Can’t I Just Buy A Dropship Website?
The recent words of one of our readers echoed the sentiment of many:
Dear Dropship Advisor,
The more I learn about the nature of a dropshipping business, the more I am daunted by the process. I want to start a baby products store. Can I just buy an existing ecommerce website with existing dropshipping wholesalers?
-ECommerce Exhausted
Dear ECommerce Exhausted,
This is certainly a valid question and one that has a lot of merit as dropshipping grows and matures. Just as with any other type of business, you can either build a dropship business from the ground up or you can purchase an existing business from someone who is getting rid of one.
There is a growing market for the sale of dropship websites and other e-business on sites such as Flippa, WebsiteBroker.com. There are many other marketplaces for dropship websites online, but these are some of the more prominent ones.
Also, check Craigslist, Backpage, Kijiji and other directories for eCommerce and dropshipping-related business advertisements. These websites get quite a bit of traffic from web-savvy entrepreneurs (like yourself..).
When you find a dropship website that you are interested in learning more about, make sure to ask the seller a lot of questions. I got a bit exhausted trying to understand why so many people are selling so many ‘profitable, easy-to-maintain’ websites..doesn’t quite add up.
Make sure you get:
-Satisfactory reasons as to why the website is being sold
-The age of the domain
-The existing hosting information
-The shopping cart information
-The nature of dropshipping relationships (including wholesale cost, shipping arrangements, marketing restrictions, etc.)
-Financial statements (profit and loss statements for the lifetime of the business; the past three years if the business has been around for a long time)
-Better Business Bureau information – do a BBB.org check on the domain and ensure that no outstanding grievances have been filed against the company
If the seller has provided this all to your satisfaction, proceed.
Part 2 – Price Negotiations Coming Tomorrow.
-The Dropship Advisor