How About This:

• Find an item for sale on one site EG eBay or a wholesale site.
• Relist the item for sale on another site EG Amazon.
• Then if the item sells use the payment from the buyer to purchase the item from the original source, in this case eBay or the wholesale site.
• And then either send the item to the buyer yourself or get the supplier to send it to them directly.

This means an almost unlimited choice of products you can sell! And as with traditional dropshipping you can work out your profit margins etc, so is it a genuine way to run your business?

My Thoughts
In principal it could work. But I personally don’t think long-term it is a viable business for several reasons, and I’ve seen 2 cases of it not working.

Fail Examples
A relative of mine tried doing exactly the same a few years back. A new Paul Mckenna book was selling like mad, and the prices on amazon where about a fiver cheaper then on ebay. So he listed loads on ebay and then just ordered direct from amazon and had it sent direct. But the customers were not happy when the book arrived, fresh from amazon with an invoice in and amazon branding all over the packaging! To say they wernt impressed is an understatement! So he stopped immediately. I also came across a business selling fish tanks this weekend, and from reading reviews on the web it transpired the owner didn’t hold the stock, they waited for orders and then sourced it. This resulted in all sorts of problems and so this fish tank sellers reputation is awful on review sites, and several people had filed complaints against them (via the Direct Gov site!).

Direct To Customer?
I don’t think you could just make an order from another company and then send it direct to your customer. It is going to have some kind of invoice, logo branding on packaging, returns info etc. So you would have to get it sent to you first and then send it on. This would also incur extra costs for you of using a courier.

I personally wouldn’t want to do it because the whole point of dropshipping is you don’t handle any goods. To handle goods I would just stock them in the traditional way. Also the nature of constantly going back and forth for me is not a nice one. What if you list a watch for sale, sell it and then go back to the place you were going to buy it from and find it is out of stock or there is a problem, then you are stuffed. You have no way of ever truly being in control unless you ask a seller to reserve stock for you.

Sale Returns
And the issue of dealing with returns would not be pretty either. It would be a nightmare for you to get the item back to you, refund the customer and then try and resell it on. You would end up making a loss when you think of the ebay/amazon listing fees and paypal fess + double postage costs (sending it once, and then sending it once resold). And with ‘distance selling regulations’ you can’t avoid it.

What Will The Bank Think?
I also wouldn’t like to sit in front of my business account manager and tell him by business model, I think he would quickly be asking me if my name was really Del Boy! I had my 6 monthly business review this morning and everytime they are very keen to know exactly my activities at the moment on how my websites make money (this is after 3 years of running it on the same business model!) which they pay close attention to so I don’t think telling them porkies about the nature of sourcing products would be possible.

Other Negatives?
And then when you add in the other negatives such as; listing fee costs, warranty issues, potential payment delays etc I just think it is so much of a nightmare business model that even if you could sell a few items per month it simply wouldnt be worth the headaches. So for me I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, much better of holding stock in the traditional manner or using proper dropshippers.

It’s Your Business
Having said all of that. It’s your business and I always encourage people to do what they feel is right, so although I wouldn’t do it don’t let me stop you at least trying it for a few months, at least then you will know first hand whether it is viable!

One of my biggest frustrations about this industry is the way people constantly blame dropshippers for their own business failing.

For example on the DropshipHelp.co.uk forum recently someone was voicing their thoughts on a dropshipper and they also said “if i google my own site it comes up with yes youve guessed sod all”, so that’s the dropshippers fault is it? That you clearly have absolutely no clue how to promote a website, you can’t even get it indexed let alone ranking high in Google – and yet it’s the dropshippers fault!?! Wakey wakey!

People doing this is simply a joke. I bet this individuals ‘marketing’ section in their business plan made for interesting reading! In this article I’ve put together a few of the key points people bring up when blaming dropshippers, and how in actual fact people need to look at their own business, not the dropshipper.

The Prices Of Products – eBay Prices

This one crops up more times then I can remember! “I’ve seen their products cheaper on ebay”.
  – For a start ebay has normal people selling things second hand, they will gladly start auctions for their old DVDs from 1p. Clearly you are never going to undercut these sellers!
  – Secondly, ebay also has businesses selling products who buy wholesale. Once again they will be able to sell cheaper then you because they source products cheaper then you.
  – Thirdly ebay is massively saturated with so many sellers that competition is fierce.

