Posts Tagged legitimate wholsalers
Can you Find a Legitimate Dropship Business Online?
Posted by Wholesale News in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Wholesale on September 1st, 2009
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 dropship supplier.
A secret to success for small retailers: Customer returns liquidators and Costco
Posted by Wholesale News in Closeouts, Liquidations, Warehousing, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources on September 1st, 2009
Ask and receive; it might be as simple as that for many businesses to land a contract with Costco. It is fundamental to smart business practice, and retail giant Costco relies on savvy go-getters to contact it with proposals as it decides with whom to conduct business.
That’s how many liquidation wholesale suppliers take in Costco’s overstock and customer returns liquidations. Two different things, but the smart small retailer will know the secret to working with both.
Costco has two forms of unwanted merchandise. The first is overstock, or having more of a product in stock than is being sold in an area. The second is customer returns liquidations, or the merchandise that customers return to the store as damaged or unwanted. A wholesale liquidator might take either or both types of unwanted merchandise through a contract with Costco.
Customer returns liquidations are less expensive to take than overstock for a wholesale liquidator. That’s because as a rule, returns could be damaged or otherwise more difficult to sell while overstocks are most likely in pristine condition.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s as easy as picking up the phone, scoring a liquidations contract with Costco and bypassing wholesale liquidators. Having a contract with Costco and taking on its unwanted merchandise requires a retailer to have plenty of cash on hand and a significant amount of storage space. Garden equipment, large outdoor toys and home entertainment products aren’t the types of merchandise the average retailer can stock in a storefront or in a stockroom.
Instead, it’s best to work in conjunction with a wholesale liquidator. The wholesale liquidator not only scores the contract with Costco, it stores the merchandise and lets a small retailer know what merchandise is available ahead of time; in a word, you pick and choose.
wholesale liquidators could be the secret to success for small retailers and home business owners; liquidators contract with Costco, process the merchandise, store it and still sell it to you for cheap.
How Can You Improve Your Retail Business’s Productivity in a Tough Economy?
Posted by Wholesale News in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Home Based Business, Wholesale, eBusiness on September 1st, 2009
The advent of the global financial crisis about 18 months ago forced business owners to begin to look for new ways to control their costs and deal with many difficult issues. Everyday citizens are not the only ones trying to cut back during this unstable economic environment - many businesses have taken a big hit in revenue, and their owners realize that the only way to maximize profits is by finding ways to improve the way the business operates.
Companies, especially the embattled retailers, tested various methods to lessen the strain on their finances, such as when they took extraordinary measures to attract customers in a time when consumer spending continued to decrease. The challenge of product storage is difficult for retailers because this fixed inventory cost does not generate any revenue; for that reason, many businesses have explored using catalyst warehouse productivity monitoring to guarantee that inventory is handled as efficiently as possible.
Changing from a brick and mortar entity to having an online presence and working with a cash register dropshipper is another choice many retailers are beginning to consider. Such a shift would require the business to focus more on the marketing of their products and less on the sales aspect. They are no longer a true retailer because they forward customer orders as they receive them to a wholesale supplier who maintains the stock and handles shipping.
In this scenario, the company pays the wholesaler a fee for the tasks of packing and shipping the order to the customer, as well as the price for the product itself. But the retailer is not paying any more than they do in an offline transaction since the shipping charge is passed along to the customer.
By not having the expenses of maintaining a warehouse and paying its staff, businesses can save a large amount of money by using a cash register dropshipper service. Some business feel the fees charged by these vendors for shipping are larger than what they would pay to do the work themselves, but the essential point is that the cash register dropshipper is doing more than just packaging and shipping orders. When you do the math and factor in all of the applicable costs, it is much less expensive to form an alliance with a wholesale dropshipper than to take care of the functions they would perform.
Instead of investigating a multitude of systems for catalyst warehouse productivity monitoring, it is advantageous to put a complete solution in place that provides the services you desire in a fast, efficient manner, decreases waste, and, most importantly, saves you money.
In today’s rough economic times, making the decision to dropship has kept many businesses from closing their doors forever.
A Solid Return Procedure is an Advantage on eBay.
Posted by Wholesale News in Ebay, Home Based Business, Wholesale, eBusiness on August 28th, 2009
A couple of years ago, eBay polled buyers on their site to learn what makes them select one seller over another. Over 20% of the buyers polled chose not to select a certain seller due to the fact that a good return policy was not available for a stated item.
