Advice on how to get around a problem

NewSeller · 08-11-2007, 04:22 PM

Hey

I've been working on my site and its looking professional and not far from being up and running. My supplier said they would deliver the goods from me kind of like dropshipping.

So my plan was to take the order recieve payment and use that to pay for it from my supplier. However i just found out my supplier will only ship it for me if my order is over £100.

This is a problem i expect my average order to be around the £50 mark. This would mean i cant get it shipped direct to them, id have to ship it to myself and then post it to them.

This is another problem because i live in N.Ireland My supplier and 90% of my customers will be from mainland uk. So say someone wants to buy an item at £50, I have to pay 20 to ship it to me and them 13 to ship it back to mainland uk.

thats £33 for a shipment that should be about £5.99 at most. I dont have the money to buy alot of stock and keep it physically myself, esplically because i want my computer site to have over 100 different products for sale which i want to keep increasing.

Its such a pointless problem, im not sure how to get around it. I also have a local supplier but they dont stock the latet items and their choice isnt great.

I'm looking into some new suppliers now, im waiting for my account to be approved with one, their said they do ship for you but there is a £6 surcharge + Delivery.

So any ideas?

**Pete** · 08-11-2007, 04:45 PM

You need to find some true dropshippers. I don't know about the UK, but I would think there are some. These are wholesalers, manufacturers and importers whose business plan is built around dropshipping and they don't have any extra fees.

They may have a "small order fee", many sources do. You can't expcet them to ship a low cost item and go throught the expense of shipping materials and time if they don't make some sort of profit.

But, with the "small order fee" aside, they are geared to dropship for you at the same price they would sell it to you if you walked in the door, or they shipped it directly to you. Excluding the actaul shipping charges, of course. After all, if you buy an item and it's shipped to you at one price, how can they justify an additional charge of £6 just to ship to a different address?

Find some real dropshippers.

anotheruser · 08-11-2007, 05:32 PM

Brian, you have mail. In essence, Pete's right. But that short stretch of water seems to be giving you problems in excess of what they should be, too. There has to be a way through that, let alone round it!

NewSeller · 08-11-2007, 05:34 PM

I Know what you mean, the problem is my business didnt start out as its turned to now.

I was gonna build computers and sell them online, then i found out they would ship items for me so i focused more on selling hardware, your right they are not dropshippers but they are legitimate distributors for different computer hardware manufactures. This means their prices are far better than any dropshipper. if shipping didnt come into it. Or if i didnt like outside mainland uk!

I'm trying to make my business as professional as possible and buying from a dropshipper dosent seem proper. Mabye until i make enough moneyto buy in bulk stock i should only sell the top of the range items which are over £100

My supplier is very good price ranges on these and i can undercut play and amazon etc.

I was thinking another option would be to take out a loan. Buy in bulk which would get the price down further then selling them, however id want to have my site well known by that time as id want the turnaround time from buying to selling them all to be pretty fast.

Its just frustrating that because they have to cross a bit of water they throw 12 extra on the shipping!

NewSeller · 08-11-2007, 05:35 PM

hey Mike, where did you email my website mail or hotmail?

I cant access my website mail from work. I wont be home until 6:30

you can send it to my hotmail though!

anotheruser · 08-11-2007, 05:50 PM

Re-sent.

Taking out a loan before you have an established trading pattern does not make much sense. Far too risky. Try and start with a small overdraft facility, but don't overdo it and only use it when it makes very good sense to, like when you know you have the cheque for the sale and just need time for it to clear.