Artem Zmitrovich
If you just recently started dropshipping from Aliexpress and got your first dropshipping order or product return, this guide is for you. This article is written because processing dropshipping orders and handling returns and cancellations can cause beginners much confusion and anxiety.
Worries away! This article will guide you through all the necessary steps you need to do once you get a dropshipping order on eBay, showing you:
- how to place a dropshipping order on your supplier site,
- how to automate the positive feedback generation, and
- what to do if you got a return or cancellation request.
This article will demonstrate the process of order processing and cancellation for Aliexpress products. However, the shared steps and tips are also applicable to other websites you might be using as dropshipping suppliers.
The steps to process a dropshipping order in Aliexpress:
#1 Getting an order
Congratulations! You made a sale on your eBay dropshipping store! It’s a good beginning since it might generate positive feedback that scales up your seller rating and, as a consequence, the amount of traffic you get from eBay.
Actually, the more you understand how traffic works on eBay and you know that in terms of eBay SEO when your eBay listing gets views and sales, the eBay search engine starts to push more traffic towards your listing.
More traffic provides you more chances to get new sales. Besides, if you just recently started to sell on eBay, getting the orders is one of the requirements to increase the eBay selling limits.
Tip: When you get a dropshipping order, it’s recommended to start to process it as soon as possible. Don’t postpone the eBay order processing to avoid facing the fact that the product is out of stock or has its price increased on the supplier site.
It’s crucial for your seller rating to process orders and update their tracking information in time. There is a metric in the eBay seller hub under the seller level section dedicated just for evaluating your tracking uploading performance on a monthly basis.
The next move will be to locate the order.
#2 Fining the dropshipping order
Once you get an eBay order, you can see it in the eBay Seller Hub > Orders section > Awaiting shipment:
You would see the number 1 there for Awaiting shipment orders.
Don’t worry there is no chance to miss it. You will see the message you got an order on eBay, on your email, on your PayPal, and if you use the eBay dropshipping software DSM Tool, there as well. More precisely you can find all your orders information in the section Sales&Orders on DSM Tool:
On each sale row, you’ll find the order information, including the buyer’s name and address. It’s the information you will need to provide to your seller.
Automation tip: Use DSM Tool Chrome extension to copy the buyer address, it will help you automate the next step: adding the buyer address to the Ali Express shipping address book.
After locating the order. Start to purchase it on AliExpress.
#3 Adding the buyer address to the Ali Express shipping address book
Processing the dropshipping order on Aliexpress is the same process as for any other dropshipping supplier. You will need to purchase the item in your supplier’s shop providing the address of your buyer.
To start ordering the item, log in to your Aliexpress account, and open the product page of the item you sold on Aliexpress.
If you use DSM Tool software, click on the Target ID or the item title in the order row in Sales&Orders.
Go to your Aliexpress account settings > My shipping Address to add your buyer’s address.
Ali Express allows up to 10 shipping addresses per account and if you reach the limit you won’t be able to process change the address during the checkout. If you reached 10 addresses remove one of them and add the new one.
Automation tip: Use DSM Tool Chrome extension to paste buyer’s address in a matter of one click:
When everything is done, click to save.
Automation tip: Add your payment method in the account settings > My Orders > Cards & Bank Accounts to make the ordering process faster. This way, you won’t have to enter your credit card details every time you process an order in Ali Express.
If you prefer to use PayPal to pay for orders, since the middle of 2020 Ali Express accepts PayPal as a payment method for most of its products.
#4 Placing the order
After you checked Aliexpress settings and added a new address, you are ready to purchase the product. Come back to the Aliexpress product page and choose the necessary variation of it (in case your listing has multi variations).
Tip: If the product you sold on eBay has variations and you aren’t sure which variations you need to order. Go back to this listing on eBay, click on the Sold button and see the sale details.
After you picked the necessary variation, choose the best Aliexpress shipping method, and add the product to the cart.
Tip: pick only the shipping option that includes a trackable tracking number, ideally free and fast shipping like ePacket.
Then locate this item in your Aliexpress cart and click Buy from this seller button.
Then proceed with the checkout.
Choose your buyer’s address among the addresses you have in Aliexpress. Make sure it’s correct. If you noticed an error, there is a button to edit the address.
If you added your card for payment in the Aliexpress account settings, there would be no need to input its data again there. In case you don’t have there a payment card, look at the previous step or add it right there.
When it will be ready, click on the Place order button.
That’s it! You placed the order on Aliexpress. Now you need to mark the order as ordered on eBay. If you use Dsm Tool, do it on the Sales&Orders page. Then you will not see this item among the pending orders.
When it is done, you need to wait to get a tracking number from your supplier and update your buyer about it. Let’s see how to do it.
#5 Updating the tracking number of Aliexpress item on eBay
You can find out that the supplier fulfilled and shipped your order from the Orders section in Aliexpress (My Aliexpress > My Orders).
Locate this order, click on the Track order button. There you can also get the tracking number of this order to update your buyer.
Click on the Copy button near the tracking number.
Now find this order on your eBay orders: eBay Seller Hub > Orders > All orders.
Locate this dropshipping order on your eBay orders and click on the Add tracking button (below the listing title and custom label). You will see the next fields: Tracking number and Carrier. Paste there the tracking number and carrier name given on the Aliexpress order information.
