How to Start Your Online Business With Drop-Shipping
Would you like to start your own online business but don't have the money needed to buy inventory? Maybe you're worried about the amount of time that goes into managing an online store. Drop shipping is an alternative way to get into ecommerce without breaking the bank or spending tons of time managing inventory.
In this post, I'm going to take a look at how drop shipping can help you start a self-managed business and what it means for your financial situation. You'll see how setting up an Amazon shop with Shopify makes things even easier!
3.8.1 What is Drop Shipping and What Are the Advantages to It?
Drop shipping is a way for online businesses to sell through other online stores without having to manage their own inventory. Instead, you can purchase products from a manufacturer (the supplier), make the product just for the customer, ship the product directly to them, and get paid once your customers have paid for it.
It's basically an alternative way of running an ecommerce store or dropship business where you don't have to spend time managing inventory or even having a physical store. All you have to do is sell the products for the manufacturer, and you get the products in a condition that you'd like to sell them (unused, brand new, etc.) after they just got shipped from your supplier.
If you're just starting out with ecommerce, then selling directly through Amazon or eBay can be an excellent choice. However, if you want to show your premium products on a website that people visit every day (like Shopify), then drop shipping might be a good option for you.
Drop shipping provides many benefits:
You don't have to worry about maintaining high levels of inventory.
You don't have to worry about keeping the right balance of products in your inventory.
You won't even need to worry about packaging your products or if they are damaged on their way to the customer.
You can save on warehouse costs because you don't need a dedicated space for a warehouse. Even a small apartment is enough to get started!
Not only that, but you can easily scale this business up or down with only a few clicks. You'll be able to make more profits and grow your business faster too!
3.8.2 How to Start a Drop-Shipping Business
Drop shipping is easy to do as long as you have the right business tools in place. You can get started right now by following these steps:
Step 1: Find a product you want to sell.
You will be making deliveries for the manufacturer, so make sure it's something people want! In addition, since your main product will be an item from the manufacturer server, make sure it isn't against their terms of service.
Step 2: Sign up to an Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) account.
Since you're going to be selling their products through Amazon, this step is really straightforward. Go to the Amazon Seller Center and sign up for a Seller Central account. You'll have an option to get a Professional Seller Account, but feel free to use Free if you feel like it.
Step 3: Sign up to an Amazon Webstore account.
Step 4: Create your website or landing page.
For your website, you'll be using Shopify which works well with Amazon FBA products, so it makes things easier for you. You can also check out ecommerce methods that are more difficult than drop shipping and have much higher entry fees, but the benefits of drop shipping is that there's no monthly fee to pay like there are for some other platforms such as eBay.
Step 5: Configure your Shopify account with your Amazon FBA Account.
In your Shopify Dashboard, click the + to Add a Product.
Then you'll be taken to a page to search for a product. For this example, search for "leather backpack." Click on the leather backpack that matches your price point and is in your category.
Step 6: Setup your Amazon FBA account with the product you just found.
Step 7: Connect your Shopify store to Amazon.
Step 8: Go live with your store!
That's it! You're now selling online and making money through drop shipping!
3.8.3 How to Set Up Your Amazon FBA Account
If you do decide to pursue drop shipping, then you'll first need to sign up for an Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) account. You only need a basic account that includes the ability to list products for sale and fulfill orders, which can be found in the Professional Selling Plan. I recommend signing up for this plan if it's your first time selling online.
Once you've signed into your Seller Central, click on "Inventory" under the Settings tab and then go into Manage Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Then click on "Get Started. "
Once you're there, click on the Inventory you want to use.
At this point, you'll be able to begin selecting products to upload and list on Amazon FBA. You can also get started with drop shipping in just a few minutes by clicking "Get Started Now," but that's for a specific product listing page. The longer process of setting up inventory will require you to apply for an FBA user ID and email address from Amazon. This can be done by using the link below: https://aws-affiliate-signup.amazonwebstore.
Conclusion
Drop shipping is a great way to get started online with very little upfront investment. As you can see, you'll only need an account with an Amazon FBA seller account and a website or store built with Shopify to get started selling online.
With Amazon FBA, you can easily find the products people want and use these products to sell online through your Shopify account. You don't have to worry about keeping stock on hand because Amazon has their own warehouses. All you have to do is purchase the product from them, and then fulfill orders by shipping the item directly from Amazon's warehouse!
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