Is it even worth doing Dropshipping or Print On Demand?

[Dancing Israeli]

I work a regular job and shit like that, but I've been thinking about starting my own business (to supplement my income), and all these "gurus" talk about "dropshipping" and "SEO" and the like. Which to me sounds like they're trying to do an MLM scheme.

 

[I (Don't) Have A Gun]

SEO (and I assume you mean Search Engine Optimisation) is useful for discoverability. People when looking to buy something less common (so things they can't just easily find of Amazon) or when doing a price comparison to find a better deal will likely start by just googling the product. If you're one of the top results then it's more likely they'll buy from you. You can have the best novelty dildos at the lowest prices but if no one can find you to buy from you then it doesn't mean anything.

Dropshipping and Print On Demand are different things though. They relate to stock management, or rather how to prevent stock management.
Renting out warehouse space, or just pilling stuff in a spare room can be inconvenient and a bit of a mess so the idea is to remove that layer of complexity. Although you do add additional complexity (probably more so for Print on Demand) and most likely a slower delivery time (just take any random Comicsgate crowdfunding campaign and you'll likely see a lot of delays for all manner of reasons). The advantage of having items in-stock is that you know how many you have and you know how long it will take to get them mailed off (i.e. how long it will take you to get them out of stock and throw them at some delivery company).

Dropshipping is probably the easiest since practically you add no real value. Someone orders from you, you source the items to you, probably repackage the items (so the idiots buying from you don't know they can just bypass you and save money) and then you forward it on.

 

[Dancing Israeli]

Dropshipping is probably the easiest since practically you add no real value. Someone orders from you, you source the items to you, probably repackage the items (so the idiots buying from you don't know they can just bypass you and save money) and then you forward it on.

Sounds sleazy and grifty as fuck. I love it.

 

[MetalParakeet]

Teach me. I need a work from home job that I don't need pants for

 

[Dancing Israeli]

Teach me. I need a work from home job that I don't need pants for

I suggest not doing anything data entry. Those are scams.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

My two cents about the subject is that the moment you hear any gurus talking about something immediately steer clear away from it, since every bit of money that can be extracted has already went away

 

[std::string]

China messed up the industry pretty bad because they realized they could just market directly to Americans instead of relying on dropshipping companies to do it for them and letting them take the cut.

Print-on-demand likely could still work if you manage to find a niche that interests people. Cosmetics can work if you hit on something trendy right before it skyrockets in popularity and then get a major retailer interested.

 

[Kosher Dill]

My impression is that there's only money in dropshipping if you have some insider knowledge of a good, reliable source and a ready market that just aren't connected for whatever reason. But if you do know a business that well, why not just go into that business for real? Import the goods yourself in bulk into your own warehouse, build relationships with regular customers, and so on.

 

[Dread First]

Hi. I've sperged about logistics stuff before, and I think I'm mildly qualified to help you out here even though you're a disgusting Zionist.

This is not the economy to get involved with drop shipping of any type whatsoever. Following websites like FreightWaves and Supply Chain Dive (among others) indicate that a "perfect storm" of issues is hitting the market. Demand is weakening due to the global recession and the subsequent interest rate hikes. Supply chain disruptions are still happening in China due to Dynamic Zero combined with the slow nature of transitioning to and developing economies of scale in other countries like Thailand and Vietnam hindering production. This isn't even getting into the ramifications of OPEC curtailing production across the board and the impact it'll have on diesel prices, jet fuel prices, and fuel surcharges for logistics firms everywhere.

There's no money for you, as an upstart with limited capital and liability insurances required to obtain sustainable business, to make in drop shipping when the entire field of 3PL is contracting.

EDIT: I'd also strongly advise staying away from freight brokers, or rather the field of freight brokerage flat out (unless you're strictly interested in domestic US business). Most international freight relies on freight forwarders instead. There are too many complexities for me to explain here, but in short: a freight forwarder will be involved with the shipment at every step, from export overseas to arrival in the USA to delivery to final destination. A freight broker is only responsible for arranging transportation and nothing more (horribly reductionist, but this is for the sake of brevity; use Google you lazy motherfuckers). Freight forwarders are also more likely to have connections with CTPAT certified providers. Again, too many complexities to explain in a single KF post, but the short is: "this is a fast pass for all the customs shit; you don't have this certification, you're only gonna be doing small-time business for chump change."

 

[NoReturn]

Tangentially related, but is Amazon FBA (e.g. turning in books) worth the cost of buying a printer?

 

[cybertoaster]

You're 10 years or more too late.

