[mxer210]

Thanks. I'm working on getting a spell checker installed and I'll give my grammar a once over. I'm most concerned about providing good content, but the way it is presented is definately important.

[cheng]

1 year ago i believed in dropshipping to be successful but my perception has changed. Through worldwide brands i got hold of one with 12k products offering 25-40% margins. After research i found that many other stores sell them at 10% margins (using the same dropshipper of course). Factor in marketing and transaction fees, i make punnies. Bringing them into ebay was a nono as their pricing are way below my cost price! Dropshippers let you earn mainly because they dont want to handle chargebacks and customer service.

To be successful, your prices have to be below ebay's so that you can sell both on ebay and off ebay. The only way is to keep stock.

[mxer210]

1 year ago i believed in dropshipping to be successful but my perception has changed. Through worldwide brands i got hold of one with 12k products offering 25-40% margins. After research i found that many other stores sell them at 10% margins (using the same dropshipper of course). Factor in marketing and transaction fees, i make punnies. Bringing them into ebay was a nono as their pricing are way below my cost price! Dropshippers let you earn mainly because they dont want to handle chargebacks and customer service.

I second that. It was also a reasons I closed my business.

[cheng]

Weird. Cant seem to access your blog. Or is it only me?

[mxer210]

It works for me. I recently changed the dns on the domain name and it might still be propagating.

Try http://www.purefiveaudio.com/ryanj/blog/

[rawsoft]

Originally posted by cheng
1 year ago i believed in dropshipping to be successful but my perception has changed. Through worldwide brands i got hold of one with 12k products offering 25-40% margins. After research i found that many other stores sell them at 10% margins (using the same dropshipper of course). Factor in marketing and transaction fees, i make punnies. Bringing them into ebay was a nono as their pricing are way below my cost price! Dropshippers let you earn mainly because they dont want to handle chargebacks and customer service.

To be successful, your prices have to be below ebay's so that you can sell both on ebay and off ebay. The only way is to keep stock.

I am definitely not suprised. During my research I noticed that the prices were really close to googled prices. After all my expenses I won't be making a cent. There has to be a way or keep stock I guess. The people that are doing it and making huge profits, refuse to expose their dropshippers. What's the secret?

[Sarafina]

Volume sales is the 'secret'. Anytime you have slim margins, volume is a necessity. Droppshipping itself is a horrible longterm business model. People use it because there are generally low start up cost, low carrying costs and minimal effort. I think it's a great way to get use to ecommerce and running your own store but if you want a lucrative venture, you must go straight to the respective distributors.

There are some intermediaries that act as your warehouse. Say you get a pallet of clothes from China, you send it to your warehouse in Arizona and when a costumer in Canada orders on your site, the warehouse gets the order done. Obviously there's associated cost with a fulfillment/logistical center and you have to evaluate whether it's feasible for your business.

[bigpund]

Originally posted by Sarafina
There are some intermediaries that act as your warehouse. Say you get a pallet of clothes from China, you send it to your warehouse in Arizona and when a costumer in Canada orders on your site, the warehouse gets the order done. Obviously there's associated cost with a fulfillment/logistical center and you have to evaluate whether it's feasible for your business.

This is in part what Amazon is based around. Besides their own warehouses full of books and everything else, they use fullfillment warehouses around the country to send out different items. This save some on shipping costs, but also saves them time/space because they dont have to actually have the inventory in their own warehouses. There is one of these places about 15 minutes from where I live that sends out books for them. They have a lot of the older stuff, but most of there business is based off of fulling for amazon orders and other online merchants. There acutal warehouse is probably 20 times bigger then the small store front. They do have nice small prices, but again, it is a lot of older books or earlier editions.

[gemini_bwoy]

Originally posted by cheng
1 year ago i believed in dropshipping to be successful but my perception has changed. Through worldwide brands i got hold of one with 12k products offering 25-40% margins. After research i found that many other stores sell them at 10% margins (using the same dropshipper of course). Factor in marketing and transaction fees, i make punnies. Bringing them into ebay was a nono as their pricing are way below my cost price! Dropshippers let you earn mainly because they dont want to handle chargebacks and customer service.

To be successful, your prices have to be below ebay's so that you can sell both on ebay and off ebay. The only way is to keep stock.

You just ruined 48 persons dreams by saying that
Great to know though

[jpomerenke]

What it comes down to is the right relationship with a supplier with the right prices and product and the right logistics system. Believe it or not dropshipping is a good business if you do it right. i know this for a fact

[mxer210]

Yeah Joey made it work for him. It won't work for electronics, but for other industries it's not a bad business model.