Are you thinking how to dropship on Shopify with Alibaba in 2021? And then, it’s not a good idea to do so? Well, think twice because you’re voting for the wrong idea.

With its inexpensive prices and dropshipping-friendly stores, Alibaba is undoubtedly one of the best platforms you can leverage to make your dropshipping business a success.

In case you’re nodding your head into a ‘no’ and yelling at the article that dropshipping with Alibaba is so difficult, then you can re-evaluate your beliefs after reading the whole thing out.

Before Learning How to Dropship on Shopify with Alibaba – Let’s Have A Walkthrough 

If you don’t have a sound foundation, your knowledge makes a wobbly building. So before learning how to dropship on Shopify with Alibaba, let me walk you through the categories of this platform.

• Machinery / Vehicles & Accessories
• Consumer Electronics / Home Appliances
• Apparel / Fashion Accessories / Timepieces, Jewelry, Eyewear
• Lights & Lighting / Construction & Real Estate
• Home & Garden / Furniture
• Fabric & Textiles Raw Material / Home Textiles
• Beauty & Personal Care / Health & Medical
• Packaging & Printing / Office & School Supplies
• Electrical Equipment & Supplies
• Fabrication Service / Tools & Hardware / Security & Protection 
• Electronic Components, Accessories & Telecommunications / Electrical Equipment & Supplies 
• Sports & Entertainment / Toys & Hobbies / Gifts & Crafts
• Luggage, Bags & Cases / Shoes & Accessories

Those who are boggling their minds over the huge range of product categories, don’t worry because here are a few other popular categories that might seem relevant to your preferred niche. 

Top 5 Popular Niches You Can Select on Alibaba 

1. Apparel 
2. Consumer Electronics
3. Accessories: Pendants and Earrings
4. School stationery
5. Home Décor

Now we know what Alibaba sells. Let’s move onto the range of features Alibaba comes up with. 

What Makes Alibaba Good for Shopify Dropshippers? 

Ready to Ship Products

‘Ready to Ship’ products are a storehouse of ready products. In this case, you can purchase products with fixed prices and shipping costs. These products are ready for shipment within 15 days of the ‘Order Date.’

Alibaba Trade Show

A trade show allows sellers and buyers to have a 1:1 conversation and negotiations before buying. On one end, it allows sellers to demonstrate their products. On the other, it also allows buyers to test the validity of these sellers.  

As you know, the pandemic doesn’t allow for in-person events much, so Alibaba has decided to hold a Virtual Trade Show. This trade show’s unique aspect is that it is an exclusive invite-only trade show, which is directed towards US manufacturers. You can get more details about this virtual trade show right here.

Alibaba Personal Protective Equipment 

Alibaba had organized high-quality suppliers of masks under which retailers source PPE from one destination. As a matter of fact, Alibaba had worked with relevant government authorities worldwide during Covid-19, which also made it possible to bulk order PPE in times, especially when the supply was minimum and the demand was huge.  

Services Offered on Alibaba

Trade Assurance

Trade Assurance assures you that you won’t lose your peace of mind as a dropshipper. Whenever you find that the shipment data or the product quality differs from the one you agreed upon, Alibaba would either give you a satisfactory product quality or refund. 

Here are A Few Benefits of Alibaba Trade Assurance

1. Secure Payment
2. Buyer Protection
3. Assured Customer Support

Pay Later

Pay Later is an efficient feature that allows you to take up to $150,000 credit whenever you are in need to make a quick transaction. This feature allows you to repay within six months.

Note: It is currently discontinued but it may come back again by the end of this quarter.

To sign up on Pay Later, you’ve to follow up with these steps: 

1. Enter the basic information about your business.
2. Link your business checking and bank accounts. (they need something to trust on) 
3. Provide your personal information.
4. Get your identity verified and wait for Alibaba to test your eligibility.
5. If you’re eligible to proceed ahead, use credit to make your purchase now and Pay Later.

Payment Terms: Net-60

Alibaba’s ‘Payment Terms’ is the new way of doing business as dropshippers. The payment option is exclusively offered to qualified businesses in the US.

These qualified businesses are allowed to place orders with any participating supplier on Alibaba and receive an invoice. After that, dropshippers will have a total of 60 days to pay back the remaining amount. 

The upfront deposit depends on the contract terms with the supplier as the general market ballpark figure would be 30% of the total order value. 

It’s important to note that Alibaba Payment Terms is an invitation-only program and only available to US-based registered businesses with a tax ID (i.e: EIN – Employer Identification Number.)

Options to Sell on Alibaba 

Global

The global seller platform allows both SMEs and big businesses to reach a larger customer base. You can sign up for a basic paid plan or a premium one. Until you don’t have a very high sales revenue, I don’t really recommend the premium plan.  

Partner Program

In simple words, the Partner Program is an invitation for you to collaborate with Alibaba’s businesses. You can do this in two easy ways: 

1. Be A Lead Affiliate

The lead affiliate works similar to the affiliate programs elsewhere. It allows you to bring in new customers, and you get commissioned for it. You can sign up for lead affiliation here.

2. Sales Reseller

This program allows you to register along with a team of 5 people and you can put your eCommerce knowledge into action while building a new stream of income.

How to Select A Good Product from Alibaba for Dropshipping

Successful dropshipping begins with knowing the fundamentals. Now that we have the basics intact, let’s learn how you can select a good product for your dropshipping business.

Before moving further, please note that you can choose from a range of products, so don’t let this choice confuse you. With good research and analysis of your targeted audience, you can pick the right product.

Start Searching 

There are two ways to which you can approach bulk buying on Alibaba: Product search and Supplier search. The first one refers to searching directly for the product. Similarly, the second one is for finding a supplier. To make it easier for you to comprehend, I’ll demonstrate it with an example. 

Product Search: 

The search result I got: 

The search result provides you with different products from various suppliers. 

Now that we have found some nice products, it’s to find a nice supplier. And to do that, let’s check using the second search method called the Supplier Search. 

Supplier Search:

Search Result: 

This search result yields the different suppliers for the product category you are searching for. 

Now you will ask me, ‘what is the benefit of using these search options?’

Let me tell you that when you go for a ‘product’ search, this allows you to see which products are in demand.  On the other hand, the ‘supplier’ search helps you to identify the most trusted sellers in the product category you are looking for. 

(Please note that this article is in no way affiliated to any of the sellers or retailers on Alibaba. The illustrations are used for educational purposes only.)

Things to Look for on the Alibaba Product Page

Unit price and FOB (Free On Board) 

The unit price is easily identifiable on the product description page. 

Some of you might have already studied in school that a unit price is the cost per item. Don’t mind if you know it already, I just told because some people don’t know   

A pro tip: There’s nothing complex about FOB, it just means that the seller will pay for all costs incurred for shipping and packaging to your desired address.

Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)

The minimum order quantity is self-explanatory. It just means that you have to order a minimum number of products to qualify for a purchase. 

If you ask me to deliver just a single pen from China to Australia, I will throw a fit of rage. So, this is why suppliers have a minimum order quantity. 

Payment Options You Get from Alibaba

When it comes to Alibaba, you get a variety of payment options. Here are some of the most popular ones: 

1. Upfront TT (Bank Transfer)
2. Letter of credit
3. Western Union
4. PayPal
5. Escrow Agreement 

Things to Beware of While Selecting Your Suppliers

“Self-help is the best help.” 

No, this is not an inspirational article. My point here is that until you prevent falling into scams by yourself, no one else can help you mate. 

The way to do this is to play fair. And, how do you play fair? 

Just follow me and you will learn the art of playing fair  

Check for Verified Suppliers and Trade Assurance Options

Whenever you finalize your product purchase, make sure you’ve ticked the Trade Assurance and Verified Supplier categories in the search bar.

This is especially important for the high-budget and high-risk products that you purchase. 

