[rob2009]

Originally Posted by ducriscorp

So finding investors might be the biggest step.

Of course it is, thats how it is with any business. But if we get just a good information site/forum going and get some good traffic, it wouldn't be hard to get some investors.

Also, we could contact some MMA companies and see if they can drop ship, that will cut the costs by a lot.

[pbradish]

Originally Posted by rob.rawls

Also, we could contact some MMA companies and see if they can drop ship, that will cut the costs by a lot.

The biggest downside to the drop ship model is that in my experience customer service becomes that much harder.

Say that you have a customer who wants tracking information, you have to contact the supplier. If you have a customer with a complaint, you have to contact the supplier. If you have a customer who wants to change their order, you have to pray that the order hasn't already been shipped out and - you guessed it, contact the supplier.

Also, keep in mind that said suppliers will also probably change prices (wholesale and retail) without notifying you. They also won't let you know that a product is on backorder or discontinued until you have an order with said product in it.

Seriously, there's so many downsides to drop shipping I could go on like this all day and like I said - this is speaking from experience. The biggest problem with drop shipping is that much of the process is completely out of your control. If the shipper screws up, its your image that is tarnished.

At one time I carried over 15 MMA brands and had daily contact with multiple suppliers. Only a small handful were honest and caring, the rest were thieves, liars, cheats, or shitty business men.

[rob2009]

Originally Posted by pbradish

The biggest downside to the drop ship model is that in my experience customer service becomes that much harder.

Say that you have a customer who wants tracking information, you have to contact the supplier. If you have a customer with a complaint, you have to contact the supplier. If you have a customer who wants to change their order, you have to pray that the order hasn't already been shipped out and - you guessed it, contact the supplier.

Also, keep in mind that said suppliers will also probably change prices (wholesale and retail) without notifying you. They also won't let you know that a product is on backorder or discontinued until you have an order with said product in it.

Seriously, there's so many downsides to drop shipping I could go on like this all day and like I said - this is speaking from experience. The biggest problem with drop shipping is that much of the process is completely out of your control. If the shipper screws up, its your image that is tarnished.

At one time I carried over 15 MMA brands and had daily contact with multiple suppliers. Only a small handful were honest and caring, the rest were thieves, liars, cheats, or shitty business men.

Thanks...I'm glad someone with experience is helping us.

(I think I actually bought a beanie from MMAMuscle, back when you owned it.....lol)

[pbradish]

anytime

[xcbellx]

I have a supplement website www.totalnutritionsource.com and am looking to use the MMA angle for my target demographics. I would be interested in something like this. I train also in boxing, jiu-jitsu and MMA, I really believe in this sport and I think it has great marketing potential.

[pbradish]

That it does but we've found that the supplement / mma angle doesn't convert as well as one might think. If you happen to carry XYIENCE you may be able to make a sale here and there but in general the mma crowd appears to be very uneducated when it comes to supplementation.

[ducriscorp]

just a note on the dropshipping thing. Most or maybe even all of the leading brands for MMA gear supplies or anything else related to MMA(tapout sprawl vitamins and minerals throwdown ufc gear etc) will not dropship anymore, its not only a hassle for the retailer to do dropshipping but also for the ocmpany doing the dropshipping so they prefer to just sell whjolesale in large lots to the retailer. Ive already looked into dropshipping and its not an option in this instance!

[ducriscorp]

I would have to disagree with you on that one radish. The guys I train with are big into supplements, BUT on the other side they are more inclined to buy a supplement such as Xyience because of the exposure. You can relate that to a couple other things such as Cryogel who if im not mistaken sponsors quinton rampage jackson.

[ducriscorp]

Since there seems to be some interest in this project im going to get everyone who wants to be involved please PM ME and list what your able to offer to the project. For example maybe website coding or design, maybe investing, maybe you wanna write and report on news or events, etc etc. Please include your email and name then I will create a list ande contact everyone that gets back to me and we will go from their!

Thanks for all the input on this one guys

[pbradish]

Cryogel sells pretty well. In fact, I use it all the time. I had a bag of over 500 samples to use up . They sponsor Rampage, Karo, and a few other fighters now as well so there is some brand recognition.

I see where you're coming from with the supplement angle. No one has really gotten it to convert well (beyond Cryogel and Xyience), but that doesn't mean that you couldn't be the first. I was able to push about a grand per month worth of supplements *but* the margins were so bad due to drop shipping that it really wasn't even worth the time it took. Not to mention the fact that PayPal will freeze your account if they find you selling supplements, large amount of fraud, and the other issues that come with being in that industry. You probably know more than I though with your dedicated supplement site.

If you happen to own a warehouse and stock the supplements yourself I would definately say to go for it. Where I train most of the hard core guys will use supplements as well, but at the same time most are sponsorships and they don't have to pay.

With MMA, it's difficult because most of the people who will purchase from you are newer guys who participate for a month, realize how mentally and physically demanding the sport actually is, and they get out. Especially with this whole "MMA Craze" going on right now.

Ducris, you up in Canada? That is a great location as there are really very few quality web sites for gear. Just be aware that if you do happen to drop ship shipping UPS from the US companies is going to be difficult because their rates are really, really high.