I was wondering where I can find a reliable drop shipper for musical goods as I am wanting to open an eBay shop selling instruments.

Thanks

Hi Colega_Elec,

For drop ship suppliers of musical instruments we recommend you try contacting manufacturers / makers of musical instruments in the UK and propose the idea of drop shipping to them. A lot of companies might be willing to drop ship for you.

New brands could be very receptive to the idea of drop shipping, they want to market their brand and get it out into the world as soon as possible, so they will be likely to take the opportunity to drop ship. Have a look at this BBC article about a new instrument created by a team of Bristol sound engineers: BBC News - New electronic musical instrument AlphaSphere unveiled.

Have a look the the following upcoming / new instrument brands:

AlphaSphere
Eigenlabs
Otamatone | The Ultimate Singing Machine
Tenori-on USA Official Site

You could also offer instruments to be hand made for your customers by using instruments makers like: Welcome to Davidson Instruments and Custom guitars and Guitar repairs,KGB Music,NW England..

We recommend contacting many companies to see what your options are and try to find a solution that is new and different from what others are offering / selling online.

Try contacting the following UK manufacturers / makers of musical instruments:

Contact Us - Percussion Plus
Purchase HighWood Drums | HighWood Drums
About Us
Piano Repair Parts Felts Tools stools and hammers by H.J.Fletcher & Newman Ltd. England
London Musical Instruments - Company

Distributor of musical instruments: Active Music Distribution

You could also put wholesalers in competition with each other to get them to drop ship for you. To find many wholesalers of musical instruments you could try esources. It’s the largest directory of verified trade sources on the web. They will give you the advantage of sourcing many suppliers in one place. Have a look at the following UK suppliers of musical instruments:

Musical Instruments and Parts Wholesale Suppliers in UK - Wholesale Musical Instrument & Parts Directory

Hope this helps

Thank you for your help!

This is exactly what I needed.

You are very welcome

Please let us and our fellow Wholesale Forum members know if any of these manufacturers and other options work out for you

I have contacted lots of companies and their distributors and they've all told me the same thing, that I require a physical shop and not an online one.

I have one confirmed partnership with AlphaSphere, which I'm excited about.

What else can I do?

I was thinking of buying used or broken guitars, refurbish them and sell them online, otherwise I have nothing to make money from.

What do you suggest?

Thanks,

Connor

Hi Connor,

Offering refurbished instruments is a great idea. This will give someone with a limited budget the opportunity to have a choice.

A lot of companies simply say that they require a brick and mortar (physical) store because they want to be sure that you already have an existing customer base, and that you won't dilute their pricing for the sake of a quick profit. If you are able to show them your are committed for the long term, and able to shift quantities of stock, then their response is going to be a lot more positive.

You should try to obtain an exclusive selling agreement with AlphaSphere, either for online sales or for your geographic location, which means that you will be their only official dealer in your area or online for the UK.

By focusing on new upcoming brands only, you increase the chances of receiving a positive response. Your experience with AlphaSphere is proof of this. New brands are more likely to deal with you on an exclusivity basis, are looking for new business from all avenues, and competition will be less. Try to stay updated on new instruments brands and try to be the first to obtain exclusive selling rights for them. The more you make this your area of expertise, the more new brands will be interested in dealing with you.

Finally, once you have established a customer base by partnering with new brands such as AlphaSphere, you can begin to approach better known brands, who will by then be able to verify your expertise and will be a lot keener to partner with you.

Hope this helps

I was thinking of that, selling individual parts and whole projects on eBay etc.

Need to source all the parts now.

Thanks for the help!