A-Z GUIDE FOR

Dropshipping Beginners——

Start & Scale Your Business from 0 to ∞

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Join CJ Mentorship Program to get an easy and quick start
 Contents
Ⅰ. WHAT IS DROPSHIPPING?...............................................................................1
Ⅱ. IS DROPSHIPPING STILL PROFITABLE IN 2021?.....................................2
Ⅲ. STEP BY STEP ON HOW TO DO DROPSHIPPING....................................4

Step 1: Choose a Platform to Create Step 5: Draw Traffic to Your Site....23

Your Store...................................4 • Six Popular Marketing Strategies
for Dropshipping in 2021..........24
Step 2: Find a Niche to Start • Marketing to Drive Instant
with/Select Products....................6 Traffic........................................26
• SEO for Organic Traffic............28
Step 3: Create a Store...................9
• Build a Website......................10 Step 6: After-Sale Service..............29

• Design a Logo.........................15 • What is After-Sale Service?......29

• Generate Content...................15 • Common Types of After-Sale

• Process Pictures.....................16 Service......................................29

• Set Payment Methods............16 • How to Provide a Good After-Sale

• Product & Order Service?....................................30

Management...........................17 • How to Respond Email

• Shipment Tracking.................17 appropriately?..........................31

Step 7: Branding...........................33
Step 4: Choose a Supplier............18
• Print on Demand.....................34
• What are Good Suppliers.......19
• Custom Packaging...................35
• How to Find Dropshipping
• Trademarks & Patents.............40
Suppliers................................20
• What to Consider When Choosing
More to Learn...............................45
Suppliers................................21
• CJ Mentorship Program...........45
• Popular Dropshipping
• YouTube Channel.....................46
Suppliers................................22

Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 I. WHAT IS DROPSHIPPING?
Dropshipping is a business model Thus, dropshipping provides you a way
where a retailer never fulfills orders to easily start a business at a relatively
manually and instead tasks a supplier low cost. Giving you the ability to scale
to ship products on their behalf. a company from the ground up with
Essentially the retailer acts as a little to no risk. It is entirely possible
“middle man,” often listing items on to build an empire with just one
their website at a profitable margin winning product. You do not have to
while purchasing said items from a pull a loan and go into debt buying
Supplier at a cheaper rate. What
typically happens is a dropshipper will inventory, only to deal with massive
build an eCommerce site and list all overhead because the units didn’t sell.
the products which they have access to. You don’t have to deal with the cost of
Then when they receive a purchase, renting, management, and maintaining
they would turn around and buy the warehouses.
product, with their own money, and
list their customers’ credentials as a
shipping address. Then when the In conclusion, dropshipping is the
customers receive their order, they perfect means for you to start a
would be reimbursed by the Payment business on a low budget. Numerous
Gateway they’ve installed on their companies started their web-based
website. business with dropshipping, Amazon,
Zappos, and Wayfair just to name a
In other words, it is a newer form of few. The eCommerce industry is
albatross marketing, where you as a steadily growing simply because it's
dropshipper will take orders from profitable. The only question you
online customers, buy goods from a should be asking yourself is “how soon
Supplier, then have them delivered can you feasibly start your own
directly to the Customer without business?”
physically touching or managing stock.
All requests are satisfied and
transported directly from a wholesaler,
such as CJ Dropshipping. This enables
you the dropshipper to focus more on
building your brand, advertising, and
driving sales.

Source: What is Dropshipping?

1 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Ⅱ. IS DROPSHIPPING STILL
PROFITABLE IN 2021?
Dropshipping is still profitable in 2021 because of the number of eCommerce
activities taking place around the world. It is not only profitable but thriving!

Search the term “dropshipping” on The portion of eCommerce sales made on

google trends, the result shows that smartphones and tablets was at 34.5% in
over the past 5 years, the searching 2017 and is expected to reach 54% by
trend of dropshipping went through an 2021. Dropshipping business with an
upward spiral, it reached a new peak at eCommerce store that has a responsive
the start of 2021. theme, passes the thumb-zone test, and is
overall mobile-friendly stand to benefit
The global market size of dropshipping from this increase, which is a clear trend
expected to rise from $122.3 billion in for the coming future.
2019 to $149.4 billion by the end of
As eCommerce enjoys popularity than
2020, while the space for dropshipping
ever, and online payments work universal,
is expected to have a compound annual
more and more customers prefer to do
growth rate of 28.8% from 2019 to online shopping, the potential demand is
2025, reaching USD 557.9 billion by beyond imagination.
2025. The potential market is huge.

2 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 The upfront cost is almost 0 because a dropshipper does not need to buy inventory
before starting the business, so he doesn’t have to pay money to maintain warehouse
and labor costs.
Moreover, the cost of running a store is very cheap, the average monthly fee is only
about $30. Then the left fees are only product cost and advertising fee. Compare with
traditional business models, the input-output ratio is tremendous.
More to read: Is Dropshipping Dead in 2021? Is It Still Profitable?

Eleven reasons why dropshipping

is promising in 2021 and the 6．The emerging of dropshipping
future 5 years: companies makes dropshipping much
easier and efficient.
1．The global economy is growing,
room for eCommerce growth is vast. 7．Consumption potentiality in
developing countries is huge to explore.
2．The world has embraced eCommerce. 8．Development and popularization of
online payments like PayPal makes
3．More people are buying online than online payments much easier.
ever before. 9．New niches/products are emerging all
the time.
4．More suppliers understand the
10．Global warehouse expansion & more
concept of dropshipping and are willing
developed global transport networks
to work with it.
shorten the delivery time.
5．Favorable cost of products as more 11．The upfront cost is much lesser than
suppliers joining in. other models of business.

3 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Step 1: Choose a Platform to Create Your Store
1. Types of platform
Commonly speaking, there are 2 types of platforms to create your store: one is
independent store platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce; the other is online
marketplaces platforms like Amazon and eBay. Since Amazon has new policy
restricts dropshipping model from the beginning of 2021, thus CJ Dropshipping
stopped integrating with Amazon.
More to read: Amazon Restricts Sellers from Dropshipping, How Can Dropshippers Find a Way Out?

