Can I travel off a Dropship income?

Hi Guys,

Great to be on the site - spent most of the afternoon on this forum learning so much!

Anyway, I'm new to this stuff and I'm looking at travelling for 6-12 months someimte in 2008.

Basically - I want to know if it is realisitic to setup a small online enterprise to generate a bit off spenind money while I'm travelling. so I don't need to spend so much time washing dishes while I travel!

I thought that dropshipping would be a good idea as I don't need to actually handle the product but just need to market the product.

I'm interested to hear from anyone who is currently doing this or have any experience with dropshipping. i.e. sites to advertise on ebay vs. other auction sites vs. own website.

Or perhaps other options I have online to make some money while I'm travelling.

Looking forward to your opinions.

Cheers,
Dan

This could work but only if your successfull. About 95% of people wishing to dropship fail very quickly as the below wholesale sellers like myself undersell them every time.

This is amazing as i was of the opinion that there are many people operating their websites succesfully/profitably by drop shipping, but if i understand you correctly this is not the case and only 5% are successful.
How would one have to operate to be in this 5% category?

Are there other site besides google where it is better to dropship? perhaps yahoo storefront or other auction sites where they arn't as competitive?? even adwords??

The most successfull sites spend countless hours on advertising. Adding themselves to blogs, search engines, newsgroups, free classifieds and just alot of time advertising. If you want to be successfull in dropshipping you need your own site. Most dropshippers on ebay get killed by the wholesalers and liquidators. You will need to find traffic avenues that do not relate to ebay. There is still a massive majority of people that do not shop on ebay.

I myself am a drop-shipper, and also spent a couple of years travelling the world, though i already had the money saved up for it before i left.

Firstly, you do not need to earn a fortune to keep you out there so the idea of having to set up a website etc are crazy. I am an extremely small dropshipper, i sell two products, both with very good profit margins, and only on ebay. I usually have one of each product finishing each day, and if they sell (95% of the time) i make between

Interesting points.. thats guys.. I feel more encouraged now.

Oliver - have u ever had any delivery or stock problems with your dropshipper?

Yes had a few probs, just have to deal with them as they come, and always be honest with your customers to make sure they know what is going on. If your planning to be off travelling then make sure you have a sound supplier and a backup before you go.

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[quote='oliverbaker23':cbba7e3f][/quote:cbba7e3f]

Just out of curiosity where are you aquiring your products to dropship. Are they from a US supplier? or a GB supplier?

If your buying from a US supplier I can see where you can make extra money as the GB to US is $1.97 Currently.

But for an AU seller buying dropship items the conversion rate is $1.14

Theres no saying that dropshipping canot be good for some. But the high majority of sellers have a very hard time living off of dropshipping especially just 1 or 2 items.

Also buying products in AU even at dropship prices will be high because AU Imports a high majority of thier goods so you also have to consider the inflated prices that AU residents have to pay for products.

I didnt write that....