10 Best Dropshipping Suppliers

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woman selling things online looking into drop shipping

So you want to sell something online, but you don’t have the storage space for your inventory or the time to ship each sold item. Enter dropshipping suppliers.

By drop shipping, you sell items online without ever having to touch the physical product. And, you earn a commission from each sale by connecting the buyer with a supplier.

Our Top Picks:

COMPANYFEATURES
SpocketLocal US suppliers and offers customized packaging
SaleHooInstant access to 8,000+ pre-vetted dropshipping suppliers
ShopifyBest in-house drop shipping and list straight to Amazon and eBay

What is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is the digital version of being able to “buy low and sell high” with minimal effort. You partner with dropship suppliers that sell you an item at wholesale prices and you sell them to the buyer for the retail price.

As a basic example, let’s say you want to sell noise-canceling headphones, the supplier cost is $15 and you sell them online for $20. With each sale, you make $5 profit.

How Dropshipping Works

  • Partner with an online supplier
  • Post your product listings on various e-commerce platforms
  • The buyer makes a purchase and the supplier ships the item directly to the buyer

You never have to touch the physical product you’re selling. When you make a sale, the product supplier will automatically ship the item from their warehouse to the customer.

Here’s a personal example of how I bought an item from a drop shipper. I purchased a drinking water filter on eBay from a seller based in New York. The filters were actually shipped directly from the manufacturer based in Michigan to my house.

Since I don’t live in the New England area, the package never crossed the New York state line.

Continue reading to view our top picks for drop shipping based on TrustPilot score and key traits.

Top Dropshipping Companies

Becoming a successful drop shipper requires some initial effort. You will need to directly contact different manufacturers to discuss the partnership details.

The two different avenues for selling your items:

  • Create your own online storefront
  • Advertise your listing on e-commerce

The more places you list, the more audiences you reach. For example, think about your own group of friends and how many people exclusively shop on either Amazon or eBay.

Dropshipping suppliers usually let you sell their products on multiple online marketplaces but some platforms make the listing and ordering process seamless.

1. Worldwide Brands

Worldwide Brands home page

Unlike some of the other dropshipping directories that charge a monthly or annual fee, Worldwide Brands only requires a single payment for lifetime access.

You can access their directory consisting of more than 16 million products from over 8,000 suppliers.

Worldwide Brands also has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

When you’re dealing with dropshipping companies on the opposite side of the world that you may never visit in person, building a partnership through a reputable company speaks volumes.

You can filter vendors by the following traits:

  • Drop Shippers
  • Light Bulk Wholesale Suppliers
  • Large Volume Wholesalers
  • Instant Import Buys
  • Liquidation Deals

If you have more upfront capital, you might decide to try your hand at wholesaling too. Just keep in mind that you may have to rent warehouse space with the supplier so only pick products with larger profit margin or high popularity rating.

2. SaleHoo

Salehoo home page

One way to find dropshipping suppliers is to look for products on various online marketplaces and directly contact the manufacturer. The only problem is that this strategy takes time and you might be talking to a scam supplier.

A more valuable reason to use SaleHoo is their Market Research Labs. A key ingredient to making a steady income from dropshipping is picking in-demand products.

Shopping trends constantly change and using SaleHoo’s research helps you stay a step in front of the competition.

For example, you’re probably not going to make as many sales by selling cassette tapes instead of a portable Bluetooth speaker. Although you can drop ship both of these items today, you still need to stay current with the times and preferable one step ahead.

Finally, SaleHoo also offers a community forum so you can gain advice and swap experiences with others. Newbies can also use SaleHoo’s educational course to learn more about dropshipping too.

SaleHoo is an extensive directory but you still need to use an e-commerce business platform like Shopify or BigCommerce to effortlessly list your products online and notify the supplier when a sale is made.

3. Spocket

Spocket home page

Spocket might be your best bet if you want a supplier from the United States or Europe. Over 60% of Spocket’s suppliers are based in the US and EU. You may also appreciate that Spocket has a 24/7 customer service team.

Being able to partner with suppliers in developed countries helps you avoid these issues:

  • Slow shipping
  • Inconsistent suppliers or packaging
  • Off-brand packaging
  • Slow response rate

Partnering with suppliers in the Western Hemisphere reduces shipping times. You can also test products before you begin selling to your customers.

After all, you may have to refund any defective product from your profit if you pick a bad partner.

So far, over 30,000 drop shippers have used Spocket to sell using Shopify and WooCommerce.

Upgrading to the Spocket Pro plan lets the supplier ship your items with personalized packaging.

4. Wholesale2B

Wholesale2b home page

Wholesale2B offers more than one million dropship products you can sell online. You can integrate your Wholesale2B partnerships with your store (i.e., Shopify or BigCommerce) and also directly list your items on other e-commerce platforms too.

You have many different direct export options with Wholesale2B, but you must purchase an individual subscription with each platform you want to use.

For example, you need to pay $29.99 monthly for Amazon and another $29.99 for Shopify.

Although these automated plans are convenient, it can get expensive if you’re not a high volume seller yet. You can also use their DIY Plan which only costs $67 a year.

5. Alibaba

Alibaba home page

Alibaba might be the largest online marketplace for finding dropshipping suppliers. Of course, buyers can also directly buy from Alibaba too.

Because dropshipping requires you to sell products, they are most likely going to be made overseas where production costs are significantly lower.

