🚀 Ignite your growth: Discover 30+ new tools to get ahead in our new Ecwid Igniter. Learn more →
Everything you need to sell online

Set up an online store in minutes to sell on a website, social media, or marketplaces.

eBay-dropshipping

eBay Dropshipping: Learn How To Dropship on eBay Today

10 min read

Dropshipping is an ecommerce business solution that allows companies to sell products online with little to no overhead costs.

Several major online marketplaces allow sellers to use dropshipping, provided they can guarantee safe and timely shipping. This includes eBay, which has over 18 million active sellers on its platform and over 135 million buyers. That makes eBay, the original online marketplace, still one of the largest digital commerce spaces today.

Entrepreneurs looking to break into eBay’s lucrative marketing space can do so with dropshipping. It’s relatively easy to do, although it is important to be aware of eBay’s rules regarding dropshipping and order fulfillment.

This guide will tell you everything you need to know about eBay dropshipping, as well as how to dropship on eBay with no money.

How to sell online
Tips from e-commerce experts for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Please enter a valid email address

eBay’s Dropshipping Policy

If you read some user reviews about dropshipping on eBay, you may come away thinking it’s complicated or can’t be done. But this is not true. Learn how to dropship on eBay without getting banned.

What is true is that eBay has a firm policy about re-selling certain items on their marketplace. As eBay’s dropshipping policy states, “listing an item on eBay and then purchasing the item from another retailer or marketplace that ships directly to your customer is not allowed on eBay”.

What this means, essentially, is that sellers can’t buy an item directly from another retailer, like Amazon, then immediately resell it to their own customers. Violating this rule will result in punishment, which could mean account suspension and reduced ratings.

However, dropshipping is permitted on eBay. The difference is that, with dropshipping, retailers buy their products in bulk from a supplier to facilitate a purchase.

When using eBay dropshipping, the seller is responsible for handling the customer’s transaction. Their order information is then sent to the dropshipping supplier, who handles the shipping and handling. However, eBay’s policy stipulates that the seller is responsible for shipping quality. So it is important to work with a reputable, highly-rated dropshipper.

How to Start Dropshipping on eBay

As for how to start dropshipping on eBay, the process is fairly straightforward. The first step is to create your eBay seller account. Then you can set up your eBay store exactly how you want. eBay provides a detailed guide on how to create a store.

Once your store setup is complete, you can start selling whatever items you intend to sell. If you have not already conducted research into what to sell, now’s the time to do that. When using dropshipping, you want to choose items that have a high-profit margin. The best way to do this is to identify items that are in high demand, but don’t have much market competition.

Once you know you want to sell, choose your dropshipping supplier and create your product listings. When searching for potential dropshippers, pay attention to their inventory and their fees. Obviously, you want to make sure your dropshipping partner can provide the items you want to sell. But some dropshippers charge different rates for their products and services.

Your goal is to be able to sell your products at a competitive markup price to maximize profits.

How to dropship on eBay from AliExpress

One of the most well-known and widely used dropshipping providers is AliExpress. If you want to know how to dropship on eBay from China, AliExpress is probably your best option. AliExpress is based in China, and has an extremely large inventory of items, ranging from clothes, to furniture, to electronics. This is one method of how to dropship from China on eBay.

eBay sellers are able to buy products wholesale from AliExpress using a dropshipping agreement. Buying products individually from AliExpress and shipping them directly to your customers could be in violation of eBay’s dropshipping policy, mentioned above.

But as long as you follow eBay’s rules about dropshipping, AliExpress is a highly reputable dropshipper for eBay sellers. Learn more about how to dropship from AliExpress.

How to dropship on eBay for free

Dropshipping is preferred by many retailers because it is highly affordable. In some cases, it is technically possible to dropship on eBay for free. Sellers should be aware of eBay’s listing fees.

Sellers are allowed up to 250 free listings per month. Any listing beyond that 250-item limit comes with a small $0.35 listing fee. As long as you do not create more than 250 listings, you can technically list any product for free.