Apart from these two major types of platforms, there is a new emerging platform
known as social eCommerce platform like WED2C, with which you don’t have to
build a store, you don’t need to create pages, you even don’t need to handle the
customer service. Just share the product link to your friends or followers, once
they buy through the link, you gain the commission.
Learn more about how WED2C works: WED2C: A Social eCommerce Platform for Everyone

2. Platforms comparison

Pros & Cons Independent stores Online marketplaces Social eCommerce

You own the

The website owns flow No start-up cost
website
You are able to
Top search result by Need not marketing
access the customer
Google strategy
list

Pros Higher profit Easy to start, you

compares to eBay/ Low start-up cost don’t need to build a
Amazon store

Relatively substantial
income at the Less competition
beginning stage

High start-up cost Strict shipping time

Hard to scale
to build a website frame

Require Marketing Can’t direct contact Limited product

Cons Strategy with customers listings
Need to have a
High competitive for
fulfillment supply
hot selling products
chain
More to read: Which eCommerce Platform is Better? Shopify / Woocommerce VS Amazon / eBay

4 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 3. Top eCommerce platforms (★=recommendable)

Type platform description

Shopify Top eCommerce platform that enables individuals and

★★★★★ businesses to create online stores

A popular WordPress plugin that enables site owners

WooCommerce to create and run online stores. It is an open-source
★★★ system with many templates available to help get you
started.

An open-source platform created in 2007 developed

Magneto
especially for running and building online stores.

Independent A web platform for building websites of all kinds,

Sites including online stores. There are many attractive
SquareSpace
templates to start with, and each is highly
customizable.

a popular closed platform for creating all types of

websites, online stores among one of them. Building a
Wix
Ix based online store is easy, anyone who enjoys
learning different interfaces can use it.

A statistics lovers’ dream and considered by many as

the best-closed platform for online stores. With
BigCommerce
BigCommerce, you can relish in the nitty-gritty of
every component of your eCommerce store.
The biggest online retail platform, not dropshipping
Amazon
friendly

eBay Items may be bought for a fixed price, or sold to the

★★★ buyer who offers the highest price

Online
marketplaces An American eCommerce website focused on
Etsy
handmade or vintage items and craft supplies

Lazada Popular in Southeast Asia

Shopee Popular in Southeast Asia

Start eCommerce with 0 cost: if you are a new

dropshipper or you do not have a website or do not
Sociel WED2C
want to cost too much on building a dropshipping
eCommerce ★★★★★ store you can choose WED2C to start your
dropshipping business for free.

More to read: Top 9 Best Dropshipping eCommerce Platforms

5 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Step 2:
Choose a Platform
to Create Your Store
Make product research and select a
niche/product to start with is an
extremely important step in starting a
dropshipping business. This niche that
you select can make or break your
dropshipping business. So we need to
take it slow and serious.

6 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 1. Criteria of a promising niche 2. Ways/where to find a good niche

Dropshipping has specific criteria of • Brainstorming

picking a niche/product, there are
many differences from picking a niche • Finding niches on popular eCommerce
for a local store. Here are some criteria platforms
for reference.
• Local stores research
Features of a good niche for
dropshipping: • Doing market research by Google

• Niche with a variety of products • Finding hot niches from Facebook,

Instagram, Pinterest ads
• Products that customers can wait
More to read:
due to its uniqueness or much lower 5 Ways to Find a Good Niche for Dropshipping
price
How to Select Profitable Niches For Dropshipping?

• The target consumers are wide How to Find Your First Profitable Product? 8
Strategies for Finding Winning Products | Tips for
Beginners
• Products that have low shipping cost
and risk

Features make a bad niche for

dropshipping:

• Products that are too personalized

• Products that have brand loyalty

• Products that have potential

hazardous to health or personal
safety

More to read:
Features of Good & Bad Niches for Dropshipping

7 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 3. Sites & tools help you to find winning products (★=Recommendable)
Find a handy tool with useful functions
can save tons of time in product
research and data spy on your G. Thieve
competitors. Find a trending products A curated list of the best products from
before other competitors do is a way to AliExpress.
success in dropshipping business.
There are many sites and tools
H. ZIK Analytics
providing overall data of trending
products, we picked some top sites for Find HOT products for your dropshipping
reference. (★=Recommendable) store in minutes!

A. Google Trends ★★★★★ I. Pexda

A website by Google that analyzes the Data-driven product research that creates
popularity of top search queries in Google first-mover advantages.
Search across various regions and
languages. J. Best Products
A chain of American catalog showroom
B. Ecomhunt★★★★ retail stores.
Allows you to easily find products that
are already proven to sell.
K. Spy
C. Commerce Inspector★★★★ Spy on winning products
Track any Shopify store's product
launches, best sellers, traffic, sales, ad
campaigns, apps, and more. L. Movers & Shakers
Got 80 billion views on TikTok.
D. Ecomlad
Helps you to discover viral products for
your store. M. Amazon Movers & Shakers
Amazon’s biggest gainers in sales rank over
E. Niche Scraper★★★★ the past 24 hours.
Spy on winning products
N. Sell The Trend
F. Odditymall
A.I. product discovery app
A news outlet that keeps you up to date
on new unusual gadgets, unique gifts, and
amazing product design.
More to read:
12 Websites to Find Trending Products for Dropshipping

Find Winning Products from Facebook Ads & Typical Examples Study

Find all the dropshipping tools you need in seconds - Dropshipping dictionary

8 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

Step 3: Create a Store
It takes 2 hours to 2 days to create a store.
Creating a store on online marketplaces
usually takes less effort because it's always
easy and there will be step by step setup guide.
So we'll take how to create a store with
Shopify as an example.

9 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 1. How to create an online store with Shopify

You need to be fully prepared before beginning,

here’s a quick checklist before you begin:

• A business idea. First you need to have an idea of

what to sell. This post can help you find an idea
How to Find Your First Profitable Product? 8
Strategies for Finding Winning Products｜Tips
for Beginners

• A business name. A domain name is more than a

digital address where people can find you online.
Don't know what to call your store? Learn how to
choose a domain name or try Shopify's free
domain name generator. Check if your business
name is available.

• A logo. You can follow the guide to create your

own logo, for free or by hiring a designer.

• Products to sell. You can sell physical products,

digital goods, or services in your Shopify store. If
you don't have any products to sell yet, you can
read our post on 12 Websites to Find Trending
Products for Dropshipping or use one of the many
product sourcing apps listed in Step 2.

• Photos. Clean product photography helps you put

your best foot forward. If you're on a budget, you
can shoot your own product photos, even with
just a smartphone camera, or use free stock
photos until you can shoot your own custom
lifestyle photos.

10 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 2. Eight steps of starting an online store

• Add the products you want to sell

Adding products should be one of the first things you do, because your products
are what you'll design the look and feel of your website around.

Basic flows:
A.Write your product title and E.Set shipping
description F.Add variants
B.Upload product photos or other G.Organization and product availability
media
H.Search engine listing preview
C.Set your price
I.Organizing your products into
D.Set inventory collections

• Create key pages for your store

Your online store needs to do more than just have products to purchase. It needs
to help shoppers understand your business. You don’t need to have all your pages
ready for launch, but some of the most helpful ones to create include:
A. Contact page. This page gives customers clear ways to reach you if they have
questions or points them to a place to find answers, such as an FAQ page.
B. About page. An about page connects personally with customers, explains your
business model, and/or shares the reason you started your business. A persuasive
about page can go a long way in earning trust for new online stores.
C. FAQ page. A frequently asked questions page helps alleviate some of the more
common customer support inquiries.
D. Policy pages. There are certain legal pages customers expect and that can help
protect you in case of disputes, such as your return policy and privacy policy, that
you can set up under Settings > Legal.

