PewPew
I came from nothing
Not right now, no its not. Its been dormant because ive diverted my marketing budget into Cryptocurrency. but hey you know everything so ill just sit back and let you cook
Brehs.. are we Dropshipping or nah? Is anybody already doing this on here?
- Thread starter Flywin Lannister
- Start date
Not right now, no its not. Its been dormant because ive diverted my marketing budget into Cryptocurrency. but hey you know everything so ill just sit back and let you cook
Hijo de luna
Superstar
Nah son. They sold you "The course". Learn how to make $100k per month, no inventory!
"Those who can do, do. Those who can't do, teach"
PewPew
I came from nothing
Nah son. They sold you "The course". Learn how to make $100k per month, no inventory!
"Those who can do, do. Those who can't do, teach"
Hmmmmmm no i actually learned from watching youtube videos for free. I can recommend you a couple people who actually drop real gems. Shopify, Oberlo, and Aliexpress is really all you need. The product is what matters most because it has to be quick and impulsive. but ill let you cook
YamakaSmacker
Banned
Pay to be a middleman brehs
Flywin Lannister
Superstar
Some serious gems in this thread my brehs.
I applaud all you brehs that started or are starting your own ventures.
I must say I agree with @sza the more I think about it: it's always better to bring new value to the marketplace and its 'inhabitants' by adding something new. In my enthusiasm I forgot about the Blue Ocean theory (create a brand new product that stands out gives you a way bigger chance to succeed than copying something in a market filled with competitors) and this is just an undeniable fact. The starting position for the average person is also not that of one that is well-funded, hence your 10K example being a great one ('someone with money has already spent 10K on ordering..'). You make some very good, well-explained points and I think you're on point and right.
Also shouts to @Hijo de luna for sharing his insights and we're on the same path breh, and all other brehs for sharing insights as well
So this is what I've decided: I was actually deciding between two things
1. Starting my own business and building my own brand and designing and selling my own products
2. Dropshipping
I was leaning towards 2 as a 'relatively quick cash grab/side-income' (which I now get that it's impossible to be) while I was building 1 and experimenting like crazy to make my own brand and online store for that brand a success.
But I realize that it's way better to focus on 1 thing at a time, so I will focus on point 1: building my own brand and building a store online for this brand, I still think I can use many of the techniques and strategies I've picked up that these dudes online share, especially when it relates to driving traffic and product description/how to make your store attractive (Sounds easy = hard work!). Your input's been invaluable and I will definitely check the 'E-myth'
How do you brehs feel then about all these dudes online who show their Shopify stats (250K in 3 months etc.) and showing off the cars that they've bought and all that? I can see their cake is real and many seem to do a combination of online activities (dropshipping, affiliate marketing, teaching courses).
I applaud all you brehs that started or are starting your own ventures.
I must say I agree with @sza the more I think about it: it's always better to bring new value to the marketplace and its 'inhabitants' by adding something new. In my enthusiasm I forgot about the Blue Ocean theory (create a brand new product that stands out gives you a way bigger chance to succeed than copying something in a market filled with competitors) and this is just an undeniable fact. The starting position for the average person is also not that of one that is well-funded, hence your 10K example being a great one ('someone with money has already spent 10K on ordering..'). You make some very good, well-explained points and I think you're on point and right.
Also shouts to @Hijo de luna for sharing his insights and we're on the same path breh, and all other brehs for sharing insights as well
So this is what I've decided: I was actually deciding between two things
1. Starting my own business and building my own brand and designing and selling my own products
2. Dropshipping
I was leaning towards 2 as a 'relatively quick cash grab/side-income' (which I now get that it's impossible to be) while I was building 1 and experimenting like crazy to make my own brand and online store for that brand a success.
But I realize that it's way better to focus on 1 thing at a time, so I will focus on point 1: building my own brand and building a store online for this brand, I still think I can use many of the techniques and strategies I've picked up that these dudes online share, especially when it relates to driving traffic and product description/how to make your store attractive (Sounds easy = hard work!). Your input's been invaluable and I will definitely check the 'E-myth'
How do you brehs feel then about all these dudes online who show their Shopify stats (250K in 3 months etc.) and showing off the cars that they've bought and all that? I can see their cake is real and many seem to do a combination of online activities (dropshipping, affiliate marketing, teaching courses).
