Dropshipping is quickly becoming one of the easiest and most popular ways to make money online. Because the seller can easily make money with a small amount of money, unlike when they open a store in person. Dropshipping can be a great way for people who want to start an online business to get into the industry because shop owners don’t have to rent a warehouse and buy inventory in advance.
Why Use an Online Platform Like AliExpress for Dropshipping?
AliExpress is one of the most popular sites for dropshippers. It was started by the Alibaba Group. This is a place where you can find things to sell in your online store.
Over the years, AliExpress has been a platform where you can buy a wide range of goods at prices that aren’t too high. AliExpress’s success has led to the rise of many websites like it.
Check out these top alternatives to AliExpress:
- DHgate
- BangGood
- Alibaba
- Lightinthebox
- Wiio
- HyperSKU
- Spocket
- World Brands
Like Wish, which we talked about in our Wish vs. AliExpress article, both platforms have their pros and cons, but it’s clear that AliExpress is better than Wish in terms of product availability, pricing, credibility, and dropshipping services thanks to its years of online experience and well-optimized website.
The only problem with AliExpress is that some products can take longer to ship than others because of the pandemic.
As a dropshipper, you should always have a backup plan in case something comes up. Since there are a lot of sites like AliExpress, you should be careful about working with any supplier who seems to have good reviews and a good reputation for delivering orders on time.
Here are the best alternatives to AliExpress to help you get started.
DHgate
DHgate is a Chinese business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) cross-border e-commerce marketplace that makes it easier for manufacturers to sell their goods to small and medium retailers.
It is a platform for cross-border B2B e-commerce trade in China. The company’s headquarters are in Beijing, and it has offices all over the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
The best thing about DHgate is that, like AliExpress, there is no Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ). This means that it is a good website for people who are just starting out with dropshipping. You will get discounts if you order in bulk.
Dropshipping can be done on both AliExpress and DHgate. If you want to know which platform ships faster between the two, AliExpress is the clear winner because it has more ways to ship.
It looks like AliExpress has more good things about it. It has a high score and is now very popular all over the world. But DHgate is better if you need a service that will give you good wholesale discounts. But you should be careful when buying from DHgate because there are some bad reviews about its fake or copied products. So, if you only want to buy original products, you shouldn’t think about this platform.
BangGood
Banggood is a Chinese website that sells goods to online shoppers all over the world. Banggood’s main business is B2C cross-border export e-commerce, and it wants to bring China’s high-quality goods, efficient supply chain, and excellent customer service to the rest of the world.
Banggood doesn’t have a minimum order quantity (MOQ) like AliExpress does, so as a dropshipper or customer, you can buy as many units as you want. To start dropshipping with it, you don’t have to spend any money because it’s free to join. To start, all you have to do is join the Banggood affiliate program.
Dropshipping with Banggood is a great way to run your business without having to deal with inventory. You can focus on marketing and let Banggood handle the logistics, just like AliExpress does.
Banggood sells both brand-name and non-brand-name items. One benefit of selling goods without their own brand is that you can put your own brand on them. Private brand dropshipping is when you bundle your brand with a product that doesn’t have your brand on it.
It’s a good way to boost sales and show that your product is real. Overall, it’s a lot like AliExpress because you can dropship items at lower prices and for reasonable shipping costs.
Alibaba
Alibaba is the world’s largest business-to-business (B2B) platform. It lets companies buy in bulk from manufacturers and suppliers in Asia, especially China. Alibaba connects Chinese manufacturers and wholesale suppliers with small and medium-sized businesses around the world.
Alibaba is a B2B market, so products are sold in large quantities (unless purchased as samples). Alibaba is a market for wholesalers, not a single seller, so it does not have the goods it sells in stock.
Alibaba is a business-to-business (B2B) platform, so most of its clients are other businesses. Some types of buyers are B2C retailers, sourcing agents, wholesale distributors, manufacturers, and even other B2B sellers. AliExpress doesn’t have a minimum order, while Alibaba does. This is because Alibaba’s products are usually sold in large quantities and the MOQ can be anywhere from 50 to 1000 pieces.
Most of the suppliers on Alibaba don’t offer dropshipping because they only sell in large quantities. But if you carefully look through the list of suppliers, you might find a few that do dropshipping.
Lightinthebox
Lightinthebox is a website based in China that offers both B2B and B2C services. It is aimed at both small and medium-sized business owners who need to buy different things for their businesses and end users who want to buy different things for themselves.
Lightinthebox started in 2007, and its website, www.lightinthebox.com, is available in many major languages and lets customers buy a wide range of lifestyle products in three main categories: clothing, accessories and gadgets, and home and garden.
