Is dropshipping dead in 2021?
If you are looking to start a dropshipping business of course you will want to know the answer to the question is dropshipping dead.
We often hear things like dropshipping is dead or it is too late to start dropshipping in 2021.
A lot of people think dropshipping is already a saturated business and they cannot possibly get any market share even if they wanted to.
This is simply false.
And other assumptions about dropshipping are ignorantly passed around which we are going to debunk and then re-establish the main truths about eBay dropshipping.
Is Dropshipping Dead? – The Assumptions
1) Dropshipping is saturated
When people as is dropshipping dead, it is mostly because of what other people have said about the business venture being over-saturated hence simply not profitable.
Let’s debunk this theory by explaining what market saturation is.
According to Investopedia, market saturation occurs when the volume of a product or service in a marketplace has been maximized. In other words, what it means is that it occurs when all of the people that want their items exported have bought them already.
Now, dropshipping is when a customer buys a product you have listed on your store for a markup price.
When they do, you go to the manufacturer or supplier of that product and have it shipped to them directly while you keep the difference as profit.
Large retail stores and individuals have been dropshipping for years and still counting.
Simply because dropshipping is not a product, it is simply a way to fulfill products.
Only products can be saturated making this argument fundamentally flawed.
2) Dropshipping is a Scam
Not only is the claim bogus and outrageous; it is extremely false.
As mentioned earlier, dropshipping has been around for a while now and even big retail stores dropship to customers around the world.
Dropshipping is a legitimate business that can make you extremely profitable if you understand the basics and have the right tools to make your dropshipping more efficient.
3) Nobody Buys From a Dropshipper
When people ask “is dropshipping dead?”, they are most likely thinking of one thing which is that nobody will buy from a dropshipper because they can easily go and buy from, say Amazon for example.
They are totally wrong because they do not understand market dynamics.
Dropshipping targets 44% of people that impulsively buy online and according to research, 80% of young buyers make impulsive purchases online and you can guess who they are buying from. Yes! Dropshippers.
The research even indicates that this market is only growing and growing.
4) You Can Quickly Get Out Of Business
We get this comment a lot when we are asked is dropshipping dead.
If you are new to dropshipping, there is something called flagging.
When you indulge in some practices that are against the policy of the dropshipping platform you are using to fulfill your order, e.g eBay, you can get flagged.
A lot of people complain that they are getting flagged for “not doing anything” and that eBay’s policies are too stringent.
This is simply not true.
If you do the right thing, there is no way eBay will flag you.
What You Might Be Doing Wrong
A lot of people that ask “is dropshipping dead” do not care to reflect and see if what they are doing wrong.
And some take advice from people going about dropshipping the wrong way.
Below are some of the things unsuccessful dropshippers do.
1) Listing Items from Amazon
Amazon is a great retail online market with millions of items.
But it is totally wrong to list products from amazon to your eBay store.
First of all, it is against eBay’s rules.
According to eBay’s seller practices policy, you are not allowed to indulge in retail dropshipping.
And dropshipping from Amazon is essentially retail dropshipping as Amazon is also a retailer.
The second reason is because of what is known as the TBA number.
The TBA number is Amazon’s tracking number on any item purchased on their website.
eBay does not recognize this as a valid tracking number and once it is detected among your listed items, you will most likely get flagged.
Getting flagged costs you your dropshipping account.
2) Not Investing in Ads
Any business that will be successful has a good ads structure.
A lot of dropshippers do not invest their time in making ads that will lead directly to their listings.
They simply list items on eBay and hope that a buyer somehow sees their items and buys from them.
Dropshipping, and any business really, does not work that way.
You need to create attention to draw potential buyers to your eBay store.
Things like Facebook ads go a long way to bring you buying customers.
When next you ask is dropshipping dead, check if your ad structure is alive.
3) You Are Not Using The Right Tools
This is another answer to the question we have been dealing with since the beginning of this article – is dropshipping dead.
In fact, if you look closely, those telling you dropshipping is dead are not operating with the right tools.
Having the right tools arsenal will make your dropshipping easier and make it easier for you to sell well on eBay.
When we say tools, two principal tools come to mind – an eBay lister and a title optimization tool.
These two essentially make up the dropshipping matrimony.
eBay Lister
An eBay lister lists items on your store with little effort on our part.
The reason why people ask is dropshipping dead, is because they stress and stress on listing hundreds of items on their eBay store when they can be spending that valuable time on something else.
An eBay lister like KalDrop is the one tool that solves all the problem that comes with listing items and managing your eBay listings.
With features like bulk listing, multiple variations support, easy product management, semi-automated orders, e.t.c. KalDrop is the all round tool that makes our dropshipping much easier.
Title Optimization tool
People ask is dropshipping dead because they are not putting their items in front of those willing to buy.
A title optimization tool does this for you.
Through optimization, your items appear at the top of search queries increasing the likelihood of people buying from you.
An example of such tools is fire title builder.
It is free and easy to use.
Conclusion
The question “is dropshipping dead?” has been around for quite some time now.
Most people think this profitable business venture is dead which is simply not true.
We have addressed this question extensively in this article and we hope that it serves as an eye-opener.
