How you can Dropship on eBay (2024 Guide)

Looking for a profitable, low-cost business that takes just just a few hours every week? Look no further than eBay dropshipping.

Besides Amazon, eBay is the most visited online marketplace, with greater than a billion monthly visitors. With so many lively buyers, eBay offers a potentially lucrative customer source for dropshipping businesses.

This guide shares every thing it’s essential to learn about eBay dropshipping, from sourcing the proper products to maintaining high profit margins.

What’s eBay dropshipping?

eBay dropshipping is a business model where sellers list products on eBay without holding inventory. When a sale is made, the vendor forwards the order to its supplier, who ships the items on to the client.

Since dropshipping has a low barrier to entry, it’s a well-liked approach to start a business with no money. There’s no have to pre-purchase or store the items you’re selling. Once order details are passed to the dropshipping supplier, it’s their job to select, pack, and ship the order.

John Frigo, ecommerce manager at Best Price Nutrition, uses dropshipping to supply customers more of what they need: “Dropshipping allows us to hold loads of brands and products we otherwise would not have the opportunity to hold, as either we don’t have the space in our warehouse or we don’t have the funds to purchase the entire stock.”

What to dropship on eBay

As with other ways to sell on eBay, the items you select to dropship play a big role in your success as a seller. When researching products, consider a few of eBay’s hottest product categories:

• Cellphones
• Men’s fragrances
• Video games
• Headphones

Before selecting your dropshipping products, reference them against eBay’s list of restricted or prohibited products.

Items like alcohol, cosmetics, fertilizer/pesticides, jewelry, and vehicle parts are under strict regulations. It might be smart to avoid those if it is your first time dropshipping through eBay.

Things to know before dropshipping on eBay

eBay’s marketplace allows dropshippers to source products from trade and wholesale suppliers—not other retailers. Violating these rules could lead to account suspension.

In line with eBay’s dropshipping policy, “Should you use dropshipping, you’re still answerable for the protected delivery of the item inside the timeframe you stated in your listing and for the client’s overall satisfaction with their purchase.”

Like other marketplaces, eBay requires dropshippers to offer a transparent customer experience. This includes being the one identified seller on all packing slips and ensuring customers receive purchases based on the terms of their listings.

You’ll also have to pay eBay seller fees when dropshipping through the marketplace, including:

• Insertion fees: Rise up to 250 free listings per thirty days. After that, it’s 35¢ per listing.
• Final value fees: If an item is sold, eBay takes as much as 13.25% of the sale price, plus 40¢ per order. Final value fees vary depending by product category.

How you can dropship on eBay

Ready to start out making a living through eBay dropshipping? Here’s a step-by-step guide to opening a successful dropshipping store.

1. Create an eBay seller account

You’ll need a seller account to start out selling through an eBay store.

Head to the registration page and enter basic details about your dropshipping business. Next, subscribe to the eBay store option that most accurately fits your needs, and link your checking account to receives a commission for sales you make.

After you select an eBay store name, consider if you should sync eBay to your Shopify store to see inventory levels, sales, and customer info in a single place.

Running your eBay dropshipping business through Shopify gives you the choice to expand your online business across sales channels in the longer term, Identical to this tech reseller did to attain six-figure monthly sales.

2. Find profitable products

Next, undertake product research to find which items will sell best on eBay. Head to eBay’s bestsellers page and investigate whether you may source similar products at a lower-than-RRP through dropshipping sites like Alibaba or AliExpress.

Kristin Stump, marketing manager at MyEnamelPins, has this recommendation about selecting your products: “Products which might be small and light-weight are generally the best to ship, and products with a low return rate are less more likely to cause issues along with your customers.”

Should you’re stuck for product ideas, Shopify’s annual list of trending products is a very good place to start out.

3. Vet your dropshipping suppliers

When you’ve found a product to dropship on eBay, search for a supplier that may offer you the item at a lower-than-retail price. Dropshipping web sites exist to attach eBay store owners with wholesalers, equivalent to:

The supplier you select is arguably probably the most essential aspects when dropshipping on eBay. The marketplace requires brands to deliver items inside 30 days of a customer’s order being placed, which makes a reliable supplier a must.

Vet yours by checking each dropshipping suppliers’ seller rating, previous customer reviews, delivery times and charges.

4. Price your product

eBay dropshipping could be a lucrative business model—but only for those who’re leaving enough room between the product’s purchase and resale price. For instance, it’ll be hard to make substantial revenue if each item has only a $1 profit margin.

To find out the value of your dropshipping products, consider:

• Product costs
• Competitor pricing
• Other business expenses, equivalent to eBay listing fees and shipping costs

Start collecting pricing data and monitoring comparable products on the platform. Tweak your product pricing until you discover a profitable middle ground between competitor prices and a customer’s willingness to spend.

5. Create your eBay listing

Create an inventory for every of the items you’re dropshipping on eBay.

Pay close attention to the next areas, including keywords that your goal customer is looking for. It’ll influence how likely the algorithm is to indicate your product listing to potential buyers:

• Product title
• Product descriptions
• High-quality images
• Customer reviews
• Returns policies (check whether your dropshipping supplier will handle these)

6. Forward order information to suppliers

The responsibility of picking, packing, and shipping items sold on eBay is along with your supplier.

Use dropshipping software like DSers or AutoDS to automate this communication. Each apps robotically feed order details through to your supplier, show its stage within the order achievement process, and relay shipping tracking numbers to customers.

Suggestions for achievement with eBay dropshipping

eBay dropshipping isn’t an excessively complicated process. Nonetheless, there are some things that can set your recent business up for achievement:

• Use a listing management system: Shopify dropshipping apps merge inventory data from sales channels—including your online store and eBay storefront—so you may view sales information in a single place.
• Prioritize customer support: eBay customers likely won’t know that you simply’re working with dropshipping suppliers. If a supplier fails to fulfill guaranteed delivery times or ships products different from what a customer ordered, take full responsibility. Reply to support requests in a timely manner to extend customer satisfaction.
• Construct relationships with suppliers: In line with John Frigo, “It is important to have a relationship and communication along with your seller so if a product is discontinued, out of stock, or the value changes, you may be told quickly.”
• Spend money on promoted listings. Depending on profit margins, you may attract more customers through eBay promoted listings. These in-marketplace advertisements boost the possibilities of goal customers seeing your dropshipped products.
• Add a multi-buy offer. Increase average order value using multi-buy offers, equivalent to one product for $5 or three for $12. This may increase the profitability of your dropshipping business since there’s no have to pay shipping or import fees several times.

Start your eBay dropshipping business

With so many shoppers using eBay to find recent products, the dropshipping business model is a terrific way so that you can capitalize on the eye the marketplace captures.

Use the ideas on this guide to source bestselling products, price each item, and find the proper supplier. Cover all bases and it’s possible to construct a lucrative business through eBay dropshipping.