The Ultimate Guide to Dropshipping (opens in new tab)

I'll have to let Andrew, my co-author, speak on why he left the corporate world to start his ecommerce blog.

But I can share why I decided to write this. I noticed that most, if not all of the information on drop shipping is bullshit. The topic is riddled with scammers looking to rip you off.

A few months ago I published a guest post about drop shipping on my company blog. It was written by my co-author. It was very well received... seemed there were people out there starving for good information on getting a drop shipping business up and running.

I bought every print and ebook on the subject, read most articles I found online on the topic, and quickly realized that we could probably write something way better. So we did. I hope! :P Anwyays, that's it... just published it today and can't wait to get feedback on how to improve it. Once we polish it up a bit, I plan on releasing an eBook so people can read it on their Kindles and what not. If you read it Kitcar, I hope you enjoy!

Co-author here, and a totally valid question! I started my blog about eCommerce / drop shipping for a number of reasons:

1) To expand my professional network and opportunities

I just finished co-writing a book with Shopify on drop shipping, which is something I never would have had the opportunity to do without the blog. It's allowed me to build credibility and expand my network.

Additionally, the blog allows me to reach out to really interesting people when I otherwise wouldn't be able to. For example, I recently interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk - something I never would have been to do without leveraging eCommerceFuel.

2) To connect with other eCommerce entrepreneurs

I've had the chance to connect with hundreds of other eCommerce merchants and share strategies and tips. I eventually hope to build a really vibrant community for small eCommerce merchants (as I think that's lacking online), and this is helping me accomplish that.

3) To eventually diversify my income stream with something new

Like all entrepreneurs, I think the desire to try new things is strong - especially after you've been doing the same thing for a while. I saw the blog as a way to create another income source that leveraged the experience I have.

While one of my eventual goals is to make money from the blog, my first priority is to keep the content extremely high quality, genuine, authentic and USEFUL. I wanted to give away a ton of useful information before I asked for anything in return.

Take the eBook on my site, for example. I spent 2 weeks solid writing it and I give it away for free. If you download it and don't think it's one of the better free resources you've come across online just let me know and I'll send you $20 via PayPal for wasting your time. :-)

4) To dispel the the idea of "easy money" online

You asked why I'm teaching people to setup "copycat" business, and I'd argue I'm doing nothing of the sort. 80% of success with any kind of business involves the execution and strategy - and not picking the perfect niche or having some "secret" sauce.

If Alexis Ohanian released a killer guide to programming in Python that doesn't mean someone is going to be able to create a Reddit copycat... ...at least one that will successfully compete with them. Also, just because someone is sharing their knowledge and/or tactics doesn't mean that their original project is no longer viable. It simply means they're interested in sharing their experience.

If building a profitable drop shipping business was an easy 48-hour project, I'd be less likely to share so publicly - you're right! But just like any business, it takes a lot of hard work. The knowledge is important, but the legwork is really what makes it difficult to implement.

I completely understand your skepticism as the online business space is full of scams. But hopefully if you invest a few minutes reading our guide, and my blog (http://www.eCommerceFuel.com) you'll realize we're committed to publishing quality, useful content and not trying to rip people off.

Let me know if you have any questions - happy to answer them.

I don't think drop shipping is really something where there are a small set of secrets an in crowd are operating on that anyone can come along and easily replicate. So I don't think more information is really going to effect current players that much.

Without reading the guide I would assume it doesn't tell you exactly which product you should sell and guarantees that you will be able to do a deal for someone to supply you that product. That is a large part of it, not really bigger though than any startup doing a key deal with another company.

From there you face many of the same challenges as any tech startup. Functioning and easy to use technology, effective and positive ROI marketing and great customer support.

Andrew Youderian's the real deal. I've been reading his blog for a while, here's his story:

http://www.ecommercefuel.com/my-corporate-escape-story/

http://www.pocketchanged.com/2012/08/14/online-business-secr...

Thanks so much. Part of the reason I decided to write this guide with my co-author Andrew is there's so much bullshit out there regarding drop shipping. It's really bad.... and if you go to Google to learn more about the topic I'm afraid most results are scams. I wanted to change that. Shopify was gracious enough to give me the time out of my regular duties to pursue this project and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Tell your wife Cheergram is awesome, and a huge congratulations for getting her drop shipping business up and running! Happy reading callmeed - I really hope you enjoy the rest of my guide! :)

I just launched the online version today so I haven't had time to make a PDF yet. But yes, I'll definitely get on that ASAP. Glad to hear you think that would be useful mrchess.

PDF version in case anybody wants it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ryv5rp0cw28daf7/ultimate_dropshipp...

Instapaper- PDF print each page.

You'll have sub-par formatting, and will have to combine the PDFs yourself though.

Yeah, +1 on that idea. PDF would be really nice.

Haha drop hipping sounds awesome. I think I'll just keep that there as an easter egg. :-)

And they link to a specific inventory management system which is expensive and isn't tailored for drop shipping when there are other alternatives, at lower price, in the Shopify app store.

The amount that you save on inventory and warehousing could offset that risk. Plus depending on your niche I would imagine that the risk varies.

Good feedback - we'll have to incorporate this into our 1st round of revisions.

Drop shipping is a fulfillment model where a merchant doesn't carry any inventory. Instead, they only purchase an item from a wholesaler when they receive an order from a customer. Then, they have that item shipped directly from the wholesale warehouse to the customer.

It allows a merchant to start a store without having to invest up-front in inventory, and without having to manage a warehouse.

"Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn't keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the merchant never sees or handles the product."

First paragraph after the introduction. I mean, this paragraph could probably be written in a gazillion different ways but to me this pretty much explains what Drop Shipping is..

Edit: It seems that this paragraph was added later. :)

Really good feedback, thank you. We will add a quick definition in the introduction page.

Embarrassing number of typos made on train home yesterday. Can't fix now, but good reminder to proofread when tired.

DOBA's interface can be convenient because they integrate seamlessly with big suppliers, but they have a limited number of end-suppliers and the service is more expensive. So while I'm sure some people have used them successfully, I think starting from scratch there are more compelling options. I've never used them, however, so I can't speak from personal experience.

If you can find and work directly with your suppliers, that's preferable. Next best is going with a directory like World Wide Brands if you're struggling to find suppliers or need a solid brainstorming tool. Instead of serving as the go-between, they simply connect you directly to suppliers via their listings. Additionally, they'll have a larger selection of smaller niche suppliers which is where I see people have the most success with drop shipping. I've used WWB for years and they're a good source for legitimate wholesaler suppliers.

Full disclosure: I've been interviewed / posted on the DOBA-affiliated blog to promote eCommerceFuel.com as they have a well-known blog in the drop shipping space.

Thanks for the mention :) I'm Kurt, founder of eCommHub. I think it was an editorial mistake, so hopefully we'll get included in the guide soon.

Just to give others some background, we started as a Shopify app a few years ago, so our whole platform is built around dropshipping (with Shopify). eCommHub helps with automating the inventory management and order processing, which can otherwise be quite manual and tedious. Some of our clients are automating as many as 5,000+ orders per DAY through Shopify using eCommHub.

Anyway, this truly is the ultimate guide on drop shipping, so congrats to Mark and Andrew for putting together such a great resource!

Here's our app listing if you're interested in checking out more: http://apps.shopify.com/ecommhub or http://ecommhub.com

Agreed! I love eCommHub, and use them for one of my sites. Kurt and the team over there are great and have built a solid service. Hopefully we can get them included.