Connect with the Supplier

In order to connect with a supplier, you can try Alibaba chat. In case that doesn’t seem right or works, you may book a chat and talk over Skype. 

Here’s a heads up: The customer service is abysmally slow, so you may have to wait for a few hours to a day. However, the maximum time to receive a reply falls between 24-48 hours. 

Ask for Samples

There is no point in crying over low-quality supplies when you never asked for a sample. So, prevent yourself the heartbreak and the headache that comes with erroneous orders or poor-quality shipments. 

Precautions to Take While Finalizing A Supplier

Cutting to chase, here are some precautions that are imperative for you to take. Almost 99% of the time, you won’t be scammed if you are smart enough to follow all the enlisted precautions. For the remaining 1%, it’s your ‘luck,’ and all I can do is wish you some better luck, haha. You know, it’s business. If there’s profit, there’s also a bit of loss. 

1. Check for Unbelievably Low Prices from New Sellers: 

It’s a red flag that screams ‘NO’ to your face. Fraudulent suppliers offer unbelievably low prices and then ask for payments through untraceable methods like a wire transfer. If you meet sellers like these, I would recommend pressing alt + F4. Yes, start over. Close everything! 

2. Pay Me Quick, Pay Me More: 

When it comes to fraud, suppliers are as cautious as you’re. So, it’s good if they’re asking for payment options, obviously they’re not doing it for free. But again, if they keep insisting on paying a huge sum in advance without Trade Assurance, don’t ignore the red flag. 

3. Unreachable Phone Number: 

Try to call the supplier on the given phone number. If you want to add an additional layer of security, check if they have fax numbers and try to send an invoice, and ask them to confirm receipt via fax. Note that small suppliers may not have a fax, so don’t beat them up for not having a fax number. 

4. No Business Email:

This may be subjective. However, if a supplier flaunts about being a part of a big company and yet they don’t have a business email, it could be a red flag. Also, be cautious if a supplier’s company name is the same as their personal name.

Become A Global Seller – Dropship Alibaba Products on Shopify with A Paid Plan

If you’re trying to sell your products, Alibaba’s paid plan can be a great means to expand your business and increase sales. It allows you to build your eCommerce presence fairly easily. 

Features of Alibaba Paid Plan

Custom Store Interface

Make your store stand out by designing it on your own. What I like the most about it is – you don’t really have to be a coding expert or a person of technical skills. 

Advertising Tools

Forget about hiring a dedicated marketer for your store as Alibaba’s paid packages come with advertising credits that you can utilize to advertise your products better. 

Analyze the Data for Your Store

You will receive a detailed report about how well your store is performing. The dashboard informs you about features like click volume, store visits, product exposure, spend, average cost, and much more. 

Enhanced Customer Support

Being a global seller at Alibaba, you will receive priority customer service. And if you go for the Premium package, you will have a dedicated manager. In case you’re just a beginner, you don’t really require the ‘Premium’ package. So don’t fall for the lure of it. 

How Much Does Alibaba Costs?

If you want to dropship Alibaba products on Shopify and you own a small to medium company, it’s all good because the features don’t vastly differ between the two plans. And trust me, basic is enough!

If we talk about the premium plan, it’s recommended for those who have high volumes of sales and require dedicated support. 

How to Integrate Alibaba with Shopify for Dropshipping

Want to dropship Alibaba products on Shopify easily? In that case, Importify might help and let you import the desired products from Alibaba to Shopify. Here’s a quick tutorial to do it right. 

Step 1: On the Home screen of importify, go ahead and click on alibaba.com.

Step 2: Find the product you wanna sell and click on it to get more details about it. 

Step 3: Click on the red color ‘add’ button you see on the left hand side of the product page.

Step 4: A window with all the editable product details will open up. You can edit the title, the product description, and choose the images you wanna display on your Shopify product page.

Step 5: When you scroll further down, you also have the option to change the pricing, variants, and put in organization details. Some people don’t put organization details but I would reckon filling it up because that builds credibility. 

Step 6: Once you’re done, click the “Add to you Shopify” button.

