Dropshipping market is attractive and we witness how top players progress (Doba is on Inc.com 500 list, for example) and try to differentiate their offers for current and potential customers.

It is becoming hard to follow all those innovative features added nearly on a monthly basis. Just a couple of weeks ago we have reported about Worldwide Brands re-branding and new offers, now it is time to inform you about the changes that another strong market player has to offer – this time it is Shopster. Though not all below features are new, but they give a better idea of how the service works:

Increase your inventory through one product source
- Over 1,000,000 products are available through Shopster’s virtual warehouse.
- Drop ship products from over 130 suppliers.
- New suppliers and products added every week.
- Warehouse pricing on all products.
- Many of the same suppliers used by eBay PowerSellers.

Optimize your time by managing only one professional relationship
- Shopster manages relations with 130 suppliers for them.
- Shopster processes payments and manages order fulfillment.
- Your customers can spend more time focused on selling.

Sell on eBay, other websites, or their own online storefront easily
- eBay integrated platform
- Set up multiple listings at the same time.
- Custom data exports.
- Products are directly integrated into a Shopster storefront.

Increase customer satisfaction and loyalty
- Shopster works closely with suppliers to ensure customers receive their products quickly.
- Shopster Customer Support is available to them and their customers.
- Live order tracking and order history.

Feel secure using Shopster
- Shopster offers Supplier Fraud Protection.
- Shopster is one of only 30 eBay Certified Solution Providers.

Unlike Worldwide Brands and like Doba, Shopster offers allow you to manage your relationships just through one channel – definitely great for those dropship affiliates who sell a wide variety of products as it is a real pain to keep proper relations with a number of merchants.

Also Shopster is a certified eBay solution provider – that allows integrating their system into eBay platform. It is not a secret that most dropship affiliates do their business primarily and solely on eBay.

When you are going to a job interview you cannot go unprepared, can you? Why don’t do the same while approaching a wholesale supplier? You need to understand that for a wholesaler working with you (setting up an account etc) means time, paperwork and money. If you don’t look like a credible retailer, you might get turned down immediately.

Charlie Hall, the owner of Charlie’s Woodshop, comments:

“I spend a lot of time helping online retailers get going with my product, but they may not go anywhere if they’re not doing the follow-up work.”

But, of course, a coin has two sides. It is not only you who has to be reliable in the eyes of the wholesaler, but the wholesaler must be a trustworthy one. Here, at dropshiparea, we do out best to supply you with the most reliable and trusted wholesale suppliers. By using the services provided by us you are not likely to end up with a middleman or get into any kind of financial fraud.

If you create a favorable impression you are not likely to get a point-blank NO. So let’s find out what is a good way to ask a wholesaler for an account:

First of all be professional

Any wholesale supplier wants to see how are you going to position their products.

1. Take your time to check the presentation (it includes grammar, your punctuation, capitalization etc.). If you are not sure whether the grammar is correct use any kind of spellchecker.

Hall continues:

“These are little areas that tell me whether or not I want to do business with a retailer. If they’re not doing all the work, they’re last on the list.”

2. Provide the wholesaler with credible info

• Give them you full name, the name of your business, address and full contact info
• Bother to include the tax ID. In fact, without this kind of information you are not likely to be given pricing information. A wholesaler needs this info to check if your business is legal and some other procedures.

Be aware

1. Come prepared

Before making a contact give a careful study to the companies you are abut to get involved with. While mass mailing is a working way to set up multiple accounts, it cannot ensure the quality of wholesalers. And remember that stuff with multiple email addresses.

Have a look at the web-page of the company, its policy, services etc. In your letters try to avoid asking questions the answers to which can be found on Help pages and in the FAQ.

2. Realize what to expect from collaboration

Remember one important thing: a wholesale supplier is not your guru. They don’t have time (and even if they do, it is not their responsibility) to answer your questions and teach you how to sell their products.

One more crucial aspect of mixing up with wholesale suppliers:not every supplier is willing to work with eBiz. Some of them are working on larger scales. But some of them are ready to supply you with products. So, once more the problem of choosing the best wholesale suppliers seems to be the vital one for your home-base business.

eBay selling might be a pleasant, fun and profitable experience. But when you have got reed of every single piece of rubbish in your house where can you go for product ideas and sources?

When you are done researching eBay you might need reliable sources of products. Here, at dropshiparea, we are doing our best to help you find the best wholesale suppliers and help you sign up with them and thus get access to the services they offer.

Plunging deeper into eBay Sources

In fact, eBay is itself a powerful product sourcing tool. For instance, it is a great place with inbuilt traffic which is a real goldmine for those seeking for the products to sell. I uncover a great secret to you: one of the best tools to learn what the traffic wants is the Seller Central Page (www.EBay.com/SellerCentral). Moreover, there are other tools which can be very useful plus not many people are aware of their existence.

• The merchandising calendar

It is great place to learn what products will be promoted be eBay next few weeks/months. You also learn under which categories you need to list your goods to be given a place on the home page of the service.

• The hot items section

It can be called a monthly report. You can learn which products are moving, producing more bids, and getting higher final prices. Here you can learn where the demand is at the moment.

Janelle Elms advices:

“Print this report and keep it with [you] at all times,” She explains, “People don’t know what to look for… This will really help direct and keep your mind focused to what’s moving on eBay.”

• The hot categories section

This section gives you an idea about the top categories and moreover how to sell products in those categories. Each category features the section “In Demand” that gives you clue not only about the hottest selling products but also about the keywords users search for the items with. You see that eBay tells you what to sell and how to do it!

Listen to your clients

When users come to eBay they already know what they want. You don’t have to offer anything to them. All you need to do is listen carefully to what they’re saying. The tools help you to learn what they are looking for. You simply need to come up with the things they are in search of. Simple, but believe me it works!