Starting Your Drop Shipping Store On Ebay!
A lot of people seem to be into drop shipping these days. And while a lot of people insist on going the Amazon To Ebay route, That pathway is over saturated!
Lots of sellers are working on minimal profit margins, Meaning, you being a little store. You will be trampled.
Not to mention it's against the TOS of Amazon. And who knows, Maybe one day they'll start enforcing that rule, once a lot of people opt out of paying for Prime each year.
Tips to CRUSH Your competition.
Ebay is looking more appealing these days, While it's not as popular as before, It seems less saturated with big sellers. SO if you'd like to sell without the competition of Amazon sellers, It can be a refreshing place to go.
When Searching for your "drop shipper" keep in mind...
Products that sell more than four times a month can be considered "best sellers" You want as many of those as possible. To maximize sales.
- Make a list of Ebay competitors and stalk them a bit. Lol.
SEO on Ebay
- Ebay uses "Cassini" as their search algorithm.
Try and get on the first page with all your listings.
Listing Optimization
You need to optimize your listing to gain as much exposure as possible.
- Use the correct category
- Keyword stuff title.
Use websites like TitleBuilder.com - 80 Characters each title
- Use lots of photos
- Avoid leaving any item specific field empty. You don't want to get ruled out as people search.
As people figure out what they want, They become more specific. Your product won't get exposure if they get more specific.
So if you want to start a drop shipping store on Ebay, Where should you go?
Start your product line
This is the hardest method, But if done right. Can generate huge profits. I won't go into too much detail here, But it would involve you working with a drop shipper and building your products. Which can be expensive.
Whats your favorite store?
Many people pick their favorite store for drop shipping, Keep in mind. Some websites like Walmart. Have a minimum amount that you have to spend to get free shipping. You can always pass the cost to the customer, But sometimes you may not want to bother with that hassle. So be sure to check the store you use and see their rules. Sometimes it takes the time to get the hang of it, But once you get it going, it's easy.
You just see something that sells well on the website. Like Home Depot for example. Then you copy and paste everything into a listing on eBay. You then steal the photos off the site and put them on your Ebay listing. All done.
Here are some ideas....
Gamestop, Macy's, Walmart, Target (This can only be used temporarily before they block you), Jet, Home Depot, Toys R Us, Best buy, Victorias Secret, Bath and body works, Sephora, Fragrant Jewels, Jewel scent, The USPS store, Sodastream
One of the reasons I also recommend you using a store you enjoy, Is to milk the benefits. If there is a point or reward system in place for repeat buyers, you can use it to buy stuff for yourself, OR You can use it to buy your customers stuff. Hence putting more money into your pocket.
Rewards Credit Card
This isn't necessary, But sometimes it can be hard to pay for all these items upfront. Sometimes I have to spend a thousand in one day. Then you have to wait to get paid. I would overdraw my bank account if I didn't have a credit card to balance it out. So if you decide to use a credit card, Be sure to find one with cashback or miles rewards for you to take advantage of.
Ebates
Install ebates to your browser too. Not only will you get the credit card benefits, But you also can use rebates to get cash back. This will allow you to make even more money.
Copy and paste
The nice thing about dropshipping, Is it can easily be outsourced. The bulk of the work, Is copy and pasting. Copy and paste the description, The title.
Once you get orders coming in,
Copy and paste the tracking.
Etc.
Pricing
Keep in mind that you'll have to ...
- Take money for yourself
- Pay taxes
- Pay Ebay fees
- Paypal Fees, (3% of sales price)
A good rule of thumb is to charge 1.5 x the purchase price, That way you make some money, But your prices are still low enough that you are giving the person a good deal. You can always do more if you'd like. Personally for my store I do 2.0-2.5 of a markup. But I am selling on another platform that isn't ebay. LOl.
You just have to figure out what works best for you.
You definitely offer some good pointers here... although I fear the whole drop shipping idea is wearing a bit thin because it has become so super competitive-- you've got 50 sellers trying to market the exact same thing, using the same photos and listing templates... and there's nothing to differentiate one seller from the next, aside from a few pennies in the price.
Maybe I am just a bit jaded, as a result of using eBay for 20 years... for the long term, it's more work, but developing a brand "everything cats" or "everything balloons" or "garden specialties" or "comic books" might be a better way to go because you can make yourself unique and stand out.
Exactly! I agree. I think that moving onto another platform that isn't as crowded helps a lot. Or working with businesses directly on dropshipping their products can help too.
I LOVE that suggestion. How did I not remember to put that in the post? I agree that picking a "niche" can make a big difference too.
Great pointers for beginners and even some seasoned internet sellers! Thanks for this good article again. Keep on steeming and smiling, taking good care and thriving. Namaste :)
Thank you :) hehe
Nice article☺ Thanks for the tips!
Thank you :) Heheh
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thank you!
Thank you for these pointers. I was recently attracted to the concept of drop shipping on eBay using Amazon Prime (didn't know it was against TOS). I've been trying to sell some of my own products on hand to build my reputation, but I'm getting slaughtered on shipping. Copy/paste sounds MUCH MUCH easier!
No problem.
Yes! It's against the TOS, But it's in the fine print. A lot of people don't know about it. Also Amazon doesn't enforce it often. I've heard of some people getting blocked after a while, But they just make a new account and keep going. I wouldn't consider that a very stable business LOL.
You should! I agree that shipping is bad lately. I'm on the same boat, I dropship AND I have inventory of coloring books and gel pens. I can hardly even afford it anymore. It's getting to the point I just want to clear out my inventory and just do dropshipping.
Coloring books and gel pens!!! What's your seller name?!?
ColoringBookWorld :) http://www.ebay.com/usr/coloringbookworld
To be 100% correct, the name of the title building website is title-builder.com.
I think that eBay is much better for collectibles, vintage and unique items. I would not drop ship from eBay, but that just me. You would need to have too many things advertised, costing monthly fees before the money started coming in.
I've been drop shipping for 4 years now, over 5 million in sales in that time. It's definitely an easy way to go where anyone can really make money online if you never made a dime online before. Outsourcing 99% of it by hiring virtual assistants is the best way to go once you get the hang of it all and know how to train them. I'm paying as little as $2.50/hr to my assistants in the Philippines but is worth much more to them there.