Drop Shipping & Wholesale

By Author: Ann Hoskins
Total Articles: 30
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If you are curious about drop shipping and wholesale, chances are you are looking into starting a business in which you would purchase goods in quantity from a supplier and then mark up the cost and then resell them to someone else.

If the business you are planning is an actual store, where people will be coming and going and looking at physical merchandise, you will need to get a group of dependable and reputable wholesalers to work with. These companies sell in bulk at a low price, ship the item to you, you stock it and then you resell it to your customers.

If however, you are considering starting an online store or selling on an auction site, you can either purchase from wholesalers the same way as you would for a regular store, or you have the option of dealing with a drop shipper.

A drop shipping business is similar to a wholesaler in that they sell the item to you at a low, wholesale price, but instead of shipping ...
... the item(s) to you, they will ship them directly to your customers. So if you chose to purchase and sell 100 what-me-nots from the drop shipper, the company would keep the item in their inventory for you, and when you got an order for one, you would notify them and they would send to your customer. Most drop shippers are very good about shipping in plain packaging with no markings about their company name on it, so the customer wouldn't know the item didn't come directly from you. They also generally ship very quickly since the items are prepackaged.

A disadvantage to working with the drop shipping company is that you don't get to actually see the merchandise yourself. You have only seen a picture of it. If it is not quite the quality you thought it might be, or if an item is damaged, it may get sent out to the customer anyway and you have no way of knowing it until the customer complains to you about it. Also, if the same customer orders various items from you, you generally cannot combine shipping since they are already packaged and may be coming from different drop shippers, which could be a turn-off to the buyer.

Buying from the wholesaler, on the other hand, means you have visually inspected the merchandise and know it is something you can be proud of shipping, you can easily combine items for a customer's order, and you can add your own personal touch to the outgoing package, with your own personal business label and logo, or enclosing a business card or a short personal note.

Generally speaking, drop shipping can be very easy on the seller, but you sacrifice a bit of control over what impression the customer will receive. With a wholesaler, you have to maintain an inventory which can be demanding, but you have complete control over the quality of your shipment.

There are good and bad points to both. Of course, you can mix and match, depending on what you're selling. Good luck with your business!


Ann Hoskins has been writing and publishing articles about wholesale and drop shipping. She is a business consultant and has been specializing in logistics management and shipping for more than 10 years.