Want to jump straight to the answer? The best dropshipping company for most people is Oberlo for Shopify or SaleHoo.
Dropshipping makes it possible to start an ecommerce site without handling the inventory, shipping, or fulfillment. Manufacturers ship products directly to the customer, so you get all the upside with none of the headaches.
This in-depth guide reviews and compares the best dropshipping companies. The right dropshipping solution makes it’s easy to run a profitable ecommerce site.
The 10 Best Dropshipping Companies, Suppliers, Databases, and Tools
- Oberlo — Best Shopify plugin and directory
- SaleHoo — Members-only database of 8,000+ suppliers
- Printful — Best for print-on-demand products
- Spocket — Best for international dropshipping
- Wholesale2B — Versatile supplier and dropshipping hub
- Inventory Source — Time-saving dropshipping automation tool
- Worldwide Brands — Best budget-friendly database
- Dropified — Popular Shopify app for AliExpress
- Modalyst — Best Wix plugin and directory
- Importify — Best dropshipping tool for WooCommerce
Once you have your Shopify account and your store set up, you’re ready to link up with a dropshipping partner and start selling.
But it can be hard to break into dropshipping because most dropshipping businesses don’t like to share their items or their suppliers. Their concern is that you’ll just replicate their shop and eat into their market.
I’m here to help you avoid that scenario. The following are my top picks for dropshippers, databases, and suppliers — along with what each does best.
Oberlo — Best Shopify Plugin & Directory
- Free Starter Plan
- Basic Plan $30 per month
- Pro Plan $80 per month
- 4.7 out of 5 stars
Oberlo offers an excellent plugin service that works with Shopify stores.
The Oberlo directory offers you all the products you need. The dashboard also shows you how many page views, sales, and star rankings each item and seller has.
Once you make a sale, you’ll use Oberlo to order the item to be shipped to your customer.
The product selection and fulfillment are handled for you. That frees up your time to focus on driving traffic to your store.
Oberlo has a forever-free Starter plan. However, to unlock shipment tracking and order fulfillment monitoring (which I recommend) you’ll need to upgrade to the Basic plan at $30 per month.
It’ll also raise your sales limit from 50 to 500. Once you crest 500, you’ll be in Pro territory, which is $80 per month and allows for multiple users as well.
Oberlo has 4.2 out of 5 stars from 2,000 reviews in the Shopify app store.
SaleHoo — Members-Only Database of 8,000+ Suppliers
- 60-Day Free Trial
- Annual plan is $67 per year
- Lifetime plan is a one-time payment of $127
- 9.6 out of 10 stars
SaleHoo is a great dropshipper that offers a massive supplier database to draw on.
A $67 yearly membership with SaleHoo grants you access to this database of 8,000+ wholesalers and dropshippers. They’re all screened by SaleHoo before they’re added to the directory. There’s a 60-day free trial period, and the customer service gets high marks in public reviews.
The best part is that you don’t have to worry about something being too good to be true if it’s on SaleHoo. If it made it onto the site, it has been vetted and confirmed.
You can make back the yearly membership fee with a single sale.
Along with access to fully vetted suppliers, you also get SaleHoo’s Market Research Lab. Look at the trends and play with the data to find out what really matters to your market right now.
Within the Market Research Lab, you can see competition for the product among other dropshippers, compare profit potential between items, and spot emerging trends. Data like this allows you to strike while the iron is hot (or before other sellers are hip to the trend).
With SaleHoo, access to the wholesaler database is just half of it. The other half is the unprecedented agility you’ll gain compared to other dropshippers.
As a bonus, when QuickSprout readers purchase one year of SaleHoo dropshipping, you’ll get one additional year for FREE.
Printful — Best for Print-on-Demand Products
- No monthly fees
- Customize hundreds of items
- Integrates with most ecommerce platforms
- No minimum purchase
Printful is a full-service print-on-demand dropshipper that allows you to sell branded, custom-designed merchandise to anyone in the world. And it integrates seamlessly with almost any e-commerce platform you can think of, including:
- Shopify
- Bigcommerce
- WooCommerce
- Amazon
- Etsy
- Squarespace
- Wix
- Big Cartel
- Storenvy
- Gumroad
- Tictail
- Ecwid
- Weebly
- Inktale
Printful has a ton of options when it comes to what you can put your logo or design on. There are over 330 pieces to choose from, including men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, wall art, hats, mugs, water bottles, stationery, bags, blankets, and more.
