Drop Ship or Wholesale?

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Lately, I've been researching ways of legitimately making money online (I'm obsessed and can't seem to help myself). One avenue I've been researching is creating an online store. Since I don't have my own product to sell, I was looking at selling name brand items. The two ways I have come across to do this is either purchasing items at wholesale or drop shipping. I'm just not sure which is the best way to go. Wholesale sounds like the better option, but drop shipping is much more convenient in the sense that you don't have to stock or ship items. Plus, I don't exactly have the money upfront to buy the items I have found. I've also heard quite a few horror stories about drop shipping and a lot of the sites I have found that offer this type of service want you to pay a membership fee, which I don't want to do. So, what do you guys think is the better option...drop ship or wholesale? Know of any good, reliable wholesale companies? With drop shipping, is it better to sign up for a membership on one of these sites or would it be better to dig a little deeper and call around to manufacturers to see what they offer in terms of drop shipping?