Posts Tagged B2B
Understanding Drop Shipping Directories
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources on June 19th, 2009
As anyone who has worked with a drop shipping wholesale supplier can tell you, finding the right supplier is one of the most important parts of your business. If you pick the wrong supplier, you will ultimately lose business as your reputation suffers because of your supplier’s mistakes. In some cases, drop shipping suppliers can be outright frauds, and may try to take you for all you’re worth. Fortunately, there are ways to sort through the available suppliers.
Drop shipping directories are one of the best ways to find suppliers for your business. The idea behind a drop shipping directory is simple. This service weeds through the myriad wholesale suppliers for a given product, a given product line, or even a specific niche. They can then make specific recommendations about which wholesale suppliers have an established reputation for being reliable, and which ones can best help you to have a successful business. At the same time, they can weed out many of the scam artists or the wholesale suppliers that may be sub-par.
Unfortunately, some of these services are scams themselves. For example, some may only include directories that they are directly affiliated with. While there is certainly nothing wrong with this in itself, some services don’t disclose this information from the beginning. In addition, some services don’t even sort through the various drop shipping directory options to give you a real picture of what the market is like.
Other drop shipping directories may be out of date. The service may have charged a set fee for the same list of wholesale suppliers for years. Especially in the fast-moving world of online sales, it is easy for things to change enough that the directory is, in many ways, obsolete.
So, how do you find a good drop shipping directory? Well, there are several places you can look. The Internet is full of companies who do nothing but dedicate themselves to weeding through drop shipping directories for you. Choose one that has a good reputation, and that prides itself on customer service. If you’re not sure about a particular directory, ask for recommendations. Talk to someone who has previously used the directory, and see what their experience has been. Find out how often the directory is updated, and what sorts of customer service options are available to you.
Using a drop shipping directory is supposed to save you time and trouble. Choose the right one so you can avoid additional problems.
Choosing A Drop Ship Wholesale Product
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping on June 19th, 2009
Whether you’re an online retailer who wants to add some products to your catalog, or whether you’re just getting started in the drop ship wholesale arena, choosing the right products to sell is key to your success. You might be able to find a great product at a reasonable wholesale price, but you still have to find people that want to buy that product in order to make a profit. As you wade through the variety of wholesalers and the products they offer, here are some things that you should keep in mind in order to choose the most profitable and successful products:
1. See who else is selling the product. If there are thousands of vendors on thousands of websites selling the exact same drop ship wholesale product, chances are you’re not going to get that big of a slice of the consumer pie. You will have to fight hard for each sale, competing with everyone else. On the other hand, if there is no one selling the product, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve struck gold; it could be that the product just isn’t in demand.
2. Pick a product that is in a specific target niche. This benefits you in several ways. First of all, you can market to that niche specifically, and focus your advertising efforts so as to get the best results from the least amount of effort and money. In other words, you’ll stretch your marketing dollar much farther when you target a specific niche. If you choose a product that appeals to everyone, you’ll have a much bigger potential market but you also have a much bigger pool of people to try to appeal to. You’ll probably have more competition selling general goods, too, rather than when you’re selling something in a particular niche.
3. Keep in mind that selling drop ship wholesale product isn’t a magic formula that will make you rich overnight. Yes, there is plenty of money to make in this way. You’re going to have to work hard, you’re going to have to invest some time and money, and you’re going to have to have at least a little bit of good luck. Drop shipping doesn’t mean you don’t invest money, it just means you invest it in areas other than a standing inventory.
Choosing the right drop ship wholesale product can make the difference between a successful business and one that stagnates. Do the research before you commit to specific product lines.
Financing your wholesale purchases, Part Two
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Home Based Business, Wholesale, eBusiness on June 19th, 2009
In an earlier discussion, we talked about the wisdom, or folly as the case may be, of using your personal credit cards or personal lines of credit to bankroll your wholesale purchases. Doing so ultimately drags down your personal credit and limits the amount of credit available. But the biggest reason of course, is that sometimes it just doesn’t work. You just can’t be taken seriously as a business person if you’re not using business accounts.
