Dropshipping? Good Or Bad?

[HTMLHugo]

Hi

I mentioned a week or so ago i was looking for dropshippers, but im also considering dropshipping.

Has anybody had any experience of doing this ? is it worth it doing? what sort of percentage should a dropshipper expect to make out of my products etc.

Am i diluting my own websites value by allowing others to sell what i am selling?

Any opinions / thoughts would be greatly appreciated even if they just confirm my thoughts

 

[SamStones]

I have often wondered about offering our products out on a drop ship basis but I don't see how it could work price wise. Ie we already sell retail so how could we offer a good enough price to our drop shippers so that they could make money out of the deal as well? And would they not object to us possibly selling cheaper than they would be able to?

 

[webgeek]

If you're offering dropship merchandise, your distribution partners are going to expect to be buying it from you at below retail 99% of the time. For the other 1%, they will be planning on beating you at the marketing game and settling for their markup (and margin on shipping) as their source of revenue, plus resell/cross-sell/upsell to their client list in the future.

The best setup, IMHO, is where someone registers a domain, creates a cart, does all the marketing then sends you the orders and payments directly for fulfillment. You white label the products or custom label with their info, and send them a monthly commission for the efforts.

This arrangement is win-win, variable cost basis. A good marketer will go for this, because they know they can beat you at online marketing. A good seller will love the extra distribution network with no risk.

 

[liongroup]

Hi

I mentioned a week or so ago i was looking for dropshippers, but im also considering dropshipping.

Has anybody had any experience of doing this ? is it worth it doing? what sort of percentage should a dropshipper expect to make out of my products etc.

Am i diluting my own websites value by allowing others to sell what i am selling?

Any opinions / thoughts would be greatly appreciated even if they just confirm my thoughts

Read some case studies e.g blinds.com. It appears to be a very lucrative business, naturally, if you don't physically 'warehouse' the merchandise you remove cost.

 

[UrbanRetail]

It appears to be a very lucrative business, naturally, if you don't physically 'warehouse' the merchandise you remove cost.

That's exactly reason why do it.

I dropship mobile accessories and the only costs I have are domains and hosting. I do all the design work myself, so no costs there either. It's a good business to be in, but as with any business it has its risks. There are literally hundreds of (fake/scam) dropshippers out there, that charge astronomical fees and for little or no return. But that shouldn't put you off. If done well, with the right supplier, its a good money maker that can quickly turn into a full time job if executed correctly.

John

 

[HTMLHugo]

Hi Thanks for the answers.

I was thinking basically 12% discount off retail + delivery at standard costs.

so I allow them to log into my site order whatever they want add the correct shipping address and pay me.

they make the 12% off item price I make the rest.

bearing in mind the particular products im looking at selling retail for £8-12 each its not a massive amount but you know they are risking nothing except me not sending anything out.

It's just the percentage that bothers me i dont want to pay too much or too little

 

[UrbanRetail]

I might be misunderstanding here, but you want people to dropship your products for 96p profit per item?

 

[HTMLHugo]

Hi

they would get 12% discount off my retail prices. but they are free to charge what they want to their customers,

I would expect since the items sell mainly in lots of 2-4 items per sale they would make £2-3 per item.

For taking virtually no risk and just passing on shipping addresses that seems ok to me.

I might be misunderstanding here, but you want people to dropship your products for 96p profit per item?

 

[UrbanRetail]

in lots of 2-4 items per sale they would make £2-3 per item.

Ah I see now. These are certainly workable margins depending on the product. Do you have a big enough team and hold enough stock to supply the demand?

Also, would it be possible for you to pm me some more info?

 

[HTMLHugo]

Hi my post is really to see gather peoples experiences and to see if the figures i had in mind are reasonable.

You have confirmed that they are reasonable. which is at least something.

I guess im going to have to do some thinking on the rest for now.

Will PM you once ive done my thinking assuming its something i want to go ahead with.

 

[Deleted member 120672]

It's something we briefly thought of. I think amazon dropship so that may be worth a go but if you have room at home for a little stock that's the way to go!

 

[crazygirl]

drop shipping,your customer can pick up the products faster,just according to your ideas,up to you,they have own advantages

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Just make sure that both you and your customer have fully understood the Distant selling regulations and each knows his responsibility to each other and the customer

 

[AshleyWhiteBusiness]

The most prominent advantage of drop shipping that most online vendors guarantee is the freedom to have an online business that you can operate at the comforts of your own home. This is the biggest come-on for many start-up online entrepreneurs because most of them are still a little scared of this new venture so they start out small and spend only part of their time operating the business.