Shopster's Dropshippers, eCommerce, and Selling Online Blog

Don’t let the economy get you down

Throughout much of the developed world, the state of the economy has been pretty much in the doldrums ever since the global economic meltdown of three years ago.

Retailers such as yourself and wholesalers such as your drop shippers feel the pinch, although there are enough positive signs that a recovery is underway.

It is easy enough to surrender to the general negative feeling that persists in many industries, retail and wholesale included. However, if you allow those negative feelings to grab hold of you, your chances of moving forward become, for all intents, non-existent.

Your drop shippers are aware of this. Remember that they do have a different vantage point from you. You and your business are at ground level, but your drop shippers see things from a higher perspective.

If the economy were going downhill as a few doomsayers say, then your drop shippers would have shut down their operations a long time ago. If, on the other hand, they see that a full-blown recovery is approaching, they will likely stay in business at all cost.

So what do you see? Are your drop shippers falling like dominos? Or are they standing tall, taking the licks as they come, and planning for better times ahead?

Since all drop shippers have spent much larger sums than you to put up their business, the fact that they are still around should tell you what’s ahead.  When a nation’s economy falls, the next sure thing to happen is for that same economy to rise. Drop shippers are expecting a major economic rebound, and they want nothing more than to bring their retailers up with them when it does. That would include you!

 

 

Tips on Making a Successful Store on Facebook

Make a community among your customers

If there is one thing that traditional stores do very well, it’s creating a sense of community among its buyers. Most online stores would not measure up when it comes to this, but you must do what you can to make your store as friendly and accessible to customers. Maximize your Facebook page and use it to provide info that is important to your community. You can post local news to create a sense of intimacy with customers. Do whatever you can to make give your page the feel of a community portal.

Choose your content well

Users are surrounded by lots of feeds everyday and if your posts are not catchy enough, they wouldn’t even bother reading what you have to say. So aside from store-related posts, add ones that are entertaining and amusing. This will make your page memorable to users.

Make use of the Like function

The more Likes you garner, the more likely your page will appear on the news feeds of your potential customers.

Promote your page through your physical store

Grab the chance to let your buyers know that you already have a Facebook page. Tell them all about it when they visit your physical store. Entice them to add your store in their list by creating incentives that they will benefit from.

 

 

Making Your Dropshipping Business Successful

So you know the basics of the dropshipping business and you are planning to establish one of your own. Before you drop your cash, take heed of the following tips to make sure your business will run smoothly.

Make sure that your dropshipper has a good reputation

Check with the Better Business Bureau to confirm the company’s business reputation. Find out how long he has been in the business and if the company has any consumer complaints against them. These are only some of the factors you need to verify before you do business with the dropshipper.

Check the tracking system used by the company

You will need a reliable system to keep track of your customers’ orders. Ask your dropshipper about the tracking system that they use and how long does it take for them to process an order. Remember that you will be the one who will answer questions when the customer wants to know the status of the shipping.

Let your customers know the conditions behind your business

It is important to let your customer know that you don’t have the actual item in your possession and that you are just the middle man and conducting the sales on the dropshipper’s behalf. In the way, the buyers will understand why it may take a bit longer for the item to be shipped since it will come from the supplier and not you.

Look for a dropshipper that does not require fees for access to their products

If the dropshipper asks you to give a payment to set an account with them, take your business elsewhere. Dropshippers are not supposed to do that.

Test the service yourself

Order a few items from the dropshipper and observe the delivery time, quality of products and customer service.

Your area of coverage

If the products you sell in your online store come from drop shippers, you have the widest possible area of coverage. This means that even if you are based in California, for example, you can have buyers as far away as New York or Alaska or Hawaii.

If, on the other hand, you sell goods that you make yourself, or which come from local suppliers, then your area of coverage will necessarily be smaller.

Going back to the California example, you will probably have to limit yourself to the Golden State alone, or just the northern or southern part. This is especially true if your products can spoil after a few weeks or even days.

There are advantages and disadvantages of having a limited area to cover. The main advantage is that your service can be more personalized. You can have plenty of customers who are within driving distance from your place. If you opt to deliver the sold goods yourself, the close contact can mean plenty of repeat business. Meeting your customers face-to-face can result in their becoming regulars.

