Hey! You want to start an Etsy dropshipping business and make some dough, right?
Cool!
Read this article thoroughly to get the step-by-step you need to thrive on Etsy. Dropshipping on Etsy means you—the dropshipper—connect to suppliers and instruct them to fulfill orders on your behalf when customers place orders on your online store.
Pretty simple, right?
Not so quick, though! Before you do anything, acquaint yourself with fundamental guidelines so you can flourish in your dropshipping business ASAP.
To begin an Etsy dropshipping business:
- Understand What Etsy Dropshipping Entails
- Familiarize Yourself With Etsy’s Policies
- Choose What To Sell
- Design Your Concepts
- Find a Dropshipping Supplier
- Build Your Etsy Store
- List Your Products on Etsy
- Set Up Shipping
- Link Your Etsy Store To an Ecommerce Platform
- Create Your Product Mock-ups
- Market Your Etsy Store
Let’s dig in deeper!
1. Understand What Etsy Dropshipping Entails
To launch a lucrative Etsy dropshipping business, understand what Etsy dropshipping really means so you can up your game.
Etsy is a niche-based marketplace—not a generic ecommerce platform like Amazon, eBay, etc. Remember this peculiarity as you craft your Etsy dropshipping business strategy.
The thing is, you can’t sell mass-manufactured products—that is, machine-manufactured goods—on the platform.
With Etsy, you sell self-made unique craft items, vintage and handmade items running the whole gamut: arts, toys, clothing, bags, jewelry, etc. You must produce whatever you sell on Etsy.
Bear in mind that Etsy has over 80 million shoppers seeking to buy from sellers with unique items. Carve a niche for your business and parlay your thorough understanding of Etsy’s huge customer base to a multimillion-dollar store.
Remember you pay a $0.20 fee per listing and a 5% commission on each sale. However, you pay a 3% commission if you choose Etsy to process payments for you.
Note that competition on Etsy is pretty intense. You are competing with over 2 million sellers in the marketplace. Exciting and scary at the same time, right?
2. Familiarize Yourself With Etsy’s Policies
To begin an Etsy dropshipping business, familiarize yourself with Etsy’s business policies so you don’t lose your store but rather have an excellent experience on the platform.
Note that Etsy comes with strong rules for a dropshipping business model. You don’t dropship anything outside the vintage and craft supplies categories. Remember, you must either make or design what you sell.
Don’t list items like drugs or tobacco, or any dangerous items like knives, guns, etc. Also, you can’t sell handcrafted items that contain pornographic images.
Steer clear from items that promote illegal activities like drugs, prostitution, murder, etc., or items that foster racism or hatred.
You can’t dropship vintage products that are less than 20 years old.
3. Choose What To Sell
To set up a money-making Etsy dropshipping business, define your market and choose what to sell.
Pick a niche that fits your business model and is in sync with your demographics. Decide which population you want to target.
Research shows that businesses with specific niches perform better than those with generic niches—even in revenue.
Pay attention to market trends and place yourself in a market with high demand and low-to-average supply.
Use tools like eRank to keep track of other Etsy sellers’ performance metrics, understand market insights with analytical granularity, and receive recommendations on how you can improve your own store’s performance.
Note that categories like craft and supplies, handmade items, wedding essentials, jewelry and home décor have bestselling items on Etsy.
Put that into consideration when choosing what to sell.
4. Design Your Concepts
To begin a lucrative Etsy dropshipping business, design your concepts and keep them handy before approaching production partners.
Craft your concepts—if you’re artistically inclined—or hire a craftsman who can turn your concepts into reality. Use platforms such as Fiverr, TopTal, Freelancer and Upwork.
Remember, with Etsy, you must own what you sell. Make sure you own the designs. You also need these designs to create your product mockups later on.
Create effective designs to satisfy customers’ needs. Welcome new ideas that help bring your concepts to the limelight. Build unity in your designs—in other words, make them in sync with the problem they intend to solve.
Observe designs from competitors to improve yours. Get feedback from peers, customers and family so you can keep improving. Don’t duplicate other people’s concepts, nor mass-produce popular brands. Make sure your products are unique.
5. Find a Dropshipping Supplier
To create a profitable Etsy dropshipping store, find and partner with a reliable dropshipping supplier. Find a manufacturer partner who brands your products as yours.
Remember Etsy’s policy on product ownership. Speak with the manufacturer who has the proper operations, equipment and customer service to brand your products in order to suit your goal.
