Dropshipping - Long Delivery Times

Hi,

Apart from the current situation that is going on right now, i can understand that shipping takes longer than usual, but i tried dropshipping for the first time in 2016 and had the same problem which caused me to quit dropshipping, because i could not figure out a solution.

Basically whenever i try to dropship via AliExpress, the shipping times are 30-50 days and sometimes even up to 3 months. I am dropshipping small toys which cost 15$ max. so i don't think anybody would wanna wait 3 months for something like this. When i use the "Ship from United States" then, the fees are extremely high (up to 9$ just for shipping for a 2$ toy) - I know there are some great dropshippers with a lot of knowledge here. How do you conquer that problem, are there any other methods to get it working?

Edit: Oh yeah, ePacket is also taking about 30 days, is this something i should consider?

thanks for your valueable insight
best regards

I'll be honest with you, the only time I made money via dropshipping it was when I hooked up with a local producer.

Dropshipping via aliexpress is just plain garbage.

Better focus on something else, like reselling local products.

Hodor Man said:

I'll be honest with you, the only time I made money via dropshipping it was when I hooked up with a local producer.

Dropshipping via aliexpress is just plain garbage.

Better focus on something else, like reselling local products.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your honesty. The Domain i have is a pretty good one so i am currently debating if i should start a Shopify Dropship Store with it (Product i am offering is a niche which does not get made in US/Ger) , or just convert it into a niche site (and place Amazon Affiliate Links over it).

Heiko said:

Thanks for your honesty. The Domain i have is a pretty good one so i am currently debating if i should start a Shopify Dropship Store with it (Product i am offering is a niche which does not get made in US/Ger) , or just convert it into a niche site (and place Amazon Affiliate Links over it).

Click to expand...

My suggestion Amazon. But if you want to do dropship, which country are your buyer? You should find supplier with warehouse at the same country

Elvlin said:

My suggestion Amazon. But if you want to do dropship, which country are your buyer? You should find supplier with warehouse at the same country

Click to expand...

But when i use Amazon, won't they recieve the packages with an invoice? My country is US, AliExpress offers some with a Warehouse in US but they charge 9$ for UPS Shipping and i am not sure if my users really wanna pay that much for a 2$ toy.

I can't even sell chinese products now. The anti-chinese sentiment is raising really fast. Imaging if your customers received a package from China. Yes they will freak out. The better option that you buy products in bulk and store it in your warehouse which you can ship it much faster.

Heiko said:

But when i use Amazon, won't they recieve the packages with an invoice? My country is US, AliExpress offers some with a Warehouse in US but they charge 9$ for UPS Shipping and i am not sure if my users really wanna pay that much for a 2$ toy.

Click to expand...

Amazon affiliate? Yes. But any trouble return etc is Amazon problem.
For Ali express yes it's $2 toy, but you can bundle it to be like $20toy. But honestly I have sell item like that,.sometime the buyer just lazy going out and didn't care about the cost.

I've heard the way to go about it is to find an agent, point him to the item on aliexpress you're interested in, and let him handle it. I have no idea how much the cost or how well it works, just seems to be what I'm hearing a lot of.

Anyone have any experience with this?

sell Aliexpress items for break-even. Those that sell, buy in bulk and then fulfill via warehouse that is in US. Make a brand out of it.

alice252293 said:

I can't even sell chinese products now. The anti-chinese sentiment is raising really fast. Imaging if your customers received a package from China. Yes they will freak out. The better option that you buy products in bulk and store it in your warehouse which you can ship it much faster.

Click to expand...

I agree with you about China. So many people from around the world are highly pissed at Chinese government and as a result at China as whole. Their reputation has been ruined for many years to come. Many will avoid buying Chinese goods, many will avoid eating at Chinese restaurants. Let's say I'm a businessman from NYC that's looking to open 3 factories in Asia to produce something. Given China's previous track record of IP theft, unfair business practices, near slave labor, tariffs, etc. and now COVID. As a businessman I need to insure everything is running fine without any problems and China is not looking good. If I had options to do it somewhere else (ie. Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, etc) I would do it even if the price would be slightly higher due to less volatile geo-political standing.

There are tons of sellers on Aliexpress. some professionals, some garbage. the key is to find a good one.
It's just like BHW marketplace or Fiverr / SEOClerk. some sellers give bad services, some sellers give good. once you find a good supplier, stick to it.

