Services
Winning Products
Find top-selling products to enhance your store’s growth
One-Click Ordering
Simplify your process with one-click order fulfillment
POD & COD
Create personalized products with print-on-demand services
Global Warehousing
Speed up delivery with our global warehouse network
Product Sourcing
Access trending items from a vast network of suppliers worldwide
Custom Branding
Boost your brand with customized packaging and thank you cards
Growth Courses
Learn strategies to scale your business from experts
Quality Check Process
Ensure high quality with detailed inspections at every step
Auto Fulfillment
Process and ship orders quickly with automated fulfillment
Order Tracking
orders live, keeping everyone updated
Customer Care Team
Our responsive and friendly support team
Streamlined Logistics
Faster shipping with optimized global warehouse delivery
Verified Suppliers
Source products from reliable pre-vetted suppliers
24/7 Customer Support
Receive help anytime with our around-the-clock support
Real-Time Analytics
See clear insights instantly with performance reports
Social Responsibility
Giving back through meaningful charitable actions
EN
En
Try For Free
EN
En
< Blogs

Amazon FBA vs. Dropshipping | What Are Their Differences?

admin
Created on October 18, 2024 – Last updated on February 6, 20254 min read
Written by: admin

Are you considering entering the world of eCommerce but unsure whether to choose Dropshipping or Amazon FBA? These are two of the most popular and successful fulfillment options available. The question is, which one is better suited for your business?

Amazon FBA vs. Dropshipping

In this article, we will break down the key differences between these two methods, comparing their pros and cons to help you make an informed decision. Whether you’re looking for low-risk startup solutions or more automation, this guide will provide valuable insights for growing your online business.

What is Dropshipping?

what is dropshipping

Dropshipping is a business model where you don’t hold any inventory. As a seller, you list products in your store, and when a customer places an order, the supplier ships the product directly to them. For those looking to start selling with minimal costs and lower risks, dropshipping is a great choice. You don’t need a warehouse or worry about logistics. You only pay after a sale is made. However, dropshipping requires careful management of suppliers and effective marketing to bring traffic to your store.

What is Amazon FBA?

How Amazon FBA works

Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is a service that allows you to send your products to Amazon’s warehouse, and they handle storage, packing, and shipping when an order is placed. You won’t need to manage packaging or logistics, as Amazon will also take care of returns and customer service.  Commonly, you can say it is an automated dropshipping Amazon service.

FBA is ideal for sellers who want to leverage Amazon’s vast customer base and logistics network. Products become eligible for Amazon Prime shipping (Amazon Dropshipping), attracting more buyers. However, FBA requires upfront inventory investment and fees for storage, shipping, and fulfillment.

Dropshipping vs. Amazon FBA: Key Differences

dropsure vs. amazon fba

To make it easier for you to understand, We’ve prepared a comparison table that highlights the key differences and similarities between Dropshipping and Amazon FBA.

Here’s a table you can learn about Amazon FBA vs Dropshipping. We hope this will help you decide which option is better suited for your business.

Feature Amazon FBA Dropshipping
Upfront Investment ❌ High startup cost, inventory needed ✔ No upfront investment, pay as you go
Inventory Management ❌ Requires pre-purchased inventory ✔ No inventory needed, ship as you sell
Order Fulfillment ✔ Amazon handles fulfillment ❌ Manual handling, but can use automation
Advertising ✔ Built-in Amazon advertising ✔ Flexible, use any platform (e.g., Meta ads)
Profit Margins ✔ Discounts for bulk orders, but high fees ❌ Higher product costs but no fees
Customer Contact ❌ No direct contact with customers ✔ Full control over customer interaction
Customer Base ✔ Access to Amazon’s customer base ❌ Need to find your own customers
Control ❌ Limited control, Amazon handles everything ✔ Full control over your business
Scalability ❌ High costs to scale, limited flexibility ✔ Easy to scale, especially for new businesses
Risk ❌ High risk with inventory investment ✔ Low risk, no inventory holding

While both Dropshipping and Amazon FBA are effective ways to sell products online, they each have their own unique advantages and challenges.

Choosing between Dropshipping and Amazon FBA depends on your business goals. If you’re just starting out and want low-cost, low-risk options, Dropshipping is a flexible choice. It offers no upfront investment and more freedom to scale. If you have the budget and want to leverage Amazon’s strong infrastructure, Amazon FBA might be the better option. Both methods provide great opportunities for building a successful eCommerce business—so choose the one that best fits your needs.

If you prefer automation and don’t want to handle inventory, Dropsure could be your best choice. (Want to learn more about Dropsure’s platform and features? Please read What is Dropsure for more details.) It combines the flexibility of dropshipping with the automation benefits of FBA, offering a low-risk, no-inventory solution.

