Even though many claim that DropShipping is dead, I feel it's still in it's infant stages and has a lot of room to grow and flourish, as long as people to do it correctly. Today, we are going to look at Dropshipping From Amazon To Shopify and see if it's worth the hassle.
I should really start this off by saying, personally I don't recommend this method. There are a lot of issues that will arise, and at the end of the day either finding a wholesaler who will DropShip for you or using more established channels, will work better than using Amazon.
I am going to assume that you have chosen a niche, or a set of products that you want to DropShip. If you want to find products that sell quite well, then AMZScout might be a great place to look, though it is aimed at those getting into FBA rather than Dropshipping.
Setting Up Your Shopify Store
This is going to be your first step, because without this, you can't really dropship from Amazon to Shopify.
If you want the step by step guide to sorting out your Shopify store to be set up with DropShipping, then read this guide. Though you will not need to set up Oberlo, as you will be using Amazon.
Signing Up To Shopify
You can sign up to Shopify with their 14 day Free Trial, you will only need an email to get started, so you have 14 days to set up a store and get going.
The whole process takes around 5 or 10 minutes, if you are including your own domain then it's a little quicker, but you can get a domain straight from Shopify themselves (you will pay a premium for it).
Uploading A Theme
You have two options here with your themes, and it depends on your current fund level.
For those just starting out, who may not have the money to spend on themes, then going for one of Shopify free themes, is not a bad idea, they convert well, and can be customised to a degree, but they rarely come with lots of apps included or huge options.
If you have money to spend on themes, then there are a number I recommend people to try out at different price points. I have always had the most success with ecom turbo and turbo themes, but there are many different ones to choose from.
Adding a theme is pretty simple, you just need to go to Online Store - Themes and then choose to upload a theme or use a free one.
Loading Products
This is the step that is different from a standard DropShipping type of set up, because you won't be using Oberlo to provide you with the images, descriptions and inventory etc, you will need to do this manually, based on what you are going to be using on Amazon.
The products you load will be based on the products you have chosen to DropShip.
I would suggest NOT Amazons images, I would try to find the original ones, as Amazon will get very angry if you do decided to rip off their sales pages.
I know plenty of people who have received some angry letters and emails telling them so as well.
You can usually find the original sellers manufacturers who are usually happy for you to use their images, and descriptions, as long as you ask.
Buying Items Through Amazon
Setting up the Shopify store was the easy part of all this, actually getting the products is the hard part.
You are going to have two options, one is cheaper, but riskier, the other takes longer, isn't really DropShipping and more exensivew, but takes less risk.
Ordering Items As Gifts - Straight To Your Customer
So, this is the risky one, because strangely Amazon gets annoyed at this, even if you are still buying from them, because they realise someone is making a profit from their platform!
On checkout, you have the option of getting the item you ordered, delivered elsewhere.
The pros of doing this is that the shipping price is included, you can usually get the item delivered pretty quickly and you quite literally don't have to touch the item.
The downside, your customers will know it's come from Amazon and as such may get annoyed by looking on site and knowing the cost, or they may just accept that it's more expensive than it might have been if they went direct.
Ordering Items To Yourself - Then Send To Customer
It's only slightly less risky, as lets be honest why would you ever want to buy 50 corkscrews or 200 chopping boards, but hey.
This method requires you you ordering items to yourself, then adding a new printout sticker on and either using your own courier service to get the items delivered or simply use your local postal service.
The pros of doing this, well you might be able to fly under Amazons radar for a little longer, your customers may not realise that the products are 'directly' from Amazon and you have the ability to add your own labels and inserts if you want.
The cons to this method, includes higher costs, as you will need to get stickers, potentially get boxes and of course have to pay for the shipping. You will also need to put time and effort into doing this.
If you go down this route, you might as well just rent a garage and have stock yourself, because all you are doing is getting an item sent to you daily.
How To Fulfil The Order On Shopify
The final step to this crazy mess of a way to DropShip, is to actually fulfil the orders, obviously using something like AliExpress and Oberlo, means you do all this part automatically, as they update when products have been shipped for you, but with this method, it doesn't.
As such, you are going to have to keep track of the orders as you order and then either deliver or repackage and send yourself.
You will need to mark each one as fulfilled as Amazon gives you the details and add in any shipping details etc.
Yes, this method of DropShipping is annoying and requires manual work.
The Pros Of Dropshipping From Amazon To Shopify
I'm not going to lie, there are very few pros to doing this method, aside from the fact customers will get their items quicker. But then again someone could use Salehoo, find a Dropshipping company with warehouses in the same country and achieve similar results.
The Cons Of Dropshipping From Amazon To Shopify
There are a lot of disadvantages to Dropshipping From Amazon To Shopify, and most of them involve potentially getting banned from Amazon.
Amazon doesn't like people using their platform or maketplace to DropShip. They don't see themselves as a fufilment or DropShipping company, they are an eCom marketplace.
Doing so can, and does get Amazon accounts banned, for whatever reason they seem to justify it with.
You can also lose repeat customers, especially if they feel you are doing just that, buying on Amazon, charging a mark-up and sending them a gifted item.
Conclusion
For me, the downside really outweighs the pluses to this particular Dropshipping model.
I can see how people make it work, I understand why people do it, but the risk of Amazon coming down hard, and the fact you have to do more parts manually really just turns me away from this.
For me, DropShipping with WordPress + AliExpress, or Shopify + AliExpress, or either platform and local suppliers is always going to win due to the automation and the simplicity of it.
I started this blog around 2017, after realising that I wanted to let people know about all the different ways someone could make money online. From DropShipping, Affiliate Marketing, Network Marketing and more.
This blog has now grown to review and explain a variety of different tools and platforms, in the bid to help you.
This blog contains affiliate links, and I will get a commission for purchases made through these links. It doesn’t change anything for you and will on occasion save you money! Enjoy, James.