How to Start a Dropshipping Business and Make Your First $5,000

One of the biggest problems with traveling abroad is finding a guaranteed income stream to earn you money while you live abroad.

For those of you who filled out my READER SURVEY, I noticed income streams was a common question.

In this article, you will learn one of the easiest and quickest ways to make money online with a business called Drop Shipping.

I just started taking a course on drop shipping called Ifinii and I’m just blown away at the power of this online business.

Ready to find out what exactly drop shipping is? Let me introduce you to a brotha named Otto Thompson.

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Otto Thompson

Otto Thompson is a successful drop shipping expert who earns full time income with his online business. His website, Guide to Drop Shipping, provides articles & tips on starting a successful drop shipping business.

Be sure to check out Otto’s Youtube Channel and Otto’s Facebook Group as well.

He runs his entire business from the comfort of his home, too.

The best thing about drop shipping is you can run your business from anywhere in the world.

All you need is a computer and internet connection! Run your business from Brazil, Thailand, The Philippines or anywhere you choose.

Introduction to Drop Shipping?

Many people dream of starting a retail business, what if I told you that you can start an online business today just by following the information in this article.

Better yet what if I told the cost of starting this business is super low, and you don’t have to purchase any inventory to get started. This sounds exciting, well this business model is called drop shipping.

Drop Shipping is one of the easiest ways to make money online selling on eBay, Amazon or your own website via Shopify.

What Is Drop Shipping?

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Drop shipping is an online business method where you do not store any inventory, instead you partner with a wholesale dropship supplier. You list their inventory on various websites such as Amazon, eBay, Bonanza, or your own site via Shopify.

All the inventory you list is at a marked up price, once you receive payment you then forward the shipping information to the supplier, who then ships the item to your customer and you keep the difference in your PayPal or bank account as profit.

4 reasons why you should consider drop shipping

Here are 4 reasons to start a drop shipping business:

Low Start Up Costs

Drop shipping carries the lowest start up cost of any business model: Drop shipping is one of the easiest business to start because you don’t have fork out thousands of dollars for inventory. Instead, you partner with a supplier and offer thousands of their products to your customers.

It’s Easy to Learn

Drop shipping is easy to learn and it works: When launching a new business it takes a lot of work, and most of that work is deciding what inventory to spend your hard earn money on. Not to mention you would need to develop a system of organization to keep track of your items.

When starting a drop shipping store, you need not worry about how much to spend on inventory because you’re able to list thousands of items on your website. Many suppliers have data feeds that make this process super easy.

You can even have a store created for you for super cheap. Companies like Wholesale2b not only offer a list of drop ship suppliers, but they can also create you a store for about the amount you would pay for a night out at the movies.

Work from Anywhere in the World

With all the packaging and shipping handled by your drop ship supplier, you’re free to operate your business wherever you have an internet connection. Most drop ship business owners love this because a good majority of your business can be ran while on vacation, traveling or while working at your current job.

Companies like Walmart and Best Buy Use Drop Shipping too!

Drop shipping works: At this point you may be thinking, is drop shipping a scam? The answer is no. Many big name retail stores such as Walmart, Sears, Best Buy and even Target all use drop shipping. These stores provide a variety of products without the hassle of storing additional inventory or worrying about fulfillment

How To Search For Drop Ship Suppliers?

Before you get started you want to make sure you got all the right documents and legal stuff in order. Most quality wholesale supplier will want at least a EIN number, your sales tax id, or both.

There are many ways to find drop shipping suppliers, my video below will show you one of those ways.

If you’re pretty confident on the items you want to sell you can always contact the manufacture of that item if they are not willing to drop ship.

They will almost always be willing to send you a list of wholesaler or retailers who carry their items.

You can also find supplier via Google. If you’re going to use google to find suppliers keep the below 3 tips in mind.

How Find Wholesale Suppliers using Google

You’ll need to find wholesale suppliers who can drop ship products to your customers. Google is a free and easy way to do so. Here’s a few tips:

Search Deep in Google

Retail drop ship suppliers are horrible at SEO. They only exist to supply business with their items. So you will need to search deep into Google.

Most wholesalers will not pop up on the first page of a search. It’s not uncommon to find a verified drop ship supplier on the 30th or 40th page of a search result.

Old ugly looking web sites are OK

Wholesale suppliers tend to have horrific looking and outdated old school styled websites. While a supplier site that has all the fancy flash animations and responsive theme may look nice and enjoyable to navigate.

Keep in mind not to discount the suppliers site you come across that looks a hot mess, often those sites offer the best pricing and service.

