By Jennifer Gibbs

Unfortunately for those just breaking into the wholesaling business, drop-shipping source information is jealously guarded. With a firm understanding of the service they offer, it isn’t hard to see why. As opposed to the typical wholesale resource, drop-shippers offer a myriad of benefits to their buyers:

• You have no excess merchandise to house between orders.
• You’re saved the hassle of calculating shipping, packaging orders, and standing in line at whichever postal service you may use.
• Drop-shipping is a great resource for people who own and run web-sites out of their spare time.
• Drop-shipping doesn’t require you to make any out of pocket expenses.

As you can see, drop-shipping is pretty attractive. One of the biggest arenas for wholesalers who use drop-shipping sources is eBay, but it can work with any type of online presence. In an ideal situation, a drop-shipping transaction works as follows (assuming that you already have a customer relationship with a drop-ship source):

First, you’ll select which product(s) you’ll offer for sale on your website, email ad, auction listing, etc. For each item, you’ll need a good quality color photo in .gif or .jpeg format. You’ll also need a product description, retail price (giving yourself a margin of at least 25% profit), and check out/shopping cart features.

Then, once the information has been uploaded and is ready for public viewing, a buyer will place an order and make full payment for the item.

After this, you’ll place an order with your drop-shipping company and they will locate, package and ship the item to your customer, while (usually) at the same time keeping your cash saving secret safe using unlabeled boxes and invoices, or shipping it using your business contact information. You’ll send whatever the wholesale price payment is to them, keeping the extra as profit for your company!

With the smoothness and ease of this, it’s no wonder that people out there are charging outlandish prices for directories, lists and memberships to drop-ship sources “clubs”. These packages can run from the low $10’s well into the hundreds of dollars.

But not anymore.

Today, I’ll reveal to you ten great drop-shipping companies free of charge! While these companies may charge fees for their service, the information is completely free! So don’t miss out, get your wholesale business up and running the smart way!!!

1. http://www.qualitybooks.com/dropshippers.htm  
All of the information that you’ll need to open your own online bookstore!! They also offer a Webpage CD that provides you with products, sales page templates and more. They have a one time, lifetime membership fee of only $49.95, which is covered by a 30 day money back guarantee.

2. http://vistawholesale.zoovy.com  
The source for wholesale products such as novelties, general merchandise, novelty lighters and more. They supply eBay sellers, flea market dealers, retail outlets and the general public with the hottest products on the market today, at below wholesale pricing. In addition, there is no minimum order, volume discounts, world wide shipping, no fee drop-shipping, and no membership fees!!

3. http://www.usdropshippers.com  
Now you do! With USDropshippers.com, just find the manufacturers you would like to work with on their categorized pages. The manufacturers will look at your store and decide whether or not they would like you representing their products. After the manufacturer accepts your store, you will receive a password to download the manufacturer’s product database and digital artwork. And best of all, you set your own prices, It's your store. As orders come in to your web based store, you fax the orders to the manufacturers and they drop-ship to your customers using a generic invoice with your store’s information. With USDropshippers.com, your customers are always your customers!

4. http://www.crystalquest.com/dropshippingprogram.htm  
Make money drop-shipping water filters and related products. Quoted from the website, “It is very easy to resell our products. We work on a "Per Order" basis. Basically, you make a sale, collect payment from your customer then place the order with us. We will ship the order directly to your customers.”

5. http://www.optimumdiscounts.com/catalog/wholesaledropshippingcatalog.php  
This website offers a lot of great categories and prices for products that they’ll drop-ship. However, they don’t guarantee that all products will be in stock. Their shipping costs are based as a percentage of your order price. Categories include: As Seen on TV, Cameras, Electronics, Radar Detectors and more!

6. http://www.information-entertainment.com/Business/dropship.html  
This website is AWESOME!! They offer an extensive list of companies and their contact information of sources where you can find great drop-shipped products. It’ll take a little effort, most of the listings don’t include website or email addresses, but the list is amazing and well worth the time and postage.

7. http://stealthwholesale.com  
Stealth Wholesale Inc. is a wholesale/drop-shipping company that specializes in products such as tools, electronics, furniture, models, lighting and more. You’ll need to open an account, and as best as I could tell from their website, there isn’t any charge to open one!!

8. http://www.securitywholesaler.com  
A great site that offers security based products (home security, personal security, safety weapons, pepper spray, child safety) for sale and offers drop-shipping at a cost per address of $2.00 US or $2.50 if you’d like to include a catalog. Definitely worth checking out!!

9. http://www.ewis.ca/onlinestore/scripts/dropship.asp  
This link takes you to an electronic product wholesaler and drop-shipping company. Benefits include no minimum order and no drop-shipping fees. Check out their wide selection of electronic products in the toolbar to the left.

10. http://smartvitamins.com  
Cash in on the growing trend in the health and wellness industry! This website offers you the chance to open your own online or auction vitamin/supplement business. Click the link provided to view the many benefits they offer.

Armed with this information, you should have more than enough resources to help you get your online presence up and running. Without the risks of high inventory and overhead, you’re giving yourself an even better chance of success. No longer will you have to suffer sitting in the dark while others are reaping the profits of drop-shipping!!

About the Author: Jennifer Gibbs is a successful freelance professional who lives in South Georgia. If you’d like to learn more about making your business a success, please send question, comments or suggestions to arimark@friendlycity.net. Please list the website or ezine where you read the article.

Click here to contact Jennifer Henczel today!

If you are interested in having Jennifer speak at your next event, click here

If you are interested in using this article, please click here for article guidelines.