Understanding the Shipping in Dropshipping
This guide is for people who want to know more about shipping with dropshipping and how to decide which model will work best for them.
It is not surprising that it can be difficult to figure out dropship shipping policies. You are not responsible for warehousing or shipping your products. Therefore, you need to decide the best course of action based on your supplier policies to determine shipping options. We are here to guide you and help you understand the process.
Dropshipping is a service where the shipping cost for each product is set by the supplier. Each supplier is unique, making it more complicated. Before you open your dropshipping shop online, it is important to check out the shipping policies of your suppliers. If you have only one supplier, it is easier to create your game plan. However, if you have several, it will be more difficult.
You will need to collect information from multiple suppliers about their policies. This includes the carrier they use, what they charge for (weight, quantity), etc. You will also need to know their expected fulfillment times. There are a few options available when you create a shipping policy.
No Shipping Charge
You will see a lot of ecommerce websites offering free shipping when you surf the internet. Many store owners will increase their product prices in order to offset the cost of offering free shipping. You want to keep your prices competitive when you are just starting out. However, you also want to offer great deals. Offering free shipping when you spend more than $100 is a great compromise. Free shipping could be offered for orders exceeding $100. This way, you can still make a profit by offering free shipping for orders over $100.
Flat Rate Shipping
Flat rate shipping means that you can offer flat rates for shipping regardless of product weight. Flat rate shipping is attractive to customers as they are able to know exactly what shipping costs will be for each order. However, it can also pose a risk to the online store owner. Flat rate shipping means that if your customer buys a heavy product, it will result in a loss of profit. You can reduce that risk by being very careful with your inventory selection. Dropship inventory management tools such as Inventory Source can help you filter out heavy products.
Match the Costs of Your Supplier
As a business owner, matching your supplier’s shipping costs is the best option. However, this can make it difficult to compete with stores that offer free shipping, incentives, or low shipping costs. If you want to offer lower shipping costs, you must differentiate yourself from other shops in your market in order to attract customers to shop with them.
After you have decided on your shipping policy, it is time to decide how you want to ship the products . Many suppliers have their own accounts with FedEx or UPS to ship your products. Most suppliers will allow you to use your own carrier account if requested. What do you do? You can ship cheaper if you use the supplier’s account. They often have lower rates and will pre-negotiated them. However, if you use a supplier’s account for your carrier account, you will have less information about shipping costs and can make sure you are still profitable.
When making the decision on your supplier’s carrier account, there are some things that you should keep in mind:
- Most expensive shipping cost
- Average shipping expense per order
- Shipping costs can be affected by many factors, including warehouses.
It is crucial to understand the shipping cost to keep shipping costs competitive. Knowing the most expensive products to ship can help you avoid losing profits. You may also want to keep that product off of your website. You can decide to not include any products that are heavier than a specified weight on your website (ex. No products exceeding 10 lbs.
The average shipping cost per order can help you decide where to place your prices to make a profit. The average shipping cost can be used to base your shipping policy and assume that you will be charged most of the time.
Knowing the location of each supplier’s warehouses can also help you to anticipate shipping costs. Split orders, which are orders that include products from multiple warehouses, will result in shipping costs being much higher than if they were coming from just one. You can’t prevent this from happening but it is possible to take preventative measures such as only including products from one warehouse in your website.
A Dropship Automation tool allows you to easily add or remove products based on specific criteria, such as where they are stored.
Also, research their shipping times before you make your first purchase from a supplier. This will allow you to inform your customer about shipping times and improve their buying experience.
Shipping calculators are a great way to estimate shipping costs. Shipping calculators are available from all major carriers. This allows you to get a better idea of the shipping costs for your products and help you make the right decision about a shipping strategy. You can also get an estimate of shipping time from these calculators, which is helpful if you are trying to decide where you should open a carrier account.
Dropshipping can be a bit confusing, so it’s not surprising that product fulfillment can become a bit complicated. It can be difficult to determine how much shipping will cost for your products to ensure that you make a profit. As an ecommerce store owner you will need to make many decisions, including deciding your shipping policy and how you want to ship. I hope that I have made it a bit easier by highlighting some of the pros and cons.
Dropshipping is a decision-making factor for customers. Delivery times will be one of the most important factors in their purchase decisions. It is important to understand the shipping options available for dropshipping using Oberlo and the Oberlo Shipping Time. Let’s now get to the point.
How do I check the shipping method available?
Aliexpress offers drop-shipping merchants many options for delivering products to customers. Every delivery option comes with its own shipping cost and time. To give your customers estimates of shipping costs and times, make sure you check the shipping options available for each product.
It’s easy to find this information on Aliexpress. Click on any product page to view the Quantity shipping method.
You will see a list of shipping options that you can choose from.
The most popular shipping options of Oberlo explained by:
When you process orders for customers, you will be able to manually choose the shipping option. It can be time-consuming to choose the shipping option each time you receive an order. You can instead set up a default shipping option for all orders within your Oberlo settings.
To set up your default shipping method, you can visit Settings > Suppliers.
What time is your order shipped after payment?
