticed by a supplier and improve your chances of sealing the deal?
      More than anything suppliers (the ones you actually want to work with) are looking for retailers that they can trust.

      As soon as you are approved to sell for their brand (whether it be on a drop ship model or buying inventory) you now represent them. They want to work with companies who will not only bring them sales but who will also protect their brands value.

      This can be done by knowing that you will enforce their MAP policies, hearing that you will feature their brand on your store, and by explaining to them why your customer service is great.

      The last thing a supplier wants to deal with is a retailer who sells for their products and then leaves their customers in the dark because where do you think the customer will go calling if the retailer abandons them? Straight to the supplier...

      It's not as easy as just calling and saying "hi, I want to sell your products". You're developing a very REAL (and hopefully very profitable) business relationship. It doesn't have to take a long phone call or email chain but you do have to assure them that your company is legit and that you are in business to make money but only while also offering great customer service and trying to raise the standards of shopping in whatever niche you're in.

      Do you already have a store set up? That's the first step I take before contacting any suppliers when entering a new niche. I have the entire store built and I upload "demo" products to it so suppliers can see it before it approving me. I also show them what spots on the site where I will feature their brands products. This really helps.

      Good Luck!
      Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author roblawrence
    How do you deal with shipping from multiple sources when you have many drop-shipping suppliers? Who pays for the double shipping costs? The customer certainly won't want to!
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by roblawrence View Post

      How do you deal with shipping from multiple sources when you have many drop-shipping suppliers? Who pays for the double shipping costs? The customer certainly won't want to!
      I actually offer free shipping on all of my eCommerce sites and I sell for drop ship suppliers so my shipping costs are often built in to my wholesale cost.

      If a customer buys two or more items from the same supplier on one of my stores then I make more money because I save on shipping.

      If a customer buys two or more items from multiple suppliers then I make the same amount that I would if two separate customers ordered the items.

      - Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author kite6w
    Hi all,

    Can someone provide me an opinion on the question I posted here:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/building...-products.html


    Thank you!
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  • Profile picture of the author Lisapatb
    Originally Posted by alksense View Post

    I think the eCommerce subsection of the Warrior Forum was created about one month ago now.. I was excited when I first saw it go up because I've made most of money via eCommerce and I think it's the best way to make money online... I was looking forward to speaking to others who feel the same.

    Unfortunately it seems that there aren't all that many people posting in this section.

    While the Main Internet Marketing forums here typically have thousands and thousands of members discussing how to make money online, this section usually has less then 100.

    I thought I would share why I prefer eCommerce over other types of internet marketing (which I still do participate in).

    Hopefully this will help other members see why this is a great way to make real money that many members here are missing out on...

    So why do I prefer starting an eCommerce business over any other type of online business?

    • You can get started with a very small out of pocket investment
    • You can manage the business in your spare time
    • You do not need years of schooling or experience to succeed
    • You will be building a real business of great financial value that you can sell for A LOT of money in as little as 12 - 18 months
    • The techniques you learn for building your business can be repeated over and over until you reach your target level of income
    • What you learn in eCommerce can be applied when starting other types of Internet Marketing businesses if you want to expand your income channels

    I will tell you right now most of the preconceived ideas about starting an eCommerce business are totally false..

    • You do not need to pay a web designer thousands of dollars to build you an online store
    • You do not need to invest thousands of dollars into SEO and PPC campaigns
    • You do not need to purchase ANY inventory to get started
    • You do not need to sell a unique product with no competition

    If anyone has ANY questions please ask me.

    If anyone has already found success in eCommerce please post about it.

    Let's get this eCommerce section filled up with people who are making some REAL money online.
    I've been doing ecommerce sites for 3 years. I have the Stores Online platform. I have seen it go up and down along with the Google changes. I use dropshippers. One of my niches has 7 dropshippers which makes it less profitable when someone orders 2 different brands - not sure how to tackle that issue.
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    • Profile picture of the author skcrosthwait
      Took me a little bit but I have read over all the posts and responses in this thread and I have questions for Alksense, Dave_Hermansen and anybody who has been running the ebiz game. It seems that both of you are very familiar with eCommerce and especially dropshipping. I have worked in IT for over 13 years and with eCommerce software for over 7 years. I am by no means calling myself an expert maybe just a little bit more seasoned on the technology side.

      I was a little surprised to see some of the low margins on some of the ecommerce stores discussed here. I have been doing research for a couple months now and the niche that i am looking at the margins seem to be in the 40%-45% range. Could this just be because of the market I am looking at or just luck? I am looking to use dropshippers but I am also wanting to include wholesale inventory and eventually buying from overseas.

      What are your thoughts on ways to increase margins such as personalization, gift boxing, etc..
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        Originally Posted by skcrosthwait View Post

        Took me a little bit but I have read over all the posts and responses in this thread and I have questions for Alksense, Dave_Hermansen and anybody who has been running the ebiz game. It seems that both of you are very familiar with eCommerce and especially dropshipping. I have worked in IT for over 13 years and with eCommerce software for over 7 years. I am by no means calling myself an expert maybe just a little bit more seasoned on the technology side.

        I was a little surprised to see some of the low margins on some of the ecommerce stores discussed here. I have been doing research for a couple months now and the niche that i am looking at the margins seem to be in the 40%-45% range. Could this just be because of the market I am looking at or just luck? I am looking to use dropshippers but I am also wanting to include wholesale inventory and eventually buying from overseas.

        What are your thoughts on ways to increase margins such as personalization, gift boxing, etc..
        Hi,

        I work with plenty of drop ship suppliers who offer margins over 40%. Some niches do offer higher margins than others but it really comes down to the supplier themselves and what they set their wholesale costs and MAP policy at. There are also ways to increase margins such as negotiating better shipping rates, getting incentives for moving a lot of volume and of course, buying in bulk.

        One of the suppliers that I previously sold for (I've since sold the site) offered gift wrapping as an add-on to their entire product line so I offered this as an "upsell" to customers after they added one of this suppliers items to their cart and it converted very well. These were items that were often sent as gifts so obviously that's why it worked.

        Hope that helps,
        Anton
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        • Profile picture of the author nedudgi
          Originally Posted by alksense View Post

          Hi,

          I work with plenty of drop ship suppliers who offer margins over 40%. Some niches do offer higher margins than others but it really comes down to the supplier themselves and what they set their wholesale costs and MAP policy at. There are also ways to increase margins such as negotiating better shipping rates, getting incentives for moving a lot of volume and of course, buying in bulk.

          One of the suppliers that I previously sold for (I've since sold the site) offered gift wrapping as an add-on to their entire product line so I offered this as an "upsell" to customers after they added one of this suppliers items to their cart and it converted very well. These were items that were often sent as gifts so obviously that's why it worked.

          Hope that helps,
          Anton
          Anton:
          How do you calculate that 40% margin? Is it the 40% of the selling price (where selling price = MAP)?

          skcrosthwait:
          When you're doing the niche research how do you find out the margin beforehand?
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          • Profile picture of the author alksense
            Originally Posted by nedudgi View Post

            Anton:
            How do you calculate that 40% margin? Is it the 40% of the selling price (where selling price = MAP)?

            skcrosthwait:
            When you're doing the niche research how do you find out the margin beforehand?
            I don't set my own pricing. Instead, I work with suppliers (brands) who enforce MAP policies. (MAP stands for Minimum Advertised Price).

            Typically suppliers will send you price lists with three columns with three different prices. MSRP, MAP, and Wholesale Cost.

            MSRP is what they “suggest” you sell at but no one ever does. Your competitors won’t so I don’t recommend trying either.

            MAP is what 99% of retailers who carry the same products as you will sell items for. This is the LOWEST amount that the supplier will allow their retailers to advertise a product for. If you violate a MAP policy you risk losing your account with the supplier.

            In my case my profit margins equal:

            MAP (what I sell to my customer for)
            (minus)
            - Wholesale cost
            - Shipping cost
            - CC transaction fee

            There are also other things I pay for like advertising and outsourcing phone support but I am still left with over 40% margins with a lot of the suppliers that I work with.

