I am new to Amazon and planning to start a business selling customized products like wallets. Some products I will make and send directly to clients, while other companies will handle production and shipping for certain items.
Can I do this through FBA, or would it be considered dropshipping?
TIA.
That’s not a typical dropshipping model, but you can sell your products on Shopify instead, as delays caused by the company’s shipping policy could harm your Amazon seller account. Are you familiar with Amazon and Shopify policies?
No, custom items items can never be sold via FBA as by definition, the stock has to produced and be sent to the Amazon Fulfilment centres before they can be ordered.
If you meant FBM, then as long as the other companies identify you as the seller, in other words, there is no mention of themselves inside the packaging and any paperwork mentions you as the seller, then it is not drop shipping. Read up on the drop shipping policy for the details.
The comment by @ronyal regarding delays is valid so if you do what you plan, you need to have very strict service level agreements with those companies.
Welcome to Amazon! Since you’re customizing products, FBA might not work unless you pre-make and send inventory to Amazon. For items made on demand and shipped by another company, that’s closer to dropshipping, which Amazon has strict rules about. You might want to look into FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) or a mix of both models. I’ve explored different fulfillment strategies—happy to share insights if you are interested.
Since you’re selling customized products, your fulfillment options depend on how the items are produced and shipped. If you’re making and storing the products yourself before sending them to Amazon, you can use fulfillment by Amazon as long as you follow Amazon’s inventory and labeling requirements. However, if you’re using a third party to produce and ship products directly to customers without handling the inventory yourself, Amazon may consider it dropshipping, which has strict policies. Amazon requires that you be the seller of record and ensure no third-party invoices or branding are included in the shipment.