Dropshipping for eBay & Amazon

How to find real dropshippers that will work with small eBay and Amazon Sellers

By Skip McGrath

Understanding Dropshipping for eBay and Amazon

Dropshipping is selling something you don't own. That may sound illegal –but it’s not.

Dropshippers are companies that offer merchandise for sale that will ship the merchandise directly to your customer once you pay for it. Here is how eBay dropshipping works:

1. You find a company that agrees to dropship. You list their merchandise on eBay, Amazon or your website for sale without first purchasing it.
    
2. When the item sells, you collect the selling price (retail) and the shipping cost from you customer.
    
3. Now you send the wholesale (lower) price + the shipping and handling fee to the dropshipping supplier.
    
4. The supplier then ships the item to your customer.
    
5. Your profit is the difference between the retail and the wholesale price

Disadvantages of Dropshipping for eBay and Amazon

1. Lack of control – When you dropship, you are at the mercy of the shipper. They control the packing and shipping experience. If they pack and item improperly or take too long to ship, the customer will blame you –not the dropshipper. Poor service from a dropshipper can negatively affect your customer satisfaction ratings on eBay and Amazon.
    
2. No control over inventory – If a dropshipper fails to warn you about their low inventory level, you may sell an item that they cannot deliver. This puts you in a very bad position with eBay and Amazon. If it happens too often you could find your account suspended or closed.

Advantages of Dropshipping for eBay and Amazon

1. No up front investment in products - When you sell dropshipped products, you don’t pay for merchandise until it sells. This eliminates tying up money in inventory.
    
2. Eliminates risk – If something doesn’t sell, your only risk is the listing fees
    
3. Product depth and variety – When you buy products to resell, you are limited in the number and type of products you can sell by the amount of cash or credit you have to purchase. When you dropship, you can list many more products for sale

There are two types of dropshippers and it is important to understand the difference:

1. Aggregators
    
2. Manufacturers or Master Distributors

Let's look at each type before you decide what kind of company you want to work with.

1. Dropshipping Aggregators -- Aggregators, also known as Dropship Warehouse Companies, are basically middlemen.  They advertise heavily on the web claiming to have millions of brand name products you can sell online. Many of them also offer pre-made websites loaded with these products. These companies list products in a virtual warehouse that other, real wholesale companies, have in stock. Aggregators don't really have any products in stock.

If you sign up with one of these companies, you will soon find that most of the merchandise they offer is already selling on eBay or Amazon for about the same price they are offering it to you. I have been selling on eBay successfully for over 10 years and in my opinion, although there are some exceptions, it is very difficult to make money on eBay with these types of sellers.

In general these companies make their money from membership fees or handling fees. When you order something from them, they order it from the real wholesaler, mark up the cost and/or charge you a fee. Because of this it is very difficult to make any money as they have basically made a big piece of your profit.

2. Dropshipping Manufactures and Master Distributors -- There are hundreds of actual manufacturers who will dropship. Some of them do it directly while others use the services of a master distributor. When you work directly with a manufacturer of the product or their master distributor, then you are getting the lowest price available. This is where you can make the most money on eBay or a web site.

It is not well known, but there are thousands of manufacturers who will dropship for you. I currently work with three different companies who will dropship for me.  We list several of these manufacturers in the member’s area of our website for people who purchase our eBay and wholesale sourcing manuals at www.skipmcgrath.com.  You can also find dropshippers in the Thomas Register and the best place is to attend wholesale trade shows such as the ASD/AMD Wholesale Trade show held in Las Vegas every March and August or the various wholesale trade shows that are held all over the US and Canada.

If you would like to learn more about dropshipping and how to find legitimate companies that will dropship, visit the Free Articles Section at SkipMcGrath.com.

Skip McGrath is a Top Rated Seller on eBay and the author of numerous books about selling on eBay and the Internet. He is the publisher of the eBay  & Online Sellers News, the oldest and largest free newsletter for home based business owners.