I have been using the drop shipping model for over a year now. I have been doing ok, but I have a question that I wanted to see if anyone knew. Can anyone tell me how I can recognize if a dropshipper is an authorized distributor?

Hi Ed,

Welcome to Wholesale Forum

That's simple, contact the brand owner or manufacturer and ask to confirm that the drop shipper is one of their authorized distributors.

Another way is to check at their prices, if their prices are high and won't allow you to make a profit you are 99% of the time dealing with a middleman.

Hope this helps.

There is one simple way to recognize if a dropshipper or anybody else is an authorized distributor. You can simply ask the parent company of the product they are selling. For example, if you want to know whether or not your dropshipper is an authorized distributor of Nike shoes, call up Nike and find out. Most companies have a process to let you know who is an authorized distributor and who is not.

Is it important to have an authorized distributor as your dropshipper?

Depends on the product. It certainly allows you to be sure that the product that you are getting from this is legit. This is very important if you are dropshipping name brand things to buyers on Ebay. They can get very angry if they receive a fake. So, using an authorized distributor as your dropshipper can save you a lot of hassle in that respect.