[DJKapeesh]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I'm interested in ecommerce drop ship businesses. I have one already that does ok, however whenever I have looked to get into other products I have not done as well.

Anyone have any experience in this space?

I'm not even sure I completely understand what that is? Can you please explain?

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by DJKapeesh

I'm not even sure I completely understand what that is? Can you please explain?

It's just an ecommerce business where you have no physical inventory as the order fulfillment is handled by your supplier.

[csu87]

Originally Posted by DJKapeesh

I'm not even sure I completely understand what that is? Can you please explain?

im willing to bet most the vendors here do this.

All it is, is you set up an account with a manufacturer/large distributor to ship products you sell. You sell said products, but never keep an inventory of them. You submit the order to the manufacturer/distributor, and they ship the product out. Works well if you can move a large volume since the margins are usually low, since they carry all the overhead. All you need is a website and to manage the orders coming in. I have set up sites in the past that basically ran themselves as well, so you have almost no work involved. An order is automatically routed to the distributor and they handle the rest.

[Biorin]

Originally Posted by DJKapeesh

This is my worst nightmare.

Buying something rent and having a mortgage but tenant doesn't pay. I guess I will wait on the real estate idea until I can pay at least 50% of the house upfront.

As far as stock, I discovered if your not buying at least $500 at a time the transaction margins will eat the profits in short term trading.

There's an app/brokerage called Robinhood that will allow you to trade equities for free, no catch. They offer virtually no research or analysis tools, but if you've got a way to do that elsewhere, it's a nice way to execute a bunch of small trades that would otherwise not be worth it.

I also like OptionsHouse, and find that to be the most reasonably priced of the online platforms.

[gtron]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I'm interested in ecommerce drop ship businesses. I have one already that does ok, however whenever I have looked to get into other products I have not done as well.

Anyone have any experience in this space?

you don't feel that distributors that offer drop shipping as an option cut too far into profits? i've found most of them charge more which makes it difficult or even impossible to stay competitive. in some really shitty places you will even see their distributor prices can't even beat amazon.

from a consumers prospective, why buy from some no-name site w/o ratings when amazon has it even cheaper.

imo, it's just too hard to stay competitive and make a profit when the words "drop ship" are involved.

if i'm wrong i would love more info. i have a few quality niches that i've developed for many years but marked as deinvest due to what ecommers has turned into.

[roastbeef]

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1022724

i created the above thread a little while ago. it has some good discussion.

i got started in real estate and i love it. i own three properties. two are rentals. it takes patience, time, research, and confidence in yourself (because there is some risk involved, and you must be confident in your research).

i purchased my first rental in 2012, and it has been rented by the same tenant ever since. i purchased my second rental in 05/2015. it is now rented, but it took almost three months to rent it. i was renovating it for a month and a half, and i was very selective. sometimes it is worth it to eat the mortgage for a month to be selective and pick the best possible tenant. that is where patience is important.

$37,200 of my gross yearly income is directly related to my investments in real estate. i don't profit nearly as much as that, but i'm making a respectable profit each month.
i'm no expert, and i'm still learning. i'm gaining write offs, some monthly profit, someone else is paying down my mortgage, and the property is appreciating well.

be patient and disciplined. don't get emotional with a property. if the numbers aren't right, go the other way. deals are like busses, there will be another one in five minutes.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by gtron

you don't feel that distributors that offer drop shipping as an option cut too far into profits? i've found most of them charge more which makes it difficult or even impossible to stay competitive. in some really shitty places you will even see their distributor prices can't even beat amazon.

from a consumers prospective, why buy from some no-name site w/o ratings when amazon has it even cheaper.

imo, it's just too hard to stay competitive and make a profit when the words "drop ship" are involved.

if i'm wrong i would love more info. i have a few quality niches that i've developed for many years but marked as deinvest due to what ecommers has turned into.

You are correct it's ALL about the distributor you get and that's what makes it hard. For the one business that is working our distributor also happens to be one of the largest retailers for the same product. So "our" service is excellent and we get a lot of great reviews.

I have compared our drop shipped prices to the pricing we can get from a regular none drop ship distributor and every time our drop shipped prices have been better. Not even factoring in the additional work involved if we have to ship ourselves.