On top of that, some dropshippers, like AliExpress, allow free use of their service. Of course, sellers still need to pay for the products they buy in bulk from their dropshipping providers. But as long as you sell your inventory for a profit, you are guaranteed not to lose money with dropshipping. So while dropshipping is not exactly free, it is often the lowest-cost way to start an online business and sell on eBay.

Of course, you may still spend money on other aspects of your business, like marketing, research, and building a website. But the extremely low overhead costs of dropshipping allow you to focus your spending on these other areas.

How to Find Items to Dropship on eBay

If you want to maximize your profits, you’ll need to know how to find items to dropship on eBay. Researching what items to sell is often the most challenging part of operating a dropshipping business. This is because dropshipping items usually come with very low-profit margins. This, unfortunately, comes with the business model of dropshipping on eBay.

Because dropshipping has such a low barrier of entry, dropshipping businesses tend to have heavy competition. This means prices need to be kept low, or else competitors will be able to beat your store to sales.

But items also need to be sold at a markup in order to make a profit. In highly competitive areas, there is often a very small margin between the original wholesale price and the markup price.

Because of this, the most effective strategy for any dropshipping business is to identify high-demand, niche products. Conducting market research into what to sell on eBay is an essential step for any dropshipping business. If you can identify items with high demand and low competition, you should easily be able to build a successful partnership with a dropshipping provider.

eBay Dropshipping Pros and Cons

Now that you understand the basics of dropshipping on eBay, you may be wondering whether it’s right for you. To help you decide, here’s a quick breakdown of some of the pros and cons of dropshipping on eBay.

Pros of starting a dropshipping business on eBay

  • Extremely low overhead costs.
  • Free listings for smaller inventory (under 250 listings).
  • No need to pay for or worry about manufacturing, storage, or shipping.
  • Extremely wide range of products available for dropshipping.
  • Easy way to start a business with no or little money.
  • Frees you up to focus on growing and improving other areas of your business.

Cons of starting a dropshipping business on eBay

  • eBay’s product resale value is strict, and violations can result in harsh penalties.
  • Sellers are still responsible for shipping quality, even though shipping is handled by third-party vendors.
  • Can be highly competitive.
  • Typically low-profit margins.
  • No opportunity to establish a unique brand when selling generic items through a third party.
  • Shipping or product issues can make customer service difficult to manage.
  • eBay’s restricted item list prevents the sale of certain types of items.

Is Dropshipping Right for You?

That’s everything you need to know about dropshipping on eBay. Whether or not a dropshipping business is right for you depends on your goals and financial situation. For entrepreneurs looking to establish a business, dropshipping can be a great way to get started.

Want to learn more about starting an eBay store? Check out Ecwid’s helpful guide on How to Sell on eBay for Beginners.

 

Table of contents

Sell online

With Ecwid Ecommerce, you can easily sell anywhere, to anyone — across the internet and around the world.

About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.

Ecommerce that has your back

So simple to use – even my most technophobic clients can manage. Easy to install, quick to set up. Light years ahead of other shop plugins.
I’m so impressed I’ve recommended it to my website clients and am now using it for my own store along with four others for which I webmaster. Beautiful coding, excellent top-notch support, great documentation, fantastic how-to videos. Thank you so much Ecwid, you rock!
I’ve used Ecwid and I love the platform itself. Everything is so simplified it’s insane. I love how you have different options to choose shipping carriers, to be able to put in so many different variants. It’s a pretty open e-commerce gateway.
Easy to use, affordable (and a free option if starting off). Looks professional, many templates to select from. The App is my favorite feature as I can manage my store right from my phone. Highly recommended 👌👍
I like that Ecwid was easy to start and to use. Even for a person like me, without any technical background. Very well written help articles. And the support team is the best for my opinion.
For everything it has to offer, ECWID is incredibly easy to set up. Highly recommend! I did a lot of research and tried about 3 other competitors. Just try ECWID and you'll be online in no time.

Your ecommerce dreams start here

By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Your Privacy

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. More information

More information

Strictly Necessary Cookies (Always active)
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our site.