The Right Platform For Dropshipping: Alibaba vs AliExpress

If you take a peek into the dropshipping market, then you will realize that there is no better dropshipping marketplace than AliExpress. It is leading the space, offering high revenue, and maximizing profit margins to customers.

But, as a dropshipping business, it is natural to compare other options. So, if you are struggling to know Alibaba vs AliExpress, here’s what we have in the store for you.

Alibaba is a leading platform connecting a range of Chinese manufacturers, and AliExpress is a marketplace allowing users to buy from different sellers from China.

We have discussed Alibaba vs AliExpress in detail below, read on.

How Alibaba Works

Before we start exploring Alibaba vs AliExpress, let’s see what is Alibaba and how it works.

Alibaba is a B2B online platform that was launched more than a decade ago. Since then, it has become a go-to option for wholesale trades. It has many Chinese suppliers, including several small and medium businesses.

If we peek into the history of Alibaba, then we would find that it has a history of assisting various suppliers markets to achieve a global audience. They have an umbrella of websites, including Taobao.com, Alibaba.com, and tmall.com. All platforms are slightly different from one another and you can find millions of items on these websites, ranging from clothing to machinery.

How exactly does Alibaba work?

To use Alibaba, you need to purchase orders in a bulk. Since this is a platform consisting of wholesalers, you can’t purchase a single product. You need to make a bulk purchase and maintain your inventory if you are planning to dropship these items.

There’s no subscription fee on Alibaba. It earns a commission on every transaction from the platform.

How AliExpress Works

AliExpress is another big marketplace for purchasing goods. It was started in 2010 for customers across the globe. The products on this website are from distributors and sellers from China.

How exactly does AliExpress work?

AliExpress has many products on the website that are also on Amazon. You can find these products at a cheaper rate on AliExpress because the marketplace will ship them directly from China. The shipment cost for these products is low, but the fulfillment time is more. This means that you may need to wait a month or more for products you have ordered, and you may not even get any shipping information.

However, for the products on AliExpress, you can earn a high-profit margin. It is even possible for dropshippers to order just one product and directly ship it to the user. There’s no need to manage an inventory in this case.

Alibaba vs AliExpress: Mapping the Differences

Knowing the differences in Alibaba vs AliExpress platforms for your dropshipping business is necessary to create the right supply chain. This is why we have explained all the important factors that you need to know for Alibaba vs AliExpress.

1.Who Owns It?

Both Alibaba vs AliExpress were started and are owned by the Alibaba Group. They created both platforms for different purposes.

2.Dropshipping Ease

AliExpress has a dropshipping model, named Alidropship. It is currently used by thousands and thousands of dropshippers to sell products, create a brand name, and receive high-profit margins. The pricing models for products on AliExpress are much more flexible and feasible for AliExpress when compared to other websites or marketplaces.

Further, AliExpress has no upfront charge for dropshipping products.

Alibaba also allows dropshipping but you need to purchase bulk orders from wholesalers. There’s no option to purchase one product from Alibaba, hence, there’s a natural aversion towards this platform. However, Alibaba has removed all the other restrictions from its dropshipping model.

3.Payment Options

Alibaba vs AliExpress in this case inclines toward AliExpress because it has more payment options, such as Mastercard, web money, American Express, PayPal, etc.

On Alibaba, you can pay using various methods, such as Western Union and credit cards.

4.Pricing

As far as pricing is concerned, Alibaba vs AliExpress have different pricing models. On AliExpress, there’s a fixed price, which is usually low. You can even find different variants of prices from different sellers.

However, unlike AliExpress, Alibaba allows you to bargain with the seller. This means you can get better profit margins in this case.

5.Products

Alibaba vs AliExpress are both equivalent in this case. You can find millions of products in different niches on AliExpress as well as Alibaba. These products are from Hong Kong or China. You can receive better pricing on Alibaba due to bulk orders, but there are more niches on AliExpress, so you can benefit from that.

6.Shipping

The last distinction for Alibaba vs AliExpress is the shipping cost.

On AliExpress, you can ship products through ePacket shipping, which is free and quick. Therefore, new dropshipping businesses can save a lot with ePacket shipping.

On Alibaba, the shipping options are not free, plus there is no facility to track your orders. You need to contact the seller to get details of the shipment from the seller directly. This means many times you don’t know how your order is shipped and when it will reach its destination.

Alibaba vs AliExpress: Dropshipping Tips

Once you have decided between Alibaba vs AliExpress, here are some tips to grow your business:

• When you have created categories of products from a seller, you need to purchase one product. See the time needed, check the quality, and evaluate other factors to understand the feasibility of this model.
• Check sellers with a possible rating and only work with these sellers to reduce risks. You don’t want to spend money and receive nothing in return or get a low-quality product.
• Evaluate the prices of category products from different sellers, and then you need to cross-check the ratings of the sellers to know if it is feasible to order a low-priced item.
• Use a dropshipping tool to automate various functions of your business. This one-time investment will help you reap long-term benefits.

Dropshipping Tool for Alibaba vs AliExpress

DSers is a leading dropshipping tool for the AliExpress marketplace. It has a multitude of inbuilt features to help you execute every sale smoothly. Let’s explore what these features are:

• The most noticeable feature of the DSers tool is its ability to help us select the seller without any hassle. There’s an intelligent AI system in the dashboard that helps you select the right seller for one purchase. You don’t need to do manual research.
• You can make bulk orders. Don’t let those huge orders demotivate you, as you can place all of them in click-through DSers.
• You can integrate more than one platform with the tool for smooth dropshipping. For example, Wix, Shopify, and WooCommerce.
• Tracking numbers of your orders are automatically synced to the DSers dashboard. This means you can just open your dashboard to support your users, know fulfillment status, and extract others details.

Conclusion

The choice between Alibaba vs AliExpress depends on your business model. However, dropshipping businesses benefit more from AliExpress. You can purchase one item as well and there’s the feasibility of using DSers with AliExpress. Therefore, that makes a win-win situation. So, if you are a dropshipping store, it may be best to use AliExpress for your business.

Check how our DSers tool helps you make the most of this business model. We can help you maximize your products.