Dropshipping - What is It? And Can it Help You Establish a Successful Home Business?
Wouldnt it be nice to set up a business from home selling top range goods, making good margins, but never having to buy any stock?
Wouldnt it be nice to set up a business from home selling high end products with excellent margins, but never having to pack and send and fulfil any of the orders yourself?
Nice, but surely that's impossible.
No it isn't! You can do exactly that, right now.
How? By using the business practice know as dropshipping.
So what is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a method of trading that enables a seller to set up a sales business such as an e-commerce website to sell goods of any kind (though it doesnt have to be an online business you could run your operation through the more traditional method of selling through the mail via newspaper and magazine advertising) without buying or holding any stock, and without getting involved in packing and distribution. The seller (that's you) then takes in the orders, deducts the retailers cut, and this can often be a very substantial margin indeed, before passing on the order to the supplier, the dropshipper, who will then dispatch and deliver the goods to fulfil the order and complete the contract.
Interestingly the retailer, or e-tailer if you prefer, often makes far more profit on the deal than the back-end supplier.
And is all this legal and above board? Yes of course it is. Dropshipping has been going on for more than a hundred years in one form or another, though you should be aware that there are some selling platforms that frown on dropshipping business, though thankfully not many, though how they will ever know where the goods are dispatched from it a moot point.
What are the advantages of doing business this way?
They are clear and obvious. Firstly the retailer does not have to invest any of their hard won start-up cash in expensive stock. As any retailer knows stock is the biggest eater of cash resources. Secondly the stock never goes out of date. It cant do if you dont own any. And thirdly, as we touched on before, the original supplier takes on all the hassle of packing and dispatching and fulfilling the order, relieving the retailer of all that time and hassle and work and the need for expensive premises, enabling the retailer to concentrate all their efforts on selling more goods, and making more money.
So there must be some downsides to this business. What are they?
Of course there are. Firstly, what happens if the supplier who made you stacks of promises, takes your orders and does not satisfactorily, or adequately, deliver the goods. What happens if they deliver faulty items or incorrect inventory? Even worse, what happens if they disappear with your money? What happens then?
Yes, of course all these things can happen, and other things too.
Let's face it, that supplier you found by trawling through the internet for hours on end could be an absolute shyster (you wouldn't know whether they were or not, would you?) an unreliable merchant, a scam artist, any of those things is possible. So what can you do about that?
Fortunately there are ways of protecting yourself from these poor quality suppliers. How? Well, to start with there are companies out there that specialise in providing new and expanding retailers with recommended suppliers. They vet potential dropshippers for you.
One such company is Worldwide Brands based in Maitland, Florida. They have been in business for ten years or so and have a large team of helpful people at the end of the phone who can help you every step of the way.
They check on every wholesaler and dropshipper on their books, and boy there are a heck of a lot of them, and they insist that before these suppliers can be listed within their database, they check that they are willing and keen to take on new retailers and e-tailers like you and me. These suppliers actually want to do business with you; they actually want to dropshop and fulfil your orders.
And being based in the USA will these companies ship overseas?
Well to start with, some of these suppliers are not based in the USA, and secondly many will indeed ship and deliver to overseas addresses. All this and much more is clearly shown when you start searching through their databases for the suppliers you desire. You can type in the category of goods you are seeking suppliers of, such as jewellery, cutlery, crockery, motor accessories, to far more way out topics like native masks, and so many others we cannot list them all here.
So does this fantastic service cost any money?
Yes it does. It is old You get what you pay for syndrome. There are many other similar cut price services out there that offer services of dubious quality. Worldwide Brands is different. They charge a one off Lifetime Membership Fee of $299, though we will show you how you may be able to get a discount on that figure in a moment.
They also offer a full money back guarantee of you are not satisfied with what you get.
The amount of information and expertise they offer is quite astonishing. There are videos, free ebooks, articles, and a huge amount of free information and expertise, and yes, encouragement too, gained over a number of years, that will certainly help your retail and e-tail business grow much faster than you ever could achieve on your own.
If you are interested in possibly setting up your own dropshipping business, possibly utilising ebay as a sales platform, and you'd like to know more, then click on this banner ad right now.
Oh, and that little discount I mentioned? Simple, go on to the order page. Then navigate away in the normal way. Most times a pop up ad will appear offering you a discount, and that can't be bad, can it? Click on this banner now and we are sure you will be impressed with all that Worldwide Brands have to offer. We certainly are.
If you are interested in setting up a dropshipping business we have also found the following articles which may well be of interest to you.
Starting a Successful Dropshipping Business
By Declan O'Reilly
Dropshipping is like any business and the most important thing when starting out on any venture is to do your market research FIRST...
When you open a store in your town, you wouldn't open it without doing your market research first. The same thing applies if you are going to sell something on the internet as a dropshipper. Not only are there billions of web pages out there that could be selling competitive products, the net changes so fast that you are obsolete as soon as you have gotten started.