The disadvantage will of course be your lower gross sales. Starting small is therefore your easier path to growth. This is the ideal path if your online store is only a small source of income for you, rather than a primary one. Great, if you’re a retiree or have physical limitations, but not exactly ideal if you set lofty goals for yourself.

Whatever you choose – wide area versus limited area of coverage – your online store can take easily take the place of the regular nine-to-five job and its fixed income.

Seek out the specials

The pricing of the goods that you get from your drop shippers are generally fixed. This means that you sell at the same prices as all other clients of the drop shippers, although they will usually give volume discounts for their outlets who perform exceptionally well.

Presuming that you’re online site’s sales are neither spectacular nor terrible, is there a way to get more from your drop shippers?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Not that your drop shippers will give you more at the expense of their other reliable retailers. This is simply bad business. But there may be items that your drop shippers will have an excess of, and which they want to sell off as quickly as possible.

Or, your drop shippers may have the last few stocks of certain products that have been phased out or replaced with a newer model. These stocks are still relatively new, and still in their original packaging. Nothing wrong with them except for their being last year’s style.

Now as a sales person, you know that somewhere out there are consumers who may still want the product, who do not believe that perfectly good products can become obsolete.

Ask your drop shippers for a list of these products every so often, maybe on a quarterly basis.

On your site, you don’t even have to sell them as bargains. Call them classic or refer to them as rarities and you wouldn’t be far from the truth.

You the seller know what you’re selling, while your buyer knows exactly what he/she is paying for. Everyone is happy, including your drop shippers. You helped them move some slow to non-moving items from their warehouse, and they owe you one!

Which online drop shipping stores to pick

At first glance, online drop shipping stores seem to be all alike. Some will even sell the exact same goods at the exact same prices, as is the case with low cost consumer gift items.

This being the apparent case, you may conclude that it doesn’t really matter which of the online drop shipping stores you do business with. You are, after all, a retailer, while they are for the most part the wholesaler or manufacturer.

Whether you are dealing with Timex watches, RayBan sunglasses or Levi’s jeans on your website, it shouldn’t matter where you get your supply, right?

Wrong. It does matter. The price at which you obtain goods from online drop shipping stores is just one factor to consider when choosing which ones to do business with. Even when they are exactly the same.

The speed with which the online drop shipping stores deliver to your customers what you order from them is one important consideration. If, for instance, you work out of California and the bulk of your clienteles is from the West Coast, then a drop shipper based in New Jersey will take longer than one based in your part of the country.

Online drop shipping stores also have different policies in the case of returned goods. Some will assume the mailing cost, some will charge that expense to you.

The guarantees for the products may also differ. One online drop shipping store may offer a 30-day guarantee, another a 60-day guarantee, and yet another a 90-day guarantee.

Frontline operations may all be the same for the drop shippers, but backroom operations tend to differ from company to company. Choose one that works best for you.

Drop shippers want you to succeed

It is in the best interest of drop shippers for as many of their retailers to succeed as possible. This means you, their dear retailer, without whom they would not be in business in the first place.

But while they cannot interfere with how your run your online store, drop shippers can still provide you with a wealth of information that will help you sell more and more of the products that you sell, which are also their products to begin with.

The most important info they have is their list of customers who are doing exceptionally well. Your drop shippers should know how and why some of their retailers are able to sell more than others.

Since you most certainly do not want to be in their B list of also rans, why not get that valuable info from them?

We’re not talking about trade secrets here. But there are retailers who your drop shippers do business with who have been around longer than you, and have a track record that would be deemed impressive.

Marketing is a little bit like war. There are strategies and tactics that work better than others. Drop shippers have the vantage point of seeing more of the proper strategies and tactics employed by the best retailers than you on the ground.

Sometimes, all it takes is a little tweaking and your online store can experience dramatic surges in sales.

Ask your drop shippers for advice. They are not likely to be selfish with sharing their knowledge.

After all, what you have is supposed to be a win-win partnership, isn’t it? If you succeed, they succeed.

