Starting online business

Eircom_Sucks

Looking to sell some items online , found items in the far east , good price etc

Which is the best way to sell on amazon ?less costs etc

Or is dropshipping the way to go ?

Scotty #

Eircom_Sucks wrote: »

Looking to sell some items online , found items in the far east , good price etc

Have you received the items? Until you have you don't know if it's a good price or not. I've been stung a few times.

Amazon charge 15% on most items, a little more on some and less on others but most are 15%. Selling on Amazon can be extremely difficult, you'll be up against a lot of competition.

Atomic Pineapple

With a lot of that competition not being legitimate - https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/12/amazon-still-hasnt-fixed-its-problem-with-bait-and-switch-reviews/?amp=1

Eircom_Sucks

Anybody doing drop shipping ?

Scotty #

I do it on a small scale for some of my wholesale customers. It's not a service I advertise.

Are you considering becoming a dropshipper or using a dropshipping service?

BorneTobyWilde

Create your own website and promote promote promote .

JMR

Eircom_Sucks wrote: »

Looking to sell some items online , found items in the far east , good price etc

Which is the best way to sell on amazon ?less costs etc

Or is dropshipping the way to go ?

Before investing any big money, prove that a market exists for the products first. You need to do this in the most cost efficient method possible - can you get small volume samples from the supplier?

If you're happy that a market exists, sum up all your costs and I mean all.
Import costs
Duty
Insurance
Currency exchange
Storage
Packaging
Delivery
PayPal / Stripe fees
Website / Amazon fees
Advertising
Returns
Salary

Next figure out how much sales you need to cover all your costs and make an acceptable profit.
Now, figure out what you need to do to make your sales target.

tacofries

If the aim is to dip the toe in the water to see what drop shipping is about and you have a few hundred euro to spare then I wouldn't go worrying about every couple of cents. Build your website on Shopify or the likes and get selling, you don't need to consider rent, salary or anything like that at this stage.


It's very important that you learn how marketing works but best to figure this out as you go. I personally don't think it is possible to estimate this cost unless you have good experience selling online but make sure your product has a good enough margin so that you have money to spend to get sales.


Keep it simple too. Whether you are drop shipping or becoming a distributor:
1. Look at the pros/cons/costs if you are to sell as a distributor or drop shipper. Choose which one you are going to be.
2. Source a product that you think you could sell for a decent price and buy for a low price.
3. Get a product sample and do some due diligence on the manufacturer.
4. Build your website.
5. Market your product and get sales.
6. Other bits will pop up depending on if you are a drop shipper or distributor but keep things simple and follow the money.

dartboardio

JMR wrote: »

Before investing any big money, prove that a market exists for the products first. You need to do this in the most cost efficient method possible - can you get small volume samples from the supplier?

If you're happy that a market exists, sum up all your costs and I mean all.
Import costs
Duty
Insurance
Currency exchange
Storage
Packaging
Delivery
PayPal / Stripe fees
Website / Amazon fees
Advertising
Returns
Salary

Next figure out how much sales you need to cover all your costs and make an acceptable profit.
Now, figure out what you need to do to make your sales target.

OP won't need packaging/storage/ etc costs if he/she is dropshipping, you just place the order on the suppliers website when your customer orders from you


I would recommend dropshipping OP, I set up an electric scooter dropshipping business back in October and it's been doing really well. We use GoogleAds to advertise online and spend around 400 per month on that, with around 4-5k in sales on average per month so we could probs increase that.


Definitely recommend GoogleAds, Facebook ads didn't work too well for us, but all depends on the business I guess.


I started my website with Shopify and designed it myself so if you're handy at it I would recommend doing that to keep costs low. We virtually needed nothing to startup.

Any questions please PM me I'd be happy to help!

tacofries

dartboardio wrote: »

Definitely recommend GoogleAds, Facebook ads didn't work too well for us, but all depends on the business I guess.

Agee that it depends on the business. Facebook was way more profitable for me vs Google. 10x on Google for you is unreal!

Buford T Justice

dartboardio wrote: »

OP won't need packaging/storage/ etc costs if he/she is dropshipping, you just place the order on the suppliers website when your customer orders from you


I would recommend dropshipping OP, I set up an electric scooter dropshipping business back in October and it's been doing really well. We use GoogleAds to advertise online and spend around 400 per month on that, with around 4-5k in sales on average per month so we could probs increase that.


Definitely recommend GoogleAds, Facebook ads didn't work too well for us, but all depends on the business I guess.


I started my website with Shopify and designed it myself so if you're handy at it I would recommend doing that to keep costs low. We virtually needed nothing to startup.

Any questions please PM me I'd be happy to help!

Is there much work needed in terms of ongoing maintenance etc...
Is this enough to live off, or are you just doing this as a side business for a few extra bob?

Scotty #

I think the OP intends on being the dropshipper, not using a drop ship service. I could be wrong.

JMR

Interesting topic around the pros and cons of dropshipping v standard eCommerce model.
I hadn't picked up on the OPs mention of dropshipping when I offered my earlier advice, my bad.

Don't know much about dropshipping / plugging into a dropshipping service like Oberlo, so will follow with interest

Atomic Pineapple

Oberlo looks interesting. Do platforms like this handle things like customs, VAT, and other taxes?

For example, if I wanted to target the Irish market with a product but the item is stored and shipped from a non EU country, is the handled by the platform, or does it need to be done manually?

Edit:

Also, are there GDPR issues to consider if you are placing an order on behalf of someone and using their details?

dartboardio

Buford T Justice wrote: »

Is there much work needed in terms of ongoing maintenance etc...
Is this enough to live off, or are you just doing this as a side business for a few extra bob?

Well there's a bit of work but it's probs the easiest bit of work I've ever done. In terms of actually running the site and dealing with customers..Because I enjoy it I suppose. Main duties would be marketing on facebook/google, thinking of new ideas/things to add to the website, dealing with customer queries or complaints if any, and of course purchasing the scooters and getting them sent to customers

Not much ongoing maintenance, mainly just find a decent supplier and stay in contact with them and use them all the time, sometimes adding new products to the site

It's my main job/source of income at the moment yeah. The handy thing about dropshipping is you don't need to deal physically with any stock or issues really.

Even when there is an odd broken scooter, I just tell the supplier and they actually send the courier to collect the broken one, and then the supplier sends a new one! so it is handy.

dartboardio

Buford T Justice wrote: »

Is there much work needed in terms of ongoing maintenance etc...
Is this enough to live off, or are you just doing this as a side business for a few extra bob?

Well there's a bit of work but it's probs the easiest bit of work I've ever done. In terms of actually running the site and dealing with customers..Because I enjoy it I suppose. Main duties would be marketing on facebook/google, thinking of new ideas/things to add to the website, dealing with customer queries or complaints if any, and of course purchasing the scooters and getting them sent to customers

Not much ongoing maintenance, mainly just find a decent supplier and stay in contact with them and use them all the time, sometimes adding new products to the site

It's my main job/source of income at the moment yeah. The handy thing about dropshipping is you don't need to deal physically with any stock or issues really.

Even when there is an odd broken scooter, I just tell the supplier and they actually send the courier to collect the broken one, and then the supplier sends a new one! so it is handy.

dartboardio

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

Oberlo looks interesting. Do platforms like this handle things like customs, VAT, and other taxes?

For example, if I wanted to target the Irish market with a product but the item is stored and shipped from a non EU country, is the handled by the platform, or does it need to be done manually?

Edit:

Also, are there GDPR issues to consider if you are placing an order on behalf of someone and using their details?

Sorry to hijack, I personally only buy/dropship items from EU warehouses, otherwise it gets messy if there is import taxes/fees revenue letters sent to the customers etc.

No, platforms like that won't deal with any of that, they are simply just a platform to build your own website and advertise your items on, then it's upto you to advertise, and make sure you are aware of what taxes you might be liable to pay.

dpforce

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

Oberlo looks interesting. Do platforms like this handle things like customs, VAT, and other taxes?

For example, if I wanted to target the Irish market with a product but the item is stored and shipped from a non EU country, is the handled by the platform, or does it need to be done manually?

Edit:

Also, are there GDPR issues to consider if you are placing an order on behalf of someone and using their details?

Oberlo is Aliexpress affiliate and doing it as dropshipper via Shopify.

For local markets - its better to buy some cheap stuff (such as socks ) on ALiexpress, order nice packaging and sell it as handmade stuff on Etsy for x10 of original price.

Atomic Pineapple

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to hold any sort of inventory, even socks . I think the dropshipping model where suppliers hold the inventory and ship to the buyer is my only option. Can anyone recommend a supplier site for the EU? I am currently looking at sprocket, but it looks quite restrictive/costly and doesn't have a great choice. Maybe going with Allieexpress and sticking with low cost items shipped worldwide is the easiest way to start?