            Hope that helps,
            Anton
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            • Profile picture of the author AAAWebstore
              Ecommerce is one of the best way to achieve out most of viewers.
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              • Profile picture of the author mistauzz
                Hi alksense, Ive posted this question on another thread but haven't had any replies on it. I want to know THE criteria for finding a profitable market/product?

                This is if you/re starting from scratch and want to enter a new market with no experience in that market. You're confidence will come from a solid foundation of RESEARCH of the market, customers, segmentation, trends etc.

                I am not talking about "info-marketing friendly" markets where you can just write some eBook and sell it.

                I am talking about markets that if you create a business in you sell a real physical product or a real service online and could easily integrate an offline component to it

                OR

                create that business as an offline business altogether if you wished just because you have the RESEARCH there to choose if it would be better as an offline or online business. Business traditionally have been offline and there's a sense of it being real if you are able to switch from offline to online and vice versa which is why I mention this.
                • Do you start by looking at ALL the different industries and try to find something you're interested in you can improve?
                • Find a gap in the market by looking at your own shortcomings for tools/products that you'd like to have?
                • Do you look at what's not selling locally (nationally)?
                • Look at high ticket items and therefore margins as a way of selecting a product...
                • What else?
                I know a few really successful ecommerce business owners who are very successful and wont answer any question like this when asked in person. They don't answer such questions on finding a market. I know for definite They had no previous experience in such markets but sourced products for "THE" reason in question and are still making a killing.

                They have their own website which acts as a brochure and they link it to their "eBay shop" you could easily just sell straight of the ecommerce website but they choose to do it through eBay so they save on large fees having PayPal directly manage their transaction through their own website.

                Yes it took them time to get their business to that level but it was the right start and the right product which got them there as they're still selling the same thing for over 9 years for example high ticket items like quality bathtubs/jacuzzi's imported from China.

                What's the evergreen method that is used to find such markets where you could create such a sustainable business? Not everyone who has created successful businesses necessarily had any experience in the field (by being employed by a business in the field)...so what is it?

                I am not trying to spam. I just want to get an answer to this question so I can start.
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                • Profile picture of the author alksense
                  Originally Posted by mistauzz View Post

                  Hi alksense, Ive posted this question on another thread but haven't had any replies on it. I want to know THE criteria for finding a profitable market/product?

                  This is if you/re starting from scratch and want to enter a new market with no experience in that market. You're confidence will come from a solid foundation of RESEARCH of the market, customers, segmentation, trends etc.

                  I am not talking about "info-marketing friendly" markets where you can just write some eBook and sell it.

                  I am talking about markets that if you create a business in you sell a real physical product or a real service online and could easily integrate an offline component to it

                  OR

                  create that business as an offline business altogether if you wished just because you have the RESEARCH there to choose if it would be better as an offline or online business. Business traditionally have been offline and there's a sense of it being real if you are able to switch from offline to online and vice versa which is why I mention this.
                  • Do you start by looking at ALL the different industries and try to find something you're interested in you can improve?
                  • Find a gap in the market by looking at your own shortcomings for tools/products that you'd like to have?
                  • Do you look at what's not selling locally (nationally)?
                  • Look at high ticket items and therefore margins as a way of selecting a product...
                  • What else?
                  I know a few really successful ecommerce business owners who are very successful and wont answer any question like this when asked in person. They don't answer such questions on finding a market. I know for definite They had no previous experience in such markets but sourced products for "THE" reason in question and are still making a killing.

                  They have their own website which acts as a brochure and they link it to their "eBay shop" you could easily just sell straight of the ecommerce website but they choose to do it through eBay so they save on large fees having PayPal directly manage their transaction through their own website.

                  Yes it took them time to get their business to that level but it was the right start and the right product which got them there as they're still selling the same thing for over 9 years for example high ticket items like quality bathtubs/jacuzzi's imported from China.

                  What's the evergreen method that is used to find such markets where you could create such a sustainable business? Not everyone who has created successful businesses necessarily had any experience in the field (by being employed by a business in the field)...so what is it?

                  I am not trying to spam. I just want to get an answer to this question so I can start.
                  When entering a new niche my research does take time but it's really not all that complex... I think of things that I've bought online recently, I ask family and friends what they've bought online recently, I look at ads in local papers in magazines to see what's selling and being promoted. I take all of these items (the niches they're in, not the actual products) and I add them to my lists of potential niches to sell online.

                  Next I look online to see if these items are already selling online. I look to find online stores who have no physical presence that do not sell their own brand name products, but rather sell for multiple brand name companies. Based on my experience it's safe for me to assume that if the online store has no physical location and they sell for multiple brands these brands do work with internet retailers.

                  The next step is to search for random products from these sites on Google Shopping. I do this to see if the pricing is all over the place or if retailers sell the same items at the same price. If the retailers do sell the items at the same price it means the supplier (brand) enforces MAP and it means that this is a supplier I want to work with because my margins are locking in via price controls and I don't have to deal with trying to compete with retailers willing to sell at 5% margins....

                  These are just some of the things I look for but it's a good way to get started... there are literally tens of thousands of niches like this that they could sell in.

                  Most people hear about someones success (like you with the bathtubs) and think someone either got lucky or that there are only a handful of niches out there like this. You really have to open your mind and think past that then start doing your research. You'll be amazed at how many niches are out there. There are members of my drop shipping program that are selling (and KILLING it) in niches that I would've never even considered if a had 100 years to brainstorm ideas.

                  Good Luck!
                  Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author skcrosthwait
    My ecommerce store is not necessarily a specific niche, but rather offering a wide variety of unique homeware gifts. I will utilize dropshippers where I see fit, but my ultimate goal is not necessarily running my business on auto-pilot or catering to a specific niche.

    Not that doing so is not a good business strategy, but I would like to focus more on servicing my customers rather than letting others.

    I'll be honest, I have seen a lot of discussion in this thread and many others about finding dropshippers/wholesalers and one place to start would be Amazon. If you look hard enough you can usually see who other businesses are sourcing their products through. Google is also another good way, but you have to look for common keywords or phrases that most wholesalers have on their websites. Another way is skimming them from gift/consumer trade-shows. Just look for a vendor list and you can get a bunch from them.
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    • Profile picture of the author oneluv
      I use pinnacle c a r t, but i am planning to move to magento. I have heard great reviews about it. I also want to try out woocommerce but i am not use to word press., any suggestions on which is better? Any feedback or suggestions shall be appreciated.

      my current website is oneluvsmokeshop.com
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  • Profile picture of the author trader909
    let me guess...o.p sells a course on this?
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Popowa
    I used to have eCommerce store awhile back, thought I sold it in 2011. I started from my apartment and grew into 3000 sq fit office within few years. It was fun but exhausted, really. I had a helpers but still this business took all my time. My brother setup for me eCommerce site and did all necessary settings, he didn't use any WP plugins or themes because he told me that that so far eCommerce never been hacked, the last thing you want to see is your site hacked and all hard work has gone. I did have subscribers optin box, but from my experience people who buy online doesn't really care about emails, they looking for physical stuff.

    Anyway to keep it short I found many suppliers, manufactures and drop-shippers here:
    aliexpress.com

    They will normally ask for higher price but if you send PM they will give you better price, just ask.

    Enjoy
    Signature

    You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great ~Zig Ziglar~

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  • Profile picture of the author dcap
    I am brand new to ecommerce and just starting out. I have located suppliers in Brazil for unique beauty and skin care products. Currently, in the process of negotiating exclusivity agreements for US distribution. In this case where I am not in need of product, would you recommend still using a drop shipper or handling fulfillment myself ? Also, should I start on eBay and Amazon in addition to spending some SEO $$ on Google and FB ? I can afford a decent ad budget.

    Any response, greatly appreciated.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by jta1234 View Post

      Hi Alksense,

      Could you share the info on how your Singapore course member set up his account? I'm from Malaysia and am interested in getting into dropshipping.