Figure out your profit margin as you negotiate with the manufacturers. Make sure your supplier has the capacity to produce what you sell and can deliver promptly.
Pay attention to some of Etsy’s approved manufacturers:
6. Build Your Etsy Store
To start a lucrative Etsy dropshipping business, set up an Etsy store where you can list your products. Go to Etsy’s homepage, and click “Sell on Etsy” so you can create your account.
Scroll down on the new page and click on “Open Your Etsy Shop.” Set your store’s preferences. Choose your store’s name, preferred currency, language, and country of residence. Click “Save and Continue.”
Upload your store’s banner, and draft a catchy promotional announcement. For instance, “Luxury native hat for modern man’s style. Get 20% off of your first order.”
Also, write a welcome message for your store’s visitors. This creates a sense of belonging in visitors. Put content in your “About” section to tell visitors more about your shop. Get these things in place so you can upload products to your store.
7. List Your Products on Etsy
To create a money-making Etsy dropshipping business, list your products so customers can find them and make purchases.
Upload your products along with their images or videos, thumbnail images, titles, descriptions and categories so shoppers clearly understand what you sell.
Add your inventory and prices. Remember, the listing fee per product is $0.20. Consider this when setting your prices.
Note that on Etsy, prices appear in your preferred currency.
8. Set Up Shipping
To begin an award-winning Etsy dropshipping business, set up a supply system along with information about your listing. Also, create shipping profiles and rates—and link your delivery profile to your listings.
To create a shipping profile, go to Etsy.com and choose “Shop Manager.” Select “Settings,” “Shipping settings,” “Shipping profiles” and “Add a shipping profile.” Fill out the shipping details and click “Save.”
To set shipping info on your listing, go to your Etsy’s shipping area and choose an existing shipping profile or select “Enter custom shipping options” to set your listing. Under “shipping prices,” choose “I’ll enter fixed prices manually.”
Add your country of origin, postal code and processing time.
Link your shipping profiles to your listings. Go to Etsy.com and select “Shop Manager,” “Listings” and choose the checkbox you want to link a shipping profile to. Select “Editing options,” “Change shipping profiles,” and scroll and choose “select profile,” to pick the desired shipping profile. Click “Apply to save changes.
If you have shop members, include their profiles in your profile so buyers can see that you work as a team in your store. Also, create your shop’s policies to create a sense of competence in your store.
9. Link Your Etsy Store To an Ecommerce Platform
To mount a profitable Etsy dropshipping business, link your store to an ecommerce platform so you can reach a wider audience.
Recall that Etsy is an online marketplace for exclusive and creative items with about 80 million active buyers with a low entry fee for sellers.
You have access to more features and flexibility when you link your Etsy store to an ecommerce platform.
Shopify is unquestionably one of the best options to link your Etsy store for your dropshipping business. Check that out.
10. Create Your Product Mockups
To build a cost-effective Etsy dropshipping business, create mock-ups for your products so you can give customers a feel of what you sell.
Create mock-ups for your items, especially if you are doing a Print-on-Demand (POD) business model.
Here, again, you can do things yourself—if you’re artistically inclined—or hire designers on platforms such as Fiverr, TopTal, Freelancer and Upwork. Remember, you must own what you sell. Make sure you own the design.
Keep your designs unique but classy, and use all manner of illustrations, quotes, slogans and symbols to catch your target audience’s attention. Don’t copy trends.
11. Market Your Etsy Store
To start an Etsy dropshipping business like a genius, promote your store to the right audience so you can increase your conversion rate.
Get the ball rolling on the promotion front. You have about 2 million other sellers to compete with on Etsy. Use every available avenue to promote your dropshipping business.
You have many opportunities: social media, paid ads, blog, email newsletters, influencers and freebies—just choose the ones that work for you.
Don’t use all these marketing techniques as a beginner. Pick a few and channel your effort on those promotion channels.
Check your performance and see if your promotion techniques work or not. Always reassess your strategies for better results.
Recap
To kick off a viable Etsy dropshipping business, understand what the business entails and familiarize yourself with its policy. Choose appropriate items to sell, design your concepts and partner with the right supplier.
Build your Etsy store and list your products to give your customers access to what you sell.
Set up shipping, including shipping information on your listing, and create shipping profiles and rates. Link your Etsy store to an ecommerce platform so you can have more features and flexibility.
Finally, create your product mock-ups and promote your Etsy store so customers can get to know about your products.
