The "Profit Blindness" Trap
Day 18, ads in full swing, I had my first $2k day.
Fast forward to month end, and I was $425 in the red!
That's not a typo. That's dropshipping when you don't know your numbers.
Now, this isn't quite my story (I'm British for starters, so I deal in pounds not dollars). But this is a true tale and one all too common in the early days of dropshipping.
Let's break this down:
Several orders brought in around $2,000 USD in revenue.
Sounds great, right? Until you crunch the numbers: product costs, 'express' shipping (that still takes 3 weeks!?), transaction fees, platform fees, tax, ad spend... Suddenly, things aren’t looking so rosy.
And that's:
– Before returns.
– Before customer service.
– Before operating overheads.
– Before your time and energy.
Hard truth: Money isn't money until you keep it.
Revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity.
Getting the sums right isn't rocket science. Use online tools, use Droplla's profit calculator, use a spreadsheet, hell... use the back of a cigarette packet if you must. But don't ignore it. Been there. Done that. Went into the overdraft to prove it.
The "Cease and Desist" Nightmare
Let me set the scene. You wake up one morning to find your best sellers, a "tribute" to a famous mouse, have all been removed from your store!
Your defence? "But everyone else is selling them!"
Turns out Disney's lawyers don't give a monkey's. They care about their trademarks and you, in their eyes, are taking the Micky.
Too many infringements. You lose your store. You lose your business. Will their lawyers care? No. In fact, they may stick the boot in and send you a bill just to cap it off.
The internet is a copy-paste world.
But the law is not.
The "One-Star Review Avalanche"
"Nothing like the picture!"
"Cheap plastic garbage!"
"DON'T BUY!"
One star.
One star.
One star.
You never saw the product before shipping it. You didn’t handle it, try it, or even photograph it. You assumed it matched the supplier’s images and description. Your customers assumed the same - but they’ve paid their hard-earned cash only to find out the reality doesn’t match the assumption. And they’re angry!
Quality control isn't optional.
It's not even negotiable.
It's everything.
One-star reviews are like stains: quick to make, slow to remove, and impossible to overlook.
Here's the truth about dropshipping.
The barriers to entry are low.
The barriers to success are HIGH.
How do you survive during your start-up?
By knowing your numbers. Cold.
By respecting intellectual property. Fullstop.
By testing your products. Every. Single. Time.
The rest is up to you.