Amazon FBA vs Dropshipping - Which Is Best For You?

Amazon FBA was our first introduction to selling online. We sold in the US, Canada, and Europe for several years. However, due to the lack of control and the amount of inventory we had to stock, we moved from FBA to dropshipping.

Both options have pros and cons and will work for different businesses and sellers. 

We’ll explore FBA and dropshipping in depth to help you decide which is best for you.

Let’s get into it.

Key Takeaways

• Choose Amazon FBA if you have a big budget and want an easy-to-manage selling solution.
• Choose dropshipping if you want more control and less risk. Dropshipping also allows you to build a relationship with your customers.
• The main difference between Amazon FBA and dropshipping is inventory. Amazon FBA requires you to buy your stock and send it to Amazon. You don’t own your inventory when you dropship.
• Amazon allows you to dropship on its marketplace using Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM). 

What Are the Main Differences and Similarities between Dropshipping and Amazon FBA? 

Amazon FBA and dropshipping are both ways to sell products online.

However, there are many differences between Amazon FBA and dropshipping. 

We can look at the similarities and differences to help you decide which option will work for you.

Dropshipping and Amazon FBA Similarities

• Both let you sell products online.
• You can scale and sell Amazon FBA businesses and dropshipping stores.
• You need to research and source your products for both dropshipping and Amazon FBA. If you want help finding winning products for Amazon, check out our article.
• To generate interest and sales in your Amazon FBA and dropshipping products, you will likely need to run paid ads.

Dropshipping and Amazon FBA Differences 

• You buy and own the inventory for FBA. With dropshipping, you don’t own the inventory. 
• Amazon handles the shipping to customers. For dropshipping, your supplier ships the products to your customers.
• With dropshipping, you need to build your own website or choose a platform to sell on. Amazon FBA only requires you to create listings on Amazon.
• You have more control and contact with customers when you dropship. Amazon handles this when you use FBA.

Pros and Cons of Dropshipping and Amazon FBA 

Amazon FBA and dropshipping both have their benefits and risks.

Some of the Amazon FBA and dropshipping pros might not benefit you. And the cons might not be an issue either. 

Let’s look at these in-depth to help you choose the best e-commerce model for you.

Pros of Amazon FBA

• Trusted Website - Amazon is the biggest e-commerce site and is trusted by customers. Customers will automatically trust your products by association. They know they can contact Amazon if there are any issues. This increases the chances of them ordering from you as they feel safe and secure doing so.
• Existing Customers - It’s estimated that Amazon has 310 million users worldwide [1]. If you add your products to Amazon, you will increase your visibility to active customers. 
• Amazon Prioritizes FBA Sellers - Amazon allows sellers to fulfill orders themselves. This is called FBM (fulfillment by merchant). From our experience, FBA sellers are prioritized over FBM sellers. We assume this is because it's reliable. This is for the following reasons:, Amazon offers quick shipping, Amazon handles customer service, Amazon handles the logistics, including returns and refunds‍
• Prime - Amazon’s subscription service, Prime, has over 200 million members [2]. Prime offers customers fast and priority shipping and delivery on certain products. If you sell using Amazon FBA, your products are automatically eligible for Prime. This makes them more desirable and boosts their position in the search results.‍
• Hands-Off - Once you’ve found and sourced your product and shipped it to Amazon’s warehouse, there isn’t much you need to do. Amazon handles the logistics, returns, refunds, and most of the customer service queries. It is relatively easy to run and manage an FBA business. FBA doesn’t require as many hours as traditional e-commerce or dropshipping.‍
• Amazon Ads - Amazon makes it easy to promote your products with its built-in ad platform. And you’re advertising your products to an audience who are in the mood to spend. We’ve found that Amazon ads have a high conversion rate.‍
• Multi-Channel Fulfillment - List your products on your own e-commerce site and use Amazon FBA to fulfill your orders.

