Can You Dropship from Temu? Everything You Need to Know
For aspiring entrepreneurs, dropshipping offers a low-risk and cost-effective way to start a business. A critical aspect of this business model’s success lies in selecting the right supplier. With its growing popularity and affordability, Temu comes to mind for many sellers.
In this article, we’ll address the question, “Can you dropship from Temu?” and share strategies for reselling items effectively on this platform.
Table of contents
How Does Temu Dropshipping Work?
Dropshipping is a business model in which rather than purchasing goods in advance, you list them in your store and pay the supplier only after making a sale. If you're considering Temu as a supplier, it’s important to answer the question, “Does Temu allow dropshipping?”
According to Temu’s policy, the platform does not officially support dropshipping. However, there are two primary ways to work around this issue. Here’s how to dropship from Temu:
Ordering products to be shipped directly to your customers: You can order items directly from Temu and have them shipped to your customer, but this has drawbacks. Customers will see Temu packaging and realize they overpaid. Additionally, there may be customs fees, leading to dissatisfied customers who weren’t expecting extra charges.
Ordering products to your address: When a customer places an order, you can order the item from Temu and have it shipped to your warehouse, and then repackage and ship it to the customer. However, this method results in increased shipping costs and delivery times, and in this case, this would actually be online arbitrage, not dropshipping.
Since Temu does not support dropshipping, you’ll need to import products to your store manually. While there are third-party apps available for product imports, they are not issued by Temu, and can lead to errors and inefficiencies. These challenges make it difficult to scale your business or achieve significant profit margins.
Given these obstacles, Temu dropshipping can be a promising option, but it can also be quite challenging. Let’s explore platforms where you can dropship Temu products.
Where Can I Resell Temu Products?
Earning through reselling depends heavily on the platform you choose, as each comes with its own rules, prospective audience, and reach. With numerous options available, let’s explore the top four platforms to consider in 2025.
Shopify
Shopify is a well-known company where sellers can build store websites with minimal technical expertise required. After customizing your store, you can start selling products. Once you receive an order on your website, you can place it on Temu manually. One advantage of this method is the ability to set your own policies for returns, refunds, and more. However, keep in mind that customization can be costly, with themes averaging around $300. Additionally, you'll need to invest in marketing to drive traffic to your site.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce enables you to build your own website, offering extensive customization and technical flexibility. While WooCommerce is free, be cautious—setup costs can add up with expenses needed for hosting, developers, and more. Additionally, user feedback often highlights issues with plugin compatibility, which can lead to errors and make the platform challenging to use.
Amazon
Amazon is an eCommerce leader with over 300 million customers, offering a quick start for sellers with minimal technical skills required. The cost to create an account is just $0.99/sale. However, if you want to dropship successfully and make money, you must adhere to Amazon’s policy on branded packaging. Additionally, certain product types and categories are restricted, and failing to comply with policies can result in account suspension or removal.
It’s important to check these rules before listing any goods. Consider using analytical tools to streamline your research process and find the most profitable items to sell.
Identify Promising Products to Dropship with AMZScout
Top Amazon sellers often opt for AMZScout due to its user-friendly interface and accurate data. The Dropshipping, Arbitrage, and Wholesale Extension allows you to quickly estimate whether you can start dropshipping a product on Amazon, and how much you can earn with it.
Here’s how to use this tool effectively:
1. Install the Amazon Dropshipping, Arbitrage, and Wholesale Extension. Enter your email address to start a free trial.
2. Search for products. Enter the name or ASIN of any product into Amazon’s search bar and navigate to its product page for further details.
3. Find out if there are any selling restrictions. Look in the lower part of the built-in window to determine if the product is gated, classified as hazardous material, or belongs to a private label. Gated and hazardous items require additional approval and documentation, while private label items typically cannot be resold by others.
4. Assess the competition. Review the three columns displaying the number and types of sellers for the product. If there are more than 15 sellers on the listing or if Amazon is one of them, this could indicate high competition.
5. Evaluate the demand. Find the estimated sales per month, displayed in the lower part of the built-in window. Products with over 200 monthly sales typically have strong demand and earnings potential.
6. Examine the product history. Select Rank, Price, and Buy Box History to view trends in rankings and pricing over a chosen time period. This information helps you develop competitive pricing strategies.
7. Calculate your potential profits. Use the calculator to assess profitability by including costs, including the purchase price. For dropshipping, where fulfillment is not handled by Amazon, use the FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) column. Aim for a profit margin of at least 20% to ensure that the product is worth selling.
This process will help you identify promising items and avoid potential selling issues. These insights are also valuable for other platforms, as Amazon reflects key e-commerce trends.
TikTok Shop
TikTok offers great sales opportunities, especially with its engaging social commerce experience, making it perfect for targeting younger generations like Zoomers. However, importing products from Temu to TikTok must be done manually, which is time-consuming. To maximize your success on TikTok, you'll also need to create eye-catching, trend-driven visual content to drive engagement.
