Archive for March, 2008
Today we have the whole wide world at our finger tips to select products that we want to have drop shipped to the consumers.
Major brands offer their products for an online virtual storefront hosting the website for you and providing the drop shipping. The quest is not so much selecting a product but selecting a marketable product with a high demand.
First take a look at the company that you plan to use for some of the following characterizes:
* Look at the over all ranking of this drop ship company in comparison to other reliable companies.
* You should be able to buy directly from the drop shipper at drop ship prices.
* Depending on the specific product, can you get a free trial or a demo?
* You should be able to access the product without too much difficulty.
* The company should be a Member of the BBB in good standing.
* You should be able to get the BBB Status and Rating information.
* Does this company offer a sound support desk and support forum.
* Are you able to get into a support knowledge base for quick answers?
* You should be able to contact the drop shipper directly.
* The drop shipper should be upfront about what percentage the product is marked up.
* A very important part of the product business line is that the drop shipper ships with your name and address.
* Remember if you use your credit card, you will pay out more but if you can use Papal, it will save both you and your customer.
* The affiliate program is a needed tool that will increase your business.
* Information is the key to most all-successful business so make sure they do offer some educational tools.
* Finally find out how long they have been in business and how reliable are they.
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6 Tips To Find Reliable Drop Shippers
A small business owner has a dilemma when they start off their business, choosing a reasonable priced storage area. It is necessary to have a place to keep merchandise stored until ready to put them in your retail shop. This is expensive and a waste of space. This is why Virtual Online Stores are a booming business.
A business person can set up their store from home and monitor it from home. The profit margin can be very high depending on the amount of time you spend searching for the right product and the right drop shipper. A legitimate drop shipper is everything to a virtual online store.
The drop shipper helps you to get rid of all the problems that slow you down and cost you money. The edge you gain using the right drop shipper can make your business a huge success. The following is a short description of the dominance you as a business owner gain by using a good drop shipper.
1) Drop shippers search for products and supply you with their lists and catalogues of available items at trade prices. It is up to you to sell any of these items by any method you wish.
2) You make the sale and receive payment before the drop shipper completes the order.
3) Drop shippers prepare your orders so you never have to package an order again.
4) Drop shippers send your orders out to your customers saving you a trip to the post office, plus your name and address is on the product.
5) Since your name and address is on the product, the drop shipper becomes invisible to your customers leaving you as the only person for them to contact.
6 ) Drop shippers hold the entire product so you do not have to lay out any cash for products. You can spend your time on marketing and making money from your home office.
This is just one convenience of working with a drop shipper. The highly ranked drop shippers offer you online help, your own web site and will advise you of the products that are top-sellers in today’s market. In today’s world, hot selling items can change quickly, as does the consumers need for the product.
That is why it is very important that you work with a reputable drop shipper that can help you to keep up to speed on what is selling in today’s market place.
The drop shipper is the heartbeat of your business. It is good business practice to keep in good standing and informed of all that is happening in the wholesale market. Use good judgement when selecting a drop shipper to avoid any undesirable problems that you could guard against.
Do research on the different companies that offer the service. When you find the company you are satisfied with then it is best to stick with this company and develop a good relationship.
The drop shipper is more than glad to let you know their ratings and the BBB will inform you of their business practice. The BBB is a good place to start your research on a drop shipper that you feel will fulfill your needs for your business.
You should know the types of products that you want to sell and how you want to handle your business, when selecting a drop shipper.
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1. Thorough market research is the foundation for success
Meticulous market research doubles your chances of making a tidy profit from the wholesale goods you buy. Start off with a list of 5-10 different ideas. Then check completed listings searches on eBay to see what the item generally sells for and the sell-through rate for each one. Use Yahoo’s free keyword tool http://inventory.overture.com to find out how many people are searching Yahoo for your product per month. You can double this figure for Google. Add the numbers together. If there are ten thousand or more searches per month for an item, this indicates a healthy market.
2. Calculate the REAL cost of your item
One big reason why people fail at the wholesale game is that they don’t do the numbers. In other words, they don’t treat wholesale like a real business. To accurately discover your true profit potential on an item, you need to add the shipping cost and insurance, eBay fees (or equivalent for other advertising), Paypal and/or credit card fees (these can be a real profit killer), packaging costs and labor involved packaging, and any storage costs to the cost of your item.
3. Verify ALL suppliers found on the Internet
Getting caught out by scammers is a common stumbling block for people new to wholesale. If you are searching for suppliers off your own bat (rather than using a wholesale directory like SaleHoo), it is CRITICAL to check authenticity before making a purchase.
Always take the time to:
- Check that the website gives a full business name and a registration number.
- Check for a legitimate contact telephone number - this will involve ringing the number. Do not accept a mobile phone number alone. All real companies should have a land line number.
- Go to http://www.whois.sc/ and search for the name of the website. A legitimate company will have a domain expiration date in several years time. Most legitimate companies reserve their domain names for 3-5 years or more at a time.
- AVOID suppliers who won’t agree to use secure payment methods such as Escrow.com, Credit Card and Paypal Verified.
- Still uncertain? Ask other sellers what their experiences have been with the company you are interested in on eBay forums.
4. Chinese suppliers give the competitive edge
Chinese suppliers are an essential source for anyone wishing to make money selling online. Manufacturing costs are currently extremely low in China, thus it is the secret to gaining a competitive edge. Dealing with China does have risks, but these can be alleviated if you place a small order first, use secure payment methods, get shipping insurance for 110% of the cost of the items, and use suppliers with a good reputation.
