Has anyone tried dropshipping before?

[kbldshmn]

I went to a Stores Online, Inc. presentation Aug 2006. That led me to start an eBay business. But since there's a lot of physical work involved, especially during the holidays, led me to explore affiliate marketing today.

Renato

[Oregon Coast Guy]

Starting your own business as opposed to going with StoresOnline was a good move. They are one of the biggest rip offs going today.

Drop shipping is a solid business to get into, but it is a difficult thing to find legitimate wholesalers on your own. Real ones cannot be found by Googling. Those that you find are called Middlemen. What they do is act as if they are a wholesaler, when in actuality, they are working as a middleman between you and the real wholesaler, hence the name. If you order from them, they jack up the cost to make a profit for themselves and then there is less money for you to make from your customers. It's impossible to stay competitive. Avoid them at all costs.

The best company to work with that I highly recommend is WorldWide Brands, Inc. They are legit, work hard to find the best wholesalers out there and honest. You can find them at http://www.worldwidebrands.com

[myfreeforum]

I agree with the post above that WorldWide Brands is one of the best sources, and that they also give good advice. One thing many people forget to do is to treat their dropshipping efforts like a business. It is very important to register a tax id with the state. This will keep you out of trouble, is fairly easy to do (most states let you do it online), and will allow you access to true dropshipping suppliers. Many legitimate merchants won't accept you without a tax id.

Anyway, I have done dropshipping - and it does work. You still have to be careful of your supplier's return policy, find a niche that's not too overcrowded, and have a clear shipping and return policy. Once I was selling collapsible canoes - and the supplier took them back if there was something wrong with them. Well on this sale, the only thing wrong was the buyer weighed A LOT, and the canoe didn't work for him. I had posted the specifications on my ad, so I got out of eating the whole price, but I felt bad.

Another problem I had was missing a buyer's email that they had moved, and needed their shipment sent to an address that was not their paypal address. Well, it was the holiday season, and I missed the email. I ended up eating the charges to express ship another item out to them. Now I always specify, verified paypal address ONLY.

With dropshipping you operate on a thing margin - the idea is that you can sell a lot more without worrying abut product. Some suppliers do have a minimum retail price that allows you a profit - and I try to look for them!

I could have avoided those problems with clear policies, and by being more careful - but anyway, out of many sales - really only two went really sour like that.

[Linda Buquet]

Hey myfreeforum,

Welcome to 5 Star and thanks for posting all that info.
Looks like you have some good background so be sure to go up and introduce yourself in the intro forum.

[myfreeforum]

Hi - I will do that. I've been lurking around for awhile, and finally found a topic I felt I could contribute too. I do have (ta da) one of the few dropshipping blogs that blogger didn't drop out of their lists as spam!

They tried to, as it seems that the word - dropshipping just triggers a flag or something - but I argued the case and won.

Thanks for the welcome.