You have found a drop ship product line you love and then you see that there are fees. Fees for sign up, fees for each drop ship item or order, or maybe even ongoing membership fees. Why do drop ship suppliers charge these fees and what does it mean for you? And why some fees may be a good thing.

Let me start by saying I am a retailer, wholesaler, manufacturer, drop ship supplier, drop ship retailer, importer, artist, web developer, and small and online business consultant. Yes, I am busy. And yes, before I launched the drop shipping supplier side of my business I did not quite understand the fees that some of the products and suppliers I was interested in were charging. Now I know! I thought some candid details from my own experience may be helpful or least interesting as you navigate the business of drop shipping.

The first thing to understand is that suppliers offering drop shipping to retailers is a service. Offering this service to drop ship retailers comes at extra financial expense to the supplier and much more time and effort invested, and responsibility.

I have recently read the argument on a forum that there should be no fees because the retailer is sending the supplier sales. (I go into more details below about why that isn’t really all that drop shipping entails.) If you are looking to just refer a sale to a supplier, make some money, and not invest in your own business then choose affiliate programs. You will earn a lower percentage in most cases, but there should be no investment to work with the supplier.