[thelist] Drop-shippers for E-Commerce

[Mark Groen]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joshua Olson" <>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: August 2, 2004 6:04 PM
Subject: RE: [thelist] Drop-shippers for E-Commerce


> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Liam Delahunty
> > Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 5:55 PM
> >
> > Drop shipping is a type of sales where the 'shop' holds no
inventory and
> > has others (the drop shipper/s) to deal with the sales. It
differs from
> > fulfillment  houses in those the shop tends to own the stock that
the
> > fulfillment house sends on to the end customer. With both they
tend to
> > take the money and pass you on your cut.
>
> Everything you've said so far jives with what I understand.  This
looks
> exactly like what my client wants to do.  They want to put up a
store, sell
> items, and have them shipped from the distributer.  They want me to
> RECOMMEND a drop-shipper.  I've found people selling lists of
drop-shippers.
> I've also found individual drop-shippers that offer "membership"
for a
> start-up plus a monthly cost.
>
> Any idea how I discern between a reputable drop-shipper and one
that will
> just cause my client problems?

Your client is asking the wrong person about a reputable drop
shipper. The person who they should be dealing with on this is the
distributor (the drop shipper) that is the holding the goods they are
selling. The distributor should already have in place at least one
drop shipment solution, bigger distributors have more than one option
(FedEX, UPS, etc.).

In other words, it depends on where they think they are getting their
inventory - at this point it sounds like you have zero information
and they want you to create a business plan for them with the
internet as an interface for sales. Unless you are the purchasing
agent for that company you have no business recommending who they
should be dealing with for their stock movement.

hth!

cheers,

               Mark

MG Web Services
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