eBay Dropshipping Option

Since eBay may be the biggest online selling website for any physical goods, it may also be the website that a lot of people are aware of. These are a few reasons that can help you take into consideration or avoid getting into eBay’s drop shipping:

Selling on eBay: The Advantages

It can become really easy to begin selling.

Whenever you desire to get into eBay, you may dive in instantly and begin listing all of your products. All you will have to do is to make an account. After that, add a listing so you will already be in business.

This may allow anyone to access an enormous audience.

Whenever you list a product on eBay, you will be able to gain access to tons of online buyers that frequently visit this auction giant. There may be tons of individuals who will be able to see all of the products that you have on your list. Because of the active as well as a quite robust market, it ensures that anyone will surely get a great price on the things that they buy.

Minimal Marketing

Because of the reason that you can now piggyback off the gigantic platform of eBay, you wouldn’t have to worry when it comes to marketing any of your products including paying for traffic as well as Search Engine Optimization. Since this occurs, you may be able to save time because marketing may become one of the greatest problems that come with the launch of any business that involves drop shipping.

The Disadvantages of Selling on eBay

One of eBay’s biggest downsides would be the Listing Fees that people need to pay. The success fee may also be one of the most remarkable because it may reach up to 10% or higher of any of your items’ sale prices. When it comes to the drop shipping market, the margins may already be thin. This cut may minimize a significant portion of anyone’s profit.

Continuous Re-Listing and Monitoring

The auction-style marketplace they call eBay may require ongoing re-listing and monitoring of the products you would want to sell in their marketplace. There may be a few tools that can help in automating the process. However, it may still not be as straightforward as putting a static product for sale in your personal e-commerce website.

Inability to Create the Sales Platform that appears Customized

Whenever you list a product, you will need to follow the templates of eBay so it can be harder to make a value-adding as well as a professional looking page for your goods.

The Lack of Long-Term Connection with any of the Customers

It may be possible for you to have minimal repeat eBay customers but a lot of them may never buy from your shop again. The goodwill that you may bank up because of your great service may eventually get lost. That is because the marketplace has a structure that was made to serve itself. eBay does not focus on their merchants but only the products. The company will significantly restrict how sellers communicate with their buyers, the way you brand your shop, your store’s design, among others.

You may not be able to build an Asset

Whenever you make a store that can generate traffic and have repeat customers, you will surely build a real business that has value. You may even sell this to another person. Selling on eBay will not allow you to create a web property or lasting brand that has a tangible value you may sell in the future.

Amazon’s Dropshipping

Even if Amazon stocks and sells numerous items, most of their listed products are actually sold through third-party merchants in Amazon’s website. Similar to eBay, Amazon acts to facilitate the sale and solve any problems that may arise.

The Advantages of Selling on Amazon

Amazon has advantages that are similar to the ones on eBay. It can be really easy to start and you will immediately have access to a huge audience so you don’t need to worry about SEO or marketing.

The website event has their fulfillment warehouses called Fulfillment by Amazon. It will allow anyone to complement their drop shipped items with their own products without the need to worry about warehousing, packing, and shipping.

The Disadvantages of Selling on Amazon

Listing Fees

Similar to eBay, you will need to pay before you can access this enormous network of buyers through their fairly substantial commission fees. The commission fees in Amazon may vary for every product and they may usually be within the 10% to 15% range.

In case you are working with quite small dropshipping margins, it may take a big chunk out of your profit.

Exposure of your Sales Information

Another risk that you may take whenever you use the platform of Amazon is that the website can see all of your sales data. That includes the items that sell best and how much you are selling. There have been accusations that Amazon used this information to identify a lot of high selling opportunities so they can strengthen their involvement in the niche. Ultimately, they push out the other merchants that sell through their marketplace.

The Lack of a Long-Term Connection with any of the Customers

Similar to eBay, it may be highly unlikely for anyone to grow a long-term relationship with any of their customers in Amazon. Since Amazon exists so they can help themselves, they have their best interest in focusing on the products and not on the sellers. Make sure to become prepared on getting highly restricted with regards to how you may communicate with the customers including how you brand your business as well as display any of your products.

The Absence of Customization

Similar to eBay, there are limits when it comes to customization. All anyone can do when it comes to the marketing, UI, branding, among others will be under the control of the website Amazon.

Go for dropshipping by having your own Shopify online store.

Another great alternative aside from selling through third-party websites such as eBay and Amazon is the establishment of your own online store where you may sell all of your products. This method can be highly attractive for a lot of people who would love to have a successful drop-shipping business.

The advantages of having your own store

Better Control

Whenever you possess your own online store, may be able to create an amazing shopping environment that can become conducive to the sale of your products. Aside from that, you may also add value to all of your customers. You may also customize the site’s layout and look as well as make custom product pages that appear well-optimized. It will be the best way you can inform your customers about any of your products.

An Easy-Looking Design

It may become easy to create your personal e-commerce store nowadays especially since there are platforms like Shopify. You may choose a design for your store from hundreds of options as well as create any customization that you would like to have. Add your products and then connect with a payment gateway so you may become up and be running. It may depend on the kind of online store that you want to make but you it may be ready within the day.

Mobile Ready

It can become a pain to sell on eBay or Amazon through the mobile phone. If you create your online store in a highly-respected e-commerce platform, it would be possible that your website will be more likely to become responsive. It means that it would look wonderful on a mobile phone or an iPad. This can be highly significant nowadays since almost 30% of online purchases happen through a mobile device.

There may be other online store platforms that may allow you to take care of your whole business on your mobile phone. One of them is Shopify. It can be highly attractive to drop-shipping business owners because they usually want to run their business on-the-go or on a vacation.

The Absence of Third-Party Fees

You don’t have to pay for 10% to 15% of everything you sell to platforms like Amazon or eBay so this may improve your profit margins significantly. People will surely make more money if they set their own drop shipping business instead of going through an online store.

The Creation of a Real Business

You may create a long-term business that has repeat customers, a distinctive feel, and well-known expertise. The vital part of this is that you will create a business that has equity. It can be so much easier to sell a business that you were able to build on your independently owned website.

Minimal Free Traffic

Since you possess your own website, you will need to become responsible for the generation of traffic through paid advertising, marketing, as well as Search Engine Optimization. Because of this, you may need to invest a lot when it comes to time as well as money. Aside from that, you may also need to make an investment in a long-term campaign so you may be able to promote the new store.

Which platform should you go for when dropshipping?

Each one of these platforms have their own pros and cons and it is really up to you to decide on which one to choose. You can always combine these methods as well, since Amazon and eBay can easily be integrated into Shopify.

If you are going with the Shopify dropshipping platform, this is actually what I recommend because you can build a long-term brand and also have an asset that you can sell later on in any of the available website marketplaces online such as Shopify Exchange.

What platforms are you using right now? Let us know in the comments below!