Cons of Amazon FBA

• Lack of Control - Amazon handles almost every aspect of your business. So, once your product hits Amazon’s warehouse, you have very little control. You can’t decide if a customer is entitled to a refund or replacement. You don’t get to choose whether a returned item is in the right condition to be resold. And if the warehouse loses your product, you have to rely on Amazon to handle it.
• Expensive Fees - Amazon has non-negotiable fees. You need to pay for either each item you sell or subscribe to an Amazon seller plan. Amazon also charges referral and fulfillment fees.
• Stocking Inventory - Amazon FBA requires you to buy your inventory in bulk and send it to Amazon’s warehouses. This can be expensive and risky, as there is no guarantee your stock will sell.

Pros of Dropshipping

• Low Risk - Dropshipping is seen as the lowest-risk e-commerce business model. You don’t need to pay for any products until the customer orders from you. This means there is very little investment and little to lose if it doesn’t work.
• Control - You build your website, choose how you fulfill orders, and manage the customer service yourself. Dropshipping puts you in control of your business, and you can choose how to run it.
• Easy for Beginners - Dropshipping is low-investment and low-risk. This makes it a good option for beginners.
• Possible to Scale - You can scale relatively quickly with dropshipping. Established dropshipping stores are sought after and usually sell well, giving you an exit plan.
• Build a Brand and Customer Base - Dropshipping allows you to establish yourself as a brand. You can build a branded website, use custom packaging, manage your own customer service, and contact customers directly.

Cons of Dropshipping 

• Profit Margin - You order one piece at a time with dropshipping. So, you will usually pay a premium compared to sellers who order their inventory in bulk. To compete with these sellers, you will need to compete on price. This means your profit margin is usually low.
• Requires a High Level of Management - With control comes management. Dropshipping requires more time and management than FBA. There are order fulfillment automation tools and customer service tools. These can help you manage your business and save you time.
• Slow Shipping Times - Dropshippers commonly source their products from AliExpress. Most AliExpress suppliers are based in China. If you sell in the US and Europe, orders can take up to 2 weeks to arrive from China. Long shipping times can be off-putting for customers. There are plenty of suppliers based in the US and Europe. And some Chinese suppliers have warehouses in the US and Europe. If your supplier is close to your customers, it will reduce shipping times.

Amazon FBA and Dropshipping Comparison 

Dropshipping and Amazon FBA might seem similar. So it can be difficult to decide which is the best option for you.

To help you decide, we’ll look at the main aspects of both Amazon FBA and dropshipping and see how they compare.

For a quick overview, we’ve added a table that shows our winner in each category and a short explanation as to why. For a complete overview, keep reading, and we’ll cover each category in depth.

1. Inventory 

Inventory refers to the goods you hold to sell. 

You don’t hold any inventory with dropshipping. In contrast, Amazon FBA requires you to stock inventory.

Let’s look at each option in more depth.

Inventory: Amazon FBA

To use the fulfillment by Amazon service, you need to buy your stock in bulk and send it to Amazon.

FBA requires you to manage your inventory levels. This means you need to know how much and when to send inventory to Amazon. 

You can work this out based on how many sales you’re making and your supplier's turnaround time.

Amazon FBA Inventory Pros:

The main benefit of ordering your inventory in bulk is that the inventory is there and ready to ship. This means the shipping is quick. 

You have control over how many pieces you order, and you will never sell an out-of-stock item. Amazon is also in charge of checking any returned items. If they deem them resellable, they will add them to your stock.

Amazon FBA Inventory Cons:

The main issue with ordering your stock in bulk is the amount you have to pay upfront. You have to prepay for all the stock and shipping to the warehouse before selling a single item. 

It can also be difficult to manage your inventory levels. You need to ensure you have enough stock to meet the demand while not over-ordering and spending too much.

There are many tools that can help you manage your stock levels. However, many products have seasonal peaks, and the tools can’t pick these up straight away. It can take a year of sales for the tools to know your sales pattern to manage your inventory accurately. And even after this time, the tools don’t account for out-of-pattern orders.

Inventory: Dropshipping

Dropshipping doesn’t require you to hold any inventory. So you don’t need to manage your inventory levels.

