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Drop Shipping Question
7 posts
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Hello all, I recently found a reliable dropshipper located in China. Do you think its better that I have them ship me the item and then I will ship to the customer? I am worried that would drive up the price but then that might be better so that I can inspect the item to make sure it is in good condition and its exactly what the customer ordered as well as it will have my name and address as opposed to my dropshipper's address. The profit on dropshipping is so little though so i dont want to charge more so that it can be shipped to me and then ship to them but I'm thinking to avoid any headaches then this might be the best way.
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misstinywiny wrote:Hello all, I recently found a reliable dropshipper located in China.
... but I'm thinking to avoid any headaches ...
Are you willing to leave your reputation in the hands of someone you do not know?
You could do a test. Have them dropship to a friend or relative with different name and address and then you can monitor the delivery time and quality. And if you do have them dropship never spend the money until your customer is satisfied. -
One of the major considerations when chosing a dropshipper is "Will they always and forever remain invisible to your customer"?
Keep in mind it is your customer and not only should they dropship under your name - something that cannot legally happen, when crossing borders - but they must not offer any point of contact for any reason, including support / damaged goods. Can you trust them to not simply add YOUR customer's name to THEIR list and begin contacting your customer directly? I would be very leery of them on this point.
But, again, I just wonder how effective dropshipping is without them having to publish their name on some sort of import documents that may be seen by your customer. -
^^ Thats the biggest thing, the Chinese are all about the almighty dollar, some won't hesitate to shank you in the back.
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Definitely test them out by buying something addressed to you first. There are too many scam dropshippers or middlemen out there that as stated above you don't want to put someone else's mistakes on your buyers and ruin your reputation.
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I would not expect there to bee too much "shank risk" more of a risk is the international shipping. One at a time will be expensive to your clients. It will also take long. I feel nervous just shipping a B-Day present over seas so dropship products would be an even bigger concern when it is your business.
If you are going to source internationally you would be better to remove some of the risk above and buy in bulk several key products ship them and stock them yourself. You can also get 3rd party inventory firms to stock and store your products and ship them which makes you your own small dropship firm. If you are smaller time, then just buy a few lots and stock them in a storeage shed or in your home. Then you have control. Otherwise, you can focus on domestic firms. You might save a few dollars internationally, but shipping and other risks are potential costs as well. -
If you don't asure of the quality of goods, you could buy and check them at wholesaling prices
before you ship them to your clients.
Anyway,drop shipping price is higher than wholesaling price.
Sean
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