You can make a lot of money with a dropshipping business, but not if you choose the wrong products. We’re not talking about things that are against the law. What we mean is that not every product is for you. Today, we’re going to talk about seven things you should never dropship.
In this article, we’ll talk about the following:
- Some products are not good for dropshipping, and here’s why
- Shoes for Dropshipping
- Electronics Dropshipping
- Health Care Products Dropshipping
- Food Items Dropshipping
- Dropshipping Products with Trademarks
- Dropshipping Large Items
- Dropshipping Hard-to-Ship Items
By the end of this article, you should know why these products can hurt your dropshipping business. If you take these risks, you might get a lot of traffic but not make any sales.
Some products are not good for dropshipping, and here’s why
In dropshipping, you don’t make the goods yourself and you don’t ship them either. But if a customer sends something back, you and the supplier will have to deal with it. Even if you can dropship any product you want, there are some that are a waste of money and others that are hard to sell online.
How big something is
It costs more to ship things that are heavy. It’s not likely that you’ll find a company that will ship big items like a sofa or bed for free. This kind of product can also break, and if it does, you should expect the customer to send it back to you.
Customers also don’t usually buy big things. They’d rather see it in person than buy it online. You can’t expect to make a lot of sales because of this. And for every day that goes by without a sale, you lose money.
Fragile Items
Some examples are mugs, glasses, eyewear, and mirrors. Not all suppliers use the right way to pack their goods. Then there are shipping couriers who don’t really take care with fragile items. Also, things can break while being shipped.
Broken fragile items not only make customers unhappy, but they can also hurt your business. They can say bad things about your store, and you have to give them their money back. The problem is that you can’t get a full refund from your supplier. This means that you paid for the shipping cost, but you never got it back.
Shipping Problems
When it comes to dropshipping, free shipping is your best option. Even though this is done by a lot of suppliers, most of them are in China. If you choose items with high shipping costs, you’ll have to pass those costs on to your customers, and it’s likely that they won’t buy from you.
The Things You Shouldn’t Dropship
Here are the seven things we don’t recommend. If you do these products right, you can make money with them, but it will take you years to learn everything you need to know to make them profitable for your dropshipping business.
Dropshipping Shoes
You could say that dropshippers are good at selling clothes, so shoes must be a good product to sell. In fact, this is wrong.
Even though shoes look great on websites, they have so many problems that you might get a lot of customer complaints.
Check out these possible problems:
- Size: Not every foot is the same size, so a size 5 in Europe might be bigger or smaller than a size 5 in Asia. There may be size charts, but they are not accurate. If the customer gets the pair and it doesn’t fit, they will be unhappy.
- Material: Not all shoes are made of the same things. Even if you explain in your product description that the shoes are made of leather, there’s nothing like holding them in your hands. If a customer thinks you lied about a product, he will send it back to you, costing you money.
- Brand: It’s tempting to sell shoes with well-known brands. The problem is that there are so many fakes out there, even if they are supposed to be legal partners of a well-known brand. In fact, many companies say they are Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) when they are not. If a customer gets a fake item, you will be in a lot of trouble.
- Quality: Customers expect the right color shoelaces, the right color shoes, and the right pairs. If your supplier sent the wrong one, you have to give the customer a refund, and they probably won’t wait for another pair.
As you can see, dropshipping shoes can lead to a lot of problems. People who want to buy shoes will do better if they go to real stores. They can see it, try it on, and feel how it fits. Shoes bought in stores are almost never brought back.
But on the Internet? This product will likely be sent back and people will have a lot to say about it. Don’t touch it.
Electronics Dropshipping
Electronics are very popular, and everyone wants the latest and greatest gadgets. Because of how much people want this item, you might be tempted to sell it. What you need to know is that this niche comes with a lot of problems.
- Fragile: electronics are fragile items. They can break, take in water, and stop working if they get too hot. They have a lot of small parts that could fall off during shipping. If that happens, your customer will get an item that doesn’t work.
- Fake: Many companies make fake things. As you know, fake goods are illegal in every country. If a customer got a fake electronic device, you can expect to get it back. Worse, you could be told to stop.
- Dangerous: because not all electronics are made to high standards. These kinds of things can start fires or even blow up. You’ve probably heard about e-cigarettes and chargers going off. Just think about being the source of that thing. You will be in a lot of trouble with the law.