Selling online should be fun

While selling online is supposed to be a serious business, there is no reason why owners and operators of online sites shouldn’t enjoy their work.

The most successful online entrepreneurs know one of the worst-kept secrets of the business; selling online should be fun.

Chances of succeeding drop considerably when one is in a chosen line of work that he or she does not care about. If you’re only in it for the money, you will eventually become miserable.

This is not to say that selling online should be treated as a mere hobby. This kind of attitude will also limit an online businessman’s potential to do well.

Sales orders should still be processed immediately, and the goods or services sold should deliver what is promised.

Selling online also necessarily means keeping records, not only for tax purposes but to see if the business is running efficiently. This part of the business may be a grind to some, but it’s something all entrepreneurs have to live with.

Still, the bulk of the work should have the enjoyment factor. If your online business involves delivering flowers, for example, then it goes without saying that you should have an inherent love for planting, raising, or arranging flowers.

And what if you do not create your own products to sell?

You may be dependent on suppliers, but the choice of what to sell is still yours. As a merchandiser, you should only pick and display items on your site that you believe in, whether they be comic books, antique furniture, or the latest electronic gadgets.

Selling online can be a very rewarding experience, not only financially but emotionally. But only if you enjoy what you’re doing.

 

Keep in touch with your drop shippers

Keeping the doors of communication open with your drop shippers is one of the best things you can do for your online store. They will not only appreciate receiving feedback from you, a special relationship could conceivably result in extra bargains for you.

There are no rigid rules on how to deal with your drop shippers, although a good rule of thumb is that if you treat them as persons rather than as impersonal companies, they will likely reciprocate by considering you as a favoured client..

Don’t forget that all drop shippers are owned and run by people like you and me. Even the biggest drop shippers have CEOs who constantly seek better ways to improve their service, thereby resulting in more sales.

As much as possible, the communications should be about your business. If they have gone the extra mile for you, they will appreciate your thanking them. On the other hand, if their performance has been less than ideal, letting them know of their shortcomings should result in their improving their service.

Once your drop shippers see that you are an active rather than a passive business partner, they can even give you special tips on how to improve your online site.

There will be some occasions when your correspondence will not be limited to business matters, such as anniversaries or even holidays. If your drop shippers are celebrating a milestone, one of the best things you can do is to not only to congratulate them, but also to endorse them to other online entrepreneurs.

A small note will be more than enough to make their day.

 

Why not be a drop shipper yourself?

Looking at the sheer number of individuals and companies engaged in ecommerce, it is clear that there are countless business opportunities in the internet, not the least of which are the parties who are drop shippers.

It may be said that drop shippers specialize in one area of marketing other than direct retailing. This is something they prefer to leave to those whose calling is retail sales.

As with any product or service, much goes on behind what the consumer finally buys.

Be it in the physical world or in the virtual world that is the internet, drop shippers provide an essential link in the supply chain. Drop shippers may be manufacturers or they may be wholesalers. They work best with partners who are salesmen at heart, although they may have different titles.

Ideally, both drop shippers and retailers make decent profits by providing products or services that consumers of certain niches need or want.

The retailer has the distinct advantage of keeping his or her costs low due to the absence of a large inventory. These retailers may have a small inventory, but by and large the products or services are delivered by the drop shippers.

Collection of payments depends on the arrangements made between the retailers and the drop shippers.

What does it take to become a successful drop shipper? For one, there has to be a commitment to doing his or her part of the arrangement, which is never to compete with the partners. They choose to become drop shippers and drop shippers only.

Under a best-case scenario, the drop shippers know that they can trust their retailers, and vice versa.

Online Drop Shipping Stores as Your Equal Business Partner

The idea seems simple enough: Create your own online store selling goods you get from suppliers. No inventory of your own is necessary. This means lower operating costs. This is not unlike having a physical store selling nothing but consigned goods.

But what to sell and where to get the products? This is where online drop shipping stores come in, and there are plenty of them out there. Choosing what goods to sell is entirely dependent on your personal interests. The rule of thumb is not to sell anything you would not buy yourself.

The best ones are those which have years of experience in this supply chain management technique, which is essentially what online drop shipping stores is all about.

