How to Find The Best Aliexpress Suppliers for Dropshipping

Is it possible to find the best Aliexpress suppliers for dropshipping from Aliexpress to eBay? Yes! It’s quite simple if you know the parameters to pay attention to. And we will give you them in this checklist to ease this task.

As of January 2021, Aliexpress has 528 million visitors. And its number is growing. It remains to be a very popular eCommerce website that attracts both buyers and online sellers, who resell their products on other marketplaces or online shops.

However, many people still search for answers for the next questions: Is Aliexpress safe? Is Aliexpress safe to buy from? And reliable enough? How to find the best Aliexpress suppliers for dropshipping? That is to say, what are those trustworthy and reliable Aliexpress sellers? 

We answer all these questions here in plain English. 

Let’s see why and how it is possible to find a good supplier on Aliexpress.

Is AliExpress safe? 

Yes, Aliexpress is safe and reliable. It’s a real company that belongs to the Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba. It has more than 528 million visitors who make $72 billion in spending in 2021. Their products may have a different quality but it’s safe to buy from AliExpress because they provide a buyer protection program (which makes it even safer than eBay). That is to say,  Aliexpress guarantees its customers that if the product doesn’t arrive as described or in time, they will provide a full refund. 

The thing is even if a seller refuses to return money out of any reason, all dispute cases and refund requests are considered by the Aliexpress marketplace (not a particular vendor), and they always help. So any order made directly on Aliexpress is protected. 

And it’s not just a fake promise. I checked it myself and got a full refund for several products.

The site accepts only the world-known payment methods, so there is no need to worry about it either. 

Nonetheless, it’s important to know how to find the best Aliexpress vendors, simply in order to not have a need to use this Aliexpress buyer protection and not being involved in disputes. Especially if do dropshipping from Aliexpress on eBay, on Facebook marketplace, or Shopify, etc. 

Continue to read to get the easy steps on how to do it. 

Why is it important to find reliable Aliexpress sellers for dropshipping?

Part of the eBay market research process when dropshipping is to source good products from reliable suppliers. The quality of the product you are dropshipping can reduce the return rate and the supplier you are going to purchase from must deliver in time. 

When choosing dropshipping sites that are also marketplaces with different eCommerce suppliers, like AliExpress, knowing how to find the best Aliexpress vendors for dropshipping is an essential skill to succeed in this business model. This knowledge will not only help you to cooperate with professionals and Aliexpress trustworthy vendors but also to provide better customer service. 

For example, your seller level on eBay has a direct effect on the amount of organic traffic you get when you do eBay dropshipping. It is determined by parameters that are related directly to the level of service you provide to your customers.

In addition, a bad product or unreliable Aliexpress sellers can end up in more open cases, returns requests, and late shipments. The math here is simple: lower seller level equals lower-traffic equals fewer sales.

Aliexpress suppliers are those who will handle your orders, logistics, and product quality. Besides, in case your customer would get some additional questions about your item, your supplier will be the one who would answer these questions (to you). 

Ideally, as a dropshipper you want to deal only with good and reliable suppliers. And it is in your power, you just need to know the parameters that will help you to carefully choose the good ones. 

The most reliable supplier vs. the most profitable supplier

The beauty of dropshipping from Ali Express is that in the process of finding profitable products to dropship on eBay you can optimize the profit.

You do that by locating a high-quality product and then sourcing it from cheaper, and yet still reliable Aliexpress sellers. It is possible because just like other marketplaces, there could be many sellers for the same item on Ali Express.

In the example below the seller of this product sold it 6420 times and generated 2216 reviews. That is one of the AliExpress top sellers for this product and probably also the most reliable one.

But in the process of product sourcing using the sniping technique (I put a link to it a few sentences above) you can locate not only the most popular AliExpress seller but also many other suppliers.

This is where your judgment in choosing the cheapest and yet most reliable AliExpress suppliers comes in place.

There are no rules on what to choose, the highest profit vs. the highest reliability. But in order to be able to evaluate you first have to understand the implications of sourcing a bad product or working with a bad supplier.

The parameters that help to find Aliexpress best suppliers for dropshipping: 

The following steps on how to choose an Aliexpress trustworthy supplier are commonly used by dropshippers.

Many online sellers, who just recently started to dropship, are driven by only one criterion in choosing the seller. They are guided by price. Although, there are many other more important parameters that help to find the best Aliexpress suppliers for dorpshipping. 

Following these tips you would be able to detect if a seller on Aliexpress is trustworthy or not: 

• Locate AliExpress Top Sellers
• Product score (0-5 stars) and reviews;
• The offered shipping methods (must include tracking number);
• The offered buyer protection and return options;
• The AliExpress sellers’ performance and positive feedback percentage.

#1 How to find AliExpress Top Sellers?

Aliexpress top seller are verified sellers who managed to build their successful top-rated stores on Ali Express. They provide good quality products from the authorized seller, or they are brands by themselves. They have high rankings and a lot of positive feedbacks. These vendors are also known for their excellent post-sale service and provide good guarantees.

You can locate them by seeing the TOP BRAND sign next to the store name (if you are already on the product page) or below the product picture in the search:

One of the methods to locate good Aliexpress suppliers is to sort out vendors by a number of the orders on the search results. Just type the name of the product on the search bar and apply the filter “Sort by Orders”:

You can see the number of the orders below the product photo and check a few of them to continue with the search for your dropshipping vendor.

#2 Verify the quality of the product 

Like in other marketplaces, you can check the reviews the product has on the Aliexpress product page. Every product has a score section and a section with written feedback. The score section is usually situated below the product title on a product page. The score is built on the range of 0 to 5 stars. 

In the meantime, the section with the feedbacks has the messages from people who already ordered this product about it and this AliExpress supplier. Frequently it also contains photos taken by buyers. It’s very useful to look through them to know if the product corresponds to the description and product images. 

