Is Drop-shipping a real business or just another work at home scam?

If you have been researching work at home job opportunities than no doubt you have come across drop-shipping. You have probably seen a hundred ads trying to sell you an E-book that will tell you all the secrets to eBay or been tempted by a "free" instant auction success kit of some kind, right? If you have been unfortunate enough to become a victim of any of these scams then you may have dismissed eBay and drop-shipping as a legitimate business. Don't give up just yet! Motivated individuals can build a successful eBay drop-shipping business with zero dollars out of pocket. But How?

There are several factors crucial to your success as a drop-shipper. First and most importantly you must choose a drop-shipper that is approved by eBay and there are only TWO. Once you have selected your drop-shipper you need to select products to sell. Avoid selling products that are already highly saturated on eBay. For example, everyone and their brother is selling MP3 players at the moment so your chances of getting sales is much lower than if you target a less crowded market like belt buckles. Try and build an inventory of related products so you can pick up extra sales from your customers. If you sell computers and a customer decides to purchase a desktop unit from you he may also purchase a printer or other accessories if you have them in stock.

Pricing is always a sticky area for beginners. The number one mistake new drop-shippers and eBay users make is forgetting to factor in the fees when listing their items. For example....you can get a hunting knife from your drop-shipper for $70 plus $4 shipping for a total of $74. You decide to list it on Ebay for $80 for $6 profit...right? WRONG! There are fees for accepting Paypal payments for your auction, their are listing fees and there are eBay's final value fees. In this example you would have actually lost between $2 and $5 depending on your listing format. There is a very simple formula to avoid this problem an insure you always make a profit. If you are interested in the more detailed aspects of product pricing visit my in depth free guide.

Once you have your business model established how do you drive customers to your products? If you are using ebay than you are already way ahead of the game. Ebay has over 60 million users and you can easily drive them to your products through a variety of tools already available to you right on ebay! There are tools to enhance your auctions such as listing designer, bold and highlight options and gallery photo options. There are also ways to expand your business and lower your listing fees by opening an ebay Store. The serious entrepreneur should spend some time utilizing ebay's many message boards, FAQ pages and live help options to explore these and many other tools in depth.

I explore these factors and more in my free complete set up guide for new drop-shippers which can be viewed by following the link below. My guide is intended as a tool for serious individuals who are dedicated to their success. There are no E-books or software to buy, and no sales pitch.

Jordan Milton has over ten years experience as a writer and reviewer. You can view her complete in depth free guide for dropshippers at:
http://idiotsrevenge.tripod.com