In this write-up, I’ll provide tips and guide you through finding the Best Dropshipping Suppliers on AliExpress.
If you dropship with AliExpress, you must work with fast and reliable dropshipping suppliers from whom you’d source products.
The question is, how do you know which AliExpress suppliers are best?
Read this post to learn what to look for in a supplier and to compare suppliers during the dropshipping product research phase.
When you launch an online dropshipping store, you’ll import and sell products from suppliers on AliExpress.
So, how do you tell which products will be of high quality and reach your customers asap?
Well, all that hinges on the reliability of your supplier.
Herein, you’ll find tried & tested methods used in finding reliable suppliers on AliExpress.
The essence of this article is to help you:
- Know how to navigate AliExpress in finding the best suppliers for your product
- What to look for when reading reviews to evaluate the supplier
- What you need to ask your supplier before dropshipping their product
Are you set to get started? Read on.
But before we proceed with the list, I want to ensure we understand each other regarding dropshipping.
Dropshipping counts among the easiest ways to start an online business. With this business model, you won’t need to buy tons of inventory for your eCommerce store.
Instead, you’ll only order products when your customers place orders. Your suppliers then ship your orders to your customers.
As such, you can sell all across the globe. But to succeed, you’ll need constant learning.
Dropshipping is a low-risk business model since you won’t need any inventory to launch. Through Oberlo, you can import any product from AliExpress into your Shopify store and start selling immediately.
Often, several suppliers carry similar products. The question begs, “Which suppliers should you work with?” Although many suppliers have proved highly reliable, some should be avoided at all costs.
As a store owner, you must conduct due diligence concerning suppliers’ trustworthiness. But do not worry—we’re about to reveal strategies.
Table of Contents
Best Dropshipping Suppliers On AliExpress using Oberlo Chrome Extension.
The few methods I’ll share today will help you pick dependable suppliers on AliExpress. But first, ensure that you install the free Oberlo Chrome Extension.
Installing the Oberlo Chrome extension will enable us to see each supplier’s processing times and ePacket delivery options. We’ll delve into this later.
Now, let’s get straight to AliExpress itself. In this instance, we’ll simulate dropshipping Phone Cases to demonstrate how to find the best suppliers.
First, go to AliExpress. In the search bar, key in the product you’re looking for, in our case, Phone Cases.
Once you’ve entered your search term, AliExpress displays all products related to your keywords.
First, click the grid icon on the right to show all the products in a grid format instead of a list.
It makes it easier to browse through your options. If you hover the cursor over a product, a hyperlinked name—the supplier—appears at the bottom.
You will benefit significantly as a merchant because you’ll find similar products from multiple AliExpress suppliers.
With many AliExpress suppliers carrying the same products, you can choose which supplier to liaise with.
Best Dropshipping Suppliers On AliExpress: Order Quantity
While searching for a trustworthy supplier on AliExpress, it’s imperative that you first examine the order quantity. The number represents orders the supplier has received for a particular product.
The order quantity figure is in the parenthesis next to the word orders.
It’s crucial that the supplier actively sells and ships the product. You don’t need any specific order quantity as a basis.
Besides, waiting for the product to reach hundreds of orders might prevent you from taking advantage of a new trend.
Again, a supplier doesn’t necessarily become unreliable because a product lacks orders or reviews. Perhaps it’s a new product.
However, with many suppliers on AliExpress, you can feel at ease choosing those who have demonstrated the capacity to sell and ship their products.
Even more importantly, I must warn you about one stumbling block: newbie drop shippers trip on often. They see a large order quantity and quickly interpret that the product is too saturated to sell.
On the contrary, a large order quantity indicates product demand and a market.
Competition makes for a sound cue. In the following section, we’ll examine the next thing to look for when researching AliExpress suppliers. Read on.
Best Dropshipping Suppliers On AliExpress: ePacket shipping
ePacket delivery is an affordable and fast shipping option from China. ePacket qualifies as the most economical shipping option and a dropshipping requisite.
With the ePacket shipping option, suppliers can ship to customers in over 40 countries within 12-25 days.
All orders shipped through ePacket delivery come with free tracking.
Hit the Oberlo icon in your Chrome extension bar to conveniently access shipping options.
