Is Dropshipping Legal?

 

More and more people are embarking on this form of E.-business to earn a living or simply to spend their free time. Given the development of this activity, the question of its legality necessarily arises. Is dropshipping legal?

What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping or online sale without stock is a form of online sales that is completely different from traditional commerce. Is dropshipping legal? Given its form, it is nothing illegal. Unless it is a scam, an unfair commercial practice or if your activity consists of selling products prohibited by law.

Indeed, it consists for the dropshipper (online reseller: see how to become) to resell products belonging to wholesalers on his online sales site. It does not carry out inventory management or deliveries, it is up to the suppliers of products.

All he has to do is manage the orders and forward them to the wholesaler with the delivery address. The latter is responsible for shipping the packages to customers. Hence its name in French: direct delivery.

So, if you want to launch an online store without taking the lead with logistics, dropshipping is the e-commerce solution for you (see our distance learning). And so you don't have to suspect if dropshipping is legal? Try to follow all the necessary steps.

The steps to follow to get started with legal dropshipping

Is dropshipping legal? The answer is yes! But on condition that you fulfill all the obligations imposed by law. However, you need to start by launching your dropshipping store. Here's how:

Select the product you will market on your e-commerce store

The creation of a dropshipping site must start with the choice of the product to market. Thus, you must first choose a niche. You must know her well or even have her as a passion. Only then do you have to find products.

Here, the idea is not to find the product that sells. You need to sell certain products that are hard to find in the market and fall within your niche. Commercial products should therefore be avoided.

You have to offer the right product to sell in dropshipping. And so that your answer to the question "is dropshipping legal?" is always a yes, avoid counterfeits. It is better to sell products without brands rather than supposed luxury products that are not even branded.

Also, knowing what to sell is not the only thing you should do. You need to define a profitable trade. Therefore, do not just sell items, you can expand your business and sell subscriptions or services. You don't need to offer a wide range of products on your store, just one is enough.

Select the product to sell in dropshipping

Find a supplier where you can find products to market

Is dropshipping legal? At every stage of the implementation of e-commerce, this question always arises. And the answer also depends on your product supplier. So you should not neglect this step. In addition, this is what guarantees the profitability of your business.

Thus, you should take into account a few criteria. First, you should find suppliers who can generate products that are in the niche of your choice.

Also, don't forget to compare prices with wholesalers. Find the right dropshipping supplier that offers you the highest profit margin. Chinese suppliers are known for their very advantageous price.

You should then choose a place of production. You can contact French Drophsipping suppliers, but the most common is to work with suppliers abroad such as in Asia or America.

In this regard, a question arises: is dropshipping legal if you decide to collaborate with foreign wholesalers? For this to be the case, you should consult the legal provisions concerning taxes and customs duties. This may be borne by the supplier, the reseller or the end customer.

To make your life easier, you can use dropshipping platforms like Dropizi, Aliexpress, Shopify, BigBuy, Oberlo, Amazon Fba... Note that some of these platforms offer a complete e-commerce pack, that is to say that it puts you in contact with suppliers, they help you create your e-commerce store, they take care of your deliveries ...

Also, the largest e-commerce platforms of their kind, Amazon, Cdiscount, Facebook... provide you with marketplaces or marketplaces to help you find a dropshipping supplier.

Create an online store

Selling products on the internet using dropshipping methods necessarily involves owning an online sales site. This is the shop where you will exhibit your product catalog.

For this, you need to create an e-commerce online sales site. You can then hire a web developer or launch your own sales platform using the tools that the internet makes available to you. Here are some to help you choose:

• Oxatis com: it is a platform that offers you to create and manage your online sales site from A to Z.
• Prestashop com: this platform helps you to open your online store, but with the prestashop module you can access other features such as extensions, plugins or Widgets.
• Magento com: it is a CMS that allows you to create your dropshipping store for free and freely.
• Woocommerce in dropshipping: this is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create your website. However, a domain name and hosting will be required.

In the absence of a website, is dropshipping legal? Yes! You can use social media to launch an ecommerce store. For example, you can create a Facebook shop.

Is dropshipping legal if you choose to use a site that's ready for use? This is no problem, you can find a site for sale on the internet. All you have to do is take care of the legal formalities and the promotion of your shop.

Promote your dropshipping store

A profitable dropshipping is mostly due to good advertising. You then need to make your site competitive. But for the answer to "Is dropshipping legal?" to remain positive, you must avoid the practice of unfair competition.

Thus, the first thing you should do is proceed with the natural referencing of your online store. This is the only way that allows you to be visible to search engines.

Also, you should adopt a marketing strategy that can set you apart from other dropshippers who fill the internet. In this case, you must do your best to produce quality content on your store.

To do this, you should first display a well-stocked and very good quality product catalog. You must offer your products using one or more product sheets. If you have a single-product store, you can publish only one product sheet. However, it must be perfectly optimized.

In addition, you can use Google Adwords or Google my business to make your dropshipping store known to Internet users. You should also ensure the best customer service. Thus, you must be available to interact with your customers.

Note that communications are very important so that you can respond positively and reassure Internet users who are asking the question: "is dropshipping legal". You could also offer them small bonuses such as coupons, free shipping... to build loyalty.

Is dropshipping legal? If so, in what case?

Like any commercial activity, the resale of products belonging to the supplier is subject to certain legislative and regulatory provisions. You are obliged to comply with them if you want your additional online source of income to be legal. So, here's what you should definitely do if you want an affirmative answer to the question "Is dropshipping legal?":

Acquire legal status

Before launching an online store, you should register your business. You should then acquire the status of auto-entrepreneur since you will carry out commercial acts very regularly. Note that this is free and can be done entirely online. Once this step is completed you no longer have to worry about the question "is dropshipping legal".

In addition, you can also discover our complete guide to the Backlink definition. This guide offers you how to use this SEO tool to improve the positioning of your site on search engines. Discover also on this article other SEO tools.

The elements that must be on your website

Is dropshipping legal? Yes, but provided that these elements appear on the website that serves as a showcase for your e-commerce store:

• Legal notice
• The general conditions of sale
• Privacy Policy

This information is provided so that your customers can have confidence in the legality of your business. Their content depends on your legal status in dropshipping, but basically, you should mention your name or business name, address, and contacts.

In this case, is dropshipping legal? This information is not enough to say whether you want to develop online commerce legally. Other elements must indeed be mentioned. This is the case of:

• The cookie bar where you notify visitors to your site of the cookies they will accumulate.
• The sales funnel where you summarize the order (learn how to create a sales funnel). This contains invoicing and total price, shipping costs and shipping information, product quantity...
• The delivery time must also be mentioned on your shop even if you do not take care of it.
• The right of withdrawal which means that the end customer can return the goods and demand a refund within 14 days.

Also, you should make a declaration to the CNIL or Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés. And finally, you must absolutely fulfill your obligations relating to accounting and tax reporting.

Now the question "is dropshipping legal" no longer arises. Now all you have to do is enjoy all the benefits of e-commerce.