So if every time you visit a dropshipper you leave saying “I’ve seen their products cheaper on ebay” you may as well just give in now. Don’t go round blaming the dropshipper it’s their fault prices are cheaper on ebay. The solution is to forget about ebay and sell from your own ecommerce website.

Not Everybody Buys From The Same Place Or For The Cheapest Price!

I love it when people see a product available to buy at a lower price from a retailer then they can sell it for, and all of a sudden that’s it, they can no longer sell it as well because obviously consumers will just go and buy from the cheaper seller, WRONG.

People don’t always buy from the cheapest place. Look at Play.com as a prime example, many many of their products can be purchased elsewhere at lower prices (whether it be ebay, amazon or a small ecommerce company) but yet last christmas on their busiest trading day, December 8th 2008, they processed 1000 orders per minute – they are a big company, and by no means the cheapest! If that example doesn’t make the penny drop for you then nothing will.

To see different prices in action start using Google Product Search, look at specific products and see the big range retailers are selling in. I performed a search looking to buy a ‘Powerball Neon Pro‘ (a fitness product) and the prices range from £14.69 all the way up to £29.99, with many prices in between. Another clear indicator of how many retailers are selling the same products at very different prices.

There Are So Many Influences On Buying Decisions

A lot of factors influence a customers decision to buy. Not just price. When I did my series of articles looking at Increasing Revenue not a single one of them was ‘change dropshipper’. On-site many factors affect visitors. If you have a poorly formatted website not good for visitors which doesn’t give them any confidence you are not going to make sales, that is not the dropshippers fault it’s yours!

Locating Who To Buy From

Consumers don’t just find the lowest price and buy from that seller. Also many consumers only see a select few of the retailers selling specific products. Some consumers will simply do a Google Search to find a product and look at the few sites at the top of the SERPs and pick which one to buy from, they won’t use all means to hunt down every retailer selling ‘bath bombs’ or whatever they are after.

Get your website well promoted and top of the search engines and consumers will see your website, but not some of your competitors. If they can’t compare you with competitors they will buy from you, regardless of the fact your prices are a pound or two higher!

Conclusion – Take Responsibility And Fix The Problem

The products you sell are obviously a key part of your business, and picking a trustworthy dropshipper in the beginning is important. However, in the grand scheme of your businesses life the actual dropshipper you get going with is by no means the ‘make or break’ part of your business – yet so many people seem to think it is. As soon as something doesn’t go right “ooops its the dropshippers fault”, these companies post the products for you, not run your whole business!

Build a quality ecommerce website and market it effectively. Once established if you don’t feel your dropshipper is performing as you would like then you go elsewhere, if you have an established website with decent targetted visitors it shouldn’t be to difficult to strike up an agreement with another company to dropship for you.

So if you are “one of these” people, do yourself a favour and look at all factors of why your business is failing to see how you can sort it. If you don’t get much traffic and your ecommerce website isn’t very good – you know what to do, improve it, don’t blame the dropshipper!

Play.com stat source: feedyourmind.

Last week I started updating the dropshipper list in the DropshipHelp.co.uk members area. So far I’ve removed 5 companies, added 15 and still have quite a few more to look into. It’s always interesting updating the list but I’ve noticed a slight shift in the way dropshippers are doing business.

Previously

If you have viewed the list before (if not go to the site and sign-up, accounts are free) I have it nicely split up into sections; UK free, UK one-off fee, UK subscription, Foreign companies and also those where by you have to contact the company for more details.

In the past the list was heavily weighted towards the top IE UK dropshippers who don’t require a fee and anyone can sign-up.

Now

However, in this latest update I’ve noticed quite a shift. The category of ‘Contact Company For More Info’ has doubled in size, whereas the top category of ‘UK Free’ has decreased ever so slightly. In percentage terms it doesn’t represent a notable shift in the way companies are working their dropshipping service.

What This Means

By ‘contact the company for more info’ the dropshipper is basically taking a look at every person that will be selling their products and finding out how they will sell them and trying to draw conclusions from it. I believe this makes for a more solid service and is better for sellers due to less competition.

Conclusion

All-in-all the list of dropshippers is growing in size, not a great rate but considering the recession it is obviously a good thing. And also the slight shift towards the dropshippers having more of a tight relationship with all their sellers is another positive. So for the future of the industry I see the changes as positive.

