Dropshipping vs. Affiliate Marketing

what's the best deal...

[pardo]

We're offered a dropship agreement when we ask a merchant for an affiliate agreement.

For me this is a whole new issue, never heard of dropship before...

I would like any suggestions to consider how to choose whether to go for the dropship agreement and what to take care off.

Any legal risks when customers are dissatisfied?

[growingdigital]

I'm not a drop ship expert, but I believe you would be responsible for customer service etc.

With affiliate programs you just make the sale and that's it. Customer service, tech support and other inquiries are all handled by the merchant.

[jcoronella]

Drop shipping is when your supplier ships direct to the customer so you don't have to warehouse or ship goods. Typically you rae responsible for returns, setting up a merchant account, and customer service.

There is drop shipping, then there is white label affiliates, the latter just allows you to build your own brand, and the merchant handles the rest.

You need to check with the merchant to see what exactly they mean. Typically you get higher margins with a drop-ship arrangment, but it all depends on what you want to do and what returns/chargebacks cost you.

[kpaul]

personally, i like AM better because if needed you can walk away from it and still have it operate while DSing, you kinda have to be the middleman to a larger degree...