The Do’s and Don’ts of Contacting Dropshipping Suppliers
First, picking up the phone and calling potential business partners for the first time is
Second, all the marketing and business jargon is a bit tricky, especially for those who are totally new to business.
And finally, there's just so many 'what if's'!
So to help handle a lot of the confusion about contacting dropshipping suppliers, I've gathered up seven questions from the community and I'm answering them in this blog post.
If you haven't found your prospects yet, check out our post on finding dropshipping suppliers.
This blog post is also available in video form. Click ‘Play’ below to start watching! Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for weekly updates and insights!
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This list of questions came from a poll we sent out on our Instagram page. (And if you're not following us there, now would be a good time to fix that!)
Along with the answers, I'll also tell you all the dos and don'ts I've learned from contacting dropship suppliers for the better part of a decade.
First, I have to give a quick disclaimer... Everything I'm talking about in this blog post is about working with domestic suppliers. This advice does not have to do with drop shipping from China. Furthermore, if you're totally new to this business model, check out our blog post that explains "What is Dropshipping?"
Question #1: How does one get a listing of reliable suppliers? Where should I look?
Don’t pay to work with a middleman. Do work on building relationships with suppliers.
Do not go on Google and search “dropship suppliers”. What you're going to find doing that is basically a bunch of middlemen that make money by charging you a monthly fee or a quarterly fee or a yearly fee.
Once you pay these websites or directories, they give you access to products to sell.
Now, when you do that, you have no direct relationship with the suppliers you want to work with. Yes, it's easy to get approved, but you're not really getting approved for anything. You're just paying someone so that's what you do not want to do.
Having direct relationships with the suppliers and brands you're working with will pay off in the long run. With a real relationship with the supplier, your margins are locked in through price controls.
Now if you
Takeaway: Never work with middlemen, go direct to the source that is where the relationships are. That is where the money is and in my opinion, that's the only way to drop ship profitably, in the long term.
Question #2: How should I ask suppliers to ship for me?
Don’t use the term ‘dropship’, do consider yourself an ‘internet retailer’.
When you reach out to dropshipping suppliers, you want to tell them that you're
Now when you're talking about the logistics and everything, I really don't
If you want some of
In most cases, the dropshipping suppliers will send you over an application to fill out. After that, they will send over price lists, product photos, product descriptions, etc.. At this point, they will tell you what carriers they ship with, and that's when you let them know you want to ship on their accounts.
What that means is when the suppliers ship an order for you, they are just going to add shipping onto your invoice.
And not only that,
If that's not how it works with one of your suppliers, well things are a little different.
What happens then is when they ship, it just basically sends you an invoice, you pay UPS or FedEx or DHL or whoever directly.
Takeaway: The time and the place to ask is after you're approved and once you have the price list. Then try to work with them and ask who they ship with. All you have to do is tell them you prefer to ship on their account and to have them bill you for it. If you'd like to learn more about drop ship suppliers, check out our Ultimate Drop Shipping Guide.
Question #3: One of my potential suppliers doesn’t offer prepay terms. They only offer credit or money transfers. What should I do?
Don’t run balances with different suppliers, do send wire transfers.
In this question, what they are asking is if the dropship supplier doesn't accept prepay, they'll instead
So what are Prepay Terms?
The other option is a wire transfer
What I would do if I had those two options, is I would just pay with wire transfers, rather than taking credit and making payments every 30 days or so.
That's more of a personal thing for me. I don't like to have big debts with
Again, that's just a personal thing. It
Maybe you could do that if you have credit, if you wanna go through a credit check, if you want to apply for credit.
Takeaway: If you're comfortable with taking credit out different suppliers and have different balances all over the place, go that route. If not, wire transfer are more than fine.
Question #4: In Australia, suppliers hate online only stores. How can I convince them it’s worth their time?
Don’t support that idea, do explain what your store brings to the table.
Basically
Why? Because you don't want to empower them and support their idea
Takeaway: Don't agree with them. Instead, be respectful and explain to them why that is the old way of thinking. Do this by showing them what you can bring to the table and how it will increase their revenue!
Question #5: Can you help me find dropshipping suppliers in India?
Don’t look for dropship suppliers in pre-established markets, do look for suppliers in well-established markets.
Okay, next question is about sourcing suppliers in India. We do have successful members from India but they're not doing business in India.
My advice though, is not to try and build a dropship store serving the market in India. I'm not saying it will never be possible to dropship to Indians using Indian suppliers, it's just not established there,
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237 Profitable Product Ideas
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profitable and I'll give you my list of 237 Profitable
Product Ideas completely free!
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And again, that's not to say it's not possible. But right now, and for immediate future,
So if you want to use a streamlined system for dropshipping, my advice is do not look for suppliers in India. Instead find another market.
Takeaway: If you want a streamlined system to start a dropshipping business, choose to source suppliers from a well-established market like the UK or United States.
Question #6: I’m located in the US and one of my potential suppliers is in Canada. Thoughts on working with them?
Don’t apply as normal without asking questions. Do ask questions so you aren’t setting up this relationship blindly.
When you contact them , you'll want to start the conversation a little differently than if you were contacting a domestic dropshipping supplier. Early in the conversation, get straight to the point and ask something along the lines such as:
"We see that you are headquartered in Canada and I'm just curious, do you work with brands, in the United States? And if so, how does that relationship work? Do you have a warehouse in the US? Who handles shipping?"
Question #7: Do I need a resale certificate to start contacting suppliers?
Don’t wait, do sign up for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) free from the IRS website.
W
If you're doing business in the United States, an EIN is free to get online on the IRS website. Just so everybody knows, this is if you're doing business in the States. So that's free to get online, I'll post a link below this video.
The sales tax certificate, if you're doing business in a state that requires sales tax, then yes, you should apply for one but again.
If you already did apply and
Takeaway: Apply for the free EIN number on the IRS website and learn more about sales tax in this recent podcast I shared on the subject.
HERE ARE YOUR NEXT STEPS...
STEP 1:
STEP
Be sure to register for our next free web class. Then,
Very useful, Anton, thank you. I have a question regarding the EIN. I’m a sole trader based in the UK wanting to sell to the US. Should I still apply for an EIN?
If you’re doing business in the U.S., then yes!
Very good post. Thanks for sharing Anton!
You’re welcome, Sunny!
Anton, great blog!
I have a question. During first bulk callings to suppliers, what products you display on your website, when still no supplier working with you? Is it ok to list some of the products of the suppliers I’m in negotiation with? How do they welcome such scenario to see their products listed before any contract signed?
Thank you for your time in advance!
Regards
We simply upload stock images and write generic product descriptions for the demo products 🙂
Hey Everyone,
As many of you already know I created Drop Ship Lifestyle after selling a network of eCommerce stores and then trying to find a community of other store owners to network with… What I found was a bunch of scammers who promised newbies they would get rich quick by following their push-button systems!
This lead me to create a new community along with an online training program that shares how to build a REAL online business.
I’d love to hear what you think… it’s a 2.5-hour training designed to help you drop ship profitably… all for free.
Be sure to click here to check it out and send me your feedback!
If you go through the “How To Start & Grow A Hyper-Profitable Online Store” webinar and still have questions just contact me and I will help you out.
When contacting a possible supplier should I have already have my Shopify up and ready without any products? What if the supplier tries to research my company/store? Its brand new…no customers yet, or products…
Yes, you should have your store set up first!
I will be talking more about this (and how to get demo products) on my next webinar.
You can register here: https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/webinar/
Hope to see you there!