Using drop ship companies has probably come up in your research to start your online Web store. If you’re pondering whether to use drop shipping, here are some things to consider.

First, a simple explanation of drop shipping. Using drop ship companies means you can shop through their inventory and select products that you want to sell on your site. When a customer buys an item from your store, you relay that sale to your drop shipper. They fulfill your order and ship the product to your customer on your behalf.

No, there’s no big catch to this process. The decision you have to make is whether you want to invest in housing and shipping products yourself, or using a drop ship company to house and ship products for you.

You will have to pay the drop shipping company something for their services, and they will be in charge of what inventory is in stock. So, if you have a customer that orders some trucks for their skateboard and your drop shipper doesn’t have them available, your customer will have to wait until they are available.

Your drop shipper will usually require some kind of handling fee for the products they ship for you. They will also determine the shipping and delivery methods; however, many drop shippers offer delivery options to choose from.

So, you won’t have complete control over your inventory, delivery times, and will have some fees to pay. On the other hand, you can use your drop shippers images and product descriptions. You won’t have to store and manage hundreds, or thousands, of products yourself or spend your money on buying all these products beforehand. Neither will you need to attend to all the delivery processing details and packing materials.

You may see how drop shipping can save you considerable time and money. By not having to write descriptions, take product images, sink money into inventory that just collects dust, pay monthly rental fees on storage and office space, and sink more money into packaging materials and delivery fees, you can keep your overhead to a minimum.

All you have to do is calculate the total costs of handling it all yourself, along with employees to help you. Then add up the costs of using a drop shipping company. Once you’ve made your decision, your online Web store can become a reality.

Stuart Lisonbee is a marketing manager at Doba. Doba’a goal to simplify the drop shipping product sourcing chain have resulted in universal access to hundreds of wholesale suppliers and a myriad of tools to help small online retailers succeed.

categories: drop shipping,retail,wholesale,ecommerce