Drop Ship Wholesaler - What is Drop Shipping?

Drop shipping refers to the process of finding a distributor or wholesaler who is willing to "drop ship", establishing an account as a retailer with that wholesaler, and then placing orders for their products as you receive them from your customer.

It works like this:

• you build an online store to sell the products of your choice
• you find a wholesaler for your products who is willing to drop ship
• a customer arrives at your store, likes what he sees, and places an order for your product
• you charge the customer's credit card, say $60 plus shipping fee
• you email your wholesaler the order along with the customer's name and delivery address
• your supplier charges you the wholesale price of say $35
• your supplier ships the order to your customer in a package with your business name on it, so the customer thinks it came directly from you!

The benefits of using a drop ship wholesaler are immediately obvious:

• you don't have to buy a whole lot of product, warehouse it, and hope that you sell it i.e. no inventory, no stocktake and no products to store
• you don't have to pay to have product shipped to you, and then pay to have it shipped to your customer i.e. no shipping costs. All you do is send an email to your drop shipping wholesaler!

Sounds like online store nirvana, right? Right! But, the tricky part is finding wholesalers who drop ship. Here's where you have to be careful. Sensing there was a quick buck to be made in selling drop ship information, some unscrupulous operators have created drop ship directories that are largely worthless.

Review: The Drop Ship Source Directory

Chris Malta, a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, is one of the Internet's good guys. Chris is the host of "The Entrepreneur Magazine E-Biz Radio Show", and has written many articles on running a successful home-based Internet business. Chris has more experience in drop shipping than just about anyone, and created the Drop Ship Source Directory.

So, what is the Drop Ship Source Directory and how do you use it?

Well, it's not a book or an e-book. The Drop Ship Source Directory in an online directory. The biggest advantage with this is, unlike a book, the information is constantly updated and never out of date.

The Drop Ship Source Directory allows you to search for either Name Brand, Product Types or Suppliers. Importantly for non-US based users, you can limit your search to wholesalers who ship internationally.

Note: most of the wholesale suppliers are in the US but about 32% of the drop shipping wholesalers listed will be able to work with international partners. Chris claims that there are Drop Ship Source Directory users based in the UK, Canada, Australia, Greece, Ireland, Egypt, and even Trinidad & Tobago, plus many more.

To purchase the Drop Ship Source Directory you pay a one-time fee which gives you lifetime access including all updates. I like that. No monthly or ongoing fees, which is the norm for this sort of thing.

Conclusion

For online business owners based outside the US there are limitations, but there is still plenty to work with. For US based store owners, this is in my opinion the best shop ship directory available. There are a huge number of wholesalers providing a wide range of products.

If you want to start an online store, drop shipping is definitely the way to go, and the Drop Ship Source Directory is one resource you will not want to be without. Highly recommended!

Article by DeAnna Spencer

Theoretically, you can offer a million dollars worth of merchandise by mail without ever buying or stocking a single item. The trick to this is by using the drop ship method of selling. Simply stated, this means that you merely do the advertising, receive orders at your address, then forward the orders to your suppliers with your wholesale price and they send the item to your customer. It's an easy way to sell, it's effective and it works for many mail order firms, large and small. But, like so many other things in this business, there are two sides to the story. If you have already heard about drop shipping, you have probably only heard one side...the side that merchandise promoters want you to know. As Paul Harvey might say, "Now you will hear the REST  of the story."

Yes, drop shipping can be used profitably, but it is unlikely that you or anyone else can become wealthy in mail order this way. The reason is economic. Most manufacturers, wholesalers or suppliers offer drop ship discounts of 30%-40% and up to 50% to dealers. This is not enough to allow any great profit on which to build a business. The selling costs will usually outweigh the profit allowed on merchandise, so the more you sell, the more you lose. How then can you make money by using the drop shipping principle? By using it to get REPEAT business.

Here's how it would work:

Select what you think would be a good "leader" item and ask your supplier for his lowest price in quantities. The low price will give you greater flexibility in promoting it. The important rule here is to make sure this item represents the entire line of merchandise that you want to sell. Whether you sell it directly from an ad, run inquiry ads and use the two-step followup method of selling, or rent a mailing list...you will probably lose money on this first sale. Don't worry about it. If it's a good item at the right price, you will be building a customer base... people who will be happy with their purchase and will be willing to do business with you again.

Now is the time to use the drop ship method. From your original supplier or from others, get all the sales literature available on other good products that will appeal to your customers. Use this literature as individual sales pieces, or compile them into your own catalog. When filing your first order, enclose this catalog or sales literature with the order, along with an order from and your return address envelope. A percentage of customers will begin sending you additional orders for these new items. Here's an important point: To get the first order you had to spend a lot of money for merchandise, first order you to spend a lot of money for the merchandise, the advertising and shipping. This time you don't have these expenses. All subsequent orders are virtually FREE, except for the cost of the sales literature(possibly 2 cents to 10 cents each.)

At least 3 or 4 times a year, mail to your accumulating customer list with additional offers. All of these can now be drop shipped at a profit. Keep a close watch on items that are hot...those that sell exceptionally well. You might want to take advantage of the lower prices by stocking some of these to fill your own orders and enjoy the maximum profits from each sale.

This is how drop shipping can and should be employed. Of course, if you already manufacture or publish a product of your own, you're way ahead of the game. Use drop shipping to supplement your sales by offering other items to your customers on a regular basis. This is where the profits are in drop shipping.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer

DeAnna is the publisher of the ezine, Prospecting and Presents.
Subscribers get one free ad per week.
Subscribe today by visiting http://www.pnewsletter.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Drop Shipping Secrets and Sources Revealed

Article by Jennifer Gibbs

Unfortunately for those just breaking into the wholesaling business, drop-shipping source information is jealously guarded. With a firm understanding of the service they offer, it isn't hard to see why. As opposed to the typical wholesale resource, drop-shippers offer a myriad of benefits to their buyers:

• You have no excess merchandise to house between orders.

• You're saved the hassle of calculating shipping, packaging orders, and standing in line at whichever postal service you may use.

• Drop-shipping is a great resource for people who own and run web-sites out of their spare time.

• Drop-shipping doesn't require you to make any out of pocket expenses.

As you can see, drop-shipping is pretty attractive. One of the biggest arenas for wholesalers who use drop-shipping sources is eBay, but it can work with any type of online presence. In an ideal situation, a drop-shipping transaction works as follows (assuming that you already have a customer relationship with a drop-ship source):

First, you'll select which product(s) you'll offer for sale on your website, email ad, auction listing, etc. For each item, you'll need a good quality color photo in .gif or .jpeg format. You'll also need a product description, retail price (giving yourself a margin of at least 25% profit), and check out/shopping cart features.

Then, once the information has been uploaded and is ready for public viewing, a buyer will place an order and make full payment for the item.

After this, you'll place an order with your drop-shipping company and they will locate, package and ship the item to your customer, while (usually) at the same time keeping your cash saving secret safe using unlabeled boxes and invoices, or shipping it using your business contact information. You'll send whatever the wholesale price payment is to them, keeping the extra as profit for your company!!

With the smoothness and ease of this, it's no wonder that people out there are charging outlandish prices for directories, lists and memberships to drop-ship sources “clubs”. These packages can run from the low $10's well into the hundreds of dollars.

But not anymore.

Today, I'll reveal to you ten great drop-shipping companies free of charge! While these companies may charge fees for their service, the information is completely free! So don't miss out, get your wholesale business up and running the smart way!!!

1. http://www.qualitybooks.com/dropshippers.htm All of the information that you'll need to open your own online bookstore!! They also offer a Webpage CD that provides you with products, sales page templates and more. They have a one time, lifetime membership fee of only $49.95, which is covered by a 30 day money back guarantee.

2. http://vistawholesale.zoovy.com/ The source for wholesale products such as novelties, general merchandise, novelty lighters and more. They supply eBay sellers, flea market dealers, retail outlets and the general public with the hottest products on the market today, at below wholesale pricing. In addition, there is no minimum order, volume discounts, world wide shipping, no fee drop-shipping, and no membership fees!!

3. http://www.usdropshippers.com/ Now you do! With USDropshippers.com, just find the manufacturers you would like to work with on their categorized pages. The manufacturers will look at your store and decide whether or not they would like you representing their products. After the manufacturer accepts your store, you will receive a password to download the manufacturer's product database and digital artwork. And best of all, you set your own prices, It's your store. As orders come in to your web based store, you fax the orders to the manufacturers and they drop-ship to your customers using a generic invoice with your store's information. With USDropshippers.com, your customers are always your customers!

4. http://www.crystalquest.com/dropshippingprogram.htm Make money drop-shipping water filters and related products. Quoted from the website, “It is very easy to resell our products. We work on a "Per Order" basis. Basically, you make a sale, collect payment from your customer then place the order with us. We will ship the order directly to your customers.”

5.http://www.optimumdiscounts.com/catalog/wholesaledropshippingcatalog.php This website offers a lot of great categories and prices for products that they'll drop-ship. However, they don't guarantee that all products will be in stock. Their shipping costs are based as a percentage of your order price. Categories include: As Seen on TV, Cameras, Electronics, Radar Detectors and more!

6. http://www.information-entertainment.com/Business/dropship.html This website is AWESOME!! They offer an extensive list of companies and their contact information of sources where you can find great drop-shipped products. It'll take a little effort, most of the listings don't include website or email addresses, but the list is amazing and well worth the time and postage.

7. http://stealthwholesale.com/ Stealth Wholesale Inc. is a wholesale/drop-shipping company that specializes in products such as tools, electronics, furniture, models, lighting and more. You'll need to open an account, and as best as I could tell from their website, there isn't any charge to open one!!

8. http://www.securitywholesaler.com/ A great site that offers security based products (home security, personal security, safety weapons, pepper spray, child safety) for sale and offers drop-shipping at a cost per address of $2.00 or $2.50 if you'd like to include a catalog. Definitely worth checking out!!

9. http://www.ewis.ca/onlinestore/scripts/dropship.asp This link takes you to an electronic product wholesaler and drop-shipping company. Benefits include no minimum order and no drop-shipping fees. Check out their wide selection of electronic products in the toolbar to the left.

10. http://smartvitamins.com/ Cash in on the growing trend in the health and wellness industry! This website offers you the chance to open your own online or auction vitamin/supplement business. Click the link provided to view the many benefits they offer.

Armed with this information, you should have more than enough resources to help you get your online presence up and running. Without the risks of high inventory and overhead, you're giving yourself an even better chance of success. No longer will you have to suffer sitting in the dark while others are reaping the profits of drop-shipping!!

Jennifer Gibbs is a successful freelance writer who lives in South Georgia with her husband and her son. If you're looking for high-quality writing at very reasonable rates, check out her website at http://www.jennifergibbs.com, or send an inquiry to info@jennifergibbs.com.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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