Drop shipping? Where to start?

11 years ago

Dropshipping is tough - I sold a Chinese brand smartphone device and whilst I learnt a lot, I didn't make much money. With dropshipping, you need to nail two things IMO; finding a reliable supplier (a factory > wholesaler) and secondly, managing returns and customer service.

I recommend using a combination of third party marketplaces (Amazon, Ebay) and a hosted shopping cart solution. Experiment with your inventory and pricing to see what works.

Thanks

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Nile Vincent

11 years ago

Hey there,

Noticed your request for info...

Dropshipping can be an amazing portal...and with Amazon and Ebay...if you
do it right...could be successful...

I just completed a commentary on this subject over on TemperThompson's
thread "Buying on Amazon, Dropshipping on eBay?"...

Why don't you head over there for a minute...and read my post...#7...just click
on the above blue link...

Might give you some insights...along with the other comments...

Hope this helps...

Thanks

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AlohaSoldier89

11 years ago

Thanks! Seems tough, looking at the websites people have recommended there are very thin margins with products specially chinese!

Thanks
1 reply

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AlohaSoldier89

11 years ago

so does using chinese products work? Seems like thats what everyone suggests?

Thanks
1 reply

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Importexport

11 years ago

Originally Posted by AlohaSoldier89

so does using chinese products work? Seems like thats what everyone suggests?

Originally Posted by AlohaSoldier89

Thanks! Seems tough, looking at the websites people have recommended there are very thin margins with products specially chinese!

Large numbers of people who have tried dropshipping and many who are still doing it, have posted on WF about very thin margins.

Dropshipping using dropship suppliers in China presents numerous problems, not the least being that you will often find that those suppliers are competing directly with you on eBay, selling at prices that you simply can't match. The bad reaction from customers when they find that your goods will cost them Duty and Tax is another hazard.

There is a way to beat them, and that is to direct import small quantities straight from the factories in China or other countries. Sure you have to carry a small inventory, but the profit margins will blow you away.

People continue to believe the myths about direct importing. They say that you have to place huge orders and they refer to the big Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) always quoted by Chinese manufacturers. Those big MOQs are there to deter small operators just starting up, but I have been teaching how to get around that.

The other big myth is that importing is incredibly complicated. Baloney! I also teach that it can be dead easy if you know how.

If you decide to investigate direct importing, you need to know that very few of the "manufacturers" listed on the popular B2B sourcing platforms really are manufacturers. Most are wholesalers or resellers and there goes a lot of your profit straight away. You must buy direct from the manufacturer to get maximum profits.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com

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MikeFranks

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Importexport

Large numbers of people who have tried dropshipping and many who are still doing it, have posted on WF about very thin margins.

Dropshipping using dropship suppliers in China presents numerous problems, not the least being that you will often find that those suppliers are competing directly with you on eBay, selling at prices that you simply can't match. The bad reaction from customers when they find that your goods will cost them Duty and Tax is another hazard.

There is a way to beat them, and that is to direct import small quantities straight from the factories in China or other countries. Sure you have to carry a small inventory, but the profit margins will blow you away.

People continue to believe the myths about direct importing. They say that you have to place huge orders and they refer to the big Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) always quoted by Chinese manufacturers. Those big MOQs are there to deter small operators just starting up, but I have been teaching how to get around that.

The other big myth is that importing is incredibly complicated. Baloney! I also teach that it can be dead easy if you know how.

If you decide to investigate direct importing, you need to know that very few of the "manufacturers" listed on the popular B2B sourcing platforms really are manufacturers. Most are wholesalers or resellers and there goes a lot of your profit straight away. You must buy direct from the manufacturer to get maximum profits.

Could you PM me or state here some Chinese manufacturers that are reliable?

Thanks,

Mike.

Thanks

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basiczen.net

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MikeFranks

11 years ago

Hey Aloha. I've just started drop shipping TVs and just worked out for a TV that costs £441 in total including VAT/posting I'm trying to sell it for £495 + 24.00 p&p ...From that, i'm only profiting under £10 after all the fees. It's really hard finding an item that'll give me any decent profit, on Amazon your money is held for 7 days and is sent out each week. So, you'll have to buy your own inventory basically. It'll be out of your pocket.

