Making Money Online with Drop Shipping
The following is a guest post by Amanda Tradwick. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.
Drop shipping provides a low-risk way for entrepreneurs to make money online. Drop shippers sell products online without having to purchase the products wholesale up front. When an item sells, the vendor collects the money and the item is shipped directly from the wholesaler. No money is lost, and all sales result in direct profit.
As with any online venture, hard work and marketing savvy is needed to be successful with drop shipping.
Here’s how you can set yourself apart from others.
Choose a Reputable Source
There are many drop-shipping wholesalers who make promises of big profits, but who provide inferior products, are delayed with their shipping, or who are actually middle men who order the products from legitimate wholesalers and then charge a markup on the products. Be sure to do your research to choose a wholesaler with a good reputation and quality products. Make sure the wholesaler is known for timely shipments and legitimate business dealings.
Set Yourself Apart
There are hundreds of sellers on eBay and other sites that sell products from drop shippers — the same products from the same drop shippers. In order to be successful, you must find ways to set yourself apart from these other sellers. There are many ways to do this. You can choose niche products from quality wholesalers, ensuring that you are one of fewer sellers with those products. You can create a high-quality Web site in which to sell your products rather than relying on eBay or other online auction sites. Of course, as with any online venture, a successful marketing strategy is also key. Concentrate your efforts on building traffic to your site, promoting your products through social-networking sites, and other ways to get the word out about your products.
Write Your Own Copy
Wholesalers provide marketing copy and photos for the products in their catalog, which many sellers use for their own websites or for their online auctions. The result is that dozens of sellers use the exact same photos and descriptions of the same products. The only way these sellers can set themselves apart is to drastically undercut their prices or to build up their reputation. You can make your products stand out by ordering samples to take your own photos and by writing your own descriptive copy. You can highlight different features of the products and showcase them in new and unique ways, helping to drive sales.
Create a Blog
In addition to a website for your products, you should also create a blog to help promote what you are selling. A blog can help create awareness for your products by attracting new traffic to your site, highlighting the features of your products, and more. A blog also offers your customers additional value, creating an additional component to your Web site, rather than just offering a list of products for sale. Proper marketing of your blog — including keyword research, generating quality back links, and more — can help you to maximize marketing for your products, as well.
Drop shipping presents a low-risk way to start your own business online, allowing you to sell products without coming up with a large initial investment to purchase products. However, to be successful, you must do the proper research and put the right effort into marketing, as you would with any online venture. These tips can help as you begin your drop-shipping business.
About the Author:
Amanda Tradwick is a grant researcher and writer for CollegeGrants.org. She has a Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Delaware, and has recently finished research on grants for women in college and college grant programs.
Tags: drop shippers, drop shipping, dropshipping, ebay, make money online, making money online, online auction sites, wholesalers
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Tagged with: drop shippers • drop shipping • dropshipping • ebay • make money online • making money online • online auction sites • wholesalers
Filed under: Entrepreneurship • make money online
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Twitter: bsbhupendra771
says:
Drop shipping is great idea to make money online with low risk, but Reputable Source is very very important.
Bhupendra@make money online´s last [type] ..Make Money with Clickbank
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Twitter: ebusinessmom
says:
Thanks for the share! I had fun reading your blog and I have got a lot of point and literally learned a lot. Thanks!
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nice method amanda, i might actually try this
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With no investment or sometimes minimal investment to start this. One thing I like to drop shipping also is that you don’t have inventory to make since you are taking orders before buying it and selling it in retail price. That’s the beauty of drop shipping. But, every business has it’s advantages and advantages. One thing I hate about drop-shipping is scammers! You need to choose your supplier carefully.
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I think that in case if you have your own blog devoted to this activity, then more people will believe in it. SO there they will be able to ask questions and get necessary information
Amanda@BuySellWordPress´s last [type] ..Business WordPress Themes
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Twitter: sanjaykhemlani
says:
Before entering this kind of business, make sure you have the proper knowledge on SEO and keyword research. You should invest on learning those things first before you dive in.
Sanjay´s last [type] ..How to Create Your Own UI Planner in Photoshop
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Hi Amanda, Drop shipping is one way how to make money online without its lump sum cost. They also say that domain parking can generate a lot of passive income. Unsure how true but this business is to be quite good for those who has a registered domain but yet to utilize it.
