Want to start dropshipping on Amazon but don’t have a big budget? No worries! Getting started without a huge upfront investment is possible, and we’re here to show you how.
Yes, you read that right! You can start an Amazon dropshipping business with minimal costs—you just need the right strategy. While many think launching an online store requires a big financial commitment, there are ways to get up and running with little to no money.
In this guide, we’ll walk through how to start dropshipping on Amazon with no money, covering the basics, the pros and cons of this business model, and practical tips to help you succeed.
Let’s dive in!
Key Takeaways
Amazon dropshipping is a profitable business model that can be started with little to no upfront capital.
Choose a reliable dropshipping supplier with competitive prices, fast shipping, and positive reviews to ensure smooth operations.
Use tools like AutoDS Hand-Picked Products Hub for data-driven insights to find winning products and optimize your listings.
Scaling an Amazon dropshipping business becomes easier with automation tools like AutoDS for order fulfillment, inventory management, and price optimization.
If you want to learn how to dropship on Amazon, we must take a few key steps. Without further ado, here’s what we should do to launch an Amazon dropshipping business at no cost.
1. Amazon Product Research: Choose Your Niche
Before we open our Amazon dropshipping store, we need to choose a niche—a specific product category that defines our store. A strong niche helps us attract the right audience and build a reliable customer base from the start.
To do this, we must research trending and in-demand products. Here are some of the best free product research methods:
Analyze Best Sellers On Your Supplier’s Website: Check platforms like AliExpress, CJ Dropshipping, or wholesalers for trending products.
Best Sellers Sections: Look at Amazon, AliExpress, and Walmart’s best-seller pages to identify high-demand products.
AliExpress Dropshipping Center: A free tool that reveals trending products and sales insights.
Google Lens: Helps identify product sources and suppliers.
Keep Track Of Social Media Trends: Explore TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest to spot viral products.
Check Amazon Trends: Use Amazon’s search suggestions, customer reviews, and trending categories to find potential winners.
These no-cost methods help us find promising products before committing to any expenses.
Want More Data-Driven Research? Try AutoDS’ Hand-Picked Products Hub
For those who prefer automated product research with detailed insights, AutoDS’ Hand-Picked Products Hub is a great option. It provides already-vetted, trending products with analytics such as:
Sales price & profit potential
Target audience insights
Competitor analysis
Note: Accessing this feature requires signing up for the AutoDS trial, which offers a limited free period to explore the tool before subscribing.
By using these free and advanced product research methods, we can confidently choose a niche and start building a profitable Amazon dropshipping store.
On the AutoDS platform, we can find the Hand-Picked Products feature under Marketplace on the left. From there, we can immediately browse through a catalog of winning products for our store. Once we find a product that catches our eye, it automatically redirects us to a dedicated product page.
We can find relevant information about the product, including title, description, price, variations, and shipping information. Moreover, we can find further information, including valuable insights:
Selling price, potential profit, and number of orders
Engagement score – level of audience interaction with the product
Saturation score – the market saturation based on the number of competitors
Then, we use the ‘Import Draft’ button to import details and proceed to importing. Remember, creating an optimized product listing helps to attract customers.
2. Select A Free Amazon Dropshipping Supplier
The great thing about Amazon dropshipping is that we don’t need to pay our suppliers until after we get paid by our customers. Nevertheless, we must select a reliable supplier that offers quality products at competitive prices and dependable shipping.
Here’s a checklist of qualities we need to look for in our supplier to ensure they’re reliable:
Practical shipping, return, & payment policies
Worldwide warehouses
Wide product range
High-quality products
Positive customer reviews
We can start dropshipping for free using various suppliers, but it’s best to work with multiple ones to ensure better pricing, product variety, and backup options in case of stock shortages.
Here are some popular free suppliers for Amazon dropshipping:
AliExpress: A massive marketplace with millions of low-cost products and global shipping options.
DHGate: A large marketplace offering bulk pricing and direct factory connections.
Banggood: Specializes in electronics, gadgets, and home goods with wholesale pricing.
SaleYee: Provides free dropshipping services with fast U.S. and European fulfillment.
Amazon Retailers (Retail Arbitrage): We can source trending items directly from Amazon and resell them with strategic pricing.
AutoDS Warehouse: An Exclusive Supplier Option
For those looking for unique, private-label products, AutoDS Warehouse is an excellent option. This exclusive supplier network provides:
Access to private suppliers’ products – Stand out with items that aren’t saturated in the market.
Multiple deals & discounts – Boost profit margins or offer promotions to attract more buyers.
Personalized branding options – Add logos to certain products to strengthen our store’s brand identity.
3. Select The Right Amazon Selling Plan
Once ready to set up our Amazon store, we must choose the right selling plan. The professional plan ($39.99/mo.) is automatically selected for us once we register for a seller account. To dropship on Amazon without money, we need to downgrade to the individual plan ($0 per month).
That said, as soon as we consistently reach 40 or more sales per month, it makes sense to upgrade to the Professional plan to save on per-item fees and unlock additional selling features.
