There's a lot of buzz online about using wholesale drop ship suppliers to start a profitable online business. Yes, it can be done, but there are several things that most people don't understand about this method that need to be cleared up, if your business is actually going to BE profitable.

First, the wholesale drop ship concept is not new. It didn't just pop up with the internet. Wholesale drop ship suppliers have been around for well over a hundred years, and in some form or fashion for thousands of years.

The concept that a wholesale company will send products directly to a customer location from their warehouse, bypassing the retailer, allows the retailer to avoid handling the products. That's a good thing. You, as the retailer, don't have to spend time and money to re-package wholesale products and get them out to your customers. Your customer gets the package faster, and that makes THEM happy.

However, the wholesale drop ship supplier has some extra work to do in this scenario. They have to break open large cartons of products, pick ONE product out for you, and package and ship it to YOUR customer for you.

Wholesalers are not used to working that way. Their business is mainly taking in very large shipments of products, breaking them into slightly smaller shipments of products, and sending them out to retail stores. They are not really in business to send out just ONE product, directly to someone's CUSTOMER. So, it's extra work for them, and costs them money. Many wholesalers are still willing to do it, but by no means is EVERY wholesale supplier willing to become a wholesale drop ship supplier.

When you do find those that are willing to do this, keep the following things in mind:

• You're going to pay a slightly higher wholesale price for a single item to be delivered to your customer from a wholesale drop ship supplier.
• Because you pay a slightly higher price, it's a little tougher to compete in your product market.

There is a good trade-off, though. Even though you pay a slightly higher wholesale price, you don't have to buy a bunch of products in bulk up front, and hope you sell them. So, the real advantage of using a wholesale drop ship supplier is in getting started at a low cost, and TESTING different products without a lot of expense.

Once you find a product from a wholesale drop ship supplier that works well for you, it's time to start buying that product in bulk, and shipping them yourself. You get better price breaks from the supplier that way, and your retail price comes down. This allows you to compete in the market more easily.

So, use a wholesale drop ship supplier for getting started at a low price, AND for product TESTING, but realize that drop shipping is not a permanent solution. It's a step along the way to ordering and stocking products in bulk.