With many entrepreneurs recognizing its potential, eBay dropshipping has become a buzzword in the e-commerce industry. However, starting a dropshipping business on eBay can be challenging, especially for beginners.
Therefore, in this article, we will guide you through the process of launching a successful eBay dropshipping venture. Our step-by-step approach will show how to establish our account, find profitable products, and start making profits immediately. So, let’s get started on our eBay dropshipping journey.
How To DROPSHIP on eBay Video Full Guide:
What Is eBay Dropshipping?
Before learning how to dropship on eBay, let’s understand what eBay dropshipping is. As one of the pioneers in eCommerce, eBay is an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers. Millions of users visit eBay to buy and sell products. Therefore, we can benefit from organic traffic generated due to the high number of users.
On the other hand, dropshipping is an eCommerce business model which allows us to sell products without holding inventory. Instead, we buy products from our suppliers when we receive orders in our store. Finally, we instruct the supplier to deliver the product to our customer’s address.
That means, with eBay dropshipping, we can sell to many buyers. Plus, we need very little investment with the dropshipping model to start our business. All in all, eBay dropshipping is a great business model with huge potential.
Why Dropship On eBay?
With a clear understanding of eBay dropshipping, let’s explore the reasons to dropship on eBay. One significant advantage is its high level of traffic. Reports show that as of mid-2022, eBay receives over 3 billion visits, making it the second most visited website in terms of traffic. This means there will be plenty of organic traffic on our dropshipping stores, which increases our chances of sales.
Furthermore, other regions such as eBay AU, eBay UK, and many more are also gaining popularity. Now, putting aside statistics, let’s talk about exposure. By selling on eBay, we can reach millions of shoppers worldwide. As such, our items will get views without spending too much money, time, or effort.
Advantages & Disadvantages Of eBay Dropshipping
Like any other business model, eBay dropshipping has benefits and drawbacks. To have a clearer picture, let’s take a look at its pros and cons:
Pros
- Free organic traffic
- Easy to start
- Zero upfront investment
- Promoted listings
As eBay is one of the largest eCommerce platforms, it has over 180 million users. This means we’ll have plenty of organic traffic, helping us to generate sales. Also, we can start selling on eBay with little to no investment.
Additionally, we can easily promote our products with the promoted listings standard and advanced. These are eBay’s internal features that help our listing become more visible on eBay.
Cons
- High competition
- Limited customization options
- Selling limits
On the downside, eBay has a high level of competition since selling on eBay is free. However, if we dropship with adequate product research, we can stand out from the competition.
Moreover, eBay is not a customizable eCommerce platform. So, we will have limited customization options. Nonetheless, we can use eBay’s professional templates and special tags to stand out from the competition.
Furthermore, eBay restricts sellers with selling limits. For instance, if we are a new eBay seller, we can only sell ten products for up to $500. However, restrictions are in place only to filter our unreliable sellers. Therefore, if we stay within the website’s rules and regulations, we can gradually gain eBay’s trust and increase our limits.
How Much Does It Cost To Dropship On eBay?
When it comes to the cost of eBay dropshipping, it can vary depending on several factors. Here are some factors to consider when dropshipping on eBay:
Free Listings
When we are starting, eBay offers a great way for sellers to sell on the platform, with 2 free listings for up to $500 in value. For business sellers, there are different amounts of free listings available depending on their subscriptions. All in all, eBay’s free listings offer a perfect opportunity to begin selling without any risk or cost!
Subscription Fees
Now, let’s learn about another cost, eBay subscription fees. To clarify, we must pay a certain subscription fee for a business account on eBay. Here are the five eBay store subscription plans and their costs when billed annually:
- Starter Store – $7.95 per month
- Basic Store– $21.95 per month
- Premium Store– $59.95 per month
- Anchor Store– $299.95 per month
- Enterprise Store– $2999.95 per month
If we are just beginning to sell on eBay, we can start small and gradually increase our range as our profits start rolling in. This is where tools like the eBay calculator come into play. With this tool, we can easily calculate our fees when dropshipping on eBay and better understand when to upgrade our subscription.
