Dropshipping on eBay is an increasingly popular operational model that many merchants are considering. In fact, around 25% of eBay dropshippers reported earning over $1,000 per month on the platform. With a much lower upfront cost than a regular online store, eBay dropshipping provides an ideal gateway for merchants just stepping into the eCommerce world.
In the following lines, we’ll walk you through the 6 steps on how to dropship on eBay:
- Register an eBay seller account
- Research profitable products
- Look for eBay dropshipping suppliers
- Make the price for your products
- Create eBay listings
- Pass order information to suppliers
Let’s get started!
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What is eBay Dropshipping?
eBay dropshipping is an order fulfillment method that allows sellers to list and sell products they don’t physically own. Instead of keeping inventory, they partner with wholesalers or suppliers who manage storage, packing, and shipping directly to customers.
This means that when a customer places an order on eBay, the seller simply forwards the order details to their dropshipping supplier, who then takes care of the rest.
While eBay Print on Demand offers a modern approach to selling customized products, sellers seeking a more dynamic and interactive sales format might explore eBay Live Auctions, which provide real-time bidding experiences for unique items
eBay Dropshipping Policy
There are a couple of things you have to keep in mind before learning how to dropship on eBay. Signing up as a dropshipper for eBay is the same as being a seller on the platform. The only difference is you don’t have to invest your money in stocking your products.
With that said, eBay dropshippers have to take full responsibility as eBay sellers. If there’s anything happening with your products, you are the one to blame, not your wholesalers.
That’s why you’ll need to get a hold of these policies before digging deeper into how to dropship on eBay.
Let’s break down three key components of eBay dropshipping policy:
- Buying from wholesalers. This is eBay’s effort in response to scams that have been happening on eBay. When dropshipping on eBay, you are only allowed to source your products from a wholesaler or a supplier, not from other retailers on the same or different platforms (i.e., Amazon).
- Guaranteeing the delivery time. You have to make sure your delivery is within 30 days. This condition applies to all sellers on eBay, not just eBay dropshippers. So you should keep this in mind when finding suppliers to whether or not they can meet this delivery requirement.
- Taking responsibility for delivery. eBay has stated clearly in its policy that you hold accountable for the safe and timely delivery of your order. It’s also not your supplier’s responsibility for the buyer’s overall satisfaction with their purchase.
If you don’t comply with such eBay dropshipping policy, your account can suffer from one of the following punishments:
- Lower seller ratings;
- Restrictions on selling and listings;
- eBay account suspension.
eBay Dropshipping Fees
Another important factor for merchants to consider is eBay dropshipping fees. Even without opening a store on eBay, the platform still applies various fees and conditions specifically for dropshipping.
Common eBay dropshipping fees include:
- Insertion fees. You will have 250 free listings per month. Once surpassing that number, you are charged 0.35$ per listing.
- Final value fees. eBay takes a 10% cut, and the shipping value per item sold, and the set amount for this fee is 750$. This means you never have to pay more than 750$ on the final value fee even if you earn more than 7500$.
- Store fees. It’s $4.95/month for 250 free listings. For eBay dropshippers, plans of more than 1000 monthly listings start from $21.95/month.
Note for insertion fees:
🔷 This fee is charged for creating the listing, meaning that you won’t receive a refund even if your item doesn’t sell.
🔷 If you list the same item in multiple categories, you’ll incur the insertion fee for each category.
🔷 You’ll be charged the insertion fee each time you relist an item.
How to Dropship on eBay?
Ready to start your eBay dropshipping career? Let’s get into the step-by-step guide on how to dropship on eBay.
#Step 1: Register an eBay seller account
To start dropshipping eBay, you will need an eBay account. You can choose between an eBay business account vs personal account. If you haven’t had one, here’s how.
You go to the Registration page and choose the type of account that suits your need.
Then you need to fill in the required information about your online business and subscribe to a compatible eBay plan.
The next step is to link your checking account to receive future payments. You can then fill in other settings preferences such as store name, shipping carriage, etc.
#Step 2: Research profitable products
This is one of the most critical steps regarding how to dropship on eBay. Products are the decision-making factor that determines the success of your dropshipping business. Therefore, you should invest time and effort into finding profitable gems.
It’s highly recommended to check out what sells best on eBay for valuable insights. If you sell on eBay, you should take references from its best sellers. These are the best items to dropship on eBay, with rich selling history and profit coming in daily.
On this page, you will find the most updated analytics across all product categories, which you can spend time scrutinizing.
Products that are lightweight and easy to deliver are the pot of gold for eBay dropshipping. The next thing to consider with deliberation is the product’s return rate. The lower the return rate is, the fewer problems a product is likely to cause with your customers.
With these two notes in mind, you can focus on examining these product categories and pick out the most ideal item for you. A few categories you might be interested in include:
- Jewelry & Watches (Watches, Engagement Rings, Earrings);
- Computer Accessories (and replacement parts);
- Cell Phone Accessories;
- Clothing (Men’s Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Women’s Clothing, Shoes & Accessories);
- Health & Beauty (Fragrances, Sexual Wellness Items, Cosmetics).
#Step 3: Look for a dropshipping supplier
Once you make up your mind on items for dropshipping on eBay, search for a supplier selling that item at a lower-than-retail price. This is an important factor as the price at which you buy such items from your suppliers. Hence, it will decide the level of your business’s profit margin.