      Thanks.
      No problem. I've just sent you a PM

      Originally Posted by Mary Popowa View Post

      I used to have eCommerce store awhile back, thought I sold it in 2011. I started from my apartment and grew into 3000 sq fit office within few years. It was fun but exhausted, really. I had a helpers but still this business took all my time. My brother setup for me eCommerce site and did all necessary settings, he didn't use any WP plugins or themes because he told me that that so far eCommerce never been hacked, the last thing you want to see is your site hacked and all hard work has gone. I did have subscribers optin box, but from my experience people who buy online doesn't really care about emails, they looking for physical stuff.

      Anyway to keep it short I found many suppliers, manufactures and drop-shippers here:
      aliexpress.com

      They will normally ask for higher price but if you send PM they will give you better price, just ask.

      Enjoy
      Hi Mary,

      Glad to hear from someone else who has also had success with eCommerce. I've sold quite a few online stores myself.

      I've never used aliexpress (I've heard mixed reviews) but I'm happy to hear that you've done well with them.

      I tried WooCommerce once and while you can build a nice looking store with it I really prefer using a hosted eCommerce platform. Not just because I wouldn't want my site hacked but also because I prefer having them store my customers CC information rather than have any of that on my servers. To me it's well worth the monthly hosting fees.

      Originally Posted by dcap View Post

      I am brand new to ecommerce and just starting out. I have located suppliers in Brazil for unique beauty and skin care products. Currently, in the process of negotiating exclusivity agreements for US distribution. In this case where I am not in need of product, would you recommend still using a drop shipper or handling fulfillment myself ? Also, should I start on eBay and Amazon in addition to spending some SEO $$ on Google and FB ? I can afford a decent ad budget.

      Any response, greatly appreciated.
      The only thing I know about that industry is that it is HIGHLY competitive. Does the brand you are working out a deal with already have recognition in Brazil or anywhere else in the world?

      - Anton
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      • Profile picture of the author dcap
        Originally Posted by dcap View Post
        I am brand new to ecommerce and just starting out. I have located suppliers in Brazil for unique beauty and skin care products. Currently, in the process of negotiating exclusivity agreements for US distribution. In this case where I am not in need of product, would you recommend still using a drop shipper or handling fulfillment myself ? Also, should I start on eBay and Amazon in addition to spending some SEO $$ on Google and FB ? I can afford a decent ad budget.

        Any response, greatly appreciated.

        The only thing I know about that industry is that it is HIGHLY competitive. Does the brand you are working out a deal with already have recognition in Brazil or anywhere else in the world?
        - Anton


        You are correct. Hyper competitive industry. Yes, they do have some branding in Brazil as their products are available through traditional retail channels. They have no presence in the US and are not very savvy internet marketers. Products are made with natural oils unique to the Brazilian Amazon, so that narrows the competition a bit. We are currently working on branding, pricing and market positioning. Also working on some celebrity endorsements as well as testimonials from the medical community.

        That said, does anyone have any good feedback regarding my questions regarding drop shipping, eBay and Amazon? Please advise. Thx.
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by dcap View Post

          Originally Posted by dcap View Post
          I am brand new to ecommerce and just starting out. I have located suppliers in Brazil for unique beauty and skin care products. Currently, in the process of negotiating exclusivity agreements for US distribution. In this case where I am not in need of product, would you recommend still using a drop shipper or handling fulfillment myself ? Also, should I start on eBay and Amazon in addition to spending some SEO $$ on Google and FB ? I can afford a decent ad budget.

          Any response, greatly appreciated.

          The only thing I know about that industry is that it is HIGHLY competitive. Does the brand you are working out a deal with already have recognition in Brazil or anywhere else in the world?
          - Anton


          You are correct. Hyper competitive industry. Yes, they do have some branding in Brazil as their products are available through traditional retail channels. They have no presence in the US and are not very savvy internet marketers. Products are made with natural oils unique to the Brazilian Amazon, so that narrows the competition a bit. We are currently working on branding, pricing and market positioning. Also working on some celebrity endorsements as well as testimonials from the medical community.

          That said, does anyone have any good feedback regarding my questions regarding drop shipping, eBay and Amazon? Please advise. Thx.
          Drop shipping across borders can be a headache and a waste of money...

          For the type of business that you are planning on running I would recommend advertising after placing a very small test order (or before even ordering at all) to gauge what type of inventory you need to purchase.

          Assuming you've done all of your market research and you truly believe that this product will sell at a profitable price point here is what I would do:

          - set up a full blown eCommerce store or just a really nice sales page depending on how many products you will be offering
          - send traffic to this website via an extremely targeted Adwords campaign
          - have the add to cart button link to a pop out contact form that says something like "Sorry, this item is out of stock due to high demand. Our next shipment is due to arrive in xx days. Please enter your email address below to be notified as soon as we are accepting new orders".

          This will build you a list of potential customers and also give you an estimate of how many people are serious about taking out their credit cards and ordering your product(s).

          Once you know the product converts at a certain price you can start bringing in inventory and testing eBay and Amazon as additional sources of revenue.

          Hope that helps,
          Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Popowa
    aliexpress could be complicated if using as they pitching you. What I usually did is look for "contact details" and mostly all sellers have listed they main web addresses, and most of them offer dropshipping on they main websites.
    For SEO purpose layout of eCommerse site shouldn't be changed otherwise Google will cut PR. I used move categories, change layout of main page quite often in the beginning and its affect my PR. My main page didn't go higher than PR3 within 5 years, but pages that I didn't touch since setting up store went up to PR5 and 6.
    For advertising most effective in my opinion was Google PPC and FB ads, after couple of month my PPC dropped to 0.5-0.2c. Newsletter increase sales but I usually sent email twice a months not more, otherwise people start unsubscribing.
    I had unlimited dedicated server due to high traffic and large inventory, I wouldn't suggest shared. Also I would advice match name of eCommerce site with products you going to sell for SEO purpose. Pages such T&C, About us, Privacy, Contact us should be on the header or bottom of each page for Google trust.
    If you can afford decent budget, hire programmer who will setup .php eCommerce site for safety purpose and also this site will be unique for Google.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Popowa
    dcap,
    If this Brazilian Brand famous in Brazil I would suggest you go for franchise because they already famous enough to enter US market. But if they unknown brand, I would suggest don't go for dropship until you have a good respond from your local customers, go for fulfillment by yourself. It will require purchase and store inventory in your own county, custom clearance, shipping charges, health certificates...etc. Its a lot of work, kind of build this Brazilian brand on your own in your own country. If that what you going to choose I would ask this Brazilian brand for exclusive distributor ship in your country with your own logo on they product. Register they trademark in your own country and become sole distributor.
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    • Profile picture of the author dcap
      Originally Posted by Mary Popowa View Post

      dcap,
      If this Brazilian Brand famous in Brazil I would suggest you go for franchise because they already famous enough to enter US market. But if they unknown brand, I would suggest don't go for dropship until you have a good respond from your local customers, go for fulfillment by yourself. It will require purchase and store inventory in your own county, custom clearance, shipping charges, health certificates...etc. Its a lot of work, kind of build this Brazilian brand on your own in your own country. If that what you going to choose I would ask this Brazilian brand for exclusive distributor ship in your country with your own logo on they product. Register they trademark in your own country and become sole distributor.


      Thx Mary. You and Anton seem to agree on the self fulfillment issue.
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      • Profile picture of the author qashkai
        I have enough technical knowledge to setup an ecommerce site using any of the popular systems, but I'm wondering how much money would you say is needed to start?

        I have pretty much £0 right now, just enough to get hosting and domain names etc, the cheap stuff. What's the common way you guys stock your ecommerce store? Is dropshipping a good method?
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        • Profile picture of the author ronrule
          Originally Posted by qashkai View Post

          I have enough technical knowledge to setup an ecommerce site using any of the popular systems, but I'm wondering how much money would you say is needed to start?

