When we started doing dropshipping almost ten years ago, we thought that everyone was doing the same, but the fact is that dropshipping was a pretty unknown business model at that time (we did dropshipping mainly from eBay at the beginning).
Just take a look at the chart below, which shows the searches for the term shipping, has literally exploded in recent years.
Dropshipping today is done in all the main markets, here are just some popular examples:
- Dropshipping from eBay to your own web store
- Dropshipping from Amazon to eBay
- Dropshipping from eBay to eBay
- Dropshipping from Aliexpress to eBay
The list goes on and on, you can make a transfer from almost any market to the other, as long as you can make a profit from it.
In this post I will explain everything you need to know about dropshipping from Amazon to eBay:
Is it legal to ship from Amazon to eBay?
What does amazon mean to eBay arbitrage?
Dropshipping from Amazon to eBay: step-by-step example
It’s dropshipping from Amazon to eBay legal
The short answer is yes. The dropshipping from Amazon to eBay are legal, there are no explicit laws or policies that prohibit this type of business model or business strategy if you want. However, beyond legality, many people, both buyers, and sellers, feel that there is an ethical problem here:
Buyers who receive packaged goods at Amazon feel cheated, especially when they buy something on eBay for say $ 17 and find it on Amazon for $ 10. Once these buyers discover that they are doing an Amazon dropshipping to eBay, they often leave Negative comments and valuations in the sellers account to get revenge or simply return the item.
Amazon marketers also feel cheated when they realize that someone is downloading from Amazon to eBay and making money behind their backs. I read about an Amazon seller who saw selling one of his exclusive items on eBay at an increased price. What he did next was buying his item from the third-party seller on eBay and then significantly increasing the price of the product at Amazon by forcing the dropshipper to cancel his order on eBay and then writing a negative comment from eBay that always harms sellers.
From eBay’s perspective, they do not like dropshipping from Amazon to eBay and have taken several steps to limit this:
In July 2017, eBay restricted hundreds of accounts from Israeli sellers who actively purchased from Amazon and shipped the products to their eBay customers. The reasoning behind this is that it is a risky business model and eBay buyers are reluctant to discover that their order came from Amazon (they feel cheated).
Each eBay Open event has an exhibition area with dozens of eBay solutions. In a recent eBay Open there was at least one company banned from exhibiting because its solution facilitates the shipment from Amazon to eBay.
eBay believes that its reputation and brand name are at risk when shipping from Amazon to eBay is allowed, as customers buy on eBay and obtain Amazon brand packages.
First of all, customers feel that they could have bought the same product at a lower price. Second, it’s basically free advertising for Amazon (eBay’s main competitor).
What does amazon mean to eBay arbitrage?
Basically, the term arbitrage is taken from the stock market, you buy an item for $ 10 on Amazon and sell it for $ 15 on eBay, so you get an arbitration benefit of $ 5 (before eBay and PayPal rates).
Arbitragers know how to take advantage of price fluctuations and, in general, are familiar with a niche market, such as old tapestries. A regular seller who specializes in this could try to market his merchandise to collectors of antiques, which is a limited market. But a wise referee from Amazon to eBay could buy the old tapestry that is sold on Amazon and market it on eBay as a piece of vintage decoration for your home (and people looking to redecorate is a significantly larger market than antique collectors ). It is very likely that the same seller will increase the price by 10, 20 or even 30 percent and, in many cases, get their selling price on eBay.
The formula for a successful arbitration from Amazon to eBay is having a good knowledge of a niche market + being able to identify an undervalued item in a “foreign” market + a good eye for marketing and brand change.
eBay and Amazon are literally full of arbitrage opportunities. Sellers make some common mistakes when listing items and you can definitely take advantage of this to earn quick money:
Spelling mistakes: Ofen sellers write bad or abbreviate words due to lack of space in the title and nobody can find your listing, which often desperate to sell and allows you to pick up items at rock-bottom prices. For example: ‘designer bag’ instead of ‘designer bag’.
Bad photos: If a good value item is advertised with poor quality photos, buyers are much less likely to take risks and buy that item.
Missing keywords: often people forget to use an important keyword in their title, for example, someone selling a shirt could call it ‘beautiful size 30 top’ instead of ‘beautiful size 30 blouse (or shirt)’ that people are more likely to search for.
So, how do you make Amazon the arbitration of eBay?
Here is a concise guide step by step:
Go to eBay and look for the items that are currently in demand. You can do it by going to eBay’s ‘trends’ page or simply browsing through different categories and seeing which items receive many offers (see our previous posts on the best things to sell on eBay and the best selling items on eBay).
Once you have chosen a product, determine the value of the items based on the average price you see on eBay (try to avoid the extremes of any category, that is, the extremely expensive and extremely cheap, focus on the middle) and then eliminate 10% to be able to create a ‘safety net’ for you.
Search eBay or Amazon using all spelling errors in your article and category, as well as different word combinations or try to use the correct spelling, but look for items with low quality images.
When you find a good potential candidate, determine if the indicated price will allow you to make a profit. For example, if you found an iPhone cover on Amazon for $ 5 and saw that people are selling that same item on eBay for $ 10, your profit margin is $ 5 less PayPal’s fees, eBay’s rates and the shipping, so maybe you’re pocketing $ 3. However, I would refrain from doing this with low-cost items unless you get them in bulk.
If you choose to do this in a different market, that is, Alibaba to eBay instead of Amazon to eBay arbitration, the process is basically identical and this strategy is easily duplicated from one market to the next.
