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Dropshipping is a specific model of online business that lets you sell someone else’s products for profit. When you are dropshipping, you don’t buy these products in advance, don’t stock them, and don’t ship them.
To start this business, first of all, you need to choose your niche and decide on the products you want to sell. The easiest way to find these items and their suppliers is to go on AliExpress and evaluate the sellers who offer their items there.
Then, you need to create a website and fill it with the images and descriptions of the products you want to sell. Thanks to our solutions, these product pages will be directly connected to the original product pages from AliExpress.
Therefore, when someone places an order in your dropshipping store, you can easily transfer this order details to the actual seller. It will be this supplier’s responsibility to assemble the package and send it to your buyer’s address.
To profit from this business, you need to set higher product prices in your store. The difference between the amount of money you pay to the AliExpress supplier and the money your customer pays to you upon placing your order is your profit!
It is the seller’s responsibility to assemble the package with the right items in it. The seller also arranges this package delivery to your buyer’s address.
Before you send the money to the supplier, your store receives the money paid by your buyer.
Let’s say the product costs $2.51 on AliExpress. You put a markup on it and make it cost $5.99 in your store, for example. So, while placing an order, your buyer pays $5.99 to you, and you only need to pay $2.51 to the AliExpress seller while transferring the order details.
That’s how you profit from dropshipping!
Of course. Basically, you’re just reselling products: lots and lots of entrepreneurs are doing the same for their businesses. The only difference is that with dropshipping, you have no product-related responsibilities at all, which is why you’re able to start this business with really low costs. Please, read this article to learn more.
AliExpress has a great buyer protection system and gives a full money-back guarantee. Therefore, there is no need to worry if anything goes wrong with the order (it gets lost or damaged). Your AliExpress seller will be responsible for issuing a refund for your customer. Feel free to learn more about this procedure here.
When you have your own store, you are not limited by any rules and requirements of other marketplaces. Besides, owning your site gives you more opportunities for promotion and marketing strategies. Furthermore, building your own site is a wise investment because you can easily sell this business one day. Such established dropshipping websites are always a very marketable product.
When you buy AliDropship plugin for $89, you buy a piece of software that helps you automate your dropshipping procedures. You need to install it on your website and assemble a dropshipping store by your own effort.
When you order a custom dropshipping store for $299, you get a complete website that is ready for operation. It doesn’t require you to do the technical tasks of setting up the necessary systems. As soon as the store is handed over to you, you can start promoting it and make money with its help right away!
AliDropship Original plugin works for any WordPress website that has no WooCommerce plugin installed. It has an extended range of additional features and tools (including built-in themes, a convenient dashboard showing the most important store stats, etc.), which makes it the perfect choice for people who don’t have experience. This version of the plugin is only compatible with store themes offered by AliDropship.
AliDropship Woo plugin will ONLY work on your website if you have the WooCommerce plugin installed. This version only performs the core dropshipping functions, but makes it possible to customize your store any way you’d like.
To learn more about the technical differences between these solutions, please read these guidelines.
If you want to see which version works better for you, please, use this checklist and try managing both versions with our demo stores.
If you want to switch from the Original plugin to the Woo version or vice versa, you can do it without purchasing a new plugin. Please, keep in mind that when you switch between these plugin versions within 1 website, your store settings get lost. Therefore, you need to reinstall WordPress and start customizing your website all over again.
Of course! You can find answers to many of your questions in our Blog and Knowledge Base.
If there is a technical question about your plugin performance, please, feel free to contact our support team at support@alidropship.com. Write us a detailed email and attach the screenshots showing what’s wrong: this way, we will be able to solve your issue much quicker.
No, your personal license key is only valid for one website/domain name. This means you can’t use the same plugin for two or more stores.
We don’t offer a free trial, but you can use our free demo to see what you’ll experience with our solutions.
Also, before your purchase, feel free to review our demo sites with different themes we offer.
As you can see here, our custom stores come in several packages with varying prices. Whatever package you buy, you get a professionally made store that comes with already imported products, lets you accept buyers’ payments, and helps you transfer their orders to AliExpress sellers easily.
Generally, the packages differ by the number of pre-imported products (you can always import more if you want to!) and the range of marketing features that will help you promote your store in the future.
If you already have a custom store and want to upgrade it to a more advanced version, feel free to use this contact form. In this form, just write that you want to upgrade your store, and you’ll receive your personal coupon to do this.
