Drop Shipping vs. Affiliate Marketing

In the past I have had mixed results with Affiliate sales (as I'm sure most of you have)...

I am now looking into developing a few sites using the Drop-Ship method and hopefully boost earnings. I personally haven't had any experience with drop-shippers and would like to hear from some of you who have.

I've heard that a good place to get started is www_worldwidebrands_com . As I understand it, they effectively sell you access to a LIST of credible and "trustworthy" drop-shippers... it is then up to you to contact them and make arrangements for future business...

If anyone has had GOOD -or- BAD experiences with drop-shipping, or the website I have mentioned above, please comment, this could be a good opportunity for many.

Thanks in advance.
Pete

I've always had a problem with these outfits that sell information you can otherwise find on your own. I have been doing dropshipping for several years. You can find the distributors yourself, most of them have websites. I'd suggest you determine what type of products you want to sell (consumer electronics, clothing, health foods, etc.) and look for industry trade journals. You'll then be able to
find distributors through them if you aren't having any success with search engines.

Then you have to build an ecommerce site and drive customers to it. If you are having trouble driving customers to your affiliate partners, think about how you'll get buyers to your own site.

Good Luck!

Pete,

Chris Malta's site WorldWideBrands has one of the best directories out there. Yes it costs a few pennies AND yes you can find free directories out there AND yes you could do it yourself, but let me tell you... this is a very highly respected directory... and it's one of the most comprehensive.

How much is your time worth? That's how I look at things. Would I rather spend 50 hours sifting through all the bad drop ship companies until I find one that's good? Or Have a directory that is as well put together as this one, continually kept up to date and added to...

They approve each drop shipper by hand. They know what questions to ask. They will keep you away from Drop Ship Agents... middle-men that increase the cost of the product and cut into your profitablility...

On October 5, 2004, eBay Corporate issued a Press Release announcing the launch of it's eBay Certified Services Provider program. At the time of that launch, eBay had only Certified 17 companies in the entire world to be eBay Certified Providers... WorldWideBrands was one of them...

Chris Malta is the Product Sourcing editor for eBay Radio... The man knows what he's doing and how to build a directory...

They have a lot of great information and resources as well.

If you're serious about drop shipping, IMHO, there is no better way to go...

Matt

Thanks to both Whitesell and Mlevenhagen for the input...

... even though Mlevenhagen's post seems more like a sales pitch than a simple post... I still appreciate it. ;)

I decided the other day to send an email to the folks at WorldWideBrands and mentioned my situation and needs... such as the fact that I do not reside in the USA (but I sell to the US market) and I mentioned my particular product sourcing requirements.

To my surprise, they replied and said that for the particular product I was looking for (and the fact that I am outside of the US) that their list would not be as usefull as I would like it to be... talk about an honest reply!

Even though I won't be ordering their list at the moment, I think that for a different product need, I propably WILL order... they made a good impression.
I guess it's up to me to search the MANY wholesale directories and trade sites to find suppliers.
(free is good but I get a bit lazy sometimes!)

Pete.

That is to funny!

I didn't realize posts had to be simple...

When you write as much as I do (website content, sales copy, articles, newsletters, eBooks...), your writing style tends to bleed into everything you do... There are not many businesses that move me to spend that much time on a post, but I know the product inside and out... I know how good it is...

I also know there is a lot of Crap out there... so be careful.

I better stop before I get going again.

Good Luck!

Personally, I would go the drop ship route myself. I don't trust affiliates and being intimately familiar with the supply chain procurement, I would look to go direct first. You may have to do "Affiliate" type stuff until you build up sufficient volume to negotiate resale price, but there are so many "small players" that would love your business .... anyway, eventually more profit is always found when dealing directly with the producer or distributor of a given product.

Save yourself some Money.

If you're researching a product to sell, just go here:
http://www.thomasnet.com/home.html?WTsource=TR

This is the industrial bible for wholesale and manufactures for any product you could imagine.

Cheers

Thanx for the link "gchaney"

Your writing style is very good!

And I understand exactly what you mean about finding a product that can get you excited enough to help promote it... I hope to MANUFACTURE one of those products one day... ;)

...also gchaney, thanks for the link!

Pete

def...thanks for the link