A lot of people want to start a dropshipping business. But their lack of knowledge is the only thing that keeps them from reaching their goal. Whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned pro, dropshipping might make you feel confused.
So, we’ve put together this complete guide to help you get started. If you are new to AliExpress dropshipping and have a lot of doubts about your chances of success, this guide will change your mind.
Dropshipping – What Is It?
You may already know about the dropshipping business, but you may still want to know what it is and how it works.
Dropshipping is a type of e-commerce business in which a trader sells different products that he or she does not keep in stock. This is the simplest way to explain it. Also, with this kind of business, the products are sent out directly by the supplier or manufacturer. Simply put, you buy things from one place and ask the seller to send them to another.
How does dropshipping work?
This business model is based on an agreement between the person selling the product and the person making the product. The seller sets the price or negotiates it, and after the sale, he gives the agreed-upon amount to the manufacturer.
In this way, both parties get something out of it. The online store can focus on marketing and selling the product while the supplier takes care of making and sending it.
So, in most cases, this agreement and the way the business works as a whole are good for everyone. The dropshipping business model is good for the seller in many ways.
What Is AliExpress?
AliExpress was first opened by Alibaba Group in 2010. This online shopping service from China got very popular very quickly.
Small businesses make up the AliExpress platform. It lets you buy different things at prices you can afford. Aliexpress is a place where you can buy all sorts of things, from clothes to electronics and much more.
AliExpress is an excellent place to start if you want to start a dropshipping business. As a dropshipper, you can feel safe and protected because this platform is always getting better.
AliExpress – History and Present Situation
It might not be wrong to say that 2010 was an important year for dropshipping. AliExpress was started by Alibaba in 2010, and it made everything much easier and cheaper for people who wanted to start a dropshipping business.
Even though dropshipping has been around for ten years, it is still more popular than it was before. Dropshipping is a business that anyone can start, and AliExpress makes it pretty easy.
In 2022, the dropshipping business is still making money. But if you think you can be successful without doing anything, you might be wrong.
Starting a new online business is hard, so it’s important to make the right choices.
Is AliExpress the best place for a dropshipping business? Will Aliexpress have the trendy items you need, and can you trust this site? We know you have a lot of questions, so here are the right answers.
AliExpress Dropshipping
With AliExpress, it’s pretty simple and easy to start a dropshipping business. You only need a few clicks to add AliExpress items to your online store. Also, you don’t have to take care of the supply chain, which includes making the product, managing the warehouse, filling orders, and getting them to the customer.
You set the price, and when you get an order, your supplier sends the goods directly to your buyer.
Is Aliexpress an Ideal Option for You?
You need to know both the pros and cons of AliExpress before you can decide if it is the best choice for you. AliExpress is a popular platform, but not everything is perfect there. There are, however, a lot of good things about it.
In the next part of this guide, we’ll talk about the pros and cons of Aliexpress.
Advantages of Dropshipping With AliExpress
Aliexpress is a good choice for dropshippers for a number of reasons. The benefits of running a business this way are huge. You don’t need a warehouse, and you mostly only have to worry about marketing and growing your brand.
If you are an American or European business owner, AliExpress makes it easy to find products you like and start selling them. After you sell the products, you pay the wholesale price and the sellers on AliExpress ship them. That’s all you have to worry about while doing all of this.
We have picked out the six most important benefits of AliExpress dropshipping.
Very low costs to start up
A dropshipping business can be started with a few hundred dollars a year. You have to buy a domain name and pay for hosting, but that’s all you have to spend at first. You don’t have to worry about rent, space leases, or where to store your inventory.
Minimal Risk
AliExpress dropshipping is great because there isn’t much risk involved. You only pay for the items you sell, so if they don’t do as well as you thought, you can always switch them out. You will never have too many things and not know what to do with them. If you try to start a business with AliExpress, you don’t have much to lose.
You can work from anywhere.
It’s like a dream come true for a lot of people. You can run your business from anywhere in the world. All you need is a computer and a stable connection to the internet. You can work from the mountain or from your house.
With AliExpress Dropshipping, you can work from anywhere.
