Top 50 China Dropshippers

Dropship from Japan

I’m always looking for ways to make money, even if that means saving money. That’s how I stumbled upon the Japan Blog Matsuri, this month being hosted by Frugalista Japan - a site dedicated on how to save extra pennies(yen?) while living in Japan.

While I don’t have anything advice on choosing a budget Geisha, I do have a story to share about making money while in Japan.

Let’s start with some background:

Here at Top 50 China Dropshippers, we often hear success stories of people starting their own businesses and making profits quite quickly.

While this may sound hard to believe if you have traditional ideas of business management, when it comes to drop shipping, this is no longer the exception but often the rule.

Let’s start by looking at Wikipedia’s definition of drop shipping:

Drop shipping is a supply chain management technique in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer. As in all retail businesses, the retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price.

To simplify that completely, drop shipping allows you to sell stuff you don’t have! ie. You have a website or eBay store which you list a bunch of MP3 players on. When somone makes a purchase, you forward their info to the drop ship supplier, who then sends the item directly to the client, c/o you, the seller.

This means you can start a profitable business without any initial costs such as warehousing, sourcing and buying inventory. All you need is a website or means of advertising “your” products.

Here is a great story I heard from a successful entrepreneur in Japan.

Hey Chris,
Thanks for the info about China dropship suppliers you provided on your site. Until last week, I was an English teacher in Japan, working long hours for a crappy wage which never increased after 3 years at the same company! I finally became so frustrated, I tried to find another job which would take me seriously. Unfortunately, without perfect Japanese skills, many companies would not even give me an interview in Japan. I started looking into starting an online business, where there would be no international borders and I could work a little bit each night after my teaching job. I studied SEO, affiliate programs, I tried selling cool Japanese stuffs on eBay, but the breakthrough was when I used your site to find a reliable electronics dropship supplier based in Shenzhen, China. I contacted them directly and told them I wanted to sell cool gadgets and electronics on eBay. They hooked me up with their product catalog, from which I could choose freely and list on eBay without having to pay them anything at all. The gadgets sold slow at first, then I studied more about how to be creative with eBay listings and sales jumped through the roof. When a sale happens, I contact my supplier straight away and they have the items sent straight to my customer, always within a week, sometimes within days! My customers come from the UK, USA, New Zealand, etc. I pay my supplier for the product and shipping and I still make about 40% profit on each item - without even leaving my tiny little apartment here! The best news is that I’m already making double what my teaching salary was here in Japan! I quit my job last week and told my company how bad their system is and why noone likes to work for them, that felt amazing!! Now, I actually enjoy living in Japan as I have time to go out and meet people (girls!) and not be tied down to a 10-7 job! Thanks Chris for your advice along the way and for the great list of China dropship suppliers which got me started! –BaiBaiECC, somewhere in Japan

We’ve heard from several people with similar experiences around the globe. They all tell stories of how they could start their businesses without any initial capital. Some did pay for cheap web hosting, which cost them a couple of dollars a month, but often they started with free websites or used eBay and built up from there.

While you have to have the motivation (usually to leave your current employer!), drop shipping can be the most frugal way to start your own business, regardless of experience or geographic location.

If you are interested in starting your own business without any initial outlay, check out our list of China Dropship Suppliers.