When a customer orders from you, you contact the supplier who holds the stock. You buy the individual item the customer ordered. And the supplier sends the order directly to your customer.

You shouldn’t ever need to pay for stock before the customer pays you.

This has some benefits. These are:

• No need to manage your inventory levels
• Don’t need to prepay for stock

There are some downsides, too. These are:

• Slow shipping
• Potential miscommunications between you and the supplier
• The supplier running out of stock
• Managing returns and refunds

2. Order Fulfillment

You don’t fulfill Amazon FBA or dropshipping orders yourself.

For dropshipping, your supplier or manufacturer handles the fulfillment. And Amazon handles the fulfillment if you sell through Amazon FBA. 

Let’s compare the fulfillment methods.

Order Fulfillment: Amazon FBA 

When a customer orders your product, Amazon packages and sends the order to your customer. This happens automatically and doesn’t require any action.

All FBA products are also eligible for Prime shipping. This means customers will receive their parcels quickly.

It is a completely hands-off fulfillment option, making it easy and usually stress-free.

However, you have very little control. We’ve had customers complain about parcels arriving damaged and orders coming late. This has resulted in bad feedback and us having to pay to send replacements. 

Order Fulfillment: Dropshipping

When a customer places an order, you need to contact the supplier. The supplier then ships the order directly to the customer.

Dropshipping requires you to manage the fulfillment process. You do this manually by contacting the supplier with the details of every order. Or use an automation tool.

Dropshipping Automation Tools

You can use automated fulfillment software to fulfill your dropshipping orders. 

We always recommend this to dropshippers. It reduces the risk of errors and saves you time.

We recommend using either AutoDS or Zendrop. This software essentially connects your selling platform and your supplier.

So, when a customer places an order, the software automatically forwards your order to your supplier. 

The supplier then completes the order and sends you the tracking details. You can then update the customer with the tracking information. 

Automation tools can also share other information. Such as stock levels (so you never sell stock that the supplier doesn’t have available) and price changes.

Fulfilling dropshipping orders is relatively easy and hands-off. As long as you have a reliable supplier and automation software.

3. Advertising

To generate sales, you need to advertise your Amazon FBA and dropshipping products.

Advertising is a paid way to get your products in front of customers.

There are multiple marketing methods to generate sales. Such as email marketing, using social media influencers, building a brand, and posting relevant content online. 

You could use these techniques for both Amazon FBA and dropshipping.

In this section, we’ll look at running paid ads. As it’s how advertising dropshipping and Amazon products differ.

Advertising: Amazon FBA

Amazon has its own advertising service. This is commonly called Amazon PPC, Amazon Ads, or Amazon Sponsored Products. You can access it through your Amazon dashboard.

It allows you to create campaigns for your products, add specific keywords, and bid on the keywords. 

Amazon gives you detailed analytics. So you can easily monitor, analyze, and optimize your campaigns so they’re the most profitable.

On Amazon, you don’t pay any upfront fees to run ads. Instead, you pay once a customer clicks on the ad. 

The products you run ads on are displayed in a preferable position. The preferable positions include the search results and relevant product listings.

Creating Amazon ads allows you to target your audience and increase your product’s visibility. This can help generate and increase sales. 

Advertising: Dropshipping

Most dropshippers create a branded website to dropship their products on. We always use Shopify to build our dropshipping website, but WooCommerce and Wix are also popular options.

If you sell on your own website, advertising is a requirement. No one will find your website or products if you don’t.

We recommend using Meta to run Facebook and Instagram ads. Meta allows you to set specific demographics to target your audience. You can also set a budget and track your ads with detailed insights.

If you need inspiration for what to add to your Facebook ads, check out Dropship’s Ad Spot tool. It allows you to search for relevant Facebook ads and view their copy, engagement, and more.

Meta Ad Alternatives

Some sellers also use Google ads. However, Google ads are expensive, which leaves us with less profit than if we used Meta ads. Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all other options for running ads. We don’t usually use these platforms, but they could work for you depending on the product you’re selling.

