Miss shipping cutoff or refund order. What is better?

[dukeofbling]

I am fairly new to big time ebay selling. I have quickly gone from a few orders a week to several orders a day. I have started to occasionly run out of stock on items I sell. I can always restock in a week or 2, but these situations are killing my performance numbers. I always check with my buyer when this happens and sometimes they want a refund and sometimes they don't care and just ship it whenever. I offer 1 or 2 day shipping and this just kills me on my stats. I know the ultimate solution to this problem is just don't sell items I do not have but while I build my inventory I still need to deal with this problem. Any suggestions I could use for now on how to minimize this problem would be really appreciated.

[femmefan1946]

Wrong question.

I have started to occasionly run out of stock on items I sell.

You have learned the first lesson of dropshipping.

Never trust your supplier.

If you had your product in hand, you would know when you ran out of stock and could close the listing until you have more. A listing moved to the Unsolds will rest there for up to 60 days (90 if you have a Store) and can be reopened with a click.

So the real question is : Where do I find a reliable supplier whose products I can buy and have in hand when the order comes in.

And the answer is as close as your Yellow Pages.

The paper ones.

Because you are looking for a company that has been in business for a while and is reasonably  local so you can inspect the goods before your purchase them.

Look for importers, manufacturers, liquidators, and auctions. Make an appointment with the first two. The latter are usually storefront. 

Bring your credit card. The supplier won't give you terms, but you have 30 days to pay your card off -- or you can pay interest.

But if you continue dropshipping, from a supplier who has already in the few months you have been dealing with him shown to be unreliable, your business will fail.

[dukeofbling]

Thank you for your reply. Anything worth doing always has a learning curve. Thats why I enjoy trying new things.

 You are right about suppliers only being trustworthy enough to sell you things. Some are better and some are worse. But everybody is in it to make money, especially me.

At every stage of becoming an ebay seller I have had to learn things, sometimes the hard way. For this particular problem I have increased my vendor base and I now can buy the same item from 3 different vendors. Of course I still have my first choice but in a pinch I can now always fulfill my sold items.

Thanks Ross