Step 7: You will get a confirmation of the product being added successfully and it will look like this:

You can check your Shopify import list or view button in the above image to see the product. If you want to further edit the product,  just click on the edit button.

There you go! The product is now successfully added in your Shopify store import list.

Pros and Cons of Dropshipping Alibaba Products on Shopify

We weigh pros and cons before making an important decision. And if want to know how to dropship Alibaba products on Shopify, we should do the same here as well. So let’s just see the benefits and drawbacks both.

Benefits of Dropshipping Alibaba Products on Shopify

1. Absolutely low manufacturing costs (save on this for marketing your store)
2. Seamless web store navigation 
3. Huge range of products to choose from
4. Events like ‘Virtual Trade’ shows up with innumerable networking opportunities
5. Could easily integrate with the help of Importify

Drawbacks of Dropshipping Alibaba Products on Shopify

1. Poor and slow customer service 
2. Overcoming the language barrier may be a problem
3. Longer shipping and waiting time

Is it A Good Idea to Dropship Alibaba Products on Shopify? 

From personal analysis and experience, I believe that Alibaba can take your Shopify dropshipping endeavors to the next level. As any business is concerned, it ultimately depends on how smartly you take risks and leverage profits.

Using Alibaba the right way with Shopify and the right buyer protection enables you to mitigate an excess amount of risk. 

Now that the risk is reduced, what else do you have to do? A key tip from my end would be not taking features of alibaba for granted.

Wondering what is Oberlo and how does it work for dropshipping? 

The Oberlo app makes it easy for dropshippers to choose, import, and dropship products. It makes sure to deliver products in an unharmed condition.

More importantly, it gives you a bunch of different products so that you can dropship with ease. 

Whatever, Oberlo is not limited to only these things. To figure out what else Oberlo is capable of, let’s just stick till the very end because this guide is gonna be very detailed. 

How Legit Is Oberlo Dropshipping?

Oberlo has been quite popular in recent years of dropshipping. But, you might have this question in your mind – how legit is the app? Well, you should ask those 1.4K people that are displaying oberlo products on their websites.

Believe it or not, if you’re staring out in dropshipping, Oberlo can make your life easy. Here’s how! 

Oberlo Gives Minimum Possible Risk 

Do you know why most people don’t get into eCommerce? The reason is quite simple – Inventory cost. They don’t have enough money to put into products and wait for the sales. 

On Oberlo, you can buy products from merchants only after getting an order on your store, isn’t it convenient for entrepreneurs like us? Yes, that’s the power of Oberlo. It saves us the cost of any unsold product or let’ just name it the inventory cost. 

Sell Winning Products Faster and Expand to A Great Extent

Let’s say you somehow manage to sort out the winning products for your store. Unlike Oberlo, you will have to keep inventory with other apps which might easily exhaust in some time. And you know what? There’s no inventory with Oberlo, you can dropship the winning product by buying the product from several merchants wherever and whenever you want. 

If one merchant is out of stock, there are a hundred others that would possess the same winning product. 

Low-Cost Dropshipping

Starting a business requires a lot of investment. Yes, it is expensive when you start any business. But, when you start your dropshipping business with Oberlo, it’s comparatively cheap. 

Now you must be thinking I’m talking about inventory cost. Nope, I’m talking about the storage cost, which we haven’t discussed so far. 

Secondly, the shipping costs of Oberlo merchants are lower than average. Lastly, if you’re into dropshipping, you don’t have to hire employees on a monthly salary to do your work. Freelancers are way better replacements.

Save Time with Oberlo

With the help of dropshipping, you can get rid of the product designing, creations, packaging, and shipping. Having this time saved, you can focus on more important things like marketing, personalizing, and finding new customers for your store.

Automate Your Business with Oberlo

The 2 most effective automation that Oberlo provide are:

• Add products with a great profit margin to your store in 1 click
• Automate filling in the customer details while placing an order to a manufacturer

Features of Oberlo Dropshipping App

Product Data And Analysis

Find untapped and profitable products with Oberlo’s database. See which products are trending and have high-sell potential in the market. Once you find your winning product on Oberlo dropshipping app, make a list and try them out. If you start getting sales, then scale! 