If you dropship on a marketplace like Walmart, eBay, or Amazon, you can advertise using the marketplace's built-in ad tools.

4. Profit

For dropshipping and Amazon FBA, you source your products and set your price.

However, dropshipping gives you more control over your profit. There are no set fees like Amazon charges for its FBA service. 

In this section, we’ll look at how much it costs to sell your products and the profit you can make from the sale.

For more information about paying for stock upfront, check out the costs section, where we’ll look at this in more depth.

Profit: Amazon FBA

Generally, selling through Amazon FBA is more expensive per piece than dropshipping. But you can charge a higher price and negotiate your product cost.

FBA is more expensive for the following reasons:

• You pay to ship your products to Amazon’s warehouse (rather than directly to the customer like dropshipping)
• You pay Amazon’s non-negotiable fees. These are charged for every order and need to be factored into your selling price. These are the following:

• Selling plan - You can either sell as an individual or join a professional plan. An individual plan is suitable for sellers who sell less than 40 items per month, as there is a $0.99 per sale. A professional plan costs $39.99 per month.
• Referral fee - For every product you sell through Amazon, you will be charged a percentage of the selling price for using Amazon to list your products. The category you sell in will depend on the percentage. This ranges from 8%-45%.
• Fulfillment fee - The fulfillment fee is the fee you pay for Amazon to pick, pack, and ship your order. The size and weight of your product determine the fulfillment fee. The fee also increases during the holidays. 

If you don’t sell your products, you’ll need to pay for warehouse storage fees.

However, most suppliers offer discounts when you order stock in bulk. You can negotiate with your supplier depending on the number of products you’re ordering. This can help increase your profit margin.

You can also sell your products for a higher price on Amazon than you can through your own website. This is because customers trust Amazon. They know their order will arrive quickly, and if there are any problems, they can contact Amazon to resolve them.

Profit: Dropshipping

Dropshipping gives you more options. The options you choose will determine your profit margin. 

For example, the following:

• Shipping method - Express shipping is going to cost more than regular shipping. You can offer customers multiple shipping options with prices to go along with it. We usually offer free shipping and include the shipping cost in the product price.
• Order fulfillment - There are options for order fulfillment. At first, you might want to manage your orders manually. Every time you receive an order, you contact the supplier yourself with the details. However, we recommend using automation software. This usually has a monthly fee. You’ll need to consider the cost when calculating your prices to ensure you’re profitable.

Initially, suppliers are less flexible on the product price. This is because you’re only ordering one piece at a time. However, once you start getting regular orders, you can build a rapport with your supplier. This allows you to negotiate lower product prices to increase your profit margin.

Dropshipping also doesn’t have the fees that Amazon FBA does. But you will need to consider the costs of your selling platform and automation software.

5. Customer Contact 

Dropshipping gives you complete control over how you contact your customers.

Amazon FBA provides you with your customer address and name. But you can only contact them through Amazon.

Customer Contact: Amazon FBA

On Amazon, you have very limited direct contact with your customers. 

You can contact them through Amazon. But only for essential matters.

You cannot take them off of Amazon and contact them directly. 

Amazon makes it much harder to establish yourself as a business. Many customers see you as part of Amazon rather than your own brand. There are pros and cons to this:

Pros:

• Reduces your responsibility
• Not time consuming

Cons:

• Cannot form a relationship with customers
• Hard to build brand trust
• Can’t offer upsells or buyback offers

Customer Contact: Dropshipping

If you dropship on your own website, you have complete control over the data you collect. You can also choose how you communicate with customers. 

This enables you to build a relationship with your customers and establish your brand’s presence.

You can gather information through your checkout page. You can do this by adding custom fields and asking your customers to opt-in to your email marketing. 

Alternatively, you can create landing pages. On the landing pages, you can request potential customers' details in exchange for a coupon, discount, or resource. 

Once you have your customer’s email address or contact details, you can create specific email campaigns to generate sales.

