Dropship Your Way to Riches

by Paul Taylor

Published on this site: September 19th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Unless you have been residing on another planet, you have heard of Ebay and the easy way it is to make money by selling "stuff" that you have in your basement. There are thousands of people - hundreds of thousands - that make a living selling items that they no longer need or want. But one problem that I have found is finding the items that I can sell and make a profit.

I have been to yard sales, estate sales, and garage sales and bought something and I have whispered to my wife that "I can sell this on Ebay," only to find that when I listed the item, there were either hundreds of other items just like it listed, or I couldn't even sell the item and recoup my investment. Most people are so familiar with Ebay that I think that the items left at yard sales are the rejects that they couldn't sell on Ebay. Granted, there are the exceptions and that is what keeps us all looking for that great find.

I have several items sitting on a shelf beside me as I type this that I found at yard sales that "I can sell on Ebay." However, the dust on the boxes says otherwise.

Over the past few months, I have decided to leave the yard sale items to others with more time and that know what items will sell. I have since started using dropshippers to sell items on Ebay. There are several legitimate dropshippers that you can find by searching the internet.

I thought I would give you a quick overview of what a dropshipper does. First of all, a company that will dropship items for you has the inventory in stock. They usually provide the pictures and description that you can copy and use on the auction site or for that matter, in a mail order catalog.

The first step that you need to take is to find a good, reliable dropshipper. Once you have found the supplier, Make sure that the items that you want to sell are not over saturated on the site that you want to list the items. I have used dropshippers in the past, and sometimes, there are so many of the same item that you may only make $3 - $4 on each item. After paying the high fees that Ebay charges, you may only make $1 - $2 net profit. Although, you do make money from this, it takes a while for a few dollars profit to add up to "riches" that is advertised daily on television.

After you have found the item that you want to sell, the second step is to list the item for sale. I use Ebay as the example, because I actually dropship items on Ebay. However, the site you use could be anyone that you want. As the matter of fact, Ebay has recently raised their fees so high that I am considering switching to Yahoo or some other site. I think that sometimes Ebay forgets about the "little guy" just trying to make a few hundred extra dollars a month. On the positive side, it is a good way to start your own business for very little money. If you haven't registered on Ebay, I recommend that you do so and familiarize yourself with the process of buying and selling items.

The third step to take is after the sale. Whether the item that you sold is to be dropshipped or not, let your customer know that you received the order and give them an approximate date that it should arrive. If you sell very much, you can get an auto responder that will send out the message for you and once you set it up, you don't have to change it. This makes the work a lot easier and saves time.

The fourth step is to order the item from the dropshipper. Most dropshippers always have the item in stock. Every now and then, the item may be out of stock and you have to contact the buyer and explain this. Offer them a reasonable substitute or cash back when this happens. One thing that you don't want is a lot of negative feedback. I understand that items do run out of stock, but keep a watch on the items that you have listed so that it is minimized.

The final step is to make sure that the profit that you made is enough to make it "worth your while." If it is not, stop selling that item and move on to another one. After a few tries, you will know which items will sell and which ones won't.

Even if you don't make a lot of money, at least you won't have shelves full of stuff that you can't sell. Well, I have got to go get ready for a "yard sale."

Paul Taylor - is a business owner that helps other business owners and entrepreneurs locate wholesale distributors and dropshippers for their small business. Visit his website at: http://www.WholesaleMap.com