Some Essential Questions You Should Ask A Supplier Before Signing Up
For A Dropshipping Account
If you're looking for a dropship supplier for your business, it's
essential to do your research beforehand as there are so many scams and
middlemen who pretend to be a legitimate dropshipping company but are
merely just a middleman or a scam just to take your money and run.
A dropshipping scam or a middleman can be quite difficult to
distinguish from a legit dropshipping company. Their website will look
like a real business, the design, layout, and features can be difficult
to distinguish from a true droppshipper, and may even be designed to
look even better than the average legit website. This is to fool you
into giving away your hard earned cash without you knowing until it's
too late.
So before you decide on starting your own dropshipping business, I've
prepared some essential questions below to ask a supplier before
committing to a scamster
or a middleman acting as a legitimate business with the sole intent of
taking your cash and disappearing.
In case you're wondering what's is a middleman, it's a company
acting as a dropshipper and claiming to be the supplier of the
products displayed on their website, but instead of taking your cash
and running, most middlemen will actually supply the products you
pay for but do not hold the products themselves but instead they use
their own legit suppliers and add a higher margin to the products
taking a cut of your profit, thus making it difficult for you to
earn a profit from the high prices you pay compared to your
competition.
"Below are some questions I've prepared for you to ask a supplier
before committing, and in order to separate the legitimate
dropshipper from scams and middlemen"
-
Are you the Manufacturer of the product/s? If not are you a partner or have a share of the Manufacturer's business? (This is an important question to ask. Although not all dropshipping company actually manufactures the products they sell, but if legit will have some sort of partnership or common interest with them as some manufacturers don't have the time to dropship items in small quantities, so they outsource them to large wholesale companies who purchase in bulk).
-
Do you stock Inventory of the products you sell? (If not this is guaranteed to be a middleman, who is taking the profit that you should be earning and charging a much higher price to you, which will prevent you from competing on price with your competition and more often than not you'll end up at a loss.
-
Do you offer true wholesale pricing so I can make a profit? (If so, ask them for a copy of their price list or ask to see some product prices on their website).
-
Do you Dropship (single) item's to the UK? (I've used the 'UK' in question 1. as an example only. This is your choice depending on what country you live. Also, I've put the word (single) in brackets because not all dropshipping company's will dropship single items, some have a minimum amount (e.g. minimum £100....) you have to spend on your first order. Most dropshippers will dropship single item’s but not all will. Don't automatically assume it's a scam if they have a minimum purchase requirement).
-
Do you charge a dropshipping fee for each item, and if so what are your fees? (Not all genuine dropshipping company's charge an additional fee for their service, but some do. this is quite normal for them to charge a small fee for their service, as it covers their shipping materials and handling charge. Others don't charge an additional fee but merely include it in the price of the products. Either way, it saves you a lot of time and hassle of having to purchase shipping materials yourself and saves you time, enabling you to concentrate on more important aspects of running your day to day business.
-
Is there a minimum order? (Some legitimate dropshippers policies include a minimum order, so don't automatically assume its a scam if they do. It's your decision to separate legitimate company's from the scamster, only after asking all these questions and getting a reply, along with your own research of the company in question. Only then should you make a decision. If one or more of your questions cannot be answered appropriately, then ask yourself, why? (All legitimate dropshipping companies should be able to answer these simple questions, and in plain and simple English, without the jargon, and words you don't understand).
-
Do I have to purchase the website start-up package in order to become a dropshipper and do business with you? (some legitimate dropshipping company's I've come across do have a package website already loaded with their products for you to dropship, but will also give you the option to dropship single items without purchasing the package. Personally, I've found that a lot of them with the website package deals are a scam. not all of them but the majority of them are. if you come across a company with this package your better off to steer clear and avoid using them. If you are sure they are legitimate and want to do business with them and they give you an option of taking out the package or not, then it's safer not to buy into the package, just use the single item dropshipping program they have).
-
Do you have the appropriate certificates in your possession that are needed for a business in order to be a dropshipping company? If so is it possible to see them or get a copy of them? (A legitimate company should have these in their possession and would be only too willing to share this information with you. If there's a delay in providing this or if they are unable to provide these certificates, the stay well away. It's almost certainly a scam if they refuse to provide this information).
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