UKDropshipGroup

Overview
UKDropshipGroup is an established dropship company based in Cheshire, UK, providing ecommerce websites for those looking to sell products online from home.

The Service
UKDropshipGroup provides a full dropship solution for those who want their own ecommerce website but don’t have the technical ability to set one up. You also don’t need to worry about finding a dropshipper because with the UKDropshipGroup service you also get free dropship supplier accounts.

Products & Businesses
There are currently 7 businesses to chose from selling the following products; inkjet, DVD, beauty, gadget, football, lingerie and wedding. Each business has a range of professional templates so you can pick your own design. The templates are not your usual run of the mill templates, but professionally created to entice customers. Also, your new website will be up and running inside 1 hour.

All UKDropshipGroup customers also receive a free dropshipper business package, including marketing, search engine, SEO, free domain name, free software, free telephone number and many more essential products required to get your new website business of to a flying start. You will also receive free technical and customer support, giving you the total peace of mind that should you require any assistance, it is available to you.

Cost
It costs £14.97 to set-up your website (limited time only), and then you have to pay £7.95 per month for the web hosting via a paypal subscription. This is good value for money considering the time you would save in comparison to learning how to set-up a website and doing it all yourself. Also, depending on the hosting package you choose, it is possible to be running your new website business for as little as 13 pence per day. Great value.

Conclusion
UKDropshipGroup are ideal if you want your own website but don’t know how to go about setting it up. Even if you do know how they can still save you a lot of time. A wide range of business types are also available so you can be selling products you like yourself and enjoy selling, in my opinion it is always important you are selling products you quite like yourself. Dropshipping is a growing industry, and UKDropshipGroup are very experienced in this field, and can offer you all the start-up information, and support you could require.

Visit the UKDropshipGroup.com website now to learn more about the service and register your own website.

DropshipLand

Profile #2 – DropshipLand.com

Overview
DropshipLand is a well established UK dropshipper based in the North of England, selling CDs, DVDs, lingerie, beauty products, football souvenirs and more.

Costs & Ordering
To join DropshipLand you just have to pay a small fee, they have two options – 1 Year Membership for £29.95 or Lifetime Membership for £79.95, they also sometimes have special offers. The product prices are not shown on the main website if you aren’t registered however if you contact them they will send you a sample price list. They accept paypal, as well as credit and debit cards – and there is no minimum order when ordering products.

Don’t let the sign-up fee put you off, especially if you are new to dropshipping. Although it costs you now a sign-up fee does help you because it discourages some people from joining which means less competition for you when selling their products and it also stops consumers buying direct from the dropshipper.

Shipping
They ship all goods in plain and protective packaging with no mention of the company so the customer will think the product has came direct from you. Although UK based they do ship orders to customers worldwide with low cost shipping rates – £3.00 or £3.75 depending on the part of the world being shipped to. Shipping is also only £1.50 to the UK, which is very reasonable. 90% of orders are shipped inside 24 hours.

Website & Currency
Once signed up their website is very easy to use, as we also have a ‘new member q&a database’, as well as telephone support. The only currency used on the website is pound sterling but if you are located in the US or Eurozone paypal means you can still use the DropshipLand service.

Website Option
If you decide to take Dropshipland’s website option (Platinum membership), then you can have your own website activated inside an hour, ready to make profits. All stock is fully updated, automatically, on a daily basis. You can also add your own products to your website. In fact, Dropshipland actually give you a 300+ software package bundle for you to sell, free of charge, to sell on your new website. You gain free technical support for your website, including telephone support and ticket system. Full details of the Dropshipland website option can be seen here: http://www.dropshipland.com/your-website-i-23.html where you can quickly see the benefits.

Immediate Access. Once you have joined Dropshipland, you will be automatically directed to full access details, including how to create your account, as well as activate your website. The software used on the website you receive is a much improved version of the popular Zen Cart shopping cart system, which is very easy to use, even for beginners. The website is already populated with stock, and the only action you have to take, is insert your paypal email address, and you are ready to start trading. It could not be easier.

