Can You Legally Dropship Branded Products? & How To Do So?

If you’re thinking about dropshipping branded products and don’t know whether it’s possible, this post is for you.

Here, we’ll answer all of the questions you might have regarding copyright issues, the benefits & drawbacks of selling name brand items, and how to start this business legally.

Let’s dive right in!

Is it Possible To Dropship Branded Products?

It’s possible and legal to dropship branded products online from most small and medium brands on AliExpress, Alibaba, and other Chinese marketplaces. You don’t need any license or even ask for permission either.

For proof, we sent messages to Lige (a Chinese watch brand established in 2012), AmazFit (a Chinese smart wearable brand established in 2015), and Curren (a Chinese luxury watch brand founded in 2009) regarding whether they allow dropshipping. They all reply positively about this.

Having confirmed that, we still strongly recommend you contact all brands you’re intending to work with to ensure that they support dropshipping. The usual response time is within 24 hours, so don’t hesitate.

Concerning big Chinese companies like Xiaomi or Huawei, you need to become an authorized retailer to start dropshipping their name brand products legally. The situation is the same for branded items from global brands like Nike, Rolex, Disney, etc.

Can You Sell Branded Products On Shopify?

As long as your dropshipping business has proper permission from official brands, Shopify allows you to legally sell branded products on the platform.

In the case that you aren’t approved to sell a specific branded item, and the brand contacts Shopify about your copyright infringement, Shopify may remove or disable your access to related materials.

The rules should be the same for other eCommerce & dropshipping platforms, such as Wix, Ecwid, ShopBase, etc.

Can You Dropship Branded Products On eBay?

eBay does allow dropshipping branded products. However, as noted in eBay guidelines, if you’re not an official reseller, you should avoid adding any material in your listing suggesting that you’re one. You can still mention the brand name in your product description and include images that depict what you are selling.

Another important rule to note is that eBay dropshipping policies prohibit sellers to buy an item from another retailer or marketplace (e.g., AliExpress) to ship directly to your customer. But, fulfilling orders directly from a wholesale supplier (e.g., Alibaba, CJDropshipping) is permitted.

Can You Dropship Branded Products On Amazon?

Amazon is a little more strict when it comes to dropshipping.

Amazon does permit dropshipping branded products. But, you must guarantee that you’re the seller of record, meaning that your brand name (and no one else) is on all packing slips, invoices, external packaging, and other information provided concerning the products.

Pros & Cons Of Branded Products Dropshipping

Below are the pros of dropshipping branded items:

• Excellent Goods: Verified brands will consistently provide high-quality products at a great price to maintain a good reputation and keep customers coming back. After all, it’s the whole point of establishing a brand.
• Fast Shipping Times: For the same reason, established brands are more professional when processing, fulfilling, and shipping customer orders.
• Great Services: Dropshipping from a brand usually means that you receive helpful assistance from dedicated customer service representatives.
• Customers Feel Safer When Purchasing: According to research, consumers associate branded products with quality. Furthermore, they’re willing to pay more for branded goods over unbranded ones.

Here are the cons of selling name brand products:

• Price Comparison Shopping: Customers can easily search online for branded products you’re dropshipping and look for cheaper websites to buy them.
• Branding Difficulty: It’s tough to create a unique brand proposition for your own dropshipping store when you’re just reselling other name brand products.
• Copyright Problems: Authorization and sometimes an official document from original brands are necessary to guarantee copyright compliance.

How To Dropship Name Brand Products Legally

Here are the 5 steps to start dropshipping name brand products legally and profitably.

1. Choose A Branded Products Dropshipping Supplier

You can select one of the 6 best dropshipping suppliers below to find high-quality branded products.

AliExpress

The first one to find branded products to dropship is AliExpress. It’s the most famous Chinese marketplace among beginner dropshippers because it’s completely free to access, easy to work with, and has a wide variety of products in any dropshipping niche at a very low cost.

As of now, AliExpress is the house of 200,000+ sellers and brands and can help you deliver goods to 200+ countries and regions worldwide.

For more information, check out The complete guide to dropshipping from AliExpress.

Alibaba

Alibaba is the largest platform for global B2B wholesale trade. However, with the recent launch of the Alibaba Dropshipping Center, it’s now possible to start a real Alibaba dropshipping business with no minimum order requirement (no MOQ).

Currently, Alibaba owns 5,9K+ product categories from 150K+ sellers in 40+ industries.

The advantage of using Alibaba over AliExpress is that all Chinese brands on the platform must go through business verification & authentication processes, which can help you ensure the quality and authenticity of branded dropshipping products.

