Best Ways to Make Money Through Dropshipping and Keeping Your Profits High (2021)
Find out the best ways to make money with dropshipping while keeping your profit margins high!
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Most entrepreneurs think dropshipping is a hard venture because of all the store building, product uploading and sourcing, marketing, and all that. However, it can be both difficult and easy –at the same time.
The easy part is that you don’t actually have to build your store from zero thanks to all the platforms available, and don’t even think you have to learn about programing. The tough part is that it’s still a business, and businesses require work.
Besides having a store for yourself, there are other ways for you to get into dropshipping. Here we’ll analyse the best.
Amazon
Amazon is the main online marketplace today. You could only sell there if you lived in the US a while ago, but it now lets virtually anyone list and sell products through their platform.
You must become a member by registering for your seller account and choosing a plan. That sets how much you must pay. The Professional plan lets you sell everything you want for just $40 each month.
The individual plan lets you sell up to 40 items, and you pay $1 for each sale. Besides that, you also pay referral and variable closing fees.
After you’re done, you just need to post your items. Once someone buys them, you purchase the item from the supplier and have it delivered.
eBay
eBay is known mainly for its auctions, but it still has a buy now option. It started by letting you sell used items, but most of the things offered there today are new.
After you sign up, you need to add a payment method; it can be either credit card or through PayPal. eBay will charge your fees automatically from that account.
Dropshipping on eBay will have you setting the location of your item on the listing. It must be an approved country, or you won’t be able to list your item.
Once it’s approved, it’ll go live. As soon as someone buys, you do the same from the supplier. While selling costs depend on your country, you’ll still face auction, insertion, and fixed fees.
A personal store
This is the standard dropshipping approach, and it lets you create your own brand, logos, and name. You’re free to suit the store to your personality.
Shopify is the most popular approach to building your store, but you have many options like WooCommerce or Magento. The only issue is the extra spending added from having to host your website; that’s around $15 monthly.
You’ll also pay transaction fees to whichever payment processor you chose. The standard is 2% of the transaction. Finally, add your marketing costs to that.
Facebook has gone beyond social media; you can even create a shop on it and list your items. You can show your products on Messenger or through your own menu.
You also have the Facebook Marketplace available. You just need to head over to the left side of your Facebook profile and click on Marketplace. There, you may post your items like sharing photos on the site. The only difference is adding prices and descriptions.
The other method is finding groups and offering your products. You just need to click on “groups” on your newsfeed and find the ones fitting your niche. You can also use keywords on the search bar.
Keep in mind that you can’t integrate a payments processor on Facebook, so you need to agree on one with your customers.
Blogging
If you host a blog on WordPress, you can use plug-ins to turn that into an online store. You can use them for adding products, and once customers click one, they’re taken to your checkout page. WooCommerce is the favorite tool for doing this.
You can also use your own blog posts for publishing your products. If you do product reviews, this is a great approach. You then have the option of posting blogs which are really sales pages. You can add descriptions and prices as well.
While WordPress is the preferred option, you can also go with platforms like Weebly or Wix.
Etsy
This is an art and handicraft-dedicated marketplace. You need to register and build your shop on it; you choose a name and then start listing.
The fees you must take into account include listing and transaction. Listing items will net you $0.20 for each one. If it sells, you then have to upload it again, which repeats the payment. As for transactions, it’s 5% of what you charged, including gift wraps and shipping.
The last fee is your subscription: $10 monthly, but this only applies if you’re getting an Etsy Plus account. You should definitely consider it, though.
It’s somewhat like Instagram. You “pin” posts, and then other people can “re-pin” them –essentially like sharing. Your objective would be to show images of stuff that others may be interested in.
You want to create a business account, which lets you post buyable pins. With these, people can buy your products directly. You can even link these pins to a Shopify store.
Pinterest doesn’t really charge you for sales, but advertising does cost. It comes through promoted pinks, and it’s a cost-per-click approach; you pay only if someone clicks on your ads, regardless of whether they actually bought something.
The drawback here is that Pinterest doesn’t allow for calls to action or price information.
This is one of the best channels you can use for selling physical stuff. While you can’t technically sell on this platform, you can still post products as images with their price and descriptions on the captions.
You can start working on selling once you receive comments or someone contacts you. Instagram is completely free, so you won’t have to pay for selling. However, you can pay for advertisement.
The problem is that you can’t post links, so you have to stick to text. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem though, since you just want them to see your pictures. Finally, like Facebook, you have to settle payments on your own since Instagram doesn’t integrate payment processors.
Walmart
Walmart offers an online market as well, but it can be tough to get in. The first step is applying for a selling account and wait a few weeks to see if they approve it. You should have some online sales experience, and they revise your background on sites like eBay.
If you get approved, you must fill the requirements, including shipping and refund policies. Then, you add your bank account for Walmart to verify, and this is how you’ll get paid for sales on their site.
Walmart won’t charge you anything monthly, but you do have to pay referral fees, which range between 6-20%.
Zibbet
Zibbet is similar to Etsy; you can set up your shop and manage sells from it. Subscriptions start at $5 monthly for annual payments, and you get several tools for growing your business.
Etsy is also a channel included on Zibbet, meaning that your Zibbet listings also show on Etsy. You can even choose between selling on the platform’s marketplace or run your own website using Stitch.
Zibbet also focuses on art-related items, and most buyers will look for handcrafted items. After signing up, you set a name for your store and your PayPal, from which you’ll get paid.
Bonanza
Bonanza is more similar to eBay, where you can list items and wait for people to buy them. Fees only apply when you sell something.
You get a feature called the Final Offer Value, which is the end cost for your customer, including shipment and other extras. The sales fee is %3.5 of this value.
Bonanza’s specialty is rare products like collectibles. People here will look for replicas or original vintage items, so keep that in mind. If you’re looking to dropship here, look for collectible CDs, toys, equipment, and the like.
Jet
Jet was purchased by Walmart 3 years ago, so it follows a similar process for registering new users. Your application must be approved by their team.
If you pass, then you can integrate the platform with your store or stick to it. If you do chose to integrate it, you can do so with Solide Commerce, Zentail, and GeekSeller.
The issue here is that buyers can’t choose sellers. You can compare two stores selling the same product, but not on Jet; it handles single-product lists. Jet itself determines who sells, and the platform posts the products, often merging descriptions and titles from different sellers.
OfferUp
Again, all you have to do is post your product and price and wait until you get sales. It offers an interesting feature called “Best Offer”, which analyzes your buyers to see if it’s a safe sale or not.
You can post for free, but you can pay for premium features. Items along the value of vehicles and machinery do have to pay, though.
Conclusion
All methods are great, but you have to do your research and find the one that suits your style and niche the best.
Make sure to read all terms and conditions, and try to be aware of all the fees related to them. If you inform yourself, then you can make serious money out of all of them.