Uncountable Product Options 

Oberlo gives you millions of products to choose from. There is no niche for which you won’t find a product on Oberlo. So, come up with a super-targeted niche, find products relevant to the niche, and add products directly to your Shopify store.

Listing Customization

You can do a bunch of customization while listing products on your Shopify store’s product page:

• Pick any product photos you want
• Edit product title and descriptions
• Personalize customer’s experience with editing, styling, and color for better conversion

Language Options

As of now, Oberlo gives you a chance to enable up to 6 languages:

• English
• French
• Spanish
• Italian
• German
• Portuguese

How to Integrate Shopify with Oberlo App?

Once you successfully install Oberlo successfully on your Shopify store, the first screen you see is Oberlo’s main screen.

Here is the Homepage of the Oberlo app which has several steps that you should set up for a dropshipping business. Follow these steps reading the requirements and set your store up. 

You can also watch the video we have on top to get a clear understanding of what is Oberlo and how to set it up on Shopify. In case you’re not fond of videos, just keep reading! 

Finding Products to Sell On Oberlo Shopify App

Step 1: In the Oberlo app, go to “Find Products.”

Step 2: Choose the niche you want products for and select something that seems profitable. If I were you, I would select something that falls in the middle of profit and passion. More importantly, something that people might wanna buy. 

Step 3: Once you hover over the product’s thumbnail, a button will appear on it. Click the “Add to Import List” and your product will be added to a list. 

Step 4: Click on the “Import List” button from the left-hand side icons on the Oberlo app and see if the product is added successfully or not.

Step 5: Do several customizations with this product:

• Change the title, choose collections, types, and insert tags in the ‘Product’ section

• Edit description of the product in the ‘description’ section

• Select or remove the variants you want for the product in the ‘variants’ section

• Select the product images you want to display on your product page

Step 6: Once you’re done customizing the product, click on the “Import to store” button.

There you go, your product is now imported to your Shopify store.

Leverage Oberlo Chrome Extension

Using Oberlo chrome extension is quite easy. It’s a 2 step process. First of all, click here > Oberlo Chrome extension so that you can install Oberlo as an extension on your browser. 

Now all you wanna do is visit AliExpress and choose the product you want to add directly to your Oberlo account. As you can see here, things are pretty much the same. Just click on the blue indicator you see on the screen to add product in the Import list of the Oberlo app.

Also Read: Oberlo Chrome Extension Tutorial

Setting Product Prices in Oberlo Shopify App

After adding the product to your import list, you can set prices for each variant accordingly. Just head to the Variant section under the import list tab on the left side and set each variant’s price individually.

You can also change the prices of all variants in one go. Just click on the ‘Change all’ drop-down. Once you do so, one more ‘Change all’ option would pop up, click on that as well. 

Returns and Refunds in Oberlo

When you apply for a return or refund, keep a check on a few things. Generally, Oberlo merchants don’t accept returns and refunds, but if your product comes in the category down below, you can return the product:

• You’ve got the wrong item in terms of size, color, or model (evidence needed)
• Package is already damaged (evidence needed)
• Quality is extremely poor (evidence needed)
• Order misplacement
• Order arrives after the estimated delivery time

How Much Does Oberlo Cost

Although Oberlo for Shopify is free of cost, you have to pay if you want premium features, courses on dropshipping, and important insights on how to do a profitable dropshipping business with Oberlo. 

So pick whatever suits you and get to know what is Oberlo. If you’re not happy with the pricing, you can go ahead with other Oberlo alternatives like Spocket, Modalyst, etc.

How to Make Money with Shopify and Oberlo – The Actual Way!

So far I’ve talked about making money. But, what is the actual way? Alright, just know – To be successful with Oberlo dropshipping, you might wanna follow a systematic approach towards dropshipping. Right from my experience, here are a few steps that might help you make money with Shopify and Oberlo.

