Drop-shipping is a waste of time

[LaughingMan]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

CONTROL - Limited number of platforms to advertise on and can get banned on things like facebook
ENTRY - Very low (<$2000) and relatively easy
NEED - Very saturated market

The only way to have any kind of measurable success in this space would be to figure out some new niche. But seems like a waste of time to me. Any thoughts?

 

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[alexkuzmov]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

CONTROL - Limited number of platforms to advertise on and can get banned on things like facebook
ENTRY - Very low (<$2000) and relatively easy
NEED - Very saturated market

The only way to have any kind of measurable success in this space would be to figure out some new niche. But seems like a waste of time to me. Any thoughts?

E-commerce is not dropshipping.
So what are you saying? You cant sell things online?

 

[LaughingMan]

E-commerce is not dropshipping.
So what are you saying? You cant sell things online?

Fair point, ignore the word e-commerce and replace it with drop-shipping. It’s a waste of time no?

 

[WestCoast]

We do quite a lot of drop shipping. I don't know the exact % of our orders, but I'd guess it's 10-15%.

That said, it's a supplement to our core business.
We only work with vendors we know and trust, and have good visibility on their inventory.

We are in a hyper niche, and we have warehouses full of good inventory that turns fast.
But, we add to our product catalog tactically with some drop shipping.

I doubt it would make a lot of sense as a standalone. But, as a bonus to our existing catalog and stock?
Drop shipping can be a profitable and valuable addition for us and our customers.

 

[Angler]

This is what I believe. Any market can be penetrated if you provide perceive value no one else is providing. In other words, you satiate a hungry crowd that everyone(me-too businesses) is neglecting. That's what you call an open market, or need. A market can become saturated if there are a lot of "me too" businesses, sure.

Consider, are these real competition or is it a chance for you to shine? If everyone is doing x, can you outdo them if you do x and y and perhaps z?

Saturation doesn't mean jack if you can create something NO ONE ELSE is offering or create additional perceive values in the niche. Don't do the things the me-too are doing and you have some good odds IMHO.

To say "__", in this case drop shipping, is a waste of time sounds like a limiting belief. It sounds like because everyone is doing it, I don't think I can do better than them. So I won't even try. Why can't you do it better than them? Knowledge gap? Experience gap? Research gap? What is it?

Of course, if this thread is posted with the 8 years of experience(you joined the forum 2014) you may have in dropshipping, then I'll take back my comment and admit that perhaps it is a waste of time. But even then, I'll ask: is it a waste of time for you because of what you did leading up to now or is it a reflection for everyone's effort?

You talked about CENTS too. But like any any other concept, CENTS is a guiding post made for you to go and do things. A lot of businesses don't fit CENTS but make lots of money. My question is, is CENTS holding you back from even trying?

Drop shipping. Ecommerce. YouTube. Digital Marketing. You name it. All of these things are "a waste of time" for some people because they have saturation as an excuse, but that doesn't stop others from making money and taking home the dough.

Will you be the person with the excuse, or the person that does whatever it takes to stand out? Just food for thoughts. This post really had my brain gear turning.

Drop shipping can be a profitable and valuable addition for us and our customers.

Bam. Value.

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

Isn't Deliveroo & Uber a kind of drop shipping?

 

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[ZCP]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

CONTROL - Limited number of platforms to advertise on and can get banned on things like facebook
ENTRY - Very low (<$2000) and relatively easy
NEED - Very saturated market

The only way to have any kind of measurable success in this space would be to figure out some new niche. But seems like a waste of time to me. Any thoughts?

maybe. what have YOU tried? what are YOUR experiences?
what was the point / basis of the question? maybe a little clearer explanation of your outcome would help us help you?

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

Dropshipping via selling stuff that everyone on aliexpress has tried to sell is definitely a waste of time, you may as well make your own product imo. I speak from my own experience.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Dropshipping is just a method of distribution, it doesn't have to be your whole business.

