Dropshipping

In a dropshipping business, you are the shop and the supplier is your warehouse. The customer buys from you at your price. You then pay the supplier their price, and they ship the product directly to your customer. You never touch the stock, but the customer sees your brand and expects you to stand behind the order.

• No inventory to buy before you make a sale
• No packing, storage or shipping to manage yourself
• You set the selling price; the supplier sets their cost
• Your profit is the difference, minus payment and other costs
• Easy to test new products without buying stock
• The customer experience is still your responsibility

Dropshipping lives in the same product tools you already use. Connect your own supplier account, add their products to your store as drafts and price them with your own rules. When a buyer pays, a supplier order is prepared for you to place, and the tracking you add is emailed to the buyer. Fully automatic forwarding is the part still being built.

• CJdropshipping: connect your account, search the catalog, import products (available)
• BigBuy: connect and check your account (catalog import next)
• AliExpress Dropshipping: waiting for platform approval from AliExpress
• Pricing rules: markup, margin or fixed profit, minimum profit, rounding, fees
• Profit estimate before you publish
• Each marketplace seller uses their own supplier account
• Paid orders create supplier orders; tracking you add is emailed to the buyer
• Coming: automatic order forwarding and stock sync

Your supplier is the most important decision in a dropshipping business, because their speed and quality become your reputation. Before you list anything, order samples, read the supplier's policies and make sure you can explain their shipping times and returns process to your customers in plain words.

• Reliable, realistic shipping times to your customers' countries
• Accurate product descriptions, sizes and photos
• Consistent quality you have checked with your own samples
• A clear returns and damaged-item process
• Tracking on every shipment
• Responsive communication when something goes wrong
• Products you are allowed to resell under your own brand

A good dropshipping price covers more than the supplier's cost. Add up the product cost, the shipping cost you pay the supplier, your payment provider's processing fee, any advertising you spend to win the sale and an allowance for returns. Then decide what margin makes the work worthwhile. Because MultiVendor takes no commission, the platform never adds a percentage on top.

• Start from the full cost per order, not just the product price
• Include payment processing fees from your own Stripe or PayPal account
• Budget for marketing and for the occasional refund
• Check what similar products sell for, then add value with your brand
• Use bundles and options to raise the order value
• Review your prices when supplier costs change

With dropshipping, the supplier ships, but the customer bought from you. Questions about delivery times, damaged items, wrong sizes and refunds come to you, and you work them out with the supplier behind the scenes. Clear policies and quick replies are what turn a one-time buyer into a returning customer.

• Show honest processing and delivery times on every product
• Publish a returns policy that matches your supplier's
• Reply quickly to buyer inquiries
• Share tracking as soon as an order ships
• Keep records of supplier orders and issues

Alongside dropshipping, you can sell in every other way from day one. Every option below is available today, with no commission on your sales.

• Sell your own physical products with a full shipping profile
• Sell digital downloads with no stock and no shipping
• Publish online courses with modules and lessons
• Run online, in-person or hybrid events with registrations
• Add affiliate listings from Amazon Associates, eBay Partner Network, Awin and Impact.com
• Build your store with the AI builder and share it with marketing tools