I often recommend Shopify to people who want to do dropshipping.
Shopify makes it easy for people to start their own businesses. You just need to make a website and connect it to a dropshipping app like Oberlo, which does all the hard work for you.
Even so, it’s always a good idea to look for other options. They give you a “Plan B” in case your first plan doesn’t work.
One thing you could do is dropship on Amazon.
People have been asking me a lot lately to explain in detail what dropshipping on Amazon is. So, it’s about time I did.
What Is Dropshipping on Amazon?
Amazon doesn’t mind if merchants use its website to sell products and have orders filled by someone else. But there are some rules they have to follow.
What you see is a picture from Amazon’s page about dropshipping. If you just skim the text, you’ll see that dropshipping on this platform isn’t easy.
Since the company wants you to be the “seller of record” for your products, you’ll need to make connections with wholesalers first.
You’ll also need to print custom packaging receipts and slips and send them to the supplier so they can put them on your packages.
Lastly, you’ll have to deal with returns, which means talking to both the customer and the supplier. You might even have to pay to ship the item back to the supplier so it can be fixed or replaced.
Since there are so many rules for dropshipping on Amazon, why would anyone even think about it?
Simply put, it’s a great way to build a trustworthy business, since Amazon is a name that everyone knows.
Here are some of the other reasons to use the platform.
There are benefits to dropshipping on Amazon.
The following benefits come from starting a dropshipping business on Amazon:
A large audience to reach
Amazon is one of the largest online shopping sites in the world.
As of the fourth quarter of 2018, it had 56.1% of the market share of the most popular websites.
Amazon’s share of the e-commerce market
Another fact is that the website has 300 million active users at the moment.
This means that you can make a lot of money by selling on Amazon.
You’ll also have the chance to sell to customers you didn’t even know existed.
A storefront that looks good
Building an independent dropshipping store takes a lot more work than opening a storefront on Amazon. You just need to make a seller account and import your items.
Also, you don’t have to worry about hosting because Amazon’s high-end servers will host all of your product images and descriptions.
Having a good name
Harris Poll Reputation Quotient says that Amazon is the second most trusted company in the United States.
The annual survey ranked 100 companies to see how the general public sees their reputations.
The online retail giant beats out brands like Costco, L.L. Bean, and The Home Depot. The only store with a better reputation than Amazon is Wegmans.
Because the company has a good name, you won’t have to start from scratch to get people to know about it.
Most buyers will already trust you because you’re selling on the most trustworthy ecommerce website in the world.
How to Get Started Dropshipping on Amazon
You’ll need the following to dropship on the platform:
Amazon seller account
If you want to sell something on Amazon, you have to make a seller account and choose between two plans.
The first type is the Individual account, which costs $0.99 per sale. The second plan is the Professional plan, which costs $39.99 a month and gets rid of the charge.
The difference between the two plans is shown in the picture below:
I think you should sign up for a professional account because the fee per item can cut into your earnings.
Eligible category
You can’t sell anything and everything on Amazon. They have a list of categories where people can sell things. These kinds of goods can be sold without special permission.
But the company has to give permission to sell in certain categories. Here, you can learn more about open categories and categories that need permissions.
Reliable provider
The third thing you need to do on your way is find a legitimate supplier.
Attending trade shows or looking through wholesale directories are the best ways to find suppliers.
Another choice is to use Alibaba to find gold suppliers for your product. These suppliers are high-quality wholesalers with a history of sales and happy customers.
Make sure the person you choose ships quickly. Most Amazon sellers ship within 3–6 days. On Alibaba, try looking for suppliers with warehouses in the United States.
Read my blog post about how to find wholesale suppliers for more information and ideas.
Once you’ve chosen a supplier, build a relationship with them and ask them not to include any packing slips, invoices, or other paperwork with their name on it. If they do, your Amazon seller account could be banned.
List of products
The next step after finding dropshipping suppliers is to make product listings.
For items that are already in Amazon’s catalog, you can create a listing by going to the product page and clicking on the “Sell on Amazon” button.
Go to your seller account and click on “Add a Product” to make a new listing for any new items that aren’t already on the site. Also, have the following information on hand:
That’s pretty much it. Now you are ready to start selling on Amazon.
How to Make Money Dropshipping on Amazon
Now that you know how to dropship on Amazon, let’s look at some ways to get potential customers interested. Here are some tips that will help your sales go through the roof:
Get the purchase box
The “buy box” is the section at the top right of an item’s page where people can add things right away to their shopping carts.
Why does it matter? Several reports from the business world say that 90% of the time, the seller with the “buy box” makes the sale.
So, as a dropshipper, your goal should be to get the “buy” box.
You’ll need a high score to do this. If the seller’s rating is 95% or higher, that should help you.
Aside from that, you’ll need shipping times of 14 days or less or faster.
Lastly, you should charge less than most other sellers.
You might also get the buy box if you have a high feedback score and respond quickly to customer questions.
Do some SEO
In the case of Amazon, optimizing your product listings is the best way to use SEO.
Start by making sure the titles of your products are clear. For this, you need to give information like the brand name, model number, color, size, etc.
Also, make sure your product listings can be found in search engines by adding relevant keywords.
SEO can bring a lot of people to your Amazon pages if you do it right.
Prioritize reviews
Product reviews on Amazon can do a lot to make a seller more trustworthy and a product more appealing.
Getting reviews is easy, so there’s no reason not to do it. Just send an email to the people who have bought your products.
Thank them for buying from you, and if they’re happy with the purchase, ask them to write a review.
Also, make it easy for them by putting a link to the listing page in your email.
If you get a bad review, take the time to figure out why it was bad, apologize, and, if you need to, offer a solution.
Connect your Amazon account to Shopify as a bonus.
Most Amazon dropshippers only use their seller account to sell and take care of their products.
But Shopify now lets any user add Amazon as a sales channel to their online store.
So, if you have a Shopify store, go to the left side of your account and click “+” next to the “Sales” channel.
Now, a pop-up will appear, and the first channel on the list should be Amazon. Just click “Add Channel” and you’re done.
By linking Amazon to Shopify, you’ll be able to manage your stock on multiple platforms. In fact, you won’t have to go back and forth because Shopify lets you keep track of inventory levels.
Final Verdict
Now that I’ve talked about everything, you should know everything you need to know to start dropshipping on Amazon.
Even though you won’t have your own store to promote, you can still make a good amount of money by finding profitable items, listing them, and having them shipped to customers.
Be sure to follow what Amazon says. If you don’t, you could have your seller account taken away.
To do well with dropshipping, you need to choose your suppliers carefully. Your hard work should pay off once you find someone who can sell high-quality products to your customers while using your seller name and brand.