5. A common stumbling block for liquidation and closeout
Always obtain the reasons for liquidation and closeout sales before you buy. Liquidation and Closeout sales can be a fantastic source for cheap products, but you usually have to buy by the pallet load and these can sometimes include broken or returned goods that aren’t in saleable condition. To be safe, ask specifically whether broken items and returns are included before you buy.
6. Negotiate on shipping and save
Shipping economically is critical to importing success. Profits can easily get swamped in shipping costs, so take time to get a good deal on shipping. If possible, negotiate CIF (Cost, Insurance & Freight) or DDP (Delivery, duty paid) shipping terms with your supplier as this takes much of the risk - not to mention organization - off your shoulders. FOB (Freight on Board) is the most common shipping term, but don’t be afraid to negotiate for better.
7. Drop shipping - can you really afford it?
Drop shipping sounds great in theory - someone taking care of packaging, wrapping and postage - but it can be difficult to profit from this method. Think about it, drop shipping can add another $2-10 to your costs - sometimes even 10% of the cost of the item. By the time you add in eBay fees and any other costs, you may find it is not worth it.
8. Warehouse storage checklist
Asset management is the most important consideration when locating warehousing to store your items. Believe it or not, items can go missing while in storage, causing massive disruption for you. When comparing warehouses, ask questions specifically on how you will authorize the release of stock (by phone or fax?), what will happen if you need to cancel an order, frequency of damage claims, dust management, and whether there is an area you can use to photograph items.
9. Powerseller wealth
It’s a fact - eBay powersellers are able to command higher prices for their items than ordinary eBay sellers. To get the best profits on your wholesale items, you need to aim to get and maintain powerseller status.
10. Growth with a website and eBay store
The way to increase profits from wholesale is to build your own website and/or open an eBay store. This allows you to cross sell items plus it also makes it easier for people to find what they are looking for. For example, if you sell shoes, then customers can easily navigate to browse all black shoes in size 9 and so on. Always include a sentence at the bottom of your descriptions encouraging visitors to check out your other listings - most people will.
If you are looking for genuine and trusted wholesale suppliers then look no further than SaleHoo! SaleHoo’s directory contains over 4000 drop ship, wholesale and closeout suppliers that are independently reviewed and rated by eBay Powersellers and Industry experts. SaleHoo also purchases off them and reviews each supplier in depth afterwards.
About the Author: SaleHoo is one of the fastest growing product sourcing portals on the internet. It contains a database of drop ship, wholesale, closeout and manufacturing suppliers offering thousands of product suppliers to consumers! Located at http://www.salehoo.com, visitors are allowed to sign up for unlimited and lifetime access to the completely searchable database of products and suppliers. The database is regularly updated, ensuring that the latest retail products are always available for purchase and SaleHoo carries the BBB Reliability Seal!
Join SaleHoo Today for their Special Startup Offer!
1. Items under $10
It sounds like a great idea - after all, everyone likes a bargain don’t they? But items that sell for under $10 have one big problem: Shipping. It’s quite likely that the shipping for the item will cost more than the item itself and this can be very off-putting to buyers. For example, if the item costs $4.50 and shipping costs $6, the total cost for the item is $10.50. If the buyer can purchase the item at their local store for $8, then this suddenly becomes a much better deal. For small items and accessories, the way to get around this problem is by grouping the items together, such as sets of 6 golf-balls or 5 tea towels.
2. Products everyone else are selling
Many sellers think that the best way to get started on eBay is to sell items that everyone else is selling. Surely those super hot items such as ipods, cell phones, psps and so on will be a quick route to riches? Well, no. The sellers who are already selling these items are not only more established on eBay - and thus familiar to and trusted by buyers - but they will be able to buy wholesale stock in larger bulks lots than you will, so their prices will always be better. Thus it will almost certainly be very difficult for you to make a profit in a market that is already well supplied.
3. Things you love…but no-one else does
Hobbies can be a great way of making money, but only if plenty of other people are interested in them too.
Another scenario is when you find a product that you think is absolutely wonderful and could be the next best thing…but no-one seems interested in buying it. Oh well you think, it’s only short term, eventually they’ll learn about my item and start flocking to buy it. Ah, no they won’t. It’s lonely work trying to educate people on the benefits of a product all on your own. As fabulous as the product might be, it’s nigh-on impossible to start a trend on your own. To make money from a trend, you need magazines and newspapers, word of mouth and television to do some of the work for you.
4. Difficult items to ship - e.g. fragile china and plants
Now I’m not saying that these are bad items to sell altogether. Many sellers do very well from these items. But I don’t suggest you sell such difficult items when you are first starting out. Both these items have an above-average shipping risk, particularly if not packed properly. As a new seller, any negative feedback you receive at this early stage could be especially damaging to your career.
5. Very large items
Thinking of starting with furniture or pianos? Unless you already have experience selling and shipping these items, then it might be wise to start with something smaller. Shipping such large items is a major operation. Not only that, these items will sell less often than mid-priced items as they won’t attract the same number of impulse buyers.
About the Author: SaleHoo is one of the fastest growing product sourcing portals on the internet. It contains a database of drop ship, wholesale, closeout and manufacturing suppliers offering thousands of product suppliers to consumers! Located at Salehoo.com, visitors are allowed to sign up for unlimited and lifetime access to the completely searchable database of products and suppliers. The database is regularly updated, ensuring that the latest retail products are always available for purchase and SaleHoo carries the BBB Reliability Seal!
WorldWideDropshipper.com Recommends “SaleHoo Special Startup Offer!
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