What do you find better, Affiliate or drops shipping?

[67731]

So I run a diet site, and sale ever thing from an affiliate program. So far it has done well but I think using the affiliate links are hurting as I am sending people to another site to buy the product they want.

I only have a small idea as to what drop shipping is so want some input as to weather it would be better to move to that.

Here is my basic under standing of both:

Affiliate: People click on a link to another and if they buy I get a cut of the sale.

Drop Shipping: People buy from my site and I turn around and buy they products they want from another site and have the product sent to them.

So, what do you use? Have you tried both? What seems to be a better money maker?

 

[myownhero]

It depends entirely on the margins of the product. Assuming you already know how much you'll make per lead from both drop shipping or affiliate marketing it's just simply math to determine which will be more profitable (or maybe both!).

 

[GiorgioB]

I'm not sure but I believe affiliate is more related to virtual products (not always), whereas dropshipping is physical. I have found that with dropshipping you will often be competing with your own supplier (ie: on ebay), but I have added a twist and am making decent money from dropshipping.

 

[JokerNikx]

I Recommend Affiliate =]]

 

[67731]

So far affiliate has worked really well, and it is really easy! I only have to work in the site and promote the product.

So I know that there will be a little more work with the drop shipping, but at the same time I would be able to keep people on my site more.

I started to think of the drop ship way, because I see a lot of people hitting my buy page but then get fewer clicks on my link. Then seeing that my site is about set up like a full company site and not some type of review site, when people are clicking on the link my % of sales are down. I am thinking it might have something to do with sending people to a different brand.

 

[alternatesword]

Affiliate is risk free. But, you don't get huge profit.

Incase of dropshipping, you need to research more to choose the right provider. You have to provide customer support (before & after sale). But the profit is high because you have a specific brand store.

 

[Zapdos]

Affiliate sales can work. Some affiliate providers allow their affiliates to use an API which passes customer information through (including CC). They never see the upstream site and it's all on yours. You could try to find one like that.

Dropshipping can be a hassle. If your provider goes under then you have no products that were ordered. If the customer returns a product, what happens? What if there's some bad product? If you got the cash then you may have a better shot with wholesale. Buy in bulk and use a fulfillment center to ship out. Even larger profits and you can control everything.

 

[67731]

Affiliate sales can work. Some affiliate providers allow their affiliates to use an API which passes customer information through (including CC). They never see the upstream site and it's all on yours. You could try to find one like that.

Dropshipping can be a hassle. If your provider goes under then you have no products that were ordered. If the customer returns a product, what happens? What if there's some bad product? If you got the cash then you may have a better shot with wholesale. Buy in bulk and use a fulfillment center to ship out. Even larger profits and you can control everything.

Thanks for the info, I will try to see if they have an API of some kind so I dont have to deal with all the other stuff. That way I can see if I got more sales when I am not sending people off of my site, if so then it might really be worth doing the drop shipping.

 

[Christina04]

Having seen some success as an affiliate, I have been thinking about the next step. So, I came across dropship model . So, the dilemma is whether to continue to invest time and effort on the affiliate program or diversify into dropship model.

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[DDgold]

in my own opinion dropshipping will provide you more space for your own quoting, because the money you can get from affiliate is settled by the real seller. On the other hand dropshipping can give you the chance to set your own price you want to sell, but of course dropshipping will be more risky because you can not let your clients know about your supplier, so you have to build up the prestige yourself.