Drop shipping or fake?
It is worth remembering that the dropship model is meant to provide the store with a set of advantages against competitors rather than complicating its operation. What do I mean?
Assortment
The supplier's assortment must be as big as possible within the product niche you have chosen. Limitations of any sort will push your on-line store's competitiveness down as compared to others. All novelties that arriving at market must be included in the selected supplier's product range. If not, clients are likely leave for other stores.
Ask your supplier how many goods are currently on sale to compare these data with other suppliers. You don't have to believe them right away, have a look at the warehouse feeds and count the articles having positive balance.
Price
Unfortunately, there are suppliers who seek to profit from start-up entrepreneurs through selling goods under unreasonably high markup. The purchasing price of the dropship suppliers must be approximate to that of other vendors and it should be actually lower than theirs. Ask for the price list to compare prices among three or four suppliers.
Delivery tariffs
It is a good idea to know how many delivery options a supplier can offer and what the tariffs are. The latter must be lower than those you can get on your own if you turn directly to transport and courier companies.
It is desirable for suppliers to have their own courier staff, at least across Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Otherwise, your store will be losing its rates as for delivery speed.
Withdrawal of money
Remember that in case payments are made by cash, the money for the completed orders is to be passed through the dropship supplier's hands before arriving at your account. The money of the on-line stores is frequently kept by the supplier for some time, although the deposit must be made as soon as you require. Don't let them "employ" your money! Read the contract terms related to fund crediting carefully, these must be strict and clearly stated.
Accounting
Full accounting must be given access to at any time. Thus, you can get a clear idea of how much the suppliers charge you for the product, delivery and transfer of the amount they get from the customer. Additionally, the supplier charges you a fixed amount for order picking, packaging and delivery of every order to the customer-this is the drop shipping’s cost. Ask for accounts’ samples and make sure you have it all clear. If you do not, it will be impossible to calculate the exact amount of profit your store is generating.
Returns
Customers may happen to cancel orders. In such cases, it is important to ensure that the supplier takes the product back and returns your money- thus, your losses will be minimal.
Be conscious of the fact that you entrust the process of cooperation with your customers almost entirely to the dropship supplier!
In order to implement your orders properly, the supplier must have a call-center, a warehouse, a space for order picking and a system of information management to prevent orders from being lost.
Now you know that not every wholesaler can be referred to as a dropship supplier, stay alert and keep an eye on the process. This is the only way to take a more informed decision.