SEO was a thing during the mid to late 2000's, its all consolidated now, been like that for years.

The age of dropshipping was early last decade, it didn't take long for the chinese to figure out that instead of selling by the ton on alibaba they could sell to westerners directly hence sites like dealextreme, banggood, and of course aliexpress. Now you see chinese companies doing indiegogo and kickstarter campaigns when back then it was westerners repackaging chinese stuff with badge engineering in those sites.

After that the new scam/get rich quick thing was FBA but even that got overrun and now chinese brands are marketing there directly and you can't beat them on price-quality, white label companies are barely cheaper and the quality its random at best. And if you want to create a brand you're gonna have to bribe a ton of ytubers and influences, see raycon among others.

Print on demand? the only ones making money off that are the ones selling courses on how to make money with print on demand.

 

[Stoneheart]

Print on demand? the only ones making money off that are the ones selling courses on how to make money with print on demand.

Well there is a market for 3d printing on demand., if you are willing to ignore copy rights...

 

[Chongqing]

From my vantage point, I've always through that a teespring business could work well if you have great designs and could properly market it.

Do any of you think that could work?

 

[Dread First]

From my vantage point, I've always through that a teespring business could work well if you have great designs and could properly market it.

Do any of you think that could work?

No, because the Redbubble/Teespring market is already grossly oversaturated. Similar with drop-shipping: the only profit (if at all) to be made is relative chump change or the more likely of the optimistic scenarios: you'll break even once all the vendors take their cut of your revenue.

 

[blazeaster]

I suggest not doing anything data entry. Those are scams.

There are legit data entry gigs that are paid decently, but they usually require more effort than copying and pasting stuff. Havent done anything related for half a decade though, so when research is required it might be more difficult since search engines are way more pozzed than they were in 2016-2017

 

[Dread First]

There are legit data entry gigs that are paid decently, but they usually require more effort than copying and pasting stuff. Havent done anything related for half a decade though, so when research is required it might be more difficult since search engines are way more pozzed than they were in 2016-2017

“Data entry” as a standalone job title or description is fucking meaningless.

Everyone involved in any type of business is involved with data entry, from macroscopic company growth figures to individual retail grunts scanning products into registers for customers at checkout.

Customs brokers are responsible for inputting duties, tariff codes, origin, destination, and stuff like that. However, their job is not ostensibly data entry alone because the actual task that must be accomplished is getting a customs release, rather than inputting the data and doing nothing else.

 

[blazeaster]

“Data entry” as a standalone job title or description is fucking meaningless.

Everyone involved in any type of business is involved with data entry, from macroscopic company growth figures to individual retail grunts scanning products into registers for customers at checkout.

Customs brokers are responsible for inputting duties, tariff codes, origin, destination, and stuff like that. However, their job is not ostensibly data entry alone because the actual task that must be accomplished is getting a customs release, rather than inputting the data and doing nothing else.

Online "data entry" gigs usually consist of you uploading descriptions and product images, optimizing a CSV file to be compatible with ecommerce CMSs, finding business addresses, finding the right products for for a store etc. It's not a regular job with a job title. People will usually hire you one time for stuff like this, cause it's boring. It usually requires very little knowledge. Some people require actual research and critical thinking, also time consuming and boring, but these pay well

 

[cybertoaster]

Well there is a market for 3d printing on demand., if you are willing to ignore copy rights...

Oh I know, etsy its full of fuckers reselling stolen 3D designs.

I know a few designers who started selling there only to prevent others from profiting from their work since etsy its a scam that only cares about copyright if you sell there.

From my vantage point, I've always through that a teespring business could work well if you have great designs and could properly market it.

Do any of you think that could work?

Nah these days you have to be an influencer with clout to sell merch, great designs mean little and can be stolen easily.

Some people require actual research and critical thinking, also time consuming and boring, but these pay well

Example?

 

[blazeaster]

Oh I know, etsy its full of fuckers reselling stolen 3D designs.

I know a few designers who started selling there only to prevent others from profiting from their work since etsy its a scam that only cares about copyright if you sell there.

Nah these days you have to be an influencer with clout to sell merch, great designs mean little and can be stolen easily.

Example?

Lawyers will pay well to do their research for example, but this requires reading and understanding boring contracts. Some people will pay well for uploading products to their amazon shops. Webscraping businesses can be profitable, but it's usually not worth doing manually and most sites will IP ban you, so you need to switch IP addresses occasionally.

 

[习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想]

Well there is a market for 3d printing on demand., if you are willing to ignore copy rights...

I'd imagine that it's a hella-saturated market by now, though