By choosing the right plan at the right time, we can keep costs low while growing our Amazon dropshipping business efficiently!
4. Create Amazon Listings & Import Products
Once we’ve found the products we want to sell and where to source them, it’s time to create our Amazon listing and import. Before anything else, we need to identify whether or not we can sell a product on Amazon.
To determine if a product or brand requires approval, click the ‘Sell on Amazon’ button on the right side of the product page. If approval is required, it’s often easier to move on to another product to avoid delays.
Once ready to sell, we can list and import products in two ways. First, we can manually list by adding all the details individually for each product. However, this is time-consuming and ultimately inefficient for running our business.
Second, we can use AutoDS’ Product Importer feature to automate our product-importing process. With this feature, we just copy+paste a product’s ASIN and add the product URL from our supplier. We can import products in a matter of seconds.
Before importing products, we can optimize listings through AutoDS by:
Adding product tags
Choosing shipping methods
Editing product variants
However, if we’re adding a product to an existing Amazon listing, we won’t be able to modify titles, descriptions, or images—Amazon controls those elements for consistency across the marketplace.
5. Promote Your Amazon Dropshipping Store
Since Amazon is a marketplace, we compete with several other sellers who are likely offering the same products as us. This intense competition is why it’s essential to market and promote our Amazon dropshipping store properly. Effective marketing attracts the attention of new customers, increasing our sales and thus our profit.
Here are the marketing methods we can employ:
Sponsored Product Ads
Win The Buy Box
Facebook Ads
TikTok Marketing
Sponsored product ads on Amazonincrease our visibility on the platform. Similarly, Facebook adshelp us market directly to our target audience, increasing chances of conversion. However, we do have to invest financially to market with these methods.
Another method is Winning the Buy Box. When multiple sellers list the same product, Amazon prioritizes one seller in the Buy Box—which means their listing is the default “Add to Cart” option. To win the Buy Box, we need:
The best offer – A combination of competitive pricing and fast shipping.
Strong seller metrics – High customer ratings, low cancellation rates, and consistent order fulfillment.
This can be challenging for new sellers, but improving our pricing and shipping options over time increases our chances.
The marketing methods we’ve mentioned do require some capital. However, through strategies such as TikTok Marketing, we can create and post content to promote our Amazon Dropshipping business for free. Once we’ve earned enough profit, we can invest in other marketing methods to further boost our sales.
Beginner’s Tip: Always add a link to your Amazon store in every post so interested buyers can conveniently find and buy products on your store.
6. Fulfill Customer Orders
Having an efficient order fulfillment process is critical to customer satisfaction. There are two ways to go about this step. First, we can manually fulfill orders by going to the supplier’s website and purchasing the product with our customer’s delivery address. Once tracking information is available, add the tracking number and click ‘Confirm Shipment’ on the ‘Manage Orders’ page to complete the process.
A significant downside to manual order fulfillment is the increased risk of errors and potential delays once orders start pouring in. Fortunately, automation can easily solve this.
The AutoDS Automatic Orders automatically inputs the customer’s details. This streamlined process saves time and reduces the chances of mistakes and delays in order fulfillment.
On the AutoDS platform, our orders will appear on the orders page of our AutoDS dashboard. The system automatically processes these orders directly from our supplier to our buyer. However, there’s an important difference between order automation on Amazon and other selling channels.
When fulfilling Amazon orders, we must manually enter customer address details in AutoDS’s order settings page. Fortunately, we can use theAutoDS Address Copier Chrome extensionto transfer this data automatically. All that’s left to do is add the buyer’s country data before proceeding.
The system automatically updates the customer’s order status and the supplier’s order number. Moreover, AutoDS simultaneously updates tracking information once it’s available. With AutoDS’ Automatic Orders and Address Copier extension, order fulfillment becomes hassle-free for dropshippers like us.
7. Provide Exceptional Customer Service
Customer service is integral to the success of our business and shouldn’t be left behind. When we deliver excellent customer service, we make our store the better choice for customers, and this differentiates us from our competitors.
We could offer the same product for the same price, but customers will choose us if we provide better service. To that point, satisfied customers are also more likely to return and become repeat customers.
To clarify, Amazon handles all customer contacts regarding customer service issues for which it is responsible. Similarly, sellers on Amazon manage all customer contacts regarding customer service issues for which they are trustworthy. Therefore, Amazon will handle all transactional communications while the seller handles service or content updates.
Offering excellent customer service doesn’t have to cost us, but it will benefit us. Higher seller ratings from customers make us more reliable to potential buyers, resulting in more conversions and sales.
Advantages & Disadvantages Of Dropshipping On Amazon
Undeniably, there are both advantages and disadvantages to dropshipping on Amazon. Let’s briefly discuss the pros and cons of using the platform when we want to dropship on Amazon without money.