If you are going to set up a dropshipping business you want make sure that the product that you choose can be easily sold. And you want to know how many competitors you have. And you want to stay as up to date as possible. Selling products on the Internet is easy. Hundreds of thousands of people do it every day online on auction sites such as eBay. The most difficult part of internet sales is getting the products delivered to the customer, otherwise known as order fulfillment.
You must have an efficient fulfillment system. One of the reasons that brick-and-mortar stores are so slow on the uptake when it comes to online business, is that supplying retail stores is done with pallet-sized orders usually. But internet sales requires an entirely different kind of fulfillment system. Selling on the internet is essentially mail order, with shipments going out in small parcels to end users.
Few brick-and-mortar retailers have a thriving mail order business to draw from. An inefficient fulfillment system can lose for you the advantages in good customer service that holding the inventory gained for you. And running a fulfillment system is a full time and trying job.
One of the simplest order fulfillment models to use is the drop ship model. Drop shipping does have its advantages and disadvantages. The most important being you don't have to pay for anything until after you sell it.
You also don't have inventory costs. Having to purchase inventory to ship to your customers can be expensive not to mention risky. In addition to the out-of-pocket costs, you need a place to store the inventory.
Finally you have to pick, pull, pack, and ship the products once the order is placed. Having the distributor or manufacturer take all these costs and responsibilities lifts a real burden off your shoulders.
Ideally a drop-shipper should be transparent. With most of your drop shippers, especially those with whom you do a regular business, you can send them labels and forms so their package looks like it is from you. Your customer probably won't know that your hands never touched the product. The customer will think that you have a warehouse.
You can sell many more products than you could if you had to buy and store them yourself. Drop shippers give you a wide choice of products so you can sell a lot more.On the Internet some categories of products are very price-sensitive. If you are selling computer hardware, for example, and using the drop shipping model, you may find it hard to be competitive price-wise and still make a profit. The difference between making money and losing it may be only a few percent. So be sure to pick a product that makes sense to drop ship.
You will be using third party customer service so you will not have full control. Drop shipping is really outsourcing your order fulfillment services to a third party. You will be dependent on your drop shipper to have the products in stock, to deliver on time, and to properly pack and ship your products. So pick your drop shipper carefully.
At the end of the day, however, drop shipping exists because it works. And the largest catalog companies and web sites use it. And savvy small web sites and auction site sellers use it. Drop shipping is simply an arrangement between you and the manufacturer or distributor of the product you sell whereby the manufacturer or distributor -- NOT YOU -- ships the product to your customers.
There are a few huge advantages to this model. First, it SAVES YOU THE COST of building your own inventory. If you're like most people starting a small business, you don't have much capital with which to play with. The last thing you want to do is tie up your cash in inventory that you may or may not be able to sell.
Not having inventory also means no leftovers. If the product you sell suddenly becomes outdated, obsolete, or just plain un-trendy, you aren't the one with a house full of stock that nobody will buy. Many online retailers find themselves having to offer deep discounts -- and taking huge losses -- on old products just to get them out of their homes to make room for more inventory!
You'll also don't have to deal with shipping your products. Unless you've already set up a shipping account with someone like FedEx or UPS, you'll be heading down to the post office every day to buy stamps and mail out your products. And you'll be able to ADD NEW PRODUCTS ALMOST INSTANTLY. Since you don't have to worry about ordering inventory, you can add products to your web site within a few hours.
If you find that your customers are eager to buy a certain product, you can have that item up on your site in almost no time. Finally spend time researching different kinds of products that you might want to sell. The products you choose should be in demand but not widely available online. As usual, I highly recommend targeting a niche market rather than trying to find a product that EVERYONE wants to buy.
Once you've found a product that you think may be the right one for your business, you'll need to do a little "competitive analysis." This simply means finding out what potential competitors are charging for the products you want to sell and calculating how much of a profit you'll be able to make. When it comes down to it...its all about 'Testing, Testing, Testing!'
Good luck!
Anyhoodles was established by Declan O'Reilly in Melbourne, Australia in 2003. Our vision at Anyhoodles is to empower people to become successful entrepreneurs
Visit http://www.anyhoodles.com for more information and tools for entrepreneurs
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Declan_O'Reilly
http://EzineArticles.com/?Starting-a-Successful-Dropshipping-Business&id=17381
Dropshipping on eBay, Does It Work?
By Steve Dawson
eBay offers any business owner a new global market to sell his products or services on. You are no longer constrained by geographical positioning. Your small local businesses, when taken online, can become one of the biggest players in the industry. While eBay is a great potential resource, one of the best tools for maximizing your efficiency, and profit, is dropshipping and eBay is the perfect place to start.
Dropshipping basically works like this: a merchant offers a certain good on the market. He has large quantities of that product and needs dealers to advertise the merchandise and bring in buyers. You can become a dealer for a certain product, study the products specifications, price and quality, take a look at demand and competition and offer it on eBay. Doing business on eBay, especially if youre using dropshipping as a method, requires some careful planning. The more you know about this constantly changing environment, the better are your chances of achieving the success you are looking for.
OK, but where does the profit come from? Well, the dropshipper usually bills you, the trader; only about half of the retail price you sell their products for. If you sell something to a buyer and get $100, about 50% of that will go to the dropshipper, who then has to package the product, label it with your name and return address and mail it to the buyer. This is an excellent way to make some profit.
Of course, you will have some additional costs and wont get to keep half the retail price. eBay charges are one of the fees that you will have to pay. You also have to send your labels to the dropshipper, so that they can attach them to the product. You will also have to pay for your own advertising. This can be done by attracting people to visit your listings on eBay from outside the actual web site. You can get buyers from forums, discussion boards or through your own website. These are all costs you will support on your own, as it is your responsibility to attract paying clients.
As an answer to the title YES, dropshipping on eBay can work for you! However, as with any business, you need to invest time, energy and money in order to put it on the right track. You have to find those products that sell well and area easy to find by customers. You also need to know how to employ advertising secrets in order to grab attention and bring more buyers your way. Dropshipping on eBay is just a tool, an amazing one, true, but without proper management it can turn into a bad idea. On the other hand, if you keep connected to the dynamics of eBay and the dropshipping process you may see your profits increases steadily.
Steve Dawson is the editor of the online Freelance Network magazine which focuses on eBay, Dropshipping and Homeworking. Forums and a comprehensive wholesale and dropshipping directory are many of the features available. Find out more at http://www.freelance-network.net
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Dawson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Dropshipping-on-eBay,-Does-It-Work?&id=40985
Cut Start Up Costs by Using a Dropshipper
By Tim Knox
Q. I want to start an online specialty shop, selling gifts and home accessories. I want to be able to have items dropshipped to customers through my site. I already have a website and domain name reserved, but I don't have a lot of money to get this going. I'd appreciate whatever insight you can give me. -- Mary Ellen Y.
A. Mary Ellen, consider setting up relationships with companies who will ship merchandise directly to your customers for you - dropshippers, as they're called - is an excellent way to start your e-business and, if done properly, doesn't have to be a costly endeavor.
There are literally hundreds of companies out there that will dropship products for you, everything from gifts and housewares, to leather goods and jewelry, to power tools and furniture, and on and on. Your goal should be to find one or more reputable companies to supply your goods.
In a nutshell, here's how dropshipping works.
· You set up an account with a dropshipper (or multiple dropshippers who offer different kinds of products) who provides merchandise that you can sell on your website.
· The dropshipper typically supplies you with images and product descriptions that you can use to build your online store or feature on static web pages.
· When a customer places an order for the product on your site, they pay you for the product. You, in turn, place the order with the dropshipper and pay them for the product. The dropshipper ships the item directly to your customer under your company name.
· To your customer's knowledge, the product was shipped by you.
Dropshipping offers many advantages to the shoestring online startup. You don't have to pay for an item until it sells and your customer pays you, so your personal cash outlay for the product is zero.
You don't have to handle or warehouse the merchandise as order fulfillment is handled by the dropshipper. You can also offer a wide variety of items from multiple dropshippers and your end customer is none the wiser.
Dropshipping does have it's downside. Since you do not actually stock the products featured on your site, you have no control over inventory management, product availability, order fulfillment, shipping processes, etc.
Still, if you do your homework and establish a good relationship with a reputable dropshipper the problems you experience should be few.
Your goal should be to find a dropshipper that will dropship items one at a time instead of requiring that you purchase a fixed minimum number of items each time (single unit purchases versus minimum order purchases). With this arrangement you don't have to invest your limited cash reserves in inventory that might not sell (and sit in your garage for months).
Thanks to the stiff competition the Web has created, many dropshippers will now do business with you without requiring that you pay a setup fee or have a tax ID number. You simply set up a reseller account (you're the reseller) and start marketing the products on your site.
Account registration can often be done online at the dropshipper's website. With this process, you can literally be selling products within minutes of setting up your reseller account.
Be warned, however, that some dropshippers are not as reliable as others. Also, be aware that some companies who claim to be dropshippers are really middle men who have positioned themselves between the online merchant (that's you) and the real wholesale merchandise distributor. These middle men will eat into your profits and usually don't offer much in the way of customer support and service. They can actually hurt your business more than help it, so make it a point to do business only with - and directly with - established, reputable dropship companies. Spend the time to research the dropshippers doing business in your particular product category and try to get feedback from their current customers. The most important thing to remember about dropshipping is that your customer doesn't know (or care) that the product they are purchasing from you really comes from a dropshipper.
However, if there is a problem with their order your customer will come back to you for resolution, not the dropshipper, so make sure that any dropshipper you use has a track record for resolving problems quickly.
Tim Knox, Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, Radio Host Founder, The Insiders Club, Giving You The Power To Start Your Business Today http://www.theinsidersclub.com Bestselling Author of: "Everything I Know About Business I Learned From My Mama" http://www.timknox.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Knox
http://EzineArticles.com/?Cut-Start-Up-Costs-by-Using-a-Dropshipper&id=13034