It is possible to get a credit card in the name of your company. First of course, you must make yourself an official company, preferably through incorporation or by forming an LLC (limited liability corporation). Having done so, you are now a legitimate company and can apply for legitimate company credit. Whether you’ll be approved for it is another story entirely, but at least you can apply. It may take a few months for you to build up your business credit, and initially, you may even have to make a personal guarantee. There are a few differerent types of business credit you can obtain.
Your wholesaler may be able to provide you with a line of credit. Although sometimes the wholesaler provides this directly, more often, it is arranged through a third-party finance company. The interest rate may be high, but it is fairly easy to get approved for this. If you’re using it only for short-term debt and paying it off quickly, then the high interest rate shouldn’t bother you that much.
Once you have become a little more established, you can get a higher limit on your corporate credit card, and you may also be able to go to your local bank and apply for a line of credit, probably with a much lower interest rate than that offered by the finance company or the wholesaler.
Remember too that business credit is determined differently from personal credit. Your personal credit rating and FICO score is recorded automatically by the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax). Whenever you pay a bill, your creditor reports your activities. You don’t have to do anything for that to occur. But with business credit, there are different credit bureaus (Dunn & Bradstreet, Experian Business, Equifax Business, and Business Credit USA). You need to actually register with these agencies under your business name in order to build a business credit profile.
Verify Wholesalers and Drop Shippers with Simple Online Tools
Posted by Andrea in Drop Shipping, Home Based Business, Wholesale, eBusiness on June 12th, 2009
Research is the corner stone of good business. Every business owner should know how to research extensively before they go ahead and open up shop. Researching a drop shipper or a wholesaler is the only way you will get out of the process of finding one without being scammed for money, sadly.
Before you decide on a drop shipper or a wholesaler gather a list of prospects and take to Google. Search the names of the companies first and foremost. A bad company will likely have complaints lodged against them somewhere on the internet. Add in the word “scam” to the end of the business name and see if anything comes up. If nothing comes up you might have a decent company so put it on a short list. Any company that comes up with more than one complaint should probably be axed from your list.
Once you have a short list check the phone numbers and contact information. The contact information should be directly linked to the company name. Look for e-mail address that end in @companyname.com or @companyname.net. These e-mail address endings mean that that company has it’s own e-mail provider or entity. It is a very good sign of a legitimate business. A Gmail account or a Hotmail account means your mail is going to a personal e-mail address. It is a sign of a bad business.
Once you have that all figured out further check out the companies using Mapquest or Google Earth. If you are familiar with the area you should be able to tell whether or not the business is in a commercial part of a town. If you are not familiar with the company you can use Google Earth to hone in on the address. You want to see a commercial district or a warehouse district. If you hone in on an area that looks completely residential or rural you are probably looking at a scam. A wholesaler or a drop shipper will not be working out of a residential home or a residential area if they are legitimate. You want to see a big building, normally, the uglier the building the better in this case.
Call and speak to someone directly when you think you’ve found a good company. Consider the time zone you are calling and call during their regular business hours. Between 10am-4pm should be the time frame you are aiming for. Someone should be there to answer your phone call at that time. If no one picks up you need to further investigate the company.
Accepting Credit Cards is a Must for all eCommerce Businesses
Posted by Andrea in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 11th, 2009
Almost 75% of all Americans use some form of plastic to make purchases. Any b2b, or b2c ecommerce business almost certainly needs to accept credit cards in order to maintain their presence and flourish on the net, it is as simple as that.
When you first start your business you will find that most merchant account providers will be weary about providing you with an account. Merchant account providers consider risk when opening an account similar to the way a credit card company accesses the risk of opening an account. Merchant providers will be responsible for dealing with charge backs so they do not want to do business with a merchant they feel is a risk. Risky merchants are ones who have just opened their business or merchants who reside in fraud-rampant areas (the Islands, Africa, etc.). Adult service providers will also have a hard time getting merchant accounts because of the rate of charge backs that are common.
