help please!

[samigail]

Hi everyone.

I've been asked by someone if I'd consider sending my plaques on a drop shipping basis to someone to include in their gifts - 'nappy cakes' etc.

They ask me for prices and i really don't know. I've asked them for an idea what sort of amounts they might be thinking of.

However, my items aren't really high priced anyway - one of the questions I wanted to ask was what people thought generally of my prices? Are they too low, about right or too high for a gift - as in selling to someone directly for a gift. My ebid shop is here: http://uk.ebid.net/stores/Samigails-...Handmade-Gifts

if I do this drop shipping thing - would i be expected to reduce the price? How much would you expect to have as a reduction if you were buying them on this drop ship basis? It's all muddling for me! I even had to look up what drop shipping meant!

Any help/advice gratefully received
Fiona

[Caroleecrafts]

I would agree but do not change your prices, they are not expensive and ask for the money up front as if they were buying direct from you, after all it is not a large outlay for the other supplier. You also need to know that they will sell with your labels etc and not pass off as their own.

[Bea]

Do a search on drop shipping, I think as you do the packing and sending on behalf of the reseller, you add a percentage or a fee per item, but not entirely sure.
The resellers sells the item as whatever price they want and pass the order to you to process. It means they don't hold the stock. You may have to include a packing slip or invoice with the name of the reseller but they supply that to you *I think*.

[snowgoose]

And you can find the drop-shipping wikipedia page HERE.

hope this helps

Jake x

[craftynclothy]

With the suppliers who dropship for me I charge the same price as them on my site, then when I tell them I have an order I pay a lower amount to them.

The amount I pay is higher than the wholesale price but lower than retail price.

As for packaging, one is a distributer and when I place an order from them they send it to my customer without any of their branding. The other one is someone who makes the product herself and she can send it how she likes - I assume she sends it how she normally would to her own direct customers.

[samigail]

Thanks for all your help
It's sounding pretty complicated! I need to look into it a lot!

[craftynclothy]

I think basically if you decide how much you would be happy to get for your goods plus postage to wherever it needs to be sent and tell them it would be that price iyswim (you could give options on the postage cost) and see if they're happy with that.

The two places that dropship for me do free postage anyway so that side of it isn't an issue iyswim. I have another supplier that would dropship, if I was to use her as a dropshipper I think I'd get something like 10% of the value of the sale iyswim.

Theoretically you should be able to give your goods a wholesale, dropship and retail price. If you can't drop your retail price than you prbably aren't charging enough in the first place iyswim (BUT bear in mind that's not always the case - e.g. when I started making jewllery I bought all my beads & findings at retail price, so to stay competative I had to take less profit per item than someone who bought all their bits at wholesale prices iyswim so couldn't have offered wholesale)