Through Amazon dropshipping, sellers on Amazon are earning $88,000 a minute.
That is a lot of money. And that won’t slow down – even more so in a couple of years' time that could double. I’m guessing you want a piece of that.
Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Today I’ll run through how to begin drop-shipping on Amazon + lots of tips and tricks to begin earning even sooner.
Let’s get on with it.
What Is Drop-shipping?
Drop-shipping is where you list products on your website or online store but do not hold any physical inventory. Instead your supplier (a Chinese manufacturer, for example) sends the product when you get a sale - straight to your buyer.
Credit: Oberlo
People drop-ship on eBay, Shopify, their own website etc. You can also of course do Amazon dropshipping – but it’s a bit more complicated.
Strictly, their policy states that purchasing products from an online retailer and having that retailer ship directly to customers isn’t allowed. However, many sellers still do – and earn quite a bit from it.
If you are interested in Amazon FBA instead, which is Amazon’s own form of dropshipping, check out this article. This guide will continue on for how to traditionally drop-ship on Amazon and to begin earning straight away.
How Can You Begin Doing Amazon Dropshipping?
I’ll run you through clear steps on how you can begin drop-shipping with Amazon so that by the time you have finished reading, you can begin earning right away.
Sign Up for an Amazon Seller Account
Firstly, before you can begin selling anything on Amazon, you need to create an Amazon seller account.
Navigate to Amazon Seller Central and hit the "Start Selling" button.
Credit: 2Dropshipping
You can then create your account; you have two choices between the Individual and Professional Plan.
The Individual Plan charges you $0.99 for every item plus referral and variable closing fees. They recommend it if you sell less than 40 items per month.
The Professional Plan lets you sell an unlimited number of products, but you pay a monthly subscription fee of $39.99. It is recommended if you sell more than 40 items per month.
Find Low-Cost and Suitable Amazon Dropshippers
Before considering what products you are going to sell, it’s much more beneficial to find out which ones would earn you a good profit and that you could ship quickly. Unfortunately, most buyers on Amazon would want shipping delivery times to be quick.
AliExpress offers good cheap products, but they come all the way from China so usually takes at least a month! That’s why it is important you look for US drop-shippers as it is the biggest market for Amazon.
Cold-Calling and Using Google
Try to find some dropshipping suppliers online by cold-calling and using Google. Try Googling search terms such as:
- “Dropshipping supplier” + “USA”
- Title: Dropshipping supplier + “USA”
- Use other keywords such as “distributor” or “wholesaler”.
If you know your niche, also make sure to add it in “…”
Locate Products To Drop-Ship
The next step for Amazon dropshipping, is to find low-cost products to begin dropshipping. What you want to do is consider profit before what kind of niche you want to be in.
For example, take this one item that was selling for $59 by the supplier.
But on Amazon, it was selling for $129.99 + shipping costs.
Having worked out the profit margins, that is over 109% after Amazon takes away its fees.
High-Profit Margins Are Important
Pretty good huh? So, how can you find these perfect products? Well there are three important criteria your products need to meet:
- It’s very profitable
- It’s in demand (not just seasonally but all year round)
- Easy to ship
As we are selling on Amazon, we need to make sure that the product avoids being in a crowded market.
Make sure you would be ranked high enough for people to buy.
Also, avoid having branded products (low-profit margins) or any knockoff ones (let’s remain legitimate!).
Credit: SaleHoo
When trying to find good ones just on Google, it might be necessary to target a certain niche.
List Products On Amazon
Now that you have chosen the products and have your suppliers, it’s time to actually list them. If your product already exists on Amazon’s catalogue, search for it and click the ‘sell yours’ button. Describe the condition, set your price, shipping methods and so on.
If it doesn’t exist on Amazon, go to the Inventory drop-down menu on your seller account. The ‘Add A Product tool’ can be used to list your new product.
Tips and Tricks for Amazon Dropshipping
Now you understand the basic step-by-step guide to begin dropshipping on Amazon, I’ll teach you a bit about how to get it to the next level
Getting Reviews on Amazon
Reviews are one of the most important things that any seller considers, and will also greatly affect your Amazon drop-shipping prospects.
Credit: Effective Spend
They help you rank higher on Amazon, and make your product seem much more trustworthy. Overall, your conversion rates with each review will rise exponentially. So, how can you get Amazon Reviews?