• Pick a theme and customize your online store

Basic flows:
A. Choose a theme D. Set your colors, typography, and other
B. Design your homepage theme settings
E. Customize your checkout
C. Customize your navigation menus F. Ask for feedback

11 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • Customize your shipping settings

Shipping can be one of the most complex considerations involved in running an

eCommerce business. Between product weights, packaging costs, shipping
destinations, carrier rates, and your potential profit per order, there are a lot of
variables to juggle.

Luckily, we can boil it down to a few main approaches, which you can even blend
together depending on the unique needs of your business, to find a shipping
strategy that works for you:

A. Offer free shipping. Free shipping can be an effective incentive for customers to
shop with you, whether it's applied to certain products, order amounts (e.g., if they
spend over $50), or regions of the world. Keep in mind that you will need to factor
this into the retail price of your products if you plan on absorbing the cost of
shipping on behalf of your customers.

B. Charge real-time carrier rates. Shopify integrates in real-time with various

carriers like USPS and Canada Post to generate shipping options and live pricing.
This allows your customers to choose the exact service and price they want. You
can take advantage of discounted rates through Shopify Shipping.

C. Charge a flat rate. Flat rate shipping works best when your products have similar
sizes and weights, making actual shipping expenses easier to predict.

D. Offer local pickup/delivery. You can also give local customers the option to pick
up their online order at one of your locations, setting specific notification settings,
pickup instructions, and other details for each location.

• Configure your tax settings

As a business that sells goods or services, you have to collect taxes to send to the
government each time someone orders from your store (some exceptions apply,
such as for digital goods in many jurisdictions).

Shopify will help you automatically handle most tax calculations using default
sales tax rates around the world. Even so, it's a good idea to conduct some
research or ask a tax professional to ensure you’re charging the correct amount
of sales tax.

12 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • Set up your payment gateway and payouts

Next up is deciding how your store will accept payments and how you as a store owner
will get paid.

Go to Settings > Payments to set up your payment provider. Shopify has made it easy to
start accepting all major forms of payment with Shopify Payments. As long as you
operate your business in one of the supported countries and aren’t considered a
prohibited business, you can activate Shopify Payments in just one click and pay 0% in
extra transaction fees. You can also choose from over 100 third-party payment providers
here or offer your customers additional payment options, such as PayPal.

You can also manage your settings for Shopify Payments and do things like:

A. Choose the payment options you want to offer, like different credit cards (e.g.,
Visa), and accelerated one-click payment options like Apple Pay and Shop Pay. Shop
Pay is Shopify's one-click payment option that lets any customer of any store with
Shop Pay enabled save their payment information for future purchases.

B. Sell in multiple currencies, which will automatically convert your prices into the
customer’s currency if you enable it.

C. Set your payout schedule. You can receive your payout daily, weekly, or monthly—
it all depends on your preferences when it comes to your cash flow.

D. Toggle extra fraud prevention measures such as CVV and postal code verification
to add an extra layer of security.

E. Customize how you appear on your customer’s bank statements.

• Prepare your store for launch

Here are the final steps we’ll be going over:
A. Adding a custom domain
B. Installing relevant sales channels
C. (Optional) Customizing your email/SMS notifications
D. Setting up your store for marketing (tracking and analytic)

• Launch your store

Now you can remove your password page (under Settings > Preferences) and start
telling the world you are open for business.

View the entire guide: How to Start an Online Store with Shopify: A Step-by-Step Guide

13 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 3. Want to learn more about how to create an online store
on other platforms?

• eBay
How to Open an eBay Store
How to Start an eBay Business: 15 Things to Know
How to Start an eBay Store – The Complete Guide
How to Start an Ebay Business

• WooCommerce
How to Use WooCommerce for Online Store
Start with WooCommerce in 5 Steps
How to Set Up a New Woo Commerce Store

• BigCommerce
How to Create, Setup, and Launch a Profitable Online Store
(Seriously)
How to Set Up a BigCommerce Store Online in 10 Simple Steps
How to Set Up Your eCommerce Store With BigCommerce

• Amazon
How to start selling on Amazon
Create an Amazon Store in 5 Easy Steps
How to Open an Amazon Storefront (And Start Selling)

14 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 4. Sites & tools you need to create an online store (★=Recommendable)

• Build a website
Shopify: Easy to use, free themes & apps★★★★★
WordPress: Worked well with Woo Commerce★★★★
Opencast: Free, easy to use
Magneto: Powerful functions, suitable for big companies
Theme forest: The biggest website theme store
Page wiz: Powerful functions
Wix: Create a website you’re proud of

• Design a logo
Designer: Make a logo in minutes
Logo EPS: Vector logos and logo templates free download
Logo pond: Logo, brand and identity inspiration
Renovator Studio: A community of designers, developers and creatives
Dribble: Discover the world’s top designers & creatives
Watchful: Design a logo from hundreds of templates

• Generate content
Inspiration:
Portent: Portent's content idea generator
Melt water: Media monitoring & social listening platform
Buzz sumo: Find and analyze the most engaging articles and blogs
Republicanism: Discover what people are asking about
Quora: Find high-quality topics★★★★★
Hub spot: Blog ideas generator★★
All top: Popular news sites for any topic

Content Checking:
Cityscape: Search for copies of your page
Plagiarisms: Free online plagiarism checker
Site liner: Find duplicate content, broken links, and more...
Grammarly: Grammar checking ★★★★★
Share through Headline Analyzer: Make your headline more engaging

15 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • Process picture
Photo gallery:
Peels: Free stock photos & videos ★★★★★
Pitiably: Stunning free images & royalty free stock
Unsplash: The Internet's source of freely-usable images
Free images: All free for personal and commercial use
Burst: Free stock photos for websites and commercial use
Flick: An American image hosting and video hosting service★★★
Photo Pin: Free Photos for bloggers and creatives
Wallpaper: Free wallpaper
Gipsy: Make something animated
Getty Images: Moving the world with images ★★★

Photo compression:
Image-Re sizer: Shopping's free online image resizer
Tinypng: Smart PNG and JPEG compression
Compressor.io: Fast & efficient image compression
Imagerecycle: Image and PDF compression for website
Picdiet: Compress image filesize by up to 80% without losing quality
Adobe: Creativity for all