This survey indicates that if you as an eBay seller do not specify a good return policy in your listings you can figure on your auctions to be over 20% less likely to sell than sellers with a good return policy.
eBay shoppers want to believe they are absolutely secure when they go to buy something over the Internet. Buyers are worried that they will either not receive the item they purchased at all, it will vary significantly from what they wanted, or it will be of poor quality. As with all other transactions, shoppers need to believe they are getting quality for their cash and if it turns out they don’t receive what they wanted, they need to have a means for recourse.
Buy adding a good return policy to your eBay listings, you are not only guarding your online auction company, but also providing eBay shoppers with the safety they seek. Many eBay companies are using a dropshipper, so they do not understand how to add a return policy to their listings since the items are not actually originating with the sellers themselves. The following statements offer some suggestions on how to add a good return policy to your auctions.
Lay out a time frame in which you will accept returns. Many store fronts offer one month, which is acceptable. This allows for plenty of leeway for your purchaser to inspect the product and return it to you if they are not happy with it. You should also be using a dropshipper that has a corresponding return policy of their own, and that they contact you when a buyer has shipped a product back to them so you can offer the buyer an online credit.
Your return policy should also have a few provisions and stipulations spelled out. Ensure that the buyer understands that the item must be shipped back to the dropshipper in the original condition in which it left, meaning it should be in the same box and unused. You can refuse the return or give back only a portion of the payment if the buyer broke the product.
One way to simplify your return policy is to basically use the same terms and conditions of the drop shipper that you employ. By copying their rules and regulations, you should be positive that you will get your money back so that you can give your buyer’s money back. Also follow your drop shipper’s lead in providing a money back promise in that it will fill your buyers with assurance that their transaction is valid, and perhaps you will be able to capitalize on the 20 plus percent of buyers who have been skipping your listings.
What is drop shipping? Part One
Posted by Dan Blacharski in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping on June 29th, 2009
Drop shipping has garnered quite a lot of attention over the past few years, presenting an easy way to become an Internet retailer. Is it just another get-rich-quick scheme? Multi-level pyramid deal? Flash in the pan? Not really. Like anything, you do have to put some energy into it. When you first consider the concept of drop shipping, it seems remarkably simple. You don’t have to carry any inventory, and you don’t have to do any shipping. You just put up a web site, send the orders to the drop shipper, and collect the checks.
Well, it’s not really that easy, folks. Successful drop shipping involves successfully doing two things: Making a good product selection, and marketing. On the product selection front, it’s easy to just load up everything the drop shipper has to offer into your virtual catalog, but a more effective method is to create a niche for yourself—specializing in one particular area. Don’t try to be everything to everybody, because the customer will just get lost. Specialize in one area and position yourself as the expert in that area. On the second front, marketing—again, it’s easy to just put up a web site, but will anybody see it? How many web sites are out there today? With no marketing, again, it will get completely lost.
That said, drop shipping can be an effective management technique, especially for handling inventory.
Drop shipping, for the uninitiated, is a form of inventory control whereby the retailer sells his items to the customer, but instead of having a supply of the item on his shelves for immediate delivery, the retailer orders his items directly from the manufacturer or the wholesaler, who then ships them directly to the retailer’s customer. In this way, there is no need for the burden of carrying inventory. The retailer still retains his profit margin as a difference between the wholesaler’s or manufacturer’s price and that of the retailer.
Often, the final customer never knows that the retailer is drop shipping his merchandise because the retailer chooses not to disclose this up front, thereby hiding his inventory control from view. There are several ways to hide the drop shipping from customers. The best way to do this is to have the manufacturer or wholesaler ship the product with the retailer’s name and logo on the packaging slip.
The benefits are obvious: no inventory means less cost can be passed on the retail customer, and the retailer retains positive cash flow throughout the entire process. The potential downside is that it may take longer for the customer order to be fulfilled, since it’s going through a third party, there may be a backorder that the retailer is unaware of, and the retailer’s markup will not be as high as if they were sourcing, warehousing, and shipping the product direct.
In part two of this article, I will explain a few of the positives and negatives of drop shipping in more detail, and how the retailer who drop ships can benefit in the end. To be sure, there are negatives to the drop shipping idea, but they are manageable if you know how to navigate the drop shipping maze.
Choosing A Niche For Your Wholesale Business
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Home Based Business, eBusiness on June 25th, 2009
If you’ve been thinking about starting a business that uses wholesale suppliers to dropship products to your customers, make sure you don’t miss the first, and most important step. You need to decide, in the beginning, what niche you want to choose for your business. The niche you choose will impact everything about your business, from the wholesale suppliers you choose to the type of marketing plan you decide to implement.
