Manual Dropshipping.
You have probably heard about this business model from friends and decided to look it up.
The question running through your mind now is…“what is it all about? And If I want to get started, how can I go about it?”
If these are the questions on your mind, you have struck a gold mine.
This article is essentially a crash course on dropshipping as a whole.
Now we are not going to bore you with too much peripherals and unnecessary information.
We are going to keep it simple, relatable, and to the point.
Without further ado, let’s get right into it!
What is Manual Dropshipping?
Manual dropshipping, otherwise known as dropshipping, is a business model that involves buying and selling products from third-party suppliers to your buyers on eBay.
And the cool thing about it is that it does not demand you keep inventory.
It involves two components – a buyer and a supplier.
The buyer is an individual that shows interest in your listed items on eBay (don’t worry, we will still talk about product listings on eBay later on in this article).
While the supplier is the one that provides or suppliers (hence supplier) the product to your buyer.
So in retrospect, a dropshippper is that middleman that links these two people together and makes money while doing that.
How is that possible? Well, it is due to the simple business model of the dropshipping venture.
Dropshipping 101: How it works
We have already stated the players in this business model – the buyer and the seller – and we also said that the dropshipper is the link that essentially connects these two.
Here is how it works.
First, you need to open a retail seller account to dropship your items.
Retailers like eBay and Amazon are perfect, but our focus will be on eBay for the sake of this article.
Now, you open an eBay seller account, and this is where you list items.
Listing items simply means taking products from wholesale websites and putting them up for sale on your seller account.
It is like advertising to potential customers on eBay, saying, “Hey, you like this product? I have it in-store, and I can sell it to you”.
The next thing that happens is that those would-be buyers would see your product on their timeline, as they are browsing through things to buy and will request for that item.
When they do, the order will be pending and awaiting delivery.
Now, this is where your job as a dropshipper becomes apparent.
As we said, you don’t have any inventory. You only listed the items.
So after confirming the order, you will have to source for that product from another e-commerce website, usually known as the wholesalers.
This third-party website is where you’ll meet your suppliers.
The bulk of the dropshipper’s work lies in the hitch-free delivery of the item from the supplier to the buyer.
You need to make sure that you are in business with a supplier who will not screw you over and deliver poor quality items or would default in the expected delivery time.
Therefore, it is important to choose the best dropshipping suppliers as they are essential to your success in manual dropshipping.
And that is basically the fundamentals of manual dropshipping and how it works.
However, there is more than meets the eye.
As simple as you think it is, it is extremely tedious without the proper tools to make life easier for you and make your dropshipping venture efficient.
Tools For Succeeding In Manual Dropshipping
The success of a buying and selling venture lies in two factors – How many items you can sell at a given time and if your target buyers can actually see your product.
This is especially true for an online B2C business model like manual dropshipping.
We have already emphasized the need for a good dropshipping supplier, but asides from that, you need to get other important and necessary tools to address the two factors that determine success in manual dropshipping.
And those tools are an eBay lister tool and an optimization tool.
The eBay lister addresses the first factor by improving your selling capacity, thereby tackling the problem of the number of items you can sell at a given time.
The optimization tool addresses the second factor by improving the visibility of your items on search queries.
eBay Lister
As mentioned earlier, you need two tools to succeed, and the first is an excellent eBay lister.
Why? Well, the season is quite simple.
It is called manual dropshipping for a reason, and that is because eBay expects you to handle all the product logistics all by yourself.
Product logistics such as listing items, updating prices, adding and updating variations, e.t.c., need to be handled without automaton.
If eBay detects any form of automation, you can be flagged.
For a small seller, you could handle it because you are initially given 10 item slots to sell per month due to eBay’s selling limits.
But as you grow, you will need to list more and more items to increase your profit.
Either way, doing it all by yourself takes time; valuable time you can spend trying to expand and improve your business.
An eBay lister takes all that burden off your shoulders.
With an excellent eBay lister, you can list and organize all your items within seconds.
An example of a good eBay lister is KalDrop.
KalDrop – The Best Non API eBay Lister For Manual Dropshipping
KalDrop is the one eBay lister that gets you out of that pickle of having to list all or items manually.
The amazing thing about this tool is that you never have to worry about getting flagged because it is a Non API software.
This means eBay cannot detect you are automaton your listings with a third-party software.
With KalDrop, manual dropshipping becomes easier.
You can list any number of products with the click of a button.
It also has other amazing features such as variations support, VeRO protection, unique templates, fixed items specifics, live chat support, and so on.
You also get to use KalDrop free for the first 7 days after you sign up.
Title Optimization Tool
A title optimization does exactly what it looks like it does – optimizes your item’s title for better ranking on search queries.
A title optimization tool utilizes what is known as search engine optimization to push your item to one of the top results when a buyer is looking to get an item in a particular category.
This improves your item’s visibility and increases the chances of the buyer getting that item from you.
There are several title optimization tools out there.
Some free, some paid.
We found out that most free ones compromise on quality except a select few, one of which is Fire title builder.
Fire Title Builder
The Fire title builder is an amazing tool that improves the optimization of your item’s title.
It suggests strings of texts to be included in your item’s title for maximum optimization.
It is free and fairly easy to use.
Conclusion
Essentially, your success in dropshipping depends on two key things – your supplier and the tools you use.
You need to keep an eye out for the best supplier and use tools like eBay listers and title optimizers.
A combination of all these is sure to make you succeed in the dropshipping venture in little time!
