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Old 12-15-2017, 04:44 PM
 
776 posts, read 949,295 times
Reputation: 2757

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I have a Shopify E store, that sells supplies for Prepers and Survivalists.


My store has no physical location, I hold no inventory, I never see the things that I sell, and I have no employees so no pay roll.


How does it work ? I have three drop shipper fulfilment companies that do the actual work. They have the goods in their warehouses, they pack and ship direct to my customers by UPS or USPS, on a next day schedule.


The on line customer browses my site, decides to buy. Makes the selection and makes a order, paying by credit card through my Pay Pal account. The computer process hardware sends the payment to my bank account, then the data about the order goes to the drops shipper company, who bill me , and then pick and ship the order to my customer. My company name and logo are on the invoice that the customer receives.


My profit is the difference between what the customer paid me and what the drop shipper charges me. The usual profit is between 20 and 40 percent. My average sale amount is around $50. Some of the long life food ( 5 year to 25 year shelf life ) can amount to over $5,000.


This is a fully automated business, which requires about 6 hours a week of my time. My original investment was under one thousand dollars. I pay all of the required taxes annually. I can operate from any where in the world that has internet service. I call this being a "computer nomad ".




XXXX.
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Old 12-18-2017, 12:07 PM
 
Location: All Over
4,003 posts, read 6,065,156 times
Reputation: 3162
Quote:
Originally Posted by mapleguy View Post
I have a Shopify E store, that sells supplies for Prepers and Survivalists.


My store has no physical location, I hold no inventory, I never see the things that I sell, and I have no employees so no pay roll.


How does it work ? I have three drop shipper fulfilment companies that do the actual work. They have the goods in their warehouses, they pack and ship direct to my customers by UPS or USPS, on a next day schedule.


The on line customer browses my site, decides to buy. Makes the selection and makes a order, paying by credit card through my Pay Pal account. The computer process hardware sends the payment to my bank account, then the data about the order goes to the drops shipper company, who bill me , and then pick and ship the order to my customer. My company name and logo are on the invoice that the customer receives.


My profit is the difference between what the customer paid me and what the drop shipper charges me. The usual profit is between 20 and 40 percent. My average sale amount is around $50. Some of the long life food ( 5 year to 25 year shelf life ) can amount to over $5,000.


This is a fully automated business, which requires about 6 hours a week of my time. My original investment was under one thousand dollars. I pay all of the required taxes annually. I can operate from any where in the world that has internet service. I call this being a "computer nomad ".




XXXX.
Hey XXXX, by no means asking you to share any secrets or a supplier but just curious, I'm assuming your using a domestic ie US based supplier and not Ali Express or something like that?

I assume that since you mention they blind ship for you?

Anything additional or tips you'd have to share I'd love to hear, reason I ask is I see lots of people pitching this Ali Express dropshipping stuff which sounds enticing and margins look nice but most people aren't willing to wait 30 days or even 2 months to receive an item from China.

How long does your dropshipper normally take to ship items out? Do they email you tracking or is the entire process automated, etc?
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Old 12-18-2017, 04:39 PM
 
9,763 posts, read 7,580,273 times
Reputation: 24268
Quote:
Originally Posted by doodlemagic View Post
Hey XXXX, by no means asking you to share any secrets or a supplier but just curious, I'm assuming your using a domestic ie US based supplier and not Ali Express or something like that?

I assume that since you mention they blind ship for you?

Anything additional or tips you'd have to share I'd love to hear, reason I ask is I see lots of people pitching this Ali Express dropshipping stuff which sounds enticing and margins look nice but most people aren't willing to wait 30 days or even 2 months to receive an item from China.

How long does your dropshipper normally take to ship items out? Do they email you tracking or is the entire process automated, etc?
We also "drop ship/blind ship" to some of our customers from US suppliers. We have been doing this since the internet started and have long term relationships with these companies, many since 1990. We're also in a niche market. We have weeded out the bad apples (poor quality, slow ship times).

Ours is not 100% automated, but most items ship same day and we get tracking emailed to us. Or we have the suppliers use our UPS shipper #.
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Old 12-22-2017, 01:42 PM
 
Location: D.C.
2,867 posts, read 3,515,898 times
Reputation: 4770
I would love to know more about this. Can anyone point me in the right direction to learn more? I see comments about web forums. Any opinions on really good ones to start the climb of the learning curve?

Thanks!!
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Old 12-24-2017, 03:40 PM
 
Location: Saint John, IN
11,583 posts, read 6,681,887 times
Reputation: 14786
Quote:
Originally Posted by NC211 View Post
I would love to know more about this. Can anyone point me in the right direction to learn more? I see comments about web forums. Any opinions on really good ones to start the climb of the learning curve?

Thanks!!
I'd like info too please!
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Old 01-28-2018, 08:54 AM
 
776 posts, read 949,295 times
Reputation: 2757
OK I have been as busy as the proverbial one armed guy....


My drop shippers ( I deal with 4 of them who handle different types of goods that fit into the overall survivalist market ) have products that are mainly US made. You CAN buy cheap made in China stuff but that is a way to upset the customers when they get that $5 item that does not work, right out of the box.


I will not do a step by step run down, but the concept is fairly simple.


A customer wants to search for a specific thing... lets say military ammunition boxes to use as storage containers. They have a number of ways to find them. They can go to a local surplus store, who may or may not have what the customer wants. They can go to gun shows. All of those are traditional ways to find a item.


On line sales are the preferred way for shopping now for many people,especially if the buyer lives in a isolated location. Being able to order , pay for and get delivery with out leaving the house has a lot of benefits. Having a website with good clear color photos, with well written descriptions , will improve the sales numbers. Most drop shippers ( once you are signed up as a wholesale buyer ) will provide with you with those photos and product descriptions for free. You use them to create your website.


So, why do drop shippers want to do business with a online wholesale business ? Simple.. they want to sell more of their products, and have repeat customers. By selling at a reduced price to wholesalers, they increase their sales volume. A typical drop shipper may have a large number of product lines in their catalogue. Drop shippers have " minimum allowed prices " that discourage price wars between wholesalers. If you do that ( sell at a too low price ) .. you can be cut off by the supplier.


The concept that many people miss is........America has so many millions of people, who want bargains, but there are also people who value quality over price. They are the target group. I would much rather sell a $250 item once a day, that sell 50 10 dollar items a week. The reason ? One transaction, versus 50 of them. Example.. sell one high cost UHF marine radio transmitter and antenna that costs over $1500.... versus selling a $49 cheap two way hand held low power set.


Some products such as the long storage life survival food supplies, can cost over $ 5000 for a year's supply, to feed 6 people. I have deals on that kind of survival food to cover two people for a week, up to a year's worth for 20 people. I also sell advanced military quality medical supplies, in any quantity the customer needs. Or individual personal care packs with soap, toothpaste, deodorant, comb, wash cloth, and any other items that the customer needs, by the dozen or by the thousand. Those are popular with private overseas aid groups.


I don't have the products it in my house, they ship from the supplier in the US. I don't buy it until my customer pays me for it, through the web site by Pay Pal to my bank account. The software sends a order to the drop shipper to pick the order off the shelf, label it with the customer name and address, with my company name and PO box on the label. It goes off by courier that day. I get a tracking number sent into my business e mail on each order. The customer signs for the shipment at the delivery point. It is all ready paid for.


At the time of shipping, the drop shipper charges me my cost for the item, plus the flat rate shipping cost on that particular item. Obviously a 80 pound crate is going to cost more to ship than a 5 pound box. That cost is built into my price to the customer. MY price to the retail customer is a lot less that a bricks and mortar store HAS to charge. Why ? They have to keep stock on hand, pay their employees, turn on the lights every day, have inventory insurance and THEN make a profit. I don't do that.


It's not for every one. I know that. But if you can put out a investment of less than a thousand dollars, and do the proper research to find a niche market, you can do it too. The choices are up to you. You don't need to have a computer science degree. You DO need to have the smarts to learn as you go along.


Now I will sit back and wait for the deluge of posts from the people who will pick apart every word that I have written here. They are as predictable as spring rain fall. I don't care about their opinions. I know what this business model has done for me, over the past few years.


I am NOT selling any type of training course, or video teaching sessions. They ARE out there, and you can buy them if you want to. There are also a ton of free teaching sources. Its not rocket science. Its the old American system of buy and sell. It may have a new appearance, but it is still business.


XXX.
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Old 01-31-2018, 10:03 AM
 
Location: Bergen County, NJ
3,994 posts, read 3,554,848 times
Reputation: 5767
mapleguy, thanks for that info. I'm not here to pick apart your post because online sales of physical goods is not something I have first hand knowledge of. I do have a local service business where I make 90% of my sales online, and one thing I've learned is that online advertising can get costly. I'm curious as to what advertising platforms you're using to drive sales on your website, especially since you said your start up costs were under $1000.

Also, if you wouldn't mind sharing some revenue numbers year over year that would be helpful.
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Old 02-03-2018, 04:10 PM
 
2,762 posts, read 3,169,024 times
Reputation: 5402
Quote:
Originally Posted by mapleguy View Post

I am NOT selling any type of training course, or video teaching sessions. They ARE out there, and you can buy them if you want to. There are also a ton of free teaching sources. Its not rocket science. Its the old American system of buy and sell. It may have a new appearance, but it is still business.


XXX.
Thanks for the information.

How do you find the suppliers (for whatever product you want to sell) that are willing to drop ship?
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Old 02-05-2018, 11:16 AM
 
270 posts, read 207,794 times
Reputation: 358
Quote:
Originally Posted by calnbs View Post
Yep! All Scams, especially coming from Craigslist. The stuff any envelopes scam have shifted to opening your email for money now. You pay a fee to a person posting on Craigslist about making money processing email. Once you pay, they tell you to copy and paste "Making Money processing email" and now you have permission to scam someone else to pay you so they can have permission from you to scam someone else. .

I always tell people...If making money was so easy, we all be making money and none of us would be working. It's call work for a reason.
Not true! I work from home making decent income and so is my friend. She work for a medical company from Las Vegas and she is in CA. Real work require no investment. If it require investment, you are building your own business. There are many good business opportunities out there and with any work, you need to get out and do it. Don't sign up for it and expect it to work for you. Working hard in the beginning to build your residual income for retirement.
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Old 02-05-2018, 04:36 PM
 
2,762 posts, read 3,169,024 times
Reputation: 5402
Lots of work from home call center work.
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