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AliExpress Dropshipping: How to Dropship From AliExpress to Amazon
AliExpress is one of the most popular places to source products. There are plenty of success stories of sellers across niches that have used the marketplace to find that winning item for their business.
One of the best things about the site is its extensive offering of cheap products. As an international buyer, you do not need to pay sales tax on your order. There is a Buyer Protection program to ensure that you don’t get ripped off. Plus, there are tons of suppliers so you always have high-quallity items to sell.
By dropshipping from AliExpress you can start a low-risk business without the need for much upfront investment. In this guide, we will examine how you can use AliExpress dropshipping to make money on Amazon or any other online marketplace.
Table of contents
How Does AliExpress Dropshipping Work?
AliExpress dropshipping is a method for sourcing and fulfilling eCommerce products. With this method, you find a product on the site that you want to sell. You then list the product on a third-party marketplace like Amazon or eBay. You can also list the items on your own eCommerce site.
When a customer orders through your sales channel, you place the order on the AliExpress website. When completing the order you give the supplier your customer’s delivery information. The supplier then ships the item to the customer.
To operate as an effective AliExpress dropshipper, you will know the dropshipping rules for the markets you want to use. For instance, Amazon has a specific policy that you must follow if you want to dropship.
Specifically, their policy states that you must be identified as the seller of record on all packing slips, invoices, and the external packaging. You must also be responsible for handling customer returns.
Under this policy, you are not permitted to buy products directly from retailers online and have them sent to your customers. Examples of sites that would violate this policy include Walmart and Target.
While AliExpress is an online marketplace, its suppliers are well prepared to comply with any marketplace rules. This helps make AliExpress a great place to set up a dropshipping business. Suppliers will send all goods in unmarked packages as they know many of their buyers are dropshippers. They make sure that there is no way the customer knows the item came from AliExpress.
If you sell on your own eCommerce store, you will not need to worry about these restrictions. There are also tools to help automate the process. With a Shopify store, you can use an app to automatically place orders with your suppliers once a customer has made a purchase.
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Dropship From AliExpress to Amazon
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to dropship from Ali Express to Amazon:
1. Find a product on Amazon
The first step to using AliExpress to source your goods is to find the item that you want to sell on Amazon. The best way to streamline the process is to use a product research tool. There are plenty of good options available.
One such tool is the Amazon Online Arbitrage and Dropshipping Product Research Software from AMZScout. With it, you can automate much of the product research process. This helps you cut down the time it takes to research products significantly. Your business can then focus more on growth activities like running paid ads.
With the software, you can get the data you need quickly and straight from Amazon product pages. It will show important metrics such as the current buy box price, the minimum price for FBA Amazon fees, and the profit margin for each item. With these insights, you can calculate your potential return on investment.
The Amazon Online Arbitrage and Dropshipping Product Research tool is free to try. Simply download the extension and go to Amazon to look for products. You can also benefit from using the AMZScout PRO extension. This handy add-on will let you simultaneously review the key performance metrics for dozens of products directly from Amazon.
2. Find a product and supplier on AliExpress
After you find a good product on Amazon, you will need to find that item and a supplier on AliExpress. There are several ways you can research products on AliExpress. The first is to perform research directly on the site.
Site search
The site includes several different options for sorting through products. Some of these include the number of orders, price, and newness.
If you sort by orders, you can quickly find the items that have had the most success. This will not necessarily make them the best items to dropship. Given their popularity, other sellers may already have listed them.
Another approach is to sort by Newest products first. This will help you find good items before other sellers.
You can also sort by price if you have a specific interest in low or high-ticket items.
Overview of the selected product
When you find products that interest you, go to the product page to learn more about the item. Look at the pictures to get a sense of whether the item will solve your customers’ needs. Additionally, you will want to check the reviews and ratings of the products and the supplier. This is a good way to tell if a product is legitimate.
Product quality is critical to selling successfully. If your customers have a bad experience, your business will not see many sales in the long term. Look at what previous buyers have to say to see what you can learn.
It is also important to make sure your supplier doesn’t sell on Amazon. If they do, you will not be able to compete with them. They will probably list the items at the same (or close to) price you pay to source them.
It is recommended to test the products yourself. Reviews and feedback are nice but you can not know for certain. Because the delivery times are slower, it will take some time for you to test a sample, delaying your product launch. After you have found some products that you like, go ahead and sign up for an AliExpress account.
Another way you can find a quality supplier for your items is to use the AMZScout PRO extension. When you open the plugin for your desired niche, look for the “find the best supplier” button. This will open the site you selected with an automated search for the top suppliers of that product.
3. Negotiate with suppliers
You should communicate with your suppliers before selling your products. Negotiating can help you get the price for the items. It can also ensure that you and the supplier are on the same page and have the same expectations.
