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That’s not to say there isn’t a downside, there is; you have to pay fees for listings, there is significant competition and there is a risk that the item will cost you money in fees if it doesn’t sell – whereas other methods of dropshipping might be less risky. But in most cases the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

So that being the case, how does a potential dropshipper best take advantage of eBay?

Tips to dropshipping on eBay

The idea behind selling on eBay is the same as anywhere else, make your auction the most attractive possible and ensure that the market is there for what you are selling.

Market research

Before jumping into an auction right away look through eBay. Is anyone else selling what you are (quite common when using dropshipping)? If so look at what they sell for, and if any fail. Make use of the option to watch an auction and see what items sell and what don’t.

Decide how you want to sell

There are numerous ways of selling items. Basic auctions, Buy it Now auctions, eBay shops etc. You need to decide what your strengths are an what the buyers are preferring for that niche. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages so don’t rush your decision.

Make sure you are aware of the fees

eBay charges for almost everything, and it is important that you make yourself aware of what your auctions are going to cost. Your profit margin is directly effected by your outgoings and there is no way of avoiding these fees – so ensure that you are including them as part of your calculations.

Test your sales copy

Assuming that you start selling items at a profit you should start looking at testing your sales copy – what is written about the item in an auction. By trying different techniques when you are selling an item you can come to understand what helps it sell and what hinders it. Selling is the only function you provide in the dropshipping sales process – so make sure you get it right.

Protect your reputation – use good dropshipping companies.

On eBay reputation is key in making people trust you enough to buy form you, so it is vital that you have a company that you trust to deliver the items they promise to, in the time frames they assure. Test the company if you need to, but make sure that you only use reliable companies – their performance will help decide if you succeed or fail.

What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping is an incredibly cheap and easy method of creating an online retail outlet without the capital needed to buy stock, hire employees or pay for storage facilities. It retains the ability of any retail site to generate large levels of income, but without the risk that is inherent in capital investments.

You are able to dropship almost any product, with huge numbers of specialist dropshipping companies as well as wholesalers and manufacturers who offer dropshipping services with a bit of research you should be able to find a company offering any item you want to sell via dropshipping.

Basically you act as a middleman, advertising the dropshipping companies products, at a considerable mark up for yourself, and then when an order is made you simply pay the dropshipping company their cut and they will deliver the item to the customer.

How dropshipping works.

The idea behind dropshipping is that you offer for sale, either via your own website or established sites such as eBay, items for sale that your dropshipping company is offering. You mark up the price that the company charges – this will be your profit – and sell it to the general public.

There are websites that sell hundreds of items via dropshipping, or just one, how you do it is entirely up to you. The most important thing for you is that you are paying nothing out until you have already been paid the money by a customer, so huge catalogs of items wont cost any extra.

When the item is sold you then place an order with the dropshipping company (or have automated software do it for you) who will deliver the item, often with your own branding, to the customers postal address. They manage the delivery, stock control, back end functions, etc. The end result means that you don’t have to buy or touch any stock at all.

Not a traditional dropshipper, World Wide Brands is actually a ‘product sourcer’, used to source products and dropshipping services all over the world, providing a powerful and useful service to the dropshipping market, which is always eager for new suppliers.

World Wide Brands was created by Chris Malta, author of ‘What to Sell on eBay and Where to Get It‘.  He has brought his knowledge of eBay and product sourcing skills together to create this service for dropshippers.

Products

As you would expect from a company called world wide brands the product range that the site sources is a very varied one, catering to many niches and markets.  The database provides you with access to over 3 million products by nearly 9000 wholesalers.

It also gives a number of its own, free information products on membership to, including ebooks, video tutorials, articles and the like.  A mine of information for any dropshipper.

Trust

As well as having a very recognizable name behind it in the form of Chris Malta, World Wide Brands also establishes trust as a member of the Better Business Bureau and being a eBay certified solutions provider.  Its online reputation is also what you would expect from such a trusted source.

Software

The software that the directory uses to help you find what you are looking for is award winning and intuitive, it will help you navigate the massive database with ease.

Visit Worldwide Brands

Finding Wholesale Products to Sell Online
by Worldwide Brands

Products

Storeb2b specialize solely within the consumer electronics niche, supplying dropshippers with a huge number of electronic equipment, at very cheap prices. There is a product list available on the site that lets you know what they sell and at what prices, very useful for someone who is considering using their service and wants to know what sort of profit they can get.

Customer support

The customer support ethos of Storeb2b is impressive, with free to call toll numbers, email support and dedicated customer service teams available to help you resolve any difficulties you may encounter.

Online site building

Storeb2b promises to help all customers develop their retail website. They give you a free domain name, software for developing niche stores and customer support to help you along the way. All very impressive services for anyone wanting to build their own online store.

eBay integration

The software available with Storeb2b integrates seamlessly with eBay, allowing turbo listings to be created that are both attractive and speedy to list. Considering the popularity of electronic goods on eBay that is an extremely useful attribute.

Check out Storeb2b

What is Liquidation.com?

It calls itself ‘the source of business surplus’ and it is certainly as good a description as any you are likely to find. It deals in wholesale lots of items, usually from overstock or liquidation assets. Items can vary from huge numbers of small, cheap goods to just a couple of more expensive, high ticket items.

Wholesalers

Liquidation.com is more like a wholesaler than it is a dropshipping service, as you actually physically buy the items and have them shipped to you. But it is a very useful sideline for any dropshipping company to have, as it can provide a wide range of goods at VERY cheap prices.

Limitations

As with any overstock type website there are limitations. The major one, aside from having to handle and post the goods yourself, is that you don’t have a line of stock, only one off items that you purchase. This allows you to keep fresh items changing on the website, bringing others back in – but it also means that you won’t be able to continue very profitable items.

Check out Liquidation.com

Products

One of the main attractions of simplex is its ability to connect its clients with 60 million products, and that it does. Products by the likes of Nike, Armani and Hewlett Packard make up a very comprehensive supplier list.

Reputation

Simplx is a company that suffers from a bad online reputation. Reviews are scathing of their customer service and their ability to supply what they say they will.

There is an entire section devoted to Simplx on the ripoff report, and many forums are full of information on how Simplx has failed to deliver customer satisfaction, or cost people far more money than they were led to believe.

Fees

A big factor in their bad reputation is their fees. Simplx has high joining fees and will charge their users fees for just about everything else. Indeed they actually charge a $20 fee just to tell you how their system works.

True dropshipping?

What is interesting about Simplx is that despite the demographic they pitch themselves at, dropshippers, they actually work like affiliates. Rather than true dropshipping where you take your profit on each item, Simplx pay you a commission on each sale.

Visit Simplx.com