If you want to get into the market for electronics, you need to sell accessories. Do not sell batteries, chargers, robots, or anything else that needs power. Instead, you can sell plastic covers for iPads, phone cases, and accessories that hang down.
Health Care Products Dropshipping
Products for health care are dangerous. Also, most of them are fake. They make claims that even the most well-known drug companies won’t make. Because of this, many social media sites, like Google, don’t let you advertise health care products, especially ones that help you lose weight.
Tablets and pills that contain vitamins and medicines are dangerous. Your customer might not even get your product. Vitamins, medicines, and weight loss pills are against the law in many countries. All health products sold in their country must go through their government’s health products department first.
Food Items Dropshipping
Herbal tea and other foods that claim to be made of organic ingredients are a good example of this. Even if it says on the package that it is made from natural or organic materials, you will never know for sure. Don’t forget that you’re a dropshipper and don’t know how these things are made. If a customer is allergic to it, you will be in a lot of trouble.
If you want to be in the health care niche, selling fitness products is a better choice. These include things like slimming belts, portable treadmills, and other similar things. These products work and are not harmful to anyone’s health.
No customer can say that these products don’t work either. How well these products work depends on how they are used.
For health products, don’t sell anything that a person has to eat, drink, or take by mouth. You should also stay away from makeup, face cream, whitening lotions, soap, and anything else that comes in contact with your skin.
Lastly, don’t sell patches, Botox injections, or magic creams because they can hurt your health and get you into a lot of trouble with the law.
Dropshipping Products with Trademarks
Even though it might seem fine to sell leggings with the word Nike on them, it can get you into a lot of trouble with the law. There are a lot of companies that do this, and it is common to see fake toys like superheroes.
Most of these things are low-cost. And even though many customers like fake items because the real ones are too expensive, the business risk is just not worth it. You shouldn’t dropship items with trademarks.
There are online stores that work with brand-name toy makers in a legal way. Some toy companies, like Monopoly and Mattel, which makes Barbie, even have their own websites. If you are caught selling fake items, you will be reported and sent to jail for a long time. You will also have to pay fines.
Here are some examples of trademarked and patented products that you should never sell:
- Fashion: Don’t sell items unless you know for sure that they are authentic. Original items can only be bought from legal makers like Prada, Nike, Louis Vuitton, Adidas, and many more.
- Toys like superheroes, Barbie, Star Wars, and many more that aren’t made by the original company should be avoided. Figurines are displays based on popular characters like superheroes and anime characters.
If you sell toys, only sell generic ones that anyone can buy, like a slinky, a jack-in-the-box, dolls, and other similar items. Any toy is fine, but make sure it doesn’t have a name on it.
Dropshipping Large Items
Beds, furniture, sofas, and cabinets are all examples of “big products.” It must be inspiring to see big companies like IKEA ship their products, but you are not IKEA and your manufacturer is not IKEA.
What we mean is that IKEA has its own department for shipping. It has a logistics department that handles any problems that might come up while shipping. Also, IKEA is a big company that can make deals with shipping companies to get better prices.
Big products are hard to dropship because they are expensive to ship, break easily, and there are a lot of them out there. Customers would rather buy from IKEA than from any other store.
Dropshipping Hard-to-Ship Items
A drone is an example of a product that is hard to make. This is something that can no longer be called a toy. Drones are used by photographers in the business world. Because of this, you should leave the drone alone unless you know a lot about it.
Radio-controlled cars are another example. Even though these are toys, these are things that big boys do for fun. When you dropship these complicated items, support will be the main problem you’ll have to deal with.
If a customer bought this item from you, he would expect you to know what you are doing. He’ll ask about things like batteries, antennas, wheels, and more. Worse, he might ask you for a step-by-step explanation of how to set it up.
If you don’t know the answer, your credibility will go down. Also, not all of these hobby supplies are made the same way. If you sell cheap toys, you can count on getting a lot of money back.
Summary
You can sell anything with dropshipping, but not everything is a good choice. Some can make you a lot of money, while others can be very troublesome. You don’t want to have to deal with the police, pay fines, or go to jail.
Remember that you shouldn’t dropship items that are illegal, easy to break, or don’t make sense from a business perspective. You can look for products on other sites besides Alibaba if you can’t find a good one to sell on Alibaba.
In dropshipping, your goal is to make money and make sure customers are happy. If you’re thinking of one of the seven things we mentioned, forget about it and look for something else.