I was recently applying to become a vendor at Bass Pro shop and Academy, and saw that both of them dropship products from other vendors.

Those are billion dollar companies. They mostly focus on retail sales, but they're doing everything.

Yes like you said, if all you do is dropship other people's products on one website, you're walking on thin ice. But you can use dropshipping as part of a many-faceted enterprise.

 

[Johnny boy]

Right now I would guarantee there's a dude making 700k net, chilling in mykonos with his 10/10 model girlfriend and made his money from dropshipping and would laugh at you saying that.

 

[Jeannen]

Dropshipping is just a method of distribution, it doesn't have to be your whole business.

I was recently applying to become a vendor at Bass Pro shop and Academy, and saw that both of them dropship products from other vendors.

Those are billion dollar companies. They mostly focus on retail sales, but they're doing everything.

Yes like you said, if all you do is dropship other people's products on one website, you're walking on thin ice. But you can use dropshipping as part of a many-faceted enterprise.

This.

Dropshipping is just the logistics. It exists since middle age and will continue to exist.

If you dropshit from Aliexpres and do the same garbage than everyone else, yes, it is a waste of time. While I would recommend to develop your own products, dropshipping can be an amazing opportunity to LEARN tho

 

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[biophase]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

CONTROL - Limited number of platforms to advertise on and can get banned on things like facebook
ENTRY - Very low (<$2000) and relatively easy
NEED - Very saturated market

The only way to have any kind of measurable success in this space would be to figure out some new niche. But seems like a waste of time to me. Any thoughts?

When you break it down. Dropshipping is usually appealing to the people with no money. And the problem there is that they have no money to make a website and no money to buy ads either.

If you think about it. The only value you could bring is to inform a consumer that product X will help them. You can't get it to them faster. You can't sell it cheaper. Your value is to make the product visible.

So the question is, how do you do that? How do you show someone a new product and then convince them to buy from you, instead of searching for the product on Amazon and getting it in 2 days.

 

[PureA]

I thought dropshipping was dead like 10 years ago... I moved to bali and every other dude here is seemingly crushing (at the very least paying for their lifestyle) with dropshipping... It really opened my eyes to perspective vs reality.

What else do I think is over but is thriving?

It reminds me when I do searches online and see the top comment on reddit telling someone that something is impossible/can't be done/very hard and I've done it with relative ease...

 

[Ayobami23]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

CONTROL - Limited number of platforms to advertise on and can get banned on things like facebook
ENTRY - Very low (<$2000) and relatively easy
NEED - Very saturated market

The only way to have any kind of measurable success in this space would be to figure out some new niche. But seems like a waste of time to me. Any thoughts?

Please what's drop shipping.i use to hear about it and I don't know the meaning

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

When you break it down. Dropshipping is usually appealing to the people with no money. And the problem there is that they have no money to make a website and no money to buy ads either.

If you think about it. The only value you could bring is to inform a consumer that product X will help them. You can't get it to them faster. You can't sell it cheaper. Your value is to make the product visible.

So the question is, how do you do that? How do you show someone a new product and then convince them to buy from you, instead of searching for the product on Amazon and getting it in 2 days.

THIS right here. You can get it on Amazon. I've seen people say that "people don't check websites like Amazon before purchase" I call bullshit, they definitely do.

 

[LaughingMan]

maybe. what have YOU tried? what are YOUR experiences?
what was the point / basis of the question? maybe a little clearer explanation of your outcome would help us help you?

I have no hands on experience with drop-shipping. This thread originated from an argument with a friend.

I understand that drop-shipping can be a profitable edition to an already thriving e-commerce business that already has an established brand or large amounts of cash to play around with. I was really referring to the classic trope of buying products from Alibaba and attempting to sell them via ads that's being marketed to every budding entrepreneur. Seriously, do one google search for how to make money online and its 'Start Drop-shipping today! Just buy my course for $29.99 and you to can.... yada yada yada' (I wonder if there's more money in selling drop-shipping courses than actually starting a drop-shipping business).