Lightinthebox can ship to almost all countries using reliable international carriers. Most items are shipped within 24 hours, but this depends a lot on the supplier. Because their warehouses are in China, it usually takes between 15 and 30 days for the products to arrive if Lightinthebox sends them.
But, like AliExpress, it’s important to know that Lightinthebox’s warehouses are in China, so your product may take up to a month to arrive, no matter where you placed the order. On this site, there are also not as many options for suppliers as there are on AliExpress.
On this website, you can get lower prices from wholesale suppliers, but it is still not one of the dropshipping business options that are naturally built into eCommerce platforms like dropship-empire. But if you choose this service as one of the best AliExpress alternatives, it should be easy to build an online store with it.
Wiio
Wiio was started in July 2015 with the goal of making dropshipping work. It is a dropshipping platform that has everything you need and does business in a slightly different way.
They have a wide range of products, but what makes them special is that they offer a service to dropshippers. This means that they will find products, buy them, and keep them in stock for dropshippers.
Wiio has two warehouses in China. They are in the cities of Shenzhen and Hangzhou. There is another one in the United States that has more than 25,000 m2 of space and can keep all the orders safe.
Wiio also makes customized product photos, labels, and packaging inserts for customers who buy a lot of products. You only have to pay the price of the product to use Wiio. There is no monthly membership fee.
Wiio will find the best way to ship packages to customers in different countries so that customers can get their packages as soon as possible. So, shipping costs are usually higher than on other platforms, even though Wiio’s prices may be lower than AliExpress’s. So, the total price you pay on Wiio may still be higher than the price you pay on AliExpress.
HyperSKU
HyperSKU is an all-in-one dropshipping solution that combines the supply chain, a shipping service, and an online system. With HyperSKU, dropshippers can buy products directly from factories, personalize products and packages, finish orders quickly with express shipping, and save time with automation systems.
Dropshippers can use the Hypersku Shopify APP and its platform for free. It also works with WooCommerce, but compared to the Shopify App, it doesn’t have as many features.
HyperSKU offers shipping from China to the US and Europe that can be tracked and takes between 8 and 12 days. They also have other ways to ship. But HyperSKU only gets interesting once you find a good product and start selling more of it. This means that it’s only good for businesses that are already doing well.
Worldwide Brands
Worldwide Brands is a place where dropshippers and wholesalers can meet and do business together. For a one-time payment of $299, you can do business with all the wholesalers who use Worldwide Brands. It is a wholesale directory for sellers in the high-end market who want to find suppliers. A good choice that costs a lot.
The time it takes for each Worldwide Brands product to be sent out depends on the wholesaler. If the wholesalers are in China, it will take them about a month to send the goods. You can get the goods from wholesalers in your area in less than a week.
Worldwide Brands is a great place for professional dropshippers who want to try selling new products on the market. Since the site focuses on wholesale, it is better for experienced dropshippers who are trying out new products to sell on the market. If you’re a first-time seller, you might find it hard and expensive to try out the site.
Spocket
Spocket is a dropshipping service with a lot of suppliers that work with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix storefront, and so on. Spocket was started in 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, with the goal of changing the dropshipping market and making it easier for online retailers to compete with Amazon by getting rid of the inventory backlog and upfront costs that retailers usually have to deal with.
The shipping time is what sets Spocket apart from other dropshipping services. You don’t want to have to wait 3 to 4 weeks for your customer to get the product from the supplier after they place an order.
Everyone usually goes straight to AliExpress and then waits a month for the package to arrive. Some AliExpress sellers ship to the US, but it will take you a little more time to find sellers who offer this service. The best thing about Spocket is that you can get products from the US. Shipping times for these items can be as short as 2–5 days.
In fact, Spocket has fixed a lot of the problems that online retailers have when they use Shopify to run dropshipping businesses.
Spocket has four plans: the basic one is free, the starter plan costs $24 a month, the professional plan costs $49, and the empire plan costs $99. But the free plan only lets you use a small number of features, and some products can only be used with a paid plan. The biggest problem may be that there aren’t as many products to choose from as on AliExpress.
Final Word
As you can see, all of these sites and apps like AliExpress have their pros and cons. Even though I’d like to give you a simple answer, there is no platform that can replace AliExpress. It all depends on the type of product you want to buy and the best way for you to pay and get it.
It’s more important to make sure the seller you’re buying from has been checked out. So, before you buy something, you should carefully read reviews of it. Also, because of how the world is right now, delivery is likely to be late.
No matter which dropshipping platform a dropshipper chooses, there are always risks. Because of the pandemic, for example, shipment delays and supplier lead times should be taken into account.
Even though there isn’t a perfect dropshipping platform yet, the fact that there are so many competitors in the market is good for dropshippers because it gives them more options and chances.