How to get more sales with dropshipping

Okay, so I'm not sure where to start with explaining everything but I just got SaleHoo yesterday and I have an eBay page, it's Link hidden: Login to view

I don't have a sales tax ID or business license or anything. I'm just a normal person wanting to start dropshipping and I guess I just need help figuring everything out so I can make more than one sale a month. The things listed there are things I put on there before I got SaleHoo. Please help. Thanks.

Hi Carrie and welcome to the forum,

I've taken a quick look at a few of your listings and while your descriptions seem OK from both a informational and layout perspective, you could definitely make some improvements there by developing a HTML template to better brand yourself.

The two bigger or issues that stand out to me or I should say the two biggest issues, are the fact that you are a very new seller with a feedback score of just 1 and the fact that at least most of the products are quite clearly identifiable as dropshipped products by the generic white backgrounds.

Those white backgrounds are a HUGE red flag to anyone who knows about dropshipping, what they say in BIG BOLD letters to those people are that "I'm not the actual owner of these products" So they know that in the event of having an issue they need resolved, they're stuck talking to the Horses tail (no offence) not the Horses head and that worries a lot of buyers.

So you combine those two factors to start with, dropshipped products and virtually no feedback as a seller, just those two alone are enough to cause concerns with many customers.

Now I'm not saying that you should lie about selling dropshipped items, not at all, but you shouldn't be going out of your way to highlight it as marketing tool. That's essentially what you, and many others I should say, are actually doing with these style of listings.

So for me, I can see upgrading your listings to a HTML template for better branding that inspires customers to spend their money, not cause them concerns about spending it. If at all possible, use images that DON'T highlight the fact you are dropshipping and find ways to quickly increase your feedback.

How do you increase your feedback?

Well you have a couple of options, you can spend some cash, maybe 50 or 100 and buy lots of little things just to get feedback from sellers. Now seller feedback is of course different different to buyer feedback, but any feedback is much better than virtually none at all in my books. The other option to consider is throwing out some well priced loss-leaders.

Take at look at your hardest competition and see what their prices on the same products are. Then come in under them by a number, let's say 5% cheaper. Yes, you are loosing money, but what you are also doing is marketing yourself by driving traffic to your listings, building a customer base that you can then market directly to for future sales and building feedback.

No that option will see you going backwards short term, but if you do it right it can see you really move forward in the long term.

I hope that feedback was of some help for you :)

fudjj wrote:Hi Carrie and welcome to the forum,

I've taken a quick look at a few of your listings and while your descriptions seem OK from both a informational and layout perspective, you could definitely make some improvements there by developing a HTML template to better brand yourself.

The two bigger or issues that stand out to me or I should say the two biggest issues, are the fact that you are a very new seller with a feedback score of just 1 and the fact that at least most of the products are quite clearly identifiable as dropshipped products by the generic white backgrounds.

Those white backgrounds are a HUGE red flag to anyone who knows about dropshipping, what they say in BIG BOLD letters to those people are that "I'm not the actual owner of these products" So they know that in the event of having an issue they need resolved, they're stuck talking to the Horses tail (no offence) not the Horses head and that worries a lot of buyers.

So you combine those two factors to start with, dropshipped products and virtually no feedback as a seller, just those two alone are enough to cause concerns with many customers.

Now I'm not saying that you should lie about selling dropshipped items, not at all, but you shouldn't be going out of your way to highlight it as marketing tool. That's essentially what you, and many others I should say, are actually doing with these style of listings.

So for me, I can see upgrading your listings to a HTML template for better branding that inspires customers to spend their money, not cause them concerns about spending it. If at all possible, use images that DON'T highlight the fact you are dropshipping and find ways to quickly increase your feedback.

How do you increase your feedback?

Well you have a couple of options, you can spend some cash, maybe 50 or 100 and buy lots of little things just to get feedback from sellers. Now seller feedback is of course different different to buyer feedback, but any feedback is much better than virtually none at all in my books. The other option to consider is throwing out some well priced loss-leaders.

Take at look at your hardest competition and see what their prices on the same products are. Then come in under them by a number, let's say 5% cheaper. Yes, you are loosing money, but what you are also doing is marketing yourself by driving traffic to your listings, building a customer base that you can then market directly to for future sales and building feedback.

No that option will see you going backwards short term, but if you do it right it can see you really move forward in the long term.

I hope that feedback was of some help for you :)

Thanks for the reply. Do you by chance know how I can find better pictures of my products without actually buying it? I've tried googling them to try and find some but it doesn't always work

Pointing out the problem is the easy bit, finding the solution is always the hard part lol. If you're going to do something like develop a listing template with your own branding, what you can then do is make use of the clear backgrounds on the images by inserting your own logo for example. Scale down your logo and dial up the opacity so the logo is quite muted so as not to dominate the image itself.

