Drop shipping should be simple, right? It follows a simple underlying principle - it leaves you the function of the sales person, while the wholesale provider ships the goods out to the consumer. It should be a well-organized and straightforward procedure. You find an item that can be sold, and then you sell it by your website and leave the logistics to a 3rd party. Your exceptional marketing skills are used and all you have to do is find an eager drop shipper. But that is not automatically going to be the easiest job. As you start searching for information about drop shippers, you will find a lot of websites offering supposedly complete lists of providers and you may feel the task will be easy. Somebody in the list has to suit your wants, right? But, again there are a lot of frauds out there and you'd better be careful.

Marketers who have done wide research on drop shipping discover that the most common frauds are:

Sham lists - It is unbelievable but there are directories full of wholly false information out there that companies spend 3 or 4 digit amounts purchasing, only to discover that these lists have been made on purpose to scam marketers.

Cheap, out-of-date lists - You will find several cheap agreements that seem too good to be true. Yes, they are. These lists will generally contain outdated information and the makers of the list are trying to make the last few bucks on them.

Middlemen - There are many intermediaries and agents that pretend to be drop ship providers and earn a commission that you are not alert of. This will eat into your income margin.

The "full suite" services - Some companies will offer you a full suite of drop shipping services, from stocking, to packing, and shipping, but you will pay a lot for this service. They will usually charge a big fixed fee that will leave no income margin for you.

Drop shipper's charge - You should never be asked by a drop shipper to pay for the shipping service offered. A genuine drop ship provider will be glad to sell more of his item and will charge you the right amount to cover his expenses in the price of the item.

Establishing a business that is based on drop shipping requires careful, smart and planned work on the marketer's part. Be sure that you stay away from one of the above frauds and make sure you find dependable drop shippers and directories.