Thanks
1 reply

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basiczen.net

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Importexport 11 years ago

Originally Posted by MikeFranks

Could you PM me or state here some Chinese manufacturers that are reliable?

Thanks,

Mike.

Hi Mike,

I have PM'd you.

I don't provide lists of suppliers, but I guide people to a couple of reliable B2B sourcing platforms where they can find genuine manufacturers, unlike the B2B sites usually recommended on forums. Few people bother to read the fine print and if they did they would discover how insignificant the verification process is on those sites.

Your experience with dropshipping is very common. On WF you will see hundreds of members reporting similar experiences. The margins are so often pathetically small.

Some who promote their great success refer to their turnover but don't mention their profit. It is not unusual for the difference to be huge. Turnover never interested me. After all is anyone in business just become famous for selling vast amounts regardless of tiny profits?
- Thanks
Signature
Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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bgray

11 years ago

A lot of the great drop shipping solutions are small and custom and people aren't going to talk about them.

You can play the amazon/ebay arbitrage game and make some money but it will be a grind and you will fight constantly slimming margins.

My advice is to always keep an eye open for a unique product that might be a good fit for drop shipping. The best ones are manufacturers that make something you can't find in Walmart and don't advertise a drop shipping program or don't have one at all.

Ideally you want a product that a person can't get in their car and buy in 10 minutes AND you want to be one of few or the only dropper shipper for that product.

All of the value is in finding the right fit and the right relationship. That is why you won't find it advertised here or anywhere else.

Hope that helps.

Thanks

Signature

Hebrews 12:11

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AlohaSoldier89

11 years ago

Thanks for the info guys!!!! More stuff to look into. Pointers in the right direction are always appreciated!!!

Thanks

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SümerTech

11 years ago

My experience with dropshipping - I tried it a couple years back and eventually started making some good sales with electronics (higher margins). However I started to get blasted by fraudulent orders that were coming up as "approved" by authorize.net, so I had no reason to believe that it was a stolen card. Come a month later I get the $ taken right out of my bank account with a letter saying that the card owner is disputing the charges as fraudulent. Yeah I tried to appeal this with endless amounts of documentation proving my innocence, but in the end the credit card companies side with their customers and screw over the merchants. So this was a costly lesson ($1000) but it was enough to make me never want to do dropshipping again, and now I have more success with affiliate marketing and selling my own Web development services. Hope this helps you with your decision to dropship or not.

Cheers!

Thanks
1 reply

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Importexport

11 years ago

Originally Posted by SümerTech

My experience with dropshipping - I tried it a couple years back and eventually started making some good sales with electronics (higher margins). However I started to get blasted by fraudulent orders that were coming up as "approved" by authorize.net, so I had no reason to believe that it was a stolen card. Come a month later I get the $ taken right out of my bank account with a letter saying that the card owner is disputing the charges as fraudulent. Yeah I tried to appeal this with endless amounts of documentation proving my innocence, but in the end the credit card companies side with their customers and screw over the merchants. So this was a costly lesson ($1000) but it was enough to make me never want to do dropshipping again, and now I have more success with affiliate marketing and selling my own Web development services. Hope this helps you with your decision to dropship or not.

Cheers!

You have highlighted a problem with dropshipping that is largely ignored or maybe most people don't even know about it.

Few people seem to be aware that when you buy from a dropship supplier that constitutes a B2B transaction. In all countries that I am aware of that have distance selling regulations or other consumer protection laws, such transactions are not protected. In other words you do not have the consumer protection rights that you must give to your customers.

Regardless of the legislative provisions, if you sell through eBay or Amazon, or if the customer has paid using PayPal or a credit card, you know they can claim a refund at will and get away with it. They may change their mind because a new model has been released and they want to update. Imagine if a new model widget release catches you by surprise while you are selling a now obsolete model.