This marketing technique essentially takes a negative and flips it to a positive very quickly and effectively. By having your own brand on the images rather that the tell tale clear white, it removed any negativity and reinforces positivity with customers. Now if you don't have software or the know how on how to manipulate images to accomplish the desired look, then any graphic artist is going to be able to assist with that.

Give me a shout out if you decide to try it and would like some leads to follow up with to complete the work and I'll shoot you some options.

That option to me is the easiest and most effective way to do it all round from every aspect. It solves a problem and provides you with a far more professional image as well.

Cheers

fudjj wrote:Hi Carrie and welcome to the forum,

I've taken a quick look at a few of your listings and while your descriptions seem OK from both a informational and layout perspective, you could definitely make some improvements there by developing a HTML template to better brand yourself.

The two bigger or issues that stand out to me or I should say the two biggest issues, are the fact that you are a very new seller with a feedback score of just 1 and the fact that at least most of the products are quite clearly identifiable as dropshipped products by the generic white backgrounds.

Those white backgrounds are a HUGE red flag to anyone who knows about dropshipping, what they say in BIG BOLD letters to those people are that "I'm not the actual owner of these products" So they know that in the event of having an issue they need resolved, they're stuck talking to the Horses tail (no offence) not the Horses head and that worries a lot of buyers.

So you combine those two factors to start with, dropshipped products and virtually no feedback as a seller, just those two alone are enough to cause concerns with many customers.

Now I'm not saying that you should lie about selling dropshipped items, not at all, but you shouldn't be going out of your way to highlight it as marketing tool. That's essentially what you, and many others I should say, are actually doing with these style of listings.

So for me, I can see upgrading your listings to a HTML template for better branding that inspires customers to spend their money, not cause them concerns about spending it. If at all possible, use images that DON'T highlight the fact you are dropshipping and find ways to quickly increase your feedback.

How do you increase your feedback?

Well you have a couple of options, you can spend some cash, maybe 50 or 100 and buy lots of little things just to get feedback from sellers. Now seller feedback is of course different different to buyer feedback, but any feedback is much better than virtually none at all in my books. The other option to consider is throwing out some well priced loss-leaders.

Take at look at your hardest competition and see what their prices on the same products are. Then come in under them by a number, let's say 5% cheaper. Yes, you are loosing money, but what you are also doing is marketing yourself by driving traffic to your listings, building a customer base that you can then market directly to for future sales and building feedback.

No that option will see you going backwards short term, but if you do it right it can see you really move forward in the long term.

I hope that feedback was of some help for you :)

Also do you know where I can find some really good teplates? Sorry for all the questons

fudjj wrote:Pointing out the problem is the easy bit, finding the solution is always the hard part lol. If you're going to do something like develop a listing template with your own branding, what you can then do is make use of the clear backgrounds on the images by inserting your own logo for example. Scale down your logo and dial up the opacity so the logo is quite muted so as not to dominate the image itself.

This marketing technique essentially takes a negative and flips it to a positive very quickly and effectively. By having your own brand on the images rather that the tell tale clear white, it removed any negativity and reinforces positivity with customers. Now if you don't have software or the know how on how to manipulate images to accomplish the desired look, then any graphic artist is going to be able to assist with that.

Give me a shout out if you decide to try it and would like some leads to follow up with to complete the work and I'll shoot you some options.

That option to me is the easiest and most effective way to do it all round from every aspect. It solves a problem and provides you with a far more professional image as well.

Cheers

Thanks:) I think I have software that can add a watermark to my photo, But I do want to try doing that and if you have any better options I would like to know what options you have

Hi Carrie,

If I were you I would get my own branding developed and then get a custom template designed with your own branding, that's going to give you the most impact from an image point of view and looking professional can only ever be a good thing to instill convidence in customers.

My suggestion, have a think about a name for your business. If possible, try and get one that you can also register as a domain as well. That's not really a must, but it can help from a marketing perspective if you can possibly link the two. When checking domain names for availability, don't get locked into thinking you need a dot com, there are now plenty of dot options, a dot store for example is a great choice if a dot com isn't available in my opinion.

So for me, it starts with a name and you then build everything else around that.

There are quite a few freelance sites where you can find great designers who work very cheaply, one that I am happy to recommend as I use them myself is Link hidden: Login to view

I use a logo designer there for myself, I'm happy to pass on your email address to her if you want to PM that to me and you can then discuss the type of logo brand you want her to develop. I'm not sure what her price is currently, but she had a special offer running a few days ago that I took advantage of for just 10 pounds per logo.

Her work is excellent, no clip art, it's all her own work and she offers unlimited revisions until you are completely happy ... now that is next impossible to beat!

You'll also find options there to have your own template designed as well, once you have a logo and your branding is starting to take place. So these types of things can be done very inexpensively, they can cost a lot, but they don't have to if you shop in the right places and you're happy with great, but not sensational design.

