Wondering how to find the best products to dropship? We’ve got you covered with this updated guide.
Dropshipping is an attractive option for sellers. Because the seller doesn’t stock the inventory, and won’t be charged until a sale is made, the initial investment to start a dropshipping business is much lower than more traditional models.
It also allows for a more diverse range of products, since the seller can work with manufacturers from across niches. Now, the biggest risks that come with dropshipping are that margins can be low and competition can be high. While it is easy to start a dropshipping business, it can be hard to make it successful. That’s why we’ve put together a list of attributes to look out for when searching for products to dropship.
What Makes a Great Dropshipping Product?
Let’s take a look at some things to keep in mind when choosing dropshipping products.
Fairly inexpensive
In order to make dropshipping as profitable as possible, you need to sell a large amount of product.
That’s why the best products to dropship are items that can be sold for less than $50. It’s low enough to fit into most people’s budgets, meaning you’ll have a larger audience to work with.
Has a MAP policy
Since the supplier makes money on every sale and takes no risk when allowing retailers to list their catalog, it’s in their best interest to partner with as many sellers as possible. This means you’ll be dealing with a ton of competition.
Retailers are always trying to undercut each other, collectively driving down prices and lowering profit margins. Some items, like phone chargers, have a profit margin of less than one cent per sale.
In order to prevent sellers from cutting prices so low, suppliers often impose a minimum advertised price (MAP) policy. This guarantees a certain minimum markup.
The ideal markup you want to look for with a supplier imposing a MAP is 100%. It ensures that you can make the most out of each of your sales without the chance of someone driving the price down to no margin.
Weighs less than 1 Pound
Running your dropshipping business as efficiently as possible means you must keep costs low and profits high. One of the biggest negatives to dropshipping is that the hands-off fulfillment leaves you tied to the dropship supplier’s shipping costs.
If you keep your items below 1 pound in weight, you take a two-fold approach to protecting yourself. Firstly, shipping lighter items is a lot easier and carries less costs. Secondly, the product is less likely to be damaged or broken during shipping. In this case, the best offense against shipping errors is a good defense.
Listed in Amazon’s Top 5,000
You need to have enough interest to generate year-round sales. Seasonal items can be great revolving products to supplement your sales, but your bread and butter should be something that you can sell all year long.
Amazon is the most popular ecommerce site on the internet and one of the best marketplaces for sellers. Its sales data should be used as a resource for determining which items are popular.You should aim for a product with similar items in Amazon’s top 5,000 Best Seller rank. The best seller rank is divided into categories. When you find an item you’re thinking about dropshipping, check to make sure you can find something similar already selling well on Amazon.
Accumulates 100,000 monthly combined searches
The next way to evaluate the potential popularity of your product is through search volume. Amazon is the big fish, but it’s not the only game in town. Using the volume of Google searches and other search engines allows you to get an even broader picture of how many people are interested in buying a product.
Use Google Adwords and Google Trends to search for some of the keywords for your product. The magic number you want to find is 100,000 searches combined for the top 3 keywords. Any less and you’re looking at an item without enough interest to generate significant profits. Any more and you’ll find yourself in a niche with too much competition. Here are some other characteristics to avoid when finding the best products to dropship:
- Products dominated by brand names
- Items in which the health of the participant could be in danger
- Requires a great deal of domain or technical knowledge
Offered by 20+ dropship suppliers
The most difficult part of dropshipping for many people is finding a great supplier to work with. Many of the manufacturers are based in China or other foreign countries. Communication can be slow. They are liable to drop out of the conversation at any point with no explanation, and then you’re stuck having to play email tag.
As you’re making your initial contacts for your dropshipping business, you should send feelers to at least 20 different suppliers. You can find these suppliers on Alibaba, which also gives you their contact information to connect. From there, many will eliminate themselves by having poor communication and shoddy terms. Here’s what to avoid:
- Subscription fees
- Slow communication
- A mix of wholesale and retail
- Bulk orders in advance
Best Products to Dropship
Now that you understand the strategy for finding great dropshipping products, we’ve compiled a list of top product categories for you:
- Health and Beauty Supplies: Such as makeup, shower products, and skincare. These products are renewable, meaning you can develop a strong customer base that consistently repurchases products. Also, health and beauty supplies can be purchased at a low wholesale price and the weight of these products is often very low.
- Computer Accessories: Such as USB drives, laptop batteries, and laptop cases. These products can also be purchased at wholesale prices when bought in bulk, allowing you to have a bit more room to make a profit. For this category of products, the main benefit is the potential to sell multiple items in various bundles.
- Clothing: Clothing is a universally attractive commodity to customers and is in demand year round. There is the potential to create loyal customers who will continue to buy from you. Focus on providing good customer service and quality product to build repeat customers.