That being said yes margins are shit, but the overhead is almost nonexistent. I'm not going to get rich off it but for the minimal work required it's a nice side income.

All that being said I wouldn't mind warehousing and shipping out product also. I'm just not sure how to source the right product.

[PoorLurker]

roastbeef Are your properties in Orange County? Seems like the return here is horrible. Even the inland empire is not too great of an investment anymore.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

roastbeef Are your properties in Orange County? Seems like the return here is horrible. Even the inland empire is not too great of an investment anymore.

I live in oc, but my rentals are in Oceanside. I'm not opposed to buying anywhere, as long as it's not a shitty part of LA. Oceanside just happened to be where the numbers crunched at the time.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

roastbeef Are your properties in Orange County? Seems like the return here is horrible. Even the inland empire is not too great of an investment anymore.

I'm also keeping an eye on the Seattle and Austin markets. I really like how Austin is looking. More specifically, round rock or pfluggerville.

[PoorLurker]

I have heard some good things about Plano, TX. I know that someone else in your thread mentioned that area as well as an area that is showing a lot of growth.

I think that TX does have 2% property taxes though.

Do you already have relationships established with contractors to do flooring, tile, etc? Also, do you have a trustworthy handyman? One of my biggest issues is finding someone trustworthy who I can call and trust to replace the issue without trying to price gouge me.

I remember looking at Santa Ana condos near downtown like 3-4 years ago for like $100k for a 2bd. Looking back on that, I totally missed the boat!

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

I have heard some good things about Plano, TX. I know that someone else in your thread mentioned that area as well as an area that is showing a lot of growth.

I think that TX does have 2% property taxes though.

Do you already have relationships established with contractors to do flooring, tile, etc? Also, do you have a trustworthy handyman? One of my biggest issues is finding someone trustworthy who I can call and trust to replace the issue without trying to price gouge me.

I remember looking at Santa Ana condos near downtown like 3-4 years ago for like $100k for a 2bd. Looking back on that, I totally missed the boat!

yea, taxes are more in tx, but property is cheaper. my tenant in my existing condo is pretty handy and actually did the work on my second unit. it worked out well.
yea, there were some good buys in santa ana in 2010-2012. i was looking at the area around south coast plaza. put in an offer and got out bid by about $70k i think.... they can have it.

[BayMoWe335]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

I have heard some good things about Plano, TX. I know that someone else in your thread mentioned that area as well as an area that is showing a lot of growth.

I think that TX does have 2% property taxes though.

Do you already have relationships established with contractors to do flooring, tile, etc? Also, do you have a trustworthy handyman? One of my biggest issues is finding someone trustworthy who I can call and trust to replace the issue without trying to price gouge me.

I remember looking at Santa Ana condos near downtown like 3-4 years ago for like $100k for a 2bd. Looking back on that, I totally missed the boat!

Taxes are closer to 3% and houses in Plano need to be around $600,000+ for a good one. There are a lot of meh areas of Plano East/West are very different and many of them are getting older. Plano is essentially built out, so not sure about people saying there is growth. Frisco is growing and even that is getting basically built out. People are going even FARTHER north, which is crazy given the traffic in Dallas. People are driving almost 2 hrs to work in traffic and paying $25/day roundtrip in tolls.

The cheapness of real estate in Texas is sort of a misnomer because while some areas are cheap, many of the most desirable houses in Dallas County are quite expensive. $1m is nothing if you live in a more exclusive area. Unless you want to move so far North that you're essentially in Oklahoma, houses are not super cheap.

The taxes on a $500,000 house (which is really nothing great in a good area) would be right around $15,000/yr, so add another $1200/month to the mortgage. For some people, that's going to be a deal breaker. Most homes in Dallas County recently went up about 10% in taxable value and continue to go up yearly. And remember those taxes are never frozen and continue every year until you're retired or 60 years old, something like that.

[SunnyD]

Originally Posted by BayMoWe335

Plano is essentially built out, so not sure about people saying there is growth.

Well, don't forget that Toyota has moved their national headquarters to Plano (used to work at TFS corporate), so that alone could provide some growth to the surrounding areas. As far as I know, it's going to be a phased transition with TMS heading out there first within the next year, followed by TFS in 2-3 years.