          I have pretty much £0 right now, just enough to get hosting and domain names etc, the cheap stuff. What's the common way you guys stock your ecommerce store? Is dropshipping a good method?
          Dropshipping is fine if you have a good supplier. If you're just going to sign up for an account with DOBA or any of the "thousands of products available" warehouse type places that specialize in dropshipping, you won't make any money because all you'll ever have access to are the same products everyone else is using to throw up autopilot eCommerce sites and ebay listings with thin margins.

          Really the most effective way to do eCommerce is to find something unique - maybe there is a guy in your town who makes custom surfboards or jewelry or something. You build and promote the site, they ship the product, you both make money. You can do this all day long. If you can break the "autopilot" mentality and treat it like a real business, you'll get real sales volume.

          Think about it this way... even Amazon, with all of their technology and infrastructure and consumer behavior targeting algorithms and all of it, they still have 90,000 employees. If it were possible to run a profitable eCommerce venture on autopilot, they would be the ones doing it. It's human thinking, not technology, that makes a business successful - and that's why they're making $80,000 a minute and everyone else with the same number of products imported from dropship suppliers is making $0.
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  • Profile picture of the author OliverTrent
    A lot of people don't get in to eCommerce because of their fear of failure, and the issues it can bring with it. A lot of people on the WF work in relatively safe industries, i.e. Affiliate promotion, where you have practically zero risk, and can make some money from it.

    Going in to ecommerce, you suddenly have to invest real money - something that terrifies plenty of marketers.
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by OliverTrent View Post

      A lot of people don't get in to eCommerce because of their fear of failure, and the issues it can bring with it. A lot of people on the WF work in relatively safe industries, i.e. Affiliate promotion, where you have practically zero risk, and can make some money from it.

      Going in to ecommerce, you suddenly have to invest real money - something that terrifies plenty of marketers.
      You are exactly right.

      The real money is, and always has been, in eCommerce - not affiliate marketing. My eCommerce clients will gross between $25k and $100k per week with their online stores, and that's pretty standard for an eCommerce site, but you throw those numbers out here and no one believes them because they try to think of it in terms equal to Amazon commissions. You'll never get those kind of numbers out of simple affiliate offers.

      But yeah - it's work. Anything worth doing is. The people who just import products from a dropship supplier and launch a site then kick back are never going to be successful. The "autopilot" model will always fail. But if you're selective about your products, and actually make an effort with the design of your site, writing your own descriptions and taking your own photos, and know how to drive some traffic you'll win every time.
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      • Profile picture of the author trader909
        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        You are exactly right.

        The real money is, and always has been, in eCommerce - not affiliate marketing. My eCommerce clients will gross between $25k and $100k per week with their online stores, and that's pretty standard for an eCommerce site, but you throw those numbers out here and no one believes them because they try to think of it in terms equal to Amazon commissions. You'll never get those kind of numbers out of simple affiliate offers.

        But yeah - it's work. Anything worth doing is. The people who just import products from a dropship supplier and launch a site then kick back are never going to be successful. The "autopilot" model will always fail. But if you're selective about your products, and actually make an effort with the design of your site, writing your own descriptions and taking your own photos, and know how to drive some traffic you'll win every time.
        link then?
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      • Profile picture of the author yet
        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        You are exactly right.

        The real money is, and always has been, in eCommerce - not affiliate marketing. My eCommerce clients will gross between $25k and $100k per week with their online stores, and that's pretty standard for an eCommerce site, but you throw those numbers out here and no one believes them because they try to think of it in terms equal to Amazon commissions. You'll never get those kind of numbers out of simple affiliate offers.

        But yeah - it's work. Anything worth doing is. The people who just import products from a dropship supplier and launch a site then kick back are never going to be successful. . The "autopilot" model will always fail But if you're selective about your products, and actually make an effort with the design of your site, writing your own descriptions and taking your own photos, and know how to drive some traffic you'll win every time.
        I'm planning to start an eCommerce website and I just need a couple of advice from the people who are successful in the business, my first question is how do you drive traffic to your website because you mentioned that the "autopilot" model will always fail.
        2)Do you have a special app for editing images (photos) of the product that you are selling?
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Originally Posted by BonusSEO View Post

    Guys I have just finished making my online store.

    I have paypal as my primary payment method (although I can add a standard merchant account at any time but would rather use paypal).

    I am about to test out a very small adwords budget.

    Anyone have any ideas on what to do next to drive traffic? Obviously I am very good at SEO so will be doing that but anything else other than facebook?
    Before you test out AdWords, make sure it makes sense for your products and margins - PPC Revenue Calculator
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    • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      Before you test out AdWords, make sure it makes sense for your products and margins - PPC Revenue Calculator
      Let me just say, I have tried a few PPC adword campaigns and never broke even. Now I see why.

      I am bookmarking your calculator. It is fantastic!

      Bottom line: with the current cost of clicks and average conversion rate, it is tough to make any money.
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      • Profile picture of the author ronrule
        Originally Posted by lastreporter View Post

        Let me just say, I have tried a few PPC adword campaigns and never broke even. Now I see why.

        I am bookmarking your calculator. It is fantastic!

        Bottom line: with the current cost of clicks and average conversion rate, it is tough to make any money.
        Thanks man. Yeah, it's tough for a lot of products - I think that's why so many people get frustrated with it. If you're selling $20 items and you're paying $1.00 a click, the math just doesn't freaking work. If you're selling $150 items and paying $1.00 a click, and your site converts decently you'll make money all day long.

        Amazon actually makes this more difficult than it needs to be too, they sell a ton of low-cost items at a loss on purpose just to keep the click rates high so there is less competition in PPC, relying on their upsell flow to turn a profit.
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  • Profile picture of the author trader909
    link to one of these?

    My eCommerce clients will gross between $25k and $100k per week with their online stores, and that's pretty standard for an eCommerce site,
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by trader909 View Post

      link to one of these?
      I don't disclose who my clients are here, but this is pretty much an average revenue point for any serious small to mid-sized eCommerce site - brand owners on the high side, and sellers on the low side. You just gotta disconnect the "affiliate mindset", because eCommerce gives you more control over your product selection and that makes all the difference in the world. Most of the people here who are "doing ecommerce" just have pages of dropship products, and that's the worst way to do it. You need to have a real relationship with suppliers directly in order to get good pricing.
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  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    Originally Posted by BonusSEO View Post

    Guys I have just finished making my online store.

    I have paypal as my primary payment method (although I can add a standard merchant account at any time but would rather use paypal).

    I am about to test out a very small adwords budget.

    Anyone have any ideas on what to do next to drive traffic? Obviously I am very good at SEO so will be doing that but anything else other than facebook?
    I really only like Facebook for retargeting...

    I would recommend testing Google Shopping (PPC funded via Adwords), TheFind (Free) & Amazon Product Ads (PPC but they give you a $75 credit to start).

    Make sure you enable Google Analytics for eCommerce prior to sending traffic to your site so that you can see which sources are converting for you.

    - Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author Mary Popowa
    Originally Posted by BonusSEO View Post

    Guys I have just finished making my online store.

    I have paypal as my primary payment method (although I can add a standard merchant account at any time but would rather use paypal).

    I am about to test out a very small adwords budget.

