People being scammed by dishonest companies that promise to help them make money only to take their money and give absolutely nothing, or at least nothing at all resembling what they have promised, has been a common theme lately in the news. This will certainly give you a reason, if you are a business owner, to question whether it is possible to find a legitimate dropship business online.
Using b2b model drop shipment makes doing business easy. What you do is find items that your wholesale drop shipper has in stock, advertise those items for sale, and sell them to your customers. Now you just need to pay the drop shipper what you agreed to pay them and they will ship directly to your customer. Your customer has absolutely no idea that you aren’t responsible for them receiving the item they purchased; by utilizing the b2b model drop shipment process you have made money and saved time.
You can see why so many people are attracted to doing business in this manner. You don’t need a lot of equipment or storage space, you get to work out of your own home, and there actually isn’t too much work involved. If you use the b2b model drop shipment, all that you will need to get started with your own successful online business is a computer with internet connectivity.
In fact, the hardest part is going to be finding a reliable, high quality supplier. Considering all the people who have stories about fake online companies offering their “services”, it’s only to be expected that you would ask yourself whether you would be able to find a legitimate dropship business online. There actually are online companies who are use drop shipping as a legitimate part of their wholesale supply business and not just as a way to make quick money off of people; these companies are able and dedicated to offering high quality services to their customers and, ultimately, to yours.
There should be good and open lines of communication between the retailer and wholesaler using the b2b model drop shipment; the respective roles should be clearly defined and understood by both parties. While expecting the wholesaler to drop everything else they have to do and make your retail order their priority is unreasonable, it is not at all unreasonable to expect them to package and deliver the items you order out to your customer in a timely and professional manner.
The responsibility of making sure that your wholesale supplier knows about the drop shipment that you need to have delivered is, however, entirely yours. You should notify your wholesale supplier and make payment for the items that you need shipped within 24 hours of your customer placing his or her order with you. If your customer complains of a lengthy wait for delivery, it is NOT the fault of the wholesale dropshipper that you failed to notify them in a timely manner of the transaction.
As long as you are aware of your responsibilities; the work actually required, and the necessity of good, clear communication, there is no reason that you cannot have a good relationship with a wholesale drop ship supplier.

#1 by Chief Red Hare - September 2nd, 2009 at 11:41
This is actually a very well written article! Good job!