Chances are, if you have an online business, you have heard the term - drop shipping or dropshipping. So what is drop shipping and what can it do for you.  Drop Shipping is a quite simple process of selling products without the hassle of carrying inventory or shipping the items yourself.  It can be mistaken for an affiliate program, but is quite different. This article will tell you all about Drop Shipping.

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is a referral service in which you use specialized made banners, buttons and website links to attract customers to a specific site.  Affiliate programs will then pay you commission for either someone clicking on your specialized link or by a customer making a purchase.  You are simple a referral service.

Dropshipping is very different.  Dropshipping is for those with their own website and are looking for products to sell on their site. Drop ship programs allow you to sell as little or as many products as you would like without the worry of carrying inventory, hiring help, physically shipping out products or warehouse storage.

Here is a basic guide to starting your own business using drop ship programs.

Starting with your own website, you should begin be deciding what and how much you want to sell.  After you have those details worked out, you should begin to search for drop ship partners that carry the inventory you would like to sell.  This can be a little hard, but well worth it.

Drop ship programs may charge a monthly or yearly free and some offer their services for free.  Free does not always mean better.    Weigh the cons and pros before completely dismissing them.  Do your homework whether it is a free service or not.  Read the contract agreement BEFORE you sign up with a program.  All drop ship programs are different and you don’t want to get involved in something that does not suit your needs.

There are certain things you should look for when choosing drop ship programs.

• How long the drop ship program has been around? - be sure they are a reputable company and they are experienced in drop shipping.

• Fees - Make sure to you know exactly what the fees are if any. - You don’t want to get hit with hidden fees later.

• Do they allow you to set your own prices? - This definitely helps, especially when it comes to shipping rates.  (We will talk more about shipping later on)

• Do they give you professional product pictures and descriptions to use on your own site?  This is extremely important to your business.  If you can not supply great pictures for customers to see, they will not want to buy from you.  Professionalism is key.

• Do they add your company name when shipping out to customers? This is key in getting return business and more reputable.  If they item is being to a person other than the person who bought the item, than seeing YOUR company name is a great way to get a new customer.

• Do they display inventory so that you know what is available for your customers?  Nothing will upset a customer more than picking the perfect item to then find out, it is out stock after they have paid for it.

• Provide tracking information to pass along to your customers
Other great benefits that a dropship company may offer, but not mandatory are:
• Allow you to start an affiliate program with their products

• Will add your business cards or other goodies into your shipped packages

• Have special sales for its drop shippers

• They provide thumbnails AND large pictures
Now that you know what drop shipping is, its time to move on to getting it working for you.
You have now established a product line, drop ship partnerships and a website.  Let’s put it all together.

You should already have a website built; now let’s add your products.  As we established earlier, a good DS company should provide you with professional pictures and descriptions.  If you would like to use your own, be sure that grammar, punctuation and spelling is correct.  But most importantly be descriptive AND informative.  Also be sure that the DS company allows you to write your own description.

Navigating your site should be easy, so group similar products together.  Try not to add too many items with large pictures on one page.  It can make the page load slowly.

If you were lucky enough to find a program that gives you both thumbnail and large pictures, it’s an advantage.  That makes your product pages easier to build and looks more professional.  If they do not offer thumbnails AND large pictures, don’t worry.  There are plenty of services that can create thumbnails for you.  Look into photo gallery software.

Now let’s set the price.  If strict pricing doesn’t allow you to set your own pricing, then go ahead and use the prices DS program has already established.  If they do allow price changes, this can be beneficial, especially when it comes to shipping.

Cynthia Recommends - I recommend using either one program that already has established pricing OR using ones that allow you to set your own prices, NOT BOTH.  It can get very confusing for you.

If the DS program doesn’t allow you to change prices, than chances are they do not allow you to change shipping rates either.  As I said before, that is completely OK.  However, this is best for those who wish to use this one and only particular DS program.  If you choose to use several programs, shipping rates can differ and can become an issue. It’s best to use programs that allow you to set your own prices for this very reason.

Cynthia Recommends - I recommend setting flat shipping rates and adjusting your retail cost based on the shipping rates.

Adjusting pricing is a great way to set flat rates for shipping instead of having a different shipping price for item.  If you site allows you to set a different shipping price for every item with minimal effort than go for it.  For those who do not have that luxury, here is your solution.

Set flat rates and adjust your retail cost based on shipping fee.  For example, you have a bicycle you want sell.  Here is how it would break down:

Drop ship/Wholesale Cost - $35.00 (That is the price you would pay for the bike)

Drop Ship Shipping Price is $20.00 (What the drop ship companies charges you to ship the bike to your customer)

MSRP - $50.00 (Manufactured Suggested Retail Price - how much they think YOU should sell the bike for)

If you have a flat fee of $10 shipping for every item shipped through ground shipping, you would then adjust the retail price to $60 (instead of the MSRP of $50) and the shipping can remain at $10.  You are still making the same amount of profit with the shipping price at a flat rate.

Why is this beneficial?  Customers like when shipping costs are lower.

AND

You do not have to have a different shipping price for EVERY item.   Every item that you ship out ground shipping can cost $10, no matter what the drop ship company charges.

