How To Find Manufacturers That Drop Ship
by Leeia Ladipoh on November 2nd, 2007
Starting a retail business of your own is a proven way of making cash in today’s easy access market. The Internet and other world-shrinking processes have made it possible for anyone to turn a tidy profit by finding goods and selling them directly to customers or even to larger retailers, through EBay, other sites, or simple legwork.
The trick in making some good money at this business is to ensure that the goods you are purchasing come at the lowest possible price, so that when you sell them, you are assured of the highest potential profit. You want to eliminate as many “middle men” as possible so that your original price stays nice and low. This means that you want to buy directly from the manufacturer; additionally, you want to reduce or eliminate the cost of shipping, which can really cut into your profit margin.
In order to do this, you need to find manufacturers that drop ship.
Manufacturers vs. Drop Ship Companies
It’s important to note that we are not talking about drop ship companies here. Drop ship companies are middle men who purchase goods from manufacturers and then sell them to retailers at a profit. If you use a drop ship company, you’ll have to either raise the prices of the goods you are selling or give the company a cut of your profit.
Either way, your competitors will be making more because they are probably buying their products directly from a manufacturer who also drop ships.
Where to Look
The most obvious place to look for manufacturers who also drop ship is on the Internet. Start out with a basic search engine query – type in “manufacturers who drop ship” or some related phrase in the search box, and begin looking at the pages that come up.
The key here will be patience, and also an ability to follow information trails. A lot of the pages that you find will link to other pages, and you may have to go through a couple before you find some really solid information. Some of the best sites will include discussion boards or message boards where forum members discuss who they use when it comes to drop shipping manufacturers.
The other thing to keep in mind when you are looking around on the Internet is that there is a lot of misleading information out there. Even usually reliable sources such as message boards can be populated by “people” who are actually working for certain companies, trying to trick you into using their services by offering rave reviews. That’s why your search needs to include some discernment as well as patience. Look for recommendations of a single manufacturer on several different sites; you should also do a search on that company’s name in a search engine to see if you can find both good and bad.
Other things you can use to determine if the site or manufacturer is the best deal for you are offers such as money back guarantees – and do a bit of research into the developer of the site as well. Solid leads will usually have real-life credentials, so don’t be afraid to phone around to make sure they are who they say they are.
Finding a manufacturer who also drop ships to you is actually pretty easy, although narrowing the list down to a final decision will take some time, patience, and work. You need to make sure and take all the steps, though, so you will be sure that you are making as much money from your sales as possible.
HELLO,Leeia.
I’m new to all this dropshipping business and dont really know where to get started.I’m looking for Digital cameras,watches,etc.Please if you can give me a pointer or two,I would be very very please.
MJW
mr.michael j. watts
October 19th, 2009
at 2:44 am