Hacker News Reader

Comment by the_watcher | Hacker News Reader

Dropshippers (assuming the product they are shipping is decent quality) are providing a service to the manufacturer - customer acquisition. Sure, it's possible for a consumer to find the vendor on Ali Express or somewhere like that, but most don't want to. They just want to Google $THING and buy it from a website that they've heard of or looks like it specializes in $THING.

View on HN

No customer buys a product from a drop shipper after a googling session. It's all sales by aggressive advertising on FB and Insta, peppered with false promises aiming at selling you a $3 plastic gizmo for $25.

They actually do.

The part you left out is highlighted:

> They just want to Google $THING and buy it from a website that they've heard of....

People google stuff (or search on Amazon), land on Amazon or some other online retailer, and buy it.

You might be surprised how much stuff is drop shipped via Amazon sales, and that can be direct shipment or to an Amazon warehouse then FBA.

And yes, paying $25 for a $3 rack rate good is close to standard. If you walk through a Target or Walmart, you will see tons of stuff that can be purchased on Alibaba for about that ratio.

It’s interesting seeing the same product on Amazon being sold by different vendors at widely ranging prices

You might think they are the same product, but Amazon is currently being overrun by counterfeit goods. It's no better than ebay or craigslist, at this point.

Also delivery timescales vary a lot. The worst are the ones claiming to ship from local warehouses and four weeks later you get an envelope from China. Basically they just con you on the wait period. But hey you can always go to a local shop and pay £20 for 16GB microSD card or USB cable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com