I think the best way to do this is by what is called affiliate marketing. YOu adverstise for someone and the cusotmer clicks your link and goes tot he store onwer. If they buy, you get a cut. there is no inventory, no shipping worries. There is a pretty goo book out about this called the super affiliatae handbook. You can see their ad here Affiliate marketing takes the worries of handling the product away. You have to watch what companies you gowith, as some of them give you next to nothing. Others will give you quite a percentage! Message Edited by NicoleD on 10-30-2009 11:46 AM

Hey,      Thanks for that great ebook, it was a great help to me.. Getting something now. Thx   Sussane Message Edited by sussane on 10-07-2009 10:52 PM

I think, ebay provide online storage facilities. Try it. I have heard most sellers work with ebay. It may be a great place to sell your items..

Regarding dropshipping - if you have the goods sent to you - then you resend them to your customers - that is not really dropshipping. Dropshipping is when you send the wholesaler or distributor the customer's address and they send directly to your customer. In my opinion it is always better to send the products directly from YOU - no one else. This way you keep your customers. if you send your customers' information to another company - they will send your cusotmer their catelog or other marketing material - thus, if they choose to purchase again - they will usually by=pass you and go directly. Now, have the product sent to you first can help you with investory carry costs and stock out costs, etc. But it will increase your mailing costs - as well as the time it takes to get the product to your customers. But I think it will be worth it. In time - you may be able to estimate you volume - and be able to stock some of the product making it cheaper (you can get cheaper mailing rates when you are not in a hurry) and can increase the time it takes to get the product to your customers.

What you are actually doing is dropshipping which is when you list products on your websites and another company has them in stock and ships them for you.   Be careful because there are a lot of scam websites that don't deliver one the goods to your customer. Make sure they are reputable and that you aren't going to loose money.   Check out a free e-book business guide that can give you a lot of information: http://consultations.exceptional-business-solutions.com/free-e-book.html

Welcome to the Community! Check out our Steps to Registering a Small Busines Guide. It is important to register a business name, so you cannot be held personally liable for any problems. The last step has a link to the PermitMe tool, which will search and show you exactly the permits you need in Missouri. Also, the government does not typically provide grants for small businesses, but there are certainly loans available. Check out our Loans & Grants search tool to find out what you might qualify for. Let us know what you think of these tools!

Yes as mentioned above this is a form of drop shipping and also be careful when taking this route to confirm all the business relationahips. The biggest downfall of this method of selling online is that if your wholeseller ever goes bust or discontinues the product it affects your business also.

Thanks for the e-book Brits425 ! Its just what I've been looking for. Thanks Apartmani Message Edited by NicoleD on 09-09-2009 02:35 PM

You really only need two things to be a retailer, a sales tax number/certificate and a federal employer identification number (FEIN). Here's a link from the Missouri Dept. of Revenue that should help:   https://dors.mo.gov/tax/coreg/index.jsp   Also if you want to save money just do business as a sole proprietor using your name or get a doing business as (DBA) so that you can use a different name. Later on when your making money you can form a LLC or corporation.

How did you select the dropshippers? How long have they been in business? Did you do your due dilligance in making sure your dropshippers are reliable and are not a scam? Most drop-shippers are scams on the internet.