Amazon drop-shipping

Amazon Dropshipping: A Step-By-Step Guide in 2024 (It Works!)

Through Amazon dropshipping, sellers on Amazon are earning $88,000 a minute.

That is a lot of money.

And that won’t slow down – even more so in a couple years time that could double.

And I’m guessing you want a piece of that: well you’ve come to the right place.

Today we’ll run through how to begin dropshipping on Amazon plus lots of tips and tricks to begin earning even sooner.

Let’s get on with it.


What Is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is where you list products on your website, or online store but without holding any physical inventory

Instead your supplier (a Chinese manufacturer for example) sends the product, when you have got the sale, straight to your buyer.

Drop-Shipping Model
Credit: Oberlo

People dropship on eBay, Shopify, their own website etc.

And you can also of course do Amazon dropshipping – but it’s a bit more complicated.

Strictly, in their policy they write that: purchasing products from an online retailer and having that retailer ship directly to customers isn’t allowed.

However, many sellers still do – and earn quite a bit from it.

If you are interested in Amazon FBA instead, which is Amazon’s own form of dropshipping, check out this article.

This guide will continue on for how to traditionally dropship on Amazon and to begin earning straight away.


How Can You Begin Doing Amazon Dropshipping?

We’ll run you through in clear steps, how you can begin dropshipping on Amazon, so by the time you have finished reading, you can begin earning right away.


1. Sign Up for an Amazon Seller Account

Firstly, before you can begin selling anything on Amazon, you need to create an Amazon seller account.

Navigate to Amazon Seller Central and hit the Start Selling Button.

Amazon Seller Account
Credit: 2Dropshipping

You can then create your account – and have two choices between the Individual and Professional Plan.

The Individual Plan, charges you $0.99 for every item plus referral and variable closing fees. They recommend it if you sell less than 40 items per month.

The Professional Plan lets you sell an unlimited number of products, but you pay a monthly subscription fee of $39.99. 

It is recommended if you sell more than 40 items per month.


2. Find Low-Cost and Suitable Amazon Dropshippers

Before considering what products, you are going to sell, it’s much more beneficial to find out which ones would earn you a good profit, and you can ship quickly.

Unfortunately, most buyers on Amazon would want shipping delivery times to be quick.

AliExpress offers good cheap products but come all the way from China so usually take at least a month!

That’s why it is important you look for US dropshippers as it is the biggest market for Amazon.

There are two methods to do so:


Salehoo

We would recommend using a tool like SaleHoo.

SaleHoo is a supplier directory list containing over 8000 low-cost reliable dropshippers and growing.

They’ll let you quickly find a good supplier and will even tell you stuff like how much you profit you can expect, get in touch easily and more.

SaleHoo Supplier
Credit: SaleHoo

Even better – delivery times will be within 5-7 days not 30 days.

They offer:

  • Guarantee that the suppliers are real, and legitimate.
  • Contact and Negotiate Pricing capabilities.
  • The Research Lab (hot product list)
  • Forum and Support (an active community)
  • Great Layout and usability.

SaleHoo costs an amazing $67 a year – that’s just over $5 a month. You only need to sell one or two products to make it back.

Alternatively, you could get the $127 lifetime access (what a bargain!).

If you are unsure – remember you can always get a guaranteed refund if you change your mind afterwards.


Cold-Calling and Using Google

If you still don’t want to use SaleHoo – you can always try find some dropshipping suppliers online.

Try googling search terms such as:

“Dropshipping supplier” + “USA”

Title: Dropshipping supplier + “USA”

Use other keywords such as “distributor” or “wholesaler”.

If you know your niche, also make sure to add it in “…”


3. Locate Products To DropShip

The next step for Amazon dropshipping, is to find low-cost products to begin dropshipping.

What you want to do is consider profit before what kind of niche you want to be in.

For example, take this one item that was selling for $59 by the supplier.

SaleHoo Product

But on Amazon, it was selling for $129.99 + shipping costs.

Amazon Product

Having worked out the profit margins, that is over 109% after Amazon takes away its fees.

Amazon Calculation
High Profit Margins Are Important

Pretty good, huh.

So how can you find these perfect products?

Well there are three important criteria your products need to meet:

  • It’s very profitable
  • It’s in demand (not just seasonally but all year round)
  • Easy to ship

As we are selling on Amazon, we need to make sure that the product avoids being in a crowded market.

Make sure you would be ranked high enough for people to buy.

Also avoid having branded products (low profit margins) or any knockoff ones (let’s remain legitimate!).

SaleHoo Advanced Search
Credit: SaleHoo

Use SaleHoo’s advanced search, and you will find lots of great products in no time.

When trying to find good ones just on Google, it might be necessary to target a certain niche.


4. List Products On Amazon

Now you have chosen the products, and have your suppliers, it’s time to actually list them.

If your product already exists on Amazon’s catalogue, search for it and click the ‘sell yours’ button.

Describe the condition, set your price, shipping methods and so on.

If it doesn’t exist on Amazon, go to the Inventory drop-down menu on your seller account.

