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DROPSHIP ARTICLES
Here's
your chance to work for yourself from home and say goodbye to
the
humdrum of daily working life. You can make money
selling our unique
range of
software titles either
online or offline, without
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Cut Start-Up
Costs By Using A Dropshipper
Q: I'm starting an online specialty shop that sells gifts and
home accessories. I want to be able to have items dropshipped to
customers through my site. I already have a Web site and a domain
reserved, but I don't have a lot of money to get this going. Can you
offer any insight?
A: Setting up relationships with companies who will ship
merchandise directly to your customers for you-- dropshippers, as
they're called
--are an excellent way to start your e-business and, if done
properly, don'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 power tools and furniture.
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 Web
site. The dropshipper typically supplies you with images and product
descriptions that you can use to build your online store or feature on
static HTML Web pages.
When a customer places an order for the product on your site, he or
she pays you for the product. You, in turn, place the order with the
dropshipper and pay them for the product. The dropshipper then 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
start-up. 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 never 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 its downsides. 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 and so on. 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 ship items one
at a time instead of requiring that you purchase a fixed minimum number
of items each time (single-unit purchases vs. minimum-order purchases).
With this arrangement, you don't have to invest your limited cash
reserves in inventory that might not sell (and that sits 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
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 Web site.
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 middlemen who have positioned themselves between the online
merchant (that's you) and the real wholesale merchandise distributor.
These middlemen 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. Remember that your customer doesn't know (or care) that the
product they are purchasing from you really comes from a dropshipper.
If there is a problem, your customer will come back to you for
resolution, not the dropshipper, so make sure that the dropshipper you
use has a policy for resolving problems quickly.
Setting up an online store that offers merchandise from
dropshippers doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming. However,
this brings up the age-old question: If I build it, will they come? The
age-old answer is: Only if you let them know you are there, but that's
another column.
Here's to your success!
Tim Knox
About the Author:
Tim serves as the president and CEO of is the founder of
DropshipWholesale.net, an online organization dedicated to the success
of online and eBay entrepreneurs. Related Links: Power Pak Gifts http://tinyurl.com/8lmnu
- http://www.prosperityandprofits.com
- http://www.smallbusinessqa.com
- http://www.dropshipwholesale.net
Source: www.isnare.com
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