I’m talking once again about the dreaded middleman, the proverbial whipping boy of the dropship world. These rapscallions get continually better at hiding themselves as wolves among the sheep, but as good as they are, they still slip up, and red flags can be raised.

While its easy to flag oneself as a wholesale dropship company, it can be pretty easy to find out just how true that statement is. Let’s examine it bit by bit. Wholesale? No brainer. Means you’re not buying at retail. Dropship? Its a wholesale company that ships a single product at a time, usually for some nominal fee if at all. Company? Company. Simple terms, simple rules to follow.

A middleman will try to muck up the rules, but being inherently simple, its a pretty easy task for you to see past the deception. When a “wholesale dropship company” violates even one of the three words, you know you have cause for alarm.

Wholesale is a big world, so sometimes you can see some discrepancy between one “wholesale” price and another. To be expected, but still something to watch for. If one wholesale price is precariously high above all the rest, perhaps caution is the way to go.

Next, we have dropship. If your “dropship company” requires a minimum order that is much higher than the cost of an individual item, you’ve got a problem. The concept behind dropshipping lies in single items, and if your company doesn’t know that, chances are they’re not quite on the level.

Have you ever seen one of those mellow-dramas where the villain is introduced with foreboding music and is dressed as an ominous creature of the night? They may even be rubbing their hands together and cackling some. Anyone watching knows right off that this person is up to no good and that associating with them in any way will bring about their imminent doom. Can you picture it? This image is what I picture when I think of a middleman dropship directory. Unfortunately, middlemen don’t want to make themselves known. They would rather try to fit in and look like a legitimate dropship directory.

Identify the Villain

The easiest way to identify the villain is to do a little research. Any company that buys from the wholesaler and then increases the cost to you is a middleman. What happens in this case is that a company will purchase products in bulk and increase the cost to you so that they are making a profit off their dropship directory. I’m sure you can see why the middleman is an unnecessary character in this case, eliminate it. How do you eliminate the middleman? It’s simple, don’t use their dropship directory. They’re looking to make a larger profit at your expense.

Identify the Hero

The hero is the dropship directory designed to not only meet but exceed the expectations of its customers. Such companies will connect you with the best suppliers of your niche. These are the companies that have excellent customer service, a product research team and a searchable dropship directory. These companies, like GoGo Dropship truly have your best interest at heart.

Don’t forget, it’s always the hero that wins in the end. Do you really want to be allied with the villain?