Dropshipping is a new kind of scam very popular on Social Networks. For example, you see a TikTok or Instagram influencer promoting a product. You may think that it’s a great quality product and that’s why your favourite influencer is promoting it. However, dropshipping works cheating on people to buy low quality products.
The dropshipping technique works by generating great income for the seller. It consists on buying a Chinese product with certain popularity and creating a striking website to sell it as if it was made on America or Europe. Then the seller resells the product up to 3 or 4 times its original price.
Dropshipping and how the promotion works
When you already have the webpage online, you start an aggressive advertising campaign. The most common technique is a TikTok or Instagram reel where you read something like “TikTok made me buy this”. The dropshipper wants you to enter the webpage directly by a link or encourage you to search the item on the Internet.
The dropshipper is essentially an intermediary. You buy the goods to him but he buys them on China and sends it directly to your house. The dropshipper has almost no expenses. He doesn’t pay for storage and there’s no stock in risk. But he also ignores the true quality of the product. At the end of the day, the bought can be a true scam.
How to start your own dropshipping business
You won’t need any investment at all to start dropshipping. The main elements you need to have to start a dropshipping account include:
- An online store such as Shopify.
- Create a TOP product list with Dropship.io.
- Use flaticon.com to create your logo and trademark.
- Use the Zendrop provider.
- Quickbooks to manage your finances.
- UpCart for the shop cart design.
- Copywritting with Copy.ai.
- Use AfterShell for the upselling.
Dropshipping works legally?
The dropshipping method is totally legal. In most of the cases the management for the buy is correctly done. Most of the dropshippers have several webpages dedicated to each item specially. They provide you with a service where you only need to buy and wait for the package at home. It could also be done directly with the manufacturer but it requires some papers. That’s why dropshippers are so popular, they make the buy for you and earn money in the process.
The dropshipping scams
There’s a recent scandal involving a dropshipper and the influencer Kourtney Kardashian. She was paid to promote cheap false eyelashes and the results were pretty bad. The quality of the item was extremely poor. Another problem with dropshippers is the opinion in forums and websites like Trustpilot. They have tons of false accounts to write positive comments and it can be very tricky to distinguish a good from a bad item.
Dropshipping is not illegal but it can be considered immoral for some. At the end of the day you are selling an item for more than 4 or 5 times its real price. But the user could also contact the original seller to save money.
Mouth to mouth advertisement to avoid scams
The best way to choose a dropshipper is using the mouth to mouth and user experience. On social networks comment you can find lots of trolls for good and for bad. So it’s better to talk with real users that have bought through a dropshipper. Then you can really know if the person giving an opinion is sincere or a troll.
You can also make a deep search on the Internet to investigate the item. If the price is too low it’s probably a scam, but you should take into account that several users make reviews on the Internet.
The dropshipping also works on Amazon
The online store Amazon is also used as a dropshipping method. Some users open an account on Amazon and start selling Chinese items from there. The price is higher than AliExpress or other online stores but the shipment is faster thanks to AliExpress storage units.