What to Keep in Mind when Choosing a Dropshipping Partner?

Dropshipping is when a company does not hold products at their place of business and does not need to have a regular brick-and-mortar store for items at all. The company will usually have a website where people buy products, and when the item is purchased, the business owner will contact their dropshipping partner who has the items, and they will ship the items to the customer.

There are all types of dropshipping products that people sell to consumers. One example is selling customizable clothing like printed t-shirts. If you are looking for a great place to start your dropping shipping journey with customizable products, Printful is a great choice.

Dropshipping can be a highly lucrative business since you hardly have any overhead and do not need many employees to run the business. Although, there are a few things you should keep in mind when choosing a dropshipping partner.

We’ve got the details to help you choose wisely.

1) Pick a Legitimate Partner

There are tons of scams out there nowadays, so you want to make sure you do your due diligence when choosing a dropshipping partner. You will want to research the company and ensure that they are honest and carry genuine products. You can check the Better Business Bureau to see if they are a legitimate company. You will also want to talk with them and ask all the questions you can think of to ensure that your products get to your customers on time and in good condition.

2) Pick a Partner Who is Nearby

The time that items take to ship is a significant consideration you want to make when choosing a dropshipping partner. You want to make sure that the warehouse with your products is close to you and relatively close to where you are shipping your products. For example, if you are shipping products in the U.S. but the products are made in China, your customers will not see their items for at least two to three weeks, and they will not be happy about that. Therefore, you need to ensure that your warehouse is in the U.S. for fast shipping. Plus, having a warehouse close to you helps if you need to visit the warehouse to talk to someone or check on items.

3) Pick a Partner who Speaks Your Language

You may find a great drop shipping partner outside the country whose price is excellent, and they seem communicative. Still, you also want to ensure that the products they are producing for you are in the correct language.

For example, if you are shipping customized t-shirts to your customers and their language is Spanish, you do not want t-shirts to be sent to them in Portuguese . Therefore, even if the price is right, you will lose customers because they are not getting the right products in the long run, so you need to be mindful of this when choosing a dropshipping partner.

4) Pick a Partner Who is Reliable and Communicative

choose a drop shipping partner What to Keep in Mind when Choosing a Dropshipping Partner?

Any business owner knows that communication is vital, and you need reliable staff to get the job done right and on time. So, it is essential that the dropshipping partner you pick is reliable and has excellent, communicative customer service. You need your products to be delivered when your dropshipping partner says they will be, and you want to make sure that your partner does not just disappear on you.

You can ensure this happens by testing out their services before selecting them. You can choose an item and see how long it takes to get to you; if it takes the amount of time stated on the website, you should be fine. Also, you can test out their customer service to see how helpful they are and if they get back to you quickly. And before selecting them, make sure to get their contact information, like an email address and a phone number, in case you have issues or questions.

5) Pick a Partner with Quality Products

The worst thing that can happen is that your customers are not satisfied with the quality of your products and leave a bad review, which can drive potential customers from purchasing from your business.

Therefore, no matter what you are selling, you need to ensure that the products are high quality. So, if you are selling products made with plastic, make sure the plastic is durable, and if you are selling clothing, make sure it is comfortable. The quality of your products will matter in the end because it will prevent returns and unhappy customers.

6) Choose a Partner with a Substantial Inventory

Along with quality, you want to make sure that the dropshipping partner you choose has your products in-stock year-round. Anyone who owns an online business can tell you that when your business starts getting a lot of sales, it can be overwhelming, and the last thing you want to worry about is if you have the products to ship to your customers.

You can prevent items from going out of stock by asking your dropshipping partner how much of the products they have that you are selling and how often they replenish their stock. Having this discussion saves everyone time, energy, and money.

Conclusion

Dropshipping can be highly successful if all the parts are working correctly. Therefore, be sure to take all of this advice and more into consideration when choosing your partner. When you choose wisely things, go smoothly, and if you do not, things can get complicated very quickly.

Post By: Destiny Rick

Destiny Rick What to Keep in Mind when Choosing a Dropshipping Partner?

Before joining On The Map, Destiny Ricks worked in a diverse range of organizations, including small business startups and large corporations. Ricks specializes in content writing and editing, as well as marketing and social media. Her varied background in copywriting and editing provided the perfect foundation for her current role. Destiny Ricks is a Content Director with On The Map; in this role, she manages and coordinates the Content Writing department.