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Hey Amanda, thanks for sharing this great post with us. Are you thinking of doing a course on this because I would really love it if you did! In the meantime are there any good courses on dropshipping that you can recommend?
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Nice for sharing these great ideas… really its a good work to earn money.. Thanks
Asad umrani´s last [type] ..Symptoms of Crohns Disease
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When your making money online you are more likely building your own brand.It is essential to set yourself apart and be unique.
Becca´s last [type] ..Skip Bins Wyongah
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I read your blog all the time. Right now I am working at trying to make a living from work at home jobs. I am finding it very tough but I haven’t given up yet. Blogs like this keep me updated and help out a lot. Thanks for the read.
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With no investment or sometimes minimal investment to start this. One thing I like to drop shipping also is that you don’t have inventory to make since you are taking orders before buying it and selling it in retail price.
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Twitter: Shyxter
says:
Drop shipping seems to be a very inviting way to earn online. I’ve been an online worker since 2009, doing writing and research tasks but I’ve never actually done anything like selling a product. This looks like a good way to go as it requires little investment. I just have to improve on my marketing skills
Thanks for sharing.
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Dropshipping is a great way to test the water on a product. If it becomes a popular item you can then move to purchasing the product for inventory, which will generally save money for the entrepreneur.
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Twitter: GeraldNitram
says:
When you’re going for this option of making money using the Internet, you really have to choose wisely. There might be a lot of offers out there, but you have to really look carefully so that you’ll be able to pick the one with the most reliable items. As for the blog, you have to make yourself visible in search engines. Participate in online communities so that you can boost your reputation.
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Hey Amanda,
great article and really helpful! keep up the good work
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It’s a nice idea but you have to know the right people and talk to the ones who are actually doing that!
Lily@Healthe Trim Reviews´s last [type] ..Is the Healthy Trim Price Worth It for the Results?
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I remember this method was around 2008. And it’s great that it still lives. Go to Alibaba. There a lot of dealers there for dropshipping. I can’t guarantee you if the product you’ll get is original but it’s better to ask to whom you are dealing with.
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Alan Mater
Twitter: AMater
@Adeline,
Nice to see you mentioned Alibaba. I wrote a review about them a while back and find them to be a great resource for products.
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Twitter: techmissile
says:
this one taught me a lot on this money making topic.
abejith´s last [type] ..Will Nokia’s Recent Designs Pick Up Nokia’s Market Presence?
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Great point about having a blog to go along with your eCommerce site. It seems to lend a lot more credibility if you can post a review of the widget and give a real world review, rather than what you can find on amazon.
Chris @ Natural Health Reviews´s last [type] ..Heart Factors Plus Review
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Hi,
I tried drop shipping about two years ago but I did not have too much success at it.
I was drop shipping toys by selling them on ebay, but by the time I paid the ebay commission and the paypal commission I was hardly left with anything myself.
Because of this experience I never gave drop shipping any more thought.
I realize now though that toys was just too broad a niche.
From two years ago I am now much more aware of how internet marketing works so I could well try this again at some time.
Many thanks for reawakening this subject for me.
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My family has been working as an online retailer for quite some time now. The best way to find a dropshipper is by calling the brand themselves. Most of the time, they will be more than happy to guide you to the companies that they work with!
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Twitter: davidsneen
says:
Hmmm, would you rather run around, taking orders and delivering product, or have it drop shipped. Sounds like a no brainer to me.
However, as Sanjay implied, there is lots of work to do before people come to you and order from you. You must brand yourself as an expert and a trustworthy person. It is not easy and, for most of us, not quick.
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I just wanted to add that the reputability issues go double for drop shippers, there are kind of expensive “certified” supplier lists that improve your chances of having the right stuff actually delivered, World Wide Brands being the big name in the field, though the similar services look like they could have copied their database.
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The Dropshipping is really a very good way to start without taking risks in France it is unfortunately hard to find run supplier
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creating a blog for your own product can be very helpful. but one has to work more on its marketing strategies and how to drive more traffic. Moreover drop shippers must be reputed and trustworthy.
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