Well, unfortunately, you can no longer offer discounted or free products in exchange for reviews (new Amazon policy) nor can you ask your friends/ family. The best way, therefore, is to email your customers to get them to review your products.
What you want to do is automate your email campaigns, using a tool like GetResponse. When somebody buys something, you can email them something along these lines:
Hi {Buyer’s Name},
We’ve received your order and will be dispatching it for delivery soon!
You should expect to receive the product within {insert number of days}, but if you are getting worried, you can track it here with this link.
Once you receive your order, we’ll follow up again to make sure you’re happy with your purchase.
If at any time you have any questions or feedback, always reach out with this email address.
Best, {Seller’s Name}
Then shortly after they should have received the order, follow it up with another email along the lines of:
Hi {Buyer’s Name},
We hope you have now received your product. Thanks again for ordering!
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
If all is good, we would really appreciate you sparing a couple seconds of your time leaving us some feedback about your buying experience {Product review link}
Have a great day.
Best, {Seller’s Name}
By doing this, you should hopefully whilst racking up sales, also rack up reviews. Therefore, with each sale – you’ll sell even more!
Lastly, make sure to use the power of social media to try to gain customers who are willing to give reviews for your product. For example, you can get in touch with Influencers, ask them to leave a review - in exchange for a free product/ sample.
To do so, it's important to make sure your Instagram/ Facebook/ TikTok profile has great content and a good amount of followers.
What If Somebody Leaves A Bad Review?
Having bad reviews, as good reviews are great, are very bad for selling.
Credit: SaleHoo
There are a couple of techniques to help remove them. You can contact your customer and have him/her remove or edit it. Make sure to rectify any mistakes you made or clarify any misunderstanding!
You can also request Amazon to remove the review. Go to your product details page, select the review, and click “report abuse”. Or send an email to amazon via [email protected].
You can also leave a public comment on the review – to help show any potential customers that you are trustworthy and interested in customer feedback.
When ArXe Ventures found they had got bad reviews, they rectified their situation by fulfilling the customers' order once again and giving a full refund. It's all about keeping people happy!
Making Sure Your Product Ranks With SEO
Amazon, like any other way to sell online, will have competition – so it is important to make sure your SEO is on-point.
Make sure you have long descriptive titles that are rich in keywords for Amazon to pick up on. Write about the brand, product line, material, colour, etc.
Smith’s Giant Siberian White Tiger Lifelike Stuffed Animal (Over 5 Feet Long).
Disclose on your refund policy, it makes you look more credible (and many SaleHoo suppliers have a refund policy). Also, use as many good-looking pictures as possible for the product and make the description informative and easy-to-read.
Use bullet points with information like:
- Amazing lifelike hand-crafted and stuffed Siberian tiger
- Dramatic and well printed realistic marking
- Made from soft polyester fabric
- 20” H x 65” L x 20” W
- For ages 3+
Amazon Dropshipping Compared to eBay and E-Commerce StoreseBay
eBay has over 171 million buyers, so also offers a great audience and customer base.
Whilst Amazon is a bit iffy on drop-shipping, eBay allows it on their site, as long as the sellers guarantee the buyers will be able to receive their orders within 30 days.
Unfortunately, with eBay you have to pay an insertion fee – where when you list an item on eBay, you may be charged to do so.
On eBay, you can also list with auction-style pricing or fixed price listings which are much better for drop-shipping as it makes sure you get your profit margin.
E-Commerce Store (Shopify etc)
You can also of course dropship on your own e-commerce store. You can create your own website and customize it how you want and build your brand (which is much harder to do when on Amazon). You can control far more and won’t have any third-party fees.
However, you have to consider marketing and how you will be able to drive traffic, without relying on a big company like Amazon. You also have to consider how you will be able to make your own store, whether with WordPress, Shopify etc. They will all cost money to set-up (monthly fees, or domain and hosting).
Conclusion
You should now know how to step-by-step begin drop-shipping on Amazon with 4 steps:
- Sign up for a seller account
- Find low-cost and suitable drop-shipping suppliers
- Locate products
- List the products
Make sure to consider whether you want to start with Amazon or another way such as your own store or eBay. If you do like Amazon, then make sure to start right away! Bookmark this article and go sign up for your Amazon Seller’s account.
You could be earning money within a week with Amazon dropshipping. Good luck!
Also published at https://the-ecommerce-entrepreneur.com/amazon-dropshipping/