Visual Effects:
Infogram: Create engaging infographics and reports in minutes
Canva: A graphic design platform, used to create social media graphics, presentations,
posters, documents and other visual content
Visual.ly: Visual content for modern marketers
Visme: A cloud-based visual content creation and collaboration platform
Easel.ly: A simple infographic maker that lets you visualize any kind of information
Pixlr: A free photo editing software tool

• Set payment methods

Payoneer: Pay and get paid with ease. ★★★★★
Mercury: Run your world-class business with a U.S. band account and debit cards
made for scale. ★★★★
PayPal: Send money and ship with one easy account. ★★★★★
Stripe: Payments infrastructure for the internet ★★★
Payssion: One-stop solution for global payment processing
Western Union: Send money 24/7 around the world
Midtrans: Complete payment solution
Discover: We’ll help your business grow in new ways

16 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • Product & order management
Shopmaster: Smarter dropshipping solutions for you
Kaldrop: Non API eBay lister to dropshipping on eBay
AutoDS: Product finding, lister and price monitor
DSMtool: Source products for dropshipping from 50+ websites

• Shipment tracking
Shipment tracking sites:
CJPacket: CJPacket tracking page
17Track: Top eCommerce carries
DHL: DHL package tracking page
UPS: UPS package tracking page
FedEx: FedEx package tracking page

Shipment tracking apps:

AfterShip: The #1 tracking solution for eCommerce businesses, provide the best
post-purchase experience to drive customer loyalty and additional sales
Parcel Panel: Track order status in real time, branded order lockup pages
MassFulfill: An Shopify fulfill your orders or line items automatically from a file
Tracktor: An Shopify app provides real-time package and order lookup for stores
Easyship: Powerful shipping software powering merchants to scale globally

Find more dropshipping sites & tools on cjdropship.com

17 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

Step 4: Choose a Supplier
Finding the right suppliers is one
of the most important aspects of
starting a dropshipping business.
Sellers are dependent on the third
party, such as wholesalers,
suppliers, and distributors, that
handle fulfillment for the sales’
orders. Thus, it is important to
realize that the quality and overall
reliability of dropshipping suppliers
will break a dropshipping
eCommerce store. As a bad supplier
can destroy all the hard work and
credibility that you have achieved, a
good one will multiply your shop’s
value.

18 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 1. What are good suppliers?
Good suppliers tend to have many
common attributes, as the following says.

• Dedicated professional support

representatives
Good suppliers have knowledgeable
sales representatives who really know
the industry and their product lines. And
they should assign you an individual
sales representative who is responsible
for taking care of you and any issues you
have timely.

• Invested in technology
Technology has many benefits and good
suppliers recognize it and invest in it
heavily to help and ease the business.
Features such as real-time inventory, a
comprehensive online catalog,
customizable data feeds, and online
searchable order history can help you
streamline your operations.

• Organized and efficient

Good suppliers have competent staff and
great systems that result in efficient and
mostly error-free fulfillment. However,
without actually using it, it's difficult to
know how competent a supplier is. If
you place an order, you can pay
attention to the quality of service,
delivery times, packaging, and other
supplier-related questions, including the
following aspects:
a. The process that they handle the order
b. The speed that the items ship out
c. The speed they follow up with
tracking information and an invoice
d. The quality of the pack job when the
item arrives

19 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 2. How to find a dropshipping supplier?
• Contact the manufacturer • Join industry networks and groups

Contact the manufacturer is an easy Industry networks and groups are

way to find legitimate wholesale another effective resources to find
suppliers. You can call the leading suppliers. The people who join
manufacturer of the products that you industry networks and groups prefer to
want to sell and ask for a list of its share, learn, and grow. You can gain
wholesale distributors. Then you can valuable insight from them after you
contact these wholesalers to see if they join and become part of the
dropship and inquire about setting up dropshipping community. And you will
an account. get suggestions about better suppliers
or suppliers to avoid.
• Use Google search
• Search directories
It is obvious that you can use google
search to find good suppliers. However, A supplier directory is a charged
you’d better search extensively for the database of suppliers that’s organized
reason that they may be bad at by market, niche or product. It is a
marketing and promotion. And you convenient way to search for and
should use various key words to search, browse a large number of suppliers in
such as “distributor”, “reseller”, bulk”, one place quickly and are great for
“warehouse”, and “supplie.” brainstorming ideas for products to sell
Furthermore, don’t judge by the or niches to enter. The most popular
website. Some websites with poor wholesale and drop shipping supplier
design are possible good suppliers as directories over the web include World
well. Wide Brands, Doba, Wholesale
Central, etc.
• Attend a trade show
• Place order from the competitors
It’s an efficient way to get to know and
connect with the manufactures and You can find a dropshipping
suppliers in a market. If conditions competitor and place a small order on
permits, you can attend a trade show the store. Google the return address to
and make contacts as well as research find out who the original shipper was
your products and suppliers all in one as soon as you receive the package. In
place. There may be new and some cases, it will be a supplier you
upcoming products that you could add can contact.
to your dropshipping store.

Tip: Check out the Trade Show News

Network to see when and where trade
shows are happening.

20 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 3. What to consider when choosing suppliers?

• Be wary of fake suppliers • Competitors

There are two ways to distinguish fake If your supplier is the same one as the
suppliers. One is that suppliers almost one supplying for other eCommerce
never sell products at wholesale prices businesses in your niche, it's going to
be difficult to differentiate yourself and
to the general public. Another is that position your business' brand.
experienced and reputable suppliers
don’t require potential partners to pay
monthly fees just for access to their • Professionalism
products. If you encounter suppliers
have the opposite behavior, you should
Dropshipping is a professional
be aware that they may be fake relationship in which there are several
suppliers. agreements that need to be upheld. It
is better to not entrust your business’
credibility to the first person that
• Look for matches makes you an offer.

Make sure that your values match with • Punctuality

your partners to have a better
corporation. You can look for a match
in terms of business values, how and Punctuality is important for the reason
why suppliers do business, what their that it is related to shipping. The
shipping times must be established and
goals are, how they got to this point, met.
and so on.

• Order samples for validation

• Distance
It is important to order samples for
Knowing your supplier in person is a validation to see some important
very good practice. If your suppliers things about a supplier. You can get to
are located nearby, you can get to experience the quality of the product
know it conveniently. Or if your yourself and see how the supplier
suppliers are located far away but the handles fulfillment which gives you an
indication of what your customers will
business is working well, think about experience. Pay attention to the details,
taking a trip to get to know where your such as what shipment packaging is
products are being made. like, whether a separate distributor is
involved, and how long shipping and
delivery take.

Source: How to Find and Choose Good Dropshipping Suppliers?

