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Drop shippers in Canada: Where to find them and how to use them

Drop shipping can be an excellent way to get started in the wholesale business because you only have to pay for what you sell! It also works well to accompany other supply methods as it enables you to list a larger range of stock, without the risks of having it lying around in a warehouse.

There are a lot of good drop shippers located in the US, but sadly, many will not ship to Canada. All is not lost however, because there are some excellent drop shippers in Canada! Scroll down to the end of this article to get some recommendations of drop shippers who will ship to Canada and drop shippers based in Canada. And I should add that we always recommend emailing the drop shipper personally about shipping to Canada rather than just going off what their website states. What many sellers don’t realize is that everything is open to negotiation!

Before you start working with drop shippers you need to be aware of some important aspects of this supply method:

• There is usually a delay of 3-7 days before the drop shipper ships an order
• Drop shippers can, and often do, run out of stock without notice
• Packaging and shipping services may not be consistent in quality
• Profits can end up being very small by the time the drop shipper’s fees are taken into account plus listing fees and success fees on eBay.

There – we’ve told you the worst now! But on the plus side, using a drop shipper means:

• You only have to pay for what you sell: fantastic if you are on a limited budget
• You don’t have to store anything
• You don’t have to take photos or even write the product description – these are usually all available to download from the drop shipper’s website.
• You don’t have to spend time packaging and posting orders – a task that can be very time- consuming.

One thing to remember: If a particular drop shipper or product isn’t working out for you, then don’t feel obligated to keep selling it. Find an alternative that gives you better margins.

The Secret to Drop shipping Successfully

Communication is everything if you want drop shipping to work well: that is, communication with both the drop shipper and your customers. This is what you should focus your attentions on as it is the biggest weakness with this supply method.

Make sure you email or phone the drop shipper weekly, or even more frequently if you have a large turnover, to check up on supply levels. It’s a good idea to keep a couple of the items on hand yourself, just in case you have an urgent order and the drop shipper runs out of stock.

Make sure that your customer is fully aware of the time delay before shipping. State this on your auction and in the email the buyer receives notifying them that they are the successful winner of the auction. If the delay ends up being even longer than estimated, email them to keep them updated at the first opportunity and consider posting them a discount voucher to thank them for their patience.

Email them again when the item is posted and consider sending a feedback form to all of your customers a day or two after the item has been delivered. It’s important that you find out from customer how well the drop shipper’s service and presentation stands up. You might not necessarily hear about it if the service is just average rather than bad.

All of these things can be almost fully automated so it isn’t as time consuming as you might think. The important thing is to make sure the customer is never left guessing. And because eBay is getting tougher on bad sellers, you should also put your contact phone number in a card with the item (the drop shipper can do this for you), asking them to contact you in person if they have any issues or concerns. The phone is the best way to solve problems and avoid unhappy customers.