Want to jump straight to the answer? The best dropshipping company for most people is definitely Oberlo for Shopify or Salehoo.
If you want to start an ecommerce business without having to deal with:
- Shipping
- Storing inventory
- Having money to purchase inventory upfront
Get into dropshipping. Manufacturers ship products directly to your customer for you. You get all the upside without any of the ecommerce headaches.
In this guide, I list and review the best dropshippers to help you get started.
The 8 best dropshipping companies, suppliers, databases, and tools
- Oberlo — Best Shopify plugin and directory
- SaleHoo — Members-only database of 8,000+ suppliers
- Spocket — Shopify database with good reviews
- 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
Once you have your Shopify account and your store set up, you’re ready to link up with a dropshipping partner and get selling. But, it can be hard to break into dropshipping because most dropshipping businesses don’t like to share their items or their suppliers. The thinking is: you’ll just replicate their shop and eat into their market.
I’m here to help with this list of 15 dropshippers, databases and suppliers — along with their pros and cons.
1. 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 pageviews, 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.
2. SaleHoo — Members-Only Database of 8,000+ Suppliers
- 60 Day Free Trial
- Annual Plan $67 per year
- Lifetime Plan $127 one time
- 9.6 out of 10 stars
Saleshoo is a great dropshipper that offers a massive supplier database to draw on.
A $67 yearly membership with Saleshoo 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: 9.6 out of 10 with 300 reviews on TrustPilot.
You’re going to be happy to pay that membership fee (which isn’t too steep at all, anyway) because not only do you get access to those fully vetted suppliers, you also benefit from SaleHoo’s Market Research Lab, where you can get insightful data into what people are buying now and what’s getting hot.
Within the Lab, you can see competition for the product among other dropshippers, compare profit potential between items, and spot emerging trends to allow you to strike while the iron is hot (or even 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.
3. Spocket — Shopify Database App with Good Reviews
- Free Starter Plan
- Pro Plan $49 per month
- Empire Plan $99 per month
- 4.7 out of 5 stars
Spocket gives you a great database app of dropshipping items. 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.
The Basic plan (25 products with unlimited orders) is free, and upgrading to Pro is $49 per month for 250 products and branded invoicing. The Empire plan unlocks unlimited products for $99 per month. The app has 4.5 out of 5 stars in the Shopify app store.
4. 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 offers more than 1 million products ready to be dropshipped.
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.
5. 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 that 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 automation is $99/month and full automation is $150/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?
6. 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.
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. Worldwide Brands has 4.9 out of 5 stars from 171 reviews on Trustpilot.
7. 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.
8. 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.
They connect you with suppliers to get your customers the products they need. They also boast a massive 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.
Where Modalyst really shines is their highly rated integration with Wix. With just a single click, you’ll be able to install their app and get started selling to your customers.
Pricing starts free with a basic plan that includes a 25 product limit.
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. There’s even a course in the Shopify Academy to learn how to start a dropshipping business with Shopify: Dropshipping 101.
I don’t recommend dropshipping with eBay.
It’s compelling to set up shop with a marketplace — you don’t have to start a website, pay a subscription, etc. like you would with Shopify. But, I don’t recommend it. Unlike Shopify that’s super excited and helpful with new dropshipping businesses, 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. See this article from eSellerCafe.com for more on eBay Aggressively Banning Drop Shipping / Arbitrage Accounts.
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 AliExpress. 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 G Suite for $5 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. It’s 2019 and the norm is free 2-day shipping with Prime. People are catching on and aren’t happy about it. Read more from The Daily Beast in Instagram Influencers Dupe Their Fans With ‘Free’ Products.
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.
Summary
Dropshipping can be a lucrative method of conducting ecommerce, but it’s vital to have the right partner. Choosing the best dropshipping company for you depends on the type of products you want to offer your customers, how good their suppliers are, and how well they’ll mesh with elements you already have in place, like your website.
Want a deep bench of suppliers and products to choose from? Then, one of SaleHoo, Wholesale2B, or Worldwide Brands could do the trick for you.
Running a Shopify store? Oberlo, Spocket, and Dropified represent good options that will play nicely with your web store.
If you’re cranking out the orders and need a platform that will help you save time through automation, look no further than Inventory Source.
And if you’re running an ecommerce site on Wix, Modalyst will be just the dropshipping partner you need.
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