I have not tried the "Ultimate Plan", but have tried the plugin. Here is my full review:
I have been testing and experimenting with the AliDropship plugin for a few months now. I have created a store with the standalone plugin and later switched to the WooCommerce plugin (having to reimport all products), and have to say that one of my biggest regrets is originally going with the WordPress plugin with the built-in themes. This is because although there is more built-in functionality, the expandability of features is limited, so WooCommerce was a better choice for me as I am already experienced with WordPress and the basics of web development and PHP.
Originally, the AliDropship Woo plugin was pretty buggy in terms of slow and incomplete variation uploads. However, following version 6.7, most of the bugs I was experiencing were fixed and the plugin is now working like a charm.
How does the plugin compare to Shopify / Oberlo?
Advantages: Compared to Oberlo and Shopify, not only is AliDropship much cheaper (one-time payment of $89 vs $29 MONTHLY with no apps), but WooCommerce is much more flexible and light-years ahead of Shopify in terms of functionality for those willing to put in the work. There are better themes available for WooCommerce than Shopify and more free themes to choose from. If you are interested in starting a blog, WordPress is much more SEO-friendly and optimized. WordPress is much easier to speed up than Shopify for free as there are various caching plugins you can use, while many Shopify stores I've seen are noticeably slow. The AliDropship plugin does not have a limit to the number of orders or products per month and all features work for the one-time price, while in the free version of Oberlo there is an order limit, product limit, and automatic tracking upload functionality. In addition, you can import reviews with the AliDropship plugin while you cannot on Oberlo. This is quite possibly one of the most important features as social proof is a major factor is conversions and trust.
Disadvantages: The advantage that Shopify has is that it works right out of the box little configuration, but the standalone AliDropship plugin (not Woo version) can be configured in a couple minutes as well. In my opinion, the AliDropship themes are a bit lacking, but it depends on personal preference and niche. AliDropship has more bugs than Shopify / Oberlo as it is a relatively new plugin, but it is getting updated often to fix these issues and the chat support is decent (not as good as Shopify).
AliDropship Woo
Here are the options you are given after entering license key:
Import products:
Import Reviews (after importing products):
Settings:
language, cash back URL, tracking service, currency, auto order (phone number and order note), pricing formula, auto updates / manual updates
The WooCommerce version is much more minimalistic than the AliDropship plugin (original version) as you should use WooCommerce plugins and themes to enhance your functionality. The only issue I have with this version compared to the standalone is that you cannot edit variation names or images after uploading the product. This is a WooCommerce issue so it is not something wrong with the plugin.
It is straightforward to import products / reviews, but the only flaw that I see with the plugin as of now is that the variation names cannot be changed or automatic order fulfillment will not work and you will have to select the variation manually. The original AliDropship plugin fixed this issue in version 9.12.3, but the fix has not been implemented into the WooCommerce version yet.
AliDropship (standalone w/ built-in themes)
Here is a walkthrough video I created showing the features of the standalone version with the DaVinci theme.
If you are to use this version of the plugin, the DaVinci theme is your best choice as it has the most features and is the least buggy. This is because it is the original theme and therefore most perfected of the three.
Overall Verdict
Despite minor flaws mentioned in this review, I still uphold a 110% recommendation rating to the AliDropship plugin. The reasons for this include:
- Compared to WooImporter or Aliexpress Dropship for WooCommerce by Ma-Group, the only two other solutions for WooCommerce Aliexpress dropshipping, AliDropship is the undisputed winner. WooImporter only imports products and you will need to buy the add-ons to even have features close to the AliDropship plugin even though it will still cost you about $20-$40 per add-on. Also, the Aliexpress Dropship for WooCommerce plugin is an obvious copy of AliDropship and its features, but it works 10x worse and lacks some features but barely is updated (I have tried it). The support is terrible compared to AliDropship.
- The plugin is being improved on a day-to-day basis and support will help you out if you have any problems
- So much of your time will be saved using the plugin rather than doing everything manually
- Much better dropshipping solution than Shopify / Oberlo
Feel free to ask if you have any questions and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.
