Oct 08 2008
Basics of dealing with a drop shipper
What exactly is a drop shipper? How can you locate one? What are the Ups and Downs?
If you are running an Internet store the best idea is to have some of your products to be drop shipped from your supplier. Note: not all your products, that would be very risky, but the largest and heaviest of them would be a good idea.
The Ups: no storage or shipping issues and no inventory investment!
The Downs: the profit margins are thinner than if you were purchasing in volume. They are wholesale prices on single items, rather than bulk lots. Also, you have less control over shipping. Any late deliveries or poorly packaged products will reflect badly on your business.
The best way to find real drop shipper is only one: to attend their tradeshow. You can check trade magazines for information about wholesale suppliers in your area. Call them and ask if they do drop ship.
Then comes the worst part – most manufacturers aren’t anxious to sell to online businesses. They make their money selling in volume. You might be lucky finding one after being rejected several dozen times. And even worse if you are an eBay seller – most wholesalers restrict selling their goods on eBay.
One important thing to ask your drop shipper is if they put your business name on package invoices, inserts, or labels. That is not very important but that could make the drop shipper invisible to your buyers, and your home based business will look bigger than it actually is.
Finding genuine drop shipper and establishing relationship is a long process that requires patience and a willingness to do the work. The best practice is to buy wholesale lots of smaller items and have some bigger items drop shipped to your customers.
This technique will let you add more products to your Internet store without large investment.
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