The ‘Add A Product tool’ can be used to list your new product.

For more information, click here.

(For more information on how to list products and make sure they rank look below).


Tips and Tricks for Amazon Dropshipping

Now you understand the basic step-by-step guide to begin dropshipping on Amazon, we’ll teach you a bit about how to get it to the next level


Getting Reviews on Amazon

Reviews are one of the most important things that any seller considers, and will also greatly affect your Amazon dropshipping prospects.

Amazon Reviews
Credit: Effective Spend

They help you rank higher on Amazon, and make your product seem much more trustworthy.

Overall your conversion rates with each review will rise exponentially.

So how can you get Amazon Reviews?

Well unfortunately you can no longer offer discounted or free products in exchange for reviews (new Amazon policy) nor can you ask your friends/ family.

The best way therefore is to email your customers to get them to review your products.

Getresponse

What you want to do is automate your email campaigns, using a tool like GetReponse.

So that when somebody buys something you send them something along these lines:

Hi {Buyer’s Name},
 
We’ve received your order and will be dispatching it for delivery soon!
 
You should expect to receive the product within {insert number of days}, but if you are getting worried, you can track it here with this link.
 
Once you receive your order, we’ll follow up again to make sure you’re happy with your purchase.
 
If at any time you have any questions or feedback, always reach out with this email address.
 
Best, {Seller’s Name}

And then shortly after they should have received the order, follow it up with another email along the lines of:

Hi {Buyer’s Name},
 
We hope you have now received your product. Thanks again for ordering!
 
If you have any questions, please get in touch.
 
If all is good, we would really appreciate you sparing a couple seconds of your time leaving us some feedback about your buying experience {Product review link}
 
Have a great day.
 
Best, {Seller’s Name}

By doing this, you should hopefully whilst racking up sales, also rack up reviews. Therefore, with each sale – you’ll sell even more!


What If Somebody Leaves A Bad Review?

Having bad reviews, as good reviews are great, are very bad for selling.

Bad Amazon Review
Credit: SaleHoo

There are a couple techniques to help remove them.

You can contact your customer and have him/her remove or edit it. Make sure to rectify any mistakes you made or clarify any misunderstanding!

You can request Amazon to remove the review. Go to your product details page, select the review and click “report abuse”. Or send an email to amazon via community-help@amazon.com

Or you can leave a public comment on the review – to help show any potential customers that you are trustworthy and interested in customer feedback.


Making Sure Your Product Ranks With SEO

Amazon like any other way to sell online will have competition – so it is important to make sure your SEO is on-point.

Make sure you have long descriptive titles that are rich in keywords for Amazon to pick up on.

Write about the brand, product line, material, colour etc.

For example: Smith’s Giant Siberian White Tiger Lifelike Stuffed Animal (Over 5 Feet Long).

Disclose on your refund policy, it makes you look more credible (and many SaleHoo suppliers have a refund policy).

Use as many good-looking pictures as possible for the product and make the description informative and easy-to-read.

Use bullet points with information like:

  • Amazing lifelike hand-crafted and stuffed Siberian tiger
  • Dramatic and well printed realistic marking
  • Made from soft polyester fabric
  • 20”H x 65” L x 20” W
  • For ages 3+

Amazon Dropshipping Compared to eBay and E-Commerce Stores

Here are some comparisons between earning via Amazon dropshipping, versus using eBay or E-Commerce stores:


eBay

eBay has over 171 million buyers, so also offers a great audience and customer base.

eBay Drop-Shipping

Whilst Amazon is a bit iffy on dropshipping, eBay allow it on their site, as long as the sellers guarantee the buyers will be able to receive their orders within 30 days.

Unfortunately, with eBay you have to pay an insertion fee – where when you list an item on eBay, you may be charged to do so.

On eBay you can also list with an auction-style pricing, or fixed price listings which are much better for dropshipping as it makes sure you get your profit margin.


E-Commerce Store (Shopify etc)

E-Commerce Store

You can also of course dropship on your own e-commerce store.

You can create your own website and customize it how you want and build your brand (which is much harder to do when on Amazon). You control far more and won’t have any third-party fees.

However, you have to consider marketing and how you will be able to drive traffic, without relying on a big company like Amazon.

You also have to consider how you will be able to make your own store, whether with WordPress, Shopify etc. They will all cost money to set-up (monthly fees, or domain and hosting).

Find out more in our Dropshipping articles here.


Conclusion

You should now know how to step-by-step begin dropshipping on Amazon with 4 steps:

  1. Sign up for a seller account
  2. Find low-cost and suitable dropshipping suppliers
  3. Locate products
  4. List the products

You should also know extra tips and tricks such as Amazon reviews and Amazon SEO.

Make sure to consider whether you want to start with Amazon, or another way such as your own store or eBay.

If you do like Amazon, then make sure to start right away!

Bookmark this article and go sign up for your Amazon Seller’s account.

You could be earning money within a week with Amazon dropshipping. Good luck!

Talk Soon, The E-Commerce Entrepreneur

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