Drop shipping is a very popular option with sellers because it takes a lot of the grunt work out of selling on eBay. However, there are some major downsides to drop shipping - especially for new sellers. Here’s a list of the pros and cons of drop shipping so that you can make the right decision for your business. Drop shipping Pros

1. No storage room required You don’t have to fill up your living room with stock and packing materials! This is particularly useful if you are selling large items such as kit-sets, furniture, sporting goods, and so on.

2. No shipping costs getting stock delivered from the distributor Drop shipping means you don’t have to pay a carrier to bring stock from the distributor to your own storage area, which can mean big savings in the long term.

3. Spend more time on other areas of your business You don’t have to organize the packing and postage system, nor do you have to drive to the post shop each day to post your packages. This gives you a significant increase in time to spend on other tasks such as marketing and communicating with customers.

4. No packaging required You save money by not having to order and store packaging materials.

Drop shipping Cons

1. Can be Costly You have to pay for the cost of the labor and materials involved in drop shipping. Generally this is between $2 and $5 per item. Many new sellers find that the additional costs of drop shipping greatly reduce their profit margins and sometimes nullify the whole operation. This is the main reason why drop shipping is not a viable option for some sellers.

2. You are still responsible for any shipping problems So the item arrived damaged? Was there a shipping delay? You’ll get the flak for anything that goes wrong with the shipping even though it is technically out of your control.

3. Hard to find a distributor who will do it and do it well Many distributors will not drop ship because of the extra paperwork involved. Then there is the matter of checking up on quality standards to make sure your items are being packed correctly.

4. Low stock levels may cause unhappy customers Your drop shipper won’t necessarily tell you when they are running low on stock. If they run out and have to do a back order, you may end up spending a great deal of time placating a bunch of unhappy and impatient customers.

Drop shipping is a very appealing prospect for many sellers; however it is not always a realistic one. Despite the hassle, ‘doing it yourself’ can often be a more sensible option financially, especially for new businesses.

1. Have at least 1 image, and it must be top quality. You must have at least 1 image of your product, this goes without saying. The higher the quality of the image the better, and also the larger the better, this allows potential customers to see the product clearly. If the photo provided by your dropshipper isn’t very good you should buy the product and take your own photos (use a bedsheet to create blank background for photos). Taking your own photos can also give you a competitive edge.

2. Make your sales copy well laid out and clearly show each section. Using graphic headers for different sections is a great way to lay out your listing. Sections may include ‘Product Description’, ‘Delivery’, ‘Returns’, ‘Guarantees’, ‘Previous Customer Feedback’, ‘Payments’. You can create these graphics with free software like Serif PhotoPlus.

3. Offer a wide range of payment options. Always offer paypal, but try and offer as many others as possible. It may be annoying taking cheques to the bank, but it is another transaction for the cashbook and another customer in the database who may buy again!

4. Tell the customer why to buy with you. The visitor doesn’t want to know about you personally, they want to know how you can help them and they need to trust you if they are going to buy. So if your postage is ‘1st class recorded’ and dispatched next day then clearly state it! Clearly state your ‘100% refund if unhappy’ promise and also clearly show your positive feedback.

5. Pay attention to the little things. Pay close to attention to the small things and it will remove your listings rough edges and give you a professional listing. Spelling mistakes, bad grammar, ugly font, bad quality graphics and no information on returns all make your listing/business look unprofessional and the visitor will soon be clicking the ‘back’ button to see what others are selling.

These aren’t the sort of tips you need to test and monitor to see if they are having an effect, if you have hundreds of listings running at any one time they WILL increase sales (unless there is something categorically wrong like a bad product/ridiculous price).

Getting Started

The first thing to keep in mind is that competition is “wide awake”, especially in such a lucrative field as sales. So, how do you get started with your eBay business? Your first option is to get registered, provide identification details and either buy or sell a product to acquire a status of a “verified” user. Why do you need to get that status? That is because “verified” users will be able to receive feedback from other eBay users. Perhaps you won’t be surprised at the usefulness of positive feedback.

Getting positive feedback is a separate issue that matters a lot if you want to make money on eBay. To receive it, you should do your best to keep buyers satisfied. So, pay attention to the accurateness of your product descriptions, adequate pricing, and accepting most convenient methods of payment, such as paypal, cheques, and money orders.

Choosing The Product

When choosing the product to sell, your first consideration will be a potential demand for it. You can check that by looking through the history of sales on eBay website and find out what categories of products are used to get the best sales. You can also browse eBay product catalogs to see what kind of products are offered for sale, what level of competition they have, and what are average prices they get sold at. Consider selling products that are not too competitive, and are harder to find yet still in demand. Selling rare products also entitles you to set higher prices on them.

Looking for A Good Supplier

Once you decide on the product to sell, you’ll need to research the suppliers’ market. You can consider drop shipping that is a very popular way to make money on eBay. In that case you’ll need to look for a reputable wholesaler who will agree to work with you. So, you’ll be placing product listings on eBay website, and taking orders form buyers. Then, you’ll be redirecting those orders to the wholesaler and making sure that the buyer receives the purchase. Thus, dropshipping allows you to do without initial investment into inventory and shipping overheads.

It’s better to start selling products on auction basis. Try to set as low starting price as possible, since it will encourage consumers to bid on the product.

Using Search Engines

Let’s start with the ways you can find drop ship suppliers. You can start with searching one of the leading search engines and look through the delivered results. A good idea is to decide on the type of products to sell first - thus you’ll be able to narrow your search to wholesalers dealing with that category of goods.

Check Dropshippers Directories

Another option is to search with the help of special drop ship directories. Though most likely you’ll have to pay some fee for their service, you can take advantage of dropshippers listings arranged in a convenient and comprehensive way and it will save you lots of time.

Searching for the Product

One more useful idea is to look for the goods you’ve decided to sell. When you find a dealer offering those goods, check whether they provide drop ship opportunites. Even if you don’t see corresponding information on their website, it will not hurt to call them to find it out

You see that the keys to finding a reliable drop ship supplier are thorough research and decision on a product to sell. Finding a good dropshipper can be done from the comfort of your own home, without any expenses on your part - you just should be more attentive and patient.

You can dropship articles with or without a website. If you decide to run without a website you can list the dropship articles on Ebay. You pay a small fee to ebay, sell the products and the dropshipper does the rest.

You can decide to create a website on any topic that you like. There are a lot of free web sites out there in addition to the low cost ones. After you have designed your website you can then feature articles or links to the items that you would like to sell. Your job is promotion.

Another option is to open an Ebay storefront. Or you can find a reputable company which has gathered together a number of products for dropshipping, and you can purchase a storefront with them, they will then dropship the products you carry on your storefront as they sell. If you decide to go with a company, do your research and read every word of the fine print and contract. There are a lot of disreputable companies out there that mess up things for the reputable ones.

My choice was a simple one. When the chance to open a store where the products magically moved themselves from point A to point B presented itself to me I jumped at the opportunity. I now operate 3 storefronts, my theory is that there is safety in numbers and what the heck, costs are low because I do not have to actually purchase the stock that I sell.

My advice to anyone entering this new field is simple. Costs of doing business on the web are very low compared to the costs of opening the standard business. So your start up costs will not be high; they can range anywhere from a few dollars to a few thousand. Figure out what you are willing to invest and be prepared to work just as hard at an online business as you would at your standard retail store. Then jump in with both your hands clasped in a prayer. What can you lose? What can you gain?