If you want to start a dropshipping business, ask yourself: What product niche can I fill? Although there are virtually infinite possibilities, one profitable niche is the ever-reliable toy market. For younger kids, there are baby-safe educational toys, interactive toys, and handcrafted teddy bears, and for older kids, there are board games, outdoor games, STEM kits, and more.
This dropshipping niche has consistent demand; all it takes is identifying a clear target market, building a trustworthy online store, and offering quality products. Here’s how to select winning products, find reliable suppliers, and build a profitable toy dropshipping business that captures both the holiday rush and year-round sales.
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is an ecommerce business model in which your company runs an online storefront that sells products while another business fulfills the orders. This means you, as the dropshipper, don’t keep an inventory of what you sell but instead depend on a manufacturer or wholesaler to source, manufacture, and ship the products.
Your customers receive the products directly from the manufacturer. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that allows one business to focus on marketing and sales, while the other handles production and fulfillment.
What to know about dropshipping toys
Dropshipping toys has its benefits; however, it’s not all fun and games. Here are the potential advantages and drawbacks to keep in mind:
Advantages
-
The ability to market within a niche. It’s possible to establish a focused market by selling non-branded toys. Whether specializing in sports toys, baby products, or educational kids’ toys with interactive features, dropshipping allows you to corner a market and move quickly without worrying about unsold inventory.
-
No inventory to store or ship. Unlike traditional toy selling, dropshipping allows you to avoid manufacturing, storage, and shipping logistics and instead focus on targeting parents by creating effective marketing materials.
-
Seasonal upswings. Selling toys can be a very seasonal business, with a lot of sales occurring in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. For some businesses, this financial spike could fund a hefty portion of their marketing efforts for the rest of the year—as long as they budget accordingly.
Drawbacks
-
Trademark and copyright protections. While it’s legal to dropship generic toys, selling name-brand toys without authorization typically violates intellectual property laws. Always respect legal protections to keep your dropshipping company out of legal trouble.
-
Safety hazards. It’s important to work with reputable, trusted suppliers when dropshipping toys. There are all types of safety concerns to keep in mind, from choking hazards to the types of paint and materials the supplier uses.
-
Seasonal downswings. Since toys are a seasonal product, you may encounter dry spells in the offseason, making it necessary to budget accordingly. Use these slower months to formulate new marketing strategies and identify upcoming trends.
Bestselling toys to dropship
- Teething toys
- Art supply toys
- Toy cars
- Building blocks
- Musical instrument toys
- Stuffed animals or plush toys
- Puzzles
- Toy drones
- Coloring books
- Puppets
- Robotic toys
- Sports toys
- Electronics for learning
- Kitchen sets
Figuring out which products to dropship requires finding a niche that is specific yet not too hyper-focused. The goal is to identify a market that’s large enough to allow for competition but not so competitive that you’re in constant danger of getting pushed out by others.
Here are some bestselling options to consider:
Teething toys
If you’re interested in dropshipping baby products, teething toys can be a great option. They’re relatively small and therefore easier to store and ship than some of the other items on this list. This size advantage could translate to lower fees you have to pay your manufacturer or wholesaler, allowing you to price competitively while maintaining profitability.
Make sure to find reliable suppliers that use BPA-free plastic and food-grade silicone or rubber to ensure the toy is safe for an infant to chew on. Then market these functional toys to new parents or people looking for baby gifts.
Art supply toys
Art supplies like easels, markers, and kid-safe painting or drawing kits market themselves as both fun and educational—a combination that commands higher prices than generic toys. Parents actively seek products that encourage creativity and artistic expression in young children, creating consistent demand year-round, not just during holiday shopping.
Toy cars
For more than a century, toy cars have been in consistent demand. This is one of those product categories with endless possibilities, from model car kits to ride-on electric cars and remote-control cars. The wide range of price points may appeal to customers, so consider highlighting this in your messaging strategy.
Building blocks
Building blocks, which can be manufactured relatively cheaply, are an iconic example of educational and interactive toys in the kids’ toys market. They can help young children learn spatial awareness in addition to letters, numbers, and colors.
To lock in a niche, consider working with reputable toy wholesale suppliers that can create building blocks with unique designs. For instance, you could market building blocks featuring the National Parks to outdoorsy parents.
Musical instrument toys
The musical instrument toy category is broad, ranging from simple shakers and drums to toy versions of electronic saxophones and guitars. Market these toys to parents as a way to get their children interested in music and artistic expression.
Work with trustworthy suppliers to make durable, reliable products so that if a customer’s child does develop an interest in music, you can enjoy repeat business.
