Shopify sellers dropship Aliexpress products using free shipping. Many people wonder how Aliexpress sellers make a profit on the products that cost $2.99 to $4.99. Dropshipping is a popular marketing strategy. No matter how much shipping costs are, free shipping is an effective way to drive traffic. Shopify sellers are increasingly looking to offer fast and cheap shipping to their clients. Free shipping is preferred over paid shipping for goods dropshipped from China.
How to launch a $9.99 product with free shipping
It is not available to everyone. Big sellers tend to use low-cost products to attract customers and make profit on high-priced products. But we need the right tricks. Let’s take the ring as an example.
It is clear that the four most popular products have low prices and free shipping. Let’s look at how it happened. A ring weighing 0.008kg. Then let’s use Russia and the United States as examples to determine the shipping cost for the 0.008kg parcel to these countries by unregistered airmail, both under 10 yuan. The Aliexpress seller may lose some money, or even equal it, but they still get traffic for other products. The seller can reduce controllable costs by using the following methods with high sales. They don’t lose any money.
1. Controlling logistics costs: Use light and simple commodity plans; maximize packaging size.
2. The manufacturing cost advantage: To save costs, you need to look at the supply side. This will allow you to identify which costs can be saved and which ones are not.
3. Stock left over: Although some sellers don’t have the factory resources, they can find factory stock leftovers and negotiate a price that is less than 30% of bulk purchase. This is a good margin of profit.
We can therefore see Aliexpress free shipping primarily being used as a marketing strategy to increase traffic and conversation rates. However, Shopify sellers can apply free shipping strategies but not in the same way because they do not have a supply chain source. But we can still apply Aliexpress free shipping in a more flexible manner.
1. Slow delivery. Shipping costs are not free. Sellers usually ship the goods the cheapest way possible, which can take anywhere from 1 to 2 months. It might take longer if you are using covid19.
2. High package lost rates. Packages are usually shipped via airmail, which is difficult to track and easy lost.
3. Bad user experience. Poor user experience due to long delivery times.
Pros and cons of paid shipping to China
Clients who choose to use paid shipping want faster and more reliable shipping services. They also want tracking capabilities that can be compared with free shipping. Let’s look at the different paid shipping options available for packages shipping to China.
ePacket, an economical shipping service between China and overseas, can be tracked and cost-effective. 4PX Yunexpress, which has similar shipping rates, but is faster and more stable, can be considered as an ePacket alternative. DHL FedEx is a courier service that delivers worldwide in 3 to 5 business days. Let’s compare the shipping options and the precautions they offer for shipping packages from China. Then we can choose the most suitable shipping service for our client. We aim to provide better user experiences and make dropshipping more profitable, regardless of whether we use free or paid shipping services.
Free shipping vs. paid shipping which is better
Free shipping can be more expensive than paid shipping, but clients will have different needs so both options are possible for dropshipping businesses. Both services offer complementary benefits and may not be the best. Shopify sellers tend to offer ePacket, Yunexpress, 4PX and Yunexpress free of charge for goods shipped from China. For faster delivery, they can use Fedex or dhl for a fee.
The free shipping service comes with costs. If we offer free shipping on Shopify, then we will need to add shipping costs to the product price in order for it be more competitive. We will have to adhere to certain rules.
1. Light weight volume goods. If the product weight is less than 0.7kg, shipping costs will be high and the product price won’t be competitive.
2. Goods of high value. We are not looking to make profits. Because we can’t control the supply chain, low-priced products won’t be profitable. The product selling price is usually over 20 USD.
3. Free shipping for orders above $30 If our store sells jewelry accessories with prices between $5 and $20, we can offer free shipping if the order exceeds $30. This means that clients will get free shipping service for orders over $30.
We will also need to offer paid shipping services if we want to sell high-value goods. Why? Consider jelwerly accessories as an example. The price range is $5-20 in shopify, while shipping costs for DHL FedEx start at $25 from China to USA and EU. Clients are less likely to pay. If the average order value of the store is above 80 USD, clients are more likely to be willing to pay more for faster shipping. Courier service may also be offered if the average order value of the store is higher than 80 usd.
Shopify dropshipping offers free or paid shipping. However, we must provide estimated delivery times for clients. We will also need to ask clients to verify their shipping address, postcode, and phone number in case of delivery failure. The more detailed shipping terms the better the user experience and the less chance of an after-sale issue.
The shipping costs have risen dramatically in the past 2020. However, delivery times cannot be guaranteed due to COVID19. This is a big problem for dropshipping businesses. We should consider different shipping options and plans when planning free or paid shipping services for dropshipping businesses. ShipAnt offers a one-step 1688 Taobao order fulfillment services for dropshipping businesses. We can help you dropship China hassle-free, regardless of whether you pay for shipping or not.
