I have decided to mention match.com for three reasons. The first being that they are currently running a seven day free trial, the second being that if you don't find love within six months you get the next six months absolutely free and the third reason being that i have actually seen it work. Two years ago, my dads long term relationship had just ended and he discovered that his ex-fiance had moved right into a new relationship literally days after their split. My dad later discovered that his ex had been using match.com for a long time prior to their split and the man she was now dating was someone she had met through their dating services. Whether her reason for using match.com during her relationship with my dad was to actually meet someone or for just plain fun, either way she ended up in another relationship that is still going strong thanks to match.com.
After realising his ex had been using a dating site, my dad thought he would give it a try himself. after around only a month he met someone who he frequently chatted to for a long while after and they eventually arranged to meet up. Here we are, a little over a year later and my dad and his new fiance are to tie the knot on the 28th may. I know there is almost another two months til the wedding, but it seems everyone is living happily ever after thanks to match.com. Check it out, you might meet your true love.
Sunday, 8 April 2007
Earn using eBay and dropshipping
I briefly explained dropshipping in my last post, but this post is dedicated entirely to the subject of using dropshippers and eBay to earn money and even start your own online business. During this post i will explain the do's and dont's as well as the advantages and disadvantages to dropshipping. Hopefully by the end of this post you will have some knowledge on how to get started with your very own online store.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a way of selling products with little to no start up capital and not having to personally hold stock. You sign up for a dropsipping account with a company that offers single item purchases at wholesale prices. You then build your storefront, be it a website, blog or eBay store and sell the items at retail price. When you make a sale at retail price you then purchase the product from the dropshipper, forward your customers details and the products will be shipped directly to your customer. The profit you make is the difference between the wholesale price and your mark up price.
Pros
Little to no start up capital - Dropshipping gives you the oppertunity to start making sales online right away with little to no upfront costs.
No need to hold inventory -Holding inventory can be a huge expense as large stock volumes would require you to rent a separate property just for this purpose.
Wider product range - With dropshipping you have access to millions of products and do not have to worry about storage.
Lower shipping costs - Dropshipping will also allow you offer lower prices due to savings you will make on shipping since your products will only need to be shipped once, straight to your customer.
No need to worry about bad product choices - Another clear bonus is that you will not be lumbered with tons of stock if a particular product doesn't sell so well, and you won't have lost out as you haven't actually paid for anything yet.
Disadvantages
Dropshipping can have little to no disadvantages, providing you choose a reputable dropshipper for your services.
Hard to find - Good dropshippers are hard to find thanks to the many scams floating around the dropshipping market. A lot of company's call themselves dropshippers but what they actually do is act as a middle man. They set up websites acting as dropshippers but they do not actually hold any inventory, and they simply use dropshipping services themselves and mark the cost of their products up a little.
Fees - Company's as described above will usually charge a fee for you to open a dropshipping account with them. At this point i would like to advise you NEVER to pay a fee to become part of a dropshipping program. Most reputable dropshipping company's will never charge you any additional fees. If a company does require a fee then the chances are it is going to be a huge waste of time and money for you. If you do decide to pay a fee, always do some research on the company beforehand.
Returns - Another thing you should always look into when choosing a dropshipper is their returns policy. If you choose a dropshipper with no returns policy, chances are you will eventually end up with returns for which you have to cover the refund.
Tips
Always check how long the company has been in business for. Most dropshipping company's go out of business pretty quickly, so finding a company that has long term establishment is key criteria to success. The last thing you want is to build a customer base, only to find that a few months down the line your supplier has gone out of business, leaving you with no stock to sell until you find another dropshipper that offers the same products and prices.
I greatly advise against paying any kind of fee to create a dropshippeer account. Any company that charges a setup fee or a monthly fee should be steered clear of unless you do your research first and find out that the company is actually a reputable one.
Always test their support - Before you settle down with a dropshipper, you should always test their support to see how long they take to get back in touch and if they do so in a professional manner. I recently contacted a company to find out about their dropshipping services. It took them over a week to reply and when they finally did, they replied with a one sentence answer of "Yes, we can offer a dropshipping service". My email included around 10 questions, so as you can imagine, this reply showed no professionalism whatsoever. As well as the amount of time it took for their reply, i scratched that company from my list right away. This is just a real world example for you to base your decisions on.
Try to find a niche in the market - Anyone can take advantage of dropshipping and for this reason you will find that the market (especially on eBay) for 99% of the products that dropshippers offer is extremely saturated. Do some research, try to find out how many people are selling the products you want to sell and for what prices. If you find a product that no one else seems to be selling, do some more research and find out if there is demand for such a product. There are two possibilities as to why the product is not being sold anywhere else. Either you have found a niche in the market, or there is simply no demand for the product so no one is wasting their time trying to sell it. Research, research and more research is key.
