#really sketchy dropshipping businesses too

[spider-xan]

I think I'm over IG at this point, and I only really use it as a scrapbook anyway, but there are so many ads on both the main feed and stories now, and for what? They're definitely not making any money off me with them, and it's just pushing me to quit entirely, and I know I'm far from the only person who feels that way.

[badass-blakes]

Silenced - Part 2

The 100 are thrilled to be on earth. Clarke, *yn*, Finn, Jasper, Monty, and Octavia set out to find Mount Weather, where they make a shocking discovery. Tension in the camp heightens as Bellamy and his group keep busy removing wristbands. *yn* becomes very suspicious of Bellamy and his story.

Warnings: Swearing, Violence

Based off of “the 100″ series, off the CW.

_______________________________________________________________________

*yn* hit the ground with a thud as she stepped of the cold metal of the dropship ladder. She spun around to see that a most of the 100 had gathered next to the dropship gate. Amongst all the commotion, she picked out as much as she could of the situation.

“That’s Octavia Blake! The girl they found hidden in the floor!” A girl hollered from the group. *yn* watched as a Octavia who stood next to the gate threw herself forward ready to pounce at the girl. She was drawn back by a dark haired, dark eyed boy in a guard's uniform. Did they really send a gaurd down here? No, they couldn't have. They’re to selfish for that. *yn* thought.

“Octavia no, let's give them something else to remember you by.” The boy in the guards uniform said.

“Yeah? Like what?” She snapped back.

“Like being the first person on the ground in over 100 years.”

There was a deafening silence that filled the room as the boy pulled the switch to open the door. *yn* felt her heart flutter as she watched the first bit of sunlight escape through the crack of the door. As the door opened completely, the delinquents were blinded by the sunlight that was so foreign to all of them. A breeze of fresh air flew over them, nothing like they had breathed before on the Ark. It was crisp, and full of life.

Octavia slowly walked down the ramp and hesitantly stepped off unto the earth's surface. Her face formed a smile as she threw her arms into the air and screamed:

“We're back bitches!”

*yn* let out a smirk as she felt the earth below her feet. It was soft, and lose, so different from the solid metal she had felt under her feet the past 16 and a half years. She looked around to see Jasper and Monty in the distance, she approached them unsure of what she would say, her and Monty had never officially met.

“Uh, hey” *yn* said kinda awkwardly.

“Hey, *yn*!” Jasper started, “I don't think you’ve officially been introduced to Monty. *yn*, Monty. Monty, *yn*.”

“Hey, I’ve heard lots about you *yn*” Monty exclaimed.

*yn* chuckled, “ditto” she said.

Jasper looked off into the distance, “Let's go see what's on the go over there” He nodded in the direction of the same blonde girl from the dropship and another boy. *yn* looked over to Monty who gave a shrug and the both turned to follow jasper.

“Ah cool,” Jasper started “A map, they got a bar in this town? I’ll buy you a beer.”

The other boy whipped around, “You mind?” He demanded, shoving Jasper away.

A group emerged from the woods towards them. “Woah hey hey hey! Hands off of him, he’s with us”

“Relax we're just trying to figure out where we are.” The boy stated.

“We’re on the ground. Is that not good enough for you?” *yn* traced the voice to the same guy in the guards uniform standing next to his sister, Octavia Blake.

* yn* tapped Monty on the arm. “Who is that?” she asked.

“Bellamy, Bellamy Blake.” He responded. *yn* gave Bellamy a good, and could help but to feel as if something sketchy was going on with him, she put the feeling aside and listened back into the conversation.

“We need to find Mount Weather, you heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority.” that's when *yn* realized the boy speaking was Wells Jaha, the chancellor's son.

“Screw your father” Octavia scowled. “What. You think you’re in charge here? You and you little princess?” She finished.

“Do you think we care who’s in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather. Not because the chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier well get and the harder this will be. How long do you think well last without those supplies? Were looking at a 20 mile trek, okay? So if we wanna get there before dark, we need to leave, now.”

“I got a better idea.” Bellamy started, “You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change.”

“Privileged or not we were all sent down here by the same assholes.” *yn* spoke up.

Bellamy looked at the girl and raised a brow. Clarke looked at *yn* and a smirk almost appeared on her face. At least someone down here had common sense.

“Shes right, we all need to go in order to be able to carry enough supplies.” Wells stated. The same boy that saved jasper gave Wells a shove.

“Look at this everybody, Chancellor of earth.” he scoffed.

“Think thats funny?”

*yn* watched as the two boys rolled around on the ground. She shook her head. No way they were gonna survive on earth if everyone kept acting like 5 year olds. All of the sudden Finn jumped in between the two boys from the side of the dropship.

“Kids got one leg, wait till it’s a fair fight.” He remarked.

“Hey spacewalker?” Octavia stated, “Rescue me next.”

_______________________________________________________________________

*yn* walked over to the blonde girl she had saw many times but did not know her name.

“So, when are we leaving? Not all of us are as idiotic as rest of them.” *yn* gestured towards the group Bellamy had gathered. The girl smirked.

“Any minute now, so be ready.” She stated. *yn* started to walk away to get ready, but was stopped by the girl’s voice.

“Hey wait.” the girl started, “I never caught your name.”

“Oh sorry, it’s *yn*.” *yn* responded.

“*yn*” the girl repeated almost to herself, “I’m Clarke.”

Clarke watched as *yn* walked, she was possibly the one person the she might actually like down here.

_______________________________________________________________________

Bellamy stood next to Murphy and nodded towards *yn* and Clarke who were together, talking.

“What are we gonna do about that?” Bellamy asked.

“Clarke is harmless, but I don't know about that other bitch. She’s not one of the privileged. The others seem to listen to her, she could persuade them.”

“Then we’ll just have to get her wristband too.” Bellamy shed a evil smirk as he looked at the two girls.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Come on Finn you said you were gonna go first now quit stalling.” Clarke spoke firmly.

*yn* watched Jasper and Finn talk as Finn handed Jasper the rope.

“Jasper, I didn't know you had it in you.” *yn* teased light heartedly.

“See you on the other side.” Jasper said to Finn Jokingly, but there was some seriousness behind it. Jasper gripped the makeshift rope and with one hop was sent flying across the river. With a bit of a rough landing, Jasper stood up and looked around and picked up a sign that was old but read “Mount Weather”

“We made it!” He exclaimed holding up the sign letting out a cheer, as did the rest of the group. The moment was instantly cut short when a spear came flying through the air and hitting jasper directly in the chest.

*yn* watched in horror as her only friend collapsed onto the ground.

“*yn*! We need to get cover.” Finn said pulling her along. *yn* too numb to act.

“We’re not alone”

_______________________________________________________________________

The group sprinted as fast as they could in between trees, *yn* stopped and looked behind, some unrealistic part of her mind was hoping jasper was okay.

“*yn*” Monty hollered. “We need to go.”

*yn* snapped out of her haze and continued to run until Monty tripped in front of her and her eyes landed upon a sight that made her stop in her tracks, and her stomach churn. It was a skeleton, but it was unlike any human skeleton that any of them had seen.

“Who are they?”

“What are they” Clarke said holding the skeleton head, she dropped and it hit the ground with a thud as a scream rang through the woods.

“Jasper.” *yn* heart fluttered. Her friend was alive. What she just saw didn't matter anymore, *yn* had to save the only friend she ever truly had. She ran as fast as she could to where the screams were coming from.

“He’s alive.” Clarke stated following *yn* through the trees.

“Clarke! *yn*! Stay in the trees.” Finn urged pulling them back.

“Hes gone.” Clarke muttered in disbelief. “They took him”

Just as fast as *yn* had hope, it was taken away from her.

_______________________________________________________________________

The group walked into the camp leaving all of the other delinquents eyes locked on them, interested in what was going on. Bellamy felt relief wash over him as he spotted octavia but it was quickly taken away when he observed the open gash on her leg.  

“What the hell happened?” Bellamy asked helping Octavia with her leg.

“Turns out when the last man from the earth died on the ark, he wasn't the last grounder.” Finn stated, the whole camp went silent.

“We’re not alone down here.”

“Where is your wristband?” Clarke asked Wells, looking at his bare wrist.

“Ask him.” Wells grumbled gesturing toward Bellamy.

“How many?” Clarke asked.

“24 and counting.” Bellamy's bitch as *yn* like to call him said. She didn't care what his name was.

*yn* gave Bellamy a glance that must've pierced through to his soul.

“You idiots.” Clarke started. “Life support on the ark is failing. By taking those off your not just killing them you're killing us.”

“We’re stronger than you think. Don’t listen to her, she's one of the privileged. If they come down, She’ll have it good. How many of you can say the same?” Bellamy ranted “We can take care of our-”

“Can’t you see that none of that matters anymore?” *yn* interrupted. “I am one of you, I was used and abused by those people up there more than I can count. But as much as I hate to admit it we need them. Who here can perform surgery? Huh? Who here can build a secure home that will keep us safe?” *yn* paused and grabbed Murphys knife from his hand and held it up.

“Who here has a weapon, other than a knife made of scrap metal? Those people may be total assholes, but they are our only chance of survival. These people living down here hit Jasper with precise precision from across a river. They are skilled, they know about this planet. And hell we don't even know how many of them there are. If our people come down I won't be treated well either, but  isn't that better that being dead?” *yn looked at Bellamy. He opened his mouth to speak but *yn* shove past him before he could.

*yn* walked away, she couldn't take it anymore. She was sure Bellamy was giving some speech about “whatever the hell you want” but she didn't buy it. There was something more to his story than he was letting on, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

_______________________________________________________________________

Hey! So I know my part 1 was a bit rushed and well not the best. I was just really excited haha! I think this part is much better! Please don’t be mad there is not much Bellamy x Reader. I think it it really important for this relationship to take time and not be rushed and work out itself. Hope you enjoyed!

[middlemanmarketing]

Dropshipping Op-Eds

In my search for Op-Eds to aid me in informing you all of what can come from the dropshipping model, I found two very interesting posts. One of the posts praises dropshipping, and the other scolds the model and what people have turned it into. These two posts, when put together, really shine when trying to explain how dropshipping works for both parties involved (dropshippers and consumers).

The first post is by OpinionOutpost.com in an article labeled “The Lowdown on Dropshipping: A Legit Way to Make Money?”, posted on October 19th, 2017 where the author gives information on how dropshipping can be highly profitable, why it’s so, and how it made its way to be the mainstream “job” in 2017-2018. Now the author doesn’t seem to argue many points, but rather offers opinion based information to really drive the idea of dropshipping into the reader’s head. For example, the author does not talk about why dropshipping can be dangerous if you buy from sketchy suppliers, they only speak on how it’s much easier than buying in bulk and having to spend all of your money on what’s equal to a dream.

The second post is a bit more aggressive, coming from Pete Evans, his post “Dropshipping: Why those online deals are usually too good to be true” on Dec 24th, 2018, he goes on to attack dropshipping due to how many faulty sellers are out there. Immediately in the article, he talks about how a man named Sean Virsunen ordered an item from Walmart (Canada). The item had a highly delayed delivery and when it arrived, it wasn’t the correct item at all. He goes on a bias-based rant on how dropshipping went from a proper business model to nothing more than murky waters of people trying to sell crap items to people to turn a profit. He even speaks to an entrepreneur who ran several dropshipping businesses from 2008-2016 and used him as an example of what proper dropshipping was as opposed to what people of today are doing.

In conclusion, both of these articles shine bright lights on the extremes of dropshipping, and use good evidence, whether it be bias or opinion, on how it works, and how people use it.