Dropshipping and Arbitrage
Dropshipping pertains to the method used by a middle person who accepts orders for a product, as well as the payment for it, while the manufacturer takes care of product delivery. The middle person in this dropshipping arrangement earns the difference between the retail price and the wholesale price. The advantage of selling via dropshipping is that the seller does not incur any manufacturing or delivery costs. Likewise, product support is managed by the manufacturer. The only cost shouldered by the seller would be setting up a storefront, be it online or an actual shop somewhere.
Arbitrage, on the other hand, is the method of buying a product for a cost and then reselling it at a higher price. With arbitrage, some legwork is required in order to acquire prized items at discounted price. Likewise, you would need to do prior research on what products are valued and in-demand.
In any case, both the dropshipping and arbitrage methods are ways to begin selling online, even though you may not have a product of your own. With dropshipping and arbitrage, all you need to do is have a website or online entity (for example, a membership at an auction site).
If you want to use your own website as storefront, be sure to let people know about it. You will need to do extensive online marketing in order for people to begin using your site. At the same time, you will need an online order processing system. A good option here is to use third party sites such as PayPal. Aside from having clear-cut web design, it would be best to offer useful content such as product description or features.