Once your customer has placed an order, you must purchase the item from your supplier. Oberlo makes it easier by adding the customer’s item details and shipping details to your Aliexpress checkout. To ensure your customers receive their orders, Oberlo will automatically add the customer’s item and shipping details to your Aliexpress checkout.
Once you have paid your supplier, they should send it to your customer in 2-7 days.
Which shipping option should you select and why?
Which shipping option do you prefer among these choices? ePacket is the answer. Here’s why.
Shipping is relatively quick for those who pay the extra
Oberlo will dropship your products to Aliexpress. This is because Oberlo only supports Aliexpress. Shipping costs can be high because most Aliexpress suppliers are located in China. Your package must travel all the way from China.
Only ePacket is a viable option. It offers a reasonable balance between shipping costs and delivery times. Although the Aliexpress Shipping Standard option costs less, it can take too long to ship, which could discourage customers from purchasing at their checkout. Shipping costs can be high, even though UPS, DHL, or FedEx are quick. Dropshipping via Aliexpress has one main benefit: low-cost products that you can source from China. If shipping costs are too high, this will negate the benefit.
Although ePacket shipping times can be longer than those of the faster options, they are usually acceptable to customers. This shipping method was actually designed for dropshipping companies.
Tracking your order
Another advantage of ePacket’s service is the ability to track your orders. All parcels delivered by ePacket carriers are provided with tracking numbers. You can request this number from your supplier. Dropshipping is a great way to let your customers know where their orders are. Your customers will be able to see if their order has been shipped.
As we have already mentioned, ePacket is a shipping option that your supplier provides. This number can be used by both you and your customer to track the parcel via sites like 17track.net, ePacket China Post.
Sign up for the Basic, or Pro Oberlo plans to view your order and see the shipment status.
The Oberlo > Orders will give you the tracking code for that order. The code will be displayed next to any fulfilled orders.
Dropshipping is not about long shipping times.
Your supplier can ship orders to your customers in 15-30 days using ePacket. However, this is still a relatively long shipping time when compared to US domestic shipping that takes 2-5 days.
Dropshipping is a different kind of dropshipping. Long shipping times do not really matter and customers are still able to buy. Here’s why.
Dropshipping novices are often unable to understand how long shipping times can be sustained when customers who live far away from the business have become less patient. This is partly due to Amazon’s rise. They might ask themselves , “Why would anyone wait for two to three weeks to receive something from a dropshipping company, when they can get it next day on Amazon?”.
It is not unreasonable for them to believe that, because online shoppers love quick delivery. We want what we have ordered to be delivered immediately. This saves us from worrying about what happens if it doesn’t arrive or if the product does not meet our expectations.
This is not the right way to think about dropshipping’s long shipping times. It is important to understand that Amazon customers are very different from dropshippers. Their psychology and expectations may be different.
Customers can search Amazon for the items they are looking to purchase when shopping online. Customers already have an idea of what they want, so they compare different sellers’ products in terms price, features, shipping times, and other factors before they make a purchase decision. The customer will get a sense of how long it takes to ship the product they are interested in, and then they will choose the fastest shipping option.
People don’t buy dropshipping products because they intend to buy them, but they do so out of an impulse. The customer buys out of impulse when they see your ads and see the product you are selling. There is no need to compare shipping times and features. If they feel the price is fair and the shipping time is reasonable, they will make a purchase decision.
Dropshipping is a way to get lower prices than Amazon. Dropshipping products are shipped straight from the source, which means there are no intermediaries that could increase the markups or raise the price.
This low base price allows you to mark up your profit more. The higher profit margin can compensate for the lower conversion rates caused by long shipping times.
These are reasons dropshipping on Aliexpress differs from selling through Amazon. You can’t compare the two models since they are identical. Don’t worry about shipping delays and build a dropshipping business today.
How to handle long shipping times
Shipping times will not have an impact on dropshipping businesses, but there will be complaints. One part of your operations must deal with these issues from time to time: customer service.
Show your customers you are sensitive to long shipping times
Your customers might be impatient while they wait for their orders to arrive. They may send you frequent emails to inquire about their order status.
This is not something you should worry about. If a customer emails you asking about their order’s location, they really want to hear a friendly reply that will calm them down and assure them that their orders have arrived safely.
You should contact your supplier if the package does not arrive within the specified timeframe. If your customer contacts you and the package does not arrive within the specified time, tell them it is normal.
If you care deeply about your customers, and offer great customer service, they will be more likely to be willing to wait longer for their goods and be happier about it.
In your product description, be clear about shipping times
You should also make sure to clearly publish shipping times in your product copy. This will let your customers know what to expect when they place orders. Once they have done so, they are willing to wait 15-30 days. If they request a refund due to shipping delays, you won’t have to do this.
Here’s a sample shipping disclaimer you could use: “Some popular products can take up to 2-4 weeks to arrive. We want to make this clear and hope you are willing to accept it.”
Your customers may try to file a claim against Paypal. However, if you make this shipping disclaimer public, it will help you win the dispute. You should be clear and upfront about shipping times to avoid any problems later. Your customers will not miss your disclaimer if it is bolded or in color.
Last words
This article should have given you an understanding of Oberlo’s shipping times. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions. 🙂
