 Dropshipping can be an extremely lucrative business, and that begs the question, is it legal? Come to think of it. Well, a lot of people would say that it isn't, but the short and simple answer is yes, it is. It's 100% legal. That is so cool. But there are a few things that are illegal to do in the world of dropshipping. And this video is gonna cover everything that you need to know around the legality of dropshipping. The goal of today's video is to clear everything up and make sure that you know what you can and what you can't do when it comes to dropshipping. Not just with dropshipping alone, but dropshipping on different platforms, such as Shopify, Etsy, or Amazon. So if that's something that you've been concerned about, whether or not it's legal or not to dropship, then make sure you check this video out all the way through because we are gonna talk about everything. And with that, let's go. So you've been wondering about the legality of dropshipping. Yes. And I just told you that, yeah, it's 100% legal. Yeah, sure. Think about it this way. It's a fulfillment business model. That's all it is. You're buying low and you're selling high. That's business, except dropshipping is really just a fulfillment model. So really what ends up happening, as we all know, is instead of you fulfilling the order, your supplier's gonna fulfill the order for you. Pretty much all it is, you're rerouting orders rather than fulfilling them yourself. It's 100% legal. This is also a common business practice amongst big companies. There's a lot of big companies out there that dropship and you would never even know it. Now, what about the different marketplaces or platforms that there are to sell on? eBay, Amazon, Shopify, Etsy. Is it legal to dropship on there? Yeah, it's 100% legal to dropship on every single one of those platforms, except they each have their own rules in order for you to do so. Take eBay, for example. One of their rules is that the item must be delivered within 30 days of purchase. So as long as you can get the item to your customer within 30 days, then you can dropship it. You can fulfill it however you'd like. As long as your customer gets that item within 30 days. Another dropshipping rule on eBay is you can't sell a product that you don't have access to. So think of it this way. If there's an item that's currently on preorder, you can't purchase that preorder and then put it for sale on eBay. Simply because what if something happens and that preorder gets canceled? Then it's gonna affect your customer and it's gonna affect the customer's experience on the platform of eBay. Should have wrote that one down. Now, what about dropshipping on Amazon? We all know that Amazon is very meticulous with their sales. Well, one of their rules is the seller's name has to appear on both the package and documentation. On top of that, they don't allow you to dropship from another retailer. Meaning you can't dropship from a retail store such as Walmart or a retail website such as AliExpress. Now, a lot of people do do that. A lot of people dropship on Amazon and unfortunately their accounts get banned but that's because they're not following the rules. Now, what about on your own website using a platform like Shopify? Well, on there you can pretty much do whatever you want. You essentially have creative freedom when it comes to selling on Shopify. There are a few things of course that you're not supposed to be selling but we're gonna be covering that in a little bit. There is one thing in particular that you shouldn't be selling and that's pretty much across all of these platforms and I'll cover that in just a second. But pretty much when it comes to Shopify, it's your own website and you can be selling practically whatever you want. Now, what about dropship on Etsy? Etsy is a bit picky. They're a bit specific with what you can and can't do on their platform. Remember, Etsy is primarily a place where you can sell handmade items and a lot of the products that you dropship are not necessarily gonna be handmade items. They're not gonna qualify as handmade items but for one, you need to disclose that you're using a third-party supplier and that you're not making the items yourself and you also need to confirm with Etsy you need to make sure that you're selling handmade items either handmade, vintage, or crafting supplies and not something that's mass produced like headphones. Now, what shouldn't you be dropshipping? Well, a few of these things are kind of obvious. So for one, don't dropship anything that can be harmful to anybody. That's gonna be a big no-no across all of the different platforms. Two, don't dropship adult material. Again, through most of the platforms, it is also gonna be a big no. Although when it comes to adult materials, well, at least certain adult materials, you will be able to sell them on a website like Shopify since it's your own platform. But anything else like Etsy, eBay, or Amazon, forget about it. Another thing is don't dropship anything that has to do with health or supplements. You can if you know what you're doing but for the most part, try to stay away from that. Let's say somebody has an adverse reaction to one of your supplements. Maybe somebody takes too much caffeine if you're selling a pre-workout supplement or if you're selling vitamins, somebody takes too much of those vitamins and potentially gets sick. Then that's gonna lend you in some potential legal troubles and trust me, you wanna completely avoid that. It's best to avoid that altogether. Also, don't dropship alcohol. That's an age-restricted item. And with that, don't dropship age-restricted items. Now, one of the biggest things that you should not be dropshipping, one that a lot of people decide to still dropship and at the end of the day, end up getting in trouble, end up getting their store shut down or end up getting in some legal troubles. You're under arrest. And that is dropshipping copyright items. Take it from somebody whose first Etsy store was banned because I was dropshipping copyright items. You don't wanna deal with that. I had to start over from scratch. On top of that, I had to learn everything I was doing over again because I was so