That doesn’t mean you can’t find U.S. based suppliers when you don’t want to wait for a sold item to cross the ocean before it can be delivered to the buyer.

Alibaba lets you look for suppliers by region or top selected suppliers to quickly find a supplier that fits your criteria.

To make sure you offer the quickest shipping times for overseas suppliers, only choose suppliers that offer “ePacket delivery” for delivery times of 30 days or less.

Most international suppliers now offer this shipping option to remain a competitive buyer.

If you aren’t a business, you can buy products from AliExpress, a company owned by the same owers of Alibaba, but where customers can buy too.

Don’t forget that you can use the Shopify Google Chrome extension to quickly connect with suppliers too.

6. Inventory Source

Inventory Source home page

Inventory Source integrates with more than 28 different online marketplaces. You can partner with more than 150 different suppliers for multiple product categories.

You also have access to several automation tools that let you quickly set the price, determine shipping prices, and you can also filter by product type when you need to view your store inventory.

When a sale is made, Inventory Source immediately notifies the supplier so you don’t need to send an email or verify the purchase. And, they also handle the shipping information for you too.

So, if you go on vacation, your dropshipping business can keep humming when you don’t have reliable internet access.

7. Megagoods

Megagoods home page

Megagoods specializes in selling consumer electronics and video game items. Thankfully, these two categories are very broad so you shouldn’t have an issue finding items that the average online shopper is looking for.

For example, you can drop ship the obvious like flatscreen tvs and phone chargers to other common household items like dinnerware.

Many items also offer free shipping, so you don’t have to factor this cost into your final sales value.

Although Megagoods, is a great site for dropshipping beginners, you might want to stop by to partner with common brands that offer good product quality.

8. Doba

Doba home page

You can use Doba for their supplier directory and inventory management systems. It’s possible to directly export product listings to your store and the other online marketplaces you sell on.

Doba has four different plan options, but all levels have complimentary access to the following amenities:

  • Curated product category lists
  • Weekly deals email
  • Email support
  • Supplier report cards

If you want to export your product listing to Amazon and eBay, you will need to upgrade to an Advanced or Pro plan. Additional benefits of being an Advanced or Pro plan includes live chat support and the Elite Seller Report.

This monthly report shows you the top 30 products in each category. You can also access previous monthly reports to spot trends and see which products are a long-term success.

9. BigCommerce

BigCommerce home page

In other instances, you will need to do your own research to find suppliers and then list your products on your BigCommerce store.

Once you’re ready to sell, BigCommerce can automatically list your products on the following online platforms:

You will enjoy 24/7 live agent support, shipping label discounts, and even the opportunity to have shoppers leave product reviews to entice future shoppers to make a purchase.

10. Shopify

Shopify home page

Shopify is probably the darling of dropshipping sellers because they are in an “all-in-one” drop shipping platform. You can use Shopify for the following activities:

  • Partner with dropshipping suppliers
  • Create an online store
  • List your items on e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and eBay

You can enroll in weekly dropshipping educational webinars and you can quickly add products to your store to begin selling immediately with Shopify’s Oberlo app. Oberlo lets you list up to 500 products and make 50 sales for free each month.

Another advantage of using Shopify is that you can easily track each shipment in your storefront instead of relying on the supplier to email you the shipping details that you must manually enter into the shipping service website to track.

Plus, you can sell your own physical or digital items if you have some to sell too.

So far, Shopify has helped dropshipping entrepreneurs like yourself complete more than 85 million sales!

There are a few ways to determine the most popular dropshipping items. The easiest way is to view the most popular item lists that are published by your drop shipping store platform or directory.

You can also have success by conducting your own research. Besides visiting other drop shipper stores to see what they’re selling, you can also visit Google Trends to get ideas.

Or, you can always try these “evergreen” product ideas too:

  • Beauty
  • Books
  • Clothing
  • Jewelry
  • Shoes
  • Watches
  • Phone cases
  • Phone repair kits
  • Portable chargers
  • Teeth Whitening
  • Toys

You’re most profitable items will be the ones that are lightweight and affordable to ship. After all, shipping costs can be as much as the supplier price. But you always have to remember that you can’t look at price alone.

Consumer demand can be just as important, especially if a supplier requires a small deposit so you have some “skin in the game” to sell your inventory.

Related: DHGate Review: Is It A Legit Way To Buy Wholesale Items?

How Do These Dropshipping Suppliers Compare?

Dropshipping SupplierTrustpilot
Worldwide Brands4.9
SaleHoo4.7
Spocket4.7
Wholesale2B4.4
Alibaba4.2
Inventory Source3.2
Megagoods3.2
Doba2.6
BigCommerce1.9
Shopify2.0

Summary

Drop shipping is a relatively new retail concept, but it can be very profitable if you don’t want to deal with warehousing your inventory or manually shipping each item.

You also don’t need to spend a large sum of money to open your online store or partner with drop shipping suppliers.

Although drop shipping requires work, it can produce a steady income as you secure multiple products and sell on several online marketplaces.

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5 Comments

  1. Nicholas Miranda says:

    I am 17 and want to start dropshipping. Any tips or tricks?

  2. Rachell Pruscino says:

    Can drop shipping be successful in Australia?

    1. Maybe. You could begin checking into it using the information and links in this post. Good luck!

  3. Why are most items marked in dollars even though the supplier is in the UK or outside of the US?

    1. How they list is up to each individual company. You can either ask them directly to see if they will tell you by using their contact information on the site. 😉