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Made my first dropshipping sale last night

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Jeff Noel

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I had setup my Shopify website about 5-6 weeks ago. I used Oberlo to gather some products, then edited the supplier's pictures in GIMP. I ordered one sample of the product directly from AliExpress so I can try it out.

Turns out I love the product. The packaging sucked though. I took pictures of it with a cellphone and put that up as the new main picture of the product.

I was about to leave from home to go meet some friends and decided to put up some Facebook ads before leaving.

Low, 5-10$ budget per campaign for a single product leading to my first-ever, brand new 2-step funnel. The funnel is so simple that you don't even have a scrollbar on desktop.

My ads target specific interests which makes a huge landing page totally useless. If they click the ad, they already know what that product is about. They're more interested in the specs and price.

I made my first sale while hanging out with friends. I'm in the red, but I still made a sale (spent $22 on ads for a low margin product that costs ~$33 shipped, which I sell $40).

I chose the product because it sucks from a dropshipper point of view (margins). Nobody on Oberlo uses it. I know the materials are legit, which makes it expensive (although it propably costs the supplier $15 to get from the manufacturer).

I raised my prices by 3-4$ just so I don't get caught/stuck on the negative side (currency conversion stuff, I'm in Canada). The new pricing isn't aggressive at all and should make me green in 5 sales.

I'm taking my DSLR today to get even more pictures of the product ! So excited !
 
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Xeon

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This is so inspiring! Congrats!

giphy.gif
 

B. Cole

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Rep+ for action and first sale, congrats man!
 

Jeff Noel

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B. Cole

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abidrozdar

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Hey Congratulations and I wish you best of luck for the 5 sales!!

I have Zero Knowledge of this Dropshipping business but I am willing to learn about it and how it works:) surly I will be following your post and would love your Step by Step Successes!! thanks
 
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BlokeInProgress

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Congratulations on you sale! That feeling of getting the first sale!

And I think you making it simple (2-step funnel) helped your customers in a way. No more long sales pages. :)
 

Jeff Noel

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I have Zero Knowledge of this Dropshipping business but I am willing to learn about it and how it works:) surly I will be following your post and would love your Step by Step Successes!! thanks

You do not want that. There's no step by step solution that would be suitable for me AND you. Trace your own path, one step at a time.

Don't focus on the big picture, focus on the single next step you have to take. That's how I was able to take action. Reread the last chapter of part 4 (or is it first chapter of part 5 ?) of Unscripted describing the types of entrepreneurs/wantrepreneurs. Find which one(s) you are and quit being the wrong types.

Only you, can do this for yourself.

Nice work! What are you using to create the funnel?

I used ClickFunnels.
 

Fassina

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Congratulations man! That is a great start =D

I've done that, the profit margins were too low to depend on ads, so it'd net me very little, did more testing and math even if I was able to maximize my margins I'd be making very little, the volume I'd need to sell to get a respectable income would be insane and since ad expenditure tends to have diminishing returns it'd be unlikely to ever happen. Ended up dropping it.

I'm interested in seeing if you can make it profitable and worth your time, maybe you can increase your profits with upsells, and conversion rates with 100% guarantees. Maybe you can get a national manufacturer and save money on shipping while getting a private label.

Anyway good job man, now get out there and optimize it..
 

Jeff Noel

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Maybe you can get a national manufacturer and save money on shipping while getting a private label.
Made my second sale last night. Opened up to Europe market yesterday and the sale is from the UK, for my second SKU (which is really, really closely related to the first one) !

After reading @Andy Black posts again and again, I decided to test faster for faster results. I created an ad with a budget of $100 today for the product.

Not only that...
I woke up with a message in my AliExpress inbox. Of course, I censored a few words, but here's the interesting part for you guys:
upload_2019-5-22_6-6-17.png

I never contacted them (being only AliExpress). They're offering me a "big" discount big themselves ! They're also talking about white labelling the product, which I'll have to see in more details because of my next paragraph. I have yet to complete my first reading of @Walter Hay Sourcing book, but it's already been really helpful in my process. I can only recommend his book to people that want to import products from anywhere in the world.

I don't even have a logo. Last night, after my second sale, I realized I didn't have a Privacy Policy, Terms of Service or Shipping Policy page. I put those up, heavily inspired by Shopify templates. The shipping page will help clarify shipping times... or justify them if somebody complains.