You can hop onto the Printful website and add your own custom designs or use something from Printful’s library of designs on anything. Then the experts at Printful will print, package, and ship your order to your customer.
If you need help with your designs or company branding, Printful goes a step further by offering several options for adding your branding to your orders. These services include branded stickers on your packages, your logo on t-shirt labels, and even adding stickers, business cards, etc. inside your packaging.
As for pricing, there is no cost to sign up for a Printful account and there are no monthly subscription fees.
Printful gives you the prices they charge for each item, and you add a markup. When someone places an order on your site, they pay your price and then Printful does a second transaction charging you for the product, fulfillment, and shipping. You keep the difference.
You can get started with Printful today and sell your custom designs.
Spocket — Best for International Dropshipping
- Free Starter Plan
- Browse international suppliers
- Premium plans start at $25 per month
- 14-day free trial
Spocket gives you a great database app for dropshipping items that works especially well for people shipping in the US and beyond. They allow you to sort by country and simply upload the products into your Shopify store.
They make it easy to find US and EU items that’ll ship within your country rather than from China, cutting down on slow ship speeds. This also keeps costs lower–for you and your customers.
Lower costs and faster shipping times? Spocket is the answer for people who want to dropship around the world.
Spocket offers a free plan, which will let you check out their database of products. Once you are ready to start selling, you can upgrade to one of the paid plans.
The Starter plan (25 products with unlimited orders) is $24.99. Upgrading to Pro is $49.99 per month for 250 products and branded invoicing.
The Empire plan unlocks unlimited products for $99.99 per month.
Take a 14-day free trial of Spocket today, and start selling around the globe.
Wholesale2B — Versatile Supplier and Dropshipping Hub
- Browse for Free
- Multiple Plan Options
- $29.99 to $49.99 per month
- DIY Plan $67 per year
Wholesale2B is one of my favorite dropshipping suppliers. They offer more than 1 million products you can start selling right now.
Think of them as a one-stop-shop for anything related to drop shipping. You’ll get access to a massive directory and all the tools you need to process orders.
You can sign up for free (no credit card required), and start reviewing Wholesale2B’s massive inventory of products. Take your time–you won’t be charged until you’re ready to start dropshipping.
On top of that, they allow you to sell products on:
- eBay
- Amazon
- WooCommerce
- Shopify
- Magento
- Weebly
- BigCommerce
- Your own Wholesale2B store
Handle the orders yourself by becoming a registered reseller with each supplier. Or pay Wholesale2B a 3% fee to handle that for you.
Wholesale2B starts free and includes their 1 million products, customer support, and a lifetime free account.
Inventory Source — Time-Saving Dropshipping Automation Tool
- Dropship Automation Solutions
- Inventory $99 per month
- Full Automation $150 per month
- 180+ Dropship Suppliers
Inventory Source is an automation tool built specifically for dropshippers. If you are looking to cut down the time it takes to fulfill orders, this could be the tool you’re missing.
It allows you to either sync the suppliers’ products with your page (inventory automation) or to sync the entire customer purchase flow so that your orders are automatically placed with your supplier (full automation).
Inventory Source has pre-built integrations with more than 230 suppliers. Many companies say that it’s “easy” to connect your site with a suppliers’ inventory–but it’s not always so easy. Inventory Source’s integrations really work, and the company puts a ton of effort in making sure they continue to perform flawlessly.
This cuts down on busy-work big time. You choose a new product and Inventory Source automatically uploads the quantities, weights, colors, titles, and more. This data is coming directly from the supplier’s feed, so it’s always up-to-date.
Inventory automation is $99/month and full automation is $199/month. However, getting just a directory account that allows you to view all dropship suppliers and preview product feeds is free. Nothing beats that, right?
Worldwide Brands — Best Budget-Friendly Database
- Lifetime Plan $299
- Direct Access to All Wholesalers
- 16+ Million Wholesale Products
- BBB A+ Rated
For $299, you can get a lifetime subscription to Worldwide Brands’s database of wholesalers and dropshippers. It’s a great budget-friendly solution for those competing to sell products on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.
They carry every category of consumer good: electronics, home & garden, clothing, shoes, accessories, sporting goods, art, health & beauty, books, and much more.
With a subscription to Worldwide Brands, you can cut out the middleman and increase your own profits. It’s a one-time subscription, so you will always have a direct access to the best possible deals.
