More and more people are considering working from home and often have no idea where to start. One attractive option to investigate is drop shipping. It is a sales or retail option, but instead of having to stock up on expensive inventory, you register with a distributor to supply and post the goods for you.

You are responsible for finding your own customers but drop shippers will supply images and sales merchandise to populate your website. Once you receive an order from a customer, you contact the supplier who will pack and ship it directly to your customer. You will be billed by the drop shipper at wholesale rates. The difference between what you charge the customer and what you pay the supplier is your profit.

To carry stock yourself, you would have to buy multiple items; wholesale suppliers will only supply on minimum order. You then have to store it; then sell it; then pack and post it. Granted to do it this way, you will earn more. However, your risk is higher and there is no guarantee you won't be left with stock you have no idea what to do with.

You can sell anything you like from mobile phones, baby clothes, cameras, guitars, fashion...the possibilities are endless.

Essential tips

• Research your market; make sure you know the product you are selling inside out
• Be organised and professional even if you are working out of your kitchen
• Keep your list of items small until you establish your market
• Be prepared to deal with returns, faulty products and complaints. You need to establish with your supplier a working arrangement should the item be out of stock and so on. If you cannot deliver on your promise you will never build a viable business.
• Spend time on getting your marketing right. Make it eye-catching and, in today's world, internet friendly. That means using the most popular tags: the ones most often keyed into search engines.

Really check out your supplier, make sure they are 100% reliable. Beware of the scam artists that are out there. An article you might like to see before you commit yourself is Useful article before you start.

To establish your business, start small.

• Start selling to family, friends and workmates.
• Party plans are very popular and you can take out an inexpensive advert in your local newspaper.
• For some free advertising, you could write a short article for your local newspaper; feature editors are always looking for fresh copy
• Distribute leaflets in your neighbourhood. You can create them yourself on your computer. It is cheaper to get them photocopied that to pay for a printer run.
• Place an advert in your local shop

A website is essential if you are to be taken seriously. At first, you can get a free website at freeweb.com. You do not need any previous experience in web design and it is easy to start and maintain. You will also want to sell on-line. There are a number of retail websites including,

• Ebay
• Ebid
• Qxl
• Cqout
• Amazon

In a short article it is impossible to cover all aspect, you may want to investigate drop shipping directories, or ready made businesses but be wary of committing yourself before you have all the information. Do not tie yourself into a bad deal, and minimize your risks. Drop shipping is an option. It is not a Get Rich Quick Scheme; you have to work at it. However it does take a lot of the risk out of running a retail business. Take your time, do your research and investigation and be wary of the hundreds of scam artists that are out there.

Drop shipping is basically this (and at first glance, it does sound like a good idea).

You join up with a company online, you advertise their goods on auction websites, having added on enough to make you a profit. If a customer buys from you, then you buy the item from the drop shipper and they send it to the customer. Everyone's a winner - right?

Well, I don't know any more. I've been with my supplier for about a month now and have sold three DVDs for a minimal profit. I bulk uploaded about eighty onto Ebay and three sold. It's really disheartening to have your e-mail in box filling up with "item not sold" messages especially all in one go. It's also kind of rough when you spend money on the listing costs only to watch it go down the loo.

IF you do manage to sell anything - guess what? That's right, the auction website wants a cut of your final selling value. To add to the fun, there's the receiving payments through Paypal bit, because they want a share of the money as well.

So, from somebody who's possibly had his fingers burnt - try and be careful about paying for the privilege of advertising a drop shipper's goods. Before advertising on auction sites, have a look at how the item you're hoping to sell is doing.

I have usually found that anything I try to advertise can be bought from other traders for less money. This, if I'm going to carry on making a few pennies from home, seems to be the next step - buy it on one website and sell it on another.