Why use a Drop Shipper ?

Hi all,

Can you trust these Drop shippers?

If you are selling on Ebay...and a customer pays you...you pay the drop shipper and he doesn't perform...you have to credit customer back.

Why not just inventory items to avoid this?

Find a reliable drop shipper. Less hassle drop shipping as you don't need to worry about stock not selling, posting and packing etc
I used to make a couple hundred a day just drop shipping so it can work.

danny_563 said:

Find a reliable drop shipper. Less hassle drop shipping as you don't need to worry about stock not selling, posting and packing etc
I used to make a couple hundred a day just drop shipping so it can work.

Click to expand...

Thanks Danny....

so why did you quit doing DS?

I sort of dropship and there are advantages, there are also inconveniences even if you find a good dropshipper.

- advantages
no stock
no investment
can sell thousands of products (since no stock)


- disadvantages
smaller margins
products can be discontinued by dropshipper
very little control over products (quality, packaging, etc;.)

I think its great to dropship thousands of different products, but then see which ones sell the best, and gradually build up stock of products you know that 1) will sell and 2) you want to be able to fulfill for your customers (eg: stock hot selling products before supplier discontinues it).

Thanks Giorgio.

I was thinking about selling something on Ebay.

I disagree and somewhat agreed on drop-shippers,,

Drop shipping as a model is fine assuming you find the correct partner - you loose control of your distribution so you need to make sure your drop shipper is on the ball.

Dropshipping has many advantages for the retailer. This method is ideal for home-based businesses because it eliminates the need for storage and inventory management. One of the main advantages of drop shipping is it lowers start-up costs. Whereas traditionally running a retail business would require you to maintain stocks of various items, with this business model, you only need to provide your client a catalog or a website so they can browse through the available items in your "store". Your cash outlay is greatly reduced and because your money is not tied to your inventory, you can plough back your resources to developing your services.

Firstly their is plenty of risk involved and one must have reserve cash on hand just in case. The problem here is that you will be selling a product which you do not own. And according to the DSR, if you sell an item online your customer has seven days to change his mind about a product and ask for a full refund (inc any postal charges).

ets say you sell 5x Iphone 5 for $1000 each. Thats $5000. But 6 days later 2 customers ask for a return. Thats $2000 you need to cough up from some where. You could try to resell the 2 x Iphones, but what if you can't? Your in a tight spot.

So, yes drop shipping has its pros.

BUT, if one doesn't manage risks, and doesn't have cash reserves on hand - dropshipping could actually be your one way ticket to going bankrupt.

Finding 1 of these sites is hard enough, finding 5-6 blimey, well good luck on that.

Has anyone seen a legit verified list of drop shippers? I read lots of good threads here on why and why not to use drop shipping but have not seen anyone post a reliable drop shipping company info. I would understand if people don't want to share what they use now but I'm sure there has to be a few people who are done with that business and maybe wouldn't mind sharing with us all their information.
Thank you everyone
Vick

The problem is trying to find a dropshipper and being able to compete with other sellers. Most sellers use the same dropshipper so there margins will be similar to yours. Best thing is, from what i read on a previous thread, contact local manufacturers and get them drop ship for you while you sell for them online. This ensures you will probably be the only one useing them to drop ship.

Yes that is a risk u have to take and only work with well recommended shippers.
It is expensive to build a entire inventory and u cannot be sure that u are going to sell all the products that u buy.

Dont bother looking for lists of drop shippers. If they are advertising to all and sundry then you can take it that everyone is trying to sell their stuff. Find a company/product you like(not a corporation--local company is good) and agree a deal to sell their stuff. Take it easy at first until you see how many problems you will have--how they handle returns etc. Once you are happy then increase the volume.

I wouldnt drop ship for anyone who didnt have a physical address I could drive to and if you are selling on ebay then you get paid by paypal and you can pay the drop shipper by paypal...more costs but that way you are 100% safe.

Find a reliable dropshipper.Dropshipping is a low-risk business model.You can also list any items for sale, and if they aren't popular, you don't lose anything... you can test your market risk-free.No warehouse costs and no risk of 'dead' stock..

Almost all businesses have risks.Dropshipping is one model that lower the risks.Much safer than other models.

you make a lot of money on drop shipping as long as your drop shipper is awesome

Alot of popular online stores became big from dropshipping.

Say i'm a newbie at this business how do i start with this drop shipping concept? 1st Create a website for retailing then what else to it? im sorry i'm just new to this online business

What kind of products are you selling?

The simple truth about drop shipping:

IF you can find a "good" dropper ( many things to "good" ) you are in for some serious money.

If the dropper is "bad" ( need to be bad only a bit ) you are in a pile of the brown stuff so high you will be lucky to find a shovel big enough to dig yourself out.

But hey, don't listen to me- i am so biased with that model of doing little to make much.

I am a control freak - i like to know whats going on when my rep is on the line and me no like to give control away. But that's me...

Yeah like they said, gotta have the money to cough up, incase the drop-shipper doesn't do his part,

And MOST IMPORTANTLY make sure he doesn't "card" (Buy the stuff with stolen CC's). I once had a dropshipper that did that, the police called me, since my buyer received product from Target that was used with a stolen CC, it was a complete mess to explain, and then have to refund the people, get tons of negative feedback, etc. Luckily I didn't get any charges since I wasn't aware of what he was doing. But man, gotta trust your drop-shipper.

Good luck to you trying to find a dropshipper who does not sell its own products on eBay and under cut you. Their is literally no money in drop shipping, especially when you are trying to sell through eBay, due to their excessive scandalous selling and listing charges, oh that is just before Paypal rapes you of any tiny slight profit you may have less. All real sellers on eBay who are actually making money buy their own stock in bulk. Dropshipping is just a fantasy of people trying to make money online with no money, it does not work, may have done 10 years ago, but these days it is a total waste of time.

you build trust with a drop shipper. Don't have to stock products. win win to me !