Dropshipper checklist.

[Serendipity]

I would like to put together a check list for newcomers to the dropshipping arena, to enable them to make informed decisions about their potential suppliers.

Since alot of you have experience you seem like the best people to ask for input.

The resulting replies will be turned into an article and made sticky.

Thankyou all in advance.

Serendipity

[Zola de Cwtchi]

Hello 

Excellent idea!! I was wondering how my 'beginners' list would compare to the more experienced...in fact i require a check list with regards to research, start up and so on...i am at the research stage, i feel its going well, nothing has put me off so far...though i started off from a very cynical point of view.

I know where i want to get to...its just filling in the middle bits to achieve my goal without making costly, and maybe terminal mistakes...so i feel a starter thread like this, and others im hoping, will prove invaluable.

Z x

[jamhun]

Try this for starters, found it a few years ago on the web.



Dropshipping has rapidly become one of the easiest ways to sell products on the internet without the need for capital, there are literally thousands of sites out there that pertain to be dropshippers and it can be a minefield for those looking to get into dropshipping in order to make some money. I have been using dropshipping for a number of years now and thought that I would document a few of my thoughts and questions that come to mind when I consider a new dropshipper arrangement.

Some questions you may wish to ask are:

1. Is the dropshipping product list static?

What I mean by this is are the products available going to change', this is important because if a dropshipper sticks to a fixed product list then you have no way of moving with the times and you will be plugging away trying to dropship out of life cycle' products. Ideally the product list should update regularly giving you different products to promote and make money from.

2. What availability guarantees are they claiming and are they proven?

One of the key factors to consider when using a dropshipper is the availability of product, remember you are selling to a customer without having the product at hand so you need to be assured that when you sell that Playstation3 or iPod that the dropshipper will have the product in stock and be able to deliver to your customer. There is nothing worse than selling a product to a customer who thinks you have the product in stock only to find out the dropshipper is out of stock and you have to let them down. I term this Business Critical, as there is no hope of return custom after letting people down. Some of the more advanced dropshippers have online access to their stock lists and you can see what they have in stock and how quickly they go out of stock before you choose to sell a particular product.

3. Previous customer testimonials?

Nothing is better than word of mouth; if a previous customer is willing to praise the dropshipper then they are obviously doing something right.

4. Sales/Copy and images for auctions?

Does the dropshipper provide any sales copy and/or images that you can use on your sales pages? Most of the reputable ones are willing to help you in this area because the more you sell the more they sell. Some dropshippers even provide website templates and complete sites for you to install which can help if you have a limited technical ability.

 

5. Does the pricing allow you a margin?

When selecting a dropshipper always compare the prices they charge to those that are being commanded in your marketplace, research some offers from your competition and see whether you are comparable or hopefully better. Obviously this is one single product and don't be afraid to use a dropshipper for one product and use another for another product, dropshipping is that easy you can use 10 dropshippers to sell 10 different products.

6. How long does it take before you ship my order?

What are the lead times for the shipping of your orders, obviously your customers are expecting a speedy service and if the dropshipper in question is going to take 2-3 weeks to ship then you are not going to have many happy customers. You will also need this information so that in your sales copy you can inform the customer the expected delivery times. Most reputable dropshippers ship in 3 days maximum, with some delivering next day.

7. Can I place orders 24/7?

This can be important especially if you are using a dropshipper in a different country, the country you are selling in maybe during the day while the one that the dropshipper is in may be the middle of the night and as such may cause added delays if they do not have a system in place. Top line dropshippers have automated systems but other reputable dropshippers still use manual ordering so this is not a factor to put you off but more a bonus if the system is automated.

8. How will my merchandise be shipped?

The simple question here is will the item be shipped under plain packaging? If it isn't then the customer can circumvent you on any subsequent orders, which isn't a business practice that will sustain your own. Again, pretty much all the reputable dropshippers post under plain packaging but there are a few that don't and obviously these are the ones to avoid. It is also wise to review how the dropshipper delivers, ie. With postal service/3 rd party service they are using and the guarantees/information that they provide such as tracking codes etc. Always go with a dropshipping service that doesn't advertise themselves when they ship.

