Nearly About 2 Months In – Drop Shipping Business

Posted byiPapitoPosted inDad's ExperiencesTags:, , , , , ,

I wanted to give you a quick update on my drop shipping business, which I started back in November of 2021. Now I received my website on the 4th of November, but it took some time to get it out into the world, you know placing on Google (Search engines), and so on. Remember I also mentioned that I had a hard time setting up my Facebook account, due to a shortage of employees at Facebook, according to them.  So, getting my FB account approved took about 8 days, after which listen to this, it took at least another 3 days for me to get approved on placing ads, or boosting my posts. I started my Google and FB ads sometime towards the (middle-ish) end of November and started to see a few visitors.

“I have had no sales since last November, not one sale”.

Lots to Learn

I went ahead and purchased a few items myself from my site to see how it all came together, there were a few hiccups, that took me several days to get resolved by AliDropship. If you remember I purchased an exact copy of a supposedly profitable store from Alidropship. I had also purchased a few plug-ins to enhance my site. First, I have to say that their customer service is not that good, I would give them a 3 out of 5 stars. As for the quality of the site, the front-end I would say a 3.5 out of 5 stars because the site is good-looking, but it is not easy for a customer to navigate. If there are a lot of products it just doesn’t flow right. The backend of the site, meaning the tools I have that allows me to make updates, such as add products, edit pages, etc. is 2 out 5 stars because it is not at all easy to make edits to the site, I have had to do a lot of trials and error.

As for the products, I know that I have seen and heard that if you start an online business, it should be a niche, maybe just t-shirts, pet accessories, etc. but if a company claims they have an online business that makes 40K in sales a month selling multiple products, why wouldn’t someone like me believe it, right. I guess I was a sucker, at one point, but I did decide to change it up and start making changes to the site to see if I can get sales with different products or ideas. Now, I might not be happy with Alidropship, but I am not going to give up on the site or idea – just yet

Now I have put in about $1500 since the end of November to promote the site, you know FB ads, Google ads, and I even used a marketing company to drive traffic. Now, the traffic is up, but no sales yet. Of course, I need to play around with the keywords, or phrases, and it is a learning curve, but I am learning. I hoping to get the first sale and grow from there (crossing my fingers) in the next couple of months – I know months sound like a long time. All I am saying is that it is not a quick-rich scheme, and I always knew that, but it is taking a lot of work, and if you have a full-time job and family, the time isn’t as available as one would like. It’s just sad that when a company says that an exact copy of a site makes a certain amount, but it doesn’t, it is a little discouraging. I am burning the candle at both ends and I am not a young buck, so some days or most days seem to be quite long for me. Now, I have seen companies out there that offer a built-for-you site for 27 dollars, and I know WordPress offers an eCommerce site I think for $59 per month or $45 per month if you do annual billing. The thing is that it will take work to build the site and get the cart going, the shipping, the payment method, the layout, the abandonment cart process, and so on, and so on, and then of course venting suppliers and importing products. I guess if you don’t mind the work and the learning curve, that road might be cheaper. I spent $300 for an exact site, $200 for installation, and $200 for their marketing package. If you do decide to go with Alidropship, only do the exact site for $300, don’t bother with their Marketing Package, trust me it is useless for $200, and if you are confident in setting up the site yourself through WordPress, don’t bother getting their Installation option, only if you are confident. Also do not bother with the social media package, I ended up doing it myself and the cost is just not worth it. As for the plugins, some are ok, but the more plugins you install the slower the site loads. So be careful with the plugins you get. Think about the customer experience or maybe how you navigate in Amazon or other sites, that will help you choose the right plugins for your site. As for driving traffic, just understand that even if you throw at it $1500 in ads or marketing, your site won’t be an automatic success, it could take months or possibly a year or more to get your first sale and then be consistent afterward will take additional time and money. Just be patient and play around a bit with different ways to drive traffic to your site, that is what I am trying to do. There is a lot I can say and make this post long, the thing I am trying to say is that just because a company says it can make you a successful online drop shipping business, it doesn’t mean it will be successful and it can get discouraging, but the thing here is, stick to your dream/idea and take small steps. I am hoping it will or better said, I know that my drop shipping site will make money soon – I need to believe. It has been an interesting journey, and lots of learning, and I am trying to see what combinations work. Once I find the right recipe, I will gladly post about it.

To wrap it up, Alidropship is a 2 out of 5 stars. The supplier, Sellvia is a 3 out of 5 stars, because even though the shipping is 1-4 days, their pricing and shipping costs are insanely high, which makes it difficult to compete and they only ship within the US – my opinion. The products are ok, those from small businesses are very cool and I support small business, but most of their products are just ok. Now, there are other suppliers, and the shipping might be longer, but I have been noticing that even in Amazon some sellers shipping times are pretty long. So, you’ll be fine. I leave you with this thought, “Trust me, there are going to be days you want to throw in the towel, but don’t. Take a deep breath, change your strategy and keep moving forward. I believe it can be done not only for me but for anyone out there trying to build a side hustle.”

Good Luck!

Published by iPapito

Strange but true, I was born in San Salvador, as an abroad US citizen. It sounds strange, but you see, my mother was 5 months pregnant and happen to be visiting San Salvador. She slipped and fell in a pool and well, I was born. I am a twin, but unfortunately, he did not make and I did. My mother’s side of the family happens to be well of, and I had the opportunity to live a nice life early in my childhood. You know, private school, servant, nice home, and vacations. Things change when my mother decided to follow my father to the United States and well, that is where my story begins. I started a blog a while back, but life sort of hit and I left it behind, but now as I am a bit older, I decided I needed an avenue to share my experiences with others, while at the same time allowing me to open up and talk like I am on someone’s couch, I guess you could say. This blog will be more like an open book, created by experiences that I have had throughout my life. Experiences that many could relate to and what I did or how I handled it, you know after the fact. You never know there just might be a piece of information, idea, an option that someone could use and it would help them through the experience. Just remember these are my experiences, things I have been through, work through, and lived through – it does not mean I am right, but it does not mean I am wrong – it is simply an experience.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: