How to Start a Dropshipping Business with Alibaba

15 min read

Are you looking to become an entrepreneur? Have you always dreamed of having your own ecommerce store? Do you picture yourself marketing your own store and brand? Perhaps, like many of us, you’ve always imagined the possibility of making income while you sleep, but couldn’t put together a business plan that didn’t require investing a fortune without any guaranteed of success. Well, fortunately for you, we can help.

If you never heard of dropshipping with Alibaba, you’d be surprised at how easy and convenient it can be, especially for new entrepreneurs wanting to taste the waters of ecommerce.

And if you’ve tried or heard of dropshipping with Alibaba before but you weren’t a fan of the need to hire a web developer for your storefront or costly subscription fees to keep your store running, stay until the end for a solution you won’t be able to turn over.

In this post, our promise to you is that by the end of it you’ll know exactly how to start a dropshipping ecommerce store with a budget of less than what you pay for any music or movei streaming service—Yes it’s possible! Even if we promise it’s easier than you ever thought possible to start a dropshipping business with Alibaba, we are more than aware it can overwhelming to search the web in an attempt to find reliable suppliers. Thankfully, platforms like Alibaba and tools like Syncee can make the process a lot simpler. This is exactly what we’ll be covering in this post.

Without further ado, let’s find out how to start a dropshipping business with Alibaba.

Why Alibaba for Dropshippers?

Alibaba is one of the biggest online marketplaces and serves as one of the most popular dropshipping supplier platforms for thousands of dropshipping sellers. Alibaba is also known for selling inexpensive goods, and most of the suppliers there are willing to work with dropshippers to accommodate any product specifics or customer demands.

Whether you’re a new entrepreneur or an established one looking to start a new dropshipping brand or simply in the search of new suppliers, Alibaba dropshipping via Syncee makes the whole process trouble-free and simple. This is ultimately the easiest method you can use when starting a dropshipping business; without emphasizing how Alibaba is the most highly rated and credible platform to find dropshipping suppliers.

For reasons like these and many more, we consider Alibaba a great alternative when it comes to dropshipping.

Perfect for those with limited resources

We all know starting an ecommerce store can turn into a very lucrative venture. However, most laugh at the idea of owning their own online store, mostlt because they fear upfront costs, not having enough time, order processing, and inventory that goes bad with time or simply fails to be sold.

Luckily, there is no need to break the bank when dropshipping with Alibaba and tools like Syncee offered through Ecwid. Goods and products are already created and available for sellers to choose from, and there is no need to buy anything before making a sale.

Here are a few reasons why dropshipping with Alibaba can be considered a cost-effective business model:

You do not need a brick-and-mortar store to begin dropshipping with Alibaba.
There is no need to purchase bulks of inventory or invest in inventory storage.
When dropshipping with Syncee and Alibaba, you don’t have to worry about making trips to the post office to ship orders. All orders go straight to the supplier and they take care of shipping.
There is very low risk when starting a dropshiping business. Under this model, the biggest expenses are usually tied to marketing and monthly ecommerce platforms fees to keep your store open and running. However, store monthly fees can be easily avoided when just getting started with Ecwid’s free beginner’s plan, and you can always find low budget ways to advertise your products including social media, influence collaborations, or even Facebook groups.
Easy product testing and addition. No need to worry about lost capital when replacing a product or supplier.

As you can already tell, dropshipping can be a rather fun and inexpensive business model, making it a great alternative for those with limited resources.

Alibaba is the best option

For all of the reasons mentioned above and many more, dropshipping with Alibaba is probably the most efficient, cost-effective, and reliable way to start a business and begin selling products online. There is no need to search for suppliers all throughout the web, you can easily fnd new suppliers and contact them supplier at any time.

A quick tip: when choosing a supplier on Alibaba, consider reading others’ reviews and whether the supplier is known to be reliable when it comes to shipment. Make sure to pay attention to how responsive they are and how long they take to reply. Learn more here on our How to Find The Right Supplier guide.

Overall, Alibaba offer thousands of products to choose from to populate your store and test new ones until you find the one that resonates more with you and your audience. The good thing is you won’t be losing anything by adding or taking products to your store as there is no inventory or costs until someone makes a purchase,

How to Start Dropshipping With Alibaba

Now that we have taken the time to go over why dropshipping with Syncee and Alibaba can be a great and cost-effective business idea, lt’s finally time to learn the steps and begin dropshipping. The reality is, after reading this guide and learning how to start your own dropshipping business with Alibaba, you can get started today for free and add your products with just a few clicks using Syncee. Here’s how it works!

Steps to Start Dropshipping with Alibaba:

Choose your niche and decide what you’re going to sell.
Set up your online store with a platform such as Ecwid.
Add your products with an app like Syncee.
Add shipping and payment method.
Start taking orders.

1. Choose your niche

First, decide what you’d like to sell and who your audience is. There are over thousands of products to choose from on Alibaba. Find what resonates more with you and determine who is most interested in your product category.

You can either go with trendy products or an area you’re interested in like technology, make up, skincare, home care, wall art, etc. Always be very wary of products’ quality and watch out for knockoffs, make sure to always go with unbranded products to avoid possible legal issues. You can work with your supplier to add your brand logo if any, but this is always making sure you aren’t stealing an already existing brand’s identity.

2. Set up your online store

Once you have an idea of the products you plan to sell and got in contact with a reliable supplier, it’s time to set up your dropshipping site. This is where your customers will interact with your brand and purchase your products. Without a website in place, you won’t be able to import your products or provide your customers with a landing page to learn more about your brand.

The whole point of Alibaba and Syncee is to simly connect you with suppliers and help you fill up your store’s inventory without the need to actually purchase anything without first making any sales.

Your store is the skeleton of your dropshipping business and without it you’ll need to rely on third-party sellers like Amazon or eBay, and be ready to share a portion of your gains with them.

On the other side, while having your own site, once your suppliers are paid their portion, all of the remaining profit goes to you. And if you were considering selling through a third party marketplace, you can also achieve this by connecting your Ecwid store to any of these.

Nevertheless, having your own website remains one of the best methods to start a dropshipping business. Not only do you get to keep all of the profit, but also get to build a more customized and personilized approach for your audience, retarget past visitors, and even set up subscription payments.

It’s easier than ever to set up your online store for free with Ecwid. The instructions are simple and you can have a fully hosted dropshipping site with just a few clicks. Keep on reading to find out more.

3. Add your products

Once you know the kind of products you’ll be selling and have finished setting up your Ecwid store, this is when you start filling your store and adding your products. You can always start with a few products to then add more later on, just keep in mind the product description and images. Make sure to include keywords, and make them as appealing as you can you to your customers.

Back to product addition, you can easily import products from Alibaba to your Ecwid store using the Syncee app. The app allows you to:

Add Already existing products from Alibaba into your store
Rename products and change their price
Easily manage new and past orders

The Syncee app is available for free in the Eciwd app market. You simply have to look for it once your store is ready and connect it. Dropshipping with Alibaba works just like any other dropshipping supplier platform, and it is as simple as having an Ecwid store and the Syncee app installed. From there, you’ll have easy access to all of your products information, order details, and customer information.

Simply create an Alibaba and Ecwid account, look for the Syncee app available for free on the Ecwid app market, install it, and make sure you agree with terms to connect Syncee with Alibaba. Once your Ecwid store and Syncee account are connected to Alibaba, find and pick your products to upload to your store. Once you find a product you like, click “Add import to list” and then check your Synccee dashboard’s “Import List” and click “Add to catalog.”

Once the item is in your Syncee catalog you can easily rename it, leaving you with the simple task of syncing it with your Eciwd store. This can be done by simply clicking sync in the “My Catalogs” option. Voila! Your product is now ready for purchase!

4. Add shipping and payment method

Last, but not least, before you open for business, don’t forget to determine a shipping method for your orders. On Alibaba, you can expect to choose from their standard shipping or Premium shipping options. Premium is typically faster, especially for those planning to ship to the US.

Thankfully, once you determine a shipping method, Syncee takes care of the rest. Whenever a customer places an order, the app charges customers the price you set for a specific item, to then purchase the product from the Alibaba supplier and have it shipped to the buyer. WIth Syncee’s Auto Order, paid orders flow into your store so all you have to worry about is keeping track that the orders are being fulfilled. It doesn’t get any easier!

And like any reputable store, make sure to add a refund and return policy, as well as your payment method of choice. You can choose whether you want to accept international orders or not, and whether you prefer credi card payments or any particular payment method. Alibaba offers a massive number of payment methods for dropshippers to choose from, except for PayPal.

Start Your Alibaba Dropshipping Store with Ecwid Today

As you’ve learned from this guide, you can easily set up your own dropshipping busines with the help of a platform like Ecwid ecommerce and start selling your products immediately! No need to complicate yourself with third-party sellers, coding, or trips to the post office.

Like any business model, dropshipping with Alibaba has its pros and cons. However, the platform does make the whole process easier and works as a reliable supplier to keep your business running. This is without forgetting about the low prices and free shipping available for most products sold there.

So what’s stopping you now from starting your own dropshipping store? We doubt it’ll get easier than this. There is now no need for inventory, easy and inexpensive product validation and testing, no need to pay for shipping, and no monthly fees that get in the way of you getting strated when you sign for your free Ecwid account. Take the plunge today and tell us in the comments below how it goes!

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Feb 18, 2022

About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.