Choosing a dropship supplier means committing your business to them. You need to pick one you can trust to deliver high quality items to your customers, and provide great support and service. Bug before you settle for a dropshipping company, you have to know the following.
Wholesaler and manufacturer
Usually, you can get the products you intend to sell either from a wholesaler or straight from the manufacturer. As long as your source agrees to ship products on your behalf directly to your customer, they can be considered a dropshipper.
The manufacturer is the company that builds or produces the product. Bulgari, for example, produces the Save the Children jewelry collection, and is its manufacturer. The wholesaler purchases products from the manufacturer, and resells it to retailers at discounted wholesale prices, acting as a distributor. For instance, the Save the Children jewelry collection will be sent to a jewelry wholesaler for a cost. Then, the jewelry wholesaler dropships the products to other businesses.
Ideally, you will dropship straight from the manufacturer. It cuts the middleman, and cuts the costs for yourself. However, wholesalers tend to be more accessible, especially for high-end brands.
Shipping
You need to learn how your dropship company does shipping. Check if they are shipping through a trustworthy provider, and if they have multiple shipping partners around the world. If they do, see if they provide tracking numbers for all orders or for domestic orders only. You need to make sure that the shipping standards meet your customer’s expectations to encourage repeat purchases.
Your products can be popular enough to reach other countries, so your supplier should offer international shipping. Check how much their global shipping costs, too. You would not want your business expansion to be hindered just because your supplier has no global shipping or the costs are too high to cover.
Order placement system
Some dropshipping companies have direct access to marketplaces and tools that immediately notifies them when an order is placed. They can then fulfill the order without needing you to contact them. Others require you, the seller, to contact them and place your customer’s order before they can start to fulfill it.
Think of which system provides the control and convenience you need to run your business.
Payment
When customers make a purchase on your website, their preferred payment methods should be part of the selection before they can finish buying what is on their cart. You can lose a lot of customers if your supplier cannot accommodate their preferred modes of payment. Many dropship suppliers work with multiple payment types, and you need to choose one that covers as many options as possible.
Return policy
The return policy of the supplier you choose should be flexible. If they do not even have a return policy, avoid that supplier completely. You have to dropship from someone with a flexible enough policy that you can then apply on your customers.
Look at the policy’s time frame and costs. The costs can be too high to put on yourself, and you might have to charge the customers for returns.
Dropshipping makes it a lot easier to become an online entrepreneur. Your dropship supplier is responsible for the manufacturing of your products, up to its delivery to customers, so you should be very careful when choosing one. After all, it is the very foundation of your business.
