What to Look for in a Dropshipping Supplier

Perhaps you’ve heard of the benefits of running a dropshipping business like how you don’t have to keep inventory on hand. While dropshipping is more convenient than wholesaling in some ways, it still requires hard work. If you’re not careful and deal with fake or bad dropshipping suppliers, you could end up losing a lot of money.

Ensure your business runs smoothly by learning how to find the right dropshipping suppliers in Australia. Learn how to in this article.

Why You Need to Research

There are many bad suppliers and scammers that are good at marketing themselves but don’t offer any value. You need to do your research to ensure your customers are satisfied with your products. A bad supplier will:

Harm customer satisfaction, loyalty, and reviews
Have slow delivery time and high costs
Deliver low-quality, or inconsistent products
Damage your business’s reputation
Cause customer complaints
Increase your working hours and stress

It’s not too much trouble to change suppliers if they’re causing issues, but it’s better to get it right before they can cause any damage at all. If a supplier does cause negative reviews of your business, learn to deal with them calmly to mitigate the damage.

Finding and Choosing Suppliers

There is a wide range of things you can try to find and evaluate dropshipping suppliers’ suitability for your business. Here are some of the best ways:

Check if they match your audience’s needs

Depending on the products you’re offering and how you’re marketing them, you will need to narrow down your search to suppliers that provide suitable shipping times, return policies, and raw materials. You may need suppliers that offer same-day shipping, for example.

Contact manufacturers

Get in touch with the manufacturers of the products you want to sell. Ask them for a list of the dropshipping suppliers they provide their products to.

This helps you in two ways:

The manufacturers would have done their research on the suppliers. That they’re doing business with them at all provides the suppliers with some credibility
It helps you identify suppliers that provide many of the products you want to sell

Try dropshipping research tools

There are several good dropshipping research tools that will speed up research and make it much easier. They can identify trends, help you find a niche, suggest selling prices, and have many other useful features. Most of them offer trials or allow you to create free accounts, so you can try them out before investing in them.

Attend a trade show

A trade show ticket can be costly, but they’re worth it if you know there are suppliers there with products that fit your niche. You can meet them in person and get a chance to see their products for yourself.

Order from competitors

Order a few products from dropshippers that offer products similar to what you want to sell. This lets you do some competitor research, and the return address will tell you who their dropshipping supplier is. You can make them your supplier as well, but keep in mind that you need a way to differentiate yourself from them.

Spotting Scams

Dealing with a fake dropshipping supplier could quickly sink your business. Be on the lookout for these signs when researching and contacting suppliers:

They sell directly to the public

Real suppliers rarely trade directly with consumers and only do business with sellers and distributors. They usually use an application process to make sure they’re only supplying products to legitimate businesses. If you find that buying products from them seems too easy, that’s a sign that they’re a fake supplier.

They charge membership fees

Some fake suppliers will charge monthly membership fees for supplying your business. It’s normal for e-commerce suppliers to charge packaging and shipping fees, but a monthly membership fee will eat into your profits and indicate that they’re likely trying to take as much of your money before cutting off contact.

Lack of Expertise

You can immediately tell when someone’s a scammer when they don’t know anything about your niche or the industry. If you find a supplier to be lacking in knowledge, check if they’re in a reliable supplier directory or ask manufacturers if they provide products to them.

Change in Billing Address

Some scammers don’t contact you directly. Instead, they hack your supplier’s email address. If you get an email from your supplier saying that their banking details have changed, verify it with them by using a secondary form of communication that are difficult to fake, like a phone call or video call.

Other Things to Look Out For

The following are small yet important signs of a supplier’s legitimacy. Be wary of suppliers that don’t:

Charge pre-order fees
Have minimum order sizes
Display their address

Start Your Dropshipping Business

If you need a dropshipping supplier in Australia offering fast, reliable shipping and high-quality products at competitive prices, DropShipOnly is your ideal partner. Start a successful dropshipping business today by working with us.

How to Find and Verify Dropshipping Suppliers in Australia