What is a wholesale dropshipper? Is it …

1: A supply chain technique through which The Retailer works directly with Manufacturers and Wholesalers, who ship merchandise directly to The Retailer’s Customers;

2: A smart way to avoid keeping excess inventory in stock. A way to manage a profitable merchandise reselling business without keeping any merchandise on hand;

3. A savvy way to start up a Home-Based Resale Business or be an eBay Powerseller; OR

4. All the above.

The right answer is, of course, #4: All the above.

Dropshipping 1,000,000s of available products to your customers – directly from a wholesaler or manufacturer warehouse – is the profitable way to start up your own small business. You don’t have to work all the logistics of warehousing, inventory audits and storage hassles; or shipping, delivery and product fulfillment. You can concentrate on marketing and promoting your reseller business and meeting customer service needs.

Here are Top Ten Wholesale’s 7 tips on types of dropshippers, product offerings and levels of the game.

Focus retail on one dropshipped product category, like Toner Dropship.com.

Toner Dropship Banner Ad

1. Focus on One Discount Product Category: Toner Dropship.com is the source for discount printer inkjet and laser/fax toner cartridges, plus affordable quality imaging and printer supplies. Toner Dropship works with quality manufacturers – see their top web page navigation buttons for OEM brands like Brother, Canon, Dell, HP, Konica-Minolta, Kyocera-Mita, Lexmark, Samsung – who ship product directly to Toner Dropship’s retail buyers.

2. Own Your Own Customers’ Satisfaction: Toner Dropship offers attentive Customer Service, Support and a 100% Satisfaction guarantee. So, the end customer enjoys a risk-free buyer experience.

Also, Toner Dropship.com uses its shopping cart checkout page to poll its retail buyers. Community Poll offers a good list of answers for: Why Purchase Products Online? (More convenient shipping and delivery; Lower price; Bigger choice; Centralized product search procedure … without having to leave your home; Payments security; 30-day Money Back Guarantee.)

3. Speaking of Security and Trust: Very important for any online commerce site – especially for a dropshipping reseller who deals with many wholesalers and manufacturers further up the supply chain – is a valid seal as a Verified Business and Secure Payment Processor.

Sure, you may not consciously notice those little logos at the bottom of web pages that indicate “Business Verified” by Trust Guard, eTrust, BBB OnLine Reliability etc. However, buyers who are about to enter financial data, credit card numbers or business purchase orders DO NOTICE when those little seals of approval are missing. It’s a “trust” thing.

Toner Dropship.com displays the seal: Verified Merchant — Authorize.Net Online Payments.

Get tips and tactics from Sell and Profit -– also known as DropshipHQ — to drop ship 1,000,000s of products directly to customers and/or become an eBay Powerseller.

4. Drop Shipping & Online Auction Advice: At Sell and Profit.com, you’ll find “eBay and Drop Shipping Advice, Articles and Humor.” File HUMOR: Why the odd, strange and weird eBay sale items? (The Miracle Boot Shaped French Fry! The $60.98 Flexy Straw! Easter Bunny-shaped Popcorn!)

File HOT TIPS: Advance notice of Fee-Free Auction Days, like eBay’s waiver of traditional listing fees for two weeks this past March.

File BEWARE BUYING CLOSEOUTS: Tips to avoid problems in Buying Closeout Liquidation Clearance Items … Oh My! if you plan to resell closeout and liquidation merchandise in online auctions.

Start an eBay Business

5. Free Trial to Start an eBay Business: An affiliate of DOBA and an eBay Certified Provider, Sell and Profit.com (DropshipHQ.net) offers a 4-step plan to make money dropshipping products directly to customers … and locating suppliers of over 1,000,000 products available to online sellers, eBay powersellers and dropshippers.

Take the 3-minute Free Trial Tour from Sell and Profit’s web site button. Or click here at the DOBA PPC Tour link.

6. Manufacturers Who Dropship: Sell and Profit.com (DropshipHQ.net) is a Business Verified by Trust Guard, the BBB OnLine Reliability Program, and is also an eBay Certified Provider. As a small sample of dropshipping opportunities available to certified providers, Sell and Profit.com lists these merchandise manufacturers:

Dropshipping Manufacturers

7. Wholesale Pricing Guarantee: As an affiliate of DOBA, Sell and Profit.com extends its Wholesale Pricing Guarantee. They promise the lowest wholesale merchandise prices to you, as an online auction reseller/dropshipper. Or, they offer up to $120 in free membership. Rewards Back price guarantees are common at the end buyer and retail customer end of the supply chain. So, it’s nice to see a lowest price guarantee that works for Home-based Businesses and Online Auctioneers, too.

Wholesale Sourcing Secrets to Keep You Cool and Dry

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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For me, these are the early days of Summer here in Hangzhou; the ones that torture you with seemingly random intervals of hazy, hot, humid, and suffocating air that clings to you like a sheet of oily plastic wrap. There are a few merciful sporadic moments of cloud cover and a drop in temperature… but it’s short-lived. One is faced with the fact that it will simply be a long, hot, and wet Summer this year.

Just like every year.

So, what better way to beat the unbearable humidity than to indulge in a little reading of some bone-dry material? That’s right, while I’m all about having a bit of fun and enjoying my down time as much as the next guy… it pays to invest a little of that time towards something that will give you the advantage, as you traverse the often-hazardous terrain of China’s wholesale trade industry.