They are constantly updating their database, which is easy to search and filter results.
Give yourself the edge by relying on Worldwide Brands team of specialists. You’ll get the most up-to-date information without any extra work on your part.
Worldwide Brands distinguishes itself with its extensive upper-market wholesale directory of certified dropshippers and its reliable and quick-to-respond support team. The lifetime membership certainly doesn’t hurt either, with many similar services charging you each month or year.
Dropified — Popular Shopify App for AliExpress
- 14 Day Free Trial
- Builder Plan $47 per month
- Premier Plan $127 per month
- 4.8 out of 5 stars
This is another Shopify app to stock your store and automate your orders on AliExpress (including shipping addresses).
But there’s no Dropified marketplace, but rather a browser plugin that’ll let you pull from anywhere on the web. You can set up margin parameters and rules for changing the price points in your store.
There’s a 14-day free trial; after that it’s $47 per month for the Builder plan, or $39 per month on the annual plan. The Premier plan, which costs $127 per month or $97 per month with annual billing, recently added a profit dashboard, Zapier integration, and an unlimited high-speed captcha solver.
The app has 4.4 out of 5 stars from 104 reviews in the Shopify app store.
Modalyst — Best Wix Plugin & Directory
- Free Starter Plan
- Basic Plan $35 per month
- Pro Plan $90 per month
- 4.8 out of 5 stars
Modalyst seamlessly automates your dropshipping business. You’ll be able to add suppliers (for free), set your own prices, and showcase a large inventory however you want.
Where Modalyst really shines is their integration with Wix, the popular website builder. With just a single click, you’ll be able to install their app and get started selling to your customers.
Modalyst also integrates with BigCommerce, Shopify, and other platforms, but if you are using Wix for dropshipping, this is what I would choose.
It’s so easy to connect with suppliers and get your customers the products they need. Modalyst has a long list of suppliers of products including clothing, jewelry, accessories, and more.
Modalyst is also centralized—making it very easy to use. You’ll be able to connect with suppliers from a single dashboard, and they even have an app for easy communication.
You can start for free, adding millions of products to your site with just a few clicks.
In fact, the Modalyst Basic plan is $0 per month to sign up. There’s a 5% transaction fee and a 25-product limit, but it’s completely free.
Upgrading to the Start Up ($35 per month) or Pro ($90) per month unlocks more suppliers, shorter shipping times, and more.
If you are thinking about dropshipping, use Modalyst’s free option to get started. Plug it into your ecommerce site and supercharge your inventory overnight.
Start selling more with a free Modalyst account.
Importify — Best Dropshipping Tool for WooCommerce
- Switch suppliers on the fly
- Automation on Gold plan
- One-click product importing
- Also works on Shopify and Wix
Importify handles product importing and automation for dropshipping stores running on WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix, or Jumpseller.
With so many dropshipping tools focusing almost entirely on Shopify stores, Importify stands out as one of the best all-purpose platforms for improving your WooCommerce-based WordPress operation.
It starts with its research and sourcing tool, allowing you to find products through notable wholesalers such as:
- DHGate
- Costco
- Walmart
- Sears
- Kohls
- com
- Bonanza
- Etsy
- Flipcart
- Geekbuying
Find what you want to sell and import it to your WooCommerce store in just one click.
Importify makes it easy to switch suppliers on a product if one runs out or you find a better deal elsewhere. You can set pricing rules before you import as well, so you can go from sourcing to selling even faster.
You also get a product listing editor, Chrome extension for even easier product importing, and 24/7 support.
Everything I’ve described comes on Importify’s Basic plan for $14.95 per month.
If you want to import products from Amazon and Aliexpress, upgrade to the Premium plan for $27.95 per month.
High-traffic dropshippers will want Importify’s Gold plan, which runs $37.95 per month. That unlocks the platform’s automation for order fulfillment. You can automatically have customer addresses filled out on supplier forms and product variants picked so you can sell and ship faster than ever at high volume.
Boost your WooCommerce-based WordPress dropshipping site by starting a 14-day free trial of Importify today.
What’s the best dropshipping company for me?
Trying to find the best dropshipping company all up is a little bit beside the point. It’s like asking for the best eBay seller or the best store on Etsy.
