If you have searched for dropshipping then there is a likelihood that you have come across the term eBay dropshipping. Although it's not as popular as Shopify dropshipping, eBay still has many beginners coming in wanting to learn how to dropship on eBay because the barrier to entry is so low.
There are many gurus on YouTube and other social media platforms pushing this out to you, telling you how easy it is, they wave the money carrot in front of you, wheeling you in with sales figures that makes you believe you can quit your job but in reality, eBay dropshipping is dead.
I myself used to dropship on eBay, I did really well, I grew a YouTube channel with over 60,000 subscribers dedicated to eBay dropshipping, I had the best online course, I had every eBay dropshipping software company wanting to work with me more than anyone else because the content I delivered was not copycat content like others but my strategies were innovative, they worked, they solved problems, it gave birth to many other content creators who just copied my videos and claimed it as their own but in the end I took down all my content because the once lucrative business model is just not that good anymore.
Over 300 videos, Nearly 3,000,000 views, I took it all down, keep reading as I explain why.
What is eBay dropshipping?
Dropshipping on eBay is a business model where sellers list items on eBay from suppliers. They list the product at a higher price than the supplier stated so when the seller makes a sale, they pay the supplier to ship the item directly to the customer and keep the difference.
In theory it is great because eBay is a free platform with millions of buyers, you can use promoted listings for free and only pay if you actually make a sale. This really is a great business model..... in theory.
Is dropshipping allowed on eBay?
Technically yes it is allowed on eBay because the eBay drop shipping policy states you can dropship however there is more to it than what it seems because experienced sellers would have found out first hand how troublesome it is so let's break it down.
According to eBay, you are allowed to dropship on the platform as long as you use wholesale suppliers.
The type of drop shipping that is not allowed on eBay, is drop shipping from retail suppliers like Walmart or Argos.
Marketplaces like Amazon or AliExpress.
What happens if you break the policy?
There are a few things that can happen, your account gets suspended and your money gets put on hold. Even if you don't get suspended, your products will eventually get ranked lower, where you should have appeared on the 1st or 2nd page, you will start to appear on the 3rd, 4th, 5th page and beyond.
This will result in you getting reduced traffic and a significant reduction in sales. To get your sales and profits back to where it once was, you will have to add thousands of items on to your store where you once had maybe a couple of hundred dropshipping items.
Once an account gets 'flagged' for dropshipping, the drop in traffic happens immediately, not only do sellers get found less through organic search results, they also get reduced traffic on their promoted listings too.
What if you dropship without breaking the policy?
Unfortunately when eBay flags an account for dropshipping, it is very rarely someone manually flags an account. It is usually an automated system and that system is flawed.
The system cannot differentiate between a retail supplier, a marketplace or wholesale supplier, thus flagging accounts that might even be using legitimate suppliers.
The actual type of dropshipping that eBay wants you to do is working with fulfilment centres. This is where you buy the inventory up front, have it sent to a fulfilment centre and then when someone buys the product, the fulfillment centre processes the order rather than you having to pack and post the item yourself. That is more along the wholesale side of eBay rather dropshipping which you can learn more about here.
Why did I stop eBay dropshipping content?
I stopped because it wasn't worth it anymore. Dropshipping on eBay certainly had its perks, it was great, it worked. It worked for many years.
The problem was, as more and more 'casual' drop shippers came in, they provided bad service and eBay became more strict. As the business model started to decline, I could not justify selling people a course or justify uploading more content to YouTube to milk the views and revenue.
Why are other YouTubers still making videos about eBay Dropshipping?
For you to fully understand, I need to give you a clear breakdown.
This is my YouTube earnings for 2020.
912,400 views
$20,863 earned from ads
Now let's do the math.
$20,863/912,400 views = $0.02 per view.
Since I left, I made way for these channels to come in and grow, there are now channels getting 5,000 views a day, 10,000 views a day and more.
So if you take a channel that is getting 10,000 views a day, 365 days a year, this is 3,650,000 views.
3,650,000 x $0.02 = $73,000 a year.
That's right, $73,000 just from YouTube ad revenue. If you also take into account course sales and affiliate earnings from software, these channels are making over $150,000 a year just for talking about eBay dropshipping.
If you look at the searches on YouTube for eBay dropshipping then you can clearly see that unfortunately more are more people are looking into it.
More people are falling into the trap and more people are being suckered into dead end dreams.
How can you prove that eBay dropshipping is dead?
Well you will not find out from the gurus themselves, not everyone is like me. I saw the decline and stopped everything but not everyone would want to give up their cash cow.
What I would like for you to do is go on to Facebook and search for eBay dropshipping Facebook groups. There are plenty of them, join as many as you can and see what people are talking about.
You will find that more than 90% of people who are 'successful' at dropshipping on eBay are from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh and if you want to be successful like them, you can hire them as a virtual assistant which then makes you realise that their so called success is based on you paying for there services, not dropshipping itself.
You will also find people constantly moaning about reduced traffic, suspensions, buying and selling accounts, virtual assistant services etc. The whole market is based around selling services around eBay dropshipping rather than making money from eBay dropshipping.
What about automated software?
That is also part of the Ponzi scheme because the software companies sure well know the exact problems with eBay dropshipping.
As a matter of fact, they benefit from it. If your account gets flagged, you will need to list thousands of items rathwr than the hundred that was doing ok at the start and by listing more items, you will need a bigger and more expensive package with the software company so they benefit from you getting flagged.
The guru who referred you gets 20%-50% of the monthly subscription you pay for the software so the guru wins too.
This is exactly why I no longer wanted anything to do with it.
The whole business model has almost become a Ponzi scheme. Watch the video I made for a more detailed breakdown of why eBay dropshipping is dead.
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