Product Example
I can’t give a product example like I did on the Chinavasion review because the 2 websites work differently but at DropshipLand they do sell the following products at prices significantly lower than the RRP – CDs up to 40% lower, DVDs up to 75% lower, lingerie up to 40% lower, Inkjet ranges up to 25% lower, beauty ranges up to 30% lower, ties & cufflinks up to 40% lower, souvenirs up to 35% lower than the RRP. From those prices you can see there is room for decent profit margins, especially if you sell from your own website, not eBay. Also, remember, that because Dropshipland have so very many products for you to promote, along different ranges, you will always create the possibility of passive sales from one range, to another.

Conclusion
DropshipLand is a very well established dropshipper and have been dropshipping for over 4 years. They continue to increase their product range which is brilliant from a sellers point of view and they also provide quality customer service – on their website they have a phone number, address etc so it is super easy to get in touch with them. If you want to sell a broad range of products and want a dropshipper you have full confidence in then DropshipLand is ideal. You can be safe in the knowledge, that you would be using a dropshipper that has stood the test of time, and is well known for excellent customer services.

Other Notes
As with any dropshipper, DropshipLand will go out of stock of products from time to time, however they do have a clever system in place which lets you check if products have gone out of stock giving you enough time to control your sales. This is a great benefit because there is nothing worse than making a sale and finding the dropshipper has sold out of the product!

The people who run Dropshipland, have some of the widest dropshipping knowledge available, which means you would be working with a company who were one of the first dropship companies in he UK, and who know the industry better than most.

Website
Visit the Dropshipland website to learn more about them and sign-up for their service.

Please note all figures quoted and information was correct at the time this page was published.

ScamChecker

ScamChecker is a free online resource to help you avoid scams. It uses a checklist system where you tick off the relevant boxes and the website tells you how likely it is that the website is legitimate.

They also have a very good ‘Website Scam Guide’ which is worth a quick read. So if you’re in the hunt for new suppliers add the site to your favourites and save yourself time and worry!

Chinavasion

Company - Chinavasion

Overview
Chinavasion is a worldwide dropshipper of electronic products, they are based in Shenzhen, China.

Costs & Ordering
The Chinavasion website is free to join and they never charge any fees, the product prices are available on the website even if you aren’t registered. There is no minimum order when ordering, and they also give discounts the more you order, so the more you sell the cheaper your goods will be meaning higher profit margins!

Shipping
They ship all goods in plain packaging using air express couriers (DHL, FedEx, and UPS). The typical time for orders to arrive is 6-10 days. Coming from China to the UK the postage isn’t cheap but the products are well priced so the overall cost is still very reasonable.

Website & Currency
Their website is very easy to use and has lots of detailed information covering all important information like shipping, contacting them, the dropship process etc. You can order in pounds, dollars or euros. They have a little button in their left navigation bar which you can use to change the currency to pounds.

Product Example
They sell a ‘Super Color Watch MP4 Player 4GB’ for £27.07, add shipping at £8.97 the total cost would be £36.04 for a very good product.

The product isn’t a brand name, but if you run an established electronics business you could just call it an ‘own brand’ product, which I think also gives the impression your company is larger than it really is. The product also comes with a 12 month warranty which is a great for customer confidence. I think you could comfortably sell this product for just over £50 (on your own website, not ebay!) which even after your payment fees would leave a good profit.

Conclusion – The Positives & Negatives
On the positive side the cost of products is very good. Gadgets and ‘trend’ products seem to be selling very well online at the moment, Chinavasion is a great supplier if you want a piece of the action. The products also have lots of photos and in-depth descriptions which is vital for dropshippers and makes selling much easier. Other smaller benefits include; no sign-up fee, no minimum orders, you can pay via paypal and there are a variety of currency options.

On the negtive side the products aren’t branded, however this is much better than fake goods! The cost of shipping to the UK is also a negative, however this can’t be avoided and is just part of buying from any overseas company, even with the cost of shipping I still think total prices are good considering the prices you can demand from UK consumers.

Other Notes
Watch out for import duty on high value goods and big orders. If you can I would recommend you do a test order to see first hand how their service is and what a particular product is like, it will also let you know if their is any complications regarding import duty. When the product arrives you can then sell it and dispatch it yourself so you don’t lose any money. To learn more read my post about test buying which was published on this blog in January.

Website
Visit the Chinavasion website to learn more about them and use their service.

Here is a list of UK based dropshippers. All of the websites below are free to join and based in the UK. Each link opens in a new window.