Direct contact with customers also allows you to resolve issues however you see fit. You can offer refunds, returns, discounts, coupons, or anything else to make your customer happy.

6. Customer Base

Amazon FBA gives you a head start. It gives you an existing audience to sell your products to. Dropshipping doesn’t. 

Customer Base: Amazon FBA

If you choose Amazon FBA, you are adding your products to the biggest marketplace in the world.

There are more than 10 million active Amazon users. These active customers trust Amazon. And in turn, trust your product listings.

This instant trust and the existing Amazon audience make it easier to generate sales. This is easier than starting from scratch with your own website. 

Customer Base: Dropshipping

You need to find your own customers for dropshipping. You can do this through marketing. 

Usually, this is running paid ads on Facebook. However, it can take more time to generate sales and cost more advertising than selling on Amazon.

7. Control

Dropshipping gives you far more control than Amazon FBA.

Control: Amazon FBA

Selling on Amazon puts you at the mercy of Amazon. They have complete control over your business. 

• Account Issues: Amazon can suspend you, ban you, or shut your listings down with no warning for not doing anything wrong. If you haven’t violated the terms of service, you can usually get your listing back. But it might take a while as the customer service for sellers isn’t always the most helpful. And it can still result in lost sales, which causes your listing to drop rank quickly.

Someone reported our Amazon FBA listing. It was a completely false allegation, but Amazon still shut down our listing for 48 hours. We lost two days of sales because someone saw us as competition. And we had no control over it.

For that reason, we’ve moved away from selling solely on Amazon. It’s just too risky.

• Warehouse, Storage, and Shipping: You are reliant on Amazon to scan and store your products. We’ve had orders sent with missing pieces. Our supplier confirmed everything was included. But Amazon says they never arrived. You can apply for investigations on missing and lost inventory, but it can take a long time to be resolved and reimbursed. 

• Reviews: On Amazon, anyone can review your products. Reviewers don’t necessarily have to have bought the products to leave a review. So you can end up with bad reviews for other sellers' products. You can also end up with bad reviews due to issues with delivery or shipping.

Once a review is on your listing, it’s very difficult to have it removed. Bad reviews are off-putting for potential customers. It can deter them from buying your product, which can dramatically reduce your sales.

We understand genuine bad reviews. But they can be very damaging if they’re not your fault and don’t have anything to do with your listing.

• Finances and Inventory: Your inventory and pending money can be frozen by Amazon. This could be for any reason, like if your account is under investigation. This means you can’t take withdrawals from your Amazon account, and your inventory is stuck.

• Listing: Amazon gives you a title, seven images, a description, and bullet points to sell your products to customers. There are also strict restrictions around the content you can include in your listings. This rigid structure makes it difficult to showcase your products.

Control: Dropshipping

Dropshipping gives you far more control over your business than Amazon FBA.

Let’s look at the same points we looked at with Amazon FBA and compare it with dropshipping. 

• Account Issues: The platform you sell on will determine the rules you need to abide by. Shopify has terms of service you need to adhere to, and if you don’t, your account could be closed. However, from our experience, there is a much lower risk than on Amazon.

• Warehouse, Storage, and Shipping: Your supplier ships your products directly to your customers. So you don’t need to worry about the warehouse and storage. You will also agree with your supplier on the shipping method and preparation time. 

We recommend creating a contract with your supplier and agreeing to the terms. This way, you’re protected if there are any issues with your processing and shipping.

• Reviews: Established suppliers will likely have feedback on the products. You can add this feedback to your dropshipping website. You can also choose how you collect reviews and the reviews you post on your website. 

• Finances and Inventory: This is far less of an issue with dropshipping. There is no prepaid inventory, so if your account is closed or suspended, no inventory is caught up. You will also use a payment processor with Shopify, like Stripe or PayPal. They can hold some of your payments if they suspect suspicious activity. However, in our experience, it’s never been an issue.

• Listing: When you build your own website, you can add anything you like to your listing. You can add videos, unlimited images, a detailed description, and anything else to help sell your products. This flexibility allows you to show off your products, which can help increase your sales.

