1. Using Drop Shipping to Expand into New Markets
2. Busting Common Drop Shipping Myths
3. Dealing with High-Cost Shipping on Low-Priced Products
4. Drop ship services: what are they worth?
5. Drop Shipping Basics

Using Drop Shipping to Expand into New Markets
by Stuart Lisonbee, Doba Education Specialist

For retail businesses, expanding into a new market can be a risky proposition. Aside from additional marketing costs, there are also the costs of storing new inventory that may or may not sell.

This is just one more situation where drop shipping can help save you time, money, and a lot of unwanted stress. Just like drop shipping is a low risk way to break into the retail business, it can also help your existing business get its feet wet in new markets.

Let's take a look at an imaginary online retailer that sells camping equipment. For years, this retailer has focused on specializing in tents and sleeping bags only. Now, to increase sales and profits, he wants to expand into more camping accessories such as cookware, backpacks, propane, emergency equipment, and so forth. The problem is...

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Busting Common Drop Shipping Myths
by Stuart Lisonbee, Doba Education Specialist

Because the concept of drop shipping is relatively new, most people know little about it, so they fill in the gaps with rumors and conjecture, resulting in misinformation of mythical proportions. In this article, I reveal the 4 most common drop shipping myths, and then proceed to bust those myths.

Myth #1: Drop shipping means big money for little work

Sure drop shipping saves you from warehousing, inventorying, packaging, and shipping items, but those tasks play a relatively minor role in building a successful online retail business. You can now invest the time and resources you save on menial tasks in the retailer's labors of love:

• Market research
• Product research
• Advertising
• Customer service
• Developing more efficient ways of doing business
• Expansion

The truth is that even though drop shipping...

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Dealing with High-Cost Shipping on Low-Priced Products
by Clark Winegar, Doba's Director of Retention

You've probably noticed several items on Doba that cost more to ship than they cost to buy. Batteries are a perfect example. With an MSRP of $1.48, shipping cost of $7.49, and a drop ship fee of $2.00. Who in his right mind would try to sell a set of four AA batteries from a Doba supplier?

In this article, we explore the high cost of shipping low-priced items and reveal various ways you can include these items in your business model to improve sales and even make a profit selling them.

Why are the shipping costs so high?

Why is the shipping cost so astronomically high? The answer lies in how the product is shipped. At Doba, we require all our suppliers to provide us with tracking numbers for all shipments that can be tracked online. For drop shipping we feel this is essential. Since our members never see or touch the majority of the products they sell, we have to be able to provide them with the added visibility of online tracking. This means that all of our suppliers ship UPS, FedEx, or DHL (mostly UPS and FedEx). These are premium shipping services that not only allow you to track packages online, but also insure the packages and have certain minimum shipping fees regardless of size and weight.

You could ship the products for a lower cost yourself, but if you were to use the same premium shipping services, you would end up paying about the same (in many cases even more) than what our suppliers charge for shipping.

Getting creative

Do high shipping costs prohibit you from selling these low-priced products? Certainly not. You just have to sell them a little differently. The following list describes your options...

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Drop Ship Value

Drop ship services: what are they worth?

Time and time again it's said from web store retailers, eBay sellers, online auction gurus, and a host of others: "You can't make any real money with drop shipping. The prices and fees that drop-ship suppliers charge eliminate your profit margins."

Yet, there are thousands of retailers (including Sam's Club, Costco, and Amazon) who sell millions of dollars of merchandise every month and make a handsome profit doing it. For them, a drop ship product source increases their profit margins by slashing the amount of time and money they have to spend on managing inventory and packing and shipping products themselves.

The business case for determining whether a drop ship wholesaler service is the most cost-effective option for your retail business must look at a cost benefit analysis.

Exploring the benefits of a Drop Ship Wholesaler

Whether you're just getting started in the retail business or are running an established business, a drop ship service offers several benefits, including the following...

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Drop Shipping Basics

How does drop shipping work?

Drop shipping is the shipping of merchandise from a supplier directly to a retailer's customer. Meaning, you—the retailer—can ship to your customers directly from the suppliers' warehouses. This process minimizes the risk to you because you do not need to buy the product until it has sold. Suppliers take care of the warehousing, packaging, and shipping of products, saving you a great deal of money.

How does a drop shipping source benefit you?

• You can become a retailer without needing to invest large amounts of money.
• You can start a business with very little risk.
• You don't have to carry inventory or pay for inventory upfront—if the product doesn't sell, you never have to buy it.
• You don't have to buy packaging materials and shipping labels, nor will you need a shipping account.
• You don't have to manage product returns.
• You purchase products at wholesale pricing and set your own retail prices...