MasterOfAllHeSurveyz
All Star
This is simplified to hell. But, you guys are doing it all wrong.
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If you're an Ebayer/Etsy-er, etc., the only person I recommend is Walter Blake Knoblock. He has a Youtube channel and a free private Facebook group. He's not selling some $XXX or $XXXX course and his stuff is action-able if you get off your rear-end and hit up thrift stores and yard sales.
- Head down to the courthouse and pay the $20 odd dollars for your DBA.
- Head to your State Treasure's website and get a resale certificate.
- Save up your nickels for travel to hit up trade shows and press palms with authorized suppliers.
- Call brands and ask if they have a list of their authorized suppliers.
- Once you establish a relationship with a supplier(s), buy brand names products from them at wholesale and sell them at retail on Amazon.
- Have your invoice handy for upload, so that you get un-gated when, not if, you get flagged.
- Do FBA (Fullfillment By Amazon). Don't do FBM (Fullfillment By Merchant).
- Use Jungle Scout's Estimator to estimate sales per month by ranking category (example: < 5 = no sales or little traffic).
- Avoid brands where Amazon is actually a seller (if foolish to try to compete with the 800lb gorilla on their platform).
- Win the Buy Box as the sole FBA-er or get a piece of the Buy Box if there's enough sales to share with the other FBA-ers (depending on the product, my cutoff is between five and eight other FBA-ers)
- Reach nirvana by becoming exclusive for brands you promote on Amazon.
- Profit.
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If you're an Ebayer/Etsy-er, etc., the only person I recommend is Walter Blake Knoblock. He has a Youtube channel and a free private Facebook group. He's not selling some $XXX or $XXXX course and his stuff is action-able if you get off your rear-end and hit up thrift stores and yard sales.
Hijo de luna
Superstar
Have you actually done this successfully or are you just going off of someone else's example? Me personally, I wouldn't recommend Amazon to any entrepreneur looking to build a long-term brand. The lack of control is a deal breaker for me. I've read horror stories of guys going from $30k a month to $0 over night. Plus Amazon's entire goal right now is to absolutely crush the smaller brands so you're competing with the gorilla regardless. There's a difference between building a business and simply making money online. An e-commerce goldmine is a subscriber list. Being able to shoot a promotion out to 100k people on a random Saturday morning and make $30k in a day. You can't do that on Amazon because they own your subscriber list.
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Care to elaborate why?
Just buy the book if you are interested.
MasterOfAllHeSurveyz
All Star
Not, done. Doing.
It's clear in my post that I'm suggesting to readers to leverage the power of already known brand powerhouses listed in Amazon's Brand Registry. I said absolutely nothing about private label and I'm sending out a warning in this post against retail label (arbitrage).
From experience, the majority of those horror stories you speak of are people breaking Amazon's TOS by selling items they don't have the authority to sell i.e. arbitrage. They had a fun ride for a while but when Amazon asked for an invoice, usually initiated by the brand owner or another authorized seller who is a competitor, they uploaded a receipt thinking that sufficed as an invoice and received the classic "Amazon doesn't want to have anything to do with you anymore" banned email. The other horror stories are due to drop shipping an item that gets back-ordered and getting too many customer complaints or the item gets stuck in customs due to failing an inspection when you should have hired an inspection company to inspect the items at origin. There's about 30 to 40 dummies a day who complain about these very things on the Seller Central forum.
You can tell the supplier to put product inserts containing your contact details (domain for email sign-up) with the items you're selling.
I think both of them are shyt. Just go read the "real" reviews (3 stars and lower with detailed descriptions).
Grizzly
Home Run Hitter
Ya'll are starting off on the wrong foot trying to source the same exact way as the thousands of other people that are new to ecommerce and try to do "dropshipping"....you need to put in the work and try to find AMERICAN suppliers or overseas suppliers that have faster shipping times. you need to be looking on sites that these new booty muthafukkas DON'T source from like Etsy and messaging sellers to see if they'll dropship for you. You should also definitely be cold calling/emailing businesses (brick and mortar or ecommerce) to ask if they'll blind dropship products for you.