I'm still using my own product daily. I love it. I never thought I'd make even 1 sale with that, in such a saturated market !
 
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Danur80

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Low, 5-10$ budget per campaign for a single product leading to my first-ever, brand new 2-step funnel. The funnel is so simple that you don't even have a scrollbar on desktop.
You do not want that. There's no step by step solution that would be suitable for me AND you. Trace your own path, one step at a time.

Don't focus on the big picture, focus on the single next step you have to take. That's how I was able to take action. Reread the last chapter of part 4 (or is it first chapter of part 5 ?) of Unscripted describing the types of entrepreneurs/wantrepreneurs. Find which one(s) you are and quit being the wrong types.

Only you, can do this for yourself.



I used ClickFunnels.
You do not want that. There's no step by step solution that would be suitable for me AND you. Trace your own path, one step at a time.

Don't focus on the big picture, focus on the single next step you have to take. That's how I was able to take action. Reread the last chapter of part 4 (or is it first chapter of part 5 ?) of Unscripted describing the types of entrepreneurs/wantrepreneurs. Find which one(s) you are and quit being the wrong types.

Only you, can do this for yourself.



I used ClickFunnels.


congratulations on your excellent work

I wanted to ask you if you entered the link to your personal website in the funnel.
 

Jeff Noel

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congratulations on your excellent work

I wanted to ask you if you entered the link to your personal website in the funnel.
Thank you. Sales are not processed by the funnel... I believe that's not how ClickFunnels wants you to do it though. My funnel sends back to my Shopify store, where you can then proceed with the purchase.
 
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Jeff Noel

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I just did some research according to @Walter Hay techniques related in his book (Sorry for tagging you in multiple posts). I am working with a supplier, not a manufacturer. In fact, I can confirm 100% that I know the official manufacturer. The product uses a unique material only found in X country. They show official importation certificates for that material... but more than that, the official material manufacturer lists them as their only chinese manufacturer. This Chinese manufacturer also won an international design prize for a multi-million mansion that's been decorated with the material they imported.

I'll try to get in touch with the official manufacturer once I know the supplier's new quote. The website is half translated, most pages (catalog) aren't functionnal, so I'll have to ask a copy of the products list somehow.

Edit: I have yet to confirm if the material manufacturer is offering the product I sell, or if the supplier is some kind manufacturer creating the product by using the other's materials. Might sound confusing, but I still have to clear that up.
 
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ivan i

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This is awesome! What platform did you use to advertise? I've been debating on whether Instagram or Facebook is better to target customers. Most of the drop shipping stores I see are on Instagram nowadays.
 

Walter Hay

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I just did some research according to @Walter Hay techniques related in his book (Sorry for tagging you in multiple posts).
I don't mind at all. In fact I am pleased that you did, because as you probably know, I am not keen on dropshipping, and now that you have drawn my attention to this thread I have started following it.

I find it interesting the way you have already got an order from the UK, and also the discount offer by your supplier is a rare event. It shows the benefit of building a relationship, which was so easily achieved by you making a favorable comment about the product.

I will watch your progress with interest. Good luck.

Walter
 
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Jeff Noel

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This is awesome! What platform did you use to advertise? I've been debating on whether Instagram or Facebook is better to target customers. Most of the drop shipping stores I see are on Instagram nowadays.

I have been advertizing on Facebook and Instagram. Nothing else right now. I have not started developing the IG/FB pages just yet. They're there, just inactive. I have to work on these.
 

Timmy C

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Have some rep +

Very proud of you mate with action taking.

It's the hardest step!

Now you will be hooked.
 

Jeff Noel

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Xeon

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I have been advertizing on Facebook and Instagram.

Do you mind sharing what type of ads you're serving? e.g: FB post ads, FB right-side desktop ads, FB Carousel ads, IG story ads?
 

Jeff Noel

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Do you mind sharing what type of ads you're serving? e.g: FB post ads, FB right-side desktop ads, FB Carousel ads, IG story ads?
My most popular placements are FB Feed, Mobile FB Feed and Mobile IG Feed (not in that order).
Note that I have not done extensive testing of a lot of other placements, as these generate a lot of views. I plan on using other placements for retargeting.
 

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