Since they are experts in the areas of manufacturing, stocking, and delivering, but not necessarily marketing, they depend on you to help them sell their goods. Under the most ideal circumstances, you become equal partners. For as long as each party does his or her part, both sides win.

But not all online drop shipping stores are created equal. Some will give retailers better deals than others.

On your part, dealing with one may provide extremely profitable, while dealing with another will hardly be worth your while.

The start-up period will naturally entail some difficulties and some kinks that need to be worked out. Remember that no store, physical or online, ever makes a profit from day one. But with patience, hard work, and a bit of luck, you can have your own business soon enough, with a little help from one or two or more of those online drop shipping stores.

Climb to the Next Level via Drop Shipping

If your patience, hard work and a bit of luck have paid off and you are finally generating a sufficient income on eBay, expanding your business can be made faster by drop shipping.

Drop shipping on eBay has grown dramatically over the years as can be seen from so many sellers pushing the same products. Those products are, in all likelihood, distributed to the eBay retailers by wholesalers not inclined to go into retail sales themselves.

Drop shipping on eBay is that proverbial win-win situation because the retailer does not have to spend so much money to build up an inventory, while the manufacturer or wholesaler has multiple marketing arms to sell his goods.

Entrepreneurs who have already made their mark on eBay can easily expand their online business by searching for companies which have related goods or services – known as downstream industries – and including these in their virtual store.

If, for example, you have an extensive collection of old toys and have managed to sell these at a healthy profit, you can now include old and new toys from any manufacturer or wholesaler among your offerings. Such is how drop shipping on eBay works. In the physical world, this is not unlike indent sales, where sales and marketing companies act as representatives for products without having these products on stock.

Once sales are made, the manufacturer or wholesaler takes care of delivery.

The drop shipping technique can be adopted by nearly every eBay entrepreneur. All he or she has to do is identify the products that can be sold at the same site as the original product from where the business started. So instead of being a one-trick pony or owner of a short-lived fad product, the online entrepreneur can expand his business by diversifying. Indeed, drop shipping on eBay is paving the way for greater success for many an entrepreneur.

 

Key Elements for Selling Dropship Items Online

If we haven’t talked enough about the benefits of dropshipping, we’ll take another stab at it again with today’s post. Dropshipping can streamline your business processes, saving you time, effort and money as you push forward with your online selling business.

The essence of dropshipping is to remove the order fulfillment process from the retailer and to get him/her ready to sell online immediately. In Shopster’s dropship network, you’ll find hundreds of suppliers of dropship products which will send the items directly to your end buyers after your purchase of the inventory. All you have to do is to add the product to your own Shopster-powered store and you’re ready to sell without ever having to handle the physical product throughout the transaction. You save on shipping costs, warehouse rental and manpower costs for inventory management.

Given all that, if you’re ready to sell dropshipped items online, here are some pointers to start you off:

• There is no need to advertise that you are sourcing your product from a dropshipper. This is a business proposition that benefits the retailer, not the consumers, so sell your dropshipped products as you would any normal inventory.
• Provide good product descriptions and images. As we’ve said before, do not just copy and paste the product description right off the manufacturer-supplied descriptions, it would be best to come up with unique content for your own website.
• Do a little bit of background check on your dropship suppliers. Every time you sell a dropshipped product, it is your name on the line. Reliability must be on your checklist when choosing any supplier, dropship or not.
• Have a back-up plan. Remember, you are not the only retailer that your chosen dropship supplier is working with. Inventory can run out fast for popular products, so instead or risking backorders for your clients, have a back-up supplier for all your inventory.
• If anything goes wrong with the transaction, communicate this clearly with your clients and provide a realistic solution to the problem.

Happy selling!

New Law Affects US eCommerce

If you are like many online sellers today, the US would be a sizeable market for you to work with. If this is the case, then you should be aware of the new law passed late last year. The “Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act” (S. 3386) aims to protect the American online consumer certain aggressive sales tactics on the Internet.

The law looks into some aspects of ecommerce such as “data pass” or the practice of exchanging payment for customer’s billing information – including credit card and debit card numbers – with third party sellers.

