How to Find the Best Shipping Method for Dropshipping

Though dropshipping is a great business model that requires no inventory holding and package fulfillment, dropship merchants must find the best shipping method for dropshipping to cover shipping fees charged by suppliers and satisfy their customers.

However, with a lot of shipping options springing up in the last few years, you may find it difficult to determine which one is right for your business and worried about making a wrong decision.

If that is the case, you can read this article to learn the factors and tips for choosing the best shipping method for dropshipping, several selected shipping methods for you in 2023 as well as the best tool for shipping settings preset.

Factors to Consider While Choosing Dropshipping Shipping Methods

Choosing the best shipping methods for your dropshipping business is crucial for providing a positive customer experience and maximizing your profits. Here are some factors to consider while making your decision:

Shipping Cost

As shipping costs can significantly impact your profit margins, you need to pay special attention to them when you choose shipping methods.

Shipping Time

Shipping time could be another critical factor. As customers want to receive their orders in good condition and in a short time, fast and timely shipping is what you need to pursue.

Shipping Destinations

If you plan to dropship internationally, you should include destination countries or regions in your shipping considerations. Before you decide on shipping methods that benefit you in shipping costs, delivery time or other aspects, check whether they are available for your target market. Also, you need to consider customs regulations and potential delays for international shipments.

Tracking Availability

When it comes to choosing dropshipping shipping methods, those that offer tracking options can be your top picks so both you and your customers can have visibility into the package's status. This not only allows Customers to be able to track their orders and stay updated on the shipping progress but also enables you to spot and address shipping issues early.

Shipping Policies

It is important to check the shipping carriers' policies regarding returns and refunds. A flexible and customer-friendly returns process can be beneficial for your business reputation.

Besides, insurance can provide peace of mind and financial protection in case of lost or damaged shipments, so you can learn how each shipping provider’s shipping insurance works for shipped orders, especially for high-value items.

By carefully considering these factors, you can make informed decisions about the shipping methods for your dropshipping business.

Tips for Choosing the Best Shipping Method for Dropshipping

Now that you have learned the main factors to consider for the best shipping method choices, you can check the tips below for better customer satisfaction and improved business efficiency