Dropshipping is a great way to start up an eCommerce website business with very little up front expense. True drop ship suppliers will never charge you a “membership” fee of any kind. Beware of any that want to charge anything up front. The bottom line is that you should never have to pay anyone in order to sell their products.
But don’t confuse an up front “membership” fee with a drop ship fee. Most wholesalers will charge a small fee for drop shipping directly to your customers. This is perfectly acceptable and customary. This fee should be viewed by you, the retailer, as a convenience fee that covers the warehousing, shipment preperation and other expenses that you’re not having to pay on a daily basis.
Let’s take a kid’s Adirondack chair for example. You advertise it on your site and collect the retail price from your customer when they purchase it. You then forward that order to the manufacturer, who charges you a wholesale price, plus shipping for the chair. They ship the Adirondack chair to your customer and you keep the difference as your profit.
Drop shipping works well with eBay sellers as well as those with an eCommerce retail web site. And the baby and/or children’s items are a great niche to get into for many reasons. Please have a look at our list of wholesalers who specialize in dropshipping baby and kid’s products: Dropship Directory - or jump right into reading a complete guide on Starting a Dropship Business.