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With the recent issues on eBay - please read my previous post about this, The Tipping Point: eBay Got Tipped - dropshipping business takes a hard hit, simply due the fact that many eBay sellers use dropship method of order fulfillment. Since many sellers quitted eBay marketplace, the dropshipping business feels the impact, too.

However bad it might be, dropshipping will survive the downhill. Many web retailers depend on dropshippers - demands on dropshipping are still high, even considering the eBay slump.

What is dropshipping, anyway? In simplified explanation, dropshipping is a service provided by a wholesaler to process your order without you having an inventory.

Where can I find dropshippers?

You can find dropshippers from the Internet, obviously. However, you should be careful, as some sites are claiming to be a legitimate wholesaler, which actually they are not - they are actually dropshippers themselves! So, do your research thoroughly, because scams are everywhere.

The better place to find wholesalers is in the wholesaler directories. There are many sources of wholesalers, but I happen to trust one wholesalers directory - OneSource.

I have a reason saying that. I AM a member of OneSource. I use their service, and I found out that theirs are exceptional.

The benefits of joining OneSource

I look to the free trial, and found out that OneSource is a great tool. You can search items to sell, maybe office furnitures, for example. You will instantly receive lists of dropshippers, light bulk wholesalers, bulk wholesalers, and liquidations. In short, the descriptions are as follow:

• dropshippers are wholesalers that process your orders without the need for you to have inventory.
• Light bulk wholesalers are wholesalers that permit you to purchase a small number of items in bulk, usually at a more cheaper price than dropship items.
• Large Volume wholesalers are the conventional wholesalers that provide you a much cheaper price if you order a large amount, often a container-full of products.
• Liquidations are less often to find - The wholesalers are usually possess excess inventory that will sold at low price tag, to clear inventory spaces.

OneSource has thousands of real wholesalers by checking their business and backgrounds one by one. So you are pretty much having a list of the most reliable wholesalers in the world - no exaggeration meant.

What’s better, they have an analytic tool to rate how competitive your chosen products are and how likely you will succeed in selling your chosen products. The analytic tool works by looking to the number of keywords searched through major search engines, the advertisements in place for that product, and the typical price tag sellers sell the product in eBay, and the number of similar products are listed in eBay at the moment. This is very useful for market research - neat! :)

I purchased OneSource services at USD 299, but they now offer a USD 30 discount. Not cheap at all, but having the features above and the benefits for you and your business, it is one of the most valuable investment I have ever make.

Your membership is for a LIFETIME, and with no additional or hidden cost. Member support is excellent. My emails are being replied within a day or two business day, with helpful information.

One thing bothering me about OneSource

I’ve joined OneSource’s affiliate program since it has good affiliate system - at least for publishers :) They adopt two-tier system, where you can get direct commision for accounts closed under your affiliate links, as well as an additional percentage of commission received by your sponsored publishers. This is good.

The not so good part is that they are actually has a list of banned publisher’s country of origin. They stated this in their agreement loud and clear - unfortunately, my country of origin are included in the list. As a logical result, my affiliate account was suspended (luckily I haven’t made any sales, yet).

I communicate the following statement - If there’s a banned country list, why would OneSource receive membership applications from ALL countries? What I meant was this - OneSource takes revenue from all over the world, while banning some countries from benefiting from selling their products. To me, it’s not really a good take and give policy.

I understand rules are rules, indeed, and I abide to them. But I ask for their explanation on this, just to satisfy my curiosity. While I received a basic explanation over my question about my suspended affiliate account, I didn’t receive any reply on my next email about the logic of their affiliate agreement.

Perhaps they are still finding a good reason on this matter? I really have no idea. Nevertheless, OneSource is beyond my expectation. I recommend OneSource for you!

Since I am not their affiliate (although I wanted to be one), you can pretty much trust me on this review :)

Happy dropshipping!

Ivan Widjaya
Wholesale listings reviewer

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I’ve been into web design, publishing, and development for many years. Yet, I still in a position to learn the ins and outs of web, particularly with the emergence of social media and web 2.0.

The Internet is no longer the good ol’ place to hang out and share info. Websites and blogs are commercialised. Nothing wrong with that, as I also believe that the Internet is the driving factor of the new economy. There are people make a living (or even a lifestyle) working on the net - as their only source of income.

For the unaware businessmen - behold, the e-Commerce will leave you in the dust. You HAVE to jump into the band wagon NOW. I did, too. Why? According to Paypal, e-Commerce transaction already pass US$ 2 billion mark. Huge numbers. Big opportunities. The market is still wide open for you and me.

Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to explore the lucrative world of the Internet or an avid businessman looking to expand to the Internet, I have one thing for you: start selling with your website, and start evangelising about your business with your blog.

You already have a great product. Now, sell it in your website. Here’s the how-to:

Choose a domain name

Domain name: Web address that usually starts with www.yourgreatbusiness.com (the most common ending - called TLD, Top Level Domain - is the .com… however, you are free to explore other TLDs, such as .us, .ca, .biz, .info, .tv, etc) - suggestion: Never choose other than .com or .net, unless you have strong reasons to do so!

Web hosting company: Your provider of web space. Usually the company have several hosting packages, or even for free. Suggestion: Use web hosting company that guarantee almost 99.99% uptime (meaning, your website is accessible 99.99% of time)

About free domain name and hosting

So many free alternatives out there, but why throw money? location, location, location. Your ‘physical’ location on the net is your domain name (just like your ol’ business address) and web hosting (just like your ol’ leased retail space). You see, location is important. You wouldn’t want put your business address on P.O. Boxes to gain trust. You don’t want your business website address looks like http://mygreatbusiness.otherpeopleweb.com or http://www.otherpeopleweb.com/mygreatbusiness - you’ll want http://www.mygreatbusiness.com. Got it? :)

How to find a good domain name

To get a good domain name, you have to search for it. Usually, a good web hosting company has a feature to search for domain name. If not, just try to look for it in whois.ws, whois.net, etc.

Some tips on good domain name:

1. The shorter, the better. www.abc.com is great, but unfortunately has long been gone… www.mygreatbusinesswithgreatproduct.om is NOT a good idea!
2. Easier to read, the better. www.mygreatbusiness.com is good, but www.my-great-business.com is easier to read. It’s all up to you.
3. Filled with keywords about your business. If you sell Acme biscuits online, you’d name your domain www.acmebiscuits.com or www.deliciousbiscuits.com, rather than www.acmecompany.com.

Choose a hosting package

Next, choose a hosting package. Choose what you WILL need, not what you need it right now. Choose more than enough storage space for your website, and more than enough bandwidth to attract visitors. You would not want for your website to be unable to get more visitors, because your ‘retail space’ is full!

You shouldn’t worry too much about pricing, because nowadays the web hosting competition is so stiff, that prices are low and almost identical.

I suggest you to look for the plans and features you need. For example, I want to establish an online store. Then, I look for a web hosting company that is designed to support e-commerce, to simplify my life :)

If I were you, I will choose web hosting that:

1. Can search domain name
2. Simple registration
3. Easy to reach customer support
4. Have verified testimonials, full of positive words on the service.

There’s there. Hopefully this article helps you look for good domain name and web hosting company. If you want to, you can try IPOWER for reliable hosting and great service.

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