The law also looks at “negative options” – this is the practice of some merchants to automatically enroll members into a paid membership club after a free trial period. The said consumers are then charged periodically until they affirmatively cancel their membership.  

The heart of the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act are the new requirements for ecommerce websites before they can charge or attempt to charge any consumer’s financial account. This includes clear and conspicuous disclosure of all material terms and express informed consent from the consumer prior to charging.

While it aims to protect the consumer, the new law is also fair to online sellers. Any violation of this law would be classified as an unfair or deceptive act and practice under the Federal Trade Commission. Penalties include a fine of up to $10,000 per violation and civil action.

You can find out more about the Act here: http://commerce.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=34de7a0c-ad3e-431a-a1ad-131c5e146833

Stay well-informed of the laws that exist in your current target markets to avoid any hassle in the future.

Happy selling!

Dealing with Backorders

One of the problems that you’ll most likely come across as you work with dropshipping companies are backorders. Don’t worry, they are a common ordeal for most online sellers that use dropshipping as their supply chain management method. This occurs when there are orders in excess of available stock from the supplier.

First, let’s take the preventive route. To avoid overselling items with limited stock, stay on top available inventory for each product you sell. If you already know that the products you are listing as part of your inventory move fast, stay on high alert and pull it out if you don’t have back up suppliers. Having an inventory management system will also help you keep track of all your product movements.

Still in the preventive mode, make sure you do research on the dropshipping company that you work with even before you sign up. Part of the reliability aspect that you should look into is how often they update their inventory listing.

It’s a good idea to have a disclaimer on your website or on your auctions of the possibility of a backorder (do add that it rarely happens), but in the event that it does, let them know the estimated wait time for the items to get to them. If you have other policies concerning backorders, you may want to include this in your website as well. Having a simple one-liner can avoid future irate customers, knowing that they have been fairly warned.

Last method of avoiding overselling is to keep items in stock and at-hand yourself. However, this really defeats the purpose of sourcing your products via dropshipping as it will require you spend for the inventory upfront. Do this only if you really believe in the product and you are certain that the inventory will be bought. This last tip may be applicable to seasonal items that have had an upswing in purchasing trend in the past years during particular peak months – summer items are a good example.

If you’ve done all that you can to prevent backorders, do know that they might still occur. Your best hope at this point is to learn the art of pacifying an angry customer and properly communicating issues. Apologize to the customer for the inconvenience and state that you are on top of the situation. If the back order is expected to take more than a week, just keep them updated every few days.

Happy selling!  

Deciding On Which Brands to Display in your Online Store

 
Hopefully by now you’ve started working on your online Shopster storefront. If you haven’t yet, it’s time to do so. Aside from putting together the content and choosing your categories, your next step is to choose the products to display on your site.                                        

There are two types of products for you to choose from: the generic, unbranded ones and the those that have a brand. The unbranded products are often cheaper and lesser known. But there is a market out there for those. For this post, we’ll focus on how to choose the brands to sell in your online store.

• Look for the latest releases. Buyers always want something new and different. When selecting products for your store, it is best to highlight the newer items that you have as these have a tendency to move faster and to sell for more. 
• Keep the classics in stock. While having the latest inventory is definitely a must, there are buyers who still want older versions of a product because they are more used to it. Compatibility with their existing system is also a consideration (ie for computer software, games and other electronic items).
• Check out reviews of certain products. It may surprise you that the latest release isn’t the most popular for certain niche markets. Find out what people are saying about certain brands to know if these have the potential to become a good sale.
• Find out more about post-sale service offerings. As a retailer, you won’t always be able to answer all the concerns or requirements of your clients. Specifically once the sale is done, you won’t be able to service repairs. Look for products that offer warranties or have service centers that could help with this issue.
• Do your market research. If you already know what kind of audience you’ll be selling to, make a list of their interests and what they might want to buy. Aside from knowing what they want, knowing the potential demand can also help you set the price.
• Think about diversity, related products and competition.  Your product offerings should present your customers with choices. Keep the inventory small in the beginning so you can focus your marketing efforts. Continue growing your product line as you grown your online store. Find products that are related to the top ones you have – accessories, plug-ins and more. Then consider competing products that potential buyers may also want to look into.

