The question that crosses some people’s minds when they start looking at online business models and is maybe something you’re questioning right now is “Is dropshipping in the UK a scam?”.
With a handful of articles in the UK & USA recently claiming that drop shipping is “the newest online scam” it’s easy to see why so many people are wondering if and how it can be possible to make money from selling products online without owning any inventory?
With the Drop Ship Formula business model, we focus on making sure each member knows what’s needed in order to meet the UK specific criteria and it’s time we defend drop shipping and provide clarification for anyone who may be new to the world of eCommerce and online retail.
Selling the Dream
You may have seen quite a lot of advertisements for drop shipping recently, mainly from the USA, where you are being sold a dream, the dream house, the dream car, the dream lifestyle all from drop shipping. Claims made that you could earn a huge amount of money in a small amount of time doing little work all while sat on the beach with your laptop.
Yes, granted you can earn good money with hard work, persistence and following the correct business model but don’t let this fool you into thinking it can happen overnight. It can take time to learn the ropes and build relationships whilst growing your business, it’s not just as simple as making a website and sales will start flowing in from day 1.
With over-saturated advertising selling nothing but (too good to be true) dreams, it’s understandable why you might think “why would it be any different in the UK?”. Well, we are here to explain why.
Is Drop Shipping Legitimate?
Yes, dropshipping is 100% legitimate and legal, it’s basically just a fulfilment method of sending products directly from the supplier to the customer. As a retailer you don’t need to hold stock or even touch the products, everything is delivered directly to your customer without you having to do anything more.
A lot of drop shipping that’s being promoted online is what’s known as low-ticket dropshipping, which involves selling low price items at high volume from places like china! We will never recommend or promote that way of dropshipping such as sourcing from suppliers like aliexpress/wish.com, the products run the risk of being low quality and take weeks to arrive. Not to mention a low-profit margin you get when making sales.
At Drop Ship Formula we take the opposite approach, focusing on selling high-value (known as high-ticket) products at lower volume with a high-profit margin.
With high-ticket drop shipping (See our blog post regarding High-ticket drop shipping) you are selling high-quality premium products from local reputable brands that are based right here in the UK.
We promote creating a long-term viable business and not just a flash in the pan chasing trends type of business. With high-ticket drop shipping, you’d be selling products that sell every day of the year.
More Than One Model of Dropshipping.
If you have looked into dropshipping already you may have noticed there is actually a few different methods. This probably sparks the question and concern to which one is right for you, or which one will actually work?
So, dropshipping is basically a way to fulfil orders to customers and a few examples of this would be arbitrage, selling on eBay or fulfilling orders from China using websites: like AliExpress. Now with that in mind, you may have noticed Drop Ship Formula have no part to play in recommending any of these methods of dropshipping.
With our dropshipping business model, we always recommend creating your own website, so you own your customer. We show you how to get authorisation to sell for high-quality local brands, therefore, be classed as an authorised retailer with no middleman between you and the brands you sell for.
For example, if I was going to sell something such as a dining table, I would sell directly from my website on behalf of the table brands supplier. Meaning I would list the supplier’s product on my website for customers to purchase and once they have purchased, I would then order that particular product from the supplier and the supplier will deliver it directly to my customer.
Why Suppliers May Have Their Doubts When It Comes to The Term Dropshipping
Strangely there are some negative connotations with the term ‘dropshipping’ which all stem back to about 10-15 years ago when people new to online business would use eBay as their selling platform. Now there’s was no issue with selling on eBay, the issue was the fact that these new business owners really didn’t care about the customer. All they were interested in was the sale, product prices got diluted and customer care was neglected. These left suppliers being inundated with customer enquires which should have been taken care of by the retailer.
You can probably imagine why some suppliers are still very wary of the term dropshipping, they still have the impression that you’ll be selling on eBay at low prices and not representing their brands professionally.
This is why it’s always best to try and refrain from using the term dropship or referring to yourself as a dropshipper as it could tarnish your chances of building a relationship with this supplier and being able to sell their high-quality products on your website.
Changing Their View
It’s important to remember that you are representing a business that’s looking to be approved to become an authorised retailer. With the Drop Ship Formula program, we take you through this approach. We tell you exactly what to say and more importantly what not to say. Our goal is always to be professional and to represent ourselves in a manner that gives the supplier the best impression. With a legitimate business model behind you and a proven program, there’s no reason suppliers would not approve you.
If you’d like to know more about our Drop Ship Formula Program you can watch our free masterclass and find out more.
Drop Ship Formula is the only training programme of its kind that not only shows you exactly how to create and market your high-ticket dropshipping business here in the UK, but how to get it and your niche products in front of buyer ready customers from day one.