Stuffed animals or plush toys
Stuffed animals are among the best toys for dropshippers for three key reasons. First, they are inexpensive to produce, though you’ll still want to ensure high product quality so they don’t fall apart once they reach your customers.
Second, there is high demand across age ranges, from toddlers to teenagers. And third, there’s a diverse product range—from classic teddy bears to collectibles and specialty plush toys depicting exotic animals or mythological creatures.
Puzzles
In addition to being fun and sometimes educational, puzzles offer a wide product selection and typically come with low shipping fees for customers. They’re also generally inexpensive to produce, which can mean higher profit margins for dropshippers.
With puzzles, much of your marketing can focus on the images themselves. Just remember that you can’t use graphics from copyrighted material—in other words, steer clear of the latest award-winning kids’ movie. Instead, find a niche without intellectual property restrictions, like animal scenes, landscapes, construction equipment, or maps.
Toy drones
These flying toys offer a fun play experience for older kids and can encourage children’s interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Thanks to rapidly advancing technology, the toy drones market is growing exponentially, making this a potentially lucrative niche to enter. Experts from Future Market Insights predict that the market will grow from $323.8 million to $766.5 million between 2025 and 2035.
Just make sure you and your supplier comply with any applicable regulations surrounding the shipping of electronics or toys that may contain batteries.
Coloring books
If you run a business with an existing visual theme, coloring books can be a seamless integration into your brand identity. For instance, if you run an ecommerce store that prominently features wildlife, you could dropship coloring books that depict jungle animals, zoo animals, farm animals, forest animals, and so on.
Like puzzles, coloring books require relatively fewer resources to create, store, and ship, translating to potentially higher profit margins for you and your manufacturer or wholesaler. They are also easy to customize, such as through a print-on-demand service.
Puppets
Similar to stuffed animals, puppets and marionettes are highly interactive toys that allow for a wide product selection and even customization. For example, you could let customers choose the color of a puppet’s outfit. As these toys can be very expressive, try to create product listings that show the personality of each puppet in addition to its unique characteristics.
Robotic toys
If you want to start dropshipping toys, robotic toys may seem intimidating, but they are actually well suited for this business model as long as you work with a trustworthy supplier who complies with all regulations around shipping electronics. While a conventional toy store may be left with unsold inventory in a category that features constantly evolving technology, a dropshipping business can quickly market and sell toys like these to its customers before the next trend arrives.
Sports toys
If you’re looking for winning products for your dropshipping store, the sports toys product category might be your perfect niche. This category can be quite broad, covering everything from baseball equipment to a football table game.
If you’re looking to reach parents who buy toys for their athletic kids, think about which sports they might want to see their children play or enjoy alongside their children. Just steer clear of using professional sports teams’ logos, as this could lead to legal issues.
Electronics for learning
If you’re looking to dropship wholesale toys, you may not immediately think of electronics. However, there are plenty of non-branded educational electronic toys to choose from. Offer pre-existing, off-the-shelf electronics, or program them with your own educational material for effortless integration with your brand.
Keep in mind, electronics are riskier to ship than, say, wooden blocks. Ensure your supplier complies with all regulations surrounding the shipping of electronics and offers several shipping options—including fast shipping—to avoid heat-sensitive electronics sitting on a hot loading dock for too long.
Kitchen sets
Kitchen toys are classic products that allow children to imitate the world they live in. From a dropshipper’s perspective, this category allows for some creative aesthetic control and the ability to establish a distinct brand identity. For instance, you could eschew brightly colored plastic kitchen toys for a set of wooden, artisanal-looking kitchen toys that appeal to parents seeking Montessori-style play items.
Dropship toys FAQ
Is dropshipping toys popular?
Dropshipping continues to be a popular business model in the ecommerce space, and toys represent one broad product category within that space. Though it’s hard to say if dropshipping toys is more popular than other categories, it does allow dropshippers to find (or create) a niche with enough broad appeal to remain profitable.
What is the most profitable item to dropship?
Profitability in dropshipping is all about finding trustworthy dropshipping suppliers to create quality goods for cheap, then properly marketing those products to the right audience. Establishing a reputable online store and striving for quality products will result in customer satisfaction. So instead of searching for the single most profitable item, it may be wiser to set up a well-run company with a sensible niche.
Can you make $1,000 a month dropshipping?
There is no real limit to your profit as a dropshipper, as it will depend on your ability to read market trends, advertise effectively, maintain a relationship with reputable suppliers and manufacturers, and carve out a niche. Your income ultimately will depend on your success in these categories, and on how active you are at running the company—some dropshippers treat their business as a side hustle, while others commit themselves full time.
