5 Questions to Ask Your Dropshipping Supplier
Finding the right dropshipping supplier for your online store is not an easy task. Thousands of results come up on Google when you search “drop ship suppliers,” and many more appear as sponsored ads. How are you supposed to select the best one from this crowd?
If you are looking for a supplier to work with your online store, some key considerations will help you find the right one. Here is what they might be.
How to Ask Supplier for Dropshipping
Dropshipping Question #1: Do dropshipping suppliers also sell to the general public?
A genuine wholesale dropshipping supplier doesn’t sell to the general public, so any company that offers pricing outside of a wholesaler is not worth doing business with. A typical red flag for these companies is their products’ prices.
Dropshipping Question #2: Do they have a “drop fee?”
Sometimes suppliers will charge an extra fee for shipping and packaging single items. The cost of this drop fee can be different depending on the supplier, but it is generally around $5.
Dropshipping Question #3: Are they hard to get in touch with?
Suppliers can be notorious for having 90s-style websites, but they are not known to have impossible customer service.
The best way to contact dropship suppliers is by calling them and asking about products. Click To Tweet
If you’re constantly getting the runaround from people at their office or being ignored, it may be time to find someone who will take your business seriously.
Dropshipping Question #4: Do they charge a subscription fee?
If you come across a potential supplier who wants to charge you monthly fees, find someone else. It is not uncommon for wholesale suppliers to offer discounts and other incentives to attract customers, but these vendors are usually trustworthy.
Dropshipping Question #5: Do they have minimum order requirements?
Suppliers may not wao work with your company when you’re starting because they only like working with big companies. Don’t let it make you think that this supplier isn’t a legitimate business, even if that is the case.
There are many other ways to identify a supplier. But these considerations will help you find the right one.
Once you’ve found an excellent dropshipping supplier, the next step is to start thinking about logistics. Click To Tweet
This can include how often they ship or restrictions on what productsquantities products quantitieswill be shipped.
- When pricing, is the supplier’s price point to make a profit? It would help if you also considered that there would be drop fees and shipping charges. When looking at possible prices for electronics suppliers, margins are razor-thin due to competitive market conditions.
- One of the most important aspects to consider when dropshipping is a returns policy. This will be different for every company, but you must understand your supplier’s policies and make sure customers easily understand them.
- The shipping time is one of the many factors to consider when choosing a supplier. The majority will be efficient, but you should know the efficiency and turnaround times each supplier offers.
Finding the right dropshipping supplier for your online retail store isn’t easy. But by researching and finding a good company that will work with you, you are ahead of the game.