How to Use Amazon as a Dropshipper
By Tara Cantore
Drop shipping companies are responsible for preparing, shipping and delivering orders to a buyer. Although Amazon is not a traditional drop shipping company, they often offer significantly lower prices on a wide variety of items than any of their competitors. Companies who market on auctions or offer offline catalog services can sometimes make a profit by using a lower-priced Amazon order to fulfill a client's purchase.
Place your item for sale on your storefront and wait for a buyer to purchase it.
Review the payment for fraud. Calling the client's phone number or waiting for payment to clear can be a good way of minimizing the risk of being cheated.
Record the buyer's address and shipping address.
Place a new order on Amazon.com using your account. Use your billing information only. Buying the item using your customer's credit card is considered fraud.
Choose a "gift" shipment and designate your customer as the recipient, using their address as the delivery address.
Complete the checkout. You will receive a tracking number that you can pass along to your buyer to track their order.
References
Tips
- If you are heavily involved in drop shipping through Amazon, consider an Amazon Prime account for unlimited 2-day shipping at a fixed yearly price.
Warnings
- Wait until your payment has cleared and do careful fraud checking before sending a product. If your client charges back, issues a bad check or uses a stolen credit card you will lose the money and Amazon will not provide a refund.
- Some customers may feel cheated if they know you purchased the product directly at a lower price. Make sure you ship the product as a gift to prevent your invoice from being delivered with the package.