This is a story from our case study series. The case studies section grows with every passing week and it is a good source for persons who need some practical tips from those who are experienced in this business: find info on relations with merchants, customer service, traffic sources, advertising costs and channels, etc.

The new case study is intended for those people who believe that they can set up reliable and long lasting relations with dropship merchants and not for those online entrepreneurs who are certain that dropship business is scam.

• URL: SportsmenExpress.com
• Established: 17 Nov 2004
• Uniques/Month: 20,660
• Page views/month: 60,794
• Monthly Revenue: 5,000 average
• PageRank: 3
• Listed: 28 Dec 2007
• Winning bid: $17 500

Description:
Sportsmen Express offers a large selection of camping gear, hunting gear, firearm accessories and law enforcement equipment.

I’m selling www.sportsmenexpress.com for the sole reason I do not have time to take it to the next level. 95% of the business is totally automated and you don’t have to do anything, it’s that 5% customer service that I don’t have time for. We are partnered with a Sporting Goods supplier that “blind” drop ships all of our orders. If you’re not familiar with the term, blind drop ship just means our supplier put our company information on the package so the customer has no idea it wasn’t shipped by us.

Please note that if you want to continue selling sporting goods from the current supplier, you must set up an account with them. This requires a Retail Sales Tax Certificate and setting up an AHC Direct Debit account with them. I will provide serious buyers with the contact information.

In August 06 we invested 20k to have the website completely redone with many automated features to help us manage the business and promote the website. Active Media (www.activema.com)was the company that did the work and SE is listed on their featured projects portfolio. The website is php based and runs on a linux box with Apache.

Website Features:
Sends Confirmation Email to Customer & Admin when order is placed.
Sends shipping confirmation email when order is shipped.
Google Base/Froogle Feed generated and uploaded weekly. (15,000 products in Google Base)
Sitemap generated weekly (over 19,000 pages indexed in Google)
Auto Out Of Stock Notification- Customer can request to be notified when an item is back in stock, website sends email automatically
Ability to send promotional emails to customers (3500 customers listed in database)
Ability to set up discount codes & promotions.
Setup customer groups for discounts.
New products automatically downloaded into database from supplier.
Apache Rewrite installed so all keywords are in every products url.
Ability to set keywords, description for each product for SEO.
Website has a Forum, but is currently turned off due to no time to control the spam.

Many more features that I will be happy to show a serious bidder via phone call guided tour.

We currently do around $5-6,000 a month in sales with ZERO advertising. Profit runs around 15%-20%. You have the ability to set the markup for any single item or category to whatever you want.

Expenses:
The website runs on a VPS server though WiredTree.com for $89 a month. There is an 800 number I will tranfer to you through gotvmail.com that usually runs $30 a month if you want it. SE has a Yahoo Directory subscription that is paid until July 08 ($299).

Potential: If your savy at website promotion and know how to drive traffic, this website has a ton of potential. I never promoted the phone number on the website as I wasnt available to take phone orders. If you put the phone number in the footer and had someone available to take calls, sales would increase dramatically. I have received numerous emails from potential customers saying they didn’t buy because they couldnt find the phone number.

We do not have a BIN in mind, though would like to at least get back what we invested in the websites makeover.

Also included in this auction is the domain name sportsmAnexpress.com, which just redirects to SportsmEnexpress.com

Revenue Details:
The website currently does around 5-6k a month in sales on average. December blows that out of the water with 10-12k but that is not the average. Our profit margin is between 15-20% which can be adjusted to any level. With no advertising profits are around $600-1000 a month after expenses.

Traffic Details:
90% of the traffic is organic from search engines, 85% is from Google.

[tags]dropship camp gear, dropship hunt gear, dropship turnkey website, drop ship, wholesale, ebay, e-commerce, dropshippers list[/tags]

We have discussed not long ago the research tools and techniques to discover the products in demand to sell on eBay:

- eBay Pulse
- eBay paid market research reports
- Amazon movers and shakers
- Amazon best sellers
- Amazon new releases

Now I would like to talk about spotting buzz products. Buzz products are relatively new products on the market that get much coverage and publicity and as a result are in high demand with early adopters and other types of consumers.

A simple sample of the buzz products is Apple iPhone. Dropship Apple iPhones and you are guaranteed a nice volume of sales if you suggest a competitive price – for that purpose, you need to set proper relations with dropship merchants/ distributors and wholesalers.

How to define if a new product is hot and is likely to sell great? It is easy and hard at the same time.

