Two nights in the St Regis Bal Harbor, Art Basel, and some sun in the middle of a slushy New York December was just what the doctor ordered. The check-in at the hotel was smooth- though the room wasn’t ready for us, our friendly concierge got some champagne for us to sip while waiting in the beautiful bar, and comp’d breakfast for our entire stay. The room was spectacular- ocean view, giant Jacuzzi tub, floor-to-ceiling mirrored dressing space… a girl’s dream getting ready zone.
Though the parties had started before we arrived, we stayed low key the first evening, cancelling our reservations at J&G Grill to watch the sabering at the hotel bar- or the cutting of the champagne bottle with a sword. The cocktails (and the champagne from the sabering) whet our appetite for the stroll across the street, and dinner at Carpaccio. After two Antipasti, we were too full to eat our mains. The people watching and delicious fresh ingredients made for an easy, satisfying meal.
A relaxing breakfast on the patio, then morning at the beach truly made us feel pampered- as your feet first touch the soft sand, a porter calls down to the waiting beach staff to set up lounge chairs. Waiters occasionally offer a spritz of evian, frozen grapes, peach smoothie. Sunscreen, aloe gel, and lemon water are also on hand for all guests. Though a soak in the private hottub officially turned my muscles to mush, I prepped for some high-brow window shopping at Bal Harbor Village, and the madness of Basel.
Cabs vying for wiggle room slowly dispatched the masses of connoisseurs craving culture. The pieces on show spanned the spectrum- from across the world and across all boundaries. Familiar artists’ works showed next to pieces from unknown names in brain-bending media fully satiated my cultural cravings, so we left to satisfy the gustatory ones. Dinner at the familiar Puerto Sagua restaurant for home-style Cuban food prepped us a few Basel parties, and back to our beautiful bed.
With one final morning of pampering by the pool (complete with champagne in a giant to- go cup!), and we were equipped with enough Zen memories to survive the return to NYC….for at least a month.
After reading through the three posts, my impression is that this strategy isn’t worth it. Sounds like way more headache than you’d planned on.
Well yes, but the problem here is selling on eBay, which is a component of the drop shipping strategy. I think there is something to this still, but it is good to see how spectacularly it can go wrong too…
I have considered something like this but after what you have been through I’m thinking not… I hope that it works out!
You do realize it was probably better off to buy the item, and then return it if it didn’t sell within staple’s return period (which is 14 days), also buy it now with immediate payment would have curbed your flake outs.
Good points – I’ll think about that if I ever try this again!
have you considered fulfillment by Amazon as an alternative?
I’ve thought of it, but was concerned with the monthly fee – however, if it simplifies the process it might well be the solution here, though it would mean I would feel a bit more pressure to find something to sell every month to justify the running costs… something to look into further I think.
Only the professional level has a monthly fee. They have a lower volume no-subscription level also.
That’s great to know, I’ll certainly look into it further. Thanks for the tip!
Interesting experiment. I’ve heard of people doing this with beauty products that go out of production. Just to risky for me. Ebay has been difficult for us but Craiglist has been good to us-just more face to face work.
Yeah, I am kinda worried about F2F through the internet, I like the added layer of privacy that eBay offers, but at the same time their prices and policies are making it too much hassle these days, perhaps Craigslist is the way forward.
What are the benefits of a dropshipping partnership? Well, there are many benefits in a dropshipping partnership, but the most important ones are: