A lot of ebay sellers have had success with dropshipping. If you have not heard of dropshipping, it is a business term used in a situation where the dropshipping company agreed on a set price, handle the inventory, does the shipping and labelling and collects the payment. However the dropshipping company do not sell, rather it has a network of sellers who does the selling. The dropshipping company is only in charge of fulfilling the orders.

Dropshipping is every eBay seller’s dream. Since you do not need to deal with the hassle of maintaining stock and shipping, you only need to list the auctions which the dropshipping company sells.

Most dropshipping companies will charge you near a wholesale price and you are free to charge whatever price suits you.

Though dropshipping sounds great, they are some pitfalls you should aware of. Here are some tips to keep in mind when dropshipping:

1) Who your customer belongs to?

Even though all the shipping, inventory and labelling is not done by you, you are still your customer’s point of contact. That means if there’s any issue arising whether from faulty product or none delivery of items, your customers will contact you and you should then try to resolve it with the dropshipping company.

2) Reputation of dropshipping company

You should do your due diligence and find out more about the dropshipping company you are doing business with. There are a lot of scammers out there who takes your money and don’t fulfill orders or send out very poor quality products. You can visit the Better Business Bureau at http://www.BBB.org to seek for more information about the company you are doing dropshipping with

3) Paying before droppshipping

Beware of companies that claim you have to pay a fee to access their product catalogues. A legitimate dropshipping company will not charge you a fee for this.

4) Delivery times

Most negative feedback that occurred on ebay are due to shipping problems. Whether an item was not delivered or delivered late. Therefore, it is important for you to inquire the delivery turnaround for each region, the cost. Also be sure to ask whether a tracking number for each delivered item is available. This will allow you and your customer to track the item.

5) Dropshipping quantities

There should not a minimum quantity to order. It’s ok if the dropshipping company offers a discount if you purchase larger quantities. But they should be able to handle orders regardless of the quantity of items

The crux of dropshipping is to buy low, sell high so that you can make a profit. If it’s too much trouble for you, you can use ebay consignment centers where they will sell you help your items.



Thanks to Kb Lim for contributing this article to our Wholesale blog:

Fuel Oil Wholesale

Dropship wholesale distributors can make or break your reselling business. This is especially true if you are running a tight ship, a one-man online operation selling your wares on Ebay, Yahoo Auctions, or simply via your online store. You would need reliable dropship wholesale distributors as your business partners in order for your business to grow by leaps and bounds. This is even more vital for your business growth if you are selling products in a competitive market. Let us look at some secrets to assess if you should do business with the dropship wholesale distributor.

Assuming you have conducted a search for your potential suppliers either from the search engines or local newspaper ads and now have a list on hand. The next task is to evaluate each of these dropship wholesale distributor according to some criteria.

Dropship Wholesale Distributors Criteria 1 – Established and Reputable

It is important to work with dropship wholesale distributors with a good reputation. Honesty and reliability are two key business principles to adhere to in this wholesale business. If you are sourcing from overseas, you may not have the luxury to converse face-to-face with your suppliers. The only handles you have are their track record. You may check out their business practices at Better Business Bureau if they are located in US. If not, find out which are the national or government agencies that govern business registrations and licensing. Drop a note to find out if there have been complaints lodged against them. Of course, there are other avenues to find out more such as work-at-home or auction forums. These are great places to educate oneself on the reseller business and be alerted to scams.

Dropship Wholesale Distributors Criteria 2 – Overseas Dropshipping

Depending on your target customer base, whether it is local or worldwide, your needs can be different. It is crucial to clarify this with the dropship wholesale distributors. If your market is in US and your dropshipper operates there, you would not have any problem. However, you may encounter shipping difficulties if your dropshipper cannot make deliveries to your buyer destinations. Find out where the dropshipper ships to and establish where your market is. But one point to note: if you intend to expand your business and make more sales, it works well to find wholesale distributors who dropship internationally.

Dropship Wholesale Distributors Criteria 3 – Pricing

Never pay too much or too little. If the wholesale distributor charges an exorbitant rate, avoid it. There are many dropship wholesale distributors who are willing to settle for lesser. While this is true, you also must not fall for the cheapest deals either without careful consideration. There must be a reason for the depressed prices. Ask the dropship wholesale distributor and make sure you are satisfied with their answers. Sometimes, the poor product quality could be the reason. Expect a reasonable discount of at least 15% off the retail price when you deal with the dropship wholesale distributors.

Dropship Wholesale Distributors Criteria 4 – Credit and Payment Conditions

Every business owner needs to sort this out with their suppliers. It is no different for you as a reseller. Remember to ask several key questions like: Do you have to pay them upfront per sale? Accumulate and pay monthly or quarterly? What are the modes of payment such as whether they accept paypal or credit cards? Are they offering a 30-day or 60-day credit term?

Once you have built trust and rapport with your dropship wholesale distributors, you can negotiate for longer credit term, etc so that you can save on payment transaction costs which can add up.

Dropship Wholesale Distributors Criteria 5 – Product Quality

Product quality is of utmost importance to your reselling business. If your wholesale distributors play you out by delivering inferior-quality merchandise or worse still, send bootleg products to your customers, the hard-earned reputation you have painstakingly built over the years goes down the drain. Never allow this to happen to you. If you are dealing in bulk which you should, request for a free sample. Think long-term and it makes sense to at least have a feel of the product before you sell it to anyone, especially if the item commands a higher profit margin such as MP3 players. You may even consider ordering one for yourself just to test it out.

You can run a successful business just by reselling products supplied by dropship wholesale distributors. Learn more tips about sourcing for wholesale products at my blog and find out where business owners like you are getting their supplies.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.



Thanks to Davion W for contributing this article to our Wholesale blog:

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