9. Do you ship internationally?

Obviously, you want to sell to the biggest market you can and if your dropshipper will not ship internationally then you will potentially be losing a large chunk of sales. Again this needs to be taken into context with the product you are selling, if it is a country specific product that you are just selling then international shipping is not a factor also if it is a bulky product then the shipping costs would be that large that most international customers would not want to pay the cost and this again negates the need to ship internationally.

10. Are you a middle man or a dropshipper?

When researching a dropshipper you want to make sure that they are actually a true dropshipper and not actually a middle man that is using a dropshipper to dropship for you. This means that you are being overcharged and that with a bit more research you will be able to locate the original dropshipper and make some extra profit per sale.

11. What is the return and refund policy?

What exactly is the policy, most dropshippers accept returns and if they do not then do not use them period. Obviously when selling any product your customer may have a problem with it or feel it is actually unsuitable after all and wish to return it, this is obviously a service you may or may not actually offer to your customer however having a strictly prohibited returns policy will lose you sales so it is something you need to be clear on. What generally happens is you contact the dropshipper and they issue you with a returns authority number (RA) for which you need to use to send the products back, when the product arrives back then they issue a refund which you pass onto the customer. Obviously, this adds time to the return process and in the meantime you may wish to refund the customer as soon as they return the product to you before you send it back to your dropshipper because this will speed the customer refund and increase your customer service.

12. Do you have to reside in the same country to use the dropshipper?

Some dropshippers only allow residents of their own country to use their service and this question needs to be asked so that there is no confusion and problems going forward.

Although not a complete list these are the twelve questions that I refer back to when selecting a new dropshipping partner and they have kept me out of trouble so far. You may wish to add to this list yourself but with a few simple questions and a little bit of research you can turn your dropshipping dreams into reality and start earning some money. Dropshipping is here to stay and there are many people that say it doesn't work, well I am not one of them and I am successfully using a number of dropshippers to serve my increasing international customer base both in a timely and customer focused manner.



James

[Serendipity]

Thankyou James theres certainly lots of information there.


Still up for other contributions too.

Serendipity

[Beautybase]

Thanks Jamhun

very good points you raised there

As comunication is top on my agenda when looking for suppliers I like to see clear contact details, address, telephone and email
and of course test the reponse times, of course don't expect immediate response, except when telephoning.  I always like to call my suppliers to introduce myself...you can learn so much from a phone call in just a few minutes in my opinion

Oh and payment options.. quite often not always clear. Anyway hopefully thats adding to Jamhuns excellent list

[scotserve]

Nice find Jamhun

Also add in

Are they more interested in selling you a website that is profitable to them  than offering you a product range that is profitable to you

[paulc010]

Some of the more advanced dropshippers have online access to their stock lists and you can see what they have in stock and how quickly they go out of stock before you choose to sell a particular product.

One way to check - as part of your due diligence - is to ask to see recent examples of invoices or delivery notes for goods into their warehouse. I for one would be quite happy if certain details were obscured even, just so long as this provided enough evidence of any claims being made. I can see no reason for such a reasonable request being declined.

Paul

[Gothic Dropshipping]

One way to check - as part of your due diligence - is to ask to see recent examples of invoices or delivery notes for goods into their warehouse. I for one would be quite happy if certain details were obscured even, just so long as this provided enough evidence of any claims being made. I can see no reason for such a reasonable request being declined.

Paul

That would sound reasonable to me also and something I would be happy to do if asked, even if my warehouse is 3 large rooms in a very big old house lol 

[paulc010]

It doesn;t matter though does it? You don't pretend to be something you're not and are open and honest in your interactions with your customers. Like all relationships they should be built on mutual respect and trust.