Ensure you turn on Show shipping info in the first drop-down menu, then select ePacket shipping.
In the second menu, select the country you sell to, and in the third menu, choose the currency you want to have AliExpress search results displayed.
Also, turn on showing processing times. Without this option, we’ll turn off hiding items.
You can turn that option on once when you start researching a product.
The Oberlo chrome extension highlighted products with ePacket in green and the processing times at the bottom.
Let’s consider this information. The shipping fees might vary slightly depending on the package’s destination.
Nevertheless, it would be best to dropship products only if they have ePacket available and outlined in green.
Avoid other shipping options that are expensive and may even come without tracking.
Product Processing Time
At the bottom, you’ll find the supplier’s listed processing time. Processing time is the time the supplier takes to receive, package, and ship the order.
Processing time is neither the shipping time nor is it included in the average shipping time.
To determine how long it will take for clients to receive their orders after placing them, you’ll need to add processing times to shipping times.
Processing times often take 2-7 days. It would be best not to dropship products with longer processing times.
Exemplar: A Template to Choosing a Supplier
Let’s now make all the theories practical. Say I want to dropship the chic Phone Cases being sold by two suppliers. How do I compare them?
How do the 2 Phone Cases Compare?
The order quantity is the first consideration. I’ve already mentioned that you must choose a supplier who actively sells and ships products.
Okay, there’s no magic minimum order quantity to consider.
However, a reasonable order quantity of about 100 is a good number. Both Phone Cases check out so far.
The first Phone Case has over 12715 orders, and the second has 7404 orders.
The second factor is whether the ePacket shipping option is available for both Phone Cases.
If I toggle at the shipping options and click on the small drop-down icon, I can see that ePacket is available as a separate option.
Also, the ePacket is available for the first Phone Case, and customers in the US get free delivery with the ePacket shipping option.
The next thing to look at is the processing times.
You’ll see the estimated delivery time when you’re on the AliExpress supplier’s product page.
The estimated delivery time encompasses the shipping time and processing times.
This model estimates that the first Phone Case will be delivered in 33 days. Suppose you toggle the cursor over the question mark icon.
In that case, AliExpress clarifies that if you pay for the order today, your order will arrive within the projected delivery time.
That is the 25-day factor in the processing and shipping times to the US. The second Phone Case’s probable delivery time is also 25 days.
Product Reviews
Now that everything has been checked out for both phone cases let’s check the product reviews.
You’ll find reviews on AliExpress from real customers who make purchases on AliExpress.
The reviews project customers’ concerns about quality shipping and communication.
The reviews the clients leave for a product serve as genuine feedback about their experience with the product and the supplier.
The reviews can help you compare suppliers. Now, let’s use the reviews as an example.
Take our 1st Phone Case, for instance. When on the product page, scroll down and hit.
Feedback: In our case, the product has an average rating of 5 stars, an important indicator.
Next, I want to examine what customers say about this product. There are four random comments, both of which affirm that the Phone Case arrived within 33 days.
That’s fantastic because it proves the supplier processes and ships orders fast.
The second Phone Case reviews also look favorable, given the positive feedback about the quality and the pictures the customers took to show the product quality.
Let’s compare the 1st Phone Case vis-à-vis the 2nd One to determine which supplier to work with.
I’ll also scroll down on the second Phone Cases product page and click feedback.
The second Phone Case has an average feedback score of 6 stars. Let’s look at the comments. I’m looking for comments that address the quality of the product or shipping times.
Here, we find both phone cases and get a comment from the customer who is taking photos about the high quality of the phone cases.
The other comment comes from customers based in the US who say they received the Phone Case within 2 weeks.
That is a terrific processing and shipping time, and you’d want your customers in the US to have that experience.
So far, the reviews for both Phone Cases indicate that the supplier sells high-quality products and ships them as soon as possible.
So how do I choose?
The next section will discuss another strategy for reviewing suppliers: the AliExpress rating.
AliExpress Customer Ratings.
Much like you’ll use AliExpress to dropship, some folks on AliExpress come to shop for themselves.
Whenever they purchase a product, AliExpress requests that they rate the supplier based on the item’s timely arrival, whether it was easy to communicate with the supplier, and whether the product matched the description.
