Of course I’d like to make loads of money effortlessly selling things on eBay, so I went looking for companies that will dropship for me; what I found is:
-Lots of websites that make impressive claims, but want me to sign up (with a fee) before they’ll let me even see the product range (and of course the wholesale prices).
-Lots of websites designed to attract search engines, but in fact full of links to other sites full of links to other sites etc ad infinitum, but no actual content
-One site that offered a free txt file listing dropshippers; I signed up (using a disposable email account); what arrived was an email with a link to a zip file hosted on their site; the zip file contained an .exe - I extracted and ran this on a spare, non-networked computer and… yes, it’s some kind of malware.
So…
Is it all just one big scam? Are there any genuine dropshippers out there (it probably complicates matters that I’m looking for a UK-based one).
I once looked into a manufacturer that sells night vision equipment, thinking about buying from them and reselling. They offer dropshipping to retailers. I was tempted, but never had the time to set it up. Seemed pretty legit, they sent me their price lists and catalogs and all that fun stuff, talked on the phone with a sales rep a few times. Never seemed like a scam.
Stay away from SMC. They’re the ones that have the infomercials. You may possibly be able to make a profit with their stuff away from ebay. But there are so many other sellers on there trying to sell it, that they can’t possibly be making much.
I tried it a few years ago, and never made enough to get my fee back. Plus I got so many negative feedbacks because the stuff is crap. Example: They had a telescope, my price was $20. Anything over that was my profit. I started the auction at $20, it sold for $50. The buyer was not pleased. A few months later, I bought one for my FIL. It was a TOY!!! And not even a good one. Cheap plastic and half the size it was supposed to be.
The concept is that you sell the item to your customer (by whatever channel is your forte), then you place the order with the supplier and they pack and deliver it direct to the customer; the supplier gets business, but doesn’t need to employ his own sales force; you don’t need to handle the goods and the difference between the price paid by the customer and the price you have to pay to the supplier is your profit.
If it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. I’ve never heard of a ‘make money from home in your spare time’ scheme that didn’t turn out to be some sort of scam.
One of the obvious flaws in the internet dropshipping concept is that if the product is any good, it will be easy to sell, lots of people will want to sell it, and the profit/comission will rapidly be competed down towards zero.
Unless you are prepared to invest significant time or effort in things like holding stock or building an awesome sales website or whatever, it’s hard to capture any value from being just another step between the manufacturer and the customer.
She makes jewelry and she was contacted by a catalog that will list her product. The deal is that when they get an order, they let her know, and she ships at that point.
Actually, I think she is still mulling it over.
Anyway, this thing that Mangetout is talking about sure sounds pretty flaky. I mean, just how much money can you really expect to make for such little risk and effort. :dubious:
