Dropshipping - Things To Watch Out For

There is a great deal of false information that surrounds dropshipping. It is promoted by glamorous marketing online and on television as an easy business model as something that pretty much anyone can do and make money from. However, just like most things in life, things aren't always as easy as they seem at first.

A lot of people seem to think that dropshipping just involves getting some pictures and descriptions for the product they wish to drop ship, posting the item in an auction, collecting the money, paying off the dropshipper and letting them take care of the rest. While it might be that simple if you are lucky, if you want to run a really good business then it is going to take quite a lot more effort. You really can't expect someone else to 100% run your business for you and still get top-quality results.

While dropshipping has some good points, there are two major things to watch out for - snags that can make it difficult for the novice seller:

The first big issue is backorders. This problem happens when the drop shipping company runs out of an item, leaving the people selling their product stuck and out of luck. This can be extremely stressful for online sellers who have a queue of customers waiting to get their items. People feel ripped off, because they don't understand why you don't actually have the product they ordered. They will often leave negative feedback on online auction sites, like eBay.

The second big issues is timing and packaging. The drop shipper won't always ship the item on time and have perfect customer service. Some dropshippers provide service that is very mediocre, and sometimes is it just terrible. It's difficult to find out what is happening because you're not shipping or receiving it. This is bad because shipping and packaging are important for eBay sellers because it is one of the main areas they get their feedback on. If the dropshipper is sending out badly packaged items, it could mean that your shipping rating will never be high enough to get Powerseller discounts on eBay fees.

The best way to check up on a dropshipper is to place your own orders every once and a while to see what the packaging and service are like. And it doesn't all have to go to waste: you can hold on to these products are backups in case of a backorder problem. You can also send out customer surveys by e-mails- which are very easy to do online, these days.

You should also check in with the dropshipper regularly, by calling or e-mailing for stock updates. You should check in at least once a week because things can change very quickly, especially during busy times of year, like New Years and etc.