Of course you can make the flat shipping rates whatever you choose.  You can make it free and add the shipping charge to the retail price.  So in the bike example, the bike would cost $70 and free shipping.

Customer Service is another big difference between affiliate programs and using dropshipping services.  With affiliate programs, once the customer clicks on your specialized link as is taken to the designated website, your job is done.  You do not need to do anything else.  Drop shipping requires that you handle your own customer service and payments.

Once a customer orders and makes a payment on your site, it is your responbility to then visit the site of your drop ship supplier to purchase and have the item shipped to the CORRECT address.  Here is a diagram explaining the process.

What you offer is what brings them in. Your customer service is what keeps them coming back.  So you will be responsible for whatever happens, whether it is your fault or not.  That can be the downside to the drop ship business.  If they drop the ball, you still need to clean up the mess.  That is why it is super important to know who you are dealing with and they are experienced with dropshipping.

So you have the site, the products, the price and the shipping!  You are all ready to start making a profit.  Here are few extra tips to being the best drop shipper you can be.

Drop ship supply companies are behind the scenes and should not have direct contact with your customer.
There are several reasons for this:

• Your customer may begin to deal directly with the drop shipper (if they retail as well) as opposed to you.  This results in lost sales

• Drop ship companies should not represent your company.  You should be responsible for your company’s reputation and customer service.  A customer will not become a repeat customer if they do not receive proper customer service.  Drop ship can assure the customer service you can.

• Customers may feel cheated if they deal with someone other than your company’s employees.  Most consumers do not understand online business or drop shipping.  DO NOT make the mistake of assuming that customers know the behind the scenes of online businesses.  ESPECIALLY drop ship programs.

Offer a variety of products at various price points.  This can come from using multiple drop ship programs.

Keep track of which items come from which drop ship company by using their sku codes or items #s.  Make a spreadsheet that tells you what item #s and sku numbers belong to each drop ship company.

Keep invoices from your customers and invoices paid to your suppliers.  This helps with taxes.

Read up on tax laws.  Laws vary upon the state you live in.
99% of legitimate drop shippers require that you have a resale license and will require one in order to sign up.  They are required to gather this information, because they are LEGAL drop shippers.

If you would like to see what you are selling, order an item for yourself to see the quality of the product you are putting your name on.

Keep track of the DS inventory to be sure you are not selling what is not available.

Cynthia Marcano is the webmaster for http://webtoolstreasury.com.  Find a drop ship directory of 250 drop ship companies and many other web tools and affiliate programs.

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
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Are You Getting the Product to Your Customer
the Easy Way or the Hard Way?

Here you are, hoping to own an eBay business, and earn a full time living with it. You can surely make that dream come true – even without products of your own to sell. Your garage is empty, nothing to offer for sale on eBay. Well, eBay provides you   with a way to make a good living selling goods at auction, and you don’t even need a lot of start up capital.

This is made possible by utilizing the services of drop shippers. Drop shippers send merchandise to your customers on your behalf. This will allow you to offer a wide variety of stock in your eBay store, without needing to warehouse all of those products! Drop shipping can be a life saver, if done right.

All you have to do is prepare your auction, and sell the product before officially buying it. You then pass the customer’s information on to the drop shipping company. The drop shipper does the rest by shipping the parcel direct to the customer, with your name on the label. The buyer thinks he is receiving it direct from you. The drop shipper will package, label, and ship the products that you sell, allowing you more time to set up even more auctions, for greater profits.

Of course, there is a price to pay for this great service. You can’t expect to make as much profit as if you were handling the shipping yourself. It’s equivalent to having an employee that you pay to do the work. So your profit markups are harder to attain.  Depending on the item you are selling, a markup of about 10% should be about right, but you should do some research to see if the item is selling for a lower price in another eBay auction, or through other online sources.

Let’s be clear: the drop shipper is the wholesaler you are buying from. As they get to know you, and your volume of business increases, don’t expect to get the best prices. But in time you will. You must establish a relationship with several drop shipping companies in order to work with them successfully. In the beginning, most companies will require you to pay for the items that your customers order before they are shipped. You need to fill orders in a timely manner, so you need to pay for the items with a credit card for speedy service. If you don’t have a credit card, forget about  Eventually, you will be able to have the drop shipper fill your orders, and then bill you for them later.

When setting up your eBay auction, make sure the reserve price is set higher than the price that the drop shipper will be charging you for the item. The idea, of course, is to earn a profit, but at least try to break even until you become more experienced at selling through drop shippers.

Having an eBay business using the drop shipping method, eliminates the financial risk involved. The product is always sold before you pay the drop shipper for the item. So your only risk is from the occasional return, or non-payment. This is one of the few businesses where you have a chance to make a profit before paying for the products sold at auction!

by Fred Farah
copyright 2006

Fred Farah is a successful business man bringing you valuable advice about  eBay Auctions at Best Affiliate Products

My goal is to help you succeed, and there’s enough good information here to give you a running head-start setting up an online business using eBay Auctions.

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

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Find Products to Sell on eBay!