 

DropSure is Your Best Partner
22 Years Experience
Affiliate Rebates
100% Quality Guarantee
Top-Up Rewards
10+ Global Warehouses
Custom Branding Support
Smart inventory System
24/7 Customer Support
Get a Quote in 24 Hours
Start Sourcing for Free

Keep Learning

Imagine that on the eve of Valentine’s Day, your online store is suddenly flooded with orders. Customers are clamoring for customized gifts – from couples’ necklaces to personalized t-shirts to romantic candlelit dinner sets. This is no longer a dream, but a reality that you can easily realize with Dropshipping. Valentine’s Day is a huge market where everyone is looking for special and emotional gifts. And all you need to do is to pick the right items and utilize Dropshipping, without stocking up, to catch this shopping wave and attract a lot of customers to buy. Isn’t it very exciting? Hurry up to prepare your Valentine’s Day products and capitalize on this lucrative opportunity to make your business take off quickly! Custom Jewelry  Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! This is the perfect time for you to sell custom jewelry, especially couples necklaces, custom rings and bracelets. Everyone loves something a little special, especially jewelry that can be engraved with a name, date, or a small design – it makes the gift seem more thoughtful and impressive. If you do Dropshipping, custom jewelry is just about as hot a product as you can get your hands on with ease. People nowadays are especially fond of custom jewelry, especially for couples, wedding anniversaries, and those special moments. All you need to do is offer the option of engraving, a special date, or a small design to fulfill their emotional needs and make them feel like the gift is exclusively theirs and super meaningful. It’s a big business opportunity for you as customers are willing to pay more for such personalized jewelry. It would be a shame not to capitalize on […]

Many foreign traders are using LinkedIn as a social platform to a greater or lesser extent, but everyone uses it in a different way and in a different depth. Some people use it as a tool to analyse customer information, some people use it to promote and attract traffic, some people use it to find customers’ emails, and some people make it an efficient customer development tool. Today, I want to talk to you: how I make LinkedIn the secret of inquiry (order) production line, and how to make full use of LinkedIn to achieve the ultimate goal of developing foreign customers, marketing and promoting products. If you can follow my ideas and methods, and take care of your LinkedIn account, then soon you will be in the same state when you open LinkedIn every day: ● A rich source of clients through LinkedIn; ● A steady stream of valid enquiries; More importantly, you will have a ‘traffic pool’ of your own, which has sustainable value growth, and a persuasive and good personal brand image. An Introduction to LinkedIn Before the formal explanation, let’s first learn about LinkedIn: LinkedIn is dedicated to providing a communication platform to the world’s working professionals and assisting them to utilise their strengths and build exclusive connections. As a global professional social networking site, LinkedIn has more than 500 million members worldwide. Here you can easily build your professional image, gain business insights, expand your professional network and discover more career opportunities. We know that LinkedIn’s positioning is a professional social networking site, so we need to fit the positioning of LinkedIn to present ourselves, and know how to shape and present our professional attributes, […]

In the past, overseas warehouses weren’t a major focus in cross-border e-commerce. However, with changes in the global trade environment and rising tariffs, their importance has grown significantly. For sellers targeting markets like the U.S. and Europe, having their own overseas warehouse or using third-party storage directly impacts operational efficiency, cost control, and brand competitiveness. Today, overseas warehouses are crucial to standing out in a competitive market. How can cross-border e-commerce sellers use overseas warehouses to improve efficiency and competitiveness? Let’s explore the 5 ways overseas warehouses help you beat the tariff trap. Benefit 1: Improving Efficiency With tariffs increasing, many cross-border sellers are starting to stock up in advance, sending hot-selling products to overseas local warehouses. This approach cuts international shipping times, which can otherwise take 10 to 20 days, down to just 1 to 5 days for delivery. It also bypasses customs clearance issues, provides opportunities for tax refunds, and ultimately saves both time and money. For example, goods shipped from China to border warehouses in Vietnam can be delivered to Hanoi within 1-2 days. In Europe, countries with strategic locations, like the Czech Republic and Poland, have become key “transit hubs” for Amazon Europe warehouses. When the main warehouse in Germany runs out of stock, these places can quickly “replenish” the inventory, ensuring a high delivery efficiency. According to the “2024 Overseas Warehouse Blue Book,” more than half of third-party warehousing service providers can complete the full process of “picking, weighing, labeling, and shipping” within 60 minutes. In today’s competitive cross-border e-commerce environment, speed and turnover are key factors that determine success. Suggestions for Cross-border Sellers: Don’t just focus on US FBA or major UK warehouses. These […]