Step 1: Pick A Niche

Picking a niche for any dropshipping business is the fundamental and the first thing you wanna do. Picking a popular, less competitive yet highly selling niche is the key to success. 

From fashion to agriculture – there are a bunch of niches. So make sure you select the one you love and has the potential to give you conversions as well.

The top 5 Oberlo dropshipping niches are:

• Women & men fashion
• Beauty
• Home decor
• Jewelry
• Watches

Step 2: Find Products that Sell on Oberlo

Things you have to keep in mind while finalizing a product are:

• Search volume of the product
• Potential profit on its sale
• Product review

A few tips that might help you find a winning product:

• Look for products that are best seller in the Amazon bestsellers tab and import those products from Oberlo to Shopify

• If you’re into fashion, SUZY is the place where you can peek into your competitor’s best seller products, just type your competitor’s name in the search box and see what products come up

• WatchCount is another platform that gives you insights of eBay’s most popular products

• Monitor your best-performing ads and try to optimize & scale their reach

Step 3: Market Your Dropshipping Business

Market Your Oberlo Dropshipping Business on Instagram

Instagram is becoming a popular platform day by day. You can leverage the platform with 2 methods.

Method 1 – Influencers

Find influencers in your field on Instagram and direct message (DM) them asking them to promote your product. 

You will have to pay a small fee to them and might have to send a free product for them to use. They will post an image on their Instagram account with your product and give your Instagram page a shout-out. 

If you wanna kick things up a notch, you can ask influencers to make a Reel or an IGTV with a full tutorial on your product.

Method 2: Hashtags

Leverage hashtags to find your target audience on Instagram and send them messages or tag them on the product posts. For example, if your product is in the niche of men’s hair grooming. You can search for hashtags like #menhairproducts or #menhairgrooming or just simple as #hairproducts. See the results you get and make good use of them.

Another way of using hashtags is to use them in your posts. In the caption section, you can type in relevant hashtags to your product so that people using or following these hashtags can see your post.

Leverage Facebook for a Successful Oberlo Dropshipping Business

The best way to use Facebook is by marketing your products via Facebook ads. If you have enough budget to run ad campaigns regularly, Facebook ads are the best to promote any product for any dropshipping business. Just make sure you have a clear and catchy image for the ad and a great ad copy that gets the attention required!

Oberlo Dropshipping Success Stories

HuskyBeard – Story That Started From 0 And Ended Up Into Millions 

HuskyBeard is a beard-grooming product dropshipping store which started in 2016 by Paud Lee. He used to work 9 to 5 in a restaurant. The motivation of starting an e-store came to him when he saw the potential of beard grooming products booming. 

With a lot of experimentation and dedication, Lee discovered his winning products and started making money. With $3000 a month income, who would like to try academics? He dropped out and made dropshipping his full-time career. 

Fortunately, HuskyBeard is now a 6-figure business and it’s still expanding.

Home Decor Tycoons – Jacky Chou and Albert Liu

Jacky Chao and Albert Liu invested $5,000 in Facebook ads to test their concepts. The investment helped them know top-tier products to sell. They came across the final conclusions of their experimentation a few days before Black Friday.

They started with one product, scaling its reach and banking money, they slowly expanded to a business with over $70,000 in revenue! 

In less than 12 months, these home decor tycoons were able to hit the 1 million club.

Is Oberlo Good for Dropshipping?

Whether it’s a small, big, part-time or full-time, Oberlo is suitable for every business model. Also, the potential of growth with Oberlo is neverending.

It’s basically a virtual warehouse with millions of products that you can select from and sell in niches like fashion, beauty, home decor, etc.

Oberlo is definitely a great option for dropshipping once you understand what is Oberlo and the right way to leverage it. 

However, just remember one thing. There’s no shortcut to success. In order to get success in dropshipping, you need patience, dedication, positivity, and most importantly, the right mindset. 

Hope you can use my tips to get some bucks out of dropshipping.