Dropshipping is a very successful business, and there are a lot of apps that can help you get your online store up and running.
Oberlo is the most well-known of them. It is a Shopify dropshipping plugin that business owners from all over the world are interested in.
But if you didn’t already know, the Oberlo dropshipping app has been removed from the Shopify App Store and will stop working on June 15, 2022.
Now, it makes sense that Oberlo users are looking for a different service. Shopify says that the best thing to do is switch to DSers.
Because of this, DSers vs. Oberlo has become a very hot topic of discussion.
If you, too, want to know how the two tools compare, keep reading because this guide has all the information you need.
So let’s start right away!
Overview of Oberlo
Shopify bought Oberlo in 2017 because it is an app for drop shipping.
It lets you find products on AliExpress and add them directly to your Shopify store. It also lets you fulfill orders.
Because of this, most dropshippers around the world chose Oberlo as their app of choice.
But that is about to change. A new statement from Shopify says that the Oberlo app will stop working on June 15, 2022.
The tool will also be taken off the Shopify App Store on May 12, 2022. This means that new users will not be able to use it.
It’s still not clear what the exact reason is for stopping it. Even so, Oberlo did put out a statement on its blog that says:
“This product deprecation, which happens all the time, is done to give merchants the best ways to reach their customers no matter where they are.”
When you think about all of this, it’s not surprising that Oberlo users are now looking for other options.
Pros of Oberlo
Easy Product Customizations: You can easily change the details of the products you import, such as their descriptions, titles, and images, to make them fit with the voice of your store.
Automated Inventory Updates: Your inventory is automatically updated, so you don’t have to check reports by hand or worry that a customer will order a product that is out of stock.
Global Optimization: It works well for people from all over the world because it works with many languages and currencies.
It’s easy to import products. With just a few clicks, you can import products from AliExpress to your Shopify store.
Modern and friendly user interface: UI that is polished, easy to use, and intuitive, and a modern dashboard.
Cons of Oberlo
Works only with Shopify. Oberlo is a plugin that only works with Shopify. You can’t use it with other platforms like WooCommerce.
Shipment tracking and bulk orders aren’t part of the free plan, and there are other restrictions as well.
You can only import products from AliExpress.
Overview of DSers
DSers is another SaaS tool that can help you dropship better from AliExpress.
Like its former competitor, DSers can be connected to Shopify and comes with a Chrome extension that makes it easy to import products.
The great thing about DSers is that it is the official dropshipping solution for AliExpress, so it works really well with the suppliers.
Over the years, the number of DSers has grown a lot.
This is because it automatically fills orders, which can save you more than 95% of your time.
Now that Oberlo is out of the way, DSers is sure to get more attention, especially since Shopify officially recommends it.
Pros of DSers
Fast Order Processing: DSers say that the app’s advanced automation can save you up to 96.7% of your time in order processing and fulfillment.
Easy Store Management: It’s easy to run more than one store and finish tasks with just a few clicks.
Cost-effective: There are 4 plans, and one of them is free, so you can choose based on your budget.
Shipment tracking lets you keep your customers up to date on the status of every delivery and every step of order fulfillment.
Multiple Platforms Supported – It works with WooCommerce, Shopify, and Wix, among others.
Cons of DSers
User interface (UI) that is hard to use for beginners: The UI could be made easier to use for beginners.
No Bulk Edits: You can’t change the details of more than one product at once.
DSers vs. Oberlo – Comparison by Features
Both DSers and Oberlo have different tools that make dropshipping easier. But how do they compare to one another? Let’s compare all of their features in more depth.
Finding Suppliers and Products
Finding a supplier and looking for products to sell are two of the most important parts of starting a dropshipping store. So let’s start by talking about how these tools make it easier to do these things.
DSers
Finding great products on AliExpress is now easier than ever thanks to DSers.
All you have to do is copy the product’s URL and paste it into the Supplier Optimization Tool. When you press “Enter,” you’ll see a list of all the places that sell the same product.
You can also use different filters to sort the products based on the rating of the supplier, how long it takes to ship, the price, and a lot more.
You can also use the Supplier Optimization Tool to find a better deal, especially if your product doesn’t come from an AliExpress seller.
Oberlo
Oberlo didn’t have a Supplier Optimization Tool like DSers did, which was a shame.
It did, however, give you a list of the hottest and most popular items.
It also has a huge number of filtering options that you can use to find the best products to sell more of.
The Verdict
There’s no doubt that Oberlo has great suggestions and can help you find products that are in style. But it doesn’t have the Supplier Optimization Tool that DSers does, which gives DSers the edge when it comes to finding suppliers and products.