We can give you niche recommendations and analyse up to 3 niches for you, but the final choice is up to you! It’s important for you to know a lot about the niche you’re choosing, and to be passionate about it.
Targeting people like you, with the same tastes and interests, can be very motivating and easy to manage. Feel free to use this free niche research tool and this list of the most profitable niches for your inspiration, and let your personal manager know what you’ve chosen.
You will get an individually created, fully functioning online store that is completely ready for operation. Together with it, you will also enjoy detailed guides on your store promotion and management.
Also, you will receive lifelong licenses for the AliDropship plugin and the add-ons that are included in the package.
All the custom stores come with free lifelong tech support, so we will be providing you with the necessary guidance along your business journey at your request.
After you become a store owner, you need to start promoting your website to make it successful. Please watch this video to learn more about it.
As you can see it from other store owners’ experience, advertising is necessary to make your first sale happen sooner.
When you get your first incoming order, you need to take these steps to process it properly. All the following orders will be processed in the same way, too.
It will also be great to:
- Read this article to see how dropshipping store managers organise their daily routine
- Check for the AliDropship plugin updates regularly and update your version to make sure your store keeps working to its best
- Check your social media accounts and email regularly
- Import new products to make your store offer relevant to the season and the trends
No, it only works with AliExpress.
No, these 2 systems are not compatible.
YES! You can dropship from ANYWHERE in the world. You’re doing business through the Internet, so it doesn’t matter if you’re in Singapore or the United States, or anywhere else. Please, read this article to learn more.
Of course! A website is the basis of your dropshipping business. If your online store is good-looking, ready for service, and regularly updated, you are much more likely to convert your store visitors into buyers.
The lowest possible cost is $147 – please, watch this video to see how to launch your dropshipping business with this budget, and to learn your other options.
No, but you can reduce the cost of your dropshipping store.
If you are just starting out, it’s not necessary to register the business officially. AliExpress sellers will be ready to cooperate with you regardless of your legal status.
Many of our clients decide to register their businesses officially only in some time after the business launch. There are different reasons for this: they want payment providers to handle their money more safely, they want to enjoy the country-specific bonuses of owning a business, they want to include this activity into their employment record and get retirement benefits, etc.
As a rule, they register their business as a sole proprietorship. Still, we strongly recommend that you check your local laws before you start registering the business, and choose the most convenient option for you.
To install the plugin, you need to have a domain name, hosting and WordPress installed. You can buy hosting at AliDropship: in this case, we’ll install the plugin for you for free.
If your store is running on the AliDropship Original plugin, there are no limitations on the number of products you can import.
If your store is based on the AliDropship Woo plugin, we strongly recommend that you add no more than 500 products – otherwise, the store performance will get much slower.
Yes, if your store works on AliDropship Original plugin. If your store is based on the AliDropship Woo plugin, it’s best to import not more than 500 products in order not to trouble the store’s technical performance.
Please remember: to achieve the best financial results of your store operation, it’s necessary to edit these products’ pages in order to ‘hide’ their AliExpress origin. Otherwise, the store and the items won’t look appealing and trustworthy to your store visitors.
Therefore, you have 2 general options:
1) Import an average number of items and edit each of them manually to the best of your knowledge
2) Import an unlimited number of items from AliDropship’s database of highly demanded pre-edited AliExpress products.
Great question! Please view our analysis of the most profitable niches here.
In dropshipping, a niche store is much more likely to succeed than a general store. Please, read more details here.
Yes, it is absolutely possible. Simply delete the products you don’t need anymore, and import the ones that suit your new niche. Don’t forget to change your store style if necessary (make sure that your domain name and website address suit the new niche). Also, notify your social media followers and email subscribers about the change in your product offering.
AliDropship company itself doesn’t store any products or arrange the packages’ delivery.
These operations are solely the responsibility of the AliExpress suppliers you’re working with. Therefore, if you have any questions about the delivery terms and duration, you need to ask your seller directly.
AliDropship company has no way to know it for sure. Products’ delivery is the responsibility of the AliExpress sellers, and all these suppliers are partnering with various delivery companies. The location of their warehouses, delivery companies’ terms of service, and other internal factors may influence the overall delivery time. Therefore, if you need to learn more about the delivery details, please contact your AliExpress supplier directly.
That’s right – all the sellers arrange deliveries on their own. So, to make it more convenient for your customer, it’s a good idea to import as many products as possible from a single supplier.