Dropshippers will not give you a refund unless the goods are faulty. Meanwhile you may have to refund hundreds or thousands of dollars. Where will you find the funds to finance your new inventory? Until then you had no inventory; the dropshipper carried that for you.

Thanks

Signature

Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com

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sergit

11 years ago

How is dropshipping different from selling your own inventory in case of fraudulent transactions? Are you more protected when sell you own?

Thanks
1 reply

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NewbieLifer

11 years ago

Thanks for posting this. I have been curious about this myself. A few months ago, my husband opened up a farm tractor repair shop. The internet marketer in me then developed a godaddy shopping website that offered tractor parts for sale. I held no inventory, I just listed parts that our suppliers would "blind ship". It was painstaking to put together since i had to list diagrams of each frickin tractor along with the part #'s. I knew it was going to be a 9 month project just to get them all entered. I was not concerned with website traffic or anything until I had gotten all of it entered. Within 2 weeks of starting to set up the site, and only about 100 parts for sale on it, I began getting orders. I made $500 profit in just 30 days when I hadn't even completed the site yet!!

I closed the site down 2 months into building it when we closed the business. I don't know how to get approved and set up with wholesalers without a legitimate brick and mortar business. Hopefully someone on here can guide you to that. But, in my experience, it was well worth it before i even got it finished. I guess the key is, getting approved by a wholesaler. Probably not that hard if you have a legal business formation related to the niche you want to sell in.

Thanks
1 reply

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regancws

11 years ago

Originally Posted by NewbieLifer

Thanks for posting this. I have been curious about this myself. A few months ago, my husband opened up a farm tractor repair shop. The internet marketer in me then developed a godaddy shopping website that offered tractor parts for sale. I held no inventory, I just listed parts that our suppliers would "blind ship". It was painstaking to put together since i had to list diagrams of each frickin tractor along with the part #'s. I knew it was going to be a 9 month project just to get them all entered. I was not concerned with website traffic or anything until I had gotten all of it entered. Within 2 weeks of starting to set up the site, and only about 100 parts for sale on it, I began getting orders. I made $500 profit in just 30 days when I hadn't even completed the site yet!!

I closed the site down 2 months into building it when we closed the business. I don't know how to get approved and set up with wholesalers without a legitimate brick and mortar business. Hopefully someone on here can guide you to that. But, in my experience, it was well worth it before i even got it finished. I guess the key is, getting approved by a wholesaler. Probably not that hard if you have a legal business formation related to the niche you want to sell in.

It may be a good idea for you to look at the Dropshiplifestyle WSO
http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...mes-100-a.html

Thanks

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valplan1

11 years ago

Selling dropship items on eBay is tough, because when you find a dropshipper, then, select a product, you will probably discover that at least twenty other people on eBay are selling the same product. If it is this tough on eBay, you can imaging how tough it can be selling dropship items from your own website.
If you are interested in selling dropship items, these are the things I would recommend:
First, contact a manufacturer directly and find out if they drop ship. Don't try to find a dropshipper through Doba of GoGo Dropship, because for every dropshipper and product, the market has long become saturated.
Second, products are like web site content. Try to find a product that is unique. This is difficult, but not impossible.

These are the two main reasons it is difficult to succeed in dropshipping. To learn more about the do's and don't's of dropshipping, you may want to check out this link:

Dropshipping on Ebay is a Crock |

I hope this helps.

Thanks

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Charles, c/o Valplan | Internet Marketing Tips and Advice

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Andrew Milburn

11 years ago

Hi

Drop-shipping does work and if used in the correct fashion can mean a lot of profit with very or no outlay on products till you have your money in your PayPal account. But you do need to do your home-work on the companies you use. test the market, make sure there is enough profit in the products you are selling.

Also remember to check out the drop-shipper as if things go wrong it is you who gets the negative feed back and not the drop-shipper.

Hope all goes well, and if you have any other questions please ask.

Thanks

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Drop shipping? Where to start?

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