    Anyone have any ideas on what to do next to drive traffic? Obviously I am very good at SEO so will be doing that but anything else other than facebook?
    1) For Paypal payments you should know that they can suspend your account at any time for investigation, so I would advice have 2 Paypal accounts in case one will be temporary closed. From my experience about 50% customers prefer using Paypal and 50% prefer other Payment Gateway. If you just starting Paypal would be fine, but latter on include other payment option.
    2) For driving traffic my advice: Google simply love long tail names. For example: instead giving name to your item "Nike Sport Shoes for Man" name something like this "Sport Shoes, Nike Flyknit Ultralight Second-skin fit High breathability Running Sport Shoes for Man"
    This is for SEO purpose. For people put the most beautiful photos you can find or make your own preferably with white or black background.
    3) Don't worry to much about adwords and promos in the beginning, at first you should get Google's trust and if you make right settings for store and inventory you can get visitors next day. Facebook ads work better for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author dmorales
    Great thread! Hey guys do you think is possible for someone that doesn't live Stateside to create an ecommerce site (drop shipping) and sell items to the US market?
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by dmorales View Post

      Great thread! Hey guys do you think is possible for someone that doesn't live Stateside to create an ecommerce site (drop shipping) and sell items to the US market?
      Definitely. People are doing it everyday. Some suppliers will only require an EIN# and I know a lot of people that are getting approved for accounts with US based suppliers while using their foreign business info.
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      • Profile picture of the author dmorales
        Thanks for the reply! What's an EIN#? Where can I get more information, mostly about what I need as someone that doesn't live Stateside?...since all the ecommerce topics have already being covered by you excellent course which I already bought!
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by dmorales View Post

          Thanks for the reply! What's an EIN#? Where can I get more information, mostly about what I need as someone that doesn't live Stateside?...since all the ecommerce topics have already being covered by you excellent course which I already bought!
          An EIN# (also known as a Tax Id#) is a way for the government to track business entities. It's basically a social security number for businesses.

          Thanks for the compliment on my course btw. I'm glad you like it!

          - Anton
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          • Profile picture of the author dmorales
            Yes, your course is that good Anton! What has been stopping me is exactly that, the fiscal requirements! How do I get the EIN#?
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            • Profile picture of the author alksense
              Originally Posted by mobilemarketer2012 View Post

              Hi Anton,

              I hope I am not out of line asking you a question about your new supplier directory in this thread. I received your email and have been to your website. You have a very good reputation here so please don't take these questions as derogatory, rather just honest questions.

              The question I see asked most often is how do we compete with the likes of Amazon, EBay, Walmart.com, etc... The answers I see (from you and others) most often are, you have to go straight to the manufacturer, get unique products, and do business with companies the require MAP pricing. So my questions are; are most of these suppliers the manufacturers, do they require MAP pricing, and is this the same stuff we will already see on Amazon, etc?

              Also, when you have been asked to see one of your websites you typically say no and I don't blame you for that at all. I would not want to give out my niches or vendors as well. So then why would you give us the list if suppliers you use? Are we buying at the same prices you are?

              Thanks in advance for your answers.
              No, you're not out of line at all. Feel free to ask me whatever you want. However, this is not a sales thread and I don't want to self promote so feel free to PM or email me about any of the products or services that my company offers.

              I will answer these publicly though in case anyone has the same questions as you;

              You will see me say over and over that I do not try to compete with Amazon. They do $50 BILLION+ in sales. My sites do the smallest percentage of that but it still equals BIG numbers like I'm sure you've seen on the sales page for my course.

              Amazon can't have all of the sales on the internet and there are many techniques I've learned over the years that help my company take some from them (along with all of my other competitors). One of the most important things I do is work with suppliers who enforce MAP policies so that I don't have to get try to get into pricing wars with companies like Amazon and Walmart. Once you have those suppliers in place there are many ways to bring in buying traffic and convert it into sales.

              Regarding my companies new supplier directory; I still do not share my sites or share the niches that I sell in and have previously sold in. Actually, the majority of the niches in the directory are niches that my company has never even sold in. It contains suppliers who both drop ship and wholesale. It also includes guides on how to get the best pricing (if buying wholesale or if working with suppliers who do not enforce pricing controls).

              As your know, I'm big into outsourcing and part of what I have my outsourcers do is source suppliers for my company in different niches that I know to sell well online.

              Well, as you also know, I try to keep my workload to a minimum and I don't want to run some huge company that takes me 12 hours a day to manage. That's basically left my company with TONS of supplier info in niches that I simply have never committed to entering.

              If someone was a real workaholic and looking to build a massive empire I don't even know what type of sales #'s would be possible with this business... there are literally tens of thousands of suppliers in hundreds of niches! My company is never going to expand into all of them because it doesn't fit into my lifestyle design plan which is why I've created this supplier directory.

              Hope that clears things up!

              Originally Posted by dmorales View Post

              Yes, your course is that good Anton! What has been stopping me is exactly that, the fiscal requirements! How do I get the EIN#?
              Thanks again buddy!

              You can apply for an EIN online here: Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online
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              • Profile picture of the author dmorales
                Thanks again for helping me out! Besides the EIN# is there something else I should acquire to have a legit ecommerce site without me living Stateside?
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          • Profile picture of the author yet
            Must everybody have the EIN even if they don't live in the US?
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            • Profile picture of the author alksense
              Originally Posted by PrimaDNA1989 View Post

              Hi alksense, Could you PM me the link to your course? I would be interested in learning from you. Sent you a PM too just in case.
              PM has been sent

              Originally Posted by DraculaIM View Post

              I would like to get started in eCommerce using drop shipping since I travel a lot. How can I find real products (not fakes or low quality) to sell at a price that won't be beaten by Amazon OR provide something in addition that makes people chose my store over Amazon?
              If you find drop ship suppliers who enforce MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) policies then Amazon can not sell for lower than your store because everyone of the suppliers retailers agrees to not sell below a specified price point.

              Even though Amazon is a giant ($50 Billion + in sales) they do not get every sale online. You do not need to compete with them. The smallest percentage of their sales can still equal a HUGE business.
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              • Profile picture of the author leokoo
                Originally Posted by Anton Louis View Post

                PM has been sent



                If you find drop ship suppliers who enforce MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) policies then Amazon can not sell for lower than your store because everyone of the suppliers retailers agrees to not sell below a specified price point.

                Even though Amazon is a giant ($50 Billion + in sales) they do not get every sale online. You do not need to compete with them. The smallest percentage of their sales can still equal a HUGE business.
                Please PM me too
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  • Profile picture of the author kgriffin1070
    Brand new to this site just wanted to say Thank You for all the information!!! Definitely will be looking into this further as I have just spent the past 3 hours reading all of these posts in regards to the e-commerce. Very excited to get the ball rolling now with all my new info!! Thank you all again for your questions and answers!!!
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  • Hi Anton,

    I hope I am not out of line asking you a question about your new supplier directory in this thread. I received your email and have been to your website. You have a very good reputation here so please don't take these questions as derogatory, rather just honest questions.

    The question I see asked most often is how do we compete with the likes of Amazon, EBay, Walmart.com, etc... The answers I see (from you and others) most often are, you have to go straight to the manufacturer, get unique products, and do business with companies the require MAP pricing. So my questions are; are most of these suppliers the manufacturers, do they require MAP pricing, and is this the same stuff we will already see on Amazon, etc?

    Also, when you have been asked to see one of your websites you typically say no and I don't blame you for that at all. I would not want to give out my niches or vendors as well. So then why would you give us the list if suppliers you use? Are we buying at the same prices you are?

    Thanks in advance for your answers.
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  • Profile picture of the author 1on1business
    In my opinion, eCommerce can be (and should be supported) by types of internet marketing. Internet marketing methods can be more or less effective based on the channels you pursue, and the software you use. Having all the tools in one place that allow you to connect your eCommerce site with all your internet marketing is the most effective. That is why I prefer eCommerce. It is also great when you can go to countless forums (such as this) and get input and tips from numerous people.
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  • Profile picture of the author PrimaDNA1989
    Banned
    Originally Posted by alksense View Post

    You will see me say over and over that I do not try to compete with Amazon. They do $50 BILLION+ in sales. My sites do the smallest percentage of that but it still equals BIG numbers like I'm sure you've seen on the sales page for my course.
    Hi alksense, Could you PM me the link to your course? I would be interested in learning from you. Sent you a PM too just in case.
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  • Profile picture of the author jimmyjohns2345
    Very interesting stuff
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  • Profile picture of the author DraculaIM
    I would like to get started in eCommerce using drop shipping since I travel a lot. How can I find real products (not fakes or low quality) to sell at a price that won't be beaten by Amazon OR provide something in addition that makes people chose my store over Amazon?
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    • Profile picture of the author lastreporter
      Originally Posted by DraculaIM View Post

      I would like to get started in eCommerce using drop shipping since I travel a lot. How can I find real products (not fakes or low quality) to sell at a price that won't be beaten by Amazon OR provide something in addition that makes people chose my store over Amazon?