8. Costs 

The main difference in cost is that Amazon FBA requires you to buy stock in bulk, and dropshipping doesn’t.

Costs: Amazon FBA

Amazon FBA requires you to buy stock and ship it to Amazon’s warehouse. 

Usually, suppliers have a minimum order quantity of around 100 pieces. The cost of the product and your shipping method will determine how much it costs.

This can be a huge expense, and there is no guarantee your stock will sell.

If it does, it can take up to 6 months to recoup your initial investment as you need to continually restock your inventory.

Costs: Dropshipping

Dropshipping doesn’t cost a lot to get started.

We recommend ordering product samples to check the quality before you commit to selling them, which is a small expense.

Shopify is cheap to get started. You can start a Shopify store for $1 per month for the first three months. 

And you can manually fulfill your orders until you can afford to pay for automation software.

Running ads will be your biggest cost when you start dropshipping, but you control the budget.

If you want more tips on getting started dropshipping, we have an article on How to Start Dropshipping for Free.

9. Scalability and End Goals

If you have a large budget, Amazon FBA is easy to scale and grow. But if you’re starting with a small budget or from 0, dropshipping could be a better option.

Scalability and End Goals: Amazon FBA

Once you find and launch winning products, Amazon does most of the heavy lifting. 

This means if you’ve got the funds to order products, you can quickly scale and expand your store.

The end goal with FBA is usually to sell your account. Often, you’ll need to continually reinvest your profit to restock and grow. Selling the account is how most FBA sellers make the majority of their money. 

Scalability and End Goals: Dropshipping

With dropshipping, it really comes down to you. 

If you can effectively manage your suppliers and order fulfillment, you can scale as quickly with dropshipping as you can with FBA. 

We’ve found that building a brand is easier with dropshipping. You can create a website and add content to the website. You can also build an email list and form relationships with your customers. 

A dropshipping business is usually more desirable than an Amazon FBA business when it comes to selling the business. This is due to the additional assets (like an email list and website) and the benefits of the dropshipping model.

10. Risks

Dropshipping and Amazon FBA both have a similar chance of success. 

However, dropshipping is a lower-risk business model.

Risks: Amazon FBA

Amazon FBA is considered riskier than dropshipping, as you need to pre-buy your stock.

This means you are out of pocket before you even start and rely on the stock selling to generate profit.

Risks: Dropshipping

Dropshipping is considered low risk as you don’t need to buy any stock or hold inventory. 

When a customer buys your product and pays you, you then order the product from the supplier. 

Essentially, you should never be down financially.

What Is Amazon FBA?

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service offered by Amazon for sellers. It is the most popular option for selling on Amazon. 

The service handles inventory storage, order processing and fulfillment, returns, refunds, and customer service for sellers. 

You create Amazon listings and send your products to Amazon’s warehouses.

It’s a hands-off option that requires little time or management. 

What Is Dropshipping? 

Dropshipping is an e-commerce model which allows you to sell products without holding stock.

As a dropshipper, you list a product for sale. Once you make a sale, you contact your supplier and place the order. The supplier then ships the order directly to your customer.

The most common place for dropshippers to list their products is on their own website. You could use Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, or any other e-commerce platform. You can also use a marketplace like Amazon or eBay.

Dropshipping is considered a low-risk option as you don’t need to purchase stock upfront. But you need to know how to run ads and attract customers, as well as build a website, process orders, handle returns, and manage any customer queries.

Different Types of Dropshipping and Amazon FBA and Alternatives

You can dropship on different platforms and use Amazon in a variety of ways to make money.

We’ll look at the different options so you can decide which is best for you.

Amazon Dropshipping

In general, we don’t recommend dropshipping on Amazon. But it is possible and can work for some sellers.

The process works in a similar way to selling on your own site. But instead of creating your own website, you list your dropshipping products on Amazon.

Automation tools like AutoDS can automatically fulfill your orders in the same way as through Shopify.

