Dropshipping is as amazing as you have read. Dropshipping is possible in just 30 minutes. You can travel the world and earn a living, even earning $1 million your first eight months.
Dropshipping is not easy. Dropshipping is a laborious task that demands a lot of energy and attention.
Dropshippers can find shipping to be one of the most difficult and time-consuming aspects of owning an online store. Dropshippers often have questions about shipping costs and delivery methods.
This article will cover 13 shipping tips that will make your life easier, and your customers’ lives more pleasant.
You can order your products to see the shipping process
You don’t have to order every variant of every product. To get an idea of how they handle shipping, order at least one item from each supplier.
Check out the time it takes to process your order and accept payment. Examine what the package looks like upon arrival. Are there flyers or promotions? Also, verify that the tracking number is working. Some suppliers may not provide you with accurate shipping information.
You can get a better understanding of how shipping companies operate and which suppliers you can trust to ship your customers’ orders by placing test orders.
Let your customers know the shipping time
It will be easier to set realistic expectations about ecommerce shipping now than it will later. Do not be afraid to ask for delivery times even if they are long.
Imagine your supplier telling you that it takes 20-40 days to deliver the product. While “Delivery within three week” might get you more sales, it will also lead to more emails from people asking for refunds.
You might consider having a page for shipping details on your website, which you can link from the checkout or the footer. Transparency is key.
You don’t want shipping information to dominate your shop. It’s also not a good idea to remind customers that shipping can take longer than a month. Transparency will help to disarm any complaints or refund requests.
If your supplier has an estimated delivery time that looks like this…
It’s a smart idea to write “14-35 Days” or “20-335 Days” instead of “7-35 Days.” Here are a couple of reasons.
- A longer wait might make shoppers more suspicious of large delivery windows than a short one. It might be a red flag if the delivery window is longer than 7 to 35 days.
- Your customers won’t mind if your package arrives in seven days.
Check that understands how long shipping takes
It’s difficult to tell customers what to expect if they don’t know what to do. Sometimes it can be difficult to know.
First, estimates such as “20-40 days” don’t always reflect reality. Suppliers don’t always have all the information they need. This is, for instance, shipping information from the same supplier about the same order.
They guarantee 60 days, give an estimate of 20-40 days, and then refund you after 35 days. Um, okay?
This brings us back to our first tip: order the products yourself. You will be amazed at how fast orders are processed and the time it takes for items to arrive. You might hear a supplier say that the order will be processed in 7 to 35 days. However, you’ll see that the payment takes seven days and the shipment takes another 10 days.
You can also conduct a first-hand inquiry into shipping times to get a better idea of…
Sending questions? Contact suppliers
Dropshipping suppliers may not communicate perfectly – see the above confusion regarding shipping times – but they will usually reply to your contact if you reach out.
You can contact suppliers to get a feel for their reliability and responsiveness. This AliExpress supplier is fast to respond to shipping inquiries.
If you don’t receive any shipping information when you ask questions, it might indicate that the supplier should be dropped and you should find another dropshipping company to help your business.
Have fun with slow shipping
This is not an easy task. It’s important to be transparent about shipping times. You can have fun!
If your product takes a while to arrive in your yoga niche, remind customers that yoga can help you build patience. Customers who purchase sweaters should be assured that the sweater will not get too cold once it arrives.
Shopify allows you to easily modify the content of automated shipping emails, as well the emails that customers receive at various stages of the shipping fulfillment process. Simply click on “Notifications”, in your Shopify Settings to update the most relevant emails.
Let’s suppose you want to personalize your “Shipping confirmation” Click on the button to access a code-filled editor. Do not be intimidated by the amount of code! It is possible to find the most relevant snippets for your customers. This is how we can change the “yoga strengthens patienthood” example.
This is it:
You can also create a fun brand identity by leaving a paper trail detailing shipping times. This will help you avoid any refund claims.
Use ePacket delivery
ePacket shipping is the best way to ship, or at least it’s the most reliable and affordable way.
ePacket allows products to be shipped from China or Hong Kong using a shipping method called ePacket. It was originally created as a collaboration between China & the US . Now it is available for products shipping to many countries including Canada, Australia, and most of Europe.
This shipping breakdown is available for many products. ePacket is the best choice if you want speed and price, plus the assurance of receiving a tracking code (which isn’t always possible with other shipping methods), then it is undoubtedly the best option.