If you're serious get your ass a LLC and a business card too. It won't hurt
This shyt is not even my main hustle. I'm a wholesaler but it brings in a few extra hundreds or thousands a month when I need it to. My focus is high ticket items.
Imma give ya'll some more game. Most people when they get into dropshipping sign up for a free Shopify trial, hop on Aliexpress and try to sell all of the newest products. Do the opposite of what you see everybody else doing. Try to sell antiques or collectibles and put your finder's fee on it. Just watch out for fees depending on what platform you choose to sell on. Factor those in when you set your price.
Get out the habit of calling yourself a "DROPSHIPPER" too... Once you realize that you're just a middleman, jobber or a dot connector the possibilities become endless. Words are important. Just using different vocabulary then everybody else sets you apart from the rest and helps to put you in the right mind state for success.
Oh and ya'll need to take @MasterOfAllHeSurveyz post more seriously. He pretty much gave ya'll the step by step rundown to follow if you're trying to make an actual career out of doing this.
If you're serious get your ass a LLC and a business card too. It won't hurt
This shyt is not even my main hustle. I'm a wholesaler but it brings in a few extra hundreds or thousands a month when I need it to. My focus is high ticket items.
Imma give ya'll some more game. Most people when they get into dropshipping sign up for a free Shopify trial, hop on Aliexpress and try to sell all of the newest products. Do the opposite of what you see everybody else doing. Try to sell antiques or collectibles and put your finder's fee on it. Just watch out for fees depending on what platform you choose to sell on. Factor those in when you set your price.
Get out the habit of calling yourself a "DROPSHIPPER" too... Once you realize that you're just a middleman, jobber or a dot connector the possibilities become endless. Words are important. Just using different vocabulary then everybody else sets you apart from the rest and helps to put you in the right mind state for success.
Oh and ya'll need to take @MasterOfAllHeSurveyz post more seriously. He pretty much gave ya'll the step by step rundown to follow if you're trying to make an actual career out of doing this.
Hijo de luna
Superstar
I know what retail arbitrage is. I know of a couple of people that lost everything on the Nike deal when they started selling direct on Amz. Why do your suppliers need YOU? It doesn't make since. I'll ask again, do YOU have a successful retail arbitrage operation or are you just giving empty advice?
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MasterOfAllHeSurveyz
All Star
They simply were not authorized sellers and/or violated MAP (minimum advertised price). Amazon started this stuff because of an influx of counterfeit Nike items were being sold and the sellers who couldn't tell the difference dropped their prices below MAP to compete with counterfeit Nike products.
The only people complaining about this shyt are unauthorized sellers or people who are authorized sellers unwilling to pay the $1500 fee. Besides, it wasn't like all Nike ASINs were brand-restricted or the restricted ASINs restricted to Amazon UK, DE, FR, etc..
Because they're distributors/suppliers (wholesalers), not retailers. It might be a shocker to you, but the overwhelming majority of the suppliers out here aren't big multi-acre sized warehouses. I'm talking sub-5000 sq. foot buildings. One, they don't have the know-how to sell on Amazon. Second, they don't want to. Lastly and most importantly, they're prevented from selling retail legally do to agreements with the manufacturer being wholesalers. The inverse is that Walmart and any other retailer, including myself, have to abide by MAP.
This is my last post on the subject as I tire of answering questions that I've already answered in prior posts.
Grizzly
Home Run Hitter
You clearly know your shyt. Don't give up no more game tho. The serious ones will PM you.
You gotta realize you're arguing with someone who suggested Oberlo to get serious about dropshipping, fam. That tells you all you need to know right there
You clearly know your shyt. Don't give up no more game tho. The serious ones will PM you.
You gotta realize you're arguing with someone who suggested Oberlo to get serious about dropshipping, fam. That tells you all you need to know right there
what’s wrong with oberlo?