Importing and Automation
An important part of running an eCommerce business is automating tasks. It saves you a lot of time and work, which you can put toward other parts of your business. Let’s see which automation tool is better:
DSers
DSers is a great way to find products, but it’s also a great way to import them. You only need to click the “Import” button.
You can also easily change the title, description, and image of a product while importing it so that it doesn’t look the same as the listing on AliExpress.
Also, we recommend making these changes because the descriptions on AliExpress aren’t always written in a way that is good for SEO or has correct grammar.
Variant mapping is another option that lets you work with more than one supplier to sell different versions of the same product.
The best thing about DSers is that you can set up pricing rules so that you don’t have to set prices by hand every time.
For example, you can set the markup on each product to be 20%, and the prices of your imported products will automatically reflect that.
Also, we know how annoying it can be to enter each customer’s information separately when placing an order on AliExpress.
Because DSers automates the order fulfillment process, you don’t have to worry about that either. If you want to fill more than one order, the tool also has tools to help you with bulk orders.
You would only have to think about making the payment.
Oberlo
Oberlo offers pretty much the same features as DSers while importing products – so there’s nothing much to compare here.
You can change a product’s description, image, and title, and you can also fill a lot of orders from AliExpress without having to enter each customer’s information by hand.
And like its competitor, Oberlo can automatically change the prices of your products based on the rules you set for pricing.
The Verdict
Since DSers has a lot of the same features as Oberlo, you wouldn’t have to worry much about importing and automation if you switched to it.
Inventory Management
As your store grows, it can be hard to keep track of and update the stock. So, here are some features that the two dropshipping solutions offer to help you do it.
DSers
You no longer have to update your inventory or make inventory reports by hand.
DSers sync tracking numbers with your inventory so that you can keep track of where your orders are in the shipping process and your stock is always up to date.
This is important because it keeps you from getting orders on AliExpress for items that you don’t have in stock.
If you don’t, if a customer places an order, you’ll have to go through the trouble of giving them their money back, and the customer will be unhappy.
Oberlo
In this way, Oberlo and DSers are pretty similar, since Oberlo also automatically updates your Shopify inventory.
But if you want to track your shipment, you’ll need to choose the paid version.
Overall, Oberlo users didn’t have to worry about selling a product that was out of stock either.
The Verdict
Both tools are about the same when it comes to managing inventory, so you won’t have any trouble getting used to DSers here.
Integrations and Extensions
In this section, we’ll talk about how many platforms DSers and Oberlo can work with and what kind of add-ons they have.
DSers
Through its DSers-AliExpress Dropshipping app, DSers can be connected to your Wix and WooCommerce stores as well as Shopify.
People often use DSers’ Chrome plugin with their Shopify stores to make things easier. The chrome extension makes it easier to do the following:
Order tracking
Finding products on AliExpress
Bringing in goods from AliExpress
Oberlo
Oberlo is an app that can only be used with Shopify. Most of you probably already know this. So you can’t use the app if you’re dropshipping on WooCommerce or any other platform.
Oberlo also has a Chrome extension that works with its app. It does the same things that the DSers Chrome extension does.
The Verdict
Both apps have extensions for Chrome that are mostly the same. But unlike Oberlo, DSers can be connected to more than one platform, and it is the official eCommerce solution for AliExpress, so it wins this round.
Pricing Structure
Let’s talk about how DSers and Oberlo set their prices and figure out which one gives the best value for money.
DSers
You can choose from one of DSers’ four plans based on your needs and budget. One is free, and the other three cost money every month. Here’s a quick rundown of how much they cost and what they offer:
Free: You can add up to 3,000 products and use most of the features, such as tracking orders, placing bulk orders, and having orders automatically filled. The plan doesn’t include automatic inventory updates, and it only lets you store 3 items.
Advanced: $19.9: You can add up to 20,000 products, get automatic inventory updates, and increase the number of stores you can have to 10.
Pro: For $49.9, you can add up to 75,000 products and have up to 25 stores.
Enterprise – $499: You can add up to 100,000 products and have up to 50 stores.
Note: On the DSers pricing page, you can learn more about the features that come with each plan.
Oberlo
Oberlo’s pricing is easier to understand, with one free plan and two paid plans that come out every month. Let’s take a quick look at what they have to offer:
It’s free, and you can add up to 500 products and take two courses. Features like shipment tracking and bulk orders aren’t included.
Grad – $7.90: Includes unlimited courses, a weekly discussion forum for members, and reports on the most popular products, but you can only add 500 products.
Boss – $29.90: Add up to 30,000 products and access all features of Oberlo like variant mapping, shipment tracking, bulk orders, and much more.
The Verdict
The free plan that Oberlo offers doesn’t look as good as the one that DSers has. It also doesn’t have important features like tracking shipments and ordering in bulk, which makes DSers the better choice in terms of price.
DSers | Oberlo | |
| Suppliers and Products | Has the Supplier Optimization Tool to get a list of suppliers selling your desired product. | Gives you access to a list of the trendiest and hottest products. |
| Importing and Automation | Offers many import and automation options like variant mapping, pricing rules, bulk orders, order fulfillment, and much more. | Also offers the same importing and automation features as Oberlo. |
| Inventory Management | Tracks shipment and automatically updates inventory. | Automatic inventory updates and shipment tracking are not included in the free plan. |
| Integrations and Extensions | Can be integrated with Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and a few other platforms. | Only integrates with Shopify. |
| Pricing Structure | Three paid plans and one free that offer features like bulk orders. | Two paid plans and one free which doesn’t offer too many features. |
How to Migrate from Oberlo to DSers?
Let’s go over a few simple steps for moving from Oberlo to DSers. Keep in mind that once the migration starts, both your DSers and Oberlo accounts will be locked, so make sure you do it at the right time.
Install the DSers app on your Shopify store and sign-up for it if you haven’t already.
Go to the homepage of Oberlo and click “MOVE TO DSERS NOW.”
Use the DSers migration menu to set up how you want your data to be moved.
You can choose when to start the migration. You can do it right away or put it in a queue for later.
Start the migration, it can take a few minutes to hours depending on the size of your data.
Once you’ve migrated, you’ll be redirected to the DSers dashboard, so congratulations!
If you still don’t understand, you can read the official migration guide for DSers to learn more.
Is DSers the Best Oberlo Alternative for Your Dropshipping Store?
Yes, DSers is one of the best Oberlo alternatives. Not only does Shopify recommend it, but it also has most of the same features and a much better free plan and tool for finding suppliers and products.
Best Oberlo Alternatives
There are other apps like Oberlo besides DSers. There are a lot of other apps and services that can make dropshipping easier, so let’s talk about a few of them.
Spocket
Spocket is becoming more and more popular among dropshippers because it has one of the largest selections of products. Spocket doesn’t just work with AliExpress suppliers, which is why this is the case.
WooDropship
If you use WooCommerce for dropshipping, you can’t use Oberlo. But don’t worry, because WooDropship is a great WordPress plugin that you can use to sell AliExpress items in your store.
You can change product details with this plugin, and it also has a number of other features. Plus, you can save even more time by using its Chrome extension.
Importify
Looking for the hottest things to dropship? Well, Importify can help you with your search. It’s a popular dropshipping app that lets you import products from AliExpress, Banggood, Taobao, and many other sites.
CJDropshipping
CJDropshipping is another reputable dropshipping company that handles orders, finds products, and ships them. It’s like a mix of Oberlo and AliExpress because dropshippers can put the products they find on CJ in their stores.
FAQs about DSers vs. Oberlo
What to Do as an Oberlo User After the Shutdown?
After Oberlo shuts down, you can still use a lot of other apps. DSers is the alternative that Shopify officially recommends.
You can use their migration tool to move your Oberlo data to DSers automatically.
If you don’t want to use DSers, you can move your data to any other dropshipping app manually.
Does DSers Work with eBay?
Yes, DSers works with eBay, and many people think it’s one of the best ways to start dropshipping on eBay.
To get started, export to a CSV file the orders that your customers have placed on eBay.
Then, just use the CSV Bulk Order feature on DSers to import the CSV file, and you can use DSers with eBay.
What Is the Main Difference Between Oberlo and DSers?
The biggest difference between Oberlo and DSers is that Oberlo only works with Shopify, while DSers can be connected to several other platforms.
It’s also important to note that DSers’ free plan has more features than its former competitor’s free plan.
Summary
When eCommerce business owners and entrepreneurs heard that Oberlo was closing down, it was a big surprise.
Even though there wasn’t a clear reason given, it looks like the Oberlo team has no plans to back down for now.
So, if you want a quick alternative, you can easily move your data to DSers.
When we look at the two dropshipping apps side by side, we don’t see much difference.
In fact, DSers may be a better choice, especially if you are on a tight budget, because its free plan has more features.
But you don’t have to use DSers, especially if you don’t like them.
