I am always looking for ways to grow my business without changing my business model (working from home).  My book business is steady and my inventory is at a manageable level.  So, a while back, I decided to see what other was I could grow and tried out dropshipping. 

Dropshipping is basically where you sell other peoples inventory.  Here is how it works – a dropship supplier may have 100 copies of a book which they have listed for sale at $10.  The book would typically sell for $14 on eBay.  You list it and sell it on eBay for $14 plus shipping. You then give the dropshipper $10 plus shipping (and the shipping info) and they ship it to the buyer. 

I have used dropshippers to sell new computer and console games (not books) at my eBay store – thus using my existing store to sell more products.  I sold a bunch but did not think it was worth the profit.  The above example where you make a potential profit of $4 does not factor in fees and making sure the shipping collected is correct.  There is also the extra step of contacting the dropshipper and then hoping they ship it out on time. 

Relying on the dropshipper for the shipping was the biggest drawback for me as it took the customer service out of my control.  I had one person who received a game that was not correct (it was the right game but not the right version).  Nothing negative came of it but I do not like having my feedback score exposed to the service of another business.

It is not hard to tell that I am not a strong proponent to using dropshippers as a secondary business.  I know there are people out there who do very well using them and if you do your product research you can find some great deals.  If you do consider using dropshippers I would consider going through a company like Worldwide Brands or SaleHoo.  Both of these companies do the heavy lifting of finding legitimate wholesalers and dropshippers saving you a lot of time and headache as there appear to be a lot of iffy wholesalers out there.  Whatever you do – do not buy a wholesale list or something like it on eBay.

Textbook Season Ending & Return Season Starting
There is almost never a case when I do not accept returns - most markets require you to accept them (see Amazon's A-Z policy). I keep my return policy simple. The only time I have not accepted a return is when a significant amount of time has passed between the purchase date and the return date or if the books condition is materially different from when I sold it (such as full of highlighting). Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the customer experience when I run a business from home and do not interact with the customers. Continue reading
Amazon Charge When Shipped (Amazon CWS)
What does CWS mean for us booksellers? Not much. You will not have your account credited until you ship a book. If you use The Art of Books or a similar inventory management system Amazon should be automatically updated when the book is shipped. There are a couple of downsides to Amazon's Charge When Shipped - you do not get to send your own confirmation email to the buyer and the buyer can still leave feedback on a canceled order. Continue reading
Is the Amazon Kindle bad for Online Booksellers
Sales of the Kindle are one thing but it remains to be seen if people are actually going to adapt to using it as their primary way to read - as we have seen with Amazon recenlty deleting Orwell titles there are several issues with the Kindle that will effect its popularity. Continue reading
Tags:drawbacks to using dropshippers,drop shippers,drop shipping,droppshipping,dropshippers,how to find dropshippers,make money selling books,onesource,salehoo,selling books on amazon,selling books on ebay,using dropshippers,worldwide brands

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