Introduction

Whether you have a few spare hours, or you would like to devote full time to your business, you can do so from the comfort of your home, office or even whilst on the move using the latest technology. The demand for dropshipping is here now and growing on a daily basis.

Internet sales of consumer products are increasing all the time and at a faster and faster rate. The Internet works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your business will be accessible to users worldwide, you decide whether you want to sell to the UK or further afield also.

We offer an extensive range of products that can be sold by you at a profit. You do not need to carry any stock - we deal with stock-holding for you.

When using Help is at Hand there are not any:

• start up
• membership
• renewal or
• registration fees.

You will need to register with us to be able to see prices. When you apply for an account we will review the information you supply and then if we are happy that you are a business, or starting a business, we will open the account for you. We reserve the right to close an account at any time.

What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a highly successful form of selling in the USA; but is relatively new to the UK. Unlike the traditional ways of running a business, sourcing and buying stock in bulk, storing and hoping you manage to sell it all, dropshipping means you don't actually have to buy any stock (be that one item or several) until you know you have already made the sale. This method of selling works for online or offline mail order and it means that you can start a business with very little outlay or capital.

Dropshipping is quickly becoming a popular way of setting up your own home based business or simply earning a second income.

How does dropshipping work?

You advertise the items you sell under your own business name. You can do this via:

• your own web site
• online auction sites
  • some are more successful than others, some are free to use, others charge either per item or on an annual basis etc - do your research carefully and be prepared to experiment over a period of time
• mail order - by printing off a catalogue of items from your computer
• sell to family, friends and work colleagues
• advertise in the local free ads of newspapers
• to name but a few methods.

Most products have a recommended retail price (RRP), but generally you sell at whatever prices you choose bearing in mind what others are selling the same item for. Our prices are set low so that you can make realistic profit margins. You keep the profit above your cost. ~Please be aware that dropshipping may not provide massive profit margins. Some items will provide higher margins than others. It depends on many factors. As time goes on you will build up the experience of knowing which items sell well and whether you need to sell lots of the items with a lower profit margin or concentrate on the items that provide higher margins but fewer sales or a combination of the two. The choice is entirely yours. The great thing about dropshipping is that you can chop and change as much as you like since you have not bought any stock.

Once you have a sale, you purchase the item(s) from Help is at Hand and we ship directly to your customer. You simply order via the website and put the name and address where you want the order to go in the delivery address section at the checkout. Be sure to put in the correct information when prompted. All packages will be despatched to the delivery address unless otherwise stated. Many carriers will need a telephone number in case of difficulties finding the address or if the item is large and a delivery time needs to be confirmed with the end customer.

Although Help is at Hand has an extensive range of products there are other dropshippers too. Consider using more than one if you want to provide lots of items.

• Be prepared to drop those that do not provide you with a good quality service
• beware also that some may send items out to your customer with their company details on the packaging: this encourages business away from you and means that you have been providing free marketing for that company and loss of further sales for you!
• consider very carefully if you want to use a dropshipper that charges you for its service. Some say it is to discourage one time users. Help is at Hand has reports of problems with some of these dropshippers (eg setting up an automatic recurring annual charge. This can come as a bit of a shock when you have not used that company for perhaps several months and suddenly you find money being withdrawn from your bank account. Getting it back may prove problematical if not impossible. This can also be the case with some auction sites that you pay to use on say an annual basis - take care). We do NOT charge you any of these fees. At the end of the day the choice is yours of course.

Copyright

Help is at Hand has obtained appropriate permissions to use manufacturers' images and we own the copyright on our descriptions. Once your account has been accepted you may use our images and product descriptions from our web site. HOWEVER, please note that

• Help is at hand does not allow Hot Linking to us. You must copy the images and text and upload to your own web space or computer
• some manufactures do not allow:
  • images of its products to be shown on auction sites
  • any of its products to be advertised for sale on auction sites.

We have noted in the appropriate description or department if there are any restrictions.

What are the benefits?

• You receive payment for your sales up front, and your earnings are instant on every sale
• You do not need to employ anyone. You can run this method of business on your own
• You do not rent or buy business premises. You can easily work from home, office or even your car when parked using the latest mobile technology
• You do not need any qualifications or experience
• You can sell as much or as little as you want
• Fit dropshipping in with your lifestyle
• You are your own boss, there is no one else to answer to
• You start earning right from the first sale you make.

Where do I go from here?

Apply for an account with us or email us if you have more questions. We will do our best to help you.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to over zealous spam filters you may not receive an email sent from us authorising your account. Once you have applied please try logging in with the details you submitted. When you can log in your account has been approved. If you have any problems please email us and include a telephone number we can reach you on.

Clearing the confusion

If you have read this far you are seriously interested in dropshipping and maybe Help is at Hand as a supplier. It may be of interest to understand how we operate since there appears to be a lot of confusion in the UK dropshipping community about suppliers and how they work. Some dropshippers think that their suppliers are only dropshippers too and therefore scamming them. Undoubtedly this may occur. However, dropshipping by high street retailers has been going on for years.

Consider your local furniture retailer. You pop in and browse. You see an item that you like and the sales person says from order to delivery will be 8-12 weeks. You pay and wait for a call to arrange delivery. Effectively the retailer is dropshipping. This is normal practice in the UK. The retailer has only the showroom model available due to many considerations – eg lack of storage space (the warehouse does not have expanding and contracting rubber walls), how many of that particular item it can sell in a year, cash flow considerations etc. Although not holding a large amount of stock, what the retailer may have done over the years is forge relationships with manufacturers, importers and distributors. By providing a good level of orders to these suppliers the retailer has been able to obtain discounts and therefore can pass the savings on to you the customer. Check the mail order companies. Do they hold many hundreds of thousands of different items in stock all the time?

This is also how Help is at Hand works. We have two storage sites but neither has expanding or contracting rubber walls. We are therefore limited in the amount of stock we have on hand at any one time. However, because we have forged relationships (and continue to do so) with manufacturers, importers and distributors, who because of our business levels with them will effectively provide us with storage space, we can offer a much wider range of quality goods to you.