Dropship Your Way To Success
|
Many people know they would like to start an Internet business, but they don't have a product to sell. The solution is often drop shipping.
Drop shipping is a business arrangement in which a company (often the manufacturer of a product) sells a product at wholesale prices to a reseller and ships the product directly to the reseller's customers. The retailer makes the company's products available to customers, often through a web site, collects payment, and then orders the product from the manufacturer. This arrangement works well for both the manufacturer and the seller. The manufacturer is able to make the product available to a large number of retailers. The retailers are able to sell products they would not otherwise have access to. Drop shipping allows almost anyone to start a retail company without needing to order large amounts of inventory. This eliminates the need to store the product and cuts overhead dramatically. The reseller only orders products after he has sold it, and in most cases only after being paid. For small businesses concerned about cash flow, this is very attractive.
There are two different philosophies concerning what items to sell via a drop shipper. You may choose whichever appeals to you. The first group believes that you should research the market to determine what items to sell. They say you need to find a high demand item, then locate a drop shipper that sells that item. The second group believes that you should sell what you are interested in. If you like knives, find a company willing to drop ship knives. If you like power tools, find a drop shipper for those. They believe that if you sell something you enjoy, you will do a better job selling. Whichever method you choose, an outstanding way to find a drop shipper is the web site, World Wide Brands (http://databuilders.net/wwb). The people at WWB work full time finding companies willing to drop ship their products for you, Their database is updated constantly to insure only the best companies are made available.
If you decide to go it alone and find a drop shipper yourself, look for a company that either drop ships exclusively, or requires you to register as a member before getting the wholesale prices. If anyone can log into the site and pay the same low price, why should customers buy from you? Many companies require you to provide a business license number before allowing you to register. This is to insure you are a legitimate retailer. If you do not have a license, you should get one. Ideally, the company will deal exclusively in the product you want to sell.
I also do not support companies charging for drop shipping. You may see some offers similar to "Sell hundreds of products for only $29.95 a month." They go on to tell you that you can make thousands of dollars selling their products on E-Bay, so the $29.95 they charge shouldn't matter. There are enough companies that don't charge anything. Avoid paying for the right to sell someone's product for them.
Perhaps the most difficult part in starting a drop ship business, is building the web site. If you have never built a web site before, it can be an overwhelming task. You must consider each detail, from deciding what software to use, to finding a host, and accepting payments. I recommend using osCommerce to build your online store. It is free software that can be modified to look like you want it to. There is an online knowledge base that can answer many of your questions about setting it up and configuring it, or you can let someone else set it up for you.
Thousands of people are making money using the osCommerce, drop shipping combination. It is a powerful, inexpensive way to get your business started.
About The Author
Jason Conley is the owner of Databuilders, a web hosting company for small and home office businesses. He has built a number of drop ship web sites using osCommerce, and contributes regularly to the osCommerce support forum. You can contact Jason at jkconley@databuilders.net, or visit Databuilders at http://databuilders.net.
|
|
|
Just The Ticket - How To Make Hundreds Per Day As A Ticket Broker On Ebay!
It should be simple - your favourite team/band/theatre play is just about to perform in a couple of weeks. You've waited months for this, now you're going to log on, book the tickets for yourself and your best buddy and bingo?you'll be at the event of the decade for a night to remember. If only it were that easy - you have your credit card ready but the words that you dreaded flash up on your PC screen?.SOLD OUT!You try a few more ticket websites, but dismay soon blossoms into a magnificent panic as there seem to be no tickets online or through any of the usual ticket agencies. Then it...(related: Auctions)
Ebay Auction Sellers Guide To Finding Hot Money Making Products
You might be one of the thousands of individuals who open a trading account with eBay and dream about making auction sell...(related: Auctions)
How To Make Money From Internet Auctions
If your business is not using eBay and other Internet auctions, you could be missing out. Here are just a few ways of generating additional income, profits and cashflow from online auctions.1. Convert Excess Assets to CashSell personal or business items that you no longer use. For example, are there slow moving inventory items i...(related: Auctions)
Traditional Marketing Techniques For Ebay Auction Ads
Ya know, I sort of giggle when I look at an ad on eBay that's just a black and white description of the item or product that's up for bid. It wasn't long ago at all that I would have done the exact same thing, but once I understood some traditional marketing techniques, not just been exposed to them; everything looke...(related: Auctions)
Ebay After Sales - As Important As The Listing Itself
Your eBay listing has finished and you have made a sale, now the next important stage starts - the after sales. Again we are aiming to develop the professional image or ourselves in the customers eyes to encourage them to come back to us again and again because it is easier to sell to a current customer than it is to a new customer.eBay after sales is almost 100% email based, apart from very rare occasions, and you need to set up a process whereby you can acc...(related: Auctions)
How To Sell On Ebay & Keep Your Shirt
Have you ever been delighted after a huge sale on Ebay. . .only to find out that your massive profit margin was whittled away by fee after fee afterfee after fee?Ebay charged you to list your item; they charged you to add pictures; they charged you to add upgrades;they charged you to use a template; they charged youto put your auction up at a certain time; and then, on top of everything else. . .they charged you AGAIN forclosing the sale.At this point, you would have been happy to walk away from your huge sale with the shirt on your back.But no. Paypal arrived on the scene to process your transaction for a small fee - your shirt.. . .and there you sat at your computer, frustratedand shirtless. You were probably ready to just throwyour hands up in dispair and quit selling on Ebay.But you didn't. Yo...(related: Auctions)
How Pop-culture Collectibles Can Increase Your Online Auction Profits
How Pop Culture collectibles can increase your Online Auction profitsWith the increasingly competitive environment for products to sell in the online auction arena, sellers are getting more creative as to the items they purchase for re-sale.While some of the Dutch Auction items that are frequently sold on eBay will always maintain their commodity status and always sell well, Pop Culture collectibles will usually generate a higher profit-per-item simply because of a combination of two forces.Scarcity and Desirability.Pop Culture collectibles can run the gamut from a special early edition pair of Levis to a rare Coca Cola collectib...(related: Auctions)
Real Estate Auction Action - Buying A Home At Auction
Due in part to the popularity of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s home auction program, more potential homebuyers than ever are buying homes at auction. Homes for auction aren't limited to just HUD, however. Many government entities auction homes for payme...(related: Auctions)
Ebay Feedback, 5 Key Things All Ebayers Should Know
eBay's user feedback system is one of the site's most important components. Without the conscientious comments recorded by both buyers and sellers, there would be no way for anyone to build up a trustworthy reputation in the nearly anonymous realm of cyberspace. And without a good measure of trust among users, eBay would be a difficult, if not impossible, environment in which to safely conduct business.By learning how eBay's feedback system works you can use it to your advantage. Understanding the numbers and feedback comments will go a long way toward making the online trading venue a safer place for you and your pocketbook.1. How Feedback Wo...(related: Auctions)
Free Auction Templates: How To Set Your Border Color With Foam
If you have not heard of Foamtemplates.com yet, home of the "Free Online Auction Maker", now is a good time to get your feet wet. I am going to show you how to use FOAMTemplates.com to make great looking auction templates for HTML compatible websites for free!The first screen you are going to see after clicking the "Free Template Generator" link on the homepage of foamtemplates.com, is going to be the preview screen. This will always display what you have so far...(related: Auctions)
site-map - Copyright © 2007 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved | Free Articles and Information | Auctions