No Stockpile
Don’t worry about storage, product packaging, or the supplies that are still left. You don’t have to think about it at all with AliExpress dropshipping.
Low costs for businesses
You would have to pay other people to work for you if you had a store. You’d have to pay bills, rent, salaries, etc. But if you use AliExpress dropshipping, you already have everything you need on your computer. You can always find a virtual assistant to help you if you need help.
You can sell as many items as you want.
If you’re just starting out, make more categories with a wide range of products. You can put as many items in your store as you want. Find out what sells well and what doesn’t so you can put more effort into the things that do well.
Disadvantages of Dropshipping With AliExpress
Here are some of the most important problems you might face when dropshipping with AliExpress.
A lot of competition
You would be wrong to think that drop shipping is a new way to do business. It has been around for a long time. In this business, no matter what niche you choose, you will have a lot of competition.
Low prices are a plus, but they can also hurt you when it comes to competing. How can you make your products and brand stand out? Many drop shippers don’t work on building their brand, so if you work harder than them, you’ll pass them quickly.
Not being in charge
You will have to depend on suppliers for everything, from the goods to getting them to you. You won’t be able to control them, so the delivery time, the quality of the packaging, and your product will depend on the supplier.
If you don’t choose the right supplier, the customer won’t know that it’s not your fault, which can ruin your business.
Shipping Time
When you buy something from AliExpress, it comes from China, so you can’t be sure when it will get to you. The goods might not get to the buyer for a week or even a month.
Shipping options like DHL and FedEx are much faster, but they cost a lot more than other options.
Margin-of-Profit Losses
If there is too much competition, the price of your product will go up or down. Don’t try to sell a cheap product for a lot of money, because customers will always compare your products to those of your competitors.
If you make a big difference in price, the sale won’t happen. You don’t need to charge a lot because you can always sell a lot of products and make money even with low profit margins.
Hard to get a refund or return
If the customer isn’t happy with the product and wants a refund, you will have to send it back to the supplier in China.
Don’t expect to be able to talk to a supplier in a smooth and easy way, mostly because of the language barrier. Getting in touch with a supplier could be hard, but you’ll have to take that risk on your own.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Start Dropshipping with AliExpress?
Follow a few steps to get started with dropshipping on AliExpress. Here is a step-by-step guide that tells you everything you need to know to get started.
AliExpress lets you choose your niche.
What do you do for fun? What do you really like? If you focus on things you already know a lot about, it will be easier to find your perfect niche on Aliexpress.
For example, we don’t think you should start selling computer science, information technology (IT), or cell phones if you don’t know anything about them. It’s best to choose niches and topics that are interesting to you and that you feel comfortable working with, especially for the long term.
It’s great if you can try out the products you’re going to sell before you put them on the market. This way, you can find out more about the products and choose the ones that meet your minimum requirements. Or, if you want to sell a product no matter what it is made of, at least do it on purpose.
In the same way, it will help you give the customer more information than the dropshipper supplier gives you (which is ultimately very similar to your competition). It adds something of value that possible customers will like.
There is no perfect item for dropshipping. Don’t try to find a cheap product that you can quickly sell for a high price to customers in order to get the biggest piece of the cake. In either case, you need to spend time coming up with effective ways to sell products and make contributions that add value.
AliExpress is a good place to find a reliable seller.
As important as it is to choose the right niche, it can be hard to choose the right supplier. Here’s what you need to know about how to find and recognize suppliers you can trust.
Check the Price of the Item
Every good dropshipper should keep an eye on how much your competitors (other e-commerce websites or e-market vendors) are selling the same product for. It will help you decide whether or not you want to sell it.
After you’ve done this, do some math to figure out if you can offer a similar price and still make a profit. If you can’t do this, you should either get rid of the product or look for a different company that can sell it better.
Check the reputation of the supplier (Feedback and Ratings)
There is a rule that says it is best to buy from sellers with 95% or more positive feedback. Your supplier is a valued seller if he has more than 2000 scores. Also, find out how long the company has been in business.
