You’ve read the ebook and now you have a very complete understanding of how to go about creating a dropshipping business.
Now all that’s left is to get out there and do it! In case you’re suffering from ‘overwhelm’ though, this guide will help to talk you through the steps you need to take to actually build your business from scratch.
1 Identify Your Niche
The first thing to do is identify the niche/industry you want to operate in. If you already have a website and an audience, this may be preordained. Otherwise, consider the competition, the types of products you want to sell and the sort of person you would like to sell to.
2 Choose a Product
Next, you need to choose the type of product you want to sell. The best products will be those that solve a simple problem and that have a clear ‘value proposition’. How can you get an emotional response and get people to really need what you’re selling?
3 Find a Dropshipper
This means using a dropshipping directory normally. See the resource sheet for a complete list.
Otherwise, you can try contacting wholesalers directly or just searching Google
4 Make Sure the Dropshipper is Good
- Ask what their quality control methods include
- Ask to see an example of the product
- See what services they offer – will they provide white label services and let you promote your brand through the products?
- Make sure they are a ‘real’ dropshipper and not acting as middle men
5 Prepare to do Business
The dropshipper might also require some things from you:
- Proof that you are a real business/reseller
- A minimum first order – ask them to set up credit so that they can pay you back through sales
- Pre-order fee – this is to cover delivery and packaging on new products
A real dropshipper will not ask for any recurring monthly fees. This should be seen as a very big red flag!
6a Set Up Your eBay Listing
Once you have the product sorted, the easiest way to make money is to start selling on eBay. Just list the product and wait for sales for some seriously easy money.
6b Create Your Website/Blog
Otherwise, you need to create a website or blog. This will normally involve creating a logo and then setting up the site itself with WordPress or a similar CMS. Add content on a regular basis and you’ll be able to keep bringing people to the site. Strengthen your brand further with a mailing list and social media presence.
Make sure you have a real ‘mission statement’ and that your branding communicates this well. Know precisely who you want to sell to and what your brand is all about.
7b Create an Ecommerce Store
Finally, create an ecommerce store and use this to add products to your site. You can do this through WooCommerce or a number of other platforms – see the resource sheet for more.
Now it’s a matter of arranging and pricing the items correctly to help them sell, while continuing your marketing and blogging activities.
Dropshipping Resource Sheet
Are you ready to start your own dropshipping business, selling products directly through a wholesaler without ever having to worry about delivery, packaging or any of the other concerns that bog down a lot of physical product businesses?
This resource sheet will provide you with some invaluable resources that will give you the upper hand and save you countless hours. Read it through once, then keep it to one side so that you can refer back to it while you’re working…
Dropshipping Directories
What I’m about to share with you here is worth a fortune. These dropshipping directories will help you to save countless hours by providing you with huge lists of dropshippers that you can work with. These companies are used to dealing with internet marketers like you and are actively looking for more partners. The directories will make it incredibly easy to search for them by the product type, to view their items and to get in touch.
Doba
Doba is a dropshipping resource that provides up to 1.6 million name-brand products that you can sell through eBay, your own site or Facebook. It also features weekly deals, a handy market research tool, support via phone and a custom data export. In short, it’s a very useful resource but it will set you back $59.95 per month. Of course you can use it to find your dropshippers and then unsubscribe!
SaleHoo
SaleHoo is another online wholesale directory as well as providing a community for online traders, resellers and eBay users. You can access drop shippers here, as well as wholesalers and liquidators. It has 8,000 verified suppliers and 1.6 million products. Cost is $67 per year.
Makers Row
At a comparable price to the others on this list, Makers’ Row is really aimed more at product designers than dropshipping businesses. This is where you’ll come if you want to find a business that can help you to create your product and turn a CAD file into a tangible item. However, the huge number of contacts will allow you to find manufacturers that offer other services, too.
Alibaba
Alibaba is a very well-known directory of dropshippers as well as manufacturers and sellers. This is a great place to find contacts when you’re selling any kind of physical product and the best bit is that it’s completely free!
Unfortunately, Alibaba is also a little on the fiddly side in terms of its design and can involve a lot of routing around to find what you’re looking for. But as a free resource and one with a particularly large number of items, it’s hard to beat!
Worldwide Brands
Another of the best known dropshipping directories. This one provides over 10 million wholesale products, supplied by over 8,000 drop shippers and wholesalers. It also has various resources like videos and ebooks for online retailers. It costs $299 but that will give you permanent, lifetime access.
Dropshippers
Dropshippers.com offers over 3.5 million products across 400 categories and 500 suppliers. It will allow you to sell on eBay, Facebook or your own site and also comes with educational resources. The downside is that it costs a little more than Worldwide Brands, which isn’t great when you consider that it offers fewer products and wholesalers!
Dropship Design
Like the others on this list, Dropship design provides over 1 million drop ship products for selling around the web. These include clothing, toys, electronics, beauty products and health supplements. The basic plan provides access to various products and services and will set you back $49.99. There are also eBay plans and website plans.
Shopster
Shopster allows you to find drop ship products to sell as well as helping you to get in touch with various merchants and suppliers. Once again it comes with various different features including and inventory and ordering system and eBay listing tool.
You get access to up to 1.5 million products and the best bit is that a standard membership is free. This allows you to list up to 15 products and you’ll only pay more ($69.95) if you need to sell more than that.
Dropship.com
It’s nice to see sites like this with ‘dropshpiping’ referred to in the title some way, as it tells you that’s what the company is all about. This site makes it easy to work with suppliers and add their products to your website but to find out the price, you’ll need to contact them.
The Wholesaler.co.uk
For those of you based in the UK, this is a great option to start out with. It’s a little rough around the edges though and doesn’t have the biggest selection of items.
Ecommerce Platforms
Your ecommerce platform is what you’ll use to build the ‘store’ element of your website. This should make it easy for you to list multiple items, to update their pricing and to alter themes etc.
Good options include:
Shopify
A hosted solution, meaning that you build the site on their servers and then link to it from your own site. Simple and easy to set up with a lot of support.
Magento
A highly scalable solution that is self-hosted. Magento has a ton of features but is also somewhat slow and difficult to get started with for beginners. Best if you want to make a massive store to rival the likes of Amazon.
Volusion
Volusion is a great choice if you’re an internet marketer at heart. It’s a hosted solution like Shopify but has some handy features, like the ability to combine the store with a built-in mailing list and contact management.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce will be the best option for most people reading this. That’s because WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress. This means you can install it on your site with a single click and then manage it just like you would normally manage your regular blog.
A Handy Guide
Here’s one more handy resource:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/Dropshipping-Starting-A-Home-Based-Business-/10000000012004567/g.html
This is a great guide to starting a home-based business by dropshipping and selling items on eBay, from eBay’s own blog.