You can make sure everything is done and you don’t have pending tasks on eBay by checking your eBay Seller Hub. First of all, the task of “Print label and ship” will disappear from the Tasks board. Besides, in the Orders section.
Automation tip: Use DSM Tool Chrome extension to automate the copy and paste process of the tracking numbers updating.
When you click on the extension button in the AliExpress tracking page the Sales&Orders page will open in a new tab. Locate the order and click on the yellow envelope button
Then, click on the Auto-Paste tracking number and the order will be updated on eBay automatically.
Auto messages for positive feedbacks generation
I would like to stop on one of the most useful features DSM Tool has to offer. It’s called auto-messages.
Once you get a dropshipping order on eBay, your customer would be grateful not only for receiving a good quality item and fast but also for getting amazing customer support.
Small details such as “thanks for the order” or “your order was shipped. I attach the tracking information in case you would like to track it” messages implicitly show your buyers that you care, that you take your business seriously and you are not a scammer. Exactly such a small thing as a message to your customer can bring your dropshipping store positive feedback. They consequently will boost your eBay SEO. And you get more traffic and more new sales.
That’s why consider sending such following-up messages to your buyers.
If you want to save your time and automate your dropshipping business, setup the auto-messages on the DSM Tool settings. There you can set the text of the messages that will be automatically sent to your eBay buyers when you mark the item as ordered or shipped. Besides, it can send a message asking your buyers for feedback. Remember, the more feedbacks on your selling account, the better.
How to Handle Order Cancellations and Product Returns
It might happen that your buyer can change his mind and cancel an order on eBay. The shoppers are allowed to cancel their orders within the first 60 minutes after the purchase was made. If it happens, you will notify you about the order cancellation in email.
If you were so fast to order the products in Aliexpress, you are able to cancel this order as long as the seller did not update the tracking number. That is around 24 hours to process the cancellation.
How to cancel the Aliexpress order?
All actions connected with the orders on Aliexpress like cancelling, tracking, opening a return/refund dispute are managed from the My Orders section (My account > My Orders).
Well, if you need to cancel your order on Aliexpress, open the My Orders section, locate your order there. Then click on View Details at the top left corner of the order to process the cancellation or open a return request.
In the page that opens, you will find the option to cancel the order in case that it was not yet shipped. If the product was already shipped, the only thing you can do is open a dispute/return request.
After submitting your cancellation request, you will see the information about the cancellation on the same View Details of the order page. The money will be refunded on the payment method which you have used normally within 5-7 days (20 days as maximum). You can see the details of the refund in the Financial section of the Order details.
How to handle product returns and disputes on Aliexpress?
Another possible situation you can face with your customers is if the dropshipping product doesn’t arrive or arrives with some kind of damage or doesn´t correspond to the product description. In such a case, ask your buyer to send you all the necessary proofs (e.g. photos, videos of the damaged product). If your supplier offers free returns, you can open a return request on Aliexpress.
Automatic returns vs. by-policy returns
The returns I mentioned are automatically approved by eBay, and as long as you follow the guidelines on how to choose a reliable dropshipping supplier on AliExpress you should be covered too according to the AliExpress buyer protection.
But advanced dropshippers that source products from AliExpress set up their return policies on eBay in such a way that they accept returns “for any reason” on top of the automatic returns in order to gain a competitive advantage and gain more traffic.
They accept returns for 60 days, which is great for the buyer, but they also setup that the shipping fee for the return is paid by the buyer. I never heard of a case of a buyer that agreed to ship an item back to China on their expense… But of course using this method is on your own risk.
Anyway, make sure you set up the optimized eBay business policies for Ali Express dropshipping
The biggest problem of Ali Express returns when dropshipping on eBay (and its solution)
Unfortunately, you will have to approve the refund for the buyer on eBay before you get refunded on AliExpress. eBay cases only take a few days and AliExpress about 14 days. This means that there is always a small risk that you have to take into account that the case on AliExpress will get closed in favor of the seller and you will not get a refund.
The solution is your ability to communicate fast with your buyers. Make sure they send you pictures, videos, and whatever possible proof for the problem they describe before you refund them. Contact them via private messages and even call them if you have to.
I never heard of a case with sufficient evidence on AliExpress that was not refunded.
Processing the return
Locate the item in your Aliexpress orders section, click on the button Open Dispute under the status column in the order details table after you open the order page (by clicking on the View Detail link on the order page). Then, choose whether you like to open a return request or a dispute, fill up the form, and submit it.
Important: I already mentioned it, but this is so important that I want to make sure no one misses this: Make sure you provide as many as possible proofs filling the dispute request on Aliexpress. Attach the photos/videos of the product your customer sent you, write the written explanation, provide the screenshot of the shipping details you see in the order information if the product didn’t arrive on time. These proofs help to win the dispute in Aliexpress.
The bottom line
I hope this post was useful and now processing the dropshipping orders and product returns is a piece of cake for you. The most important thing is to do it on time and your selling rating will grow along with your sales.
I invite you to join the Dropshipping Community on Facebook where you can participate in the discussions and network with other drop shippers. Besides, I suggest you check the DSM Tool Youtube Channel where you can find weekly best-selling product recommendations and a lot of useful dropshipping tips aimed to help you to grow as an eCommerce seller.
Have you already got your first dropshipping order? How was it? Share it with us in the comments section below!
