Is dropshipping dead? If you work online, you might have pondered the future of dropshipping. It’s tempting to assume that a business model responsible for creating numerous millionaires might be on the brink of collapse, leading to doubts about achieving success in dropshipping. But hold on! How true is that?
Table of Contents:
- Demystifying the Idea (Google’s Proof)
- Is Dropshipping Business Model Worth It in 2024?
- “Seems Every Niche is Saturated Already. Is There Hope For Young Entrepreneurs?”
- “Reliable Suppliers Aren’t Working With New Dropshippers.”- The Way Out!
- Dropshipping Like a PRO even amidst High Cost of Advertising
- Is Dropshipping a Legal Business Model?
- Fixing Misconceptions
- 5 Main Dropshipping Myths
- Final Words
Digital entrepreneurs frequently question the stability of their business models. In this article, we’ll explore some common misconceptions surrounding dropshipping. But that’s not all; you’ll also discover how thriving the dropshipping business model truly is.
If you’re new to this and feel unfamiliar with the concept, don’t worry. We have a beginner-friendly guide titled “Dropshipping for Dummies” to help you get started.
Demystifying the Idea (Google’s Proof)
Many digital entrepreneurs and new dropshippers had this question in mind last year – is dropshipping dead in 2024? In fact, people often search on Google to know if it’s advisable to start or continue with their dropshipping business.
A look at Google Trends in the past 5 shows an increasing interest. Of course, one way to find the level of interest people have in a thing is by checking its Google Trends’ chart.
Is Dropshipping Business Model Worth It in 2024?
Here’s the truth; if you’re looking to make huge amounts in a short while in 2024, you might want to check out other business models. But if you’re out to earn a decent income and grow with time, then you need to start dropshipping today.
Let’s make a quick guess; “is dropshipping dead in 2024”- that’s the question on your mind. Last year, people asked, “Is dropshipping profitable?” The question keeps coming up every year, and if you don’t take action, you might still join others to ask a similar question next year. The fact remains that dropshipping keeps getting a bit tougher, so you need to start now, invest time, effort and money to breakthrough.
For people who ask – why is dropshipping dead? – here are some reasons why some people don’t start or go far with this business model, unlike in the past.
- High cost of goods
- Low product quality
- Non-professional sellers
- Delayed refunds
- High shipping time
Scratch that! If you can work on these reasons, you can still bank big in 2024 doing dropshipping business. There are still sellers who supply only quality products; you could be more professional. Process refunds faster and even reduce shipping time significantly.
Often, most problems come from the sellers as they focus more on profits, leaving customer experience unattended. Many hardly maintain good standards in their stores as they sell through social media adverts.
Repeat buyers are key to a sustainable business. But with a bad customer experience, sellers get to sell to their customers only once. This pulls down the trust in this business model.
However, there is a way out, and it’s simple. If you must dropship, earn a living from it and last long in this field, do well to treat your customers with respect and don’t hone your focus on profits only.
Customer satisfaction is key to thriving, and that’s why you can sell products at a high margin and still have your audience buy from you.
“Seems Every Niche is Saturated Already. Is There Hope For Young Entrepreneurs?”
Often, people say, “is AliExpress dropshipping dead? It seems every niche is saturated.” This tends to put the burning desire of young entrepreneurs to the test. Get this; if you get into a niche nobody else is involved, it’s not good. Having a good number of sellers in a niche means it’s thriving.
If you always want to invent a new thing in dropshipping, you must be ready to burn time, money and effort. That’s not how dropshipping works. Many niches are not saturated, find one (for example golf dropshipping niche) or more niches and milk it.
TIP: Find an existing niche that has competitions, find their weakness, employ your creativity to fix the loophole and stand out.
So, it’s perfect if other sellers are selling the products you want to sell. It’s good if other people are in your niche.
“Reliable Suppliers Aren’t Working With New Dropshippers.”- The Way Out!
It’s common to wonder if reliable and good suppliers will work with new dropshippers. After all, they already have big stores they work with.
Get this fact; if you’re into dropshipping for some quick buck, or see it as a get-rich-quick scheme, then you might not get reliable suppliers. Good suppliers are often willing to work with sellers who crave to build a real business.
They want sellers who can work with them for a long time. If you’re building a brand for the right reason and have integrity, finding a reliable supplier shouldn’t be the reason you haven’t started dropshippping yet.
We narrated how to pick a supplier who can help your business thrive in our post, how to choose a dropshipper supplier.
Dropshipping Like a PRO even amidst High Cost of Advertising
Dropshipping is not dead because the cost of advertising seems to be going up, especially with Google and Facebook.
Even in our everyday life, prices of items and things keep going up. You can’t compare the prices of things now to what they were in the last seven years. Funnily, in the next seven years, people will say things were cheap in 2024.
It all boils down to learning new things and evolving with the changes. Apparently, the new and increased cost of advertising on Facebook and Google means that advertisers should learn more, tweak and evaluate their campaigns more than they used to do. Gone are the days you set up an amateur campaign and rake in many orders.
TIP: Check out our updated post about product advertising in dropshipping
If truly you’re a business owner looking to build and maintain your brand, adverts’ costs are under-priced. After all, you’ll get a good ROI when you run your ads the right way. Focus on the returns, and not the ads spend, and do the numbers – sell, sell, and sell!
