Does anyone here do dropshipping?

[Tangerine Cat]

I'm between careers at the moment and am looking at dropshipping. I’m good on computers, advertising and blurb but wondered if anyone else does it.

I'm not looking to become a millionaire next month, if I could make a few hundred pounds a month that would be fine.

I've found some nice dropshipping companies in the uk for mid-range homeware products, I don’t want to sell cheap plastic tat, the market is saturated.

any advice? I'd be grateful

 

[susan1375]

I did before covid but the time scale of delivery was so messed up and apparently still is for delivery times still is. Customers won’t wait for months. If I were you I would buy a few cheap items from potential competitors and see how long it takes to deliver, quality of items etc. also with drop shipping some areas have a lot of sellers competing for customers and the profit is reduced to pennies as they undercut each other.

If I were you I would set up a website offering my skills/ helping others set up websites etc.

 

[MoveBtchGetOutTheWay]

No but I did spend a lot of time researching... have you looked into Amazon Fba I think its called? You buy from wholesalers and list on amazon and send to them, or, you could list the items on amazon then purchase once you have a sale. Although with amazon you can't buy from a retail shop and list on amazon as that's retail arbitration I think its called....!

 

[Tangerine Cat]

No but I did spend a lot of time researching... have you looked into Amazon Fba I think its called? You buy from wholesalers and list on amazon and send to them, or, you could list the items on amazon then purchase once you have a sale. Although with amazon you can't buy from a retail shop and list on amazon as that's retail arbitration I think its called....!

I haven’t seen the Amazon one so I’ll look at that thanks.

I did before covid but the time scale of delivery was so messed up and apparently still is for delivery times still is. Customers won’t wait for months. If I were you I would buy a few cheap items from potential competitors and see how long it takes to deliver, quality of items etc. also with drop shipping some areas have a lot of sellers competing for customers and the profit is reduced to pennies as they undercut each other.

If I were you I would set up a website offering my skills/ helping others set up websites etc.

Thanks, I’m planning on only using UK wholesalers to start with.

Setting up websites is one thing I haven’t done for ages, I’ll look into that though…. I was also wondering about being a self employed PA to help people with anything they have going on in their lives. My dad passed away last year and I did all his self assessments and probate application, I know how much Solicitor's charge because I was a legal Secretary until covid.

I was planning on going back to bookkeeping to start with but the course to brush up my skills is a couple of grand, I thought dropshipping could be a cheaper alternative.

so many decisions…

 

[clueless]

Did you go for the dropshipping @Tangerine Cat ? It's something I've been thinking about recently too, curious to hear how you got on if you decided to do it

 

[Tangerine Cat]

No I didn’t as it seems a lot of work for what it is…. When you look at shops like Wayfair im sure that’s a dropshipping enterprise. There are tons of them about.

unless you spend a lot on advertising, or a lot of time doing videos for promotion I’m not sure it’s worth it.

I decided to go back to bookkeeping and am currently working through the ICB course.

if you go for it let me know how you get on. It still interests me but I think would be better to find your own niche products to sell rather than using the wholesalers everyone else is…. (And that’s not wholly dropshipping.)

 

[Looboo]

I did it years ago so things might have changed since. It never took off massively but I sold a fair few times and didn’t have issues. For me though I hated not seeing the products and way they were packed etc before they went to the customer (I am a slight control freak which doesn’t help). But if you’re thinking short term that’s maybe not such an issue anyway.

I just came up with some designs and then offered them printed onto various items such as t shirts and tote bags.

 

[Black.bird]

You're heavily reliant upon suppliers - sending good quality, well-packaged, stock and within a reasonable time - as well as freight companies.

A friend did it for a short time - focusing on health and wellbeing products, being shipped directly from suppliers - and it proved to be more hassle than it was worth. In a couple of cases, the supplier sent the customers short-dated stock.

It's your reputation on the line, and given all the freight (delays and missing items) issues occurring for the past few years, is it worth it?