By Amanda King

Dropshipping is a great concept.  In brief dropshipping is a process by which a person who does not own products can form a connection with a business supplier who is willing to provide the product for you, including one at a time.  Arrangements with dropshippers vary.  Some charge a fee for service and add costs on to the product itself.  There are some who will only charge the wholesale cost of their items with perhaps a minor surcharge to cover their own cost of processing.

Dropshipping has been used throughout history.  However in the modern day it has become more prolific due to some wholesalers finding that they cannot move their stocks as quickly as they would like to, due to competition of other wholesalers.  When a small number of wholesalers used dropshipping as a means of promoting their products more naturally entered into the opportunity.  However those wholesalers who do not have the same restrictions in moving their stock generally do not worry about moving their products this way because it involves extra work and stress.

There are several advantages of dropshipping for someone who operates an online business. These include:

Cheap start up costs.

Having ample supply of products.

Having access to a wide range of products.

Not having to warehouse products.

Saving time on processing sales.

Not having to make an outlay of money on bulk.

Obtaining items at a cheaper cost.

There are nevertheless a number of disadvantages. These include:

Less margin in the profit ratio.

High dependence on the dropshipper.

The dropshipper may not be reliable.

Products are not unique or uncommon.

The greatest advantage of dropshipper for the retailer is that it enables the establishment of the business at low cost.  It includes no cost in initial inventory, nor does it include a cost to maintain stock such as some form of warehouse.  About the only thing that the retailer has to be concerned for is promotional costs, such as maintaining a website and advertising.

Ebay sellers are typically serviced by a dropshipper.  The way the system works with many ebay power sellers is that the seller lists the product on ebay.  When a buyer bids and wins the sale of the product the power seller orders the product from the dropshipper who in turn sends the product to the buyers address. The purchase price is typically passed from the buyer to the seller to the dropshipper. Depending on the arrangement the seller may not even have to process the money side of the sale.

Dropshipping is not readily available. It is important to connect up with a wholesaler who is willing to dropship.  Nor is dropshipping necessarily easy.  Some wholesalers are very difficult to do business with and this unfortunately can do damage to the business of the retailer.  It is therefore important to make the right connections.

Amanda King is an experienced Internet Marketer. Find out more about  dropshipping at [http://www.gemasking.com/Dropshipping.html]Gemasking from her fashion accessory website or from [http://www.jewelkingusa.com]Jewelkingusa

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amanda_King http://EzineArticles.com/?Advantages-of-Dropshipping&id=659983

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Drop ship over 1,000,000 wholesale items!

By Joaquin Reveron

Wholesale dropshipping may be evil to you if you have one sort of thinking to many of the facts surrounding the manufacturer, supplier, distributor, wholesaler and the liquidation centers around your city or nearby countries. Here are some facts to indulge your planning for such DBA or new company success for the wholesaler and dropshipper terms.

Dropshipping. It can be defined and get correctly understood as a small business or company selling merchandise and its stock without having the items sold in the actual store or local warehouse. Small business and online companies usually have succeeded this way in the past and still to this date. This kind of business exchange can be found in a solo intermediary or as a wholesaler itself combining two sets of business sin itself.

As for example, a wholesale dropshipping company is usually a today by every other day, a one same business. In additional facts, a dropshipper ships everything to the customer. It is a total beauty as you don’t have to pack, tape the box and do the walk-in steps in the post office. Usually this is handled by such dropshipper for an additional fee.

One of my favorite pro’s of this kind of business. You can start a small business in wild ways, in your kitchen with some donuts at the side and work it every day in order to drive traffic to your e-commerce shop. My personal downside, you usually have to sell high ticket items or bundles of very in-demand merchandise with a dropshipper that does not bump your wholesale dropshipping fee way to high, so you can actually turn yourself a descent profit.

Wholesaler. Its direct relationship with the customer is already seen offline with giants like famously known Costco and Sam’s. These companies mostly, buy directly from manufacturers and in some minority with distributors to cut out middleman cost, thus having a greater margin of profit directly with us as the customers. Alike Costco and Sam’s, there are other great wholesalers who actually sell appliances, electronics and other in-demand accessories that such big companies named above don’t carry.

So the wholesaler actually buys directly from the manufacturer and the direct distributor of the product or service and gets some of the savings directly to you. These days it is very interesting as the pattern is somewhat changing. The old and still modern way of merchandise business is: Manufacturer, supplier, distributor and finally, the wholesaler. That leaves Sam’s and Costco being two positive out of the equation subjects.

These business definitions can’t be equally define in one- their objectives, channels of distributions and way of profit are not received in the same way for us the customers. The differences are big for you as the customer and for us as the potential wholesale dropshipping business, wholesaler or distributor. [http://www.videogamesmystery.com]Wholesale Dropshipping is one of the business components Joaquin serves as reference source, e-commerce coach and certified author. His focus today is assisting people receive extra income through the acquirement of a [http://www.videogamesmystery.com]Wholesaler Distributor

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joaquin_Reveron [http://ezinearticles.com/?Gigantic-Wholesale-Differences-In-Dropshipping-And-A-Wholesaler—
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