      Spend years researching the markets; spend thousands testing various product niches and work about 11 hours a day, 7-days a week.

      That's what I've done.

      It works.

      No quick fix.

      Making money is serious business for serious people who face serious obstacles and competition.
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    • Profile picture of the author MarginMetrics
      Originally Posted by DraculaIM View Post

      I would like to get started in eCommerce using drop shipping since I travel a lot. How can I find real products (not fakes or low quality) to sell at a price that won't be beaten by Amazon OR provide something in addition that makes people chose my store over Amazon?
      Research and take the time needed to set up something unique about your supply chain. Google and the phone are a good place to start. There are a lot of ways that you can approach building healthy supplier relationships.

      I like to think of the acronym "READ" when thinking about the supply side of my businesses.

      Research
      Evaluate
      Apply
      Develop

      You'll spend a lot of time early on in the first 3 stages, but how I've gotten pricing that beats amazon in the past is by building great personal relationships with my suppliers. Get to know them personally, take your time, ask them about their goals, give before you get.
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      • Profile picture of the author Unity96387
        Is it possible for a Canadian who lives in Costa Rica, to build an ecommerce store that is targeted exclusively at the country of India ( English speaking country) and uses suppliers in Hong Kong?

        If so, how would you make sure that the store only gets traffic from India and not some other countries in the world?

        Thanks
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        • Profile picture of the author OliverTrent
          Originally Posted by Unity96387 View Post

          Is it possible for a Canadian who lives in Costa Rica, to build an ecommerce store that is targeted exclusively at the country of India ( English speaking country) and uses suppliers in Hong Kong?

          If so, how would you make sure that the store only gets traffic from India and not some other countries in the world?

          Thanks
          You can do that, its fairly easy to block countries by IP if you really want to exclude other traffic sources.
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        • Profile picture of the author alksense
          Originally Posted by Unity96387 View Post

          Is it possible for a Canadian who lives in Costa Rica, to build an ecommerce store that is targeted exclusively at the country of India ( English speaking country) and uses suppliers in Hong Kong?

          If so, how would you make sure that the store only gets traffic from India and not some other countries in the world?

          Thanks
          I've never done business in India but most (if not all) traffic sources allow you to target the country that you want to advertise to.

          Once you have your traffic in place you can also set your store to only accept orders being shipped to addresses in India. This is all very simple to set up.
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  • Profile picture of the author chamanow
    Great info here, I'm really learning a lot!

    Do you have a "how to" of sorts available for what you look for when picking your niches/keywords or analyze competition?


    Thanks,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author chebolludo
    @DraculaIM: I would use the fact that you are traveling a lot as an advantage. Stroll around local markets in cheap manufacturing countries and you will find a lot of great products. Often enough the producers doesn't even have an own homepage and probably didn't even think about selling overseas.

    @yet: I have been struggling a lot with getting good product pictures. It will safe you a lot of time if your products comes with pictures. Otherwise you need to have light box (can be self made in a few minutes, you will find many tutorials) and edit them on the computer. Not sure, if there is an app. I did just became familiar with GIMP and have it automated as much as possible. For example you auto set the size in that you want to crop it and can use recent configuration for color and light settings. That said, spend one day taking pictures of as many products as possible under the same light and camera condition. Then the next day find the perfect GIMP setting for the first picture and then just use them on autopilot for all the others.
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  • Profile picture of the author andy1234
    Hi everyone
    This is an interesting tread, thanks a lot!!
    I quit my job about a year ago and I have been doing great with affiliate marketing. The problem with this business model is that Google can shut you down and the companies you work with own the traffic. I will look into this model and I have one question for experienced e-commerce's - Do you also have problems with Google algo updates or do you make it because of your brand and your own products ?
    Kind regards
    Anders
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  • Profile picture of the author KingArthur
    Originally Posted by alksense View Post

    Unfortunately it seems that there aren't all that many people posting in this section.

    While the Main Internet Marketing forums here typically have thousands and thousands of members discussing how to make money online, this section usually has less then 100.
    Why do you think that less people post in this forum? Is it because drop shipping is more difficult? What is your theory?
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by KingArthur View Post

      Why do you think that less people post in this forum? Is it because drop shipping is more difficult? What is your theory?
      I don't think drop shipping is a particularly good strategy personally but as for ecommerce in general... its work. Its the difference between a real business and a "passive income". My observation has been that many here are expecting a WSO to reveal the magic formula they "just haven't figured out yet".

      The sad part is if those same people would stop screwing around with CPA offers and affiliate programs and focus that energy into ecommerce they could be making a real full time income instead of scraping for commissions. If two guys that run a tire shop can make 15k a week selling auto parts online, anyone can.
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    • Profile picture of the author alksense
      Originally Posted by KingArthur View Post

      Why do you think that less people post in this forum? Is it because drop shipping is more difficult? What is your theory?
      I think a lot of people assume that eCommerce has a greater barrier of entry than other ways to make money online. I also think people assume it's easy to make quick cash other ways online so they spend their time trying to learn them.

      However, since I've posted this thread back in December I can see that this section of the WF has been growing with people who make money via drop shipping that actually know what they're talking about
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  • Profile picture of the author Hexiuss
    How about the future of ecommerce? Because of the low barriers of entry?

    How can you protect your business when some one can come in and copy you for less then $100?
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by Hexiuss View Post

      How about the future of ecommerce? Because of the low barriers of entry?

      How can you protect your business when some one can come in and copy you for less then $100?
      You build a brand. When was the last time you saw a cheap copycat unseat the leading brand?

      It never happens.

      How many Fiverr clones, Twitter clones, Facebook clones, etc. have you even heard of much less actually making a dent in the original? Heck, even in retail you can get generics of every product on the shelf and not one generic has ever over-taken the big brand it was copying.

      You can do this with eCommerce too. That's why sites like ThinkGeek and Zappos are successful selling the exact same products you can get on Amazon and other sites, and everyone who tries to copy their model with nothing but a dropship supplier and a $100 website fails. Minimal input = minimal output.
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      • Profile picture of the author IndianaJones
        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        You build a brand. When was the last time you saw a cheap copycat unseat the leading brand?
        You are talking about the website name of the person running the drop ship business as a brand name right? Because if the products are being drop shipped then the SUPPLIER'S brand name will be on each product that is shipped out of the supplier's ware house for the person running the drop ship business....
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        • Profile picture of the author ronrule
          Originally Posted by IndianaJones View Post

          You are talking about the website name of the person running the drop ship business as a brand name right? Because if the products are being drop shipped then the SUPPLIER'S brand name will be on each product that is shipped out of the supplier's ware house for the person running the drop ship business....
          A brand doesn't necessarily mean a manufacturer... "being a brand" means building name recognition, not just selling products. Zappos and ThinkGeek are brands, and they don't manufacture a single product. A brand doesn't focus on getting the sale, they focus on getting the customer.
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  • Profile picture of the author liquide43
    Very great post, i never tried the eComerce industry but its seems to be interesting.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hexiuss
    Yes creating a brand would be more of an end game goal though. Getting from start-up > repeat buyers w/o getting copied or knocked off is what I'm concerned about.

    I might just be over thinking things... either way I'm still launching a store next week. I guess that's the only way I can find out for sure lol.
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by Hexiuss View Post

      Yes creating a brand would be more of an end game goal though. Getting from start-up > repeat buyers w/o getting copied or knocked off is what I'm concerned about.

      I might just be over thinking things... either way I'm still launching a store next week. I guess that's the only way I can find out for sure lol.
      I think you're under-thinking it... this is one of the reasons I say to always build a brand.

