Are dropshipping companies worth the price?

I thought I would ask your alls opinion about something. Right now I am working from home and I don't really have an option but to work from home. I am a caregiver for my parents and they can't afford to hire someone to come in to look after them while I go out and work, and frankly, I like working from home. But, the problem is, my bookkeeping business so far is not paying all my bills. I need to make more money. So, I want to sell things on the internet. I have some ideas on what I want to sell, but haven't narrowed it down yet. Several years ago I had a website that sold lamps, it didn't do very well. It was a learn as you go. And boy did I learn. I did have some sales from it, but not enough to keep messing with it. I knew nothing about SEO and adwords was too expensive. I also had an Amazon store, but not knowing SEO or paying for Adwords, I got no sales from it. But, I have sold several items on eBay over the years. So, I have been looking at some dropshipping companies and they will push their products into my eBay account. They charge an annual fee for this service. These companies also offer a website package, but I don't really want to mess with the SEO or adwords or any kind of marketing for the website, it would just be a wast of money if no one visited the website. But, with eBay I could price my product slightly less than my competitors and hopefully get the sale. So what do you all think? Would this be a good investment?

I think it will come down to how well you can sell through eBay. I'm not sure there will be an automatic yes or no answer. I'd guess some people sell enough to make this relationship worthwhile and others won't.

Do you have to enter into a long term agreement with the dropshipper or can you try it for a month or three to test the waters. You're probably going to need to give it a try before you really know whether or not this is something you can make money doing. If there's a way to use their services for a few months instead of having to choose the annual fee you can try without risking too much.

I did a lot of reading on dropshipping companies and have decided they are not worth the money. Some companies have really bad reputations. Other companies won't let you see wholesale prices until you purchase one of their plans. The one company that did post their wholesale price was not rated very high, but after figuring my cost and calculating a sale price, then looking that same item up on eBay to see what competitors were selling the same item for, I realized I would not be able to sell at a competitive price and make a profit. Another disadvantage is that if an item I have up for auction sells, but then the dropshipper's supplier doesn't have the item, the purchaser may leave a bad review for me. Not good. Another disadvantage is that PayPal can put a hold on the funds, which defeats the purpose of using a dropshipper. Unless I have extra funds to pay for the item before PayPal releases the fund, then the purchaser will be waiting a long time to receive their purchase. And what if the funds are no good and I have already paid for them and sent them their purchase?

I haven't entirely given up on the idea of selling on eBay. I'll just try to find a wholesaler or distributor who will work with me directly. I've done it before so I know it can be done.

I'm leery of any online scheme where I'm merely the middle man to sell an existing product that anyone else can sell.
Yes, I know it works that way in retail, but retail stores have a ton of products in which to make profit and most times they own the merchandise and once people are in the store you have a captive audience.

If you were an exclusive distributor for something I could see that. Or if you were had a special design and were dealing with a supplier that made them for you.
Not only that, but when you are dealing with limited products, it's a constant battle to find new customers because you don't have returning customers.

It just reminds me too much of affiliate marketing and I think that industry is dead for the small guy.

Have you try shopify? Shopify is the best platform in drop shipping, there is an App which will take care of all your products from Aliexpress. Although shopify has their monthly plans but there is a legitimate way you can sell without any monthly fee until you get 50 orders....

Do you need to go into a long haul concurrence with the dropshipper or would you be able to attempt it for a month or three to try things out. You're likely going to need to try it out before you truly know regardless of whether this is something you can profit doing. In the event that there's an approach to utilize their administrations for a couple of months as opposed to choosing the yearly charge you can attempt without gambling excessively

Ebay is ALL about price. Every item in the world is available on ebay at highly discounted prices. Other than "collectibles' or "handcrafted" its totally price based. Dropshipping WILL NOT allow you to be competitively priced. You and hundreds of others will be selling the exact same thing.

You would be better off buying "distressed" merchandise at highly discounted prices. It's a pain in the butt but its the only way to be competitive. You have to hold and sort inventory , take good photo's and ship yourself. But even with online wholesalers and distressed merchandise dealers you have to be smart. You and everybody else can get the same deal.

It's like running a standard retail operation. You won't make any money without a significant investment in the RIGHT merchandise at the right price. My wife lost money fiddling around with Ebay until she made a significant investment in a certain line of products. It took a while to find the right supplier and it took some negotiation to get the right price.