The things that make dropshippers great are a lot of the same things that make an eBay or Etsy seller great: They’re communicative and have fast shipping. The product arrives as promised. It looks like the listing and it shows up in one piece in packaging that looks nice and not chewed up by an alligator.
Just like an eBay seller, the best dropshipper for you is the one selling what you’re interested in buying (and reselling). They will reliably, communicatively, and quickly ship the product you’re after at a price that’s profitable for you — it’s about finding your best.
Most dropshippers use a Shopify or Wix store and an automation app like Modalyst or Oberlo. If you’re new to dropshipping, this is definitely the easiest way to get set up.
Why Shopify is the best way to start your dropshipping business
That means, you are basically setting up the equivalent to any ecommerce store. For ecommerce stores, the clear winner is Shopify. It’s been the frontrunner for a while.
What’s most important about that for dropshipping is that the app store is super robust. Most stores use Shopify, so developers looking to make a high-quality app develop it for the Shopify app store.
So, if you haven’t already set up your Shopify store, that needs to go on your to-do list. We have a post that’ll walk you through the step-by-step process for setting up your Shopify store. It’s easy to get set up.
I don’t recommend dropshipping with eBay.
Selling on a marketplace like eBay requires less work — you don’t have to start a website, pay a subscription, etc. like you do with Shopify. But it’s not the way to go, in my opnion.
First of all, Shopify is super excited and helpful with new dropshipping businesses, whereas eBay is growing more and more against them. Here are the sticking points for me:
- Your store’s reputation is on the line — eBay is not forgiving and will downgrade accounts with reports of slow shipping
- You’re probably not the only one selling that item
- Your business case isn’t clear — why should someone buy that item from you, just another eBay store?
- eBay has been cracking down on dropshippers and resellers, asking for proof of having the item in possession and freezing your store until you send in that proof. Proof could be a photo of your ID card with the item — not a photo of the item from a different listing.
If you do want to build your dropshipping business with eBay, I’d spend a few weeks or months in the seller forums to understand the specific risks and challenges of dropshipping on eBay.
How to start a dropshipping company
1. Find items to sell
First, find your niche.
There’s lots of chatter on the internet about finding your dropshipping niche, but this is just a trendy buzzword for product-market fit: are there people who want to buy your product? From you?
If not, you won’t have a successful business.
You’ll have the most success dropshipping a product if there’s an audience that wants to buy it and doesn’t have an easy way to access it. That’s where you come in.
Some ways to find your niche: brainstorm rabid fan groups or audiences with a common need or interest (dog lovers, anime fans, parents who love to dress up their kids in matching outfits, sailors, very tall people, people who love 90s throwback tees). These are purchase-ready populations looking to love and buy things that they’re interested in.
Then, see what’s trending on Facebook.
Doing a quick search of a phrase like “Get yours here” or “Buy now” and look at the videos featuring items for sale that are getting traction. This can give you a sense of which products are interesting people on Facebook right now.
Look for a high number of views in a short period of time, then search for the item at a dropship supplier like Oberlo or Salehoo.
Consider the price-point of the item in the video and the assets you can create for it. Can you replicate — or improve on — the current trending video? If so, you may have an item worth dropshipping.
I have a few pieces of advice after you’ve taken care of all that:
Don’t sell anything dangerous or copyrighted
If you’re a beginner, don’t start with something that goes in or on a person’s body. If you do not know the quality and source of the ingredients, and something goes wrong, do you have coverage for that liability?
Also, if there’s a celebrity or character from a movie franchise on the item, it could get you in trouble. Steer clear of mice with big round ears.
Look at seller’s reviews and order a test product
How long has the seller been selling? What feedback have they been getting. When you order a test product, does it meet your expectations? What do you need to tell your customers so they’ll be happy when they receive the product?
Consider dropshipping only some items
Just because you’re dropshipping some things doesn’t mean you need to dropship everything. Perhaps it makes sense to use dropshipping for large, bulky, high-priced niche items.
Say, for example, you have an online store that sells nautical gear. You may want to personally store and ship some items, but dropship the anchors. For items like this, your customers may also be more accommodating to longer shipping times since it’s a large and more considered purchase.
Same goes for home goods: perhaps you keep small items in stock, but dropship the couches. You can increase your inventory breadth very simply this way.
Go directly to a supplier and build a dropshipping relationship with them
This is a killer plan: there’s guaranteed to be less competition. You’re basically creating a new audience for an under-marketed product that’s not getting seen by a ready-to-buy audience. If you use a database, every single other subscriber is using that same database.