21 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 4. Popular dropshipping suppliers

CJ Dropshipping: The best professional dropshipping supplier with fast shipping

times and warehouses over the world ★★★★★
AliExpress: Global retail platform, beginner friendly ★★★
Spocket: Suppliers based in the US and EU
Printify: Print on Demand supplier
SaleHoo: A powerful research tool, supplier directory, and online community for
dropshippers
Doba: A US-based dropshipping website, it works well with eBay, Esty and
Amazon
More to read:
How to Find and Work With Reliable Dropshipping Suppliers
Popular Dropshipping Supplier Websites/CJ Dropshipping/Aliexpress/Spocket/…

22 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Step 5: Draw traffic to your site

Traffic is the most important matter in your dropshipping business. Traffic

generation can help an online eCommerce store to skyrocket sales and earn
more profits. And according to the State of Inbound, generating traffic and
leads is the leading challenge facing companies today. If you want to get
sales, you must have visitors who enter your store and show interest in your
products. It is necessary to know about the different ways to drive traffic to
your dropshipping stores.

23 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 1. Six Popular Marketing Strategies for Dropshipping in 2021
• Social media marketing • SEO

If you’re out to do marketing for If you’re truly committed to making

dropshipping, then you shouldn’t neglect your dropshipping marketing process
yield better results, then SEO is
the power of social media. There’s more inevitable. Without a doubt, you’ll not
to merely posting on your social media get results immediately, but the long-
accounts daily. It would be best if you term benefits are immeasurable. SEO
came up with a plan that actually works. becomes your best bet if you want to
keep your acquisition cost at a low spot.
You don’t need every social media
platform as each of them offers a target Don’t get it twisted; SEO goes beyond
audience. For instance, if you sell clothes, picking some keywords for your
you need a social media platform like niche.it's advisable to choose broader
Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest (check: keywords, so you acquire more traffic.
Pinterest marketing guide) where the For instance, if you sell sports gear for
visual impression is highly rated. athletes, there’s the need to focus on not
just “running” or “athletes.” You can still
target keywords related to weight loss
• Run advertisements to suit your and physical fitness while introducing
dropshipping marketing plan
running as a way of keeping fit and
losing weight.
More to read: 25 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your
With over 2 billion monthly active Website
Facebook users across the globe,
dropshippers have a wide audience to • Email marketing
reach. While there are other Facebook If you’re looking for how to advertise
marketing alternatives, most dropshippers dropshipping products, you can’t
can’t leave Facebook completely because overemphasize the importance of email
of the diversity and richness of data it marketing. It drives fast and long-term
gathers. You can narrow your targeting to results. You can capture the emails of
hit the exact audience you need. your site visitors within the first 15
seconds of landing on your site. Use
Depending on your dropshipping compelling email pop-ups that offer them
marketing strategy and what you intend to discounts, free guides, ebooks, coupons,
achieve, you can customize Facebook ads among others to entice them to input their
– goal, audience, placement, interests and emails.
budget. You can easily measure results
while managing your adverts in the same Once you have their emails, you can
platform.
nurture them and sell to them. The best
More to read: Google Ads or Facebook Ads? How
part is that you can keep re-marketing to
Much to Spend? them any time. However, you don’t need
to sell to them immediately if they
subscribe.
More to read: How to Set up An Email Marketing
Plan: Quickstart Guide

24 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a major source
of traffic, in addition to Google ads and
Facebook ads. Instagram, YouTube,
Snapchat, etc., are the leading platforms
that work for the “converting influencer
power effect.”

More to read: X Ways to Get Traffic-Influencer

Marketing(DROPSHIPPING TIPS)

• Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is the process by
which an affiliate earns a commission for
marketing another person’s or
company’s products. The affiliate simply
searches for a product they enjoy, then
promotes that product and earns a piece
of the profit from each sale they make.
The sales are tracked via affiliate links
from one website to another.

More to read: Affiliate Marketing in 2021: What It

Is and How You Can Get Started

Source: How to Do Dropshipping Marketing in

2021?

25 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 2. Sites & tools you need for marketing (★=recommendable)
• Marketing to drive instant traffic
Advertising tools
Facebook Ads: Chose by most dropshippers ★★★★★
Google Ads: Show by Google searches ★★★
YouTube Ads: You only pay when someone chooses to watch at least 30 seconds or clicks
on your ad
Tik Tok Ads: Aimed at young consumers
Adspy: The largest searchable database of Facebook and Instagram ads in the world
bitpay.com: A complete game changer for mobile, desktop & native intelligence
Social Ad Scout:Access millions of social ad examples from around the world
BigSpy: No. 1 Ad spy tool
Whatrunswhere: Find the right plan for your business

Social media marketing

a. Social media:
Facebook: Facebook ★★★★★
Instagram: Instagram ★★★★★
YouTube: YouTube
Pinterest: Pinterest ★★★★
Snapchat: Popular with youngsters
Twitter: Twitter
Myspace: Myspace
Tumblr: An American microblogging and social networking website
Reddit: Reddit
Quora: Quora

b. Marketing tools:
Hootsuite: Easily manage all your social media and get results with Hootsuite
Buffer: Simpler social media tools for authentic engagement
Woobox: Easily create and run successful contests, giveaways, polls, coupons, forms,
and more
Pagemodo: Makes social media marketing simple for small business owners
Tweetdeck: The most powerful Twitter tool for real-time tracking, organizing, and
engagement
Adly: A digital marketing software and services provider

26 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Influencer marketing
a. Find an influencer:
Noxinfluencer: Free Stats toolkit for YouTube channel management
BuzzSumo: Collaborate with the influencers who matter
Aspireiq: Leverage influencers to build authentic content that fuels your growth
Tomoson: Leverage 90,000+ influencers and Tomoson's unlimited content crawler to
create
Influence.co: Get access to the latest news and resources, engage with other influencers
and secure collaborations with top brands
Buzzstream: An end-to-end outreach platform that helps you stay organized and grow
your digital PR and link building results
Influential: The industry leader in social media activations with measurable ROI

b. Account analytics:
Hypeauditor: Industry standard analytical platform for transparent & fraud-free
influencer marketing
Followerwonk: Tools for Twitter analytics
Google Analytics: Lets you measure your advertising ROI as well as track your Flash,
video, and social networking sites and applications ★★★★★
Discover.ly: See information from social networks as you browse
Iconosquare: Make data-driven decisions for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
Likealyzer: A Facebook page analyzer
Minter: Instagram analytics & Instagram hashtag analytics for brands, agencies,
business

Email marketing
Mailchimp: Bring your audience data, marketing channels, and insights together so you
can reach your goals faster
Mailerlite: Includes live 24/7 support and the latest features like landing pages and
automation
Mailigen: Easy to create, send & automate Email newsletters
MadMimi: Easy to create, send, share and track email newsletters online
GetResponse: Powerful, simplified tool to send emails, create pages, and automate your
marketing ★★★
Activecampaign: Gives you the email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM tools
you need to create incredible customer experiences
Privy: Pop ups, email, & SMS