Use different search terms

When you’re searching for your supplier make sure you don’t limit yourself to a search like “drop ship supplier” you want to change it up with words like wholesale supplier, manufacturer, drop ship wholesale suppliers, merchant supplier and any other words that describe your niche.

Shipping Issues & Drop Ship Problems, 4 Tips On How To Solve Them.

Drop shipping is an amazing business model, however, it does not come without its cons. Shipping problems will arise in everyone’s online retail business at some point. Learning how to navigate through these rocky situations is often what makes or breaks a beginner drop shipper.

1. Low Profits and the competition is fierce.

Solution: Drop shipping is very competitive and it can lead to some deep price cutting by your competitors, which in turn result in lower profits for those selling in the niche who wish to compete.
To be successful on running a drop ship business, you can’t always compete on price. Some of the most successful Shopify owners who drop ship found a way to add value to their store through top notch product education, amazing service or unique product selection.

2. Out of stock items and updating inventory can be a problem.

Solution: The best way to navigate this issue is to not put all your eggs in one basket. Make sure you have at least two suppliers for your drop ship store. This way if one supplier is out of stock you can easily order from your backup supplier.

Keep in mind that all supplier will not have every single item the other has however you should be able to find 2 or 3 suppliers who have pretty much the same stock.

One of the issues that will happen is selling an out of stock item. Some suppliers are better than others and keeping inventory files updated. So it’s best to always have a group of trusted suppliers for you store.

3. Selling item you have never seen or have limited knowledge of.

Solution: You can become an expert in just about anything. Becoming proficient in a new drop shipping product line is no different. When you start making sales of your product you will become very familiar with frequently asked questions regarding your items. Also, if you ever need help answering a question a quick call to the supplier or manufacturer should get you on the right path.

4. Involving a third party will result in more fulfillment errors, mistakes, and logistical problems.

Solution: You can have the best system and strategy for running your drop shipping business and even then some of the best suppliers will at some point have a mistake or fulfillment issue.
Whenever this happens you need to just chop this up as the cost of doing business. Regardless of what happens you still have to take full responsibility for the issues because your the reseller.

Most suppliers are understanding of a fulfillment issue on their end and will make right some issues. However, it is not wise to point fingers at your supplier or debate with your supplier on paying return shipping charges or paying to ship out additional items.

Its best to just swallow the cost and keep business moving so the buyer can get a solution to their problem as soon as possible.

How to Start Your Drop Shipping Business Today

nanda
Run your drop ship business while hanging with her in Brazil!

Is drop shipping a lottery ticket to overnight success? Of course, it is not, but it does provide a great solution to starting a real business without investing thousands in start-up cost.

The low investment is exactly why many entrepreneurs love the drop shipping business model. Here’s what you need to get started:

Infinii

Infinii is the training program I used to learn how drop shipping works. There are 3 basic member leves: Prime, D, and I. I recommend Prime because it’s the perfect level for beginners and shows you the quickest and fastest way to make sales: Buy on Amazon, Sell on eBay.

The other modules show more advanced techniques, but it’s the best and most affordable course I’ve seen online. Other courses charge a lot more money ($250+). If you want to proven step by step system to start making sales fast, then Infinnii is for you.

Shopify

Shopify is the best ecommerce solution for your drop ship business. Starting your own online store using drop shipping is the best long term strategy because you contol 100% of the sales and your customer database.

Shopify is only $9 per month to get started and you’ll be able to start making sales within hours! Dropshipping is low risk with a very high reward.

Salehoo

This is a wholesale directory with over 8,000 suppliers for your drop ship business. Otto Thompson highly recommends it and it’s a great way to get started for very little money.

It costs only $67 per year and saves you time by gathering 100% real wholesalers in one location.

Worldwide Brands

This is my favorite wholesale directory that I signed up for years ago. They are the older on the internet and have been operating since 1999.

It costs $299 upfront as a 1 time payment.  No monthly or annual fees. I bought my membership in 2008 and it still works today!

Got Questions? Need Help?

If you still have questions,  either leave a comment below or send me an email to:

editor@www.expatkings.com

I will try my best to either answer them or point you in the right direction. If you are starting a drop shopping business, then let’s network!

Looking forward to hearing from you 🙂

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3 Comments

  1. Hi.. I am from Thailand. If i want start dropshipping from any one of the dropshippers suggested by you and sell via amazon and ebay. To do so do I need to register with Thailand government as a seller ? Any other procedure do i need to follow. Plz help