Insertion Fees
Each store subscription plan has a certain number of free insertion fee listings. The higher the subscription level, the less the seller will pay for each additional listing. Here is a detailed overview of insertion fees:
- Starter Store– 250 fixed price listings + $0.30 per additional listing
- Basic Store– 1000 fixed price listings + $0.25 per additional listing
- Premium Store– 10,000 fixed price listings + $0.10 per additional listing
- Anchor Store– 25,000 fixed price listings + $0.05 per additional listing
- Enterprise Store– 100,000 fixed price listings + $0.05 per additional listing
To be certain of the insertion fees we need to pay on eBay, AutoDS has a handy insertion fee calculator at your disposal. It is a fast and simple way to guarantee that the appropriate amount of fees are accounted for.
Final Value Fees
After insertion fees, we have to consider final value fees. Final value fees are fees charged by eBay for selling items on their platform. The fee is calculated as a percentage of the total sale amount (item price + postage and handling charges) plus a fixed charge of $0.30 per order.
Additionally, it depends on what products we sell. For instance, let’s assume we have subscribed to a starter store selling Men’s shoes. As such, we have to pay 8% per item if the sale amount is over $150 and 12.9% per item if the total sales are under $150.
On the other hand, if we have Basic, Premium, Anchor, and Enterprise store subscriptions, we have to pay 7% per item if the sale amount is over $150 and 12% per item if the total sales are under $150. The final value fee is calculated and automatically charged by eBay at the end of a sale through eBay Managed Payments.
Promotional Fees
Besides the mandatory fees, standing out from the crowd is crucial when dropshipping on eBay. Without a solid marketing strategy, getting our products in front of the right people and making sales can be difficult. As such, eBay also charges a promotional fee for sellers who choose to use the platform’s promoted listing features: Promoted Listings Standard & Promoted Listings Advanced.
In a nutshell, these promoted listing features are designed to make products more visible across the eBay platform. And, if a sale happens due to the promotion, it will show up as a separate transaction under the payments section. This means that sellers must factor in the promotion cost in addition to the other fees when determining their profit margins.
Calculating all of these fees manually can be overwhelming, but thankfully, tools like AutoDS’ eBay fees calculator can help. This tool makes it easy to quickly calculate the complex fees associated with selling on eBay. Hence, setting our price and profit margins saves us significant time and effort.
eBay Dropshipping Policies
So, the crucial question is, “Does eBay allow dropshipping?” Essentially, eBay states that it supports dropshipping. However, it prefers dropshippers to source from wholesale suppliers rather than retailers.
That means fulfilling orders from another retailer or marketplace that ships products directly to our customers is not allowed. Thus, if we dropship from a retailer, our account may be flagged or suspended temporarily or permanently.
While there are ways to overcome this, it is better to dropship from a wholesale supplier if we are a beginner. If we are experienced dropshippers, we can dropship from retailers and use different methods to overcome the challenges.
Tips For eBay Dropshipping
When dropshipping on eBay, many factors, such as competition, product demand, and market trends, can impact our profit. With that in mind, here are some tips for eBay dropshipping:
- eBay Product Research
- Provide Excellent Customer Service
- Offer Fast Shipping & Free Returns
- Know Your eBay Fees
- Use Multiple Suppliers
- Scale with Dropshipping Automation
Besides finding a suitable product research method, we should always look into the product’s demand, profitability, and competitors. Additionally, we must provide excellent customer service.
So, always answer buyers’ questions, and handle any cases that may arise. Similarly, offering fast shipping and free returns helps us build our customer base.
Plus, calculating eBay fees such as final value, subscription, and promotion fees are also necessary. On top of that, we should work with 2-3 suppliers as multiple suppliers offer more variety of products. It is always good to have a backup in case one of the suppliers faces issues.
Finally, using dropshipping automation software like AutoDS can help streamline and optimize various tasks, leading to more productivity. For example, it can help with automating tasks such as inventory management, product importing, order fulfillment, and customer service. By utilizing dropshipping automation software, businesses can increase their capacity to scale and grow faster.
How To Dropship On eBay For The First Time
Starting on eBay with the right approach can be highly rewarding. So, here are the 8 key steps to take when dropshipping on eBay for the first time:
- Sign Up For eBay
- List Your First Item Manually
- Find Your Best Sellers: eBay Product Research
- Select An eBay Dropshipping Supplier
- Calculate Your eBay Fees & Profit
- Import eBay Dropshipping Products
- Fulfill Customer Orders
- Provide Excellent Customer Support On eBay
Let’s see how to perform these steps in detail.
