Drop ship programs on Ebay or Amazon

[RBP]

I explored drop-ship marketing years ago, and basically had that arrangement with a distributor of mine, but the product was mine to begin with. He just inventoried and handled the order logistics for me. Haven't thought about it in a while.

This week I ordered some picture frames off Ebay. Two days later I have a FedEx directly from Walmart.com.

Looking now, I paid $18.95, free shipping. The exact same product is $14.97 on walmart.com.

So this guy who has sold over 16,000 items on ebay is a drop-ship marketer. Interesting. I want to add some e-commerce to my income but hadn't considered approaching it this way.

Has anyone dabbled in this? Or know much about it?

[DemonGeminiX]

Sorry, but I'd be pissed. I'd return the frames, get a refund, and then go buy them directly from Walmart. I'd probably cuss the guy out too.

If you want to become a distributor, make sure that it's a product that's not easily accessible by normal commerce means, or that you can score a discount for your customers. I'm a bargain hunter, so I'll know if I can get what I'm after from a certain store at the best possible price. I may or may not be in the majority, but if I don't have to go through a middle man, then I won't.

[RBP]

I also ordered a 4 foot standing fan. It came from Amazon fulfillment.

I do see your point, DGX, and there are ways to do that. But regardless, there definitely seems to be potential from running a drop ship business through Ebay with extremely limited overhead.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

I sell TV mounts on Amazon, I haven't started dropping at their warehouse yet, but I plan to

[RBP]

I sell TV mounts on Amazon, I haven't started dropping at their warehouse yet, but I plan to

So the same item could come from the same warehouse with one being an Amazon product sale and one being an independent seller on Amazon using fulfillment services?

[Godfather]

Drop-ship means you're selling but the product goes direct from wholesalers/manufacturers to buyers without you touching a thing right? I don't have any experience with that, but I did insure a distributor at work the other day that blew my mind. Maybe it doesn't qualify as drop-ship, but she was selling kitchen and bathroom accessories direct from manufacturers and wholesalers in Europe and Asia to North American stores, as well as some direct to client sales online (the latter being a smaller part of her biz). Her operation was nothing more than a home office, basically her and a laptop, an assistant, and some marketing materials to go to trade shows... Lady had $2 million gross receipts and her profits were well over 25%. Not sure how you get into it, but it got the wheels turning for me I'd love a second stream of income, I've read so many successful people talk about how key that was to their success early on.

[DemonGeminiX]

I also ordered a 4 foot standing fan. It came from Amazon fulfillment.

I do see your point, DGX, and there are ways to do that. But regardless, there definitely seems to be potential from running a drop ship business through Ebay with extremely limited overhead.

How much did it cost on Amazon vs what you actually paid for it?

Sure, if you're dealing with people who are too lazy, busy, or stupid to comparison shop... which pretty much covers the majority of the people in this world. But I guess if you're banking off of the stupidity of people, then who am I to judge? Kudos to you, but don't pass it off as ingenuity. It may be clever, but it's neither original nor inventive. People have been banking off of the inherent stupidity of the human race since the dawn of civilization. Go ahead and make some money. No one ever said you had to be original or inventive to make money.

[DemonGeminiX]

I sell TV mounts on Amazon, I haven't started dropping at their warehouse yet, but I plan to

Where are you getting the tv mounts from and are they available anywhere else?

[DemonGeminiX]

Drop-ship means you're selling but the product goes direct from wholesalers/manufacturers to buyers without you touching a thing right?

Yes, you become a retailer/distributor, but you don't store any product. Generally speaking, you just tell the manufacturer what to send and who and where to send it to. You become a link in the supply-demand chain.

Back in the day before e-commerce exploded, I used to use a local distributor to get my medical supplies. Everything he sold me was drop shipped direct from manufacturers. I never could figure out how he got into it and he wouldn't tell me how he did it, but as soon as medical supplies became easily obtainable via the web, his business took a hit. But he made mad cash off of it before e-commerce became big.

[RBP]

How much did it cost on Amazon vs what you actually paid for it?

Sure, if you're dealing with people who are too lazy, busy, or stupid to comparison shop... which pretty much covers the majority of the people in this world. But I guess if you're banking off of the stupidity of people, then who am I to judge? Kudos to you, but don't pass it off as ingenuity. It may be clever, but it's neither original nor inventive. People have been banking off of the inherent stupidity of the human race since the dawn of civilization. Go ahead and make some money. No one ever said you had to be original or inventive to make money.

So I paid $4 more for the fan than on Amazon, but 2-day shipping was free. For someone without a Prime account it would actually be cheaper to buy it that way. Plus a lot of people have a PayPal credit account they can't use on Amazon.

While there may be some issues, they are not necessarily preying on people.

I am guessing the seller made $8 on the transaction. $4 over cost and 10% amazon affiliate commission. That's 16% for reprocessing one order.

[DemonGeminiX]

Like I said, it's nothing new and I'm not judging. If you insert yourself in the supply/demand chain link and it works for you, then by all means, make some cash.

[DemonGeminiX]

Now you've got me looking into it. Dick.

[RBP]

Now you've got me looking into it. Dick.

If you'd be more comfortable going away from the Walmart and Amazon etc, they are multiple smaller companies that are specifically set up as drop shippers for internet sales. They have their own lines they import, etc. and they will ship under your name.

[DemonGeminiX]

Yeah, I've seen that.

[Muddy]

I know a thing or two about this.. long story short, amazon and ebay fees eat all your profits and you end up competing against those guys which kills the margins.