How To Drop Ship On eBay
Establishing your own drop-ship eBay business is a recommended way of earning online. It is more convenient than being an eBay seller, as the risk and the problems associated with being a merchandiser are no longer yours. A drop-shipper can be understood as a retailer who has no stocks, inventory and does not even have the need to purchase any kind of merchandise! This means that all the issues such as overhead expenses and storage of items are negated.
Finding Goods To Drop Ship
This can be simply done through a search conducted on eBay:
- Visit eBay’s Home Page > Click on ‘Advanced Search’
- A ‘Find Items’ page is shown where keywords can be entered
- Enter the kind of product you want to include in your list
- Choose the product category from ‘In this category’ drop-down
- Click (tick-mark) on all the options listed below the Category box
- Opt for results to be sorted> Choose ‘Price Highest First’ from the ‘Sort by’ drop-down
- Click on ‘Search’
This will create an instant list of the most-selling merchandise in the chosen category. Just make a list of these items. You now have to find a source for these items — a drop shipper.
Finding a Drop-shipper
There are overwhelming choices when it comes to companies that would want to have their goods drop shipped. However, differentiating a worthwhile company with a legitimate business is the challenge. The reason is simple –
1. There are many drop-shipping scams that are prevalent on the web
2. The longer the drop shipping chain, (i.e. the number of sources that handle the merchandise before it reaches the customer), the smaller would be your percentage.
Solution: The idea is to personally investigate a prospective drop-shipper, as most of the ones advertising are simply intermediaries in a long list of people who stock the goods. Each of them is basically a broker who procures goods from small distributors. Such drop-shippers cannot be relied upon for paying your percentage or delivering the goods to your customers. The idea is to get your merchandise directly from a manufacturer or an authenticated wholesaler who is ready to drop ship. Verify the market reputation of every drop-shipper that you might consider and particularly, their stocking capabilities.
Establishing A Drop-shipper
Once you have found a retailer/wholesaler/manufacturer who can be trusted as a drop shipper, mail him a proposal. It should contain your intention of listing his merchandise on eBay. Enquire about his ability to drop ship on a regular basis. If you receive a confirmation for your proposal, request him to mail over the details of his drop-shipping volumes in the last few months.
This would generally be presented in the form of an inventory-like document that would detail the kind of goods and the geographical area where the retailer has been drop shipping. This will give you a precise picture about the kind of merchandise and volumes that he is capable of delivering. When these issues are resolved, ask for what sort of percentage he is ready to offer.
Creating eBay Drop Ship Item List
The procedure is similar to listing your own products, as a ‘seller’ but you don’t have to take photographs and create the list yourself. Nearly every drop-shipper has a website or at least an online catalogue of his goods. You need to just paste the product images and create the keyword-heavy description.
How Does eBay Drop-shipping Work?
Your responsibilities include listing the products on eBay, so that online visitors can search and choose them. Every time, an interested customer wants to purchase the listed items, you have to relay the information over to the dropshipper, who will in turn, pay you a handsome commission for every recorded sale. The items and every issue associated with them is that of the manufacturer/company that has agreed to be your drop-shipper.
Perhaps, the only problem is the customer grievance that would be diverted to you and not the drop-shipper. The reason – an online customer isn’t aware of the relationship that exists between you and a drop-shipper. Hence, every time an ordered good does not reach on schedule or it is delivered in a compromised form, the customers will hold you responsible.