used to selling copyright items. That's really all I knew. I didn't know how to become original. I didn't know how to be original. Why are you the way that you are? Now, what happened is I was on Etsy. I was selling using print on demand and I had copyright characters on my designs. After a while, Etsy caught up. They gave me a few strikes and my store got banned. So after that, I had to start another store, but this time I had to come up with original designs. And I had to start from scratch and trust me, it sucks. It sucks a lot. But this doesn't just apply to characters and designs on t-shirts. This also applies to big brands. Disney, Nike, Apple, don't dropship these products. Don't sell knockoffs of these products. This is all stuff that's gonna get you in some pretty hot waters that honestly is gonna be best avoided. You don't wanna have to deal with that. Now, another big no-no when it comes to dropshipping is obviously scamming. Don't scam people. Don't tell people that your product does one thing and send them something that does a completely different thing or don't show people one product and send them a completely different product. Make sure that what you're showing is what you're giving. Don't tell people that your product can do more than what it can really do because then you can get in legal trouble as well. You have to be honest with your customers. You have to be honest with your consumers. So because of that, there are actual consumer protection laws in place to help consumers that get caught in these scams. Now, one of the biggest reasons why people think that dropshipping is illegal or that it's just flat-out scam is because at one point, when dropshipping was still coming up, everyone was trying to get into it. And with that, there were also a lot of scammers. There were also a lot of people who were advertising certain products and once they got their sales, they either wouldn't ship it out or they would ship out a completely different product. That's when people started losing trust in the dropshipping business method. I don't trust it. Nowadays though, while scams are still prevalent and they still exist, they're not as big as they used to be. But they're still around. But because of that, that's why laws were put in place to help protect people against these scammers. Now, another major player in the legality of dropshipping or at least in the legal side on your part is taxes. You need to make sure that you have your taxes done the right way, depending on the country that you're dropshipping in. Now, if you want more information on that, you are gonna have to check with local laws, but always keep in mind that you need to file your taxes. If you don't file your taxes, especially in the US or in Europe, you can be fined a lot of money and you can even face jail time. Now, aside from taxes, depending on the supplier that you're using, some of them might offer dropshipping agreements. And if you can get your hands on one of these, then I highly suggest that you do. This you can pretty much see as a security blanket that can help cover your butt if something goes wrong with a product. So what a dropshipping agreement is, is pretty much a piece of paper or nowadays, of course, a PDF that formalizes a business relationship between you and your supplier. It pretty much states that you two are working together and you are an official reseller. You're reselling their products. So if anything goes wrong with a product, this is gonna make your supplier responsible for the defect. Also certain dropshipping platforms can ask you for this. eBay can ask you for this and so can Amazon. Now, this isn't 100% necessary, but if you can get access to it, I highly suggest you do. Now, if you're dropshipping on your own website like Shopify, for example, then there's one thing that you should be adding to your store that can make it a bit more dropship friendly, a bit more dropship legal. And that is adding legal pages to your store. So have you ever scrolled down to one of the websites and you see privacy policies, refund policies, exchange policies, those are the pages that you should be adding. These clearly state what your policy is when it comes to returns, exchanges, or your shipping. So that way, if anybody has any complaints or tells you, but you never told me that my item was gonna ship in 10 or 15 days, for example, which that's a long time to ship a product. If your supplier is taking that long to ship products, look for a new supplier. But that's just an example. These pages can help cover your butt. In these pages, you're gonna state how long your shipping times are, what your refund and your return policy is, what your exchange policy is, and it's also gonna include all of the little details. So that way, you have everything covered. Make sure you have all your bases covered when it comes to these. Now, if you don't know where to get these pages, then just check out AutoDS. At AutoDS, we have a privacy policy generator. And if you want access to that, just go ahead and check the description down below. There's gonna be a link to an article that has a bit more detail on everything that I'm talking about in there. And within that article, there is also gonna be the privacy policy generator. Trust me, that is a huge help. But that's pretty much all there is to it when it comes to the legality of dropshipping. I really hope that this video answered all of your questions. If it did, and if you found it informational, please make sure to smash that like button. Also, hit that subscribe button and ring that little bell notification so you don't miss out on any future videos. Remember on this channel, we cover anything and everything dropshipping related, starting from some of the best tips and tricks to help you succeed in the game to some of the best products that you can dropship for some maximum profits. So if that's something that interests you, make sure to hit that subscribe button. Huge thank you once again for making it all the way to the end. As always, it truly means the world to me. It really helps the channel. It really helps me that you watch the entire thing. And with that, I'll catch you guys next time.