Alibaba Dropshipping isn’t too different from most dropshipping platforms.
Sure, their marketing makes some great promise you haven’t heard from the other sites, but at the end of the day, no magic bullet overcomes the massive pitfalls of this business model.
Let’s get something clear:
There is NOTHING passive about dropshipping, no matter how well some sell the dream.
If you want that travel-the-world-making-money-while-you-sleep-laptop-lifestyle, dropshipping isn’t for you.
To run a successful dropshipping business, you need to be constantly on the lookout for new products.
Scouring the internet for hot trends and trying to find the next fidget spinner will take hours out of your day.
Not to mention, it’s not enough to just have the hot new product…
You also need to get the customers.
That means ads…
Lots and lots of ads…
Testing, tweaking, targeting, spending thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars before breaking even.
Not to mention, Facebook hates dropshipping, meaning one of your top traffic sources could shut you down at any time.
All of this leads to a very stressful life, not a lot of money, and a lot of time wasted.
Time that could be better spent so you can actually live the life you want.
Now, what if there was a way you could build a passive income stream that’s actually passive?
An income stream that doesn’t require:
- Physical Products
- Low Margins
- Long Wait Times
- Angry Customers
- Thousands of dollars testing different ad campaigns
An income stream that brings in consistent revenues every single month (from a couple thousand dollars to well over $10,000)?
An income stream you could actually build in your spare time, and grow as large or as small as you want to, without having to spend hours a day running ads, researching products, and trying not to get banned by whatever platforms you’re using?
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out Digital Real Estate.
This is nothing like dropshipping, and that’s probably a good thing.
However, if you’d still like to know more about Alibaba Dropshipping, keep reading.
What Is Alibaba Dropshipping?
If you’ve settled on and are committed to finding your dropshipping supplier abroad, you’ll probably end up on Alibaba. It’s been providing its services to businesses since 1999, and from then on, the marketplace has flourished, bringing together a global network of Alibaba suppliers and customers.
Despite the pandemic and economic downturn, it has grown over the past two decades to become the largest eCommerce company in the world, with earnings of $135 billion in 2022.
The services and tools made available by Alibaba help to streamline the process of finding and buying goods and managing inventory. Retailers can contact suppliers worldwide so they may get their hands on products at wholesale marketplace prices.
How To Dropship With Alibaba?
You might wonder where to begin if you’re considering dropshipping products on Alibaba. This short, easy-to-follow guide will help you operate securely on Alibaba.
Step 1: Search For Alibaba Dropshipping Suppliers
You may find a reliable Alibaba dropshipping supplier by searching for the product you want to sell and then narrowing your results using the left sidebar, seen above.
Looking for multiple suppliers before settling on one is a good idea. Even if you don’t plan on using the Trade Assurance program, it’s still smart to narrow your supplier pool using some of its features.
The “Ready to Ship” and “Fast Dispatch” checkboxes are also worth looking into since suppliers meeting these conditions are more likely to offer drop shipping.
Step 2: Check The MOQ And Price
Check out the product page and the MOQ (minimum order quantity) after you find a possible dropshipping listing on Alibaba.
Step 3. Compile A List Of Potential Alibaba Dropshipping Suppliers
Most suppliers you find might not be available or suited to be the right supplier for you. Thus, it is recommended to prepare a list of prospective suppliers and then see which one aligns best with your goals.
This is the point where competitive suppliers will:
- Sell your product
- Have a one-item purchase minimum
- Provide an affordable price list
- Be verified and offer trade assurance
- Stay on topic and communicate well.
- Provide reasonable shipping costs and time.
It’s recommended you make contact with at least 5–10 providers after compiling your list.
Step 4: Contact The Supplier And Consult Dropshipping
You are responsible for inquiring with the selected suppliers about their willingness to ship the products to your clients.
The platform’s built-in chat feature makes communicating with Alibaba’s suppliers a breeze. Some would rather speak with you via phone, email, or WeChat.