Check for ePacket Delivery
AliExpress Suppliers Offer Worldwide Shipping
Choose sellers who offer the ePacket service. ePacket is a shipping option that lets merchants ship light packages in a fair and affordable way. ePacket shipping usually costs a few dollars or is free and takes less than 30 days.
Check how responsive the provider is.
How do you know that the chosen supplier will respond quickly if something goes wrong with the product or delivery? To test them, make a situation that needs to be fixed right away and see how they handle it.
Pay close attention to how they talk to you. If they don’t respond to your requests quickly and clearly, they won’t be good partners. Note the local time in China (UTC +8) before you think about how they will react.
Setting up your store for dropshipping
You’ve been waiting for this moment to set up your dropshipping store. Use one of the all-in-one e-commerce platforms to set up your online store. Shopify or WooCommerce are good choices because they are easy to use. Both platforms have their own templates and tools to help you start selling your products in the best way.
Use different tools to make your business run itself.
Use some of the tools that will help you track the order to save time and effort. You can find an email autoresponder that will send emails to your subscribers without you having to do anything.
Did you know there are tools that help you send the order to the supplier and give it a priority automatically? There are a lot of ways you can make drop shipping easier.
Advertise your dropshipping business.
When you don’t have to worry about storage and delivery, you can focus on what’s most important: sales. By giving the dropshipping business to a supplier, you’ll be able to focus on getting the most profitable traffic to your store and convincing potential customers to buy the products you’ve put so much care into making available to them.
You will be able to put money and time into your e-commerce page to get it where it needs to be.
The point of the Dropshipping sales model is to find ways to lower your average price so that you can get a customer through natural channels.
Most product-based dropshipping stores need to focus on advertising a lot. Display ads, ads on social media, mobile ads, etc. are some of the most common ways to advertise.
Make and share great content on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media sites. You can reach more possible customers by putting ads on Google and Facebook.
FAQs about AliExpress Dropshipping
Will Buyers Know If I’m Dropshipping?
If you set up a professional store on any e-commerce site, no one will suspect you of anything. Talk to your supplier and ask him not to include any advertising materials in the package of the product. You can look up the supplier’s reputation on AliExpress and see what other people have said about them.
What Payment Methods Does AliExpress Support?
When people shop on AliExpress, one of the most common questions they have is about how they can pay.
AliExpress accepts a wide range of extra payment methods, such as Webmoney, AliExpress Pocket, and Wire Transfer. But a credit card is a method that many people use.
What Are the Shipping Methods at AliExpress?
As a dropshipper, you should send products to your customers using the best shipping method. Standard Shipping and Premium Shipping are two good ways to ship items through AliExpress.
Standard shipping from AliExpress: Well, standard shipping is slow. Shipping your product to the United States can take anywhere from 19 to 39 days. But it doesn’t cost much.
AliExpress Premium Shipping: If you want a shipping method that is faster and more reliable, you can choose premium shipping. This option is more like a “premium” version of the standard shipping that AliExpress offers. But the word “premium” usually means that you have to pay more for faster service, so this option is more expensive than standard shipping.
What Is the Return/Refund Policy of AliExpress?
Many suppliers don’t offer returns or refunds, so you’ll need a plan for how to deal with customers who are upset.
If a customer complains that a product is broken, ask him to take a picture of it. Talk to your supplier, send those pictures to him, and be patient as you negotiate with both the buyer and the supplier. But if there’s nothing else you can do, give your customer a refund or a replacement to make him feel better.
Shipping with AliExpress Takes Time, Will My Buyers Wait?
Most of the time, it depends on the buyers and how well you can explain the shipping schedule to them. Setting up your store’s shipping policy and putting it in plain English on your website can make things easier. Buyers can wait as long as you give them accurate shipping times.
Final Thoughts!
If you want to start a dropshipping business, it’s a good idea to use AliExpress. You don’t have to keep goods in stock, fill orders, or have a big budget.
AliExpress gives you access to a huge number of suppliers, so you can choose the one with the best price for the best quality. So, keep looking through catalogs until you find a supplier with the best prices and best products.
Have we answered all the most important questions about AliExpress dropshipping? Are you ready to shine by opening an online store?
