Should I dropship from China?

I hear a lot of ,"do anything but don't dropship from China"

Is it almost a guaranteed - feedback?

I would put " Item will not be shipped from PayPal address"

I used to do this but ebay is getting more strcit

You can do this if you got a factory or company in China, who you can trust, if not keep in mind if they dont deliver the items to your customers, you are in the "fireline"...

it also depends on your source. there is an increasing number of fake chinese dropshippers.
especially beware of the ones that request some unverifiable payment system like western union or something.

and always the main concern, when they don't deliver, you're the one responsible (as sugarpinp said)

other sources do provide an Escrow payment service. this protects you as the buyer, the seller in china MUST FIRST ship the goods to the customer, when the goods arrive only then does the Escrow release the money to the seller, otherwise you just claim your money back from Escrow.

It's been about 2 years since I last dropshipped from China but the hassles far outweighed the benefits. Firstly, it can take a LONG time for your customer to receive product. Things get lost a lot in the China to US pipeline. THen you have Customs issues, which come up even when they shouldn't. And, as people already mentioned, it's HARD to find a reliable and honest supplier that you can buy from on credit.

Damn, I'm cringing thinking back to how much of a pain in the ass this all was!

Be careful dude.

thanks for sharing your experience catspurley.... I was wondering the same question as the OP so I've been lurking around this post to see some responses

I've got a few of Chinese suppliers you can trust, been using them since 2005. PM me if you need.

I can't PM you because I'm a noob. Can you help me out?

I've been doing it for years. I turn my profit into a bulk purchase, which is great, because I'm investing in sure things.

Problem is people don't like buying (if you're talking about eBay) from people located in Asia. If you state that the item is in the USA/UK then when they receive it, they will notice the chinese writing and automatically freak out. It's bad for business unless your customers arn't put off by the fact that their purchase is coming from china.

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I think I'll try to find some reliable dropshipping companies that aren't too unreasonable.

Thanks again!

Just say your item is coming from China. Your conversion rates will be low. In your listing, state that it will take roughly 2-3 weeks. I can get a package in about 10-14 business days from China, 10 if its small and hasn't been picked up by customs, and 14 if it has.

This is the model I use when dropshipping.

Item Cost: $7.00 from China
Sold for: $39.99 on eBay US
Shipping: $12.00
eBay Fees: $6.76
Profit: $14.23

So, after 2 months (60 days) I get a general idea on what the market is like for these items. If I sell 2 of these within 2 months, then it really isn't worth buying in bulk. If I sell 16 of these, then I know that people generally want these items, especially if they are purchasing these from a "Chinese Sellers." I generally try to buy in bulk of 12, as that gives me good buying power when purchasing things from Chinese sellers. Buying power = Discount. So, I take my profit from 12 of these, which is a total of $227.68. At the cost of $7 Unit + $12 shipping ($19) then this allows me to buy 12 units at the least, but usually more with combined shipping because there is an average of a 12% discount per item with combined shipping. Buying so many, I can get anywhere from a 20% discount to a 50% discount. I will either buy additional units, or just buy 12, and reinvest the rest into my business, or pay myself (or I give it to my employees as a bonus).

That's only a part of what's cool, because now I have these items in the U.S. which means I can sell almost twice as much inventory within 2 months, which means it's gone in a month. I can also Increase the price of the item, which gives me even more profit. That item I'm selling for $39.99 I can then sell for $44.99. Remember, my actual cost per unit is down too, and then I'm charging more per item, and they sell quicker.

This is actually how I've built inventory from, well, almost nothing. I really did not invest much into my business, I just didn't spend the money on myself as soon I started earning and just reinvested. I mean, I knew what was selling, and I had an idea of how in demand some products were, so it was kind of like reinvesting into a "sure thing." Technically, your initial investment is about 20 cents, which is the cost of the ad, plus your time in find the product, and making the listing. Next thing I knew, I was doing a couple thousand each week in profit from my actual inventory. I also work hard too, because I hate having money tied up in having too much inventory.

eBayMafia said:

Just say your item is coming from China. Your conversion rates will be low. In your listing, state that it will take roughly 2-3 weeks. I can get a package in about 10-14 business days from China, 10 if its small and hasn't been picked up by customs, and 14 if it has.

