Expert: Marvinator - 1/8/2005

Question
i found this website  www.dropshipsellers.com  and im wondering if this is a good/safe way to make money.  i really want to try and make money selling on ebay  and im trying to find out how.  if you have any other advice on selling on ebay i would appreciate it.  

Answer
Please read addendum  to first letter below.


I love helping people whereever I can, especially on Ebay.  But to ask for "any other advice" is like going up to a scientist and saying "What all can you tell me about neuclear fission?"

A lot of the advice I give people is more directed and without some sort of experience base on which to draw, you eithre won't know what I"m talking about or feel I'm giving you what you already know.  

Dropshipping can be a good way to deal on ebay, but there are drawbacks.  I'm hoping you want to hear these drawbacks so I'll go ahead with them.

Dropshippers are at the mercy of their suppliers just as you are at the mercy of the dropshipper.  You find a nifty item from some company and you place it on auction. It sells and you place an order to have the item drop shipped.  Now, in the time between when you first put the item up for sale and the time it sold, the drop ship company sells a lot of this item. They are sold out when it comes time for your order.  So, YOUR order is placed on 'backorder' until a new shipment comes in from the supplier.

This is all well and good, but it is just as easy for the manufacturer to also be out of stock.  So they now place your dropshipper's order on 'backorder'.  You can end up waiting for 6 weeks, 8 weeks - even more!  And your customer is not going to want to wait that amount of time.  

In addition to order problems, Drop shippers can also cause problems in shipping.  Your drop shipper may use a slower form of shipping company than most other sellers and until you get to know them, you also don't know how well they pack the items they ship.  If the item arrives broken, who is your customer going to blame?  That's right, you.

My personal advice is to get to know drop shippers and ask as many questions as you can.  If you feel that they will have the items in stock - when you need it, then go ahead and try them, but be wary of promises over huge buying times such as Christmas or Mother's day. Remember that both Ebay and the Federal Trade Commission require you to have your item shipped to the customer within 30 days.  

I hope this has helped.

Addendum added after first send:

I just took a look at www.dropshipsellers.com and feel you need to consider something which I didn't know before.  This company is not selling product, it's selling you information.  You PAY for a member ship just to find out what they have in the way of 'searchable links' and informaton.  

With a little applied intelligence and the use of a free search engine such as Google, I truly beleive that you don't have to pay someone to find links for you.  So my answer about this particular company is to try it on your own first.  Memberships rarely turn out to be as good as their advertising.