I like the idea alot but im confused about how this works and need solid answers from a dropshipper , my questions:

1. Lets say for example i want to sell a sony ps4 on amazon , do i email sony and i ask them for permission to sell a ps4? does it work like that? do i need to have a certificate or something like that?

2. If someone buys my ps4 , do i email them again with the info of the buyer and they send the product? and also i give them the wholesale cost? do i send the wholesale cost manually?

3. Does all the work is done manually with emails and contacts etc or is there a way to automate the process?

4. Why is it better to make your own site rather than sell on amazon?
Im new into this and want to start ,

5. I can probably setup a shop on amazon but how do i find wholesalers who will cooparate with me? do i just email wholesale companies and hope they will cooparate with me?

Companies willing to dropship items to your customers are individual businesses, they have their own requirements. Generally speaking the higher end the brand the more volume / control they require, seems unlikely Sony + their distributors have much interest in helping you dropshop low volume orders if it all.

Most companies are not setup to help an individual dropship, they are looking for a partner who is going to bring them significant volume across a wide range of products. If you can demonstrate credibility as a business / ability to sell often they will let you dropship small orders to help you build your book of business with them.

If you're focused on dropshipping you have to remember that you exist because for whatever reason it's not practical to buy inventory. That means non-premium products and brands typically or niche products. The next step up from that is fulfillment which is significantly more cost effective. Think about like a variation on an affiliate program, there's not much money to be made selling affiliate for PS.

Store Coach has lots of free resources if you want a beginner's guide to e-commerce and dropshipping. There are other good resources available online if you look for them. It's a fairly large, but well documented topic.

1) Large consumer brands will basically never work with low volume distributors. Most will not drop ship and neither do many of their distributors. Electronics is one of the hardest categories in which to become a successful dropshipper.

2) The process is highly dependent on your manufacturer or distributor, but those that encourage dropshopping require you pay them the wholesale or distributor price when you submit an order for shipment. Whether they use a manual email driven process or have an order entry/fulfillment system is dependent on the sophistication and size of the organization you are working with.

3) You can automate any process in e-commerce and so can your manufacturer or distributor. Depends on who you are working with and how much effort or investment you personally want to put into automation.

4)
Amazon is highly competitive pricing wise. You can have much higher margins on a niche e-commerce site. How much business you choose to push through channels like Google shopping, Amazon, Ebay, or Facebook will entirely depend on your niche and the margin vs volume equation that best fits your business model.

5) Cold calling / emailing manufacturers in a niche you can drive consistently profitable traffic through is definitely one way to identify possible product providers. There are also companies that emphasize a dropshopping channel and make it easy to setup a relationship with them, but obviously that means competition will be higher. In almost all cases, you will need a legal entity (business name) and some type of established site or business plan that encourages anyone to work with you. If you live in the United States you need to also research tax laws and determine if any additional business licenses are required in your state to become a reseller/distributor.

If you're serious, this can be a path to financial independence, but it won't come easily. Good luck on your journey.

Also, I'm dead serious about Store Coach. For a newbie to this space they will definitely demystify it for you and answer many of the basic questions you may have.

Store Coach is indeed amazing site , i havent seen such a good site in a while , i cant believe it offers so much information for free and its also very well organized.

I have some newbie questions that i cant find an answer maybe because they are too obvious but i still dont understand, im completely new to ecommerce so dont blame me for this:

1. I dont understand why a manufacturer/wholesaler on ebay or w/e would ever sell you an item on a discount price when he can sell it on a retail price himself , i cant make any sense out of it , does he do that in order to improve the volume of his sales? i mean he will lose his profit target per sale but he will sell more and make up for it? but in this case he can simply lower the price himself , cant he? so it still doesnt make sense.

2. All sellers on ebay are retailers arent they? in that case you have to convice them to give you the product cheaper right? couldnt you exploit this and buy products cheaper for yourself?

3. All ebay sellers are potential suppliers/wholesalers? You just find a top sellers on any product you like and ask him for dropshipping?

2007 called, and they want their business idea back.

I never heard of the term 'dropshipping' until a year ago when I was telling people what I used to do in 2003 and they said "dude, you invented dropshipping!"

Back in 2003, the CAD-USD exchange rate was about 1.5:1.

I realized the price for box sets of dvds on amazon.com and amazon.ca were the same $ amount.

For example, Band of Brothers was $100 USD, but also $100 CAD.

I put sales on ebay.com with a $90 USD buy it now, and offered free shipping. People would buy it since it was a $10 savings. Effectively I received $135 CAD. After tax and shipping I paid around $115 CAD and shipped it directly from amazon to the buyer in the US.

Band of Brothers and Sopranos s1-3 were the biggest sellers.

After about 3 months, the amazons fixed their prices and the exchange rate was no longer as good, and the business dried up.