A drop shipper is a business that has merchandise for sale below normal retail and will ship the merchandise directly to your customer for you.

They are really selling to you, but shipping to your customer.

As an eBay drop ship seller, your steps are very simple:

   1. Advertise the item(s) on eBay.
   2. Complete the auction and take payment from the winning bidder.
   3. Contact your drop shipper and pay the drop shipper for the item. The difference between what you pay for the item and what you sell it to your eBay winner for is your profit.
   4. The drop shipper will send out the item for you and hopefully you’ll have a happy customer who will post positive feedback on your eBay ratings page.

What are the advantages?

   1. You don’t have to invest in inventory or spend time running around trying to find things to sell.
   2. There are many drop shippers and an amazing variety of items – you can probably find most anything you would like to sell from a drop shipper.
   3. You don’t have to worry about packing and shipping your items and making trips to the post office or UPS.

What are some disadvantages?

   1. You have to locate and set up a relationship with a drop shipper.
   2. There are drop ship scams that you have to be aware of. Under most circumstances you should not have to pay a fee to get established with a drop shipping business.
   3. You will be selling brand new merchandise and your profit margin might not be as much as it would be from buying in demand items from yard sales and flea markets.
   4. Middlemen – you have to be careful to make sure that there are not a lot of others in the supply chain. They will drive up the cost of your items and cost you profit.
   5. It’s likely that others on eBay are buying from the same drop shipper you are, so you probably will have some competition in your category.

How you can get a competitive edge If others are selling the same items that you are, how can you make your products stand out? Your drop shipper will likely provide pictures and descriptions of the items you want to sell. Instead of taking their stock pictures and descriptions, order one of the items for yourself, then:

   1. Take your own pictures, from a variety of angles and post multiple product shots.
   2. Write your own, much more detailed description.

What you want to do is to stand out from the other auctions. If a buyer is searching on eBay for an item, and is scrolling through the results and there are many pictures, all the same, there is nothing to draw their eye. Give them something different and they will reward you with clicks on your auction item.