      You could copy Zappos and call it "Hexiussos" - copy every product, every image, every description, every everything, and you will still never have the prestige they do. Know why? Because they're freaking Zappos - you're just a guy who copied them.

      That's the power of being a brand.

      Don't worry so much about the copycats, no matter what you do people will copy your site layout and tactics... but they can never "be you". So your job is to make "being you" mean something to buyers. That's the difference between being "just another eCommerce site" and being an authority.
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      • Profile picture of the author Hexiuss
        Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

        I think you're under-thinking it... this is one of the reasons I say to always build a brand.

        You could copy Zappos and call it "Hexiussos" - copy every product, every image, every description, every everything, and you will still never have the prestige they do. Know why? Because they're freaking Zappos - you're just a guy who copied them.

        That's the power of being a brand.

        Don't worry so much about the copycats, no matter what you do people will copy your site layout and tactics... but they can never "be you". So your job is to make "being you" mean something to buyers. That's the difference between being "just another eCommerce site" and being an authority.

        Thanks I think i understand now. I'm so caught up in the niche research/ site planning I didn't even consider planning on how to create a brand out of it from the beginning. I always thought that is something you do after the site is successful.
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        • Profile picture of the author KingArthur
          Originally Posted by Hexiuss View Post

          Thanks I think i understand now. I'm so caught up in the niche research/ site planning I didn't even consider planning on how to create a brand out of it from the beginning. I always thought that is something you do after the site is successful.
          You make the site successful at the same time you create a brand so that the brand reinforces more sales in the future.
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  • Profile picture of the author OliverTrent
    Definitely focus on the brand from the start, you want to be recognizable, trusted, and recommendable, a brand makes that infinitely easier!
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    • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
      Killer advice from Ron Rule here. Branding is everything in ecommerce, and is really the key to ranking organically in Google these days as well. Building a brand goes hand-in-hand with building authority in Google, and the more authority you have the more organic traffic Google will send you!
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      My PROVEN ecommerce process, as seen on: Fox Business News, the NY Times & Flippa
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      • Profile picture of the author alksense
        I totally agree in branding your business to lead to future customers and make yourself stand out. Here's a great article that hits exactly on that topic:

        Wayfair's Road to $1 Billion | Inc.com

        I personally build niche sites but I make it very clear that they are all part of my brand (similar to what Hayneedle does) and I always remind customers of my other stores on their order receipt emails and future follow up emails.

        Here's an excerpt from the article I linked to:

        Last September, the more than 200 sites of CSN Stores began directing shoppers to a new one: Wayfair.com. To help spread the news, 700 CSN employees went on a massive pub crawl in Boston; in fact, you could scarcely enter a tavern that day without seeing someone in a Wayfair T-shirt.

        It's not hard to see why Wayfair employees might have needed a drink. This was a big move, perhaps the biggest the company could make. For years, CSN Stores had been intentionally mysterious. Anonymity, after all, has its benefits: There's no risk of damaging the brand if there isn't a brand to damage. Even the biggest customer service screwup on one site was unlikely to affect customer loyalty on any of the other sites.

        But there were also opportunities being missed. Through customer surveys, Shah and Conine knew that their customers were happy with the service and selection on individual niche websites. But customers didn't know that there were plenty of other niche sites where they could buy lots and lots of other things. In surveys done around 2007, customers were asked whether they were aware that CSN Stores had more than 200 other websites. Seventy percent said no. "We had the selection, the price was compelling, we had a 1-800 number to answer any questions," says Shah. "And after all that, the person would say, 'I love you guys, and the next time I need a bunk bed, I'll come back.' Well, they're probably not going to need a bunk bed for a while." Conversations like that led Conine and Shah to consider something truly radical: putting all of their tiny niches under a single umbrella--that is, turning CSN into a brand.
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        • Profile picture of the author Hexiuss
          I havn't been able to find much on the topic of branding for small/startup ecommerce sites. Is it more just a name recognition thing? or sort of like social/email marketing where you are trying to build a relationship with your customers.
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          • Profile picture of the author OliverTrent
            I like to use UberPong as an example of good branding. They cover the bases professionally in nearly every aspect of where their business appears publicly. Just Google them to see how they are building partnerships, running events, using social media etc. and how they capitalize on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author ultraimports
    I've read through every post on here. I must say its very good info going back and forth in here. Thank you to all who contributed!!
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  • Profile picture of the author herms
    I would be interested in knowing about selling the business. I have an ecommerce site that I've been running since 2009. I sell physical products that I buy from about 6 or 7 different distributors and manufacturers with one being from overseas. Right now, I get about 8,000 visitors to the site per month. Conversion rate is about 1%(was 3% for 2010 and 2011 and 2% for 2012 due to google algorithm updates), so currently I'm getting about 3 grand every month from customers. About 25 to 30% of that goes to shipping.

    I spent about 10 grand(which I saved from the business earnings) on getting a custom site back in 2011. Now, I'm wondering about how much I could get for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Do a proper valuation (the same way you would do it if you were going to do a Series A funding round) and that will tell you what the business is worth, but that doesn't mean that's what a buyer will be willing to pay. If your revenue is down from years past, and is primarily search driven, it will be harder to sell - every serious buyer will believe you are trying to unload a sinking ship. But if your revenue is up from previous years and you have an established customer base that tends to buy more than once, you have something of value that will be attractive to a buyer.
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  • Profile picture of the author omandi
    I know this was posted two years ago...but i just saw it...wanted to ask you...why do you say that you dont need to use SEO or PPC campaigns? How do you do it?
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    • Profile picture of the author ronrule
      Originally Posted by omandi View Post

      I know this was posted two years ago...but i just saw it...wanted to ask you...why do you say that you dont need to use SEO or PPC campaigns? How do you do it?
      I think PPC is more important than SEO; That doesn't mean ignore search engines completely, but there's a difference between making pages that a search engine can understand and rank properly, and "optimizing" your pages around keywords. I always make sure sites are naturally conducive to what search engines like to see, but I don't waste time with stuffing keywords into product descriptions or link building.

      To me, PPC is cheaper because my time has value. If I want traffic from a search engine, I'd rather just pay what I'm willing to pay for a visitor to be sent to my page than try to create multiple landing pages optimized around different keywords and then constantly worry that a competitor will step up their game and outrank me, or Google will change something that pushes me down, thus undoing everything I just did. It's also instant gratification; if I bid on a keyword today, I will get visitors today. If I optimize a page for a keyword today, it may be weeks before I see how well that keyword is performing organically when if I had just paid for traffic, I would have already been making sales.

      Your most valuable asset is your name recognition, and your second most valuable asset is your customer database. If you utilize those two properly, it doesn't matter what page you're on in Google.

      Google has never made any retailer famous.

      If Google disappeared tomorrow, sites like Amazon and eBay would make more money than ever and sites that rely on search engine traffic to stay alive would fade away into history.

      The largest site I run currently does about $5 Million a year (~$15k a day) in sales from organic Google traffic - most people here would consider that a dream come true, but frankly it scares the shit out of me. That's a huge chunk of that business that we have absolutely no control over, and could disappear tomorrow because some decision-maker at Google decided to change the way they score relevance. That revenue affects everything from what products we stock to how much employees are paid, and the last thing I want is for a Google change or aggressive competitor to upset that balance. So while I appreciate the "free traffic", I don't consider it stable traffic.

      This will sound crazy to a lot of people, but right now I am actually working on bringing that number down and replacing those sales with paid traffic. To me it's like insurance... I'd rather pay $1-2 million to guarantee I'll continue to get that $5 million than leave it in Google's hands and inevitably one day lose the $5 million.

      But that said, it's the customer database that really brings the most value. It's a million times easier to sell additional products to customers you already have than to find new ones. Having direct access to 2 million past buyers is worth a lot more than Google page one for any keyword.

