What is a good product to dropship?

  • avatar

    by: lucy6394
    New SaleHoo Member
    6 posts

    What is a good product to dropship?

    Posted 7 Sep 07 11:13 pm.

    I need help finding a good product to dropship. I also need a good site and selling price. I am an ultra newbie, with an account for less than 1 week, and I haven't sold anything yet. Thanks.
  • avatar

    by: gulfy13
    SaleHoo Master Member
    472 posts

    Re: What is a good product to dropship?

    Posted 8 Sep 07 1:41 am.

    The profit margins are slim to non existant when it comes to dropshipping. It's very hard to find a decent dropshipper although there are a few out there..The trouble with dropshipping is that there are so many people trying to do it that the market is flooded with their products..

    Plus on top of that most of the dropshippers are not really that. They are just middlemen posing as wholesalers. This means that they are actually buying their product (which they want you to sell) from an actual wholesaler or distributer. So they are paying a mark-up to that company. Then they in turn to make a profit are marking it up to sell to you. So right off the bat, when you buy from these types of middlemen you are already paying 2 markups on the item you are buying..

    In addition most of these guys want you to pay a 'fee' to join their program and most of the time they require you to do this before you can even see the prices of the products they have listed....Most of the things that they sell can actually be purchased cheaper by driving down to your local dept store...

    Also they have a bad habit of not actually keeping in stock the items that they do dropship..This can absolutely kill your feedback and business. Because you can sell an item and you customer is expecting at least somewhat of a speedy delivery. Then you will get a notice from your dropshipper saying the item is 'out of stock' and on 'back order'..And the bad part of it all is that your customer is NOT going to blame the dropshipper, they are going to be looking at you for an answer...

    Probably the best advice I can give you is to decide what type or types of products that you intend to sell. Once you decide that, try a site like liquidation.com, or surplus.net, etc. where you can actually buy items in bulk and make a profit on..Buying in 'lots' and in bulk is really the only what you are going to be able to get ahead and make some real money..

    Too, if you are selling on ebay, or plan to, keep in mind that most all of the products that you see on there are normally sold at 'below wholesale' prices...This is why it is so important to find items that you can buy in bulk (quanity). Normally when buying this way the more you buy the cheaper they are going to be..When buying items through liquidation and close-out,and surplus sites, you can actually get items for pennies on the dollar...This is how you need to compete with the other sellers on ebay or any other auction sites....

    And remember, when you are buying in bulk, and selling in bulk (that is, lots of items) you don't really have to have a huge market. Since you are selling numerous items,(that you purchased cheaply in bulk) it only takes a small profit on each item to produce a good days or good week total profit..

    This is how most powersellers operate..They can undercut their competition by selling their items at a very low cost, probably only making a couple of dollars on each item,,,,however since they are listing and selling hundreds of items each day, their profits are actually very high...

    This is why national chains like 'walmart' can sell items so much cheaper than other stores. They are selling thousands of products every day, so they only have to make a few cents on every item....
  • avatar

    by: jimmy_huber
    SaleHoo Master Member
    2868 posts

    Re: What is a good product to dropship?

    Posted 8 Sep 07 9:17 am.

    Dropshipping for newbie ebayers is literally impossible and you will become a target of scammers. Make sure you read up on the forums no matter how old the topics. You will learn much, Before you search for suppliers try reading some of our stickys. They can save you a major headache and a major loss of money .

    Wholesale Directory by SaleHoo

  • avatar

    by: artpants
    SaleHoo Senior Member
    96 posts

    Re: What is a good product to dropship?

    Posted 11 Sep 07 11:21 pm.

    just curious, how are taxes filed and calculated if using dropshippers? is it true that you dont have to worry about sales tax, because that is the dropshipper's responsibility? and as far as quarterly estimated payments(both federal and state) and end of year income tax(c,se,etc), income is simply your profit, correct? just curious. i myself have not had luck with dropshippers for exactly all the reasons you have listed. but just in case i happen upon a dropshipper, i would like to understand the taxes involved. thanks.
  • avatar

    by: gulfy13
    SaleHoo Master Member
    472 posts

    Re: What is a good product to dropship?

    Posted 12 Sep 07 1:14 am.

    State sale taxes are paid by the seller, which is you. But you only pay sales tax on the item you sell within the state that issued you the tax id, or reseller permit..In other words, if you live in Florida and you sold an xbox to someone in California, you would not pay the state any sales tax on that item...

    As far as you personal taxes, most people who are just doing this part time normally just file the extra profit they made at the regular tax season on a 1099 form...