Getting products to sell in my eCommerce site

Hello BonganiS,

Look into WorldWideBrands, they offer lifetime access to a "qualified" (they contact each company) directory of drop shippers and wholesalers.

You can check out drop shippers for your areas of interest, and can see more information about them, a few of the products they provide access to and even any restrictions they may have such as whether they allow selling on Ebay or Amazon.

Drop shipping companies allow you to list the products on your site, then when you receive an order from a customer at the price you specify (the retail price), you purchase the product(s) from the drop shipper at a lower price (the wholesale price.)

You provide the drop shipper with your customer's shipping address, and they will ship the order to your customer. Most drop shippers will also use a shipping label with your logo and address on it, so it looks like the package is coming directly from your business.

Please be aware that initially it may be best to use a single large drop shipper than multiple smaller drop shippers. The reason is that you have to estimate and charge your customer shipping, if you use multiple drop shippers and a customer places an order for several items on your site that come from different drop shippers...you end up having to pay for shipping from each of those companies rather than from a single destination. So you will reduce shipping costs and other complications when you start with a single company if possible. Later you can get more advanced with it once you've gained some experience and know your profit margin.

Drop shippers also often have products with a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) which means you can't advertise the product for less than a certain amount. It is harder to sell those products if you don't already have a decent amount of traffic to your site.

So look for drop shippers with at least a good amount of product without MAP at first, as well as those that allow selling on Ebay and Amazon. Depending on your niche, the Sears marketplace may also be a good fit.

You can increase your exposure further by creating a data feed for Google Shopping (low cost), TheFind (free) and other comparison shopping engines. Move up to others once you start generating a profit (NexTag, PriceGrabber, Shopzilla, Shopping.com, ...)

This is all just the beginning. But start small, get comfortable, focus on profit, then start taking it to the next level one step at a time.

Good Luck!

Anthony

Salehoo is good as well. They have a good amount of verified suppliers.