This is what I believe. Any market can be penetrated if you provide perceive value no one else is providing. In other words, you satiate a hungry crowd that everyone(me-too businesses) is neglecting. That's what you call an open market, or need. A market can become saturated if there are a lot of "me too" businesses, sure.

Consider, are these real competition or is it a chance for you to shine? If everyone is doing x, can you outdo them if you do x and y and perhaps z?

Saturation doesn't mean jack if you can create something NO ONE ELSE is offering or create additional perceive values in the niche. Don't do the things the me-too are doing and you have some good odds IMHO.

To say "__", in this case drop shipping, is a waste of time sounds like a limiting belief. It sounds like because everyone is doing it, I don't think I can do better than them. So I won't even try. Why can't you do it better than them? Knowledge gap? Experience gap? Research gap? What is it?

Of course, if this thread is posted with the 8 years of experience(you joined the forum 2014) you may have in dropshipping, then I'll take back my comment and admit that perhaps it is a waste of time. But even then, I'll ask: is it a waste of time for you because of what you did leading up to now or is it a reflection for everyone's effort?

You talked about CENTS too. But like any any other concept, CENTS is a guiding post made for you to go and do things. A lot of businesses don't fit CENTS but make lots of money. My question is, is CENTS holding you back from even trying?

Drop shipping. Ecommerce. YouTube. Digital Marketing. You name it. All of these things are "a waste of time" for some people because they have saturation as an excuse, but that doesn't stop others from making money and taking home the dough.

Will you be the person with the excuse, or the person that does whatever it takes to stand out? Just food for thoughts. This post really had my brain gear turning.

Bam. Value.

I understand what you're trying to say, action trumps everything.

But is it a limiting belief, or is it just being realistic? If I said to you I'll give you $10 million to become the best player in the world at one sport. Which sport would you rather pick, Ultimate Frisby, or Golf? One has 5000 players, the other has a million. Our most valuable asset is time and if you're spending that time pursuing something that has an extremely small chance of success then you're sacrificing opportunity cost.

Right now I would guarantee there's a dude making 700k net, chilling in mykonos with his 10/10 model girlfriend and made his money from dropshipping and would laugh at you saying that.

And he might be sitting next to some guy who just won the lottery. But I'm not about to go out and start buying tickets.

 

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[biophase]

But is it a limiting belief, or is it just being realistic? If I said to you I'll give you $10 million to become the best player in the world at one sport. Which sport would you rather pick, Ultimate Frisby, or Golf? One has 5000 players, the other has a million. Our most valuable asset is time and if you're spending that time pursuing something that has an extremely small chance of success then you're sacrificing opportunity cost.

You are sacrificing opportunity cost if your ultimate goal doesn't get you what you want.
What is the difference between the earnings of the best ultimate frisbee player and the best golf player?
Would it even be worth it to become the best ultimate frisbee player? Would it meet your goals?

 

[Johnny boy]

And he might be sitting next to some guy who just won the lottery. But I'm not about to go out and start buying tickets.

of course you would conflate business success with lottery winnings.

I wouldn’t even get into droppshipping, but to say it’s a waste of time for anyone is laughable too.

It’s all about how well you do it.

“Is cutting grass a waste of time”

Look at what we did in the last month

From cutting grass…





And that’s from 12-month contracts with consistent revenue. Our goal this year is 600k revenue.

 

[BizyDad]

I bought an ecom biz this year. I just checked our numbers. We drop ship roughly $100k in product per month. This is the majority of our revenue.

Our website is our only sales channel. We sell other businesses' products. We have no in-house brand. You can get these products on Amazon, even direct from the manufacturer, but people still come to us.

Yes. Drop shipping is dead as a door nail. Don't do it.

 

[Jeannen]

I thought dropshipping was dead like 10 years ago... I moved to bali and every other dude here is seemingly crushing (at the very least paying for their lifestyle) with dropshipping... It really opened my eyes to perspective vs reality.