1. Sign Up For eBay
The first step to start selling on eBay is signing up. Head to eBay.com and click ‘Register’ in the top left corner to create an account.
Once we fill in our name and email address, click Create Account. Now, we’ll be redirected to eBay’s homepage, where we will see ‘My eBay.’ On this page, we can see our account settings and preferences where we will continue to set up our selling account—payment methods, business policies, and more.
Once we complete this step, we will be ready to start listing products in our new dropshipping store.
2. List Your First Item Manually
The second step to getting our store going is listing an item to sell. Although we are creating a dropshipping store, we highly recommend starting by selling something from home.
It is best to list at least three items from home every other day because eBay expects new sellers to start slowly to minimize risks. If we start fast and list too many items from the get-go, we risk getting a temporary suspension while they look into our account.
Beginner’s Tip: Dropshippers with new seller accounts should conduct all tasks manually initially. At this stage, it is essential that we create and publish listings manually and not automatically through dropshipping software.
After about two weeks, we can start listing dropshipping products and upgrade from manual listing to automated product importing to save time and scale correctly.
3. Find Your Best Sellers: eBay Product Research
Conducting thorough product research is crucial for the success of any eBay dropshipping business. Without an understanding of what products are in-demand and what sells well on the platform, it can be challenging to make a profit. Furthermore, product research also enables us to understand the market trends, what are the seasonal products, and how to capitalize on them.
With that in mind, here are some essential product research methods for our eBay stores:
- AutoDS Winning Products Hub
- AutoDS Product Finding Blog
- AutoDS Youtube Best Sellers
- eBay Best-Selling Categories
- eBay manual product research
- Google Trends
- Google Lens
- Analyze successful eBay dropshippers
- eBay Terapeak
While these are the most popular ways, AutoDS’ Winning Products Hub is an invaluable asset for conducting product research on eBay. It helps us identify popular and in-demand products for our eBay dropshipping store.
Moreover, with its in-depth product analysis capabilities, the platform provides us with a thorough examination of each product. This includes information such as the source price, retail price, profit margin, key insights into the target market, and a closer look at how competitors are marketing the product. As a result, we can quickly spot winning products and import them to our eBay store.
Similarly, another excellent method to find winning products on eBay is to analyze successful eBay dropshippers. To do so, we must search for a dropshipping product on a supplier’s website. In this scenario, we will search for a massage gun on CJDropshipping.
Then, copy and paste the product title on eBay, where we will find a dropshipper selling it for a higher price. Here, we can see search filters on the left-hand side. Now, scroll down the page, tick on Sold items, and uncheck Completed Items from the menu. To clarify, this allows us to find items that the dropshipper sells for profit. Also, this is the method to follow for conducting manual product research on eBay.
Once we discover a good dropshipper, go to the seller details from the eBay product page. This allows us to see the range of products the dropshipper offers in their store.
By incorporating similar products they sell, we can find profitable products to add to our eBay store.
4. Select An eBay Dropshipping Supplier
After finding best-selling products, we need to select a trustworthy dropshipping supplier to source the products. Plus, a reliable supplier is paramount to the success of our eBay business. So, to ensure our dropshipping suppliers are reliable, we have to analyze them under these criteria:
- International warehouses
- Practical return, shipping, and payment policies
- Wide product selection
- Affordable products
- Positive reviews
- Excellent customer service
In summary, choosing a supplier that meets all the necessary criteria is vital to ensure they are credible. Additionally, we can also use AutoDS-supported dropshipping suppliers for our eBay dropshipping venture. By using these suppliers, we can rest assured that we’ll save time, reduce the risk of issues, and increase our chances of success when dropshipping on eBay.
Beginner’s Tip: Work with multiple suppliers as it allows you to offer a broader range of products. Plus, if one supplier experiences problems such as production delays or stock shortages, you have a backup option to avoid potential losses or unhappy customers.
5. Calculate Your eBay Fees & Profit
Undeniably, our profits rely on how well we can set the product price and profit margin. Overall, we have five parameters to consider to calculate our profits correctly:
- eBay Store Fees
- Category Fees
- Final Value Fees
- Payment Processor Fees
- Promotion Fees
- Buy/Sell Price
Since there are varying fees, it is challenging to determine how much we’re profiting. However, the AutoDS eBay Fees Calculator makes it easy to calculate our eBay dropshipping profit margins.
