Do I need to purchase product before it's Dropshipped?

Hi there,

I'm an experienced eBay seller and am new to SaleHoo and the concept of dropshipping.
From what I gather, I put up the photo of the product (Provided by dropshipper) on my eBay Listing.
Do I have to pay for that product in order to have that stock reserved and have the right to put it up on my page? If no payment is necessary, how does the stock for that item get guaranteed by the time a buyer places an order?

Another question is, can anyone recommend a good dropshipper for Premium brand name Jeans & clothing, shoes and eyewear? Places with good reseller prices with enough room for profit taking into account eBay's competion.
I've looked through the suppliers on our SaleHoo directory and can;t seem to find a supplier for premium hot brands for clothing.

Jeans & Clothing such as: Diesel, G-star, True Religion, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Prada pants, Dolce & Gabanna Jeans, YSL clothing (tops and bottoms), Gucci, Versace, Juicy Couture, Burberry, Lacoste, 9Lives, seven jeans, Bebe, Christian Dior, Jimmy Choo

Shoes and sneakers such as: Kenneth Cole, Nike, Del aqua, John Varvatos, Rick Owens, Adidas, Supra

Eyeglasses and Sunglasses: Prada, Gucci, Bvlgari, D&G, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Dita, Tom ford, Paul Smith, Anne valentine, Cutler and Gross

Hi Igor and welcome to the forum

With regards to dropshipping. You do not pay upfront with dropshipping, you are essentially acting as an agent in selling the supplier's products for them. So you have the right to advertise and sell, then pay the supplier to have the item shipped direct to your customer. Now the second part of your question highlights a really important point with dropshipping.

How do you guarantee your buyer stock availability?

Anyone who has been dealing with dropshipping for any amount of time usually as one or two horror stories about selling out of stock items to a customer. It really comes down to the supplier you're using, but that's a question you need to ask the supplier directly because each one can have different stock control measures in place for their sellers.

The best advice I could give is to choose one that has the best stock control measures if at all possible. You need to know stock fluctuations as a drop shipper because if you sell a product that turns out to be out of stock, it's you that has the problem with the customer, not your supplier.

Hi Marc,

Thank you very much for clearing that up. I was hoping you'd answer - based on your previous posts. I fully understand now.

What about the second piece of the question regarding premium hot brands in clothing, shoes and eyewear?

Not an expert in that field unfortunately, I could only suggest running through the verified suppliers in the directory for some ideas.

Got you.

Thanks