      But to get there, paid traffic is the way to go. Launch your site, spend all of your money on paid traffic, and reinvest all of your profits back into paid traffic for the first year. Keep nothing in your pocket, and pay nothing in taxes because your company runs at a break-even while you build your customer base. As you're doing this, re-market to those customers. Put new products in front of them. Segment the data based on aggregate purchase histories to show customers products they're likely to buy, and do this until your repeat business exceeds your new business. Even if they never buy another product as a result of your re-engagement, they will remember your name. This is how Amazon makes $80,000 per minute - they literally only profit 1% of that revenue and the other 99% is the cost of making it. But 1% of $80k per minute is roughly $1.15 million per day net, and I'll take that over every other eCommerce model in the world.
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  • Profile picture of the author Reena
    I have read this thread fully and want to thank Anton and everyone else for all the fabulous contributions about eCommerce - brilliant.

    It's timely as I have been intending to start a site online selling one particular item that is unique, and has very little competition. It also obviously has little traffic but I believe this traffic will be highly converting and could grow with some information put out there about this product. I have a supplier who would drop-ship the item with the profit margin being around $400+ per sale. This si the UK market primarily although international orders could also come in I expect as the item is pretty unique.

    My questions are:

    - I am thinking of creating a store that sells other items in the wider niche also. But when looking at the Google results the pages have a lot of ebay and amazon stores - is this ok?

    - The few independent stores there are in the SERPS seem to be manufacturers - long-term family businesses for eg. Is this a good sign or not? So are these manufacturers would then be the ones I approach to drop-ship?

    - The supplier I have is a family concern and does not do drop-shipping I don't think usually. So how do I ensure they enforce MAP if they get approached by others in the future?

    - The domain I have is the name of the main item - let's say. www.bluesuitcases.com but now I am thinking of selling other items in the niche which you could say is 'luggage'. So if I use www.bluesuitcases.com is it still ok to use that for all items in the niche? The thing is that the domain is a gem as it is has the item name which is the main keyword also.

    Many thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author anton433
      Originally Posted by Reena View Post

      The supplier I have is a family concern and does not do drop-shipping I don't think usually. So how do I ensure they enforce MAP if they get approached by others in the future?
      MAP policies are illegal in the European union, for better or worse. In fact, to my knowledge MAP is pretty much only a US thing.
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  • Profile picture of the author marco005
    Hi,

    For me it is to complicated to handle with these csv files,they are not uniform and each shop platform/cvms system is different.

    Does anyone has an easy to understand guide how do import my products in my shop with an csv file?

    So when my shop has 10 categories,I must split my csv file with large number of products into 10 csv files for each category?

    Or how to handle that?

    What is easiest to handle with csv files shopify or Joomla cms? (using joomla to build a store).

    best wishes
    marco005
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  • Profile picture of the author squidface
    Banned
    Personally, I think that ship has sailed. Amazon and other big brands are close to cornering these markets.

    So what's you usp here? Cheaper, faster, best support, etc? Easily copied.

    PPC advertising, competing against hundreds of other ecommerce sites. Only going to get tougher.

    Yes there are small niches you could still become a leader in.

    But for me, i prefer bigger b2B deals as opposed to setting up whole customer support to deal with hundreds/thousands of customers. That doesn't appeal to me.
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  • Profile picture of the author squidface
    Banned
    Vitol > $300billion

    $48,080,000,000!
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  • Profile picture of the author squidface
    Banned
    sex products sell very well online. No-one can go into Walmart and buy a 12" dildo etc. This is the edge you need i.m.h.o. (not the dildo)
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  • Profile picture of the author Kaptain
    Excellent discussion, I seem to be 2 years late, a few Google algo updates late, but I think its as relevant as the first day it was put up. I am new to eCommerce but one thing I know about business is that if you have a product that you need to sell is that you either move volumes or sell high quality items that don't move fast but have high margins. A Ferrari vs a phone.

    I would rather go for the phone than the car. I think the most important question is how does one join this world. I have researched on amazon selling, amazon fulfillment program, drop shipping but it seems to be mostly different parts of a money puzzle. i dont want to start huge, what I have learnt is start small, make mistakes, not too costly learn and grow...Get to sell 50 dollars a month online, Just need to know that i am selling it in the right way such that if I scale up, its in the right way.

    Any tips to help someone like me start out, it can be a flashback of your time in my little shoes.

    Thanks and regards,

    kaptain
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    • Profile picture of the author natasabb
      Originally Posted by Kaptain View Post

      Excellent discussion, I seem to be 2 years late, a few Google algo updates late, but I think its as relevant as the first day it was put up. I am new to eCommerce but one thing I know about business is that if you have a product that you need to sell is that you either move volumes or sell high quality items that don't move fast but have high margins. A Ferrari vs a phone.

      I would rather go for the phone than the car. I think the most important question is how does one join this world. I have researched on amazon selling, amazon fulfillment program, drop shipping but it seems to be mostly different parts of a money puzzle. i dont want to start huge, what I have learnt is start small, make mistakes, not too costly learn and grow...Get to sell 50 dollars a month online, Just need to know that i am selling it in the right way such that if I scale up, its in the right way.

      Any tips to help someone like me start out, it can be a flashback of your time in my little shoes.

      Thanks and regards,

      kaptain
      If you are a beginner in drop shipping and eCommerce sale, you can not cope with the wholesale site, I recommend, that you try slowly, step by step, with the help of experienced in this way of marketing like Wholesale Portal, and see its possibilities as seller.
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  • Profile picture of the author Etoot
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Anton Louis
      Originally Posted by Etoot View Post

      Hi Anton Louis,

      Great stuff. But I have already poured thousands of dollars in my Etoot Social Shopping store but ROI zero. So I would love your suggestion on how to grow my store and increase ROI.

      Regards,
      Etoot
      Wow, it seems like you've went ahead and tried to create an entirely new platform...

      My method is really much less complex than that. I basically just find existing businesses that are already making a killing and reverse engineer their stores. This method requires much less guesswork and no real investment of capital to get started.

      If you're interested there are a ton of resources online to help you get started but unfortunately I can't help you with the platform that you're trying to create.

      Good luck with whatever you choose!
      Anton
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  • Profile picture of the author honeypot
    How do you stop dropshippers from stealing customer information? The dropshippers have access to your customer's physical address as well as e-mail so what is to stop them from putting their own marketing materials in the box when they ship the product out?
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  • Profile picture of the author odaine21
    Originally Posted by Anton Louis View Post

    I think the eCommerce subsection of the Warrior Forum was created about one month ago now.. I was excited when I first saw it go up because I've made most of money via eCommerce and I think it's the best way to make money online... I was looking forward to speaking to others who feel the same.

    Unfortunately it seems that there aren't all that many people posting in this section.

    While the Main Internet Marketing forums here typically have thousands and thousands of members discussing how to make money online, this section usually has less then 100.

    I thought I would share why I prefer eCommerce over other types of internet marketing (which I still do participate in).

    Hopefully this will help other members see why this is a great way to make real money that many members here are missing out on...

    So why do I prefer starting an eCommerce business over any other type of online business?

    • You can get started with a very small out of pocket investment
    • You can manage the business in your spare time
    • You do not need years of schooling or experience to succeed
    • You will be building a real business of great financial value that you can sell for A LOT of money in as little as 12 - 18 months
    • The techniques you learn for building your business can be repeated over and over until you reach your target level of income
    • What you learn in eCommerce can be applied when starting other types of Internet Marketing businesses if you want to expand your income channels

    I will tell you right now most of the preconceived ideas about starting an eCommerce business are totally false..

    • You do not need to pay a web designer thousands of dollars to build you an online store
    • You do not need to invest thousands of dollars into SEO and PPC campaigns
    • You do not need to purchase ANY inventory to get started
    • You do not need to sell a unique product with no competition

    If anyone has ANY questions please ask me.

    If anyone has already found success in eCommerce please post about it.

    Let's get this eCommerce section filled up with people who are making some REAL money online.
    I agree completely. Not many people realise that Ecommerce is the best way to make money online. I was struggling for MONTHS trying to make money online until I decided to try selling on Ebay and Amazon. It definitely helped to grow my current income..
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