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As we mentioned in another article: Let’s first understand what modes of Dropshipping can be done? Roughly divided into two types, independent stations and e-commerce platforms.
There are roughly two types, independent websites and e-commerce platforms. The e-commerce platform will bring its own traffic. As long as you open a store on it, you can get the traffic that the platform gives you, but at the same time there will be more stores selling like you. In terms of products, your store is also facing fierce competition. Although independent station operators will not face too many threats from sellers of similar products, they need to do SEO to increase website traffic or advertise on Facebook and Google.
A. Do dropshipping on eBay
As the world’s largest online physical auction site
Advantages of dropshipping on eBay:
Easy to get started-you can quickly invest in eBay and start showing your products. Create an account, add products, and then you can start. The steps are very simple.
Wide audience-you can reach many online buyers who often visit eBay, and millions of people will see your displayed products. If this market is very dynamic, then your product will definitely get a good price.
Less marketing promotion-because you can borrow eBay, a large platform, the traffic of the platform itself is huge, so you don’t have to worry too much about the conventional traffic acquisition channels for marketing and SEO. This saves you a lot of time
Disadvantages of dropshipping on eBay:
Transaction fees-eBay’s biggest disadvantage is that you have to pay fees. Among them, 10% or more of the product price is charged as a commission. In the dropshipping market, profits are already very meager, and this payment will make your profits even lower.
Constant monitoring-eBay is an auction market, so you have to constantly monitor and re-display the products you want to sell. Although you can use some tools to automate this process, it’s not as simple as uploading products on your own e-commerce website to be sold.
Unable to customize the sales platform-open a store on the platform, your business will rely heavily on the platform, and you cannot make a store with its own characteristics.
Unable to establish long-term contact with customers-you may have several repeat buyers, but most people may not buy from you again. The goodwill that you have built up through quality services may slowly be lost.
eBay does not care about retailers like you, they only care about products. How you communicate with customers, how to establish your personal brand, the design of your store, etc., will be greatly restricted by the platform.
You are not building assets-when you create a store and start generating traffic and repeat buying customers, you are creating a valuable business that you can sell to anyone. When you sell on eBay, you are not building a lasting brand or having any tangible value online assets that you can sell in the future.
B. Do dropshipping on Amazon
Although Amazon keeps inventory and sells products, most of the products are actually sold through the Amazon website by third-party retailers. Like eBay, Amazon is to speed up sales and solve any problems caused by sales.
Advantages of doing dropshipping on Amazon:
The advantages of dropshipping on Amazon are similar to those of eBay: it is easy to get started, can directly target a wide audience, and there is no need to worry about marketing or SEO.
Amazon also has its own order fulfillment warehouse (FBA), so that in addition to dropshipping products, you can also replenish your own products without having to deal with packaging, transportation or warehousing issues. To
Disadvantages of dropshipping on Amazon:
Transaction fees-like eBay, you have to take advantage of the platform’s large customer base, and you have to pay high commissions. Amazon’s commission varies according to the type of product, generally 10%-15%.
If your dropshipping profit is very low, the platform commission will make your profit even lower,
Sales data disclosure-There is another risk in using the Amazon platform, that is, Amazon can see all your sales data, from the best-selling products to the overall sales. In fact, Amazon has been condemned by people because it uses these data to identify good sales opportunities, strengthen its own performance in the niche market, and ultimately crowd out other retailers in the market.
Inability to establish long-term relationships with customers-This is the same as eBay, and it is almost impossible to establish long-term relationships with customers. Amazon exists to help themselves, so their biggest interest is the product rather than the seller. How to establish a personal brand, display products and communicate with customers will all be severely restricted by the platform.
Not customizable-Like eBay, you cannot customize it. Everything you do about branding, UI, marketing, it’s difficult for you to personalize
C. Use your own online store to do dropshipping
In addition to third-party platforms such as Amazon and eBay, you can also choose to build your own online store to sell products. This method has attracted many people and began to become interested in the dropshipping business.
Advantages of selling in your own Shopify store:
Have more control-if you have your own online store, you can create a shopping environment that is conducive to selling products, and most importantly, you can increase product value. You can customize the appearance and layout of the store, create a custom product page, and optimize the page to allow customers to better understand the product.
The design is convenient and simple-it’s easy to build your own e-commerce store, especially if you use a platform like Shopify to create it. Just choose one from hundreds of store designs, do some customization, add products, install the payment portal, and then you can start selling and making money! Depending on what type of online store you want to create, you can usually get everything done in one day.
Mobile phone compatibility-Now that the mobile terminal is becoming more and more important, nearly 30% of online shopping is done through mobile devices.
An online store platform like Shopify allows you to easily conduct business on mobile devices. This is particularly attractive to business owners who do dropshipping, because their mobile phones are actually quite good.
No third-party fees-you don’t have to pay 10%-15% of each sale to eBay or Amazon, which will greatly increase your profit margins. In short, if you use online stores to do dropshipping business, you will make more money.
Build a real business-you can build long-term business relationships with repeat buyers. Most importantly, you are building an equity business. It is relatively easier to do business on an independent site.
Advantages and disadvantages of selling in your own Shopify store:
Lack of free traffic-After you have your own website, you are responsible for diverting traffic through marketing, SEO and paid advertising. The capital cost or time cost to be invested is relatively high. You have to be willing to invest in the long-term to promote the development of new stores.
I wrote this article to tell you that dropshipping is not just about combining with shopify. In fact, you can do it on eBay, Amazon, and even the niche platforms I’m talking about, but different people have different choices. We must combine our own reality.
If you want to know which dropshipping process is more, please read this article, if you like our article, please follow us, we will update within a week. Interpret the advantages and disadvantages of different methods in detail to help you find the most suitable method for you.