You see, an entire market is too broad for all but the largest of companies to try to take on. For a small business, especially one that’s just starting out, it’s best to divide the demand in the market into smaller, more manageable niches. By operating your wholesale business in a specific niche, you can focus your efforts on a specific type of buyer who’s looking for certain specialized goods.
One of the most important components in choosing a niche for your wholesale business is doing a market survey. You need to do a market survey in order to understand what products are being sold in a niche, as well as the areas that your competitors are already entrenched. By taking a look at the market, how much product is being sold and who is selling it, you can figure out where you belong. Ideally, you’re looking for an arrangement of factors including price, service, quality and product type that will maximize your sales while facing the least amount of direct competition.
You also need to consider your own interests and abilities when you’re choosing a niche for your wholesale business. For example, if you have no interest whatsoever in consumer electronics, it probably isn’t a great idea to start a consumer electronics dropship business. The fact of the matter is that your desire and passion are a key element in being able to see your business succeed. Choose a niche that you know something about, and that you have some interest in.
As you go through the process of finding a niche, try to avoid thinking only about wholesale suppliers and costs. You might be able to buy products at a wholesale price that’s extremely competitive, but if you can’t find someone to buy those products or you can’t effectively market those products, your business won’t succeed. In addition, low wholesale prices also mean that your competition probably also has access to that kind of pricing, meaning you’ll have to find another area, whether it’s service or marketing, in which you need to offer something to your consumer that your competition can’t offer.
Drop Shipping Wholesaler Tips for Retailers
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping on June 25th, 2009
One of the best way for retail establishments to expand their offering of products is to utilize drop shipping wholesalers. Utilizing drop shipping wholesalers also helps the retailer to reduce their on-hand inventory, thereby lowering some of their overhead costs.
For a retailer to make effective use of drop shipping wholesalers, you need to first understand the process. Drop shipping is a different sort of business process from traditional retail sales. In a drop shipping arrangement, the retailer markets the product, collects payment for the product from a customer, and then orders the particular item from the dropship wholesaler. The wholesaler then ships the supplier directly off to the customer.
The profit margin is different when you’re using this type of process than with the traditional retail supply chain. Your profit on any given product is the difference between the amount that you collect from your customer and the amount you pay the dropship wholesale company. You don’t hold inventory, and you are not involved in the shipping process at all.
One of the great benefits to this arrangement is that it doesn’t require a large cash flow. The retailer is paid by the customer before they have to purchase the goods . In a traditional retail arrangement, you have to purchase the goods prior to being paid by the customer.
One of the key components to success is choosing a reliable, reputable and dependable dropship wholesaler. There are several ways you can find a good supplier. You can start with your current list of vendors, and see if they offer drop shipping. You can also go directly to the manufacturer, to see if they dropship. An online dropship wholesaler directory is one of the best places to find reliable suppliers, as the directory does much of the legwork for you .
It’s also important to choose your product or products wisely. You should use the same kinds of criteria for selecting dropship wholesale products that you would use when you were finding products for your retail stores. You want to choose a product that will be on demand, and you need to choose a product that you can sell at a profitable mark-up.
You’ll also need to plan for returns and other customer service problems. While some dropship wholesalers will handle returns, many do not. These issues are easier to deal with when someone walks out of your retail store with a product, but become more complex when using a dropship wholesaler. Make sure you know the supplier’s policies in regard to returns before you commit to doing business with them.
Here is how the drop shipping process works for Ebay sellers
Posted by Bob in Drop Shipping, Ebay, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources on June 25th, 2009
If you’re like many of the successful Ebay entrepreneurs out there, chances are you happened into the business quite by accident. Perhaps you found an item in your attic that sold for more than you thought it was worth, and decided to hit every rummage sale in the state until you found every last one of them and sold them for a profit. At some point, however, if your business is going to grow, you should consider drop shipping. Drop shipping is one of the best ways for you to expand your Ebay business.
Here is how the drop shipping process works for Ebay sellers. First, you place an ad on Ebay for an item that you don’t have, but that you can get from the drop shipper. Your Ebay buyer then buys the item, sending you the money for the item and the shipping costs. You then take a portion of that payment and send it to your dropship wholesale supplier. The supplier charges you wholesale prices, allowing you a profit on the item. Finally, the supplier will ship the product directly to your Ebay buyer.
When this process works correctly, drop shipping can be a dream business. You have no overhead, because you have no inventory, storefront or shipping costs to bother with. You merely accept payments, and then send a portion of those payments off to the supplier, and you get to keep the difference between the two as your profit. As you can see, this is quite a bit easier than scouring every garage sale and flea market within 100 miles to find the perfect Ebay item.