Again, I am not crazy about Amazon’s arbitration model to eBay, but I can not argue with the fact that many sellers are implementing this model successfully. With the right research and tactics, you can earn money in a short time. Just consider risks such as imitations and angry buyers and sellers who might try to take revenge on you for “cheating” them. Happy arbitration ?
Dropshipping from Amazon to eBay or vice versa: a step-by-step example
Dropshipping from Amazon to eBay is actually much simpler than one would think. Here is an example:
- Find an item that has a lower price than Amazon (compared to eBay) and make sure they offer free shipping!
- Create a new eBay list for the item (you can use CrazyLister to make it look professional and increase your chances of selling). If the images are good, you can use them and, if not, you should find better ones in Google. In any case, I would recommend that the listing be more attractive from the visual point of view to increase the perceived value of the product. As for the text, you can copy and paste it, but again I would like to spend a few minutes editing and modifying it, making it more convincing, hit the nail on the head because someone should buy your product.
- Sell the item on eBay and buy the item on Amazon. Be sure to check the box that specifies that the product is a ‘gift’ so that your buyer does not discover how much he actually paid.
- That’s ! You made a few dollars of profit. Now repeat this process with the same item or several items and you could be supplementing your income or generating enough money to make this your main source of income.
Here is an example of a dropshipper that found good potential value in a product on eBay, which means that you found a cheap item on eBay and then created another listing for the item on eBay and Amazon. Keep in mind that this could be so easily Amazon to eBay, it is almost an identical process.
- As I said before. The first step is to find an undervalued item and in this case a misplaced item. I think there would be a consensus that this credit card knife is completely unattractive from image to description and that is why it can only reach 0.99 cents.
- What this seller did was find a better image and then edit it with Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. He did three very smart things here on his eBay list, which the dropshippers should imitate:
- Found a high quality image that has appeal
- It gave the impression of a mark when using text and color, that is, writing ‘Kinifecard’ in large print and using pink and teal
- He invented a sale, telling potential buyers that this product has been reduced when it was actually marked.
- Here he took the same product and created a list on Amazon, minus the graphics. I do not know exactly why the price went down (on eBay it was $ 9.99 and here it’s $ 7.99), but you can assume that the simple answer is competition. Theoretically, a seller could buy this knife at Amazon and then compete with it on eBay, although this would not be very profitable.
Dropshipping traps from Amazon to eBay
There are several potential pitfalls to avoid when shipping from Amazon to eBay:
# 1: Customer satisfaction
The seller who is buying from Amazon is responsible for the packaging, shipping and, ultimately, the quality of the product. If you do not ship on time, package with care or provide a high quality product, you will be the one who will bear the burden of the customer and not your dropshipper. You will be punished with negative comments and qualifications.
# 2: Inventory
You really do not know who your dropshipper is or where he is from, where he gets his inventory and what his history is. As far as you know, it has a unique supply of 200 products and then disappears. This puts him in a very precarious position with regard to the supply chain. If you sell too many items that you can not supply, your eBay account can be suspended.
# 3: Shipping costs
Yes, you can usually find and sell Amazon products that offer free shipping. But, what if a customer on eBay orders a product and suddenly your dropshipper is not available? Now many people instinctively say ‘cancel the order’; It’s not that simple because if you can not complete your order too many times, eBay will penalize you and eventually close your account. So, where do the shipping costs come in here? Well, if you’re already on eBay’s naughty list (which means that your qualifications are low and you can be disqualified to become an excellent seller), chances are you’re looking for another seller to temporarily complete your order and have the seller have an excessive price and / or send free
# 4: low profit margins
As I mentioned in my previous example, sometimes the profit margins are not high enough to be worth your time. Let’s say you bought that knife for $ 7.99 and assume it’s brave and sold it with a 20% profit margin of what he’s selling on eBay, that is, $ 12 (20% of $ 10) would still be making $ 4 less fees (paypal, eBay, etc.) and you may only make $ 2-3 profit. With many products, profit margins are usually low on the one hand, on the other hand, you are not working especially to get this profit, so it may be worth it, especially in large quantities.
# 5: lack of competitive advantage
I constantly write about the importance of competitive advantage (one of my repetitive eBay selling tips throughout the blog) and it’s not a coincidence, since that’s exactly how we grew our business on eBay to more than $ 100K a month and it’s essential for all companies (selling on eBay or otherwise) to take this into account. When you do a dropship you do not have a competitive advantage, you are essentially ‘copying and pasting’ products that are already on the market and may be too expensive for the original seller if you get wind of what you are doing and decide to try to expel it from the market. In addition, many dropshipping companies are selling their products independently on eBay and competing with their own customers.
# 6: Logistics
At first glance, dropshipping seems easy since you do not have to deal with shipping or buying the product, but in reality this is not true. You are responsible for answering all the customer’s questions and apologizing and / or compensating them if something goes wrong with the purchase.
Dropshipping from Amazon to eBay – conclusion
Personally, I am not crazy about the arbitrage model, as it lacks originality and is too volatile in terms of price and product fluctuations for my taste.
But if you decide to sell using this model or if you are already doing it, it can be a great way to increase your monthly cash flow and get good benefits. Just keep in mind that you should try to automate as much as possible of your business to stay efficient and ahead of the competition.
In addition, it must be a very dynamic person, constantly searching for new opportunities, markets and products to spin and sell. This is a slow process, but we all exchange our time in one way or another for money: choose your products wisely and good luck for all. Please share your experiences or concerns about the dropshipping below, whether positive or negative. I would love to hear from everyone and everyone so that we can continue to learn and grow together as a community.
