There are a couple things you must do before any legitimate wholesale supplier will even consider doing business with you.  The first is that you must register a business name and obtain a valid business license in your state.  The second is that you must also register a Tax ID.  Both of these steps are very straight forward and simple to do, but many beginners never go through with the process. This hurts them in the long run.

Simply contact your County Clerks Office and they can guide you through all the steps needed.  The process usually only takes a couple days in most states (even faster if you can register online).  Fees shouldn’t exceed $20 in most states.

These things are very important to do because all true wholesale suppliers are required, by law, to have proof that you are a legitimate retailer, and must keep your Tax ID on record.

Now, if you are proceeding with the doba.com free trial, you do not need to have a registered business name and Tax ID because Doba will be working with the wholesale suppliers.  This makes it easy for just about anyone to get started since true wholesale suppliers can be difficult to find and are very picky with who they do business with.

In the long-run though, you want to eventually be doing business directly with the wholesale supplier themselves, using a service like Doba as a test platform and stepping stone to get yourself into the business.

Want to start up your own drop shipping business as quickly as possible but don’t want to fork out the cash on expensive wholesale directories that may or may not be up to date?  Don’t want to risk money on a potential scam?  Well, here’s an idea you may find rather interesting.  What if you could try out your own drop shipping business for free?

Currently, you can take advantage of a couple of free trial offers by two major companies that will, in effect, allow you to try your hand in this business completely risk free for up to 7 days.

Right now, eBay has a promotion going on where you can open a new eBay Store, and try it out for 30 days free of charge.  Setting up one of these online stores is very fast and very easy to do, and is definitely one of the best ways to go about selling products online.

Click here to visit eBay Stores and open your free online store.

Next, you’ll need products to sell.  So, head on over to Doba.com, who is running a 7 day free trial promotion. Doba is one of, if not the most respected and well-known wholesale drop shipping companies around.  They are sort of a “middleman” company in a technical sense, but they do not mark up their prices.  Instead, they charge a membership fee which, in my opinion, is well worth it.  Their service and wealth of informational resources, as well as their ease of use is highly exceptional.  They are also one of the few drop shipping companies who are endorsed by eBay.

Click here to vist Doba.com and register for the free trial.

Now you can find wholesale products on Doba.com, and sell them in your eBay Store.  Remember, you only pay for the wholesale product AFTER you have received payment from a customer, so you can try this out completely risk free.  If you make no sales, you pay nothing.

If, after 7 days you have made no sales and feel you are not quite ready to continue, make sure you cancel your trial accounts so you aren’t billed when normal membership kicks in.  If, on the other hand, you do manage to turn a profit (even if it’s only a small one), you may consider continuing with your Doba membership and using up the full 30 free days of you eBay store.  If all goes well, then you can begin optimizing and expanding your new business to increase your profits.

Good Luck!

Technorati Tags: drop ship business, drop shipping business, Drop Shipping Information, wholesale products

Drop shipping companies are wholesalers who will ship products directly to your customers straight from their warehouses using the shipping information you specify (such as your own company name and address). When the product arrives, it will appear with your company name/logo on it and the customer has no idea it was sent straight from the wholesaler.

This is a great service for the entrepreneur as it makes the process of starting up and running a retail home business extremely simple and easy compared to how it was in years past. It can be as simple as listing products on eBay and using  drop shipping companies to handle all supply and shipping tasks. You don’t have to purchase stock in bulk, and can safely try out different products and markets because you only pay the drop shipper after you have received payment from a customer.

There is a great deal more to it than this of course, if you expect to really excel using this business model. There are more places than just eBay to sell products. There are tons and tons of wholesale drop shipping companies as well as “middleman” sites posing as legit drop shippers. Competition can be stiff and it really pays off to do much research and to take advantage of any and all information you can find.

So, I intend to constantly update and grow this site into a comprehensive drop shipping resource in order to help any and all interested in pursuing this exciting and profitable business opportunity.

Technorati Tags: drop shipping, Drop Shipping Companies, dropshipping, dropshipping companies, wholesale drop shipping