Setting Up As a Wholesale Drop Shipper

[dataferret]

Does anyone know what is involved in setting up as a wholesale dropshipper? By this I mean selling to the trade and dropshipping items to their customers, not selling dropship items as a retailer.

I would be interested to hear any stories from people who do this or have tried this and failed (or succeeded). I need to know what pitfalls to expect, any particular software and where to start finding suitable products.

If there are any useful websites and reference sources this would be a bonus.

Thanks for any help and comments.

 

[gemd89]

As a retailer most wholesalers i use tend to offer next da delivery, and free postage on orders over so much. If you try in wholesalers on google, there are many in china and USA. Also images that retailers can use is great for us smaller stores

What products are you thinking of offering?

Gemma

 

[FLAUK]

There are different ways of going about it. Some don't hold any stock and are effectively another drop-shipper in the chain. I don't really like this as once a problem arises with an order, the chain is too long to resolve it quickly and the customer suffers. The other is to hold your own stock, which is the way to go in my opinion.

As for where to find products - if they are branded approach the manufacturer who will probably point you in the direction of the local distributor. If you want oem products then a trip to China is probably in order.

 

[AmberSite]

I am not very experienced in this thing, however here are few tips:
* Try to deal with the supplier rather than "middle" companies as it saves time and hassle if something goes wrong + you will get better price from the supplier.
* If you have enough resources it is better to hold stock, rather to ship it once the customer orders as again it saves you from various things.
* Once you set-up, provide your customers with ready info, such as images, description, etc which they can just use straight away on their website.

Hope this helps.

 

[Beachcomber]

I guess the bottom line is - can you supply quality goods cheaper than the competition in a timely manner and make a profit?

If you can then you have something.

Try taking a look through the dropshipping forums that are out there for ideas.

 

[applemaidcleaning]

Does anyone know what is involved in setting up as a wholesale dropshipper? By this I mean selling to the trade and dropshipping items to their customers, not selling dropship items as a retailer.

I would be interested to hear any stories from people who do this or have tried this and failed (or succeeded). I need to know what pitfalls to expect, any particular software and where to start finding suitable products.

If there are any useful websites and reference sources this would be a bonus.

Thanks for any help and comments.

Hi what are you looking at drop shipping ? i have a few wholesale suppliers who drop rc cars, helicopters, gadgets and few other toys.

These are great suppliers who do not charge a set up fee, they do send out next day, offer PayPal payments as most of my customers pay me that way.

Look forward to your reply

 

[dataferret]

Thanks for all the replies. It is early days yet but I intend to provide a wide range of dropship items. I intend to provide ready made CSV and image feeds suitable for online shops and auction shops, plus mailing address and phone number (if needed), plus dropshipping the items.

I intend to take care of all the practical and technical stuff so the client can concentrate on the selling. As the business grows I will buy in more stock, but will not have much at the outset.

I don't really want to say much more than this until I am further along, but any advice on what to avoid/best practice is really appreciated.

Thanks

 

[applemaidcleaning]

Thanks for all the replies. It is early days yet but I intend to provide a wide range of dropship items. I intend to provide ready made CSV and image feeds suitable for online shops and auction shops, plus mailing address and phone number (if needed), plus dropshipping the items.

I intend to take care of all the practical and technical stuff so the client can concentrate on the selling. As the business grows I will buy in more stock, but will not have much at the outset.

I don't really want to say much more than this until I am further along, but any advice on what to avoid/best practice is really appreciated.

Thanks

Keep us up to date

 

[dataferret]

I know this is an old thread but for those who wanted to be kept up to date I now have premises and staff who can type from hard copy catalogues and create the data feeds. I can also provide the business mailing and returns address, 24/7 phone answering and will soon be able to provide the online shops, complete with hosting and domain name.

So you can send your catalogues and we can create the inventory feeds.

Drop-shipping of products will be available later this year.

I have to say, this has not been an easy business to get started and there is still a lot more to do.

I am now looking for decent suppliers so we can build the data feeds.

I am also keen to know what people would be willing to pay for:
a) the data input services and;
b) the drop-shipping service;
c) the data feed service

Thanks in advance for any positive input

 

[almahye]

our store is a wholesaler shop,first of all is a discount shop.