Step 5: Agreed Payment Method
Knowing which payment methods are most popular on Alibaba will help you search for a supplier who accepts your preferred method.
Third-party escrow services like Alibaba’s Trade Assurance keep a buyer’s funds until the buyer confirms satisfactory delivery.
Step 6. Shortlisted Suppliers, Order Samples, And Select Suppliers
It’s time to pick the most reliable vendor for future business relationships.
When choosing potential suppliers, it’s important to consider unit price, payment terms, shipping fees, ease of communication, and turnaround time for orders.
After compiling a reliable list of vendors, the next step is to order test samples. If there are multiple viable options for suppliers, you should explore all of them.
Step 7: Alibaba Dropshipping Fulfillment
Alibaba just released a dropshipping service with wholesale item prices and no minimum order quantity requirement.
They have established relationships with dropshipping service providers that enable you to easily add products to your online store and easily handle order fulfillment.
Not bad!
Can Individual Sellers Dropship With Alibaba?
Drop shipping with Alibaba is available for individuals, albeit it is more complicated than with AliExpress.
Most of Alibaba-affiliated manufacturers only ship out wholesale orders. Once you find reliable partners and suppliers who maintain stock and fulfill dropshipping orders, you’ll have access to a wealth of unique products.
You might be able to gain an advantage over rivals by ordering from suppliers not represented on AliExpress dropshipping or other Chinese e-commerce platforms.
Providing pre-and post-sale support and other forms of individualized customer service is essential if you intend to use your own eCommerce store for high-priced dropshipping. The sweet spot for maximizing earnings without considerable pre-sale help when starting a standard dropshipping store is usually between $50 and $300.
Alibaba has a dropshipping-specific page to help sellers locate reliable suppliers and popular items. Videos and blog posts can be found in Alibaba’s dropshipping hub and other resources to help sellers locate reliable vendors and set up shops.
Is Alibaba Dropshipping A Scam?
So, is Alibaba Dropshipping a scam? Not technically. You can make money with this business model, but it’s definitely not as easy as they make it sound.
There’s a ton of work to be done upfront, no real guarantee of success, and – most importantly – you need to do a ton of volume to make any real money.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with front-loading the work and making the money later.
But if you’re grinding it out for 3 months, $3-5k in the hole on ads (because that whole “get started with $5 a day” thing is total BS) and then your reward is 15% profit on a $12 product (which comes out to $1.80), it’s not really worth it.
What if, instead, you could do that same 3 months of work (in your spare time), and your reward was a $500 to $2,000 payment that came in every single month?
And what if you actually didn’t need to wait 3 months? What if you could get started today and have your first payment in a week?
And what if you could double it next week?
Well, that’s the power of Digital Real Estate.
And, unlike dropshipping, you can legitimately do this from anywhere. It’s a true lifestyle business.
Your laptop and an internet connection is all you need.
Some of the most successful students in this program run their entire 6-figure businesses from:
- A camper in the middle of the woods
- A beach chair on the water in Mexico
- A small villa in Greece
They’re able to travel around, living their lives first, and focusing on their income second.
Because even if they stop working for an extended period of time, the money keeps coming in.
So adventure, memories, and experience are the top priority.
And they never have to worry about how to pay for the next trip, or consider asking for time off.
If this sounds more like the type of life you want to lead, just click here to find out more about Digital Real Estate.
Are There Alternatives To Alibaba Dropshipping?
Yes, there are plenty of Dropshipping programs and resources to choose from if you want to pursue this business model. Here are just a few:
- Spocket Dropshipping
- Dropshipping Titans
- 100K Blueprint
- Oberlo
- Biaheza Dropshipping
What Is My Top Recommendation For Making Money In 2024?
Our review team has spent months researching, reviewing, and vetting dozens of business models and thousands of programs.
While there may be no “perfect business”, the research IS conclusive:
Digital Real Estate is the #1 online business model for those just starting out.