 

These are just some tips when choosing the product. The main determinant is to ask yourself questions that a typical consumer would ask. Is this product good for me? What benefits can I derive from it? Continue in this line of questioning and you’ll soon make purchasing decisions easier.

Why Shopster Rules

So far, we’ve given you tips on how to improve your website using SEO and in terms of conversion. We’ve also focused on the business side of retail and when to take advantage of seasonal selling. Today, we’re doing a shameless plug on why Shopster beats the competition.

There are a number of other players in the dropship market. DHGate, Doba and Dropship Access are the top three competitors that come to mind. Of these, Doba is the one offering services closest to what Shopster can offer.

Both Shopster and Doba offer access to about 1.5 million products from a number of suppliers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers. The variety of products and the low prices are great selling points we both offer.

When it comes to industry recognition and reliability, both Shopster and Doba belong to eBay’s Certified Service Providers list (which has less than 50 members as of writing).

In terms of pricing both Shopster and Doba offer a free version. Upgrading would open up a bigger world of possibilities for merchants. Shopster’s cheapest upgrade package (PowerMerchant Starter) is priced at $39.95 per month while Doba offers theirs at $49.95 per month.

I’m pretty sure customer support for both Shopster and Doba are at par. After all, we wouldn’t be topping the markets if it were any different.  Both companies also provide articles to help you learn more about dropshipping and how to use it in retail.

Tools for listing products in comparison shopping sites are available in both. Doba talks about its API technology in its website, while Shopster has datafeed capabilities for sites like eBay, Amazon, NextTag and more. This means you are opening up your market to other distribution channels, giving you a better potential to earn even more.  In terms of inventory management, Doba offers a single, consolidated product catalog while Shopster actually has an integrated inventory management tool.

The real differentiating factor of Shopster when compared head-to-head with Doba, are two things: the social network and the store builder. Shopster rules because it will let anyone who wants to get into eCommerce a go at it instantly.

The store builder functionality of Shopster is unique in the dropshipping industry such that each new retailer that registers automatically gets a virtual storefront with different professionally designed, free templates to choose from. This is hosted as a subdomain, but can be customized to a more brand-centric one if the retailer chooses to do so. Furthermore, the online store is already connected to the dropship item database so you can choose to upload and sell products right away. If you choose a product to include to your managed inventory, it automatically inputs the images and the descriptions that come with that item. No need to upload or export anything.

Shopster is also a social network. You get to connect to other retailers and suppliers. Products are pooled in a virtual warehouse, so you get to buy and sell to other Shopster members. This is also an advantage to Shopster subscribers because it opens up even more inventory for you to sell, at competitive prices.

Shopster empowers merchants to sell immediately without having to go through the hassles of creating a store for dropship products. It truly is the all-in-one eCommerce solution you are looking for.

How to Earn from an Online Store

If you’ve heard the news about making money online and had your doubts, you can put them to rest. It’s actually true, you can earn big profits all on the web.  But be warned, there is no fast and easy way to do it. To make money, you have to put in the effort.

If you’re looking at a website offering you to make money online, make sure it doesn’t ask you to do email marketing, sell face to face, sell door to door or do telemarketing. It shouldn’t be an offer that forces you to sell one item or product you are not even familiar with. When you see something like this in a website, you should start considering other options.

eCommerce is the way to go when it comes to making money online. It so much easier to implement and making money is a breeze.  All you really have to do is choose the right products and market your site properly. 

If you go for dropshipping, it increases your chances of earning online. This supply chain management technique allows you to significantly reduce overhead cost associated with retail. Merchants who use dropshipping can focus on selecting products and marketing it. Once an order comes in, all you have to do is send the it to your dropship supplier and they’ll take care of packaging it and shipping it to your customers.

So let’s start by understanding the process of online sales with dropshipped products:

First: Select the products you want to sell. Understand your market and what keywords you can target in your marketing efforts.

Second: Create your online store. You can get this for free on some websites. Others will offer to customize one for you at a fee.