This is the model I use when dropshipping.

Item Cost: $7.00 from China
Sold for: $39.99 on eBay US
Shipping: $12.00
eBay Fees: $6.76
Profit: $14.23

Click to expand...

Is that shipping from China? And if so, how big are these items as obviously this will make a difference in the shipping price? What method do you use to get it in that timeframe please?

Thanks.

TCDTC said:

Is that shipping from China? And if so, how big are these items as obviously this will make a difference in the shipping price? What method do you use to get it in that timeframe please?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Hong Kong post is typically faster than China Post, but slightly more expensive. China Post is the least costly, but I usually get it a day or two after I would Hong Kong Post. I try to ship under 20kg, but have shipped larger obviously. I mostly do airmail, as I keep my inventory low so that I don't have money tied up. If I would adopt a model that would narrow down my selection of inventory and keep larger amounts, I would probably purchase once a month or every other month and save up the inventory in China and opt for Sea Freight. I've done this before and my rates were $800 for a LCL (Less than Container Load) of a couple pallets worth of stuff, which I calculated to be about half of what I'm currently spending but it often takes 4-6 weeks with this method, and if you have an assortment, then its ten times more likely that your items will be focused on more by U.S. customs. I like to move money quickly as opposed to keeping a $40k small selection inventory sitting in my little warehouse. I'd rather sell 400 different items with low inventory instead of 200 with large inventory. If I were more cemented in the stuff I sell and really only focused on one niche, sea freight would be the way to go hands down, and it's a LOT less work too... but I love what I do, so being on the hunt for new products all the time is fun for me.

Fastest is EMS, hands down... but the most expensive.

I understand. What's the profit margin you typically look for? Do you usually buy with bulk discount and go lower than the market price a bit? Does the template you create (or use) on eBay really make a difference too? I've seen some sellers I would never buy from because their pages look horrible.

double post

asianslike said:

I understand. What's the profit margin you typically look for? Do you usually buy with bulk discount and go lower than the market price a bit? Does the template you create (or use) on eBay really make a difference too? I've seen some sellers I would never buy from because their pages look horrible.

Click to expand...

I try not to make less than $10 per sale in profit. I also try not to sell things for less than $24.99. At $24.99, eBay takes close to $4.52 (how crazy is that?) if you don't have a store or you aren't a powerseller or TRS. I also try to sell things of higher value, or perceived higher value, because you can't compete against people selling stuff for $1.99 with free shipping in China. They don't care if they are only making $0.20, heck, they don't care if they owe $400 in fee's to eBay, they just close the account and make a new one.

As for pages, I'd love to say using Auctiva is amazing and will boost your sales, but it doesn't for all categories. Craigslist for example looks like something you would see on the internet in the mid 90's, but they do just fine. With Women's Categories it does boost sales... with Antiques, it doesn't. A good bunch of pictures, and some solid, basic, descriptive text works well. You have to think, "is it competitive" if so, you need to make it stand out. Next you have to think "who is my target audience?" - remember, eBay is 51% females, and 49% males, but if you sell something like Toys, you are probably selling it to a female looking to purchase toys for her kids.

I really want to find a good niche as well, but the best I can think of is the hard-to-find cool toys category. I heard some people export raw material or furniture or stuff like that. Thank you so much for your help. I'd be lost without your advice.

i've been doing ebay since 1998 , got a chance to sell 1956 chevy on ebay , also been doing alot of replicas from ebay , and doing drop ship from china....

my advice .... i always believe item that i can sell , directly from my hand...