- Cell Phones and Accessories: Selling cell phones and their related accessories can be advantageous because they are lightweight, high in demand, and you can stock multiple different brands. When you sell a phone, you have the potential to make another sale by offering related accessories.
- Party Supplies: With the new era of social media, parties are becoming more extravagant and happening more often. Capitalize on this trend by selling party supplies. These items are usually cheap, lightweight, and easy to sell in bundles.
- Craft Supplies: These products are lightweight, can be cheap, and usually sold in bulk. They’re a perfect choice for dropship suppliers. Here are some best practices for dropshipping craft supplies if you’re interested.
Final Thoughts
The numbers don’t lie. Dropshipping is a great way to enter the ecommerce field. With dropshipping software to help you automate communication between sales channels and suppliers, it can also be one of the best options if you want to run a successful online business – especially when you’ve got the best dropshipping products.
Have more tips for finding the best products to dropship? Please feel free to share them in the comments below!
Editor’s Note: This blog post was updated in November 2019 to reflect more accurate and relevant information.
This is very helpfull will take note
Thanks Harry! We are always posting more information about dropshipping. You can find more dropshipping-related posts here.
Nice tips. However you haven’t mentioned footwear and jewellery and bags as a category for drop shipping. What’s your advice on these categories
Hi Meera,
We’re glad you found our tips helpful! We have a post that you may find interesting for advice on dropshipping footwear, jewelry, and bags. See that here!
Thanks,
Haley
How can you sell a phone around $25, and expect someone to buy it? Aren’t phones typically in the triple digit range?
Hi Haroon,
Yes, most cell phones are more expensive than $25 wholesale. While a product may not meet all of our suggestions, like being $25 or under at wholesale price, it doesn’t mean you can’t have success selling the product. Cell phones are considered a good dropshipping product because they are generally under 1 lb, and as mentioned in this post, having a lightweight product dramatically decreases the chance of the product being damaged in the shipping process. A lightweight object also brings down shipping costs.
Thanks,
Haley
Question for you about shipping. Since we’re ordering from China, what’s the maximum delivery time you’ve found customers will stand for? What’s the sweet spot? Obviously there’s no overnight delivery but I’d imagine customers wouldn’t accept a 35-day delivery.
Hi Douglas,
35 days for delivery may be too long. Many sellers try to stay competitive with Amazon Prime’s 2-day shipping. However, if your customer feels that he or she is getting a great deal for the product, they may think it is worth the wait. If you do go with that supplier and delivery time, I would make sure to make it clear how long the customer will have to wait for the product. If they are in the dark about it, they could take it out on your seller reviews. An alternative would be to have multiple dropship suppliers around the globe. Then, you can check the delivery addresses, and route sales to the closest supplier.
Happy selling!
Haley
I find customers will wait 2 to 3 weeks and usually it is 2 to 3 weeks
Good info, I just started a few weeks ago. Had 4 sales so far trying* to sell electronics. I’ve been searching for answers but no video has told me much of anything.
Thanks
Hi Dominic,
We’re so glad you found the information helpful! Here are a few more dropshipping resources for you:
How to Source Dropship Products
How To Manage Shipping Rates For Dropshipping Retailers
Quick Guide: How to Find Suppliers for your Dropshipping Business
Good luck and happy selling!
What kind of cellphones can you sell? Off brand Android? Old,really old iPhones? Where and how do you get decent phones to sell?
Hi Danny,
It all really depends on the dropshipper you work with! Here’s an article to help you source dropship products.
Good luck and happy selling!
Any guide on “How to start dropshipping bussiness”?
Hi Gavin,
We have the perfect guide for you! It’s called “How to Start a Dropshipping Business.” Follow this link to download.
Good luck and happy selling!
Good stuff…
Hey Chris,
We’re glad you enjoyed the article! Here are a few more resource you may be interested in:
5 Tips to Improve Communication with Dropshipping Suppliers
How to Source Dropship Products
How To Manage Shipping Rates For Dropshipping Retailers
Good luck and happy selling!
Very helpful info. I wanna start dropshipping. and this informations help me for sure. Thank you. God bless you.
We’re glad you found this information helpful! If you’re looking for more, we’ve got plenty of resources specifically for those just starting dropshipping businesses:
Guide: How To Start a Dropshipping Business
Getting Your Ecommerce Business Started with Dropshipping
What Are the Real Risks of Dropshipping?
Quick Guide: How to Find Suppliers for your Dropshipping Business
How to Source Dropship Products
How to Choose the Best Products to Dropship
Impressive and creative thoughts. Thank you for sharing with us
Thanks! We’re so glad you enjoyed the blog. If you’re interested in dropshipping, you may find the following blogs helpful:
5 Tips to Improve Communication with Dropshipping Suppliers
Best WordPress Dropshipping Apps
How to Source Dropship Products
Awesome resources!
Thanks for sharing such good article. This is really helpful.