When talking to your suppliers you also want to discuss shipping costs. This will play a big impact on the profitability of your business. The faster AliExpress shipping methods can come with a heftier fee. Ideally, you want to find a supplier that offers free shipping.
Take note of the supplier’s shipping times and look for those that offer ePacket shipping. This will ensure that items are delivered in around 14 days. This is not as fast as Amazon Prime but it is better than waiting three weeks or longer as is the case with some of the AliExpress shipping methods.
You should also check the supplier’s processing time. Find suppliers that can process and dispatch orders in one to two days. This will reduce the overall delivery time. It will also decrease the chances that your customer cancels the order.
4. List items on Amazon
Once you have chosen your products, it is time to list them on Amazon. If the product you are selling already has an Amazon listing you can simply select the product from the Amazon catalog, update your available inventory and begin selling.
In most cases, the items you find on AliExpress won’t have an existing Amazon listing. If this is the case You’ll need to go through the same steps when creating your Amazon listing as other types of sellers. This means finding the most profitable keywords to target and adding them to the important part of the listing. It also means curating attractive images and visuals.
While AliExpress listings have images of their own, only some of the images will generally be reusable. To give your customers a complete sense of your products you may need to edit some images or take new pictures yourself.
5. Get sales and ship items to USA
Your work doesn’t end once your products are live. You will need to drive visitors to your listings to receive sales. The main two ways to do this if you create a new listing are through Amazon SEO and PPC advertisements. SEO is free but it will take time for you to gain visitors to your site. PPC ads will require an upfront investment but can lead to instant sales.
If you sell the same product as other sellers, your efforts will focus less on driving traffic and more on winning the Buy Box.
When a customer places an order, you will then need to order the product from your AliExpress supplier. Again, it is important that you choose a supplier with short processing times. This will reduce the overall delivery time which will ultimately lead to better reviews.
Both Amazon and your customers will need the tracking details for the delivery. Once you get your tracking number you will need to add it to your Amazon order. You can do so by going to the order and selecting Edit Dispatch.
Tips
Here are some tips when using AliExpress to drop ship to Amazon:
Custom packaging
Packaging is an important part of the customer experience. You want your packaging to align with your brand while adhering to all of Amazon’s policies. You can achieve both of these by getting custom packaging for your items. Keep in mind, you may have to search around for a supplier that offers custom packaging as doing so for single orders is risky and time-consuming.
Check payment methods
It is also helpful to check a supplier’s payment methods before listing their items on Amazon. You’ll want flexibility when buying your products. Check to see if they have Paypal as this will give you another option with instant payment processing.
Best Products to Dropship From AliExpress
There are plenty of products that work well with dropshipping from AliExpress. Below are a few of the top Ali Express dropship products.
Toys & Games
Toys see a solid demand throughout the year. They also see increased interest around the holidays. This helps make them a good dropshipping product. Plus, there are plenty of toy suppliers on AliExpress.
Home & Kitchen
Home products are one of the most profitable categories on Amazon. This niche works great for dropshipping as you can source larger products without worrying about the fulfillment fees.
Beauty
Beauty products are easy to source and provide a wide variety of options for sellers to center their catalog around. The niche is steadily growing in popularity on Amazon and other marketplaces
These are just a few of the things you can dropship from AliExpress. You can check out our guide to the best dropshipping products to find more product ideas.
AliExpress Alternatives for Dropshipping
Here are some of the top AliExpress alternatives for sourcing drop shipping products:
Alibaba
Like AliExpress, Alibaba is owned by the Alibaba Group. While its’ sister site function like a more traditional D2C site, Alibaba caters to wholesale and B2B buyers. There is an extensive platform for buyers which includes the ability to request quotes and manage communication with suppliers.
DHgate
Dhgate is an international commerce site for buying single and bulk purchases. They also offer dropshipping services with delivery times ranging between two to three weeks. On their site, you can find items across pretty much any category.
Best Buy
Best Buy is an omnichannel electronics retailer based in the United States. You can use them to source your products by ordering from their site and having them shipped to customers. Keep Amazon’s policy in mind and ensure that no Best Buy packaging is included in the delivery.
Made-in-China
Made-in-China is another online marketplace to source various items from China. The layout is similar to Alibaba with most listings intended for bulk orders. There are some suppliers that provide dropshipping for individual items.
Conclusion
The steps in this guide will help you start dropshipping from AliExpress. If you want to be successful, you can’t treat AliExpress dropshipping as a get-rich-quick scheme. You’ll need to put the same thought and effort into any other business. Start by selecting a winning product then find a way to make your business stand out from the crowd.