27 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • SEO for organic traffic
Keywords tools
Keywordtool.io: The best alternative to Google Keyword Planner
Ubersuggest: Allows you to get insight into the strategies that are working for others in
your market so you can adopt them, improve them, and gain an edge
Keyword tool dominator: Free keyword tool & keyword research tool for Amazon, Bing
search, eBay, Etsy, Google, Walmart, and YouTube
Wordstream: Fast and easy to find the keywords your business needs to drive traffic
through organic and paid
Wordtracker: Free keyword research tool

Data analytics
Google Analytics: Let you measure your advertising ROI as well as track your Flash,
video, and social networking sites and applications. ★★★★★
Ahrefs: An All-in-one SEO toolset, with free Learning materials and a passionate
community & support ★★★★
Semrush: Sells online visibility and marketing analytics software subscriptions ★★★★
Similarweb: Analyse any website or App ★★★★
Clicky: Real time web analytics
MYIP: The No. 1 World Live Whois IP Source
Loooi: A full-featured, powerful Analytics Data solution for Shopify

External link
Screamingfrog: A website crawler helps to improve onsite SEO, extracting data &
auditing for common SEO issues
Moz Link Explorer: Highly accurate link check the backlink profile and domain authority
of any site
SEO SpyGlass: Gives your website the optimal advantage to outrank the competition on
search engines
Buzzstream: A software for link building, speed up the research process
OpenLinkProfiler: Analyze any links of websites for free
Guest Post Tracker: Grow organic traffic and reach through guest posts, no BPN's, real
blogs owned by real companies

Reviews
Judge.me: Powers the product reviews for your eCommerce store
Loox: Collects photo reviews for Shopify store
Stamped.io: Powering social proof for leading brands
Ali Reviews: Empowers 40,000+ Shopify stores to build social proof and maximize
conversion rates by displaying reviews throughout buyer's journey
Yotpo: Accelerate growth with a full suite of solutions for customer reviews, visual
marketing, loyalty, referrals, and SMS marketing
Product reviews: Allows you to add a customer review feature to your products

Find more dropshipping sites & tools on cjdropship.com

28 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Step 6: After-Sale service
1. What is after-sale service?
After-sale service is of great important to not only retain the existed customers but
also to bring back lost customers. After-sale service could be defined as the
processes which are followed post the sale of the product. The nature of the
services includes maintenance, guidance, repair etc. Following are a few steps for
good after-sale service:
1. Updating the customers about the nature of after-sale service.
2. Updating the customers about the transit of the goods.
3. Following up with the delivery team to ensure timely delivery.
4. Following up on new customer or installation.
5. Fast after-sale service post complaint.

2. Common types of after-sale service:

1. Pre-installation services. Whenever a product is bought it comes with a manual for
installation.
2. User training. With it, user can handle the product on their own.
3. Warranty services. They include repairing replacement of selected parts for a
selected period of time.
4. Online support. The customer service can resolve the problem immediately in most of
the cases.
5. Return/Replacement. For a limited period of time companies provide free replacement
of the product in case of any queries.
6. Features and benefits. Some companies provide additional features for example
replacement of a part for a lifetime, for free counseling for the entire duration of
the product.
7. Upgrades. Upgrading a software for the device for a limited period is one of the types
of after-sale service followed by companies.
Source: 7 types of after-sale service to keep your customer satisfied

29 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 3. How to provide a good after-sale
service?

1. Know the Target Customers. To do it, you

should begin by finding those who own the
greatest number of your products and who
have the greatest demand for aftermarket parts
and labor.

2. Know How to Sell Service Contracts. In

order to sell service contracts to your
customers most effectively, you should know
how to explain the benefits of the contract to
the customer.

3. Develop Reliable Procedures and Invest in

Training. Invest in training your technicians to
explain to your customers how and why these
procedures are vital.it's important, also, to
have established processes to assess the
efficiency and productivity of your
technicians.

4. Develop Efficient Stock Handling Processes.

Know which parts you need to keep on
theshelf and make sure that enough of those
parts are always on hand.

5. Nurture Customer Relationships. Use data

to track the performance of the program for
each customer, and work quickly to correct
any problems as they occur.

6. Stay in It for the Long Haul. The goal of an

after-sale program is to foster customer
relationships that grow and add to your bottom
line over time. You’ll have to view it as an
ongoing process that demands constant
attention and refinement.

Source: 6 Ways to Build a Successful After-Sale Structure

30 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 How to Respond Email appropriately?

1. Basic email template

Dear {{ticket.requester.first_name}},

Thank you for contacting our Customer Support Team.

{{...}}

Please don't hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further assistance.

2. Cancel (after dispatch, but the customer requested cancellation before

dispatch)
Dear {{ticket.requester.first_name},

Thank you for your email. We're very sorry for letting you down with this experience,
but this order has been dispatched, so we won't be able to cancel it at this stage.

We really want you to be happy with this experience, so we'd love to get you a 50%
refund, and there's no need to return anything. {{You can insert any % you want, just
make sure the customer is happy and you are not at a loss. After customer replies and
agrees proceed with a refund}}

Please let us know if you'd like to use the offer. If you have any other questions, do not
hesitate to contact us.

Regards

3. Delivery info
Dear {{ticket.requester.first_name}},

Thank you for contacting us. Please be advised delivery can take up to 20 business days
as your order was sent out directly from our warehouse in China. {{Please customize
this
sentence, to match your shipping policy}}

This order is being fulfilled in line with the lead-times stated on our website: [insert
shipping policy page here]

You will be able to track your order later here: [insert tracking URL here]

We apologize for any caused inconvenience and would be glad to provide any further
assistance.

31 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 4. Shipping damage
If it is shipping damage and the customer reports it just after delivery, ask for pictures.

Option 1: Then if the product cost is below 30 eur, replace it with no return of the
damaged item. (optional) If cust refuses replacement, then refund. (but first, try to
replace the item).

Option 2: If the product above 30 EUR and the agent thinks that we don’t need the
product, he needs approval from the escalation team for no return. (this was especially
for electronic products etc, so we could check what’s happening there).

• 1st contact - ask for pictures

Dear {{ticket.requester.first_name}},
Thank you for contacting our Customer Support Team.
We are very sorry about this situation.
Please provide us photos with visible defects in jpg format.
After receiving the photos we will consider your complaint.
Thank you for your patience and we apologize for any inconvenience.
Please don't hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further
assistance.
• 2nd contact - decide which solution you would like to offer.

5. Shipping delay
If the customer is angry, just apologize and provide them with the compensation for
waiting time. 5 - 10 refund (any currency you operate) or voucher for your store. If the
customer is just asking where their parcel is, simply explain when it was sent and
apologize for any delay.