Paul

[Serendipity]

That would sound reasonable to me also and something I would be happy to do if asked, even if my warehouse is 3 large rooms in a very big old house lol 

But you I'm assuming are honest with your customers ??

Serendipity

[Gothic Dropshipping]

yeah it's not on when people pretend to have premises. I've always been up front, at the end of the day if I had to pay business rent and rates I would be more expensive so I'm sure my customers don't mind I'm sure it will have to happen at some stage, but not until it becomes a necessity

[paulc010]

Nice find Jamhun

Also add in

Are they more interested in selling you a website that is profitable to them  than offering you a product range that is profitable to you

While there are some "dropshippers" who offer web hosting as an "add-on" due to demand from their customers (and many use a third-party to actually provide most if not all of the service) there are others for whom it appears to be, or to have become, their primary business - with dropshipping a secondary concern. Often in the latter case the dropshipper even becomes the third-party, which is weird when you think of it in those terms.

You can easily see how someone could use something like dropshipping purely as a marketing tool though. I guess it would work a bit like those emails you get from signing up on SEO websites - an affiliate marketing kind of thing. Many "internet marketers" for example will offer lots of "free" extras if you buy a new "wonder product" using their affiliate link - more often than not the product that you buy is an intangible, indeed often "bought in" by the person selling it. The free extras are to make the offer irresistable and are given a hugely inflated "value" to make the deal all the more compelling. Basically all aimed at selling something for more than it's worth.

So how would this "internet marketers" methodology work to sell websites as an over-priced commodity? Simple. The "product" you sell is a "business" selling goods from dropshippers - Of course what you're actually intending to do is to sell a shared hosting account for as much as possible per month even though the market is extremely competitive and margins (at the lower end) very poor.

You take some open source software and configure it full of extras, modified with some unique features you pay to have developed. It has now become "proprietory" and "unique". For this to work the "product" cannot be available anywhere else; nor can it be transferred to another hosting company. You need to retain that residual income at all costs.

You then "add value" to it by bundling in "extras"; templates (lots of), ebooks, guides, video tutorials and a "free" dropship membership or two. These you will likely have to pay for up-front, but suddenly you've turned a boring hosting account into something much more appealing that includes "£1,000's" worth of free extras! More importantly you've "obscured" the real product (the hosting account) and you've safeguarded your income as the correct operation of the "business" you have sold requires your unique "technology" which is non-transferrable.

Having made this initial investment you really need to agressively market your "product" - you need to spread the initial setup costs over as many sales as you can, just like any other fixed overhead. The extent to which you can aggressively price the service will depend on your initial investment, but you can most certainly charge more for your hosting account than you would otherwise. Considerably more. You can also offer "premium extras", "upgrades" and even charge for support which all help to turn a profit from your initial investment. Minimum sign-up periods can also help secure better returns, although pricing would be quoted for a much shorter time-period - say a 1 year minimum, but with pricing quoted per month (or per day to make it sound even cheaper still).

Job done.

Paul

[DeputyDog]

That would sound reasonable to me also and something I would be happy to do if asked, even if my warehouse is 3 large rooms in a very big old house lol 

Dam i just got all the way home and i think i forgot to lockup my 50,000 sq ft warehouse   

Not to worry i got my ferrari parked in the drive ,so wont take long to get back to Dreamland trading estate where my warehouse is .

[scotserve]

While deputy is making fun of the situation there are companies out there with zero stock and selling dropshipping packages to the uninitiated.
It really is a minefield out there - ask questions of the dropshipper, make posts and find out what others think - bear in mind even good dropshippers will get negative posts but you should be able to identify the rogues.

[DeputyDog]

While deputy is making fun of the situation there are companies out there with zero stock and selling dropshipping packages to the uninitiated.
It really is a minefield out there - ask questions of the dropshipper, make posts and find out what others think - bear in mind even good dropshippers will get negative posts but you should be able to identify the rogues.

I thought this was the more light hearted forum 

Bye going back to the other forum where my jokes are more appreciated