2. Nail the basics
You want to invest in a good domain name. It’s a key component of any ecommerce operation.
We buy all our domain names from Domain.com. (You can read our full review on the best domain registrars.)
Once you’ve done that, then you can set up your website.
If you go with Shopify, you’ll be up in minutes. Lots of dropshippers recommend the Shopify Brooklyn theme with a good font choice. You can also use another ecommerce option. Here’s our review on the best ecommerce platforms, if you’re interested in exploring.
You can get a professional logo for your site for a reasonable price (and no design expertise) with 99Designs. See my post about how to get your first brand identity on a budget for more details and how to run a logo design contest.
Make sure to set up professional email addresses for your dropshipping store. It should be a sensible start (help@, support@) with your own domain name. I recommend getting Google Workspace for $6 a month per user. There’s nothing to trust about emailing a customer service that’s at yahoo.com or gmail.com.
Here are some other key elements to factor into your planning and set up:
Give your customer strong trust signals
You can do this with high quality photos and unique item copy, a real and robust About Us page, and thoughtfully using things like discounted prices and pop-ups.
Ask yourself: Would I buy from this store? Would I feel comfortable suggesting it to a friend or family member? You’ll need some trust logos and some FAQs at minimum.
Set shipping time expectations
Most dropshipped items aren’t going to get to the customer very quickly — and in world where Amazon Prime has set the standard at two days, that means dropshipments of 30 days feel extremely slow. If you don’t prepare your customers they’ll be very unhappy.
We’ve seen very straightforward copy, like: All our items ship directly from our suppliers in China. Shipments are processed the day of your order and arrive in 25–30 days.
Make sure your orders go through
Bundle credit card orders so your bank doesn’t cancel your numerous orders. Let your bank know what types of orders and in what quantities you’ll be placing, so they’re not flagged as fraudulent. There is no pain so rich as having to reorder orders you’ve placed (you do have a business credit card, right?).
Prepare for returns and cancellations
How will you deal with unhappy customers? What’s your return policy and how will you chargeback customer payments? Will returned items be shipped to you, or to your distributor? How will that work? Like with anything in business, it’s important to set it all up from day one like it’ll be a huge success.
Set aside money to pay taxes
If you’re using Shopify as your payment gateway, once you get to a certain sales threshold, Shopify will automatically report your sales to the government. You’ll want to make sure you have money available to pay applicable taxes.
We also recommend getting an accountant and a lawyer (we’ve heard good things about UpCounsel and LegalZoom) and setting up Quicken.
3. Differentiate yourself
A great way to stand out right from the jump is to make your store listings and ads unique.
Remember, if you can quickly and easily set up a dropshipping order for a specific product, it’s likely another store will be able to do the same. You will need to find an edge: why would someone order from you, or find your store selling the product, and not your competitor?
Make sure people know about your store. This can be through word of mouth, social media ads, viral memes, influencer programs, SEO, a newsletter. You’re going to need visitors to make sales.
Take your own pictures. Write your own copy. Shoot unique social videos. Really put thought into how to best convey the product and why a person would want it: What problems does it solve? Can it make them feel joy?
If you’re using AliExpress, you can import the user reviews. No one likes being the first to buy something.
Consider offering free shipping, too. That can really entice customers. Do all orders have free shipping or only when a certain order spend is hit? What threshold or minimum spend works best?
I do not recommend offering “Free products — you pay shipping.” Many customers would rather know the price up-front than go through a purchase flow that says $0 the whole way through and then slaps on a $15 shipping charge.
4. Iterate iterate iterate
Use ads to gather data and test strategy. We’re assuming that you’ll be buying ads. If you do, buy and use the data to test what’s working. What gets traction? Double down on it. What doesn’t? Trash it.
This may lead you to changing your products, your ad style, your audience. Following the early traction means you head toward what’s working and away from what’s not.
Get anyaltical with your sales trends, as well. What’s selling well? What’s not selling at all? Is there any common theme in the items? Replicate what you can. Stop what’s not working.
The Top Dropshipping Companies in Summary
Dropshipping can be a lucrative ecommerce strategy. But it all starts with the right partner.
Choosing the best dropshipping company for you depends on the type of products you want to offer your customers, the supplier’s quality, and how well the service integrates with your process.
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