Whether you’ve never made a dollar online, or you’ve been in this space for a while but never really “made it,” Digital Real Estate is for you.
Why?
1) It’s Flexible: got an hour a day? You can do this. Ready to drop everything else and dive in full time? You can do this. Yes, the more time you put in, the faster you see results. But even with a little time each day, you can move the needle in a Digital Real Estate business.
And because this system is so flexible, you don’t have to constantly be working to make more money. It’s called PASSIVE INCOME because if you stop working, the money doesn’t.
Imagine taking 3 months off to just tour around Europe, rent a cabin in the woods to write a book, hike the Appalachian Trail, or live on the beach and surf all day.
This is only possible if you have an income stream that’s not tied to your time.
2) You Own & Control EVERYTHING: With dropshipping, you don’t really own anything. You have no control over the quality of products. You don’t even own the products because they go straight from the supplier to the customer.
Yes, if you’ve got a Shopify store, you technically own that. But if every ad platform suits you down, you’ve got a store with no customers. Which is literally worthless.
With Digital Real Estate, you own the assets, which means you have all the power and all the control.
3) Little To No Startup Costs: It’s possible to get into Digital Real Estate with zero dollars upfront. Because, using the strategies outlined in this program, you can get a client to pay you BEFORE spending a penny out of your own pocket…even before you do any work.
Even without getting paid in advance, you can have your first Digital Rental Property up, running, and generating profits for less than $100.
4) No Inventory: Ok, so technically you don’t have to worry about inventory since you’re not filling up your garage or a warehouse with products.
But, you still have all the headaches of a physical products business.
Since most dropshipped products come from China, you already have a 2-3 week wait time from when a customer places an order.
But right now, with global supply chain issues, your customers would be lucky to get anything in less than a month.
Imagine finally landing your first customer after months of experimenting, and then getting hit with a refund request or chargeback because they had to wait 6 weeks to get their order.
With Digital Real Estate, a 100% online business, you never even have to think about that risk.
5) Easy To Duplicate: Ok, here’s the best part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up and running, you can literally DOUBLE your income with a few clicks, a couple keystrokes, and a single phone call (and you don’t actually need the phone call).
Remember: each Digital Rental Property is worth $500 to $2,000 a month in semi-passive income (over 95% profit). Every time you decide to create another one and increase your income, it gets easier.
Because you have more knowledge, more experience, more results, and more momentum.
If you wanted to double your income with dropshipping, you’d have to double your inventory, your profit margins, OR your average order value. And, guaranteed that’s a lot harder than a few clicks and a few minutes of your life.
6) Make Money Helping Real People: This part is what makes it all worth it. 99.9% of the time, dropshipping provides no value to anyone but the seller.
In a lot of cases, it has a negative impact on the customer because of poor product quality and an overall bad experience (i.e. waiting 6 weeks to get your order).
And that makes it pretty hard to sleep at night.
But with Digital Real Estate, you’re actually helping people by solving your clients’ biggest problem:
Small, local businesses need more customers, and with Digital Real Estate, you are unleashing a flood of happy, paying customers for these businesses.
You make money by helping them make money.
Not a big, faceless corporation either…a small business owner who’s using that money to put food on the table for their family, start a college fund for their kids, or take care of a sick parent.
Once you see how Digital Real Estate makes a real impact in the lives of real people, you’ll sleep like a baby with a big smile on your face.
Now, the choice is yours. You could continue browsing, looking at opportunities like Alibaba Dropshipping which could one day make you money.
You could continue researching, never making a decision.
OR, you could take a look inside, consider what you really want, and join a program that makes your dreams a reality. At the same time, joining a community of over 2,000 successful students that are living life on their own terms thanks to Digital Real Estate.
A consistent, reliable, semi-passive stream of income that doesn’t depend on you or your time to keep producing profits.
All while genuinely helping real people who are grateful and happy to pay for it.
If this sounds more like what you want out of life (or if you just want some nice side income), click here to learn more about Digital Real Estate.