Now we have got all that out of the way, i know the big question on your lips is "How do i find a good dropshipper?." Well, the only answer to this question is research. There are thousands of dropshippers out there but as i said, good ones are hard to come by, especially for someone just learning the ropes. Its especially difficult to find a good dropshipper, that at the same time offers the products you want to sell and who's products are not already littering the market. Again, the key thing here is research. I would also recommend not setting your product choice in stone until you have carried out a lot of research, as it may turn out that the product you wish to sell, won't. Keep your options open. I would also recommend contacting local company's, or com pays that do not have an online presence and ask if they can provide a dropshipping service. A lot of company's out there may not provide dropshipping but might be willing to arrange such a service on request. From my research, i have realised that a lot of company's that don't (or at least not publicly) offer a dropshipping service can usually offer the service if you are willing to contact them and request it.
Another great way to find dropshippers is to purchase access to a database such as worldwidebrands. I really do recommend worlddwidebrands if this is the route you choose, as they are constantly up to date with new dropshippers and wholesalers and are an eBay verified business. While carrying out your research, watch out for similar offers. There are tons of scam sites out there selling what they describe as the ultimate dropshipping and wholesale lists or something along those lines. Most of these lists (I have bought a few including some from eBay) are compilations of links to dropshippers that a) are often outdated, b) are usually links you can find from a quick Google search and c) a lot of the links are repeated over and over in some of the lists.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a way of selling products with little to no start up capital and not having to personally hold stock. You sign up for a dropsipping account with a company that offers single item purchases at wholesale prices. You then build your storefront, be it a website, blog or eBay store and sell the items at retail price. When you make a sale at retail price you then purchase the product from the dropshipper, forward your customers details and the products will be shipped directly to your customer. The profit you make is the difference between the wholesale price and your mark up price.
Pros
Little to no start up capital - Dropshipping gives you the oppertunity to start making sales online right away with little to no upfront costs.
No need to hold inventory -Holding inventory can be a huge expense as large stock volumes would require you to rent a separate property just for this purpose.
Wider product range - With dropshipping you have access to millions of products and do not have to worry about storage.
Lower shipping costs - Dropshipping will also allow you offer lower prices due to savings you will make on shipping since your products will only need to be shipped once, straight to your customer.
No need to worry about bad product choices - Another clear bonus is that you will not be lumbered with tons of stock if a particular product doesn't sell so well, and you won't have lost out as you haven't actually paid for anything yet.
Disadvantages
Dropshipping can have little to no disadvantages, providing you choose a reputable dropshipper for your services.
Hard to find - Good dropshippers are hard to find thanks to the many scams floating around the dropshipping market. A lot of company's call themselves dropshippers but what they actually do is act as a middle man. They set up websites acting as dropshippers but they do not actually hold any inventory, and they simply use dropshipping services themselves and mark the cost of their products up a little.
Fees - Company's as described above will usually charge a fee for you to open a dropshipping account with them. At this point i would like to advise you NEVER to pay a fee to become part of a dropshipping program. Most reputable dropshipping company's will never charge you any additional fees. If a company does require a fee then the chances are it is going to be a huge waste of time and money for you. If you do decide to pay a fee, always do some research on the company beforehand.
Returns - Another thing you should always look into when choosing a dropshipper is their returns policy. If you choose a dropshipper with no returns policy, chances are you will eventually end up with returns for which you have to cover the refund.
Tips
Always check how long the company has been in business for. Most dropshipping company's go out of business pretty quickly, so finding a company that has long term establishment is key criteria to success. The last thing you want is to build a customer base, only to find that a few months down the line your supplier has gone out of business, leaving you with no stock to sell until you find another dropshipper that offers the same products and prices.
I greatly advise against paying any kind of fee to create a dropshippeer account. Any company that charges a setup fee or a monthly fee should be steered clear of unless you do your research first and find out that the company is actually a reputable one.
Always test their support - Before you settle down with a dropshipper, you should always test their support to see how long they take to get back in touch and if they do so in a professional manner. I recently contacted a company to find out about their dropshipping services. It took them over a week to reply and when they finally did, they replied with a one sentence answer of "Yes, we can offer a dropshipping service". My email included around 10 questions, so as you can imagine, this reply showed no professionalism whatsoever. As well as the amount of time it took for their reply, i scratched that company from my list right away. This is just a real world example for you to base your decisions on.
Try to find a niche in the market - Anyone can take advantage of dropshipping and for this reason you will find that the market (especially on eBay) for 99% of the products that dropshippers offer is extremely saturated. Do some research, try to find out how many people are selling the products you want to sell and for what prices. If you find a product that no one else seems to be selling, do some more research and find out if there is demand for such a product. There are two possibilities as to why the product is not being sold anywhere else. Either you have found a niche in the market, or there is simply no demand for the product so no one is wasting their time trying to sell it. Research, research and more research is key.
