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Drop shipping, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is a system whereby you promote the products of a particular manufacturer, take orders directly, and the manufacturer/source handles all the inventory and fulfillment functions for you.

In a nutshell, here is the drop-ship system:

==> You generate and accept the order.

==> You take your profits out of the sale price.

==> You forward the order and the wholesale cost to the drop shipper.

==> The source factory ships directly to your custom

Drop shipping, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is a system whereby you promote the products of a particular manufacturer, take orders directly, and the manufacturer/source handles all the inventory and fulfillment functions for you.

In a nutshell, here is the drop-ship system:

==> You generate and see both sides the order.

==> You take your profits out of the sale price.

==> You forward the order and the wholesale cost to the drop shipper.

==> The source factory ships directly to your customer.

The benefits of this placement are probably obvious: No inventory cost to you.

* Substantially higher profits to you over what most regular take up programs allow.

* The workmanship to quickly set-up inexpensive, highly targeted, niche or mini-sites to test and promote diverse products.

This process has been all round for years and has been responsible for many highly successful mail order dealer relationships in the past. Many of the top catalogers and other direct response marketers, have been using this system to increase profits for decades. If you have ever ordered a high priced item from a mail order catalog and been told that the product was materiality shipped from the factory... then you have experienced drop shipping first hand.

Drop shipping is, I believe, a virgin un-tapped storehouse of profits for todays internet marketer.

On-line directories exist which reveal essential contact information for drop shippers of over 2,000,000 products and 4,000 brands. Most legitimate drop ship sources will require that you have a state tax reseller number in order to argue you to sell their products and give you the wholesale pricing you are looking for.

Beware of any drop ship source which requires you to pay a fee in order to mount a drop-ship dealer... or requires a membership. These are generally organizations which make their money selling "drop ship licenses"... and are, for the most part, scams. Legitimate drop shippers and factory sources never floating debt you any fees other than the everyday shipping costs of the products you sell.

Another caveat... every day make sure that you have a written oneness with the source factory that you own the customer! The factory or drop ship source should comport in writing not to solicit your customers in any form. This is very important to you. Your customer list is one of your most important assets. If the factory you are dealing with balks at this request... use plus source who will agree.

Almost every conceivable type of product is findable from a drop shipper willing to ship products in single units under your companies name. Pick your interest area... electronics, consumer products, & industrial products, office equipment & supplies, hobby gear, recreational / sporting goods, clothing, furniture, etc. The list of findable products from drop shippers is in effect endless.

The products verified source is invisible to the consumer. The seller (you) is able to organic structure a database of customers that he/she owns and controls (by coalition with the manufacturer) and has all the direct marketing advantages that keep pace with that arrangement... while eliminating the need for maintaining expensive inventory.

This frame offers maximum flexibility and cost savings for the seller. If a product does not sell well online you can pull the publication (web page or mini-site) instantly with very little cost to you outside of the physical time it took to lay the foundation and test the web marketing effort. Or, since this type of page/mini-site is so inexpensive to maintain and host... you can simply leave the pages online and take whatever orders trickle through... while you move on to the testing and promotion of new drop ship products.

The manufacturer benefits from this relationship by gaining a legion of travelling marketers promoting their products... at little or no cost (other than those small costs involved with supporting the marketer with online marketing materials like product images, sales materials, etc).

As a marketer you are looking for several key components in developing the drop-ship relationship with a source factory or distributor:

* High Quality Products

* camouflage Product Liability Insurance (if applicable)

* A downright guarantee and return policy

* High Quality Marketing Materials ... product images (gifs, jpegs, etc.), selling copy, other suitable web graphics, etc.

* A Customer Service Department that will work with you to develop the best selling situation for you.

If you are a manufacturer seeking to expand distribution (or an inventor with a new product ) you will find the willingness to drop ship in single units will give you a strong competitive edge while you lay out out increased market share at little cost.

If you are an online marketer interested in offering high profit products to your niche market (your website visitors) without incurring high front-end development or inventory costs... then drop shipping is for you.

Internet marketers are uniquely positioned to take profitable something in reserve of the drop ship and should give this system a serious look.

(c) Copyright 2005 Thom Reece All rights reserved

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