Half the sellers online use this method to sell products. Why not? Its easy, all you have to do it list the items on your website, sell it, place the order with the company, pay your cost and the rest is yours! Easy no?
When I first started selling online I said I would personally never, ever do that. One of the main reason is because you dont see the product, your looking at it just like anyone else and trusting that the quality is what it says it supposed to be. Your also trusting that the item is in stock for them to ship it. Your trusting that the company is doing everything to ensure that the item arrives undamaged and as it is described on their website! There is a lot of trust behind a computer.
The other reason is that there are many companies promoting to eBay and Amazon other size to sellers to drop ship their item and it turns into everything else... hundreds of sellers selling the same exact item and eventually someone is selling the item at cost and you cant sell it like that since you make nothing. Now you have to research again for items to sell.
When selecting a drop shipper be sure you can view their products BEFORE you agree to sell it. Im talking about handling the item. There a tons of companies covering all kinds of products so dont stick with one just because they advertise in a magazine and you think they must be good. No take your time and search around the internet. Look for manufactures that drop ship too.
There are many companies that do not charge a drop fee. I seek these out cause any MORE fees you have to pay come out of your pocket. Request samples or order them if you have to. At least you will get an idea of what you are dealing with. I would rather pay for a sample then try and sell a horrible product that you will have to accept as a return cause the buyer does like it and lose money. Dont tell me you wont accept returns cause its just not possible. Remember these buyers can call their credit cards to dispute a transaction and just like that you are out the money and the product. Accept returns and re-list the item even if you have to do it at a deep discount.
Be sure to review weights of the item in question. Ill give you an example: I had this item listing in my store. It was a sash, it weighed maybe 5 ounces. They purchased the item for say $6. So according to my shipping calculators they only paid $3 to ship it. This is fine if I am sending it myself via USPS. I would pay just about $2 to send it and all is done right? Well for drop shipping this particular company had a drop fee and used UPS so if I submitted this item for drop ship I would be seriously underwater. Lets do math - Total they paid me $9 - the item would cost me $3 plus $2.50 drop ship fee - 5.50 - the shipping fee could be anywhere from $4 to $9! Not counting the fees for that transaction where am I at? At the lowest shipping fee I would be under by 50 cents BEFORE transaction fees! Is that worth it? No way!
Stick with items that are over a pound for drop shipping.
You want to deal with items people are looking for yes but you need to profit at. I have some items listing my store for $50, they cost $25. The weight they tell me is like 3 pounds but I enter them as 6 pounds. Not to charge an excessive amount of shipping but to make sure that I am covered. The buyer paid me $15 in shipping and the drop shipper charged me $13 to ship the item so I made $2 on shipping plus $25 on the item.
Remember most shipping companies are zone specific. A 3 pound package from NY to VA will cost less then a that same package from NY to CA. Many programs are not that complex to be able to tell you in advance what the shipping costs will be. Since we ship across the country its better to have a buffer with the shipping then to end up eating it.
Where do you find drop shippers?? Besides online? Believe it or not many of my current vendors offered drop shipping and I had no idea. Read their terms and ask them to see if they do it and how its offered.
Good Luck in your search.
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