For more information, check out The complete guide to dropshipping from Alibaba.

Griffati

Next, we have Griffati. It’s a wholesale & dropshipping fashion supplier that allows you to sell its collection of 20,000+ designer clothing pieces from 300+ Italian and international brands.

They include Armani Jeans, Desigual, Bikkembergs, Brunello Cucinelli, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Dsquared, Elisabetta, Franchi, Fendi, Gant, Gas, Givenchy, Guess, Hogan, and many more.

In terms of pricing, you need to be on a $190/month subscription plan to start dropshipping with Griffati.

MerchMixer

MerchMixer helps you dropship branded products of big companies like Apple, Samsung, Logitech, Sony, Dysan, Colgate, etc. All items are delivered to customers from the US warehouses within 2-14 business days.

MerchMixer has both free and paid plans depending on your use.

BrandsGateWay

The next one is BrandsGateWay. This supplier gives you access to a directory of high-end branded dropshipping items from 100+ original luxury brands. Examples are Orient, Aviator, Esprit, Huge Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Daniel Wellington, Juicy Couture, Marc Jacobs, Pierre Cardin, Skage, etc.

In terms of delivery, the platform can dispatch products worldwide within 5 days.

BrandsGateWay’s subscription plan starts from €295/month.

BrandsDistribution

Finally, we have BrandsDistribution. On here, you can find expensive dropshipping goods from brands like Timberland, Sector, Maserati, Emporio Armani, Diesel, Komono, Michael Kors, Guess, Calvin Klein, and Gant.

Additionally, this supplier provides you with professional images and materials for your marketing campaigns.

In regards to pricing, BrandsDistribution costs €99/month.

Note: Even though Griffati, MerchMixer, BrandsGateWay, and BrandsDistribution allow you to access their catalog of branded products, it doesn’t mean that it’s 100% legal to sell these items. It’s your job to contact each brand for official dropshipping permissions and certificates.

2. Select The Best Branded Items To Sell

These 4 tips will help you better pick branded dropshipping products with the potential to become winners.

• Not Too Well-Known: The brand you’re intending to dropship from shouldn’t be too famous or physically available in many countries and regions. Otherwise, people will know exactly where to look for when buying their products.
• Not Dominated By Global Brands: For example, it’s never a good idea to dropship laptops from a not-so-famous brand since the market is already flooded by giants like Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, Asus, etc.
• Unique & Creative: Basically, a winning branded dropshipping product should catch people’s attention quickly and make them want to possess it immediately without a second thought.
• From Trustworthy Brands: You should always double-check a brand’s track record to confirm its legitimacy and reliability.

Here’s an example of a good name brand product from a reliable company that supports dropshipping.

3. Ask Your Supplier For Permissions & Certificates

As we have mentioned, even though most small brands (especially Chinese ones) allow dropshipping, it’s still important that you ask them about any certificate you might have to register before selling their branded products.

The message is as simple as this:

“Hi, do you support dropshipping for this X product? Do I need any license?
Thank you in advance!”

4. Create An Online Store Complying With Copyright Laws

To be copyright compliant, on all of your store pages, avoid suggesting that you’re an authorized dealer and retailer if you’re not.

For example, instead of saying “we’re the official reseller of X, Y, Z,” you should say “we find and purchase authentic branded products directly from trustworthy suppliers and manufacturers to provide them to you at the lowest possible cost.”

In addition, make sure to do honest work and provide great customer service when dropshipping branded products. Otherwise, you might get sued for damaging brand images.

5. Promote Name Brand Products

If you’re wondering whether it’s possible to promote name brand dropshipping products on Facebook, the answer is yes.

According to Facebook trademark policies, “The use of a trademark is only infringing if it’s likely to confuse people regarding the source, endorsement or affiliation of products or services. So, if a trademark is used in a way that is unlikely to cause consumer confusion, that use is generally not considered infringing.”

In addition, trademark rights don’t prevent “the resale of legitimate goods or selling legitimate goods through channels that are not authorized by the trademark owner.”

In short, as long as you’re granted proper permission from official brands and don’t include any information misleading people about the connection between you and the brands, you should be able to advertise branded products with Facebook Ads without problems.

Besides Facebook, other recommended platforms to promote name brand goods are Instagram, Tiktok, Google Shopping, Pinterest, and blogging.

Conclusion

The idea of dropshipping branded products is not as intimidating as you might have thought. With proper permissions and certificates, anyone can start this business legally without worrying about copyright infringement.

For more information on starting dropshipping successfully, have a look at our complete dropshipping checklist.