It is possible to integrate various payment gateways into your AliDropship-based store. You can view the full list of the available options here. Also, we offer detailed guides on activating payment gateways on your dropshipping website – here they are!
Not all the payment gateways require you to have an officially registered business. Therefore, you need to research the payment gateways from this list to see which of them work in your country, and ask their support teams whether you can register there as a private individual.
Before integrating a payment gateway, please ensure that your website is completely ready for operation:
- The necessary design elements are added
- The products are uploaded and edited
- There is contact information
- There are shipping/policy/refund pages (all the default pages).
You need to check the list of available payment gateways, choose the gateways that are supported in your country and learn their requirements for e-commerce stores.
Make sure there are no copyrighted products offered in your dropshipping store, and contact the payment provider’s team to guide you through the application process.
We do not recommend mentioning that you are a dropshipper as some of the payment systems consider such kinds of business as high risked.
You can specify that you are an entrepreneur and your website is an eСommerce store.
No, we don’t provide this service.
As you can see in the custom store packages, we include some of the most important marketing elements into your store when we make a ready-made drop shipping website for you. It’s up to you to set them up and manage your advertisements on a regular basis.
Our team can help you with separate promotional tasks and marketing campaigns: there is a full range of marketing services you can order from us.
Also, your business can heavily benefit from our marketing add-ons that are designed to boost your store performance.
Please note: you can learn a lot about your business promotion from our first-hand dropshipping experience that we share in our dedicated dropshipping blog and Dropship Club.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Understand who’s your target audience
- Define your marketing budget
- Make your store SEO-friendly
- Start collecting your store visitors’ emails to reach them with your promotional emails and follow-ups
- Start promoting your store on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter) depending on your store niche, products, and target audience
You can promote your store quite efficiently even if you have a limited budget. Please, read the article and watch the video here.
Relying on our clients’ first-hand experience, we can safely say that most typically, the first sale happens in about 1 month after the sale launch. It heavily depends on the intensity of your marketing efforts and the choice of advertising methods.
There might be several reasons for it:
- You’ve chosen an unprofitable niche
- Your product offer is not competitive
- You’re targeting your promotional efforts at a wrong audience
- Something in your store performance makes it inconvenient for visitors to place their orders
We recommend you to read this guide carefully and request a professional store review if necessary.
AliExpress is a huge online trading platform where you can find practically anything. However, customers who are looking for a specific product tend to place their orders on a niche site that is devoted to that particular product category. Here’s why…
- There are more than 100 million items currently listed on AliExpress. So naturally it’s not easy to search through numerous products to find the exact one you’re looking for.
- Niche webstores are made by people who are passionate and well-educated about their niche. Customers are more comfortable visiting these stores because they get to buy from well-informed experts who are true fans of their own products.
- Customers can count on high quality customer support. Questions are answered quickly, and the customer feels like he/she is talking to one of their own.
- The statistics don’t lie, professionally designed niche stores with affordable prices make visitors pull out their credit cards and BUY. Impulse buying, in particular, will always be a key element to keep the profits flowing.
- Lastly, buying from one of our webstores is ridiculously easy. Since customers can check out without even registering, there is no barrier to entry (like on some other websites). This keeps conversions at peak levels, even with customers who don’t have trust/experience with online shopping. We know how important the checkout process is, so we make sure the whole experience is as seamless as possible.
Yes, you can add products yourself. Please, follow these guidelines.
Please, discuss it with your AliExpress suppliers. As far as we know, for an agreed extra cost, it is possible to include your own branded materials in the packages sent by AliExpress sellers.
There are no signs of AliExpress and prices on packages. However, sometimes sellers from AliExpress include their business cards in the package. Anyway, you can always send a comment with your order asking your seller not to include anything. The sellers on AliExpress have a clear idea about a dropshipping business model and will be happy to assist you.
You can use the following sample text:
‘Dear seller. I work as a dropshipper. Please, do not mention Aliexpress and your return address, and don’t place your business card into the package. We look forward to continuing and further developing our cooperation with your store. Thank you!’
It’s not necessary for the customer to return the damaged item.
As a rule, AliExpress sellers issue refunds readily and don’t ask the buyers to return the packages as it’s quite costly.
So, if your buyer is unhappy about the product quality, contact the seller first, request a refund, and ask if you really need to return the product. Most likely, the supplier will pay you back with no objections, and just advise you to throw the faulty item away.
