Can you sell Amazon products on Shopify stores? You most certainly can but there are a number of important issues you have to consider. In theory you can dropship any product from anywhere.
The real issue is with the fulfillment. Shopify Amazon fulfillment can be cumbersome and placing orders manually can be a nightmare to manage.
In the days before Oberlo, early adopters who dropshipped from Aliexpress had to place hundreds and sometimes even thousands of orders per day manually.
While this seems like an impossible task, try managing the tracking numbers and customer support.
It was a nightmare.
Then along came Oberlo to manage everything and automate most of it. This totally changed dropshipping and what used to take a VA a full day to do now just took 1 to 2 hours max.
Back to dropshipping from Amazon. If this is the route you are following then you are pretty much in that boat again. Having to manually manage orders, tracking numbers ec.
Until now.
Thanks to a new app called AmaZone Dropshipper you can dropship from Amazon with virtually the same ease that you do dropshipping from Aliexpress with Oberlo.
Shopify Amazon Fulfillment with AmaZone Dropshipper
While dropshippers have been dropshipping products from Amazon for years, there has never been an app that actually worked.
Obviously Amazon is not that keen on dropshippers automating orders from their site which makes it a real challenge to build and maintain these apps.
Thanks to the Corona Virus, dropshippers were forced to look for American suppliers – me included. eBay and Amazon were the obvious solutions.
AmaZone Dropshipper is not without flaws but that is to be expected from an app that is fairly new. What I do like about it is that it gives you the ability to import products from Amazon to Shopify with the click of a button.
All the images and product descriptions come with it so you can easy fill your store with great product. Amazon product images and product descriptions are great in comparison with Aliexpress.
Order fulfillment and order management is not as smooth and does take some manual work when things go wrong with the app.
Regardless of the minor flaws, it give you the option to dropship from Amazon to Shopify – without doing it all manually.
What makes it even more appealing is that it works with Amazon stores outside of the USA as well. Germany, Spain, Italy, France ec. This alone should make you excited.
Why Dropship From Amazon?
Dropshipping from Aliexpress has two major flaws. The first is the slow shipping times and the second is product quality and the third is returns.
Both the problems can be overcome when dropshipping from Amazon.
Amazon sellers simply can not afford to sell poor quality products. The Amazon review system is too good and will weed out bad sells/products quickly.
Virtually all the products on Amazon is at least at an acceptable quality.
Secondly, Amazon offers super fast shipping and this alone should get you very excited. Getting products to your customers in 3 to 4 days will change your life in terms of customer support and having happy customers.
Lastly, because you are shipping locally you can easily accept returns without losing much. When you have customers requesting returns and/or refunds from Aliexpress sourced products you basically have to eat the costs.
Not when you dropship from Aliexpress to Shopify. You can simply let your customer return the product and you can get a refund or an exchange with minimal expense to you.
The Problems With Dropshipping from Amazon
While fast shipping and high quality products may sound like the answer to your dropshipping prayers there are some serious issues to consider.
The first is Price:
Amazon prices are obviously higher than Aliexpress which means it cuts into your profit margins. Yes, you can charge more for fast shipping but that will only make up for it slightly.
Another issue to consider is how Amazon sellers price their products. They are in a constant dog fight for rankings on Amazon and they will often adjust prices back and forth. This means that it is hard to pin down exact prices for products.
You could find a product on Amazon with a great price and a week later the seller bumps the product and you can be in trouble. I would recommend that you stay clear of “sale products” as it is not a long term solution.
On the other hand you can maximize profits by constantly switching out your Amazon supplier but this can be a lot of work.
The Second is Packaging:
When you dropship from Amazon it will be delivered with Amazon’s packaging as well as the details of the Amazon seller on the parcel. Many customers won’t like this.
They can easily find the Amazon listing with a little bit of searching and if they see the product at 50% less they will be pissed.
When you dropship from Amazon you should always send it as a “gift” to hide as much of the transaction details as possible.
To cover yourself you could also explain to your customers that you are shipping from an Amazon warehouse for faster delivery times.
This can ease a lot of minds who might otherwise be pissed that they are getting an “Amazon product”.
The reason why someone bought from your Shopify store is most likely because you are not some generic store but a speciality store.
When To Dropship from Amazon to Shopify
I like having the option in case something goes wrong with an Aliexpress supplier. The ability to get a product to your customer within 3 days can solve a lot of problems from a customer service point of view.
Virtually anything that can be found on Aliexpress can be found on Amazon.
Not every product would suit this model of dropshipping though. For lower ticket items is simply does not make sense. There is just not enough profit margin and you will have to rely on always finding the cheapest version of the product on amazon.
For higher ticket items it gets easier. There’s more fat in the prices and more room to play with pricing.
Since we are fulfilling from Amazon to Shopify we have a robust delivery option of 3 to 5 days max. This allows you to bump your prices.
Some products simply never make sense to dropship from China. Bulky and heavy products are just too expensive to ship individually. But, if you source it from Amazon you absolutely can make it work.
This allows you to dropship products that no one else is dropshipping which can give you an edge over your competition.
Dropshipping from Amazon to Shopify on Steroids
There is an old trick that most Aliexpress dropshippers now use and that is to become an Aliexpress affiliate and buy all your stock through your Aliexpress affiliate link. That way you can get back about 10% of what you spend.
This can add up quickly and be a nice bonus for you.
You can do exactly the same thing when you dropship from Amazon to Shopify. Its a bit more tricky and you have to be a lot more cautious. Technically this is against Amazon’s Affiliate agreement but there are ways to get around it.
On certain products this extra commision can be huge. Aliexpress pays pittance in comparison to Amazon .
If you sell high ticket items then this is a very viable option. Since you won’t be making hundreds of orders per day you can fly under the radar a bit more. The commission with high ticket items will be significant enough for you to take the risk.
I will emphasise it again; that this is against Amazon’s Affiliate agreement but I would urge you to reach out to AmaZone Dropship to find out the best way to do this.
Conclusion: Shopify Amazon Fulfillment
To fulfill orders from Amazon on your Shopify store you have to use an app or have a very good VA to manage everything via spreadsheets. It can get very messy very quickly – especially when you start switching out Amazon suppliers (listings).
The AmaZone Dropshipper app is good enough and it is free for the first 10 products.
You need to pick your products carefully and be smart with how you position yourself when your customers get an Amazon parcel.
Dropshipping from Amazon makes a lot of sense for certain products like high ticket items or bulky and heavy items. Small and cheap products won’t make much sense and simply won’t be profitable.
When you start pushing a lot of volume it could raise some questions from Amazon and even the Amazon seller. In general they do not like this but most Amazon sellers won’t mind since more sales means higher rankings for them.
In conclusion I would caution you to never copy anything from Amazon. Don’t use product images from Amazon and don’t copy the product listings. They do not take kindly to this and you can get in serious trouble.
My overall stance on fulfilling orders from Amazon is more as a backup. When I run out of stock locally or if there are issues with my suppliers then I want to use Amazon as a backup.
During the Corona Virus and Chinese New Year this can make the difference between staying open for business or closing up shop.
If I can find products at a good price on Amazon (at least 2 Amazon listings) then I would test it because the fast shipping makes a big difference. Once the product is proven to sell I would consider buying in bulk from Alibaba and shipping it from a local warehouse.