The main benefit of dropshipping on Amazon is the existing audience and customer trust Amazon has. This can help generate sales.

However, you are subject to Amazon’s rules and listing restrictions and, therefore, don’t have the same level of control as when you sell on your own site. 

Amazon also prioritizes Amazon FBA sellers over dropshipping sellers. The prolonged shipping times can also be off-putting for Amazon buyers. 

Amazon Private Label

Amazon private label is when you add your branding to a product manufactured by another company and sell it on Amazon. You can sell private-label products using either FBA or FBM.

Let’s look at a private label example: If we search for water bottles, we can see the first five results are all the same product but sold by different brands. These brands probably source the product from the same manufacturer and add their own branding.

We have a few articles on private labeling. These are Private Label Manufacturers and Private Label Products, if you want to check them out.

Dropshipping using AliExpress and Shopify

AliExpress and Shopify are probably the most common combination for dropshipping.

You source your products from AliExpress and build a Shopify website to sell them.

AliExpress is a marketplace for small business owners primarily based in China. Many of the suppliers allow you to order one piece at a time, making it the perfect place to source your dropshipping product. 

Shopify is an e-commerce platform. It allows you to create a store to sell your dropshipping products and facilitates payment.

AliExpress and Shopify can be connected using automation software like AutoDS. AutoDS will automatically contact your AliExpress supplier when you receive Shopify orders. 

eBay Dropshipping

You can list your dropshipping products on eBay rather than creating your own dropshipping website.

Like Amazon dropshipping, eBay gives you an existing audience and a trusted platform to sell on. However, eBay has strict criteria for dropshipping. You must have an agreement with your supplier to list and sell their products, as well as adhere to the other terms of service.

AutoDS also works with eBay to automate your order fulfillment.

If you want more information on dropshipping on eBay, we have an article with everything you need to know.

Amazon Affiliate Marketing

Amazon has an affiliate program, Amazon Associates.

It allows you to create referral links for Amazon products. When someone purchases the product using your referral link, you earn a commission.

If you have an existing audience or know how to grow one, the Amazon affiliate program is a great way to earn money. You can earn up to 12% in advertising fees. 

Final Thoughts: Is Dropshipping or Amazon FBA Better? 

It depends. 

Neither option is better than the other, and each will suit different sellers.

Dropshipping is easier to get started as it has a low barrier to entry. You also have more control over your business and the ability to build a brand and relationship with customers. However, it requires more work, and you need to know how to advertise your products to generate sales.

Amazon FBA costs a lot to get started, as you have to pre-buy stock. But as it’s a trusted site with existing customers, it can be easier to make sales. Amazon also handles the fulfillment process and most customer service issues, which makes it relatively easy to manage.

If you are interested in getting started with dropshipping, check out Dropship to find winning products. There is currently a 7-day trial, where you can access all the tools it offers for free.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Is FBA or Dropshipping Better for Amazon? 

Dropshippers need to use the fulfillment by merchant (FBM) option to sell on Amazon. 

Amazon tends to prioritize FBA sellers over FBM sellers, as the shipping is quicker and service is guaranteed. 

Therefore, if you want to sell solely on Amazon, we recommend using FBA. 

However, if you are already dropshipping on your own website or other marketplaces and want to expand to Amazon, you can dropship on Amazon using FBM.

Is It Easy to Sell on Amazon FBA? 

Once you’ve found and sourced your products, Amazon FBA is one of the easiest ways to sell products.

Amazon handles the logistics, fulfillment, returns, refunds, and customer service for FBA orders. 

This means once your stock has reached Amazon’s warehouse, little management is required. 

Is Amazon FBA or Dropship More Profitable? 

It depends on the products and shipping method you choose.

But usually, dropshipping is more profitable. Amazon charges several fees to sell using FBA, which reduces your profit margin.

Can I Dropship on Amazon?

Yes. Amazon allows you to dropship using its fulfillment by merchant (FBM) option.

You can list your products on Amazon and fulfill them using your dropshipping supplier. AutoDS works with Amazon to automate your dropshipping orders.