Although I can go on and on about setting up dropshipping businesses correctly, I want to post something a little different. I can say that I’ve seen almost all of the mistakes made by Internet business owners when they set up their shop.
Here are five tips on how to “not” start a dropshipping company:
1. Ask someone to tell you what to market. People ask me “What should they sell” all the time on my website. You shouldn’t start an Internet business if you don’t have the ability to think up what you want to sell. Because I’m a man, I can be passionate about big-screen TVs. But if I tell a woman to sell handbags, it could prove to be a nightmare! Because you will be writing content that makes people want to buy from your products, you need to know about them. It is as stupid as asking someone for their “niche” in life. You can’t deny it!
2. Before you get a dropshipper, design the site. This is the single most important act that I have done. I could make a fortune if I had a dollar to pay for each one. Do not spend money or time on a designer until you are certain that you have a dropshipper/supplier who is available to work with your project. People have wasted thousands of dollars on designs only to have it scrapped because they couldn’t find a supplier for the product they wanted to build the website for.
3. Do not purchase a domain name or hosting without a supplier. This happens so often that it was painful to write it. You should not purchase a domain or get a hosting account if you are still unsure about the dropshippers with whom you will be working. Once you are certain that your supplier is willing to work alongside you, there will be plenty of time. This could save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars depending on how long you register your domain name and what type of hosting package you choose.
4. Do not set up a corporation. Not protecting yourself is the worst thing you can do as a business owner. Apart from the protection factor, there are many tax advantages to having a corporation established. Many companies can assist you in setting up a corporation.
5. Before you establish a relationship with eBay, you can sell on eBay. This can sometimes happen because the supplier provides all the information, including images and descriptions. You have everything you need to start making money, right? Wrong! They are wrong! This is a bad idea for many reasons. The most obvious reason is what happens when your product sells. You still have to wait to hear back from the supplier whether they are willing to allow you to sell their products. Some suppliers won’t allow you to sell on eBay. How will you find out if the relationship isn’t established? There are sometimes products that are out of stock or on backorder. This information is not available until you establish a relationship with the supplier.
This list could easily be 50 after I’ve compiled these five “not to” tips. These 5 “not to” dropshipping mistakes are my biggest online business failures. These mistakes can be avoided and will make it easier to set up an internet business. This will increase your chances of becoming profitable faster.
