Dropshipping has taken the world by storm in 2023. A unique business model where you don’t have to worry about inventory sounds too good to be true. However, that’s precisely what dropshipping offers. You don’t have to worry about storage, and you can scale your business as you wish.

Despite the model's popularity, it still causes a lot of confusion among people. If you are just starting out, then this guide is perfect for you. Here, we will talk about everything from signing up on eBay to making your first sale. For a visual guide, check out the video we have prepared for this tutorial.

eBay’s policy on dropshipping is a bit ambiguous. However, that hasn’t stopped people from making millions of dollars on the platform. eBay permits users to adopt a dropshipping model on the security that sellers take full responsibility for the delivery of items and the satisfaction of customers.

eBay states that dropshipping is permissible as long as you buy a stock of items from a wholesale supplier and “work with them” to deliver the items to customers without having to handle them yourself.

On the other hand, eBay does not permit you to list an item on the platform and then order the item from a retailer or supplier that “ships directly to your customer”. The distinction between the two could be tough to follow sometimes.

eBay further states that not working according to their policies could result in you losing rating points, your listings being removed, your account getting suspended, and more. Read the entire article on eBay’s official site.

Let’s get started by first creating an account on eBay.

Go to eBay.com and click on the Register button in the top left corner.

Next, enter your details and type in a strong password. Make sure to use a professional email when signing up. Alternatively, you can also sign up with Google, Facebook, or Apple.

Once your account is created you will be taken to the eBay dashboard. Here, click on the Hi [ your name] drop-down in the top-left corner. Now click on Account Settings.

Under the Personal Info section, click on Personal Information.

Fill in any information that you haven’t already. Next, click on the Payment Information drop-down and then choose the Payments option.

Here, you can add your credit/debit card. eBay also supports some bank accounts so you can try to add yours by clicking on the Add payment option button.

Many international sellers use third-party payment services to add/withdraw from their eBay accounts. eBay has recently added integration for Payoneer accounts. You will receive an email from eBay if you are eligible to add the service.

Wait for a few days if you haven’t received any email. You can also go to your Seller Hub and then to the Payments tab. If you are eligible you will see the Register Now button. Click on this button to start the integration process.

Read all the information and then click on the Get Started button.

Before proceeding further, make sure you have already created a Payoneer account. To create a new account, go to their official website and then click on the Sign In button.

Click on the Online Seller button and then complete the rest of the process.

Now let’s go back to the eBay website and continue from where we left off. After you have clicked on Get Started, you will get a prompt asking if you want to continue with an individual account. Choose Yes, keep this as an individual account, and then click on Continue.

Now, you will be asked if you have a Payoneer account. Click on the Yes, sign in button, and log in to your Payoneer account.

Next, read your details and make sure everything is correct. Finally, click on Continue.

You will proceed to Add a credit or debit card tab. Here, enter your card details and then click on Continue.

Now, click on the Submit request button.

Your request is now sent. eBay will contact you once everything is set up.

We recommend you use an existing account on eBay instead of creating a new one. However, if you have created a new account, then follow some additional steps to increase your account’s reputation.

As you can see in the image below, you should buy a cheap item and also list a product to get both buying and selling experience. Follow the steps explained in the image and make sure to wait a day between each step.

There are many popular wholesale and retail suppliers that you can use for dropshipping. It’s important to choose a trustworthy and reliable dropshipping partner, as they are the ones in control of what your customers receive.

If a dropshipping partner messes up an order, you will be responsible for any repercussions. In this section, we will talk about both a wholesale and a retail supplier so you can decide what’s best for your store.

Walmart is one of the biggest chains of retail stores in the USA. The store features all types of products, ranging from clothes and tech items to groceries and auto parts. Walmart prides itself on providing high-quality items at discounted rates.

You can search for any item from their online website and have it delivered to your customers. If you buy an item that is over 35 dollars, Walmart gives you free shipping on it.

Since we are sourcing products from Walmart, we need to find products that are readily available on the site. We will begin by searching for Walmart brands on Google. Below, we have gone to the Wikipedia page, where we can see a bunch of Walmart brands.

Let’s choose the Mainstays brand for example.

Now, let’s go to ZIK Analytics to find some profitable products. We will start by changing out the primary dropshipping source to Walmart in the Quick Settings.

Click on the Quick Settings icon on the left side bar menu. Under the Source Website drop-down menu, choose Walmart.com then click on Apply Changes button.

The Product Research tool extracts information from thousands of products and displays it on an easy-to-use interface, so you can decide whether a product is right for your store.

Click on the Product Research icon on the left side bar menu and type in Mainstays in the search bar, then click the Search button.

You will now see all the statistics on the Mainstays brand on eBay. You can see the sell-through rate, total listings, total revenue, average product, and more. The pie chart shows you the top sellers for the brand.

Each seller gets a percentage to represent how much revenue they generated out of the total revenue. The point graph shows you the number of items sold each day in the last 30 days.

If you scroll down a bit, you can see all the items currently listed on eBay. For each item you can the product name, image, total units sold, price, and more. You can see the sellers are from different countries all across the globe meaning anyone can make profits on eBay.

Click on the Filters button on the top of the products list and check the Dropshippers only box. You will now only see drop shippers.

Click on the Scan Seller icon next to the name of any seller to instantly see an analysis of the seller.

Just like the Product Research tool, you can see all the important information on the seller. Scroll down a bit to see all the listings made by the seller.

Click on the Item Finder tool (box icon with Walmart logo on top), on any listing of your choice.