Dear {{ticket.requester.first_name}},

Thank you for contacting our Customer Support Team.

We would like to inform you that your parcel left our warehouse on [date]. Apologize
for the delay caused. If your package won’t be delivered within the next (X) days, please
contact us again.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further

assistance.

6. Damage
If the product is damaged after some time, in most countries there are warranty laws.
The warranty in Europe covers 6 months. (If it is for dropshipping I would try to
convince them for a bigger partial refund - no return. (As per 2nd contact from Not as
expected template.)

More to read: Useful Email Templates

32 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Step 7: Branding
Branding, by definition, is a marketing practice in which a
company creates a name, symbol or design that is easily
identifiable as belonging to the company, helping to
identify a product and distinguish it from other products
and services. It is absolutely critical to a business because
of the overall impact it makes on your company. Branding
can change how people perceive your brand, it can drive
new business and increase brand awareness.

33 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 1. Print on Demand
• What is POD?
Print on-demand (POD) allows businesses
to order print materials on an as-needed
basis in a piecemeal fashion. It is a process in
which you work with a supplier to customize
white-label products with your own designs
to sell them on a per-order basis under your
own brand. With print-on-demand services
everything after the sale, from printing to
shipping, is handled by your supplier.
Source: Print on Demand: A Low-Risk Way to Sell Custom T-
Shirts, Books, and More

• The Advantages of POD:

1. Easy Set-Up: You don’t need to hire the
best web designers to get your print-on-
demand business up and running.
2. Low Startup Cost: With traditional
businesses, you must have a good stock of
cash to purchase inventory and get your
store up and running.
3. No Inventory Management: Your supplier
handles pretty much everything from order
printing, packaging, and shipping which
means you don’t need to handle any amount
of inventory.
4. Ability to Customize: One of the biggest
advantages of print-on-demand is that it
gives you a chance to create and sell unique
designs.
5. Scale & Test with No Risks: With print-
on-demand, you aren’t directly involved in
printing or production so there’s no major
monetary investment from your side.
More to read: Benefits of Print on Demand eCommerce
Solutions

34 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • Websites for POD:

Name Services and Features

Printful It has a number of printing techniques, including direct to garment, cut
and sew, and embroidery.

Gooten It has an intuitive image editor that gives you a good sense of what your
final product will look like.

Printy It has a number of unique white-label products, such as jewelry, clocks,

shoes and water bottles.

SPOD Digital direct, thermal sublimation, digital transfer/laser transfer,

special flex, depending on the product you want to create.

Add your own branded label, clothing tags, or embroidered patches to

Apliiq
create products that truly feel like your own.

Direct to garment and cut and sew all-over-print for apparel, and laser
Teelaunch
etching for products like tumblers and cooking boards.

Direct-to-garment, sublimation, 3D dye diffusion, and embroidery

CustomCat
printing.

Their platform is 100% free and makes it super easy to reach your
Bonfire
goals, whether these are fundraising or simply selling custom apparel.

Design cards, invitations, clothing, home decor, accessories, electronic

Zazzle
device add-ons, and more!

One of the cool things about TeeSpring is its easy-to-use design feature
Teespring
that even beginner artisans can use to make products to sell.

More to read:
1. 10 Print-On-Demand Companies for Selling Your Own Custom Products
2. Best Print on Demand Websites: The Definitive 2021 Guide
3. 31 Best Print On Demand Sites and Service Companies

35 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 2. Custom packaging

• What is custom packaging?

Custom packaging is boxing that is
specifically tailored to your company and
the product your company is making and
shipping. It aims to fit the product
perfectly and is designed to protect the
product better than standard and generic
packaging. Plus, it renders your band
impressive.

• Benefits of custom packaging:

1. Increased brand value. The packaging of
a product increase brand awareness,
value, and simply makes the customer
experience better than standard
packaging.
2. Better customer experience. Beautifully
created and designed packaging stand out
to customers and make them feel happy
and special.
3. Better product protection. If you have a
product that is a unique shape or more
prone to breaking, custom packaging is a
great option for better shipping
protection.

Source: What is Custom Packaging and What are it's

Benefits

36 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

• Different types of packaging:
1. Corrugated boxes: they are better known
as cardboard and are the most used form of
transport packaging, with about 95% of
North American consumer goods being
shipped inside of them.
2. Paperboard Boxes:
a. Solid bleached sulfate (SBS) boxes.
4. Plastic boxes: they are generally stronger
SBS boxes are generally the choice for
than paperboard boxes and, if airtight, can
perishables, including frozen and wet
preserve the quality of food while reducing
foods, meats, dairy, bakery items, medical
the potential for contamination.
products, and cosmetics.
5. Poly bags(plastics): it is commonly used
b. Coated unbleached kraft (CUK)
for food, chemical, flower & magazine
boxes. More environmentally-friendly but
packaging.
also less resistant to moisture, CUK boxes
6. Paper bag: they can also be fully
appeal to customers who prefer the natural
customizable in style, printing & shape
look of recycled material.
without emptying the wallet.
c. Coated recycled paperboard. This
7. Side gusset bags: popular among the tea,
type of box is often chosen by eCommerce
coffee & baking industry, side gusset bags
retailers selling paper products and dry
are meant to create a dense environment
foods such as pasta and cereal.
inside the packaging to help maintain the
d. Chipboard paperboard.it's cost-
flavour of the product and helps protect it
effective, its material can easily weaken in
any incoming bacteria.
storage environments with high moisture
8. Bottle & cap packaging: they are
levels, causing them to expand and become
reusable, small to package & reduce shelf
discolored.
space in retail stores. Depending on the
manufacturer you choose, they can be fully
customizable in print as well.

Source: Six Types of Custom Packaging for Your Business

More to read: Top 8 Cost-Effective Packaging Types

37 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • CJ custom packaging:

In order to help dropshippers build own brand and give consumer better experience, CJ
updated the custom packaging system. Through the new version, you can get more
options and better experience.
More to read: How to Use CJ Custom Packaging 2.0

The Custom Packaging Service for dropshipping orders is a very popular feature among
CJ users. To make things easier for you, here we have summarized some of the problems
you may encounter with corresponding solutions.

38 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • How does CJ help with your custom packaging?