My recommended reading for you this week is none other than the somewhat hard-to-swallow monthly newsletter series published by the good people at The Beijing Axis. Although it’s got a thick and slightly crusty exterior, there’s a valuable and tasty reward at the core, if you’re willing to curl up with this one and chew on it for a little while. Be sure to keep a nice tall glass of water nearby.

Of particular interest to me was the October 2008 issue, with a section titled the “China Sourcing Strategy” on page 14. Not exactly a lot of entertainment, but a very good commentary about the economic crisis, and its impact on the area of foreign trade in China. There’s a few words about the “immediate fallout” that could be attractive to the savvy wholesaler, since this spells o-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-t-y for anyone who wants to capitalize upon a sagging market condition, in order to gain some unprecedented leverage. In other words, it’s time to wheel and deal, as China struggles to keep up the façade of a cool, calm, and collected empire-on-the-rise… but gladly takes a seat next to you at the bargaining table, if you’ve got something of immediate value.

Don’t be fooled, China may appear to be the new bully on the block, but the truth is that she needs us as much as we need her. Global markets are far too intertwined for anybody to have the ultimate winning hand, and for anybody who wants to have a go at making it in the wholesale business, these bad times might just be the best ones to get started in. No need to work up a sweat, though.

SINOCES Is On The Way

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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No, it’s not a name for another airborne illness that makes the swine flu look like a case of the sniffles… it’s a trade show that wholesalers and buyers of electronics should know about. It’s also coming up very soon.

So… you consider yourself to be a big electronics freak, and you love checking out all the new toys on display, as manufacturers and distributors are whipping out the latest and greatest in high-tech gadgetry? If you’re going to be in China early next month, you might want to check out the China International Consumer Electronics Show (SINOCES), because it’s touted to be the largest consumer technology show in the Asia-Pacific region. Among the 450 exhibitors, approximately 70,000 attendees are expected to join the fun. Over 300 media representatives will also be there, hailing from press outlets around the globe.

Some of the latest CE Products will be featured during this show, ranging from categories such as home entertainment, mobile solutions, software application, automotive and storage solutions, to name a few. TechZones Industrial Design will also be promoting some new environmentally-friendly concepts and applications for green technology-driven design, home safety and security, 3G telecommunications, and e-commerce.

Here’s the necessary info:

SINOCES China International Consumer Electronics Show

Venue: Qingdao International Convention Center, Qingdao China
Date: July 09–12, 2009
Organizer: China International Consumer Electronics Show organizing committee
Tel: +86 532 8197 8683

In case you don’t know the geography of China very well, let me just say that it can be a little nerve-racking for newbies, but with good planning you’ll do fine. Beijing travelers can take the overnight train from Beijing Railway Station to Qingdao and arrive around 07:30 the following day, while Shanghai travelers might want to fly from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, since the ride will be less than 2 hours by plane, but considerably longer by train.

Now, I could show you a picture of people browsing aisles upon aisles of electronics, or I could give you a big panoramic shot of the front entrance of the exhibit hall… but I thought I would throw something in that would make any doubts about visiting Qingdao melt away… and it would probably be worth mentioning that Qingdao is the country’s most famed spot for beer production as well. Hey, who said it had to be all about work and no play, right?

As China continues to learn its new role as a world player, watch for events like these that are portals into the realm of electronics design and development in Asia. Sometimes it really pays to get in on the ground floor of something, and you could find yourself making connections with people who will shape the future of electronics in the years to come.

Sourcing Your Wholesale Operation, with China? (part 03)

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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If you’ve been following my posts for the last two days, you can see that there is a lot of stuff to consider when doing business with China, but it’s not really a mystery… it’s just a serious exercise in patience, common sense, and due diligence. I can’t stress the last part enough: due diligence. Many a hopeful businessperson has run away screaming, after getting sucked into the never-ending spiral of being forced to do business the Chinese way, while foolishly trying to do it the Western way.

Now, I would never tell anyone not to give it a try… after all, I live in China, and I have been doing just fine for 3 years… but the truth is that there are a lot of things that can go wrong , and it can result in some big losses for both sides if you aren’t up-to-speed with how this works. I’ll be addressing some of the more specific Chinese business strategies for the laowai (foreigner) in later posts, so keep watching.

For now, I’ll share some insights dedicated to the last item of my little list, and as you can see, this is perhaps the most important one:

- the biggest Trade Fair in China
- the Internet and you
- Networks and Connections (aka guanxi)

Industry Associations and Groups

What better way to get fully immersed in the world of wholesale and trade with the PRC, than to start a search on some of the trade associations and networks that are already out there? One caveat: most of the really useful ones are in Chinese, so unless you have a translator nearby, they won’t be of much use to you. I’ll be covering some of the English-based sites that you can peruse on your own, in order to give you a good starting point.

Aside from having some good guanxi (the impossible-to-define word for ‘relationships’) there are some great ways to get to know who’s who on the scene, aside from just randomly starting a search on Google. Looking for these can be like hunting for a needle in a haystack, and since this is the Top10 Wholesaler Blog I figured I’d save you a little time by letting you in on a few of them below… my own personal top ten:

- ShanghaiDaily