Drop Shipping - Need some help

[twomoon]

Hey guys,

Need some help with drop shipping. I have a domain name that gets a lot of traffic and I want to develop it. I've heard before about dropshipping and probably want to test it.
Anybody here has an expirience with it? If yes, I would have some rather simple (for you) but complicated for me questions.

Cheers, Nick

 

[NPer]

Nick,

I am not personally involved in drop-shipping, but have had contact with someone who has done/does this successfully.

The steps he went through:

1. Negotiating with suppliers for special prices.

2. Shipping:
2.1. whether the supplier offers shipping, and if so, at what sales price level could they offer it free.
2.2 when the supplier doesn't offer shipping or is too costly, he also negotiated with courier companies.

3. Negotiate special rates with payment proccessors in your country-since you would obviously want the money at your disposal. Important: find out the timeframes for payment to reach you, especialy payments with credit card-which can be charged back. That said-use a well-known payment processor, as this would be best in such cases.

4. Does the payment proccessor have an API which can be intergrated with well known eCommerce software? For example, Paypal does-but it may be limited to certain countries, e.g. US/ etc, and Paypal is expensive is this regard especially if margins may be low.

5. Finding an eCommerce platform that suits your needs. The best one from own experience, is Prestashop. You customize it to your liking- some php, js, css, html, etc. There's Magento too. These have so many features packed into it that make a NPer go WOW! :D

6. A good host for your site.

Hope that helps.

​

 

[twomoon]

Thank you very much Nper! It helps a lot indeed!

During today (its just the beginning of digging) I found a lot of sites / platforms that offer dropshipping databases and cooperation.
Mainly it looks very simple. And actually this is scearing for me
How it looks when you're cooperating with this platforms.

1. You are choosing the niche (in my situation it's writing instruments, pens, pencils etc.).
2. Using API (if I understand it well) you're exporting these products (with images, discription) to your site.
3. Setting your price (here is the main thing I guess). Difference between my price and supplier price is my profit.
4. When the potential client is making order, he is paying you for the order.
5. You are phisically buying the product (profit is left to you of course).
6. You're sending the shipping address to supplier and he deliver the item to the buyer.

And the question is: did anybody work with such platforms? As an example I can show: doba dot com.

Again, all this sounds very simple. If you have a domain with a nice trafiic, just build even a wordpress simple site and relatively doing nothing you can earn something.
Now where is the catch?

Nick

 

[enlytend]

The process is generally as NPer described it. You need 4 things:
- A supplier
- A shipper
- A payment processor
- A web site / shopping cart / ecommerce platform

All of these have to play nice with each other. Some functions may be combined. For example, your supplier may also ship, your ecommerce platform may have their own payment processing built in. Start by choosing the supplier / product - they can help steer you in the direction of the rest of the solution.

Figure out all your costs - per item cost, shipping, warehouse, pick/pack, labeling (if you private-label), payment processor fees, restocking/return fees based on anticipated product returns ...set a price point where you expect to be profitable but that isn't out of line with the rest of the market.

Doba handles everything and you don't have to stock inventory - those costs will be covered in their fee structure.

The catch? Getting customers and getting sales! Traffic doesn't always convert to sales.

 

[twomoon]

Thank you enlytend!
Agree about the traffic - but need to try

 

[SirDrago]

You need 4 things:
- A supplier
- A shipper
- A payment processor
- A web site / shopping cart / ecommerce platform

Now here begins the true task...Where does one find reputable suppliers?
I have gone to several forums and ofcourse I have to buy their "Special Ebook" with top secret info for $xxx to get that answer.

 

[enlytend]

Google it? Item you're looking to sell + "drop ship" "dropship" "drop shippers", etc.
Once you get some names, google for complaints about them.
Skip the ebooks - total bullsh*t.

 

[SirDrago]

When anyone can go to sites like fiverr and pay $10 for 100 positive reviews it's not the reliable to Go by that.
Guess the best way is to hop on a plane and discover one in person to be honest.

 

[TheFifty9Sound]

Finding good drop shippers is really hard work.

Depending on what you're selling and to where, you could try AliBaba.com. I have had some success with them in the past, but also some failures. Always try and lay your own eyes and hands on products before you start selling them.

 

[SirDrago]

Alibaba is a mess for someone just starting out like me. I have looked into them and found some good contacts and opportunity but either someone with personal experience shares with me or I'm hoping on a plane to China.

I need a tax deductible vacation anyway

 

[WPM]

Greetings,

Experiencing similar issues with large portfolio that requires drop shipping from multiple niches. Have received several responses from Chinese based companies, but I am reluctant to conduct business with out of the country drop shipping to the U.S. market. Customer service would be a nightmare. I can only imagine the returns/refunds scenario.

In today's world you need the funding to go brick and mortar, stock, take orders and distribute niche products in-house. Or I have seen some people use Amazon Prime in some niches.

So we are offering some of the portfolio as Joint Ventures to well funded suitors with management in place etc..

Good luck!

Regards,

WPM

 

[enlytend]

When anyone can go to sites like fiverr and pay $10 for 100 positive reviews it's not the reliable to Go by that.

Don't look for the positive reviews, look for overall opinion and complaints. Cheap paid reviews always overdo it and never mention a single fault - you can smell them a mile away. Look in relevant forums, not scammy sites like DP and Warrior, and take the poster's history into account.. I was able to find a couple suppliers for a traditionally VERY scammy niche - in the US and very good to work with. They're out there, you just gotta look .

In today's world you need the funding to go brick and mortar, stock, take orders and distribute niche products in-house. Or I have seen some people use Amazon Prime in some niches.

Amazon can act as your fulfillment center - you buy through a wholesaler and have the product shipped to them. They were a little pricier last time I looked at them, but the popularity and trust of their platform is a BIG plus.

Doing everything in-house is the cheapest (usually), but it's time and labor intensive, can take a lot of space, and you have to deal with all the hassles like returns. Its a bigger investment - some people start drop shipping initially and move to in-house once its a proven success.