The best practice for beginners in dropshipping is to focus on products with a score of 4 stars and above, at least a couple of written reviews, and at least 50-100 orders.

Besides, learn how to find and save pictures from the product reviews section, you will need them later when you optimize your listings for eBay SEO. Click on the photo to zoom in and see the product better. It will help you to know better the quality of the product you want to dropship.

#3 Check offered Shipping methods by AliExpress suppliers

A supplier that doesn’t offer a good shipping option is typically out of option when dropshipping on eBay. 

This means that first, you actually have to check the price + shipping to determine the best AliExpress vendors for your product. Second, to be able to tell what will the shipping rate be you have to know the minimum requirements for those.

Let’s see what you should pay attention to when choosing the best Aliexpress suppliers for dropshipping: 

The best practice for dropshippers is to pick the fastest and most reliable shipping service that also would be free or quite affordable.

The best way to tell that a shipping method is reliable is when it offers a tracking number.

The rule of thumb is that trackable shipments are shipped via air cargo, like the ePacket delivery option, and shipping options that don’t offer tracking numbers are shipped via sea cargo.

Moreover, the seller level metrics on eBay counts valid tracking numbers that were uploaded on time. Not providing tracking numbers harms your seller level and the lower the seller level you have, the less organic traffic you get from the eBay search engine.

However, ePacket is not the only shipping method that provides a relatively fast and reliable service. Other carriers such as UPS Expedited, e-EMS, or YW Fast Line also offer a relatively fast and reliable shipping time. Aliexpress standard shipping is also rather reliable, but it tends to ship slower.

If you ship to different countries, before listing the item, make sure your AliExpess seller ships there. To do so, click on this box with countries.

#4 Check the offered Returns and Buyer protection

Be attentive: some Aliexpress suppliers cooperate with local return services in the country of destination and can offer free local returns. Nonetheless, they are in the minority. In case you find such a seller, check him/her on other parameters for reliability to be sure you can trust this supplier. 

What is Aliexpress Buyer Protection? 

The Aliexpress Buyer protection is the standard set of guarantees, known as Buyer Guarantees, provided to protect their customers from unreliable Aliexpress sellers and bad shopping experience. It supposes a money-back guarantee in case the item didn’t arrive, was shipped damaged, or was not as described.

The Buyer protection on AliExpress starts at the moment of product purchase. Its time is displayed on the order information on My Orders page.It ends 15 days later the buyer confirms the order is received. However, it’s possible to prolong it by sending the Purchase Protection Extension Request.

AliExpress promise your money back if the item is not delivered within the Buyer Protection period. You can get a refund 15 days after the claim process finishes.  Furthermore, if the item doesn’t match the product description the Aliexpress seller has provided, you can ask for a partial refund. 

This guarantee is in addition to and does not limit your statutory rights as a consumer, as granted by all mandatory laws and regulations applicable in your country of residence.

Returns on AliExpress

Aliexpress vendors that offer ‘Free Return’ service will have ‘Free Return’ icon on their item details page. If you will need to use AliExpress buyer protection, open a dispute on Aliexpress.  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). 

Even though, Aliexpress seller can not agree with you. Aliexpress checks all requests and can step in to help you. Providing enough prooves raises your chances to get a refund.

According to my personal experience, Aliexpress is reliable and their protection program works pretty well. All my refund requests ended positively for me. I always was providing all the information in my refund requests (screenshots, tracking information, etc.), and Aliexpress was on my side. Including when the sellers denied my words, shipped item longer than promised, or delivered it to another address.

When I didn’t know how to find the best AliExpress vendors yet and I bought several items from an AliExpress fake seller (it happened only once for 6 years of using them), Aliexpress refunded me all money for multiple orders, even though those sellers ignored them.

Similarly, if you need to cancel your order on Aliexpress, open the My Orders section, locate the necessary order there. Then click on View Details at the top left corner of the order to process the cancellation or open a return request. Pick the necessary reason and provide as much information and prooves as possible.

#5 Review the AliExpress seller’s store performance

The last step would be to look through the Aliexpress suppliers overview. You can do it by holding the mouse on the seller’s store title. You will see the seller performance that includes the positive feedback rate and the communication, shipping speed, and “item as described” rate they got from their buyers.

The best practice for beginners in dropshipping is to avoid Aliexpress sellers with less than a 95% positive feedback rate.

It would be perfect if all 3 criteria are green in the seller’s performance.

Another good indicator is the Top Brands sign near the store name. The top brand sellers are the Aliexpress best sellers. They get this sign if they sell the best quality products, very good seller rating, and awesome customer service. 

Alitools uses internal metrics to rate sellers, display full descriptions of them, and help you make the right decision. It is a smart move when it comes to buying any product on this website. It can help you decide whether to continue purchasing from the selected seller or not.

Moreover, you can even write to the specific Aliexpress seller and put him/her questions that worry you. For example, what is his handling time, or how much time does it take to renew the stock for your product. Except for receiving the answers, you also will get an idea about the time this seller takes to answer customers. 

Final lines

That’s it! Now you know how safe is Aliexpress and are familiar with the important criteria, thanks to which you can find the best Aliexpress vendors and suppliers for dropshipping. Cooperating with trustworthy Aliexpress sellers will surely help you in building a successful dropshipping store and establishing your own good seller rating and reducing product cancellations and bad reviews. 

Want to learn more?

• How To Dropship On eBay From Ali Express – The Complete Guide
• Guide to AliExpress Standard Shipping: does it have an alternative?
• What Are The Best Aliexpress Chrome Extensions for Dropshipping?
• The Complete Guide to AliExpress Dropshipping Center
• How to Place Orders and Handle Product Returns from AliExpress