ZIK Analytics will find the product on Walmart and then show you the listing under the Similar product on Walmart heading. You can click on the listing to be taken directly to the Walmart listing page. You can also save your item to a folder, by clicking on the Select Folder dropdown menu. Then choose a folder where you want to save this item.

If you have no folders or want to save the product in a new folder, click on New Folder.

Enter a name and description for the folder, then click on New Folder.

You can now select this folder and then click on the Save to Folder icon next to the listing.

Save as many products as you like using this method. Once you are done, click on the My Products icon from the left side bar menu. Here, you can see all your folders, select the folder where you have saved your items.

You can see all the products you just saved. Click on Upload all if you want to list all the items. You can also select a few items by checking the box next to them and then upload those items only by clicking on the Upload selected button.

Select all the options based on your requirements and then click on Upload listings to upload the listings on your selected lister.

If you can’t find your lister, you can also click on the Export all or Export selected buttons. Check the filters if necessary and then click on Export listings. Your listings will be downloaded to your device in a CSV file.

The process, from finding and researching a product to saving and listing it, can take a long time. The tasks can quickly become cumbersome and if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, you won’t be able to list many items.

ZIK Analytics has an automation feature that can help you out with this problem. Click on the Advance tools on the left side bar menu, then choose Autopilot.

Click on the Start New Scan button.

Type in a name for the folder and choose Walmart.com under the Supplier drop-down menu. Under the Categories drop-down menu, choose as many categories as you want to be included in the scan. Check the Sold By Walmart box to only show eBay products that were also found on Walmart.

Set the rest of the filters too as you wish and then click on Start your scan. Once the scan is complete, you will see the name of the newly created folder on the Autopilot page. Click on the folder to see the items that were found during the scan.

You can now see all the products. Upload or export these products as you wish.

CJ Dropshipping is a popular Chinese dropshipping company with warehouses all around the world. The supplier is especially popular among small businesses that are looking for a robust and reliable dropshipping system.

Just like before, go to Quick Settings in ZIK Analytics and change the Source Website to cjdropshipping.com. Change the Shipping location to whichever country you have chosen for the warehouse.

Then click on Apply Changes.

Category Research allows you to search for any category or subcategory and instantly get a detailed analysis of it. You can also see products and sellers for that category, just like in Product Research.

Click on the Category Research icon from the left side bar menu. Scroll down a bit to see all the popular categories. For each subcategory, you can see the rating it has (represented by the number of stars out of five).

The higher the rating, the higher the percentage of success in that category.

Once you have a product idea, go to Product Research by clicking on its icon in the toolbox on the left. Here, search for the product, e.g., men's watch.

Just like before, you can see a detailed analysis of the product. Scroll down a bit to see all the items.

Click on the Item Finder tool (represented by a box icon with a CJ Dropshipping icon on it) on any listing of your choice. You will instantly see all the similar items of the eBay product found on CJ Dropshipping.

Click on the product of your choice and you will be taken to the CJ Dropshipping listing page.

On the right section, you can see a bunch of drop-downs like Shipping From, Shipping To, and Platform. Adjust these as per your requirements. In the middle, you can see the total dropshipping price, shipping fees, service fees, and other important information.

Scroll down a bit to see the description. You can also switch tabs to see Merchant Comments and Buyer Reviews.

Once you have decided on a product in CJ Dropshipping, click on the List button on the listing page.

Log in to your account. If you don’t have one you can create a new account or sign up with other accounts like Google or Apple.

After logging in, you will see the Listing pop-up. Click on Edit Before Listing to edit your product’s details before you list it on eBay,

Switch between the tabs and edit the details as you wish. Once you are satisfied click on List It Now.

If you want to learn more about dropshipping with CJ Dropshipping check out this video.

When a user searches for an item, eBay uses the title of listings to show the most relevant ones. If you want to rank high in searches, make sure that your title is properly optimized and contains a good number of generic and long-tail keywords.

ZIK Analytic’s Title Builder tools allow you to create optimized titles to generate more clicks and sales. Click on the Title Builder icon on the left side bar menu and search for the product you are selling, e.g., men’s watch.

Now you can see a bunch of keywords under Long Tail Keywords and Generic Keyword Ideas. Click on any keyword, and it will be added into the text field at the top where you can edit your title to your wishes.

You also see the Avg. Searches, Competition, and Sales information for each keyword. Add as many accurate keywords as you wish and then copy the title once you are done.

eBay has made promoting listings easier than ever. Whereas previously you had to rely on ads for promotion, you can simply turn on the Promote this listing switch to boost your product’s visibility.

You can find the switch under the Promoted Listings heading when listing your product on eBay. You also have to provide an Ad rate (minimum 2%) which will be deducted from your total price each time a user buys your product through the promoted listing.

To ensure a healthy and sustainable business on eBay you must pay extra attention to keep things running smoothly. Below you can read six tips that you should follow to ensure your store’s success.

You can also find our message templates here so you always know what to say to a customer.

Instead of randomly listing items in your store, you should instead focus on creating a strategy. Most buyers list as many items as they want quickly. Listing more often will increase your sales, but this strategy can also backfire.

If your store is detected by eBay’s algorithms, your account features may be restricted, and you might even get suspended. We recommend listing only up to ten products a day for the first month and then increasing it by ten each month.

In this article, you learned everything from creating an account on eBay and finding suppliers to adding promotions and scaling your business. You now have enough knowledge to run a successful eBay store.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us in the chat. 👍