Drop Shipping Basics
By: Lisa Page
Are you wondering about drop shipping? Here are some basic tips to get started. Keep in mind that drop shipping is a great way to start any business; But there is a lot of competition. In the past 2-4 years or so, drop shipping has become a huge market. Everyone wants to jump in and try it. The problem is, a lot of new businesses fail, because they didn’t go about it the right way.
The first thing you want to do to start drop shipping is; Find a reliable drop shipper that isn’t a middleman. In order to find a reliable drop shipper go to the source. Call the manufacturer and ask them to give you the contact information, for their authorized wholesale distributors. Some manufacturers will work with small business, but it is very rare. Sometimes you may run into a problem where the manufacturer only sells to certain retailers. So drop shipping isn’t for every product out there. For the most part, drop shipping can be very effective in starting a home business.
Product research is the next basic step, when you find a reliable drop shipper. This will take up the most of your time. You could do product research for 2-3 hours a day and you might not get anywhere. Or you could go to ebay’s seller central pages. They list all the hot items that are in season on ebay sellers central. From that information you could use it to, find products that will sell the best. Your product research should always include, comparing prices to other ebay merchants. Can your prices compete with their prices? You have to look out for categories that wholesale distributors are selling in as well. That’s right, some wholesale distributors will sell their overstock on ebay. You can’t compete with these kind of prices, so don’t try. Also remember that you are buying at drop ship prices; you won’t be able to compete with people buying bulk lots at wholesale prices. Just look for a category that has the newest gadgets with small profit margins. There won’t be any overstock with new products. Find categories with little or no competition. Start off small, sell multiple items in each auction for maximum profit.
Keep it simple. Remember to keep your business simple when you first start off. Do your research and sell 2-5 items at a time, until you find the best sellers. It’s going to take a lot of trial and error. Keep a log book of each item and how good or bad it sells. Don’t start trying to sell 100 items in your first week. You will surely fail if you try and take on too much at once. It’s going to take tons of research to find the best items to sell. So keeping it simple will help you out.
Drop shipping is great to start off any small home business. Just keep in mind, your long term goal should be buying in bulk to resell. If you drop ship, it will be harder to find products that will help you compete with other merchants. For the sole reason that: everyone is drop shipping now. Just be sure and do your research the best you can and you will surely succeed. A lot of other drop shippers are not willing to do their homework on what items will sell best. That’s where you can take advantage.
Learn how to start your own home business by following this amazing step-by-step guide. Want to be an Ebay Powerseller? This guide will help you. Check out my Daily Blog.