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I'm looking into doing dropshipping, and selling from items aquired at a local auctionhouse. I'm not looking to make it a full time job, but I might replace it with my current job...
I'm a full time college student (non-traditional (I'm 28)), new father, and I work part time. I self schedule, and during school I work 4-24 hours per week.
I'm an experienced ebayer, with over 500 feedback, but all of that is from being a long-time user, buying and selling odds and ends from my house. I wanted to find something part time ish I could do on the side to possibly free up some more study time/family time... I'm not looking to sell 1,000,000 items a moth
So, where do I begin? I've done some research and it looks like Worldwidebrands is a good place to look for drop shippers, but if I pay the $299 'lifetime' fee, where do I go from there? I have an idea of wheat I want to sell, but do I just point and click, or would I need to contact dropshippers personally?
Also, how would I go about reporting my sales or keeping track for tax purposes? Until now, my sales have been so low, I hadn't needed to file taxes on them (per my CPA).
Suggestions? Thanks to all who reply, it will be nice to have a few extra hours of study time.
As a drop shipper myself, my advice would be to NOT spend your hard earned $299.00 just yet. If, as you state, you know what you want to sell, why not do some Google-ing for your product. You will find there are suppliers out there who have drop ship programs in place and will be glad to have you sell their products without charging you a thin dime. I have a few manufacturers that I draw from and we have established a very nice and fruitful relationship.
One thing I would say if you move forward with your idea is this: get away from ebay! Their fees will kill your profits. Web sites and your own domain name are so inexpensive these days, you can't imagine how much you'll save in ebay fees.
With almost any Linux server you'll get free ecommerce applications that you can install on your website and use for your selling. Many offer more than one so you can install them all and try them out to see which one you like.
Most hosting providers provide free website building tools - usually more than one tool so you can install each one and try them out since they are free to use. These free tools are available on Linux servers.
Shopping carts are also usually available for free with Linux hosting plans - again, there are usually many to choose from - install each one and try them out to see how you like them.
Shopping carts also mean you will need the following on your website:
1. Merchant account.
2. SSL Certificate
3. Dedicated IP address (to support the SSL Cert).
For carts....you can look at free installs of Virtuemart, osCommerc, CRELoaded, Zen Cart and others....CRE or Zen are good places to start....of course there is also eBay Prostores if you like that platform.
"but if I pay the $299 'lifetime' fee, where do I go from there? "
You would need to contact the suppliers directly to setup accounts so you can order products. Next you would need to manually upload the data or find a source for linking your site directly to the supplier product feeds to upload the data for you.
And, how do I go about setting up a TaxID and/or what is important concerning this?
~BB
You can Google this information and apply on line. The government is going to want their cut of anything you sell. Also, any really reputable drop shipper is going to require this number before you can set up an account. You are also going to need a business license in the state you operate in. Remember, you will need to charge any orders from your home state, tax.
Other then the activities surrounding starting out your business, it's important to keep in mind how many ongoing activities there are when you are running a large e-commerce/eBay business. While you as the business owner are more interested in sourcing products, making partnerships and marketing your business the other more repetitive eBay related functions get to be too time consuming (like leaving feedback, sending e-mails, etc...). Check out some of the software platforms that are out there at the Auction software Review.
My company, Sell Center is composed of e-commerce experts as well as a software tool call Laris. You can give us a call anytime if you have questions. The system manages eBay, Amazon, Overstock and automatically generates an e-commerce website which is all linked together with one inventory system.
We also have a partnership with a drop shipping company called DSDI or Drop Ship Direct. They're definitely worth checking out.
As far as the one post saying to not use eBay, that's not entirely true. Yes, eBay can be expensive, but with the right tools, tactics and research you can most definitely make a good amount of money with eBay and your own website. We call this multi-venue management. Basically, it's the idea of having products promoted on various sites, including your own and the strategies involved with this idea. There is an eBook out there outlining these strategies at www.multivenuemanagement.com.
Well, I hope some of this information helps you in your search.
We also have a partnership with a drop shipping company called DSDI or Drop Ship Direct. They're definitely worth checking out.
I agree that DSDI is worth checking out. They are one of my favorite suppliers, with one major exception, make sure to keep an eye on their inventory - they do not notify you when things have gone out of stock. I've had the burn me once and now I only list items that I feel they have sufficient quantities of.
From my experience, they are the best large drop shipper at dealing with inventory issues and are willing to help out along the way. They have a couple of new services to that help alert you of inventory changes - after signing in, go to the warehouse homepage. Then reseller menu, under product manager there is the ProdUpdate and Daily update list. These really help keep track of changes to particular products as well as a whole daily list. If you call them up, they will most definitely help you out.
From my experience, they are the best large drop shipper at dealing with inventory issues and are willing to help out along the way. They have a couple of new services to that help alert you of inventory changes - after signing in, go to the warehouse homepage. Then reseller menu, under product manager there is the ProdUpdate and Daily update list. These really help keep track of changes to particular products as well as a whole daily list. If you call them up, they will most definitely help you out.
I will give that a try. I had thought they had some type of system in place but could not find the information when I needed it. Thanks
Also...most shopping cart platforms will track the sales tax numbers for you, and others can have a Quick Books module added to provide more help for your tax and accounting details.
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