What else do I think is over but is thriving?

It reminds me when I do searches online and see the top comment on reddit telling someone that something is impossible/can't be done/very hard and I've done it with relative ease...

Im in Bali at the moment and I can tell you that most guys I know who did basic aliexpress dropshipping and used to make some $ don’t do it anymore, they’re all doing agency/crypto/courses now

 

[PureA]

Im in Bali at the moment and I can tell you that most guys I know who did basic aliexpress dropshipping and used to make some $ don’t do it anymore, they’re all doing agency/crypto/courses now

I've lived here for 3 years, plenty of guys here still dropshipping, I hear about it everyday. But yeah of course you got all the crypto bros too.

 

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[Rangermac2]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

CONTROL - Limited number of platforms to advertise on and can get banned on things like facebook
ENTRY - Very low (<$2000) and relatively easy
NEED - Very saturated market

The only way to have any kind of measurable success in this space would be to figure out some new niche. But seems like a waste of time to me. Any thoughts?

Ha! Funny you mention this because before I was on here (actually the night I opened my store I joined the Fastlane Forum and ordered Millionaire Fastlane ) I came to the realization that dropshipping was inefficient and unnecessary and an attempt to get rich instead of build a tangible wealth. Some people thrive with it but there's too many. And that night I came to that realization I searched up "dropshipping" on here and someone said "Dropshipping is like a t-shirt business there's plenty of them and unoriginal" or something of the sort. But its the truth, I was talking to one of my friends and I found out he got further with a few sales but was banned on Ebay, along with the fact it is a lot of work (Social media marketing using TikTok and Instagram) along with inability to truly depend on your manufacturer who you are directly shipping from.

I bought a $10 Udemy course that was worth maybe a few hundred. Good thing I didn't spend any more because it was a waste. I learned a little on marketing and product depth along with making a niche but unless you want to sell watermelon cube makers (something I marketed) then don't do it. There will always be new issues and need for solutions, so empathize with a stakeholder of some kind in a specific niche and create a solution because people will pay money for that and its something YOU created not something you are upselling from $.30 manufacturing cost for $5.99.

 

[Albert KOUADJA]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

CONTROL - Limited number of platforms to advertise on and can get banned on things like facebook
ENTRY - Very low (<$2000) and relatively easy
NEED - Very saturated market

The only way to have any kind of measurable success in this space would be to figure out some new niche. But seems like a waste of time to me. Any thoughts?

I think it's not a loss if you manage to find the right sales strategy and bring great added value to these products, to stand out from the others. Selling products from amazon and ebay is not a waste of time.

.with the exponential evolution of technology, the world's dependence on e-commerce is very high, and always would be as long as the internet existed. Even if the barrier to entry is easy to remove, the need remains strong or great.

.so to say that the market is saturated, as an excuse not to do drop-shipping is to limit yourself. Let's take the example of hotels or restaurants in cities, there are dozens of them, but that doesn't prevent people from creating such more prosperous businesses. .let everyone seek their piece of the pie, and seek to have the greater part of the pie. So the best way to drop-ship would be through a channel like a website, and that shouldn't be the only resource for that revenue. .

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

of course you would conflate business success with lottery winnings.

I wouldn’t even get into droppshipping, but to say it’s a waste of time for anyone is laughable too.

It’s all about how well you do it.

“Is cutting grass a waste of time”

Look at what we did in the last month

From cutting grass…

View attachment 43619



And that’s from 12-month contracts with consistent revenue. Our goal this year is 600k revenue.

Killing it man!

