There a so many new webshop these days and they are often misleading, well at least in the Netherlands. And I’m not saying at all that all new webshops are bead. But most of them are, at least almost all of the ones that are drop shipping. Did you buy on such a webshop already? Or do you have no idea (yet) what drop shipping is? Here is an explanation and how to recognize them.
Drop shipping, what is it?
Companies that are drop shipping are companies that do the marketing and sales of products, but do not manage the inventory themselves. They will forward your order to the supplier and they will collect and ship to you.
In itself a good method and has been around for a long time, but why am I writing this blog? Well, read further to find out….
China
Many of the (new) webshops you’ll see in advertisements have a supplier in China. And you can order most of what they offer much cheaper via the well-known webshops such as AliExpress, Wish, etc.
Clothing, gadgets, electronics or super handy products. There are webshops for all kinds of people and in all kinds of industries.
Misleading
In addition to (too) beautiful pictures and sometimes even videos, there are often fake reviews on the websites. Also, on top of the website or somewhere else easy notable is somethings like: Ordered today, shipped today.
Shipped yes that is true, but that does not mean: delivered this week. But of course they don’t put that conspicuously on the website. Very often it is difficult to find that information and the word dropshipping is not there. They say that their supplier is abroad.
Furthermore, these companies are often very good at their marketing. That is why they come along on your social media or (paid) at the top of your searching engine. But good marketing is not the same as good products, fair prices and a short delivery time …
How to recognize?
Three ways that I use to check whether a webshop is dropshipping are:
- Search on the site for the delivery time. 14+ days is usually shipped from China (at least in the Netherlands). A “fair” drop shipping company will often state where their supplier/ warehouse is located;
- Printscreen the product photos and use the photo search function on AliExpress. The webshops often use some different photo’s than on AliExpress, but most of the time not all of the photo’s are different than the ones on AliExpress for the same product.
- Look for reviews that they cannot post / delete themselves. Their websites often contain reviews that they have come up with themselves, but they cannot stop reviews on Google or Facebook. So those reviews are most of the time reliable. Are there no reviews? They probably don’t exists that long as they say!
Order it yourself?!
Found the product you wanted to buy on a Chinese website? Then you can of course just order it yourself, you will have it delivered just as quickly! But please thake a look at the materials and reviews of the product first. My experience is that about 90% of these products are a waste of your money. And it is also not very sustainable ordering there.
Have you ever fallen for a dropshipped product it? Well, you’re not the only one!
Please share this blog, because as far as I am concerned those companies should stop as soon as possible!