Sick and tired of long shipping times, refunds, chargebacks, poor quality products, and one-star reviews? Then maybe it’s time to stop using AliExpress, huh? Here are some alternative dropshipping companies that offer faster shipping, premium products, better communication, and potentially even lower costs. All of which could give you a serious competitive advantage. Or maybe by the end of this page you decide drop shipping isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. That’s okay too. I gotcha.
NEXT: Compare This To Drop Shipping
First, something a lot of beginner drop shippers don’t realize, is with AliExpress? Every time your store gets a sale, you have to go over to AliExpress and manually enter in each customer’s information. Not a big deal when you’re getting an order or two a week, but imagine getting fifteen orders a day. It’s a pain. Which brings us to AliExpress alternative number one: Spocket. You can download their app straight to your Shopify store and they’ll sync every order that comes in, allowing you to fulfill with one click.
In addition, Spocket’s got suppliers in the U.S. and Europe, which makes shipping way faster. In general, you’ll find better products at better prices on Spocket as well. The end result should be happier customers that come back and buy again and tell others and leave you five-star reviews. And you still get that amazing dropshipping benefit of not having to come outta pocket and order a bunch of inventory before you know if a product’s even gonna sell or not, right?
AliExpress alternative number two for drop shippers? Is using a sourcing agent. Meaning, an individual or a small group of people that have connections with manufacturers and suppliers. They’ll shop around for you to find superior products at discounted prices, with the quickest shipping times possible. Not only that but they’ll ensure you’re reimbursed for anything that’s lost or that shows up to the customer damaged. Think of ’em as your agent, and you’re the pro player, right? They’re there to make life easier.
Question is: How do you find sourcing agents? Well, you can do a Google search, you can join forums and Facebook groups, you can even find sourcing agents on Fiverr, believe it or not. Tell ’em you’re shopping around for a new sourcing agent and you wanna see who’s got the best prices. Don’t come across as desperate; you want them to be competitive. And then, when they do give you a price, try to negotiate it down a little. A) it’s just good business, and B) every percent counts with dropshipping margins, right?
AliExpress alternative number three could get ya two day (yes two day) shipping. So what is it? It’s working with a 3PL (aka third party logistics) company like ShipBob, ShipMonk, or Red Stag. But how do they get your drop shipped products to people’s doorsteps so fast? By sprinkling factories all over and then fulfilling each order in the one that’s closest to the customer. Basically, what Amazon does. Whereas, with AliExpress, everything’s coming (usually by some slow-moving barge) all the way from China. In today’s microwave society, that ain’t gonna cut it.
There’s a catch to this last method though. You have to commit to a certain amount of inventory with 3PL companies. Maybe it’s a thousand units, maybe it’s five thousand, maybe it’s ten. So you better be sure you’re gonna be able to sell it before you go this route. That’s why it’s important to test, using something like Spocket first, and then only consider ShipBob (or whatever) when you’re ready to go all in. Or skip all the dropshipping headaches entirely and click below.
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