While marketplaces like Amazon and eBay might limit sellers in terms of what and how they can sell, they are often the most cost-effective and suitable options for a quick and easy start. Once you've chosen a platform, you need to focus on organizing your dropshipping setup. Let's explore how to streamline the process below.
How to Start Dropshipping from Temu
Setting up a dropshipping business can vary significantly, depending on your business strategy and the technical aspects of your operation. However, some foundational steps are common across all cases. Let’s explore the main stages of establishing a dropshipping business:
Step 1: Choose a Product
Temu boasts over 10 million SKUs, but importing all of these to your store is unnecessary to generate revenue. In fact, focusing on a curated selection of proven products with guaranteed sales can be more profitable. This allows you to allocate your resources to ads and drive traffic more effectively. The most successful products often share the following key characteristics:
Increased demand: Identify trending items by exploring platforms like TikTok and Instagram for viral products. Consider checking Amazon’s bestseller list to find top-performing items and analyzing Google Trends to gauge search frequency.
High quality: To minimize returns and negative reviews, it’s crucial to sell only high-quality things. Check Temu’s supplier ratings and reviews thoroughly, and consider ordering samples to verify product quality before listing them.
Healthy margin: Choose products with a healthy profit margin to cover your costs and drive growth. Typically, this involves analyzing the price to ensure it supports competitive pricing while maintaining profitability.
Note: Prioritize smaller, lighter items to reduce shipping fees and ensure faster, cost-effective deliveries.
Once you finalize your product selection, upload products you want to sell to your store.
Step 2: Create and Optimize Your Listings
Once your products are in your store, focus on creating or optimizing your listings. If you import products manually, you’ll need to build listings from scratch. Pay attention to the following elements:
Title: Make it catchy to attract attention.
Description: Write clear, compelling details to inform customers and reduce returns.
High-quality visuals: If Temu's images aren't sufficient, consider ordering samples to create your own photos and videos.
Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords into your text to boost visibility in search results.
Well-crafted listings not only attract traffic but also differentiate your products from Temu. Without unique listings, customers can search your text online, find the item on Temu at a lower price, and purchase it directly.
Step 3: Organize Your Logistics
To deliver orders to customers, you need to choose a fulfillment method. As previously mentioned, there are two main options for dropshipping from Temu:
Ship products from your address: You can use delivery services like DHL or FedEx to send products to your customers. Be sure to choose the fastest and most reliable shipping method to ensure timely and safe delivery. Additionally, using your own packaging and including a free gift can help improve customer satisfaction and enhance your brand’s image.
Ship products directly to customers: You can arrange with your supplier to use neutral packaging to conceal dropshipping, but packaging control isn’t always guaranteed, and mistakes can happen. This approach also poses a risk that the supplier’s Temu account could be blocked.
Ultimately, the fulfillment method you choose will depend on your business goals. Weighing the pros and cons of each option carefully will help you select the best approach for scaling your dropshipping business.
Step 4: Manage Orders
Once you receive an order from your store, the next step is to place it on Temu to procure the product. It's important to verify the following details carefully:
Recipient's first and last names
Address
SKU
Quantity
Variation (size, color, etc.)
Note: Keep in mind that the item might be purchased by someone else and go out of stock, in which case you will need to refund the customer.
For the best customer experience, it’s best to place the order on Temu as soon as possible to ensure timely shipping. Additionally, consider focusing on providing excellent customer service. Responding to customer inquiries within 24 hours and addressing any concerns promptly will help you build trust and improve customer satisfaction, which encourages repeat business.
Dropshipping from Temu is an excellent way to start a business quickly and with minimal upfront costs. However, since you lack control over inventory and shipping, challenges can arise. Over time, as you gain experience and refine your processes, you will develop a selling strategy that will help you scale and grow your business more effectively.
FAQs
Why is Temu so cheap?
One reason behind Temu's low prices is its business model, where vendors ship products directly to customers, eliminating middlemen. Additionally, Temu offers a wide range of generic and basic items that are produced in China, where labor costs are lower. While this may be appealing and affordable, Temu often faces accusations of poor quality and counterfeits, making careful sourcing essential.
Can I trust Temu?
According to Reddit discussions and Trustpilot reviews, Temu is generally considered trustworthy when it comes to handling payment information and personal data. However, there are some important points to keep in mind, the key ones being the need to carefully check suppliers due to multiple reported scam cases. Additionally, there might be links that lead to unreliable sites, so working with Temu requires caution.
Is Temu considered a distributor?
Temu is not a distributor, but rather a marketplace where customers can find heavily discounted products, some even at wholesale prices. While Temu cannot be responsible for product quality or supplier communication, it does offer beneficial return and shipping conditions. Temu also offers support services to address any issues, though it has received a low rating on Trustpilot.
Conclusion
To maximize the potential of Temu’s product range and competitive pricing, selecting the right items is essential. Consider using AMZScout to help you identify the most suitable products for dropshipping. This approach increases your chances of achieving business success and driving growth.