Firstly, you can’t define it within one day-week – you need a system, a list of resources to read/ check regularly and make notes of those products that are mentioned again and again. It is a process that takes time and experience. Samples of such resources see above. Add to that Yahoo! and other news resources.

Secondly, you need sort of specialization and knowledge of the industry you are about to focus your dropship business. Then you add to the above observation resource list other magazines and websites to keep your eye on.

Once you have spotted a buzz product recently introduced on the market it is your task to find dropship merchant or dealers.

Easy way is to buy one of those lists of verified dropshippers.

Hard way is to make research and contact dealers directly.

If your dropship business is focused on selling buzz products in addition to a growing market demand you get another important advantage – much lower competition. Traditional consumer product niches are tightly packed with unlimited number of merchants and dropshippers and buzz products are sort of new opportunities that you should not miss.

[tags]dropship businesses, dropship turnkey website, drop ship, wholesale, ebay, e-commerce, dropshippers list[/tags]

REmapperTM Delivers Dynamic Maps Block Level Forecasts for Real Estate Professionals

Interactive Web site takes the guesswork out of buying and relocating with unique dynamic class-based gradient color heat maps.

San Jose, CA – December , 2007 – Imagine being able to accurately pinpoint a property’s future value, so that everyone from investors to brokers to agents to developers can make informed and profitable purchase and location decisions. REmapperTM, the newest and most innovative real estate Web site to hit the Internet in years, delivers just that and more.

REmapperTM announced the long awaited beta launch of the new web-based mapping and graphing tools today. REmapperTM offers a system of proprietary algorithms that take much of the guesswork out of real estate investing and a unique location analysis tool. The site applies proven statistical analysis to the latest economic and demographic data. Unique data such as block level business growth and vacancy are updated monthly and quarterly, allowing everyone to consider forecasted values when buying or selling property. By filtering through up to 640 variables that affect property values at the block level, REmapperTM will help investors make smart, informed decisions, and give real estate professionals and agents a tool to sell with quality information, like no other.

As they say, its location, location, location, NOT market, market, market OR county, county, county. So if location is important, REmapper is a core tool for anyone to everyone in the real estate industry.

Most Real Estate sites simply have what’s on the market and price trends. However, what is most important to the investor or home owner or real estate professional, is what affects price movement at the local level. Typically price alone has anywhere from 45% to 75% of what affects price movement, say the mathematicians at REmapperTM. REmapper let’s Real Estate professionals view the remaining variables in both real-time rendered gradient maps and least-squared monthly regression lines (to reduce outliers) to the block level. With such unique monthly and quarterly variables as: new jobs, new businesses, growth, income change, and the latest vacancy figures which statistically makes up for what is missing in the elements than just looking at prices.

The REmapperTM method has been in development from more than two decades, starting from one MBA’s passion to know which investment was best. With quick visual answers backed up by solid data and statistics. That is the essence of REmapperTM.

REmapperTM uses a combination of GIS (Global Information System) technology and reliable demographic and economic data. Embedded mapping algorithms and proprietary financial modeling algorithms are then applied, delivering dynamic gradient heat maps that show specific locations with high potential for price appreciation. Gradient maps are uniquely dynamic, rendered in real-time, and zoom-able to the block level, so that investors or developers can pick the right block to investigate.

Dynamic maps, as opposed to static or simple mashups. Each time the user zooms, the maps are re-rendered on the fly and the scale in the legend changes, based upon the XY axis of the map. The maps dynamically change every time the user zooms in-or-out of an area. Real estate is all about location, location, location, and locating the right street within the right block or block is critical. All real estate forecast is relative, and each time the maps are rendered relative to the area, or zoom level. Find the best block within a zip code or the best street within a county to build or invest is what REmapper delivers. Simply put, revolutionary…

During the initial release, visitors can log into the Web site and subscribe for a trial period of 7 days and view income changes. REmapperTM users may select a geographic area as small as a city block or as large as the nation, and then use simple forecasting tools to chart the expected future value of properties within that area. With simple, easy-to-use tools, REmapperTM promises to democratize real estate information.

REmapperTM is a subscription-based service, much like the Multiple Listing Service and other tools used to assess the real estate market. A variety of subscription plans are available, giving users a number of affordable options. Subscribers can also view many variables at the same time with a consolidated report that shows market trends in a graphical format.

Real estate professionals who become subscribers will have a unique competitive advantage with their ability to geographically and statistically pinpoint the exact property that will create a high appreciation investment opportunity. Agents and brokers may also purchase a subscription for dynamic, customized newsletters that they can send to clients and prospects within a targeted geographic market.