A new business owner can try getting a merchant account but starting with a provider such as PayPal may be easier. PayPal works in a similar way to other merchant account holders but is far more lenient with who they will offer merchant services to. For example a new business can open a merchant account with a credit card and a checking account with PayPal while other merchant service providers will check credit and business history before offering an account.
Sticking with PayPal for the long term might not be the best idea overall as many merchants have found PayPal to be flaky with dealing with fraud and other business issues but the company is a good way to get a business started with offering credit card payments.
After several months or a year most businesses will find getting a merchant account to be a fairly easy task and all they need to do is shop around for one that fits best for the business in question. Credit card processing services usually handle business in one of two ways. They either charge a fee based on a percentage of the sale or they charge a specified dollar amount. A business that deals with low cost products will want to look for a processing company that charges a percentage of the sale rather than one who charges a dollar amount. Businesses that have large ticket items (computers, televisions etc.) are better of with a company that has a specified transaction fee as a percentage cut would be more expensive than a previously agreed upon transaction charge.
Visa and MasterCard providers are the most popular with online business owners as most people use the above two to purchase their products. America Express and Discover are less commonly used and also garner higher processing rates so most small business owners will find it is not worth their while to deal with those companies. Finding a service provider is all about knowing your business, your products and your customers.
Ecommerce Wholesale Drop Ship Suppliers - Are They Reliable?
Posted by Andrea in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Home Based Business, Wholesale Sources, eBusiness on June 11th, 2009
The internet is packed to the brim with horrid tales of drop shipping problems. Looking around quickly on some forums I found several people who have made the mistake of trusting a drop shipper who was only interested in getting their money and less than enthusiastic when it came to customer service. Sadly these stories are not the exception, they are the rule. The problem that many of these people are facing has to do with the size of their account. A small business owner is considered “small potatoes” to a drop shipper and thus they do not receive the same customer service that a large account holder would.
Large accounts (those that order a large volume of product) will find that drop shippers will bend over backwards to help them. In the end a drop shipper is getting paid more from large accounts and thus they are more willing to do good business with them than they are with small-time buyers. It’s sad and disgusting, I know, but it is the truth.
The drop shippers out there that do want to do business with a smaller operation and offer service are often fly by night companies that have a short life spans. Many drop shippers begin their operation without a solid business plan in place and thus are gone in six to eighteen months. While you might get several good months of service from the company you will have to find another shipper when they fall out of the shipping race.
So how do you find a good drop shipper as a small business? Well, that is sort of like the riddle of the Sphinx. You have to call around a lot and repeatedly call back to ask questions. If you have found a business that is willing to answer questions more than once you are onto a pretty good shipper.
Next you need to take to the internet and read up on the company. You can often find out if a company is registered with the BBB and how long they have been in business online quickly. If there is information about the company dating back 5 or more years you are onto a really solid prospect? If you have a company that has only been in business for a year or who has only been using their acquired name for one year you might want to walk away. Don’t get me wrong, not all shippers who are new are out to get your money and kill your business and livelihood but with the army of bad drop shippers out there you are better off looking for an older company. You wouldn’t gamble away your entire life savings on a long shot horse at the races so there is no need to do it with a drop shipper.
Choosing Reliable Wholesale Suppliers
Posted by Wholesale News in Home Based Business, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources, eBusiness on June 9th, 2009
If you have been in business for any amount of time, you know that managing your suppliers can be a time consuming and sometimes frustrating task. Whether it’s dealing with a product that isn’t up to spec, or whether it’s having unexpected delays in shipping and delivery, you can waste a lot of time and energy just trying to get all of your ducks in a row when your suppliers don’t come through. That’s why it’s important to choose reliable suppliers from the beginning, and save yourself some serious headaches down the road.
How do you identify and choose a reliable supplier, however? It’s not always as easy as it sounds. You might see an advertisement, for example, and be convinced to give the vendor a try. Or, you might see a list price provided by the vendor, and want to give them a shot so as to save some money. In the long term, however, you’ll have much better luck if you’re deliberate about how you choose your vendors.
There are some common characteristics that reliable suppliers have. Knowing what to look for from a vendor is key to choosing the right one. For example, reliable vendors produce a product that is up to specifications. Not every product is the highest quality, of course, but the product needs to do what the vendor says it will do, and the product needs to meet any industry standard specifications, if there are any for the particular product.
Reliable vendors also need to be consistent. You need to be able to rely on delivery dates, for example. You also need to choose vendors that are stable businesses. You might even consider sticking with vendors that have been in business for a certain amount of time, although longevity doesn’t always indicate reliability.
Being able to identify vendors that have those characteristics can be a challenge, as well. It’s not as if a vendor is going to say to you, “we’re almost always a week late on our shipments” or “our products tend to fall apart easily.” Instead, you’ve got to look elsewhere to figure out if a vendor is reliable.
One of the best sources you can use to figure out if a vendor is reliable is your peers and competitors. Word of mouth is, even in a high-tech world, still one of the most valuable references you can have. Check a vendor’s reputation with its current, as well as its former customers to see how reliable they seem to be.
Another great way to determine if a vendor is reliable is through industry or consumer publications and websites. There are even websites that will gather information about all of the vendors for a certain type of product and then consolidate that information for you and let you view it in one convenient place. If such a publication or website exists for your field, you should consider using this type of resource to research vendors.
While finding reliable vendors isn’t always easy, it’s always worth it in the end.
How to Make the Move from Brick and Mortar to the Web
Posted by Wholesale News in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 9th, 2009
One of the myths of modern business is that there are essentially two types of businesses: brick and mortar businesses, and online businesses. Now, more than ever, traditional small businesses are expanding online, and finding that there are plenty of untapped markets available to them. At the same time, some businesses that have traditionally been online only have expanded into the brick and mortar world, as well.
Still, making the move from having a brick and mortar business to the web isn’t necessarily easy. There are some potentially serious roadblocks that you’ll face along the way, and if you’re not careful or not smart about it you can wind up investing a lot of time and money in an online presence only to find that it doesn’t contribute much to the bottom line. Just being on the web doesn’t guarantee success.
Here are some things that can improve your chances for success as you make the move from brick and mortar to the web:
Differentiate yourself from others. Whether it’s a price that no one can beat, a unique product or service offering, or stellar service, you need to have something that gives your business a competitive advantage. If you sell the same product for the same price as Amazon, you’re not going to have much business. It’s the same as offering the same product at the same price as Wal-Mart in your brick and mortar store.
Take extra care with shipping. You need to be upfront with your customers about how long it takes to ship a product. If it takes a week to get the product, pack it and then ship it, make sure the customer knows that up front. In addition, make sure that you don’t miss your shipping date.
Be patient. Just like it takes time to build a successful brick and mortar business, it takes time to become successful on the web. A user-friendly and attractive website combined with a competitive advantage and a handle on your shipping process doesn’t mean overnight success. It takes hard work and time to see your e-commerce revenue come in.
Doing these things doesn’t guarantee success. Many businesses that try to make the move from brick and mortar to the web find that, even years down the road, their business hasn’t substantially benefitted from trying to move to the web.
The good news is that doing business online doesn’t require you to have a real estate contract. In fact, many of the costs involved in starting an online business will have already been absorbed by the fact that you have a brick and mortar business. Moving to the web can be as inexpensive and simple as putting up a Yahoo! or eBay storefront, at least in the initial stages. In fact, depending on your type of business and your own comfort with technical procedures, you may not have to invest any money at all to make the move from brick and mortar to the web.
Rookie Online Business Mistakes
Posted by Wholesale News in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 9th, 2009
Whether you’re expanding your brick and mortar business to the online world, or whether you’re starting an online business from scratch, there are some rookie online business mistakes you need to be aware of so that you can avoid them as they come. Knowing what to watch for can greatly increase your chances of success.
One of the most common rookie online business mistakes is impatience. The fact of the matter is that most online businesses don’t produce millionaires, and the ones that do rarely do so overnight. Success is almost never instant. If you go into online business expecting to see incredible returns with little or no effort in a short amount of time, you’re going to be disappointed.
The fact of the matter is that success in online business requires patience. Statistics suggest that most businesses don’t see a profit for between one and three years of when they’re started. The statistics aren’t all that different for online businesses. If you’re going to have a successful online business, you need to be in it for the long haul.
Another common rookie online business mistake is a failure to understand the market. The marketplace online is vastly different than it is in a single town. Because there are millions upon millions of potential customers online, it’s likely that there’s also a lot more competition.
To succeed in online business, you need to study the online market. You need to figure out where exactly it is that you can fit in. You probably can’t compete with the prices of volume online retailers, so don’t try. Instead, figure out what differentiates you from them, and from your other competition. Focus on the things that make your business unique, and then hone in on that market.
Another common mistake is not forming a strategic plan. Many small businesses simply put up a website and perhaps pay for some keyword advertising, and then just expect the money to start flowing. Generally speaking, this kind of approach will result in a lot of wasted time and money.
If your marketing efforts are going to succeed, you need to be able to identify what is working and what’s not working, and to have some idea of where you’re headed from here. You need to coordinate your marketing efforts, so that they complement one another. You need to utilize a variety of different marketing techniques, and figure out which ones are most effective for your business.
Finally, many online business rookies fail to treat their online business like a business. They ignore things like bookkeeping, inventory or other important tasks. Consumed with things like marketing or putting up a website, they forget the basic things that every business needs to do in order to insure their survival.
Instead, you need to treat your online business like any other business. Keep good records, examine your processes for efficiency, and carefully select your vendors. All of these basic business ideas will help you online as much as they would in a brick and mortar setting.
Long-Term Reliable Vendors Means Better Service and Higher Profits
Posted by Wholesale News in Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 3rd, 2009
No matter what business you’re in, finding long-term reliable vendors means that you are going to offer better service and have higher profits. By finding and identifying those vendors on whom you can rely, you reduce the time, energy and money that you’d otherwise spend trying to find a reliable source for the goods that your business needs to succeed. Even if your business doesn’t deal directly with tangible goods, having long-term reliable service vendors can make or break your business.
One of the first things to keep in mind in this regard is that not every vendor is created equal. Some vendors, especially wholesale vendors, offer very little in the way of support for their products or guarantees of quality. Being able to identify vendors that will stick by their products, deliver on schedule and on budget and do it in a courteous and friendly way is imperative to your business’ success.
You need to realize, too, that finding long-term reliable vendors isn’t exactly an easy task. In many cases, it’s going to be a process of hit and miss. In addition, you may not really know how reliable a vendor is until something goes wrong. How a vendor treats your business when there’s a problem or when there is a deadline is often the best way to know whether they’re reliable in the long term. This doesn’t mean you should invent a crisis, but it does mean you should watch the company’s performance closely when there is a crisis.
Remember, as well, that word of mouth recommendations and personal references are your most trusted tools in finding the right vendor. When you’re considering a vendor, find out what others think about them. Certainly you can ask for references from the vendor, and most quality businesses will be willing to provide you with a list of satisfied customers. You can also check to see what other people think of the company online, or with the local Better Business Bureau. Perhaps the best place to find a recommendation, however, is from a colleague in your industry. Ask other people in your field what they think of the vendor, or what vendor they use for that particular product or service.
Finally, it can be worth looking at authorities in your field to see who it is that they trust. If a large company uses a particular vendor, it indicates that their product is reliable. On the other hand, those companies may not exactly be set up to deal with small businesses in the same way that they’re set up to deal with larger corporations. There is rarely a one-size-fits-all vendor, so be sure to find out if the vendor regularly deals with smaller businesses like yours.
There’s really no secret to finding long-term reliable vendors. You just need to be diligent about who it is you select to do business with. Take the time to carefully select the right vendor, and you’ll save yourself plenty of time, headaches and money down the road.
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