1. Boxes:
a. Jewelry boxes: We will take out the
jewelry from its original packaging and
position it at a particular place in the box.
b. Watch boxes: We will remove all the
original packaging and put the watch into 4. Labels: they are used for apparel
the watch box. products. We will discard the original
c. Glasses boxes: If it got other labels and use the new ones.
accessories, for instance, pouch and
cleaning cloth, the glasses will be put into 5. Cards and small gifts: the SKU of
the pouch then placed into the glasses box custom packaging all starts with BZSP. It
with the cleaning cloth. will be placed in the spare space of the
d. Mailer boxes: If it is used to contain parcel.
the apparel, we will keep the insider
packaging nearest the product like a zipper 6. Stickers: we’ll put it on the product
bag, and put it into the mailer box. unless there is a note on how to apply it.
e. Others like lid top box, tuck up box,
earphone box, etc; If the customized 7. Instruction/user manual: replace the
packaging exceeds the original one in size, original instruction with the new user
then we will place the product into the manual.
custom one directly.
8. Raffia: we’ll put the raffia and your
2. Carton: we'll put the product into the product in the box together.
carton with the original packaging.
9. Combine the above methods if one
3. Bags: like shipping bag, bubble product gets many pieces of custom
envelope, zip bag, seal bag, gunny bag, packaging. We will use the custom label
flannel bag, etc. We’ll Discard the original to replace the original label, the
packaging of the product and put it into customized zip bags will substitute the
the above custom packaging. original zipper bag.

39 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 3. Trademarks & patents
• What are trademarks and patents?
A trademark is the right to use a specific name, word, phrase, symbol, logo, design,
sound or color (or a combination of elements) to identify your products and
distinguish them from other products.

A patent is a grant of a right to the inventor by the government. The patent gives
the inventor (or patent holder, if the patent has been assigned) the right to exclude
others from making or using the invention for a select time period—usually 20
years.

Source: Understanding Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights

• What are trademarks and patents?

Patents Trademark

Inventions, such as processes, Any word, phrase, symbol, and/or design

machines, manufactures, that identifies and distinguishes the source
What’s Protected?
compositions of matter as well as of the goods of one party from those of
improvements to these others

A mark must be distinctive (i.e., that is, it

Requirements to be An invention must be new, useful
must be capable of identifying the source
Protected and non-obvious
of a particular good)

For as long as the mark is used in

Term of Protection 20 years
commerce

Right to use the mark and to prevent

Right to prevent others from others from using similar marks in a way
Rights Granted making, selling using or importing that would cause a likelihood-of-
the patented invention confusion about the origin of the goods or
services.

Source: What Is The Difference Between Copyright, Patent, and Trademark?

40 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • How to get a trademark?
Trademarking is clearly important.
Unfortunately, getting a U.S. trademark is
an in-depth and lengthy process. But it's
not impossible to do on your own. Here is
the main application process for
registering your trademark. Again
trademark registration in the United
States is rather complex, so be prepared
to either hire an attorney or spend a lot of
time and be very thorough.

Step 1: Identify your mark

There are different types of marks for

different types of intellectual property,
with each type offering more specific
protection. Determine which of the three
mark formats applies to your trademark:
a. Standard character mark: This
trademark protects any combination of
words, letters, or numbers, without
consideration of the font or style (for
example, the name of a business). It
provides broad rights for use in any form
of presentation.
b. Stylized/design mark: This applies
to a mark with a design you’d like to
protect (i.e., a logo). The design may have
letters or not.
c. Sound mark: This is for a tune or
jingle that’s representative of a brand. For
example, the MGM roaring lion sound
falls under a sound mark.

No matter what kind of business you’re

starting, you’ll almost always need a
standard character mark and design mark,
as your business should have a name and
some kind of logo.

41 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Step 2: Decide if you need an attorney

Filing for a trademark is a legal process. It

has legal requirements and deadlines, and
if they’re not met, your money will not be
refunded. It may be worth the flat fee
many attorneys charge to file correctly the
first time. If you choose to hire an
attorney, they can help you manage all of
the pursuant steps on this list and offer
any additional legal advice you may need.

Step 3: Show them the goods

Your logo, name, or jingle will represent a

particular good or service, and you must
select a legally acceptable identification
for your goods and services. This means
choosing a name that’s not infringing on
another trademark and is not similar
enough to cause brand confusion.

Step 4: Ensure you’re not copying anyone

It’s time to check whether there are other

companies, people, or brands out there
whose mark has a high “likelihood of
confusion” with yours. If someone has
already registered or applied for a mark
that is the same or similar, andit's used
for related products or services, it may be
grounds for the USPTO to turn down your
application.

42 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 Step 5: Know your basis for filing

Before applying you should know your basis

for filing the mark. Essentially you’re
confirming whether you’ve used the mark in
sales and products already or intend to use it.
There are two options:
a. Use in commerce
b. Intent to use

Step 6: File the trademark application

You can finally begin filing your application

through the Trademark Electronic Application
(TEAS) System. You will begin by filing your
initial application form here. To use the TEAS
Plus, you must:
a. file a complete form
b. select your goods or services from the list
on ID Manual
c. pay full fees at the time of filing
d. file later communications regarding the
application through the TEAS
e. receive all communications via email

Step 7: Sweet success

The review process will take several months.

If they do not have any objections to your
registration, you will receive a notice of
publication with the date of publication. After
it's published, any party who feels they may
be damaged by your mark will have 30 days to
take action. For intent, you will receive a
notice of allowance, and will have six months
to begin using the mark in commerce, or you’ll
need to request a six-month extension.

Even after your application is approved, you

must still regularly file maintenance
documents to keep the registration live.

Source: How to Get a Trademark and Leave a Lasting

Impression?
More to read: How Do I Register a Trademark?

43 Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping

 • Trademarks and patents search engines:
It’s important to remember that it's not just about searching for
people with the same mark or name, but also uncovering those
who are similar. This is where the trademark database comes in.
You can visit following websites to check your trademarks’
feasibility.

Trademarkia Trademarkia

United States Patent & Trademark Office USPTO

EUIPO EUIPO

UK Intellectual Property Office UK Intellectual Property Office

European Patent Office European Patent Office

Google Patent Search Google Patent Search

“The End”

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 CJ Mentorship Program
The mentorship program was launched to connect resources to provide a
platform where everyone gets to share and learn more about this ever-evolving
global e Commerce industry. The main goal of the program is to teach people
around the world how to start and scale up their dropshipping business.

Mentors come from differnt countries and will answer your questions about
everything in dropshipping. Join us, here are people like you who are going to
set their sail in the dropshipping business. Please click here
https://cjdropship.com/ to know more information about them.

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 YouTube Channel
We will regularly share winning products, selling tips and useful tools for
dropshipping on our YouTube channel CjDropshipping.com. Please make sure
you follow up and subscribe to our channel. You can contact us through
YouTube, Facebook and Facebook group or you can visit our website directly.

Also, you can contact us through our Facebook and CJ Facebook group or you
can visit our website directly.

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Facebook: CjDropshipping.com Official website: https://cjdropshipping.com/
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Start & Scale Your Business with CJ Dropshipping