You also have to ensure they have a warehouse based in your target market or that they can guarantee the exact delivery time.
Below is the list of several dropship suppliers for eBay.
- Doba;
- Salehoo;
- Costway;
- Mirage Pet Products;
- Wholesale2B;
- BigBuy;
- Worldwide Brands.
You can stay rest assured since these dropshipping suppliers for eBay are certified and legitimate wholesalers. They are also willing to sell products in small amounts and even a single item.
#Step 4: Make the price for your products
Dropshipping on eBay is a lucrative business when you leave a considerable gap between an item’s purchase and the resale price.
Your price point needs to be low enough to have competitive advantages against other similar listings, yet it should be high enough to generate significant profit. For example, you’ll struggle to make substantial revenue if your item is worth only a $1 profit margin.
With that being said, there are several parameters to consider when determining the product price.
- Product costs;
- Average selling price (the price at which your top competitors are selling such products);
- Business expenses (platform fee, listing costs, shipping fees, promotions, etc.);
- Profit expectation.
Pricing is more of testing and refining than simply using a fixed profit formula. Counting these above factors in and constantly trying out different price ranges before making the final price decision. Monitoring and collecting data along the way help you find a promising middle ground between competitive prices and a customer’s willingness to pay.
#Step 5: Create eBay listings
It’s important to take your time creating listings for your eBay dropshipping business. It’s much more likely that you have to compete with other eBay dropshippers over the same product. Therefore, optimizing product listings using useful eBay SEO tips will help distinguish your brand and your product from your competitors.
Here is the list of factors for further improvement of your eBay listings:
- Title;
- Product Images;
- Item Specifics;
- Product Description;
- Shipping Policy;
- Return Policy.
You might need to invest more time in creating eBay listings when doing it manually. This means you’ll need to download the images, type the title and description, and keep track of price and inventory.
But it isn’t necessary if you already have an independent website elsewhere. For example, if you are running a Shopify store, all you need is a seller account for dropshipping from eBay to Shopify.
By using LitCommerce to integrate your eBay into Shopify, you will have real-time syncing control over product listings, inventory levels, buyer communication, and returns management in one single dashboard.
#Step 6: Pass order information to suppliers
The last step in answering how to dropship on eBay is to pass the order information to suppliers when having an order. You should contact your wholesalers each time you receive an order and give them your customer’s order information.
Even though your supplier takes over the packaging and shipping process, you still take full responsibility for the safe delivery of your item. The entire process requires a significant amount of time and effort from your side, especially when you do it manually.
Then investing in top multichannel management software like LitCommerce will be the best solution for you. It will help you to automate this process and update the inventory levels too.
More business ideas on eBay you might be interested in: Selling Car on eBay – A 5-minute Guide for Any Sellers!
How to Become a Successful eBay Dropshipper?
As eBay dropshipping is gaining more popularity among entrepreneurs, it’s important that you know what criteria help your business succeed. Here are a few tips to pocket.
- Offer multi-buy deals. This is one of eBay’s bundle-selling practices where you sell one product for, let’s say 4$, two for $7, and so on. It creates a sense that buyers can save more by purchasing multiple items instead of a single item. It’s a great method to increase your profit margin, as you won’t have to pay different types of eBay fees more than once.
- Invest in promoted listings. Since you don’t have to invest in stocking products, you can use the money for marketing efforts like promoted listings. You can gain exposure to more interested audiences via eBay-promoted listings. This is an in-marketplace advertisement that boosts the likeability of target customers viewing your products.
- Use an inventory management tool. Multi-channel solutions like LitCommerce will help keep track of your inventory data, order information, and delivery updates across platforms. You can now view sales, update stocks, and manage orders in one place.
- Focus on customer support. eBay customers don’t care if you are drop shippers or independent eBay sellers, but they know you are the one to blame for order issues. Therefore, you should focus on ensuring orders are delivered safely and on time. You also need to respond to support requests in time for better customer satisfaction.
How to Dropship on eBay – FAQs
Yes, eBay allows dropshipping, but only from wholesale suppliers. Sellers must comply with eBay’s policies and cannot source from retailers like Amazon or Walmart. Also, you should notice that timely delivery and customer satisfaction are the seller’s responsibility. Yes, it is one of the most notable benefits of eBay. eBay dropshipping is indeed a profitable yet low-cost business model since it eliminates the need to own inventory and prepare orders. This model helps you save a ton of money that you can later spend on business operations and marketing. It costs you almost nothing to start your eBay dropshipping business. However, you need to pay eBay for dropshipping via the platform. eBay dropshipping fees include listing fees ($0.35 for each extra listing beyond the free 250 listings per month), final value fees (at least 10% of your revenue), and store fees (depending on your eBay seller plan). Yes, eBay dropshipping is a profitable business yet a low-risk model for entrepreneurs since it doesn’t require any pre-investment. You are responsible for neither shipping nor manufacturing and you can achieve a good profit margin when finding suitable suppliers.
Conclusion
With so many customers using eBay to discover new products and purchase goods, eBay dropshipping business model is the answer you need as an entrepreneur.
We hope with this comprehensive guide on how to dropship on eBay; you now know all the secrets to have a successful dropshipping business: From sourcing best-selling products, pricing items, and seeking the right suppliers to distinguishing yourself from other competitors.
You can further leverage your dropshipping game with the assistance of our LitCommerce Application, especially when you are selling across different channels. Check out how we can help expand your business by dropping a message right away.
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