Is this possible? Could someone code a bespoke plugin for this?

by 6 replies
7
Hi everyone,

I have found a supplier of cheap clothes online in the UK. They currently sell their items through an eCommerce website (looks bespoke)

Instead of buying stock constantly from this website and waiting for everything to be delivered, I would like to try and drop ship the items. The problem is, the website sells end of the line clothing with very limited stock (most popular items sell out withing about 2 days)

This means that I cannot list an item of clothing on my website and then hope that it doesn't sell out with the supplier before someone buys it.

So my question is, would it be possible for someone to code a plugin which grabs all of the items listed on their website, sizes, pictures etc and keeps track of stock while updating automatically every minute or so?

It's quite a big ask I know but I would be willing to pay for someone to design it as it would almost completely automate my business idea. I don't want to reveal the supplier here but if you would like to know then pm me?

Thanks
#ecommerce sites, wholesaling & drop shipping #bespoke #code #plugin
  • I guess not?
    • [1] reply
    • Hey Saxguru,

      In my opinion, even if you coded something as you have described, you would not be able to guarantee that an item would be available for your customers. Why, b/c a customer could purchase the last item of some product from your website, but the supplier's website would not be updated. And in the time between when your customer purchased, and you send the order details to the supplier, someone else could have purchased the item from the supplier's website.

      For this to work effectively, you would need to integrate with the supplier's website/inventory system. If there were some sort of API available, you could presumably retrieve and update inventory in real-time on their systems.

      It's a tall order, but it's not impossible.
  • Right, as ShoppingSignals said, there should be an API on the end of this site you want to fet products from. In this case, it is not a problem to create a plugin that will work automatically and update products on regular basis. But I am not sure if this site has its own API.
    • [1] reply
    • How would I be able to find out if they have an API?
      • [1] reply
  • This will fail. I've sold clothing online. First, they probably won't blind drop ship for you, so your customers will just see where the packages came from. Secondly, you can't just copy someone's content/photos and build your own site, they will take you down with a DMCA action, and possibly sue you. Third, YOU will end up w the returns/exchanged goods (and in clothing the rate is quite high) and have to manage a hodge podge of stock items.
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