Thanks for the links so far. I gave out some rep but it won't let me distribute anymore for the day. Anybody have some success stories to share? I know I can put together a kick ass site compared to a lot of the shit I'm seeing out there, but I'd love to here some first hand accounts of setting up your first ecom site.
Drop Shipping Resources
- Thread starter JamesH
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A buddy of mine recently outlined his ecommerce journey. I'd call him successful. PM me if you want to know more particulars ...
He had a content site that was getting some decent traffic. He picked out one product that he thought he could sell. He found an eBay seller who agreed to drop ship for him. He put a page up on the site with sales copy and a paypal button. He started selling.
You may think that that was lame -- but it does a few things that are pretty valuable. One, it validates whether there's a market for the product at very low cost. If you can't sell the product from a basic sales page using paypal's shopping cart don't imagine that you'll suddenly sell buckets of them from your full featured shopping site with your shiny new merchant account.
Once he proved he could sell the product, and he had a good idea of the pricing, he found a distributor, who would drop ship. He cut out the eBay layer of the distribution chain, and increased his margins.
Along the way he gathered testimonials, set up client service policies, built up a list of proven buyers in his niche, who were happy to tell him what else they wanted to buy, when surveyed. Somewhere in here he invested in setting up a "real" ecommerce site and started investing in paid traffic sources. After the business continued to grow, he shifted away from drop shipping, and improved his margins once more.
At every step the incremental cost in time and money was easy to swallow, and each step provided data that allowed him to gage the risk and the realistic potential returns.
Another guy I know a marketing "guru" (not a makemoniesonline scammer) recommends testing a market by buying your product at retail (!!) and trying to sell it. If you can, great -- but if you can't even better that you found that out before you invested too much time negotiating distribution, etc.
He had a content site that was getting some decent traffic. He picked out one product that he thought he could sell. He found an eBay seller who agreed to drop ship for him. He put a page up on the site with sales copy and a paypal button. He started selling.
You may think that that was lame -- but it does a few things that are pretty valuable. One, it validates whether there's a market for the product at very low cost. If you can't sell the product from a basic sales page using paypal's shopping cart don't imagine that you'll suddenly sell buckets of them from your full featured shopping site with your shiny new merchant account.
Once he proved he could sell the product, and he had a good idea of the pricing, he found a distributor, who would drop ship. He cut out the eBay layer of the distribution chain, and increased his margins.
Along the way he gathered testimonials, set up client service policies, built up a list of proven buyers in his niche, who were happy to tell him what else they wanted to buy, when surveyed. Somewhere in here he invested in setting up a "real" ecommerce site and started investing in paid traffic sources. After the business continued to grow, he shifted away from drop shipping, and improved his margins once more.
At every step the incremental cost in time and money was easy to swallow, and each step provided data that allowed him to gage the risk and the realistic potential returns.
Another guy I know a marketing "guru" (not a makemoniesonline scammer) recommends testing a market by buying your product at retail (!!) and trying to sell it. If you can, great -- but if you can't even better that you found that out before you invested too much time negotiating distribution, etc.
Let's say that you found a legit drop ship program. What would you need to get started?
I am assuming the following:
I am assuming the following:
- Sales tax license with your state
- Merchant credit card processing
- E-commerce platform
- SSL certificate on a reliable server
- Limited liability protection (LLC or corporation)
I agree with the people who mentioned WorldWide Brands.
1. He provides a list of dropshippers that is actually maintained by a staff. (unlike most of the lists you buy that are crap). And yes, I used to do EBay and dropshipping before I realized that affiliate marketing was sooo much less of a headache.
2. There is also a ton of free info on product sourcing you can read and watch even if you don't sign up. He explains the business model, etc., so you understand what you are doing. For instance, he explains that reputable distributors who will dropship or sell small bulk lots will require a tax id, etc.
I do promote their affiliate program too, because it is always fun to sell something you actually believe works, and they pay on time. Commissions are decent too. Dropshipping is not my main niche, but with rising unemployment I see rising interest.
Do I have a link? Oh yeah I do. I am only posting it because you asked (or maybe that was the voices):
My WorldWide Brands Link
1. He provides a list of dropshippers that is actually maintained by a staff. (unlike most of the lists you buy that are crap). And yes, I used to do EBay and dropshipping before I realized that affiliate marketing was sooo much less of a headache.
2. There is also a ton of free info on product sourcing you can read and watch even if you don't sign up. He explains the business model, etc., so you understand what you are doing. For instance, he explains that reputable distributors who will dropship or sell small bulk lots will require a tax id, etc.
I do promote their affiliate program too, because it is always fun to sell something you actually believe works, and they pay on time. Commissions are decent too. Dropshipping is not my main niche, but with rising unemployment I see rising interest.
Do I have a link? Oh yeah I do. I am only posting it because you asked (or maybe that was the voices):
My WorldWide Brands Link
I have a subscription to world wide brands... It's pretty good although I've never started a site in the 4 years I've had the subscription. Lol
Well I do drop shipping instead of AM and I love it. I was stuck in a rut finding something good online just like you. I finally gave that up and started contacting local companies who warehoused the products I wanted to sell and ended up finding a great company that was fine with drop shipping even though they've never done it. It has worked out great and I'm in a niche that NO ONE offers drop shipping for.
It's odd, I was going to ask this same question about locating a drop shipper in the US to warehouse and distribute the aforementioned pharmaceutical product in the other thread I started. It's manufactured in Europe and currently warehoused and shipped from the UK. However, getting 100,000 units (for example) into the US and distributed directly from there would be a great advantage I think.
Subscribed.
Subscribed.
Does anyone know what happens when a customer wants to return a product? Do you refund the order, receive the product from the customer, and send it back to the drop shipper?
That is between you and the customer. I had one guy who bought a Jiu-Jitsu Gi.. said that they sent the wrong pants size.. I accomodated him... sent new Gi and had him send me the "wrong" leftovers.. he fucked me.. he really needed top one size and bottom another..
You have to figure out how you want deal with this..
You have to figure out how you want deal with this..
I don't think sending it back to the drop shipper is an option. As a merchant, dealing with returns is a cost of doing business. If it's still in salable condition, listing it on Ebay as an 'open box return' seems like a good option. (If it's under warranty, have the customer deal directly with the product company -- I still don't think the distributor would be involved.)
So I found a drop shipper who is based in CA, while I am based in PA. They said they will charge me sales tax for any orders shipped to CA residents.
Any advice on how to deal with this? Would I pass this expense on to my CA customers; therefore charge for both instate and CA sales tax? (I'm wondering if charging CA sales tax without a CA sales tax license is legal?)
Any advice on how to deal with this? Would I pass this expense on to my CA customers; therefore charge for both instate and CA sales tax? (I'm wondering if charging CA sales tax without a CA sales tax license is legal?)
Worldwide Brands FTW. Those guys hooked me up with reliable dropshippers that kept my interwebz biz afloat when I was learning ads and bleeding money LOL. I still use their product database wizard for market research, that thing is hella useful.
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