Drop shipping to America or not ?

Websales uk and drop ship to US to save costs

[stephen99]

I am at the very start of having a motorcycle add-on manufactured in Taiwan, this is a unique innovation that belongs to me, I intend using distributors to get started and then websales from my site when I have more funds, that is good for UK customers but customers in the US and other parts of the world would I be wiser using dropshipping to save on postage ect ?, any constructive advise would be appreciated

[stephen99]

Another thing might be worth mentioning is despatch points in countries of orders, meaning having shipped from Taiwan to USA to a despatch point where the units are addressed and posted in America to America based online customers and the same in Europe, China ect

[gpilling]

DHL had a service I think that took packages that were labeled in Asia and delivered them to the US Postal service in Los Angeles for final delivery through the postal system. You could see if your manufacturer would do this with you.

Or you could find a fulfillment warehouse in the US. There are many choices, big ones like Amazon and a whole lot of others.

[stephen99]

Yes the problem is the rediculous prices for postage from DHL, FedEx ect, the idle solution would be internet sales from the uk, goods despatched from Taiwan shipped to a warehouse despatch centre in USA but not Amazon due to their mark-up, it would be more cost effective to employ people in the states to pack and despatch good collected in bulk from the port, any suggestions are appreciated

[stephen99]

Yes the problem is the rediculous prices for postage from DHL, FedEx ect, the idle solution would be internet sales from the uk, goods despatched from Taiwan shipped to a warehouse despatch centre in USA but not Amazon due to their mark-up, it would be more cost effective to employ people in the states to pack and despatch good collected in bulk from the port, any suggestions are appreciated

[gpilling]

it would be more cost effective to employ people in the states to pack and despatch good collected in bulk from the port

According to your first post, you have just started this and have no sales. So therefore, you have no orders to ship and nothing to pay overhead with. I have a warehouse and a couple of employees and the overhead is $10,000USD per month. I would bet that Amazon (or another fulfillment warehouse) would cost you only 1% of that in the beginning.

Avoid overhead at all costs in the beginning. You have no idea what your sales will be. Do not get into a commitment for a lease, employees, etc until you know what the numbers will be.

[stephen99]

No your absolutely right, I dont intend opening a wharehouse or anything else at first, its forward planning and information gathering, I have family in Australia so if internet orders are good for that part of the world then I will have the goods DES Melborne from Taiwan but that also needs to be fully examined for pitfalls and opportunities.
I am interested to see how others do it, thanks for your reply

[Rugles]

If your goal is to service the North American market, ship from the factory to a fulfilment operation in North America. Then have the fulfilment center ship out each individual order to your customers. Most of these places are already performing this function and can handle that kind of thing.

The obvious problem ... if you do not have enough orders the overhead cost will destroy any profit.

For a new product, I would just start with your local market and see how much interest you get from other locations. Walk before you run.

[stephen99]

Absolutely agree and thanks, at this stage I am gathering options, heres hoping my product sells, thank you again for your advise

[Rugles]

Best of luck Stephen.

Remember its likely better to have orders you cant fill ... than have tons of product you cant sell.