How to Find a Limitless Source of Wholesale Products For Your Drop Shipping Business, E-Commerce Site, or eBay store.
The process of Drop Ship Wholesale selling involves sending wholesale products directly to the customer while the supplier does the shipping, some (or all) customer service, order fulfillment and quality control. If you have access to wholesale and drop ship sources, you can create an entire online business in any market by selling products over the internet. If you look at most eBay Power Sellers out there, chances are they are using this same method to generate substantial income for their business working from home
How Drop Shipping and Wholesaling Work
The general process is fairly simple, and involves the following steps:
1) Find and buy products at wholesale prices
2) Promote those products through a store, such as eBay, Amazon, Yahoo! Or your own website
3) Sell these products at a profit to the customer
4) Have your products shipped to the buyer
For the business owner (i.e. you), this can be done in one of two ways:
1) Buy your own products at wholesale prices, have them sent to you, and you take care of shipping and order fulfillment from home or office (sending them onto the customer) after you get an order from your buyer. This involves a little more work and money on your end, but there are also higher profits in some cases. In this case, you are acting primarily as a Wholesaler.
2) Get an order from your buyer, get paid FIRST, and then send the order to a drop shipper, who sends the product on to your buyer. This involves less ‘grunt work’ on your end, since order fulfillment is done by someone else. It generally has lower profits than wholesaling, but is less work for you. In this case, you are acting as a Drop Shipper.
So: Customer’s Price – Your Price/Fees = Your Profit!
If you sell 10 items at $60 each which costs you $45, then you’re profit is ($60-$45) $15 x 10 = $150!
And if you do this several times a day selling many different items, you can make six figures a year or more in profit with either drop shipping or wholesaling, or a combination of the two.
Finding Decent and Legitimate Suppliers
Once you know how wholesale and drop shipping actually works, you’re ready to develop relationships with suppliers. Be careful, though, as there are a number of scam artists, dicey suppliers, ‘international importers’, and companies that claim to be wholesalers out there that are actually closer to middlemen.
The potential opportunities for drop shipping as a business are definitely there, as long as you set your expectations properly, understand that you’re building a bona fide business, and that there will be some work required. Below are my reviews of the best wholesale drop shipping companies out there, as well as one company you should probably avoid..
Recommended Drop Shipping and Wholesale Companies
#1) Worldwide Brands (Top Pick)
Worldwide Brands is far above the crowd when it comes to legitimate sources of products. They have the largest and most comprehensive source of wholesale suppliers anywhere, and each supplier is tested and verified before they are allowed onto their network. All are verified wholesale companies; Worldwide insures that there are no middlemen masquerading as wholesalers so that you can get the best prices for any product you are looking for.
And, Worldwide Brands has the best quality education on the actual nuts and bolts of running a profitable drop shipping business online, including video training that is second to none. When you combine their training with their product selection, it makes for a very powerful combination indeed.
With their tools, training and network, even a beginner can quickly develop a profitable online business using only Worldwide Brands for their product sourcing.
The primary benefits of Worldwide Brands include:
- Generally Acknowledged As Best In Class In Their Industry
- Video Training Modules From Top Business Owners
- Verified and Tested Legitimate Suppliers
- They Are The Only Certified eBay Wholesale Source
- Over 9,000 Suppliers To Choose From
For more information regarding Worldwide Brands, read the full Worldwide Brands Review.
#2) Salehoo (Recommended)
Salehoo provides direct access to drop shipping and wholesale suppliers, and is a great source for both the novice and veteran drop shipper. They have a large selection of both with a focus on just-in-time importers and providers.
It is also definitely a less expensive alternative to Worldwide Brands, and might be thought of as a smaller version of them. They still have quite a wide selection of products and suppliers (including a number not available through Worldwide), some decent training materials, and great customer service.
For that reason, I see Salehoo as a good resource for anyone who wants to get started with wholesaling and drop shipping, or would like to try it out before committing a lot of time and money to it. It also makes for a very good secondary source of products for someone who is already using another network such as Worldwide.
Salehoo has been in business for several years, and continues to be a popular wholesale directory for many people. If you’re just starting out, it’s hard to go wrong with Salehoo.
The primary benefits of Salehoo include:
- Direct Connection to Suppliers
- Great Customer Support
- Access to Just-In-Time Importers
- A Thriving and Helpful Community of Users
- Low Cost Alternative For Product Sourcing
For more information on what Salehoo can do for your business, read the full Salehoo Review.
#3) Doba (Approved)
Doba makes product sourcing dead simple. It also works a little differently than other companies such as Salehoo or Worldwide Brands.
Doba aims to take much of the hard work out of drop shipping. Rather than you doing the work of setting up relationships with individual suppliers, Doba allows you to buy wholesale items in single units from Doba directly, and ship them on to your customer. This eliminates the need to maintain contact with each supplier, as Doba becomes your one stop source for every product you sell, allowing you to focus on other areas of your business.
This is an easier solution then any other drop shipping source, and they allow direct syncing with eBay for items sold. However, this doesn’t always mean you will make large profits.
Doba has been around for several years and is a legitimate company with a good drop shipping business model. When selling individual items, however, you won’t necessarily get the best prices, which can make it harder to compete on price alone – which is easier when you buy in bulk through a company like Worldwide Brands. However, Doba does have a best price guarantee for drop shipping.
While it works a little differently, it is definitely worth checking out. I recommend you at least try out Doba’s 7-Day FREE Trial; this will give you a better idea of the value of the service, and is basically risk-free.
A number of people use Doba to test out a market to determine whether it can be profitable, as you can quickly source items from them without going through the typical supplier process. If you can at least break even or better selling it using Doba, you can probably be even more profitable with that item by finding an appropriate supplier through Worldwide Brands (especially when bought in bulk) - and can scale the sales for your business accordingly.
And if an item is profitable to sell using Doba, you may just decide to stick with them for your product sourcing. It’s quick, easy, and generally painless.
The primary benefits of Doba include:
- Dead Simple Product Sourcing
- Guarantees Drop Ship Best Price
- Integrated With eBay
- Has Well Known, Name Brand Products
- Provides Excellent Training Materials
To find out more about Doba, you can read the full Doba Review.
Companies To Stay Away From
Among the true drop ship and wholesale directories out there are what are called ‘wholesale membership clubs’, or broker networks. One of the more well known and popular of these is called Simplx. They supposedly allow you to sell products at ‘wholesale prices’, and take care of order fulfillment for you.
In general, these companies only allow you to sell their products at their market price, and you have little or no control over either. Basically, you are in fact working for someone else’s business, not your own.
While there’s nothing wrong or unlawful with that per se, it doesn’t provide you with the kind of flexibility a true drop shipping or wholesale business allows. It’s much better to create your own business by finding true wholesale suppliers, having your own store, and create branding for your company in a particular area (your product focus).
By sticking to reputable wholesale and drop ship directories, you can minimize fraud, reduce risk, and stay away from the many middlemen masquerading as wholesalers.
Posted in Dropshipping Reviews