How to become a drop shipper?

What do ETAILERS look for in a profitable relationship with a DROP SHIPPER?

• There is clearly a lot of dissatisfaction with drop ship distributors from etailers who have to compete for their customers in a very competitive web marketplace each day...in a market where Amazon has many items and can deliver them in 2 days, often for "free". As part of that http://HonestGreen.com has been gathering feed back from our customers on what they look for in a drop ship relationship and we also found some great feedback at this Linked In Group: Drop Ship Network Group  - Consider joining if you are involved in drop shipping http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Drop-Ship-Network-2328903? Honest Green is determined to be a great drop ship partner to the etailers who work with us. Here are some of the things we found etailer expect. **Please add an answer so we can update this as sort of a BEST PRACTICES FOR DROP SHIP SUPPLIERS. ============================================== COMMUNICATION AND RESPONSIVENESS Confirm orders placed and provide tracking without being asked Have a email newsletter so etailers can be notified of new products, etc Communication- especially on customer service issues. It is very frustrating for a etailer to not be able to update customers in a timely manner on the status of their order or problem. Answering the phone, voice messages and emails is a common courtesy Owning up to mistakes and problems and being able to help overcome the problem in the future. Seldom do we get an apology or even a good explanation when a drop shipper messes up an order. 90% of the time it is the fault of the drop shipper- not having accurate inventory updates, cost updates, descriptions, answering emails or phone calls, late shipping with no notification, shipping wrong or damaged goods etc.. Mistakes happen, it is part of wholesale. But let us know quickly when there is an issue. Delaying the call does not help solve the problem. Bad news is bad news and I would rather hear the bad news within 24 hours rather than 2 weeks later. Own up to the problem and offer a solution AND an apology.. ============================================== CUSTOMER SERVICE Willingness to work together and cooperatively. I can only offer the high level of cusotmer service my company strives for with the support of my drop ship suppliers. Excellent customer service Does this drop shipper have a knowledgeable and personable representative assigned to assist me in growing my business? Is there a phone number, online chat, and email address I can make use of to reach the drop shipper? Dedicated Drop Ship Personnel- from IT to Merchandising to Customer Service. ============================================== PROFESSIONALISM, INTEGRITY AND REPUTATION Is this drop shipper trustworthy? Does this drop shipper have an excellent reputation, act and deal honestly, operates with integrity, and have a record of longevity? A willingness to go outside the norm- Every so often there are circumstances that require a vendor to think outside their everyday procedures to get something some- integration, customer service, shipping etc. ============================================== PACKING AND SHIPPING Must Pack and Ship in time frame agreed on with its etailers. Willingness to ship USPS for International shipments. Willing to offer Third Party shipping (ie using the etailer UPS or FED EX account) ============================================== TRANSPARENCY ON FEES AND TERMS No hidden fees - drop ship or processing fees. Clear product and shipping pricing Must provide clear Terms and Conditions. Clear defined return policies in place that outline procedures for damages, wrong items shipped, poor packaging, customer refusals, etc. ============================================== PRODUCT INVENTORY Inventory updates- as often as we can get them (automated) Out of stocks and discontinued goods are a huge issue in drop shipping. Must have a good supply of the products they are offering for resale. Communicate low stock Communicate discontinued products. Doing otherwise harms the etailer's reputation ============================================== DO NOT BE IN COMPETITION WITH ETAILERS Must 'Blind Dropship' or "white label" and not use the sale to promote drop shippers own business. Don't compete with etailer when it comes to selling the products. Don't offer etailer a product at a $54 cost and then tell etailer that M.A.P. is $70 only to find it on distributor or manufacturer site listed at $67 with free shipping. ============================================== FEED QUALITY Must provide clear information about the products Must provide excellent images. Shopping cart friendly -- Is Feed in a format for easy export to my Internet shopping cart so I can properly present them to my customers? A regularly updated product feed (eg. CSV, XLS or XML format) ============================================== MARKETING SUPPORT Partnering -- Is this a vendor that I feel is there to support me overall as an etailer? Working with the etailers on building our mutual volume Are there any online webinars or other helpful “how-tos” provided to assist etailers? Product training (ie webinar or newsletters) by drop shipper for etailers Help create joint marketing campaigns for etailer ============================================== FACE TO FACE The ability to meet the drop shipper and see their products in person- at shows, expos ============================================== PAYMENT TERMS Many drop shippers only want to accept credit card payments but for some credit card payments may not be feasible. Are there any alternatives such as PayPal, weekly credit card billing, payment by ACH on NET 10 or NET 20

• Answer:

  Hello, Those are excellent examples and business policies. As an experienced reseller, I will comment on what benefits me and what makes my job easier and enjoyable with a supplier / distributor / dropshipper; MOST IMPORTANT -- is real time inventory management.  I can not emphasize this enough.  Supplier should not advertise or make an item available is it is not available!  Nothing worse  than trying to explain to customer that you can not ship their item.  This will leave you open to bad reviews and you will lose repeat business. BULK UPLOADING  -- A professional supplier should provide all data on CSV file; from description, wholesale price, MAP, MRSP and stock levels. EASY ORDER PROCESS --  I prefer to deal with a dropshipper who updates every step of the order process.  This includes, Processing order, packaging order, and finally shipping order with a tracking #. If there is a problem with the order, I am updated and informed immediately so that I may check my options and possibly order elsewhere. MARGINS --  Offer the reseller enough room to make money.  I suggest that MINIMUM you should be offered a 40% margin.  Most products I sell I markup between 40% and 100% depending on price tiers. I work with many companies that "BLIND SHIP" my products and they do not advertise as a dropshipper.  Many distributors are "dropshippers" they just do not advertise that fact.  Many legit companies may request that you have a BUSINESS LICENSE or they will not deal with you.   This is a good sign that you are dealing with a reputable company. EVEN big such as "SEARS" have other companies dropship for them.  Example when you order s big product such as a "STOVE" Sears is not always holding the stock.   Sears will accpet your money then reorder from say "LG" and Lg will ship your stove. Dropshipping can be a profitable business to run online.  I have been doing it for years.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask and please follow me. Thanks