payment cycle and start up cash

Hello,
I'm new to the dropshipping biz. Depending on the site you decide to sell on, it could be 1 to 2 weeks before you receive payment for the item that was sold. In the meantime you need to purchase the item from the dropshipper to be delivered to the purchaser. Do you just put it on a CC until then? (trying not to max the CC) I know it would depend on your price point of the items you're selling but I would like to hear how others got the cycle started. Did you have ie. like $1000 available, $0 just wondering.

No one should enter into a dropshipping venture with no cash; it's a set up for failure the first time you get an unsatisfied customer (or just a trivial grief player who likes to cause problems, scam artists etc.) You cannot count your customers' money as your money until they have their order in hand and have left you feedback (if on eBay or another platform with feedback) because the unfortunate fact is, up until that moment it is trivially easy for the customer to get a refund, without even consulting you.

Not having any liquid capital will burn up any business, of any size, in any industry. You need to plan ahead, have at least a few weeks' worth of anticipated order volume in cash or credit available, so that you can keep things running smoothly and take any issues with individual customers as they come, rather than letting one derail your whole operation.


Frank

Hi Dianne and welcome to the forum,

I would just second what Frank has said, very important to have some start up cash behind you or you are playing with trouble and can come unstuck very quickly with PayPay account holds being a real serge to many new starters.