Dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay requires careful deliberation and intuition because it is not as straightforward as dropshipping on AliExpress or any other online marketplace.
There are many discrepancies concerning the site and chance; knowing the nitty-gritty of dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay is paramount.
Before you get into dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay, you need to be armed with some tips and know-how to avoid falling into the hands of bad suppliers or some middlemen that will either scam you of your money or deliver bad products.
At this juncture, we should point out that dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay is actually safe because, to no small extent, Alibaba is a safe place to source products from.
However, it is also a place where some scammers go to scam people of their hard-earned money.
But if you know how to navigate through, Alibaba will turn out to be or of the best places you dropship from because of its ridiculously low prices.
We will cover all the things you need to know to navigate through this online marketplace successfully.
What is Alibaba?
Alibaba is a Chinese B2B e-commerce platform that hosts millions of Chinese manufacturers and suppliers.
They have been in this market space for over 20 years; thus, they have solidified their grip on the Chinese market.
Alibaba is a site known to be friendly to drophippers because of two aspects – their really low prices and the free tools they use in helping buyers find these low priced products.
One thing about Alibaba is that they sell wholesale.
This has its good and bad sides.
The good side is that, as a result of this, the prices on Alibaba are ridiculously low, giving you one of the best dropshipping margins on the market.
In fact, it has the lowest prices on products compared to every other online marketplace to source products from.
That is why dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay can be extremely profitable if done right.
The bad side to this is that sometimes, products have a minimum order and that order.
And in most cases, it surpasses one.
Some products even have a minimum order of 100, some 1000.
This is because the sellers on Alibaba are actual manufacturers of these products.
And manufacturers prefer to sell in bulk because that is more profitable for them.
As a result, you see products having a minimum amount of pieces you can order.
This is what most dropshippers fear and dread.
They do not like the fact that there is little flexibility as to getting retail pieces.
But if you know how to negotiate your way through this roadblock, you will be able to harness the full potential of the benefits Alibaba has to offer dropshippers.
The cool thing is, as profitable as dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay is, it is the least saturated.
This single roadblock has made a lot of dropshippers lose interest in Alibaba.
Therefore getting the hang of this online marketplace will place you in the league of elites that understand the crux of dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay.
Dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay – How Does It Work?
The next question, naturally, will be how does dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay work, right?
Well, it is quite simple.
You just have to follow these simple steps:
1) Find a Product you want to Dropship
Before you get into dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay, the first step is to find a product that you know is selling on eBay.
Products that sell on eBay do not just fall from the sky; you do this by thorough product research using some research tools to help you find winning products.
It is pertinent you find winning products and optimize their titles using certain tools because these will be instrumental in your success as a dropshipper.
These products will fast track your profit-making process as a dropshipper.
If you are a beginner in this line of business, even better because you will hit the ground running and be miles ahead of your other dropshippers still listing arbitrary products on their eBay seller accounts.
2) Find a Supplier
The next thing you want to do is get a supplier.
This is another key and important step in dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay.
This is actually the most important step in the Alibaba dropshipping model.
You need to get a reliable and trusted supplier, so you don’t fall into the hands of scams and middlemen on Alibaba.
We will tell you how to choose a good supplier later in this article.
How you do this is to type in the product you want to dropship, and a list of products and their respective suppliers will show up.
One of the keys to finding a good supplier is to sort these suppliers in two ways – Transaction level and Response rate.
See, most people sort by “best match” when that is purely based on what the algorithm thinks best suits your search.
It is totally random.
However, the transaction level and response rate are based on facts that have been established.
Based on the supplier’s track record on Alibaba, it gives a more accurate result of the suppliers that are suitable for the products you are looking to dropship.
The transaction level gives an indication of the number of orders the supplier has processed.
A high one shows that the supplier has processed a lot of orders.
Naturally, you want to get a supplier that has processed a considerable number of orders of that product.
It means they have dealt with many other customers that are perhaps dropshippers like you and hence can be trusted.
The response rate is the time it takes for the supplier to respond to a message.
This is equally important because you want a supplier that responds quickly to messages and is willing to negotiate with you for products that require a certain minimum limit of the order.
3) Contact Your Supplier
Next, you want to contact your supplier.
Now you can just start the order straight away if you want. Still, you should contact your supplier to know more about the product you are dropshipping and for further negotiation that might be necessary.
4) Order and Track
The last thing to do is to order the product and fill in your customer’s contact information on eBay.
Then track the order and make sure the customer gets the package safe and intact.
These four steps are the basis of dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay.
But then you still need to be wary of Dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay because if you don’t, you can fall victim to scams on Alibaba.
The question remains…how can you avoid being scammed on Alibaba?
How To Avoid Scams on Alibaba
While dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay, it is easy to run into scams because of the nature of the online marketplace. Still, with these free tips, you can easily avoid falling victim to these online scams that have seemingly become a wave on Alibaba.
1) Check the Supplier status
On Alibaba, there’s something they call Trade assurance.
Some of the suppliers on Alibaba have this badge ensigned on their company profile on Alibaba.
This simply means that the company has done some verification that Alibaba trusts the extent to which they are willing to place their bet on their performance and effectiveness.
Such that Alibaba assumes full responsibility should anything happen to your product.
Some suppliers have this trade assurance, and some don’t.
It is advised to always go for the supplier with the trade assurance badge because that is an added security for your transaction.
In addition to this status is the Gold suppliers status.
These suppliers have to pay a fee to attain this status, giving you an indication that they really mean business.
And then you have the assessed supplier that has been inspected by a third party as has v=been verified as safe to use.
2) Communicate with the supplier
You also want to communicate with the supplier.
There’s only much trust this virtual barrier of the internet can breed.
Going the extra mile to actually communicate with the supplier will improve that level of trust.
You can also learn more about the product and negotiate as many quantities as you want.
Conclusion
Dropshipping from Alibaba to eBay has a lot of upsides and some downsides, unfortunately.
However, being successful on Alibaba lies in your ability to successfully navigate through these downsides and maximize the upsides to the fullest.
Most dropshippers shy away because of the difficulty and some of its downsides.
But the few dropshippers that have mastered this dropshipping model have really made Alibaba their base and are making huge profits from it.
With all that has been said in this article, you too can join this elite club of Alibaba dropshippers.