 

[privateer]

i chose the print on demand drop ship route for my t-shirt business, honestly I didn’t have a choice given my limited start up funds...as for market saturation, absolutely there’s a lot of people cranking out t-shirts for every niche imaginable and the majority of those designs are generic garbage. Maybe I’m delusional but I see a market that has a large number of people serving it poorly as an opportunity for someone to come in and do it well.
i Know my niche intimately and I understand why the design offerings for this niche are so poor. there is a disconnect between those with design concepts and the graphic artists that are hired to create the print files.
its like trying to describe the color blue to a blind man and the design result shows that.... can it be done in my niche using hired designers yes but it would be very expensive and you better have an established brand to carry that expense. In my case I’m able to take the design from concept to print file myself eliminating that expense. I’m not trying to compete in the technical shirt market because the POD offerings for those products are limited at best and sub par quality. My focus is strictly on creating a premium lifestyle brand with well executed unique designs others just aren’t getting.

 

[GuestR401x3]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

Dropshipping aliexpress products is a waste of time. There are some industries that you can dropship though, some that it is pretty much necessary.
Once you get into higher ticket custom products, you can work with a manufacturer get them sales and tell them to ship directly to the customer.

 

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[Jadus]

Drop shipping is just a way to fulfill an order. It does violate the rule of control, which can be a problem, but it is more cost-efficient in that you don't have to invest a lot of money in inventory, a warehouse, staff, etc..

I've had my business for over 5 years now. I didn't choose the best niche to be in and it was slow to start. It didn't provide a full-time income for the first few years, let alone make me rich. But, because it's a hobby niche, it really exploded during covid.

Buying on Amazon and selling on eBay is not the way to go. Neither is using Ali Express or some random wholesaler. Make real relationships with the manufacturers of products you want to sell.

Saturation is not a real issues. I'm currently researching niches for a possible new eCommerce store. In one niche I just got through researching, I saw all kinds of issues with my future competitors that I could do better; Hard to navigate websites, product listing with descriptions that don't match the photo, etc..

Customer service is another area where you can usually beat your competitors. I can do better than Amazon any day.

 

[Thinh]

Like 99% of things in life, it's not a black or white answer.

The real answer to this question is actually asking another question: what's the reason one would start a dropshipping business?

Is it because they're hoping to making big $$$ with their laptop while drinking a cocktail on the beach in the next couple months?
Or is it because they found a particular need or problem that can be solved by using dropshipping as a tool to provide value?
Dropshipping in itself has no business meaning. It's a tool, a method of conducting business.
Usually, "I want to start a dropshipping business" sounds a lot like "I want to make money fast without too much hassle."
On the other hand, "I want to cater to a particular need, and dropshipping could be a way to do it" can be a viable business idea. Even if it violates some commandments, it does not mean it can't be a good business.

 

[Anon101637]

E-commerce (more specifically drop shipping) fails multiple CENTS concepts.

CONTROL - Limited number of platforms to advertise on and can get banned on things like facebook
ENTRY - Very low (<$2000) and relatively easy
NEED - Very saturated market

The only way to have any kind of measurable success in this space would be to figure out some new niche. But seems like a waste of time to me. Any thoughts?

Also the ecommerce platform like Shopify can close your store if they think that you ruined their terms and conditions so you better code your website by yourself to have more control over your store or your business in general. That's why I decided to code my website myself and I don't regret a single bit my decisions

 

[Jadus]

Also the ecommerce platform like Shopify can close your store if they think that you ruined their terms and conditions so you better code your website by yourself to have more control over your store or your business in general. That's why I decided to code my website myself and I don't regret a single bit my decisions

That's an interesting take on it. I've been with Shopify for over 5 years with no complaints. Their T & C are not onerous. As long as you're not trying to scam your customers, there shouldn't be any problem.

It's not really the platform itself that people sometimes have trouble with, it's Shopify Payments. Like any payment processor, if you get too many chargebacks or there's some evidence of fraud, they can disable your ability to use it. But, you can still use other processors like PayPal.

Coding your own website does give you more control, but if you're selling something, you still have to use a payment processor and abide by their terms. With plenty of themes to choose from, thousands of apps that integrate with your store and help available 24/7, I would be crazy to deal with the headaches of coding and maintaining my own stand-alone website. Running the business is enough work in and of itself.