Drop ship aimed at creating feedback.

[cass]

Hi,

Just something im thinking about as its something i would use myself if i was in the position to.

Im a buyer living in China but im from the UK.

I ship goods back to a UK warehouse where they are sent out to my customers via a fulfillment company.

I currently do this on a wholesale basis only.

I am thinking of adding some very cheap lines think iphone cables, earphones, sd cards, hdmi cables etc and selling them cheap via a drop ship service from my fulfillment company.

The target customer being people looking for very high volume but low margin items - ie people looking to build feedback.

This is obviously inline with ebays policies as its not anything other than selling physical tangible goods.

I am aware that a drop ship company may offer goods like this but with mine being direct from factories in china i would assume i would be cheaper - i am on other goods it would seem.

Would people use this service?

Does something like this exist?

Thanks

[rsot]

People do this all the time - while dropshipping is frowned upon, you would have to analyze the DELAYS of shipping involved and the QUALITY of your product. If you keep your customers aware, you could be successful.

/end of business consultation.

[cass]

The fulfillment company i already use offer standard next day services and have been good for my wholesale customers thus far.

Have you got an example of a good company offering this at the moment? the ones i have found look amateur.

Thanks

[AmazonStealth]

Read the title and that is all.

Do not drop ship.

[cass]

I think i know the answer to my own question here but just out of interest, why in your opinion is this a bad idea?

Perhaps there is a way of someone ironing out these creases?

[tryingtofigurethisout]

I highly suggest you do not go the drop shipping route. I would say at least 50% of drop shippers are scams. 30% of the drop shippers take WEEKS to deliver (thus, you get negative feedback), 10% take 1 week to deliver (still possible negatives), and the other 10% are actually legit. Do PLENTY OF RESEARCH before dealing with a dropshipper.

[cass]

Thanks for the replies.

I think maybe i didn't make myself clear enough.

I am not looking at using a drop ship company i am thinking about adding one to my current fulfillment operation.

I cant seem to see an example of what looks like a viable business operating like this which is making me wonder if there is a big enough demand.

Thanks

[rsot]

Why don`t you just dive in and try it out then?

[cass]

Well yes i could do that but diving into a business is in my experience a bad idea.

I was hoping for some reference points on existing drop ship businesses that operate like this as I assumed some members on here would be using them.

I'm not sure if there is a demand for this and as i said earlier the examples i have seen of such a service don't fill me with confidence. I am surprised though, i would have thought something like this would be useful and widely used. Gaining consistent positive feedbacks and high DSR's is after all the best way to dilute any issues on an account and keep eBay happy.

Perhaps this is not the correct forum for this type of question. Thanks all the same.

[GrannyT]

There would be a huge demand for this if it can be set up properly. The problem is people are always sceptical about dropshipping - that too good to be true syndrome.

Suggest you develop your plan further. You WILL find it is a winner

[slapped]

Here is what I will add,,,I am in the EXACT Type of product lines that you are looking to offer, and I Deal DIRECT with Manufactures Not only in China, but ALL Over the Far East, and the Quantities I deal in are "Not too Shabby",,,Yet I Find it VERY difficult to Compete with all of the Sellers Based in China selling on Ebay US,,,Now you want to add Yourself and a Full Fillment company in the Supply chain,,,well that will make your items Unactractive (Price Wise), Now couple that with the inherent sceptiscm reguarding Dropshipping in general as GrannyT points out, and I think you have at Best,,,a Problematic Business Model,,,

[cass]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

I would say that my main advantage here is that for these types of goods I don't deal with a manufacturer as such, my friend owns the factory and I live in the same apartment block as him here in China.

I am able to compete with pricing on eBay no problem, establishing relationships and rapport with locals here really puts you on a different pricing structure.

I agree though, on low value items the fulfillment cost really eats into the margin. Ideally i would drop ship items with a retail price of around 10 GBP as this would give both me and the customer something to gain. On the subject of sales for feedback though i am assuming the customer is willing to sell at little or no profit? i know i would be to build and keep an account.

[GrannyT]

Definitely thinking on the right lines young cass - cost of fulfillment is the biggest problem I see - but I agree with your ideas about feedback - the problem is for you that anyone building feedback MUST have faith in your ability to complete the fulfilment to their satisfaction. Otherwise their feedback will get worse not better.

Little profit? yes - No profit? - I wouldn't have thought so

[GrannyT]

Another thought occurs

People who are building feedback are probably new with low selling limits - thus they would expect some profit

[Callidus]

I personally would of thought this isn't a bad model if you could get this just about right.

You have a HUGE advantage which, for me, made this a good plan to a degree... the fact you have built rapport direct and you can get a price that I will never get all the time I have a hole in my backside.

If your fulfilment is setup correctly in the UK you could be onto a winner... however, presuming you market this correctly and can get the customer satisfaction I dont see why this couldnt in fact be a starting point to wholesaling other product.

Go for it, slowly but surely.

[cass]

Thanks for the feedback. As an example I'm talking about an item like this:

eB # 260937350591

With it being above the 10 GBP amount it allows the fulfillment cost to be absorbed without effecting the margin too much.

Say we wanted to really undercut the pricing and come in at 15 GBP what % would a drop ship customer be happy with. The price they paid would include 2-3 day postage to there UK customer with first class being an optional extra.

I know the unit income is going to be small but these are items that if done right will enjoy multiple daily sales of 10 units upwards per day - after all the main focus here is to create feedback.

There are obviously a large amount of items like this available to me at similar pricing structures.