Sensational design does cost!

This was a very helpful read.
However what is a HTML template.
I was just going to do mone in word and then cut and paste.

But if there is a template that would be helpful. We are also looking at ebay drop shipping too. And our account is new.

So definitely no rating yet on our account.

Thanks

ck

Hi CK,

HTML is basic computer code. You can use already designed templates, there are a lot of free ones, but all are very generic and not worth the effort in my opinion. The beauty of having your own design coded is that you have your own brand built, your own logo, your colours and everything else. It can take a very ordinary looking listing and make it extremely professional and in this business, you need every bit of edge as you can possibly get.

A professional presentation is a great place to start in my opinion.

To give you an idea, check out some designs of other people here Link hidden: Login to view

If you get one done, you'll notice in eBay on the listing page (description box) At the top, you have the HTML option you can select. So the designer will provide you with the code, you select the HTML option and paste the code directly into the description box and that's it. Set the page and your template will then display.

So teh hardest part is coming up with a design, but talking that over with your designer will be the way to go, they'll be able to advise and a really good one won't be afraid to offer their own suggestions as well. To find a template designer, as above ... peopleperhour, great site and quotes that are really hard to beat.

fudjj wrote:Hi Carrie,

If I were you I would get my own branding developed and then get a custom template designed with your own branding, that's going to give you the most impact from an image point of view and looking professional can only ever be a good thing to instill convidence in customers.

My suggestion, have a think about a name for your business. If possible, try and get one that you can also register as a domain as well. That's not really a must, but it can help from a marketing perspective if you can possibly link the two. When checking domain names for availability, don't get locked into thinking you need a dot com, there are now plenty of dot options, a dot store for example is a great choice if a dot com isn't available in my opinion.

So for me, it starts with a name and you then build everything else around that.

There are quite a few freelance sites where you can find great designers who work very cheaply, one that I am happy to recommend as I use them myself is Link hidden: Login to view

I use a logo designer there for myself, I'm happy to pass on your email address to her if you want to PM that to me and you can then discuss the type of logo brand you want her to develop. I'm not sure what her price is currently, but she had a special offer running a few days ago that I took advantage of for just 10 pounds per logo.

Her work is excellent, no clip art, it's all her own work and she offers unlimited revisions until you are completely happy ... now that is next impossible to beat!

You'll also find options there to have your own template designed as well, once you have a logo and your branding is starting to take place. So these types of things can be done very inexpensively, they can cost a lot, but they don't have to if you shop in the right places and you're happy with great, but not sensational design.

Sensational design does cost!

Thanks a lot, that would be really helpful.

Leave it with me Carrie, I'll pass on for you

Hi Mark,
Can you please pass my mail address to the designer, guess i also will be needing her service.

Thanks

fudjj wrote:Hi Carrie,

If I were you I would get my own branding developed and then get a custom template designed with your own branding, that's going to give you the most impact from an image point of view and looking professional can only ever be a good thing to instill convidence in customers.

My suggestion, have a think about a name for your business. If possible, try and get one that you can also register as a domain as well. That's not really a must, but it can help from a marketing perspective if you can possibly link the two. When checking domain names for availability, don't get locked into thinking you need a dot com, there are now plenty of dot options, a dot store for example is a great choice if a dot com isn't available in my opinion.

So for me, it starts with a name and you then build everything else around that.

There are quite a few freelance sites where you can find great designers who work very cheaply, one that I am happy to recommend as I use them myself is Link hidden: Login to view

I use a logo designer there for myself, I'm happy to pass on your email address to her if you want to PM that to me and you can then discuss the type of logo brand you want her to develop. I'm not sure what her price is currently, but she had a special offer running a few days ago that I took advantage of for just 10 pounds per logo.

Her work is excellent, no clip art, it's all her own work and she offers unlimited revisions until you are completely happy ... now that is next impossible to beat!

You'll also find options there to have your own template designed as well, once you have a logo and your branding is starting to take place. So these types of things can be done very inexpensively, they can cost a lot, but they don't have to if you shop in the right places and you're happy with great, but not sensational design.

Sensational design does cost!

Can you kindly pass my mail address to the designer...will be needing her service too.
Thanks.
John

No problems John, just PM your email and I'll pass on for you.

Well, I have a SALEHOO subscription also, but I don't think that I came across instructions on how to create an HTML.
I was wondering how to abide by the "white background" rule that Amazon and/or ebay have?

HTML is actually computer code, we're unable to teach code, you would need to learn that from an actual programmer or at least someone with experience in that field if you wanted to in fact learn HTML. You can of course just hire people to code up a template for you for marketing purposes if you wanted to, that shouldn't be an expensive thing to do, in fact I am happy to pass on the contact details for who I use if you want to PM me.

In regards to the white background rules, are you referring to there? Link hidden: Login to view