A dropshipping agent is a middleman between you and suppliers in China.
They act as a sourcing agent, quality control, and fulfillment company, all rolled into one.
While they act as a middleman between you and manufacturers, they also provide services themselves, such as quality inspection and order packing & fulfillment.
Does a Dropshipping Agent Source Products For You?
A dropshipping agent sources products from China for your dropshipping or ecommerce business. They can source a wide variety of product and are not restricted by the niche. As long as your product is in China, they should be able to find it.
Does a Dropshipping Agent Check Product Quality?
A good dropshipping agent checks the quality of your products. They inspect products when a new batch arrives at their warehouse, or as part of the order fulfillment process, or both.
Does a Dropshipping Agent Private-Label Products and Packaging?
Most dropshipping agents can help you private-label products and packaging. The degree to which the product can be branded will depend on the product itself, whereas almost all packaging can be designed and branded to your liking.
Does a Dropshipping Agent Provide Warehousing?
A modern dropshipping agent provides warehouse storage in China for your products so that orders can be fulfilled fast.
While some agents may provide a pure dropshipping service, which means they only order products once you get orders, this slows delivery down by a few days.
What is the Difference Between a Dropshipping Agent and Supplier?
dropshipping agent vs dropshipping supplier
A dropshipping agent is different to a dropshipping supplier. While the supplier focuses on one product or a few products in a specific niche, a dropshipping agent is not restricted to any single niche or product.
One example of a dropshipping supplier is an AliExpress seller, although they may not necessarily be the manufacturers of the product.
Another example would be the actual manufacturer of a product that authorizes you to sell their product and offers direct to consumer shipping.
Is a Dropshipping Agent Better than AliExpress Dropshipping?
Generally speaking, a dropshipping agent offers a better service than suppliers on AliExpress. Suppliers on AliExpress are restricted to slower shipping options, and are often more used to dealing with consumers than businesses.
However, if you are completely new to dropshipping then AliExpress is a great way to start because you can order one product at a time, after each customer places their order on your store.
Why Do You Need a Dropshipping Agent?
You need a dropshipping agent to reliably scale your e-commerce business past beginner levels. The reason for this comes down to speed and reliability.
A few orders a week while using AliExpress to fulfill them is unlikely to cause you any issues, but things change as soon as you start making 10 orders a day consistently. That’s because there’s a higher chance some of your customers might start complaining, or worse, issuing charge-backs via their banks.
An experienced dropshipping agent will make sure you always have product in stock to fulfill orders reliably, and use the best shipping couriers to speed up delivery.
Is Shipping from China Fast Through a Dropshipping Agent?
Shipping from China via a dropshipping agent is much faster than AliExpress shipping. That’s because a dropshipping agent partners with various shipping couriers to select the best shipping route for each country.
As such, you can expect shipping times of 5-12 calendar days on average, with some countries being faster. For example, shipping to the UK via YunExpress is 3-7 days, whereas to the US it is 3-10 days.
What Services Does a Dropshipping Agent Provide?
A standard dropshipping agent offers the following services:
Product Sourcing
Branding
Quality Control
Warehouse Management
Order Fulfillment / 3PL Services
Aftersales Support
Is a Dropshipping Agent Free?
A dropshipping agent’s services are not free, but they charge via fulfillment fee per order (or sometimes per product), instead of charging for their initial sourcing service..
How Much Does a Dropshipping Agent Cost?
The service cost of using a dropshipping agent is the price of their fulfillment fee, which can range from $0.80 to $3 per order.
On top of that you have to pay for the product & packaging, as well as shipping costs, which are not fees a dropshipping agent charges, but are costs they pass onto you (from the manufacturers and couriers).
How Do I Start Dropshipping with an Agent?
To start dropshipping with an agent you need to do the following:
Find a reliable dropshipping agent & discuss your requirements
Receive a price quote for the product you are selling
Accept quote and establish payment terms
Connect your Shopify (or other) store to their fulfillment system
Make first payment
Review product sample + Order first batch of product
Authorize order fulfillment
Sit back & relax! (then go and focus on growing your business)