Now we have got all that out of the way, i know the big question on your lips is "How do i find a good dropshipper?." Well, the only answer to this question is research. There are thousands of dropshippers out there but as i said, good ones are hard to come by, especially for someone just learning the ropes. Its especially difficult to find a good dropshipper, that at the same time offers the products you want to sell and who's products are not already littering the market. Again, the key thing here is research. I would also recommend not setting your product choice in stone until you have carried out a lot of research, as it may turn out that the product you wish to sell, won't. Keep your options open. I would also recommend contacting local company's, or com pays that do not have an online presence and ask if they can provide a dropshipping service. A lot of company's out there may not provide dropshipping but might be willing to arrange such a service on request. From my research, i have realised that a lot of company's that don't (or at least not publicly) offer a dropshipping service can usually offer the service if you are willing to contact them and request it.
Another great way to find dropshippers is to purchase access to a database such as worldwidebrands. I really do recommend worlddwidebrands if this is the route you choose, as they are constantly up to date with new dropshippers and wholesalers and are an eBay verified business. While carrying out your research, watch out for similar offers. There are tons of scam sites out there selling what they describe as the ultimate dropshipping and wholesale lists or something along those lines. Most of these lists (I have bought a few including some from eBay) are compilations of links to dropshippers that a) are often outdated, b) are usually links you can find from a quick Google search and c) a lot of the links are repeated over and over in some of the lists.
Earn with Cafepress
First of all let me explain exactly what Cafepress is and does. Basically, they provide blank canvases of many forms for you to design, upload and have printed on, your own logo or design. You can then set up your own free storefront from the Cafepress site and sell your product designs. You can, for instance, print your own design onto a mug or design your own brand name and have it spayed across the front of a shirt or baseball cap. And the best thing is, it doesn't cost you a penny up front since Cafepress uses a dropshipping system. I will be making a more detailed post based on dropshipping in the near future, but here is a quick explanation. Drop shipping is a way for you to sell goods without paying any upfront costs or storing inventory. When you use a dropshipping service, you choose the products from your supplier (In this case Cafepress.com) list them on your own site, page or blog or on the Cafepress storefront that you create, add a little extra onto the price, and when someone buys from you, Cafepress takes their cost of the product and anything you added will be your total profit. However, Cafepress does work slightly different from traditional dropshipping company's. With other dropshipping company's you would have to accept all payments yourself either through paypal or a merchant account You would then purchase the item from the dropshipper and they ship directly to your customer. Cafepress is much easier as it cuts out any need for handling and forwarding payments to them. If you have a creative mind and would like to take advantage of Cafepress' services, then go check it out!
Free MMORPG's
For those of you who do not know what an MMORPG is, it means Massively Multi player Online Role playing Game. An MMORPG usually consists of a huge game world where the player can freely run around, do quests, earn extra items and in game currency while at the same time playing simultaneously with thousands of other players. One such game is Second Life. It's a free game in which you basically live out a 'second life'. You can search the game world for the perfect plot of land to build your own house on, or even build a shop and start your own in game business. Second Life, being a free to play game, is a perfect candidate for such a blog as this one. Not only for the fact that the game is free, but it also fits in with the secondary theme of this blog which is making money. As i said, you are able to set up business in the game world and buy, sell and trade with other players. But whats different about this game compared to most other online rpg's is that you can convert any in game currency into real world currency and withdraw it from your game account at any time.
Another game similar to this is Entropia-Universe (EU). EU is also a free to play game and uses real world money as game currency for purchasing new items such as weapons or services from other players and non player characters (NPC's). You can choose to deposit cash into the game if you want to make a quick start and buy some nice items and clothing, although this is by no means necessary. Anyone can join EU, start playing, and perform in game tasks to earn Project Entropian Dollars (PED). In fact, in EU, it is perfectly possible for a skilled player to make a living from the game. There are players earning a comfortable living from EU, including players that have never deposited a penny into the game.
Sell your services as a freelancer
Lot's of people have at least one skill in a certain field. Whether it be professional web design or just a natural ability to draw. Even if you are not employed in your field of expertise, you can always offer your services as a freelancer. Lots and lots of company's employ freelancers to carry out small or large jobs alike. I personally know a self educated web designer who makes some nice amounts of money for small jobs such as designing web templates or creating illustrations as a side income from his regular employment. There are many ways in which you can get your skills and services noticed such as developing your own online portfolio. Even blogger can be used for this purpose so it doesn't have to cost a penny. You can also list your services on freelance listing sites such as elance.com or even classified ads sites such as adpost.com. Classified listing's would be a good thing for someone who wants to make their services noticed in their local area, while at the same time they are great for advertising to the global masses.
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