New to Dropshipping

Hi there

I am new to dropshipping and have been researching and reading as much as i can, but i do have a couple of questions that might steer me in the right direction.

I know that dropshipping isnt going to be a money pool, but what is the best option for making consistent income with dropshipping?> Would it be to find a niche that has volume ( as in something that sells alot on ebay) or higher priced items?

I need to start with dropshipping due to lack of finance for wholesale plus i think its a great way to get started in finding the right niche.

Also with dropshipping is it best to do fixed priced items and do you need to set up a store to do this? if so is there any traiining somewhere which shows you how to set up this store.

Thanks for your help.

Jenni

Hi Jenni, and welcome to Salehoo,

It's good to see that you do have a good grasp of the realities of Drop Shipping, that's actually a great start.

To respond to you questions,

1. Finding a niche market isn't that easy these days and can take a lot of research with plenty of test marketing to arrive in the right place. This is just a personal opinion, however I think it can often be a waste of time these days as so many are watching for emerging markets by way of various research tools, ours included.

These tools make it easy for others to keep a very careful eye on what is selling and they can help id a niche that someone else has done all the ground work digging up, and then jump on it. As you can imagine, it doesn't take too long for everyone to jump on and your niche turns into a heavily saturated market over night.

OK, so that's all a little dark and gloomy, and to balance that, some do find a niche and service it well. I think the big secret these days with a niche market is to find one that just has a nice steady turnover, not one where demand outstrips supply too radically, because those are the markets that can go off with a bang and draw everyone's attention to them.

Under the radar as much as possible, and I would suggest that if you do find a niche market that you move to setting up your own online store to develop the market further. You can use your site to then really develop the niche, while staying under the radar on eBay and still use it as an effective sales funnel.

2. In regards to fixing prices, yes you can fix prices on eBay without having a store, and I recommend you do exactly that. When setting the price, ensure you are covering all the avenues, item price, PayPal fee, eBay fees, both listing and final success fee and any other associated fees.

This is actually a good little research tool itself. Once you know how much you need to charge just to cover yourself, then you can research eBay to see if there is any margin left for you to make money against other sellers.

Good luck with it all :)

Thanks for the reply.

I have spotted a niche that has far more bids than it has listings and huge volume of sales every day.

My only concern would be finding the items at a price that would compete on ebay. I have seen that some peopel can sell these items cheaper than I could get it wholesale which would make it hard.


I think ebay is the best place to test and see whether a niche is worth it because that is basically where all the buyers are.

Is there any other tips you can suggest for trying to pick a niche?

Or it simply better to just test a few products and dive in head first with items that you know will sell?

Thanks

Jenni

Hi Jenni,
Like you I too am just starting out.. I was initially looking into baby clothing and toys.. However after much research I wasn't able to find a single drop shipper to fit my criteria. Im looking for a company that requires a tax ID number and a resale certificate.. This is a good indication that you are dealing with a "real" wholesaler and not a middle man posing as one.. Also real wholesalers shouldn't be charging you monthly fees to sell their products. After all you're doing them the benefit of selling their products and shouldn't be charged for it.. Incurring small handling fees is fine and to be expected.. Also if you have a drop shipper in mind that fits these criteria check them out on the bbb website. also look and see who the their site is registered to. If its to some random person and not a legit company, again you are probably dealing with a middle man.. I personally have begun work on a new niche.. I plan on using my own website as well as pushing my products out to ebay, amazon..ect.. but i cant stress enough to you the importance of marketing.. people need to know that your site exists and you need to give them a reason to buy from you and not the next guy even if your price is a bit higher.. its been proven that the lowest price doesn't always get the sale.. If you'd like some marketing ideas id be more than happy to work with you... im not trying to sell you anything but helping you will certainly help keep me motivated as this business can be certainly daunting with all the scammers and saturated markets out there..

Thanks

I have been online marketing for quite a few years and actually do that in another business.. its just the ebay/dropshipping thing is completely new to me.

The biggest challenge is finding the first niche and getting started.

I am running out of stuff to sell from home ha ha.

Thanks for the tips on tax id and resale certificate as I didnt know that!

Jenni

Is there any other tips you can suggest for trying to pick a niche?

Or it simply better to just test a few products and dive in head first with items that you know will sell?

Hello and welcome to SaleHoo Jenni :)

Experimenting by selling various types of products to see which one sells best is a good approach but if you don't have much to spare (in capital) I suggest giving our Link hidden: Login to view a try. The lab helps you locate profitable/promising niches even before you spend anything for stocks :)

Another approach used and suggested to many new sellers is to start by selling things from around one's home. This is a very economical method as you won't need much capital to start with plus this is a good way for you to build your feedback as a seller too!

Hope this helps, wishing you all the best :)