How A Wholesale Drop Shipper Can Help Grow Your Home-Based Business


More and more people are working from home. They have thriving online businesses. The advantages to working from home are numerous: no commute, no bosses to answer to, the ability to set your own hours, and the potential to make massive amounts of money! You are the boss and you keep all your profits! But there are some disadvantages as well. One problem you may face, especially if you sell physical product, is the lack of space to store your inventory. Many online entrepreneurs selling product online are lacking the physical space in their home to store all the goods they want to sell. This can create problems when the spare bedroom becomes stuffed to the gills with inventory and there is no room in the garage to park the car! This is where a wholesale drop shipper can help.

What Does a Drop Shipper Do?
A drop shipper is a special type of wholesale supplier that helps retailers or reseller by storing their inventory and shipping it directly from their warehouse to the customer. This supplier takes one step out of the sales process. Here is a typical reseller/supplier process:
1. The reseller places an order for products
2. The supplier ships the items to the reseller
3. The reseller sells the product
4. The reseller ships the product to their customer.

Now, here is the simplified sales process when a reseller uses a drop shipper:
1. The reseller lists items for sale and sells a product.
2. The reseller sends the order info to the drop ship supplier.
3. The drop shipper ships the product to the customer.

With a drop ship supplier, the reseller never has to stock inventory nor handle any of the shipping. This lets the reseller concentrate on what they do best and that is selling products to the consumer. And since the wholesale supplier has to ship products anyway (usually to the reseller), it is not too difficult for them to ship directly to the end-user.

What Are the Dangers of Using a Drop Ship Supplier?
As in any business transaction, you need to check out your supplier and make sure they have a good record with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and that there are no complaints with the state attorney's general office. Also, ask other resellers for recommendations for drop shippers and get their experiences with them. Find out how quickly they ship products and how they handle customer returns.

How to Find a Wholesale Drop Shipper
There are many ways to find a drop shipper. We recommend that you investigate the links on our site to find a reliable and dependable drop shipper. You can buy lists of wholesale suppliers and drop shippers on the internet and sites like eBay. We don't recommend these lists only because you can't be sure how accurate and up-to-date these lists are. We prefer the membership websites that charge a small fee. These sites typically have accurate lists of wholesalers and drop shippers. They may also have free tech support to help you get started, and a lively forum. The private forum is the real advantage to these sites. Here, you can ask other resellers about their experiences with specific wholesalers and drop shippers. You will get honest and candid opinions from other people who are working at home just like you. The cost of the membership is well worth it when you consider how valuable these real-world opinions are. It only takes one bad deal and you could lose a lot more money than these sites cost.

Avoiding Scams
When you start working with a drop shipper, it is best to start with one that accepts credit cards for payment. This way, you are protected should something go wrong. Your prices may be slightly higher dealing with a supplier that accepts credit cards, but if you have a problem, you can always contact the credit card company to get your money back. Be especially leery of wholesale companies that only accept money orders. Here, you have no recourse if you never receive product that you have paid for. Also, when you first decide on a wholesale supplier or drop shipper, make sure you have a phone number and a physical address of the business. Call their customer service department and see if you can talk to a real person before you place any orders. If you get a recording or you get stuck in voice mail or a phone tree menu, you may want to select a more user-friendly supplier.