AliExpress then averages the ratings and lists the ratings for each supplier. The ratings encompass feedback from all the products the suppliers sold.
The ratings offer in-depth insights beyond reviews from the product you look to dropship.
Again, let’s compare the two suppliers’ ratings and determine which stands out.
Scroll up and look for the suppliers’ name under the AliExpress logo. Toggle your cursor over the name, and a pop-up with the supplier review info will appear.
The supplier of the 1st Phone Cases poses 97% positive feedback. The fact that the supplier has an average rating of 4.8 in all categories from customers is very refreshing.
The supplier has been listed on AliExpress for five months, give or take. Okay, that’s not long, but reviewing the reviews points to a supplier who’s mastered their craft. Of note is the information to the right of the rating.
Here, AliExpress shows whether the rating scores above or below the average.
In our case, the 1st Phone Case supplier’s score counts above-average ratings in all categories.
Armed with this stat, we can now compare the ratings of the second Phone Case supplier. I’ll scroll up, then toggle the cursor over the supplier’s name.
The supplier scores a 92% rating, contrasting the 1st Phone Case supplier’s 97% positive feedback.
Equally, the ratings for their description, shipping speed, and communication all fall below the average, with the shipping speed lagging the rest at 4.4 ratings.
This is a problem because you want your customers to get their orders asap.
Although the reviews for both Phone Case suppliers are similarly positive, the reviews for both suppliers contrast. As such, it’s best to source products from the first supplier, who has a 100% rating and inspires confidence.
Suppliers’ Communique Capacity
We’re almost at the tail-end of your research. You can rest easy. Now, it’s at this juncture that you put your suppliers’ communication skills to the test.
When you hover the cursor over the suppliers’ name, you’ll see a Contact Now button at the bottom left corner.
Click on the button to send a message directly to the supplier. It would help to understand how well the supplier responds to inquiries should you have questions or if anything else goes amiss.
The last thing you want is a customer who contacts you with an issue only to learn that your supplier doesn’t respond to emails.
It might puzzle you what to ask them, although as the seller of the product they carry, expect the supplier to vouch for their product; I mean, it goes without saying, right?
And that’s fine because you’ve already sifted through the reviews from other customers.
If that’s the case, asking them whether they allow dropshipping with their products is prudent.
Some suppliers address this question in the product descriptions, whereas others do not.
It would be best to ask since some suppliers won’t allow dropshipping with their products. How would they know?
You ask. Whenever you place an order with the supplier, they’ll notice that you have the same billing address but invariably change the shipping address to match your customers’ shipping addresses.
Even seasoned dropshippers testify that it’s better to know beforehand whether the supplier allows dropshipping with their merchandise because you can decide to sell mainstream wear before asking the supplier if you can drop ship products.
You even run Facebook ads, and then you start receiving customer orders.
But when you place those orders with a supplier, they all get. Therefore, you must always ask if your suppliers allow dropshipping.
Contacting your supplier also allows you to test how swiftly the supplier responds to your inquiries.
It would help if you could be assured that an issue would arise in the future and that they’d react quickly.
Order a Sample
Order a sample—yes, you read that right. This strategy helps bolster confidence before you sell the supplier’s product.
Ordering a sample will require you to buy the product and wait for delivery.
However, this tactic is among the best as it creates an opportunity to verify your product and supplier. When you order a sample, you experience how long shipping takes.
You can also see the product quality and weigh whether or not it’s at par. You can also see the quality of the packaging and check whether your products arrive in good condition.
Here’s an added benefit of dropshipping: You can take photos and videos of sample products and use them for the website’s content or Facebook ads.
Best Dropshipping Suppliers: Conclusion
I appreciate your ecstasy about hitting the ground running at this juncture, but there’s more to it. You’re launching a business that requires constant learning.
If you’re earnest about succeeding in starting a business, then ordering a sample is necessary.
Now, I’d like to know if there’s anything I didn’t mention. What are your tactics for finding the best suppliers to liaise with?
I’d love to hear from you. Drop your strategies in the comments below, and I’ll contribute my thoughts. Hit the share and like buttons.
Thanks for your readership. I must let you know that your constant support is appreciated until next time. Meanwhile, continually learn, market better, and sell more.
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