• DropshipOnline
• Eyewear Systems Ltd
• Pretty in Pink Clubwear
• Dropship Services
• Wholesale Knives
• Grab A Gift
• Emporium UK
• 1000and1
• iPhones 2U
• Electronic Wholesalers 4U
• Wholesale Film Cells
• Sourcing House Ltd
• Help is at Hand
• Fe-Lines
• Beauty Kisses
• Sexshop 365
• 1on1dropship
• Devilwear (require £9.99 deposit which you get back after your 1st order)
• Drop Easy (require £30.00 deposit added as credit in your account)

Some Dropshippers Missing!
You may have visited other free dropshippers not listed here. If a website is a known middle-man then we won’t list them or if serious concern has been expressed about a dropshipper then we won’t list them. Some companies have also asked me not to list them because they have enough sellers for their products or they approach sellers privately. If you know of a company who you think should be listed here then leave a comment with the website and we can grow the list together!

This list forms part of the list provided for members of DropshipHelp.co.uk. It is up to you to research each company listed above and we are not responsible for any loss occuring to yourself as a result of using a company above. We do basic research for each site before listing. We are not responsible for the content of any external sites linked to from this blog.

Avoid The Baddies!

What is a Scam? This is when a website just takes your money and runs. This is illegal and it is important you avoid falling for a scam.

Here are the telling signs of a middle-man or scam website:

• Contact details – these are very rarely listed on middle-men and scam websites. Real dropship businesses will normally list their email, phone number & physical address (needed for returns!). If a website only has an email address listed then email them asking for a phone number and physical address, if they don’t reply or give you the details then avoid them. Some middle-men may list a phone number, however it may just be an unanswered line. So if you are unsure about the website give the number a call, if they answer then enquire about a product. If you ring 5 times and they don’t answer then you know the score! Checking out contact details is probably the best single way to find out about a website/company.
• Payments – scams often have high value products listed with payment via a payment processor like e-gold. If a website only offers a processor like e-gold as an option then avoid them.
• Substantial set-up fees – Many legitimate dropshippers charge a fee to join (for various reasons) so don’t assume all dropshippers charging a fee are a scam, because they aren’t. However the ones that charge a ridiculous amount, EG £100, are to be avoided. Once you have paid and are in the members area you will likely see a crappy product range with prices that leave no profit margins for you.
• Product pricing – scammers often list high-value products which have big demand (ipods etc) at prices which are way below the retail price. Suprise suprise the product never turns up and your emails aren’t being answered. On the other hand be wary of companies who don’t list prices at all on the front-end of the website and expect you to pay to join them. Give them a call and ask them if they would kindly email you a price list of products for members. If the answer is NO then stear clear of them.
• How professional is the website/communication – look out for spelling errors, bad design, poor quality images and poor grammar. A professional business will make sure all of these are not present on their website. When you call/email the company how quickly do they respond, is the response concise and professional, did they even answer your question?

Conclusion
The points listed in this article WILL NOT make you bullet proof, you could still fall into a scam or end up selling products via a middle-man which could cost you financially and lead to you having to pick up the pieces of unhappy customers. If you have applied the points in this article to a website you are thinking of using and are still unsure about them then ask for further opinions on forums.

If we all avoid these middle-men and scams then eventually they will disappear, even if it takes years! If we cut out all the middle-men then the dropship industry would be more trusting and honest which would encourage more sales and dropshippers to expand benefiting all of us!

If you have other ways of spotting a scam or middle-man please make a comment below or drop me an e-mail.

Before ordering with any dropshipper (or paying a joining fee) you want to try and find out as much info as possible. You can do this by typing the companys name into Google and seeing what comes up, or by visiting a dropship/wholesale forum and posting a message to see what others have experienced.

Dropkicker

There are other so-called ‘dropshipper reviews’ on the web, however the majority of these sites only review dropshippers with affiliate programs and tell you how amazing they are just so they earn a few quid in commission! DropKicker is different because they only put a basic description of the company and then visitors to the site submit reviews. The website is very easy to use and the database of companys and reviews is steadily growing.

Although the DropKicker system is open to idiots posting bad messages about a company (the sort I mean are those who join and make hardly any sales, blame the dropshipper and not their badly executed ebay auctions!) as long as the database of reviewers keeps filling up it could become a decent resource for those new to dropshipping and established online sellers looking to increase their product range.

Link: DropKicker.org