In the “Settings”, section of your Oberlo account, you can change your default method to receive ePacket.
Even if a supplier uses ePacket to ship, it can still take a while, especially compared with some of the larger ecommerce players. Despite all the shipping craziness that is possible, ePacket remains your best option.
Talk to your suppliers if you think you could find cheaper delivery routes for customers.
Free Shipping
People dig free. It’s great when Amazon orders arrive in a matter of hours. We have found that customers are more concerned about cost than time. They don’t mind waiting for long delivery times if there is free shipping.
Incorporate shipping costs into your product cost, especially if using ePacket delivery which is free or very cheap. You can charge more for the product, but then let the world know about your free shipping.
Loudly proclaim your free shipping! Expectations will be affected immediately. People will accept a slower delivery and love you for it.
Flat shipping rates
Customers abandoning their carts and not purchasing are often surprised when they see the shipping charges at checkout. Your chances of selling can be affected by how much shipping fees you charge.
Offering free shipping is a great way to increase conversions. Sometimes, a little more to the product’s cost is more attractive to customers than shipping charges.
Flat fees are an option if you don’t have the budget to offer free shipping. Flat fees for shipping are a great way for customers to understand your expectations. You’ll allow them to quickly calculate the amount they can expect to pay.
You might be charged $3.99 to ship any order within the United States. This is provided the item is not a heavy one, such as a piece or furniture.
Flat rate shipping is a great way to be upfront and direct with your customers. Flat rate shipping also allows you to save time on tedious calculations.
Create shipping zones in Shopify
Shipping to some countries can be expensive. It might be very affordable to ship to Western Europe. However, shipping to Eastern Europe can cost you a lot.
You can create custom shipping zones in Shopify to get around this. You could get a free shipping zone for countries that have low shipping costs.
You can also have a shipping zone that is only for expensive countries. Remember to include a condition that free shipping is not available to all countries.
Shopify will charge the appropriate shipping costs at checkout.
To learn more about rate adjustments, check out our video on how to set-up shipping in Shopify for dropshipping.
Countries with the best shipping options
You can use location targeting on advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google Ads to decide where your ads will appear. Instead of just blindly blasting ads out, make sure you are using what you know about shipping costs and prices to inform your marketing campaigns.
With ePacket your margins for shipments to the US are significantly higher than those for products shipped to Canada.
$1.42 is a lot cheaper than $4.05. However, shoppers may be more likely convert with a 12–20 day window rather than a 16-25 day window.
These are also evident in Europe. We can see that Norway is more efficient in shipping than Denmark and has lower prices than Denmark.
A Norwegian customer would pay you $1 more than a Danish customer. This knowledge can be used to create geo-targeting rules for your campaigns to maximize your margins.
Call your customers
Shoppers don’t always want to share their phone number. They are not always eager to share their phone numbers.
However, asking customers to leave their number can be helpful in shipping. Many delivery companies send out SMS notifications and call customers. It reduces the chance of a delivery being missed by including “phone number” in the field you receive customers’ information.
To make sure that you have the correct number of phone numbers, you can change your Shopify store settings:
Offer local delivery
Are you able to ship directly to local customers? Local delivery can make your business stand out.
Local delivery can often make it easier to deliver your products to your clients faster, which results in better client satisfaction.
Local delivery is a great way to save money on fulfilling orders. If you have someone who has a truck or van that can deliver your goods, you don’t need to pay the same postage fees. Your customers might be able to pick up their products from a drop-off location.
Setting up local delivery in your Shopify shop is something you should consider. Standard delivery and in-store pickup are possible. Different rates will be displayed for each.
DDP shipping
DDP shipping is a good option if you are shipping products to other countries.
Also known as Deliver Duty Paid Shipping, it prevents customers having to pay additional fees when their item arrives in their country.
Even if international shipping rates are very competitive, customers will not buy from companies that ship internationally if they have to pay shipping taxes when their items arrive.
However, it is important to research the matter before you make this offer. This duty calculator will give you an idea of how much duty you’ll need to pay to ship to different countries.
Conclusions on Shipping
Dropshippers face one of their biggest challenges: shipping. Dropshippers must rely on suppliers to fulfill orders and deliver the products. This is how it works.
There are vast differences in suppliers’ communication, cost, reliability and costs. Here are 13 ways you can protect your customers and yourself from shipping-related headaches.