Advantages Of Dropshipping On Amazon
Free organic traffic
No warehouse cost
A larger active user base
Multiple product categories
Easy scalability (test products/replace products)
Efficient order fulfillment
Dropshipping on a popular marketplace like Amazon gives us access to millions of active users. This free organic traffic lessens our need for marketing. And, with a dropshipping model, we don’t hold inventory of products, cutting down our warehouse costs to zero.
Plus, it’s easier to scale when dropshipping on Amazon. First, it allows us to test products and replace the ones that don’t profit much. Second, it already has an efficient order fulfillment system we can take advantage of to manage multiple orders.
Disadvantages Of Dropshipping On Amazon
Limited Branding
Competition
Regarding disadvantages, it’s evident that competition is high on a platform like Amazon. On top of that, there are also limited branding opportunities for us. These limitations make it harder for us to establish a recognizable brand and stand out from our competitors.
To combat these, we need to optimize our product listing to improve our searchability and become more visible to customers. Additionally, excellent customer service improves our store ratings, making us a better choice for interested buyers.
4 Tips To Succeed With Dropshipping On Amazon
We know the pros and cons of dropshipping on Amazon. In this section, we discuss four key tips for successfully dropshipping on Amazon without money. Let’s go!
Test Various Products For Optimal Success
The beauty of dropshipping is that we can test various products in our stores without the risk of a financial loss if something doesn’t sell well. It doesn’t just end at product research. We must observe each product’s sales to determine which ones to keep and replace.
Nevertheless, we need to conduct product research to achieve the best results for our store. When choosing replacement products, we can refer to our sales data during our product research to find the best products.
Promote Products To Drive Traffic
As discussed, marketing our store and products is vital on competitive platforms like Amazon. Marketing our store requires investment but will benefit us in the long run. Still, there are ways we can promote our products organically.
Creating content on social media platforms, such as TikTok or Instagram, is a no-cost method of promoting products. We can create videos, infographics, posters, etc., and simply post them on social media for others to see. Moreover, optimizing product listings with SEO makes us more searchable and visible to potential customers looking for our products.
Communicate With Your Customers
One effective way to increase customer satisfaction is through regular engagement. We can do this by directly responding to their inquiries through the comments section of our product page or posts. Likewise, being proactive in providing important updates is extremely helpful for customers.
When communicating well with our customers, we’re more likely to be perceived as trustworthy and reliable. Consequently, this helps increase our ratings and positive reviews. Plus, a pleasant experience will also keep customers coming back.
Automate Your Amazon Dropshipping Store
Automating our Amazon dropshipping store enables us to focus on scaling our business. Notably, having a streamlined process takes a load off our shoulders so we can operate without worry.
We’ve already seen some beneficial tools from AutoDS that we can use to automate our business. Still, there are more features we can utilize and benefit from to scale our Amazon dropshipping store.
AutoDS is an all-in-one dropshipping automation solution that enables us to optimize our business for maximum efficiency and profitability. It helps us manage everything from pricing, stock monitoring, order fulfillment, tracking updates, inventory management, and more.
The platform offers a plethora of features we can take advantage of:
Product Research Marketplace
Price/Stock Monitoring
Quick Product Imports
Automatic Price Optimization
Complete Order Fulfillment
Easy Inventory Management
Automatic Tracking Updates
Advanced Image Editor
With price/stock monitoring, AutoDS automatically adjusts prices and stock numbers when our supplier does, so we don’t suffer a net loss. Additionally, price optimization raises the costs for best-selling products and reduces them for products that don’t sell to maximize profit.
The automatic order fulfillment and tracking updates help us manage multiple orders so we don’t lose out on sales. Likewise, quick product imports and inventory management help us easily manage our store or even multiple stores simultaneously.
Plus, AutoDS provides us with other great resources:
Business policy templates
eBooks & dropshipping guides
And much more!
The best way to get a feel for AutoDS? Hearing from the dropshipping community itself—here’s what they think:
Yes, you can! Amazon allows you to set up an independent seller account for free. With this free plan, you can start selling, but there’s a fee of $0.99 for every product sold.
Is Dropshipping On Amazon Profitable?
Absolutely! Dropshipping on Amazon can be very profitable, but it requires the right strategies. To succeed, focus on overcoming challenges like high competition and Amazon’s strict guidelines. Conducting thorough product research, offering great customer service, and using efficient order fulfillment methods are essential for maximizing your profits.
Are There Any Restrictions Or Guidelines When Dropshipping On Amazon?
Yes, Amazon has clear guidelines for dropshipping. You need a reliable supplier who fulfills orders on time, ensures accurate product listings, and handles returns or issues promptly. Following these rules is crucial to maintaining your account and achieving success on the platform.
Conclusion
Yay! We now have the basics of Amazon dropshipping without money down. Even with little to no capital, we can confidently start our online Amazon dropshipping business.
Remember, while we can start dropshipping on Amazon with little capital, we increase our chances of success by making meaningful investments. We can scale up and take our business to the next level with effective marketing and efficient automation tools.
The journey doesn’t end there. We recommend the following articles to equip you on your Amazon dropshipping journey further:
