Building another dropshipping directory

What do you mean by charge a small yearly fee? Do you mean that your customers would have to pay a fee simply in order to purchase goods on your website?
I do not think that will be very appreciated.

If your directory has a huge following, i.e. resellers looking for suppliers, of course you can charge a small fee for suppliers to be included in your database... But you need to make sure that the suppliers are genuine and legit so that your users won't get scammed.

That's a lot of work and liabilities, so if you are looking for a way to make some extra income online, and you are knowledgeable in this area, why not start a blog and provide free info?

Put up some adsense or affiliate promos when your blog gets decent traffic and build a list for long term success... that's way easier in my opinion.

Just my 2 cents.

As a producer/wholesaler/dropshipper I will not pay the fee unless your directory will be really huge and prove that it is able to bring us many high-quality partners (and orders). There are many competitors (ie. worldwidebrands, salehoo etc.) which are not charging providers (so are free to me).

Thus it will be hard to start I suppose.

Please disregard the question about charges below, I have decided to do it for free.

If I can put in my two cents worth and ask your opinion, especially the dropship suppliers, on my idea, which is also a dropship directory that I have developed and now testing.
When i was researching dropshipping the directories wanted to charge a fee for me to view the information. I did not know if it was good, bad or indifferent information, but still I had to pay a fee. Research showed me that some of the listings were now out of business. Other directories wanted me to register, which I do not do lightly, giving my email address to anyone.
On Alibaba some dropship companies had minimum quantity orders, so basically they were manufacturers/wholesalers that put in the keyword dropship.

So, to get over these problems, I made a site that would cover these problems.

Firstly, free for users to read the information.
Secondly, all suppliers would have a detailed profile page, showing the basics and answers, like fee, postage, returns, ect.
Thirdly. All dropshippers listed would have their own forum, to tell their latest news, special offers, answer questions, ect. This also would give the reader confidence that the dropship business is still in business.
Fourth. Classified ad section, with categories, photos, description prices if need be, where readers could see in one area all the items they are interested in.
Fifth, only dropshippers that will dropship one item, not wholesalers would be listed.
Sixth. Email notification, if requested, from particular dropshippers or member.

Now like bamabuilder, I was thinking of free listing in one category but charge a small fee for the rest, own forum, classifieds, listings in more than one category, private messaging, top of listings, more detail in profile page ect.

The thing is, I would prefer to charge a small fee, say €50 for a year, rather then adsense which could show your competitors on your profile page. Hosting charges, research time and marketing all costs money.

I was also thinking if I charged a small fee, it could deter the scammers. Your views would be great thanks.