However, in the real world, things are almost never quite that simple. There are pitfalls to avoid, and regular hiccups that can interrupt the flow of your Ebay business. Being ready for these problems before they actually arise will help you to have a distinct advantage when the time comes, however.
You can do this, at least in part, by treating your Ebay drop shipping business like a business. Follow up with your customers, for example, to make sure that they’re satisfied with the products they receive. You should also try to be constantly aware of your dropship wholesaler’s supply of products. There is nothing worse than collecting payment for a product only to find that your supplier is out of stock.
If you implement it right, drop shipping can be a tremendous boon to your Ebay business.
Ebay Drop Shipping Success - Pay Attention to Your Suppliers
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Ebay, Wholesale, Wholesale Sources on June 25th, 2009
If you have a business on Ebay, you may be able to increase your profits and expand your business by using wholesale suppliers. Many wholesale suppliers will dropship products for you, allowing you to focus on what you do best: getting people to bid on your Ebay auctions. Still, there are some important things to keep in mind if you’re going to successfully integrate wholesale suppliers into your Ebay Business:
First of all, you need to keep a close eye on what your fulfillment times look like. Don’t be afraid to send your customers emails asking them for feedback, or even filling out some sort of customer survey regarding the time it took to fulfill their order. If your orders are taking longer than you think they should take to get to your customers, chances are you’ll hear back pretty quickly. Because your feedback score, and the reputation of your Ebay business rely so solidly on shipping issues, this is key. Ebay and online customers often expect better service in terms of shipments, and if your shipments are regularly being delayed you’re going to have payment reversals and negative feedback that are going to severely hurt your business in the long run.
You also want to keep a close eye on stock. It helps, in this regard, to choose a dropship wholesale supplier that allows you access to stock level information. When you’re selling items on Ebay, there is a time delay between the time you advertise the item and the time you receive payment for the item, and when you order it from your wholesale supplier. If your supplier runs out of the particular product you’re looking for in that time, you’re going to find yourself having to issue refunds and risk negative feedback. Remember, too, that Ebay sales are a contract. You’re not allowed to cancel an Ebay sale due to a product being unavailable. In fact, if you can’t provide a product to a customer, the buyer can petition Ebay to give you a seller nonperformance violation. When you get a certain number of these, Ebay will shut down your seller account.
You also need to be prepared to mediate returns. If a customer isn’t satisfied with the exchange or return process, you risk negative feedback that can hurt future sales. In some ways, you may wind up having to mediate the return process.
Make Money Drop Shipping Using Ebay
Posted by Bob in Bulk Drop Shipping, Drop Shipping, Ebay on June 25th, 2009
Drop shipping is one of the best ways to make money on Ebay. Using drop shipping, you can list an item for sale that you don’t already have. Once you’ve sold the item and collected payment, you simply take a portion of that payment and send it to your wholesale dropship supplier. Whatever is left over is yours to keep, and you don’t need to hassle with things like shipping costs or packing.
Still, there are some important things to consider when you’re using dropship wholesale suppliers on Ebay. Keep these three things in mind at all times:
Understand the quality of the product. It’s important that you choose a wholesale supplier who won’t just randomly switch inventory or manufacturers without letting you know. This allows you to be sure that the product you’re selling to your customer is the product that they will actually get. If your product varies from the Ebay listing, you run the risk of negative feedback which will harm your Ebay business over the long haul.
Understand customer expectations. For whatever reason, people that buy products on Ebay and online tend to have much higher expectations that people that buy products in other sorts of direct marketing arrangements. Buyers expect you to offer a photograph of the product, as well as a specific list of features. When they receive the item, they expect it to look exactly like it does in the Ebay auction. If it doesn’t look the same, they probably won’t be satisfied. Here again, you run the risk of getting negative feedback on your Ebay seller account.
Finally, don’t forget that auctions are auctions. The fact of the matter is that, when you auction an item on Ebay, you’re expected to agree to sell the item regardless of the closing price. This means that, if you’re not careful, you can wind up selling an item on Ebay that actually sells below your own costs.
There are a couple of ways to avoid this happening, of course. First of all, you can choose to only list fixed price or “Buy It Now” auctions. This means that your auctions are more like catalog listings, with a set price no matter who buys it. Another option is to set a higher minimum bid, so that the item doesn’t sell for less than what you’ll pay for it.
Ultimately, making sure your feedback stays high and that you follow all Ebay policies is key to your business’ success.
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