Third: Start uploading your inventory into your site. If you will be dropshipping, make sure you select items that are high in stock.

Fourth: Price your items such that you are making a profit. There must be a difference between your selling price and the price at which you will purchase the item. Despite putting a big difference between these two numbers, you still need to keep your selling price at a rate acceptable to your target market.

Fifth: Wait for sales to come in and send the orders over to your dropship supplier.

Sixth: There you have it, you’ve already made your first sale. Sooner or later, you’ll realize you’re making a lot more money even without a lot of effort.

Happy selling! 

 

Selling Online: Questions to Ask a New Dropship Supplier

If you’re in online sales and you’ve discovered the joys of dropshipping then the next step is to choose the right supplier. For those still unaware of what dropshipping is, it is basically a supply chain management technique that saves the retailer money on overhead costs such as inventory warehousing, handling and shipping. A dropshipper is a company that will ship the item directly from their warehouse to your customer.

In order to minimize the risks involved in dropshipping and to protect your reputation as a seller, it is important to ask your potential dropship suppliers the right questions. Here are some you can start out with:

• What’s your average order fulfillment time? Find out how long it will take from the time you place the order to the time they send it out to your customer.
• Do you have a tracking system available? If they don’t have their own system available for tracking the item, then find out if they work with a courier that does. If an item doesn’t arrive or is delayed, you will need to find a way to keep your customers updated.
• To which countries do they ship to? This should be disclosed in your own website. Dropshipping allows you to expand your business globally, so work with a company that could help you scale in that direction.
• Will the items be white-labeled? The item will not be coming directly from you but it would be best to have it bear your logo in the shipping credentials. White-labeling is such that a product is marked as a generic item that can be branded as coming from a particular retailer instead of direct from the supplier.
• Is there a minimum order amount? This is how dropshipping is essentially different from buying wholesale. The prices will vary per supplier, but they should be able to send out minimum quantities (ie just a single piece to a single recipient).
• Does the dropshipper allow product returns? If they do, find out if there’s a cost associated with returning the item. The dropshipper’s return policy should reflect in your own policy in your online store.
  

As you keep using dropshipping for your supply chain management and you grown your online store, you will come across more questions that will be pertinent to run your business. List those down so you have a checklist ready every time you consider a new dropshipping supplier.

Happy selling!

 

Finding International Dropship Suppliers

When selling online it’s important to keep your eyes peeled for new product lines and suppliers.  The key is to be ahead of the selling curve and ensure you’re continuing to offer competitive prices to your customers.  One way to do this is to search for international manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors as they can typically offer you better wholesale pricng on the merchandise your're looking for.

Here are some tips to help you on your way:

1. Search Google. It sounds obvious, but typing in search terms like, supplier, importer, distributors, B2C suppliers, as well as some keywords specific to your product line will pull up thousands of results. Start at the top and work your way down trying to glean what you can about each company. Remember to look for contact information so you can drop suppliers an email with your questions.
2. Check major B2B market places. Online B2B market places are a perfect place to source manufacturers, importers, and wholesale suppliers. Alibaba.com is one, Shopster.com is another, these two companies are a great source for dropship suppliers as both have a huge and varied supplier base.
3. Join Industry groups, forums and other professional networks. Ask questions and start building relationships with industry insiders. It may take sometime (no one wants to share supplier info with the competition), but by building out your professional network and subscribing to industry newsletters, you’ll pick up supplier details and invaluable trade secrets. Author Tip: Once you’ve built out your network, stay-in-touch – it’s far quicker to ask someone you know a question, than to spend hours searching for it yourself. Don’t forget to return the favor either.
4. Subscribe to trade publications. Get your hands on as many trade magazines and industry publications as possible. All of these magazines feature advertisements from manufacturers and wholesalers looking for people like you.
5. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Reach out, build a relationship and if it doesn’t last forever, so what. Creating your perfect network of suppliers will require some trial and effort. It’s a learning process. All you need from your first supplier is for them to drop ship the product to your end-customer. Once you’ve managed that and are making a profit, then you can focus on finding suppliers who are a better fit for your business model or who offer better wholesale pricing.