If you fail to start dropshipping now, in the next seven years, you’ll be blamed for not taking advantage of this opportunity.
Is Dropshipping a Legal Business Model?
As you know, Dropshipping business model lets you sell a product without handling it, and this isn’t illegal. There are no laws that stop anyone from building their dropshipping store, but you must abide by some set of standards that often vary with countries.
However, you should ensure the products you sell are reliable. Ensure your clients get what they order because they can complain about your brand, and you’ll face the law. Remember, your supplier isn’t in the picture here.
Likewise, having a clear return and refund policy will save your brand from certain legal actions and maintain your reputation. This is often more like an agreement between a seller and a buyer. In a case where things go south, this policy can guide your actions. It indicates the condition where you can accept a return and refund your buyers. If you’re not sure about how to handle returns and refunds, check this guide.
Furthermore, it would help if you were wary of the laws of the country where you operate. Different countries have various policies. While some allow nearly all products, some prohibit the importation of some products. Try to better know about the governing laws related to businesses in countries before you sell to them.
Fixing Misconceptions
Often people fear to start dropshipping because they heard Google Ads is against that. It’s not totally a lie – their terms of service shows they don’t like dropshipping. But the truth is that many dropshippers don’t encounter issues using Google Ads.
Google doesn’t like the idea of buying items from Amazon and selling them on Etsy. That’s just what they don’t like because it doesn’t seem like a real business. So, when you do the actual dropshipping, you will probably not have Google issues as people think.
Likewise, Stripe isn’t against dropshipping. It’s common to see people who say Stripe shut down their accounts in various dropshipping groups. Often, the reason is that their accounts have faced a lot of issues and risks.
Stores that take ages to ship, attend to customers or reply support tickets are prone to chargebacks and refund issues. They are not sustainable, and Stripe frowns at such stores. If you run your dropshipping like a real business, of course, it is, you’ll not always get refund requests and chargebacks, this keeps your Stripe account safer.
Amazon doesn’t like dropshipping, and this isn’t a lie. But guess what? It doesn’t really matter. That business model isn’t advisable. No real entrepreneur would want to run the arbitrage model when they can sell on their site and ship from Amazon. You wouldn’t want to sell on Amazon and find an eBay seller to fulfill it.
5 Main Dropshipping Myths
Thanks to the swarm of pseudo-gurus of the eCommerce world, dropshipping are often viewed as something scammy. And unfortunately, this sometimes stops the interested entrepreneurs from doing more research; some even wonder if dropshipping is legal. Others claim dropshipping is as good as dead in 2024. Today, let us deal with the main myths and rumors once and for all.
- Myth 1: “Dropshipping is illegal.” Dropshipping is a perfectly legal trading practice. Of course, keep in mind that owning an online store makes you a business owner — and businesses need to be registered legally. As long as you’re an honest taxpayer who doesn’t try to dropship low-quality or forbidden products, you’ll be fine. Check the common laws your country has for the entrepreneurs to learn the nuances.
- Myth 2. “Dropshipping is about scamming others (or being scammed.)” No, dropshipping is not a scamming scheme. So much so that it’s not even forbidden by the Terms & Conditions of major retail platforms (yes, including Amazon.) On AliExpress you can find dozens of sellers who offer affiliate programs for dropshippers. And why would it be otherwise? For free dropshipping, those platforms receive traffic and sales through your store and gain nothing but profit from your sales. Sure, your store’s customers don’t know you dropship the products but you aren’t doing anything every on- and offline reseller does, so it doesn’t really affect them on their end.
You, as a dropshipping newbie, alas can be scammed by fraudulent “experts”. Beware of those charging hundreds upon thousands of dollars for their useless courses or corrupt software. Be vigilant, skeptical, and don’t make rushed decisions. - Myth 3. “Your dropshipping store won’t survive the competition.” A basic, ill-maintained website with no distinctive theme and/or unreasonably high pricing doesn’t have a chance, yet. But if you create a professionally-looking store, invest in software & advertising, and commit to dropshipping products that are niche and on-demand? Different story.
- Myth 4. “You will get super rich super quick.” Yes, dropshipping as a business model allows you to save money on inventory. But, as we mentioned above, it’s still a job that demands attention to detail, research, and dedication. Dropshipping is not a way to get passive income. Still, it becomes extremely rewarding as soon as you start making steady profits.
- Myth 5. “You need to be a tech wiz.” While having a general idea of how the digital world works never hurt anyone, you absolutely don’t have to be more-than-average knowledge in that department. Especially if you’re dropshipping with WooCommerce: in that case, you can get affordable yet reliable and user-friendly software to support your store 24/7. Plugin for AliExpress dropshipping is the best example. It is designed for full customization, automation, and synchronization of online dropshipping stores. Click the link above to learn more about the software’s features and perks. And rest assured dropshipping is far from dead in 2024
Final Words
If you’re still wondering – is eBay dropshipping dead? Or worried about AliExpress dropshipping going down soon, we can tell you with all confidence – Dropshipping isn’t dead!
When you do the business the right way by providing value to your buyers and improving your knowledge about running the business, you’ll be successful.
Profits, better assets and returning buyers will come when you run a successful dropshipping business. Simply put, there is no end to dropshipping in sight; just get to work!
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