The calculator considers all relevant fees and calculates them automatically to give us a clear picture of our profits. This eliminates the need to manually calculate these fees, saving us time and effort.
6. Import eBay Dropshipping Products
So, how do we import products to our eBay store once we have researched and found items to list? In general, there are two methods to import products: manual and automatic.
With the manual method, we’ll need to go to the supplier’s website, copy and paste the title, descriptions, and images, and repeat that for each product. In short, it is a tedious process and takes up our time.
On the other hand, with an automatic method, we can save hours spent on manual work. For instance, dropshipping tools like the AutoDS product importer automatically extracts the product’s details and upload them to our store. There are four different features of the product importing feature:
- One-click Importer
- Single Product Importer
- Multiple Product Importer
- Bulk Upload with a CSV file
To get a clearer picture, let’s see how it works by importing a massage gun with a one-click Importer. First, sign up for an AutoDS account and integrate it with our eBay store. Then, we must install the AutoDS Chrome Helper Extension in our browser.
Next, navigate suppliers’ websites like CJDropshipping and look for a product we want to import. Once we have found the product, a massage gun, click on the Import to AutoDS button above the product title.
Now, the product’s details will be automatically extracted and uploaded to the AutoDS drafts page. To clarify, the AutoDS drafts page is where we can enhance our product’s images and descriptions to beat our competition. After optimization, we can publish it to our eBay store by clicking on Import.
And with just a few simple steps, we can easily import products into our eBay store and start making sales. Using the AutoDS Product Importer can save time and hassle when importing products from suppliers to eBay.
One way to improve the visibility of our products on eBay is to use tools like AutoDS’ eBay title builder to optimize our product titles for search engines. Using this tool ensures that our product titles appear at the top of search results. This helps us drive more traffic to our listings and ultimately increase sales.
7. Fulfill Customer Orders
Undeniably, customers expect to receive their orders promptly. If an order doesn’t arrive in time, it can harm our eBay seller account rating. In a competitive marketplace like eBay, having a positive seller rating is crucial for standing out and attracting new customers. Additionally, fulfilling orders on time can help prevent disputes and refunds.
With that in mind, here are three methods to fulfill customer orders on eBay:
- Manual
- Automatic
- Fulfilled By AutoDS
To elaborate, manual order fulfillment entails manually inputting customer information such as shipping address and payment details on the supplier’s website. However, this can be tedious and time-consuming, particularly for large orders.
In contrast, we can utilize automatic tools such as the AutoDS Automatic Orders to simplify this process. This method uses our buyer accounts to process orders automatically. Buyer accounts are our accounts on the supplier’s website linked to our preferred payment options like Paypal or credit cards.
Another alternative to manual order fulfillment is Fulfilled By AutoDS (FBA), a fully automatic feature that does not use buyer accounts. Instead, it utilizes our balance on the AutoDS platform. Thus, FBA keeps our buyer accounts secure from account locks or suspension.
Both these automatic methods efficiently provide customers with order tracking and status updates, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and an efficient order fulfillment experience.
8. Provide Excellent Customer Support On eBay
At the end of the day, delivering outstanding customer service is a must for eBay dropshipping. To have repeat customers and referrals, we need to give stellar customer service. So, to provide unparalleled customer service, we must:
- Address customer concerns and complaints swiftly
- Handle returns and reimbursements promptly
- Tailor our communication to the individual customer
- Offer a comprehensive FAQ section
- Utilize a customer service management system
With these five tips, we can offer excellent customer service. This also allows us to earn and keep a Top Rated Seller Status. Now, let’s elaborate on how AutoDS’ eBay Customer Service Management System helps us provide exceptional customer service.
AutoDS Customer Service Management System
With the AutoDS eBay Customer Service Management System, we can manage and reply to all our eBay customer messages through the AutoDS platform. Here are some features of this tool:
- View all our eBay messages on a single dashboard
- Quickly solve cases
- Handle order cancellations
- Automatically process returns with the Fulfilled by AutoDS service
Furthermore, we can create and save our message templates or use the numerous templates we have created for different situations. This helps drastically minimize the time spent on customer support while providing the best customer experience possible.
Overall, the eight steps above are an excellent route to creating a successful eBay dropshipping business.
The Best eBay Dropshipping Niches To Sell
When embarking on a dropshipping venture, we must sell the most profitable products that have the highest demand. Thus, to assist us in identifying the best niches for eBay dropshipping, here are some of the top-performing categories that are worth exploring:
- Arts, Crafts & Sewing
- Automotive Parts
- Baby Products
- Beauty & Personal Care
- Cell Phones & Accessories
- Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry
- Computer Accessories
- Electronics
- Health & Household
- Home & Kitchen
- Kitchen & Dining
- Musical Instruments
- Office Products
- Patio, Lawn & Garden
- Pet Supplies
- Sports & Outdoors
- Home Improvement Tools
- Toys & Games
Each of these niches contains a vast array of products we can dropship. So, choose products that align with your interests, have strong market demand, healthy competition, and have high profitability.
Then, with the AutoDS product research spreadsheet, we can narrow down our product selection. By answering a series of questions, the spreadsheet helps us pinpoint winning products, helping us generate high profits.
What Products To Avoid Dropshipping On eBay
While there are plenty of dropshipping products to sell, we must avoid some products to protect the safety and legality of our business. With that in mind, here are products that are harmful to our eBay dropshipping business:
- Supplements
- Adult products
- Third-Party infringements
- Counterfeit products
- Health products with “Before-and-After” photos
- Weapons
- Tobacco and alcohol products
- Drugs and drug-related products
By steering clear of these products, we can proactively decrease the chance of encountering legal difficulties. Or else it can lead to account suspension or even legal action.
Beginner’s Tip: Go through eBay’s Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) guide to be aware of copyrighted and trademarked products.
Scale Your eBay Dropshipping Success With Automation
Once we’ve established a strong foundation for our eBay dropshipping venture, we must focus on growth and expansion. This is where the automation software comes in as a powerful tool for dropshippers.
One such tool that can be seamlessly integrated with eBay is AutoDS, which allows us to run a profitable business through eBay efficiently. In general, AutoDS is a dropshipping automation software that helps us to streamline and optimize business operations. By utilizing this software, we can save ourselves valuable time and energy. With that in mind, here are some useful AutoDS tools for eBay dropshipping:
- Quick Product Imports
- Complete Order Fulfillment
- Price/Stock Monitoring
- Automatic Price Optimization
- eBay Fees Calculator
- eBay Customer Service Management Tool
- eBay Title Builder Tool
- and much more!
All in all, AutoDS provides a plethora of features that can yield a thriving and profitable eBay dropshipping venture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dropshipping Allowed On eBay?
Yes! Dropshipping is allowed on eBay. In general, eBay allows dropshipping as long as sellers are sourcing from wholesale suppliers. However, selling products from another retailer or marketplace will result in our accounts being flagged or suspended. But there are various ways to overcome this challenge, but for beginners, it’s best to stick to sourcing from wholesalers.
How Can I Start Dropshipping On eBay?
We can start dropshipping on eBay by opening an eBay seller account and searching for a reliable dropshipping supplier. Then, we can source products and list them in our eBay store. From here, we’ll fulfill the orders and watch the money roll in!
What Happens If My Dropshipping Account On eBay Is Flagged?
Don’t worry! We can still work with a flagged eBay account. However, it’s best to revise why our account was flagged and adjust our dropshipping processes accordingly to avoid our account being flagged again.
How Do I Handle Returns And Refunds When Dropshipping On eBay?
When handling returns and refunds, we need to establish a returns policy. We should clearly state our returns policy on our eBay listing, including information about the conditions under which we accept returns and refunds. Then, communicate with the supplier to arrange for the return of the product and a refund or exchange.
Is eBay Good For Dropshipping In 2023?
Yes, eBay is good for dropshipping in 2023. As eBay has many users, we can generate organic traffic on our store. Additionally, we can start eBay dropshipping easily with minimal investment. Furthermore, we can automate eBay stores with dropshipping software such as AutoDS, making us efficient.
Conclusion
Congratulations! We hope this article helped spark some motivation by showing just how to dropship on eBay. Now, we know why eBay is an excellent choice for dropshippers.
Not only does eBay dropshipping provide a great starting point for beginners, but we can also scale it with dropshipping automation tools. With minimal investment and freedom to work on our own terms, now is the perfect time to launch our own dropshipping business on eBay.
Finally, if you want guidance along the way, here are some excellent articles to enlighten your knowledge on eBay dropshipping:
