One of the keys to success in E-commerce business is having the right suppliers. Dropshipping is not such an easy task as some online guru’s want you to think. There are many stories around the web when online stores fail because of the angry customers, unshipped products, and everything is because the stores where using unidentified fake suppliers. To get rid of this problem, people have created several platforms for dropshippers like you to find valuable and trustworthy suppliers for your business. As the old saying goes, keep your customers close but your suppliers closer.
However, I still recommend performing a background check on every supply you choose. As a result, you will be able to be tranquil about your business but also your customers will get their products on time. And that might lead to more customers due to the word-of-mouth marketing.
In this article, I am going to concentrate on the suppliers from AliExpress and provide wholesale dropshippers with a list of tips to make the search for the supplier easier and quicker. Keep in mind that it can be applied to any supplier searching platform.
Buy From AliExpress Suppliers Which Have At Least 95% Positive Feedback
If you choose AliExpress as your primary source of dropshipping supplies, look at their feedback score. The two main and probably most important factors in assessing a supplier are their Feedback Score and Positive Feedback Rate.
The Feedback Score shows the seller’s sales volumes and the higher the better. I recommend not choosing a supplier that has a lower volume than 2000. The Positive Feedback Rate indicates the number of positive feedback it has gotten parallel to negative. Do not aim at the suppliers that have a lower Positive Feedback Rate than 95%, unless, it is necessary.
Look at the Individual Product Feedback and Order Count
It is really important to deliver quality products to your customer’s door. Therefore, you need to consider not only the overall supplier’s score but as well as their products’ feedback score. Here you need to keep several simple rules.
First, never pick items that have low order count but high product feedback rate. It is because a small customer base is not a good sample for evaluating the quality. You should look more at the products that have been bought more than a thousand times and with a positive feedback rate higher than 4. Also, do not forget that every item has its own review section where customers can review their bought product and upload some pictures. It is a good thing to read them before you buy, because by doing that you can identify possible issues and defects with the product.
Do Not Rush for the Lowest Price Products
We all should already know that most of the time the price of a product is proportional to the product’s quality. It is really important to dropship products with the highest quality possible or your online store will probably fail. In AliExpress you may find the same product sold by many suppliers and it is a good thing because you have a choice. However, do not rush for the cheapest one. You have many options, try to compare their feedback ratio and order count as well as their price and try to find the best deal for your money.
However, a lower price does not always mean bad quality, as well as higher price, does not always show better quality. Try to find the middle and maybe even ask for the sample products to compare the quality. Suppliers in AliExpress have very small margins and because of that higher price might mean better quality.
Try to Stay Away from the Branded Products
There are many cases where AliExpress suppliers where selling counterfeit products. Keep in mind that you can rarely find branded, the real designer created products so the best strategy is to simply avoid the popular names. You might think that it is nothing bad to sell popular brand name products. However, most of them are copyrighted and can get you in legal problems which might cost you a lot in terms of money and nervous.
If you happen to find a supplier that sells counterfeit products, you should report it to the AliExpress staff.
Conclusion
These are several general tips that you must follow to find the best dropshipping product suppliers for your store. Also, do not forget to pay attention to the responsiveness of the supplier, the faster supplier replays the better. Now, you can go and find trustworthy suppliers to use in your E-commerce business. Acknowledge that to have products in your shop to be successful is not enough, do not forget that marketing is equally important.