At this moment, ePacket does not fast as it used to be due to flight issues(covid19. However, I know about Yun express. if you see Aliexpress seller that supports this shipping method, then pay a few bucks more and have a piece of mind knowing that it will be delivered quickly than the regular method. That's for sure.

If the logistics are not somehow in your hands, it will always be out of hand.

Find a local 3PL (would say warehouse but when you address a logistics company they usually have software that can integrate to your site)

Source your best products that you know would sell, its not a private label or anything, so prices should be same or lower, and quantity shouldn't be limited to lots.

Maybe there are other ways, but i am quite sure that the people who sorted this out didn't use magic.

Stable Genius said:

I agree with you about China. So many people from around the world are highly pissed at Chinese government and as a result at China as whole. Their reputation has been ruined for many years to come. Many will avoid buying Chinese goods, many will avoid eating at Chinese restaurants. Let's say I'm a businessman from NYC that's looking to open 3 factories in Asia to produce something. Given China's previous track record of IP theft, unfair business practices, near slave labor, tariffs, etc. and now COVID. As a businessman I need to insure everything is running fine without any problems and China is not looking good. If I had options to do it somewhere else (ie. Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, etc) I would do it even if the price would be slightly higher due to less volatile geo-political standing.

Click to expand...

You are right and companies should try out other countries. Unfortunately China so far is almost unbeatable when it comes to production.
Even with their increasing labor costs, they work hard and have a lot of experience in the labor market now.
Anything that needs experience for production, will still produce a large amount of their products in China.
The attitude and experience of labor is one of the main factors why China is still in the game.

Due to ongoing tariff wars with USA there have been several companies that already shifted their manufacturing to other countries in Asia. More will follow for financial reasons while others will do mass exodus due to personal reasons. I think China will lose at least 30% of their exports due to COVID19. I also think that travel to China will be reduced by at least 50% if not more.

Heiko said:

But when i use Amazon, won't they recieve the packages with an invoice? My country is US, AliExpress offers some with a Warehouse in US but they charge 9$ for UPS Shipping and i am not sure if my users really wanna pay that much for a 2$ toy.

Click to expand...

You can embody the shipping charge in the product price, your customers don't need to know your pricing strategy.

China folks love to earn money , if I right they mostly back to work , production yes I also encounter some items long delivery clients already ask but i told them due to covi19 shippment delay. In fact my local Addias online store even claim these period shippment will delay .

Heiko said:

But when i use Amazon, won't they recieve the packages with an invoice? My country is US, AliExpress offers some with a Warehouse in US but they charge 9$ for UPS Shipping and i am not sure if my users really wanna pay that much for a 2$ toy.

Click to expand...

You can always order the items via GIFT. Amazon won't be adding the invoice then.

My opinion dropshipping from AE these times is a waste of time! Besides more and more people know they can buy the same shit themselves on AE as you already know delivery time takes forever. My solutions would be buy in bulk through 1688.com or ali baba. If you want to sell in the US, send the bulk order to amazon and use their fulfillment. Sure it takes a while till its there but if you have a good item, once you start selling they will have it within days.

If you want to get into the world of ecommerce id ditch drop shipping as a business model. I think it's too long of a delivery time from China to whoever it's going to be better:

1. If you start out by finding local distributors and take a smaller %. A smaller % is better than nothing..

2. Use local distributors and re-shoot photos, do descriptions and swing the premium angle.

Once you have something proven in place then look to buy 10-20 units in advance and test the water and expand your business that way.

There are other ways to find out what's going to work for you without spending 100s on stock as well:

1. Auction / Liquidation / Out of Business stock you would be surprised what you can pick up or a box of random cables and sell them on.

2. Look at eBay for wholesale or job lots GRANTED some of the stuff on there is going to be tat the current seller can't sell. Example: A pile of fishing floats. BUT if you buy a bunch of hooks and some line and package it together then you have a different product all together..

3. Look in the discount stores or the £/$ stores. There was one locally to me that used to sell dog toys for £1 THE same toy was being sold on eBay for 6.99!

You don't have to look far or rely on aliexpress to find products and you can start some of the ones I outlined above for little investment, at least you have the stock!!

Ideally if you get into drop shipping moving out with your own stock should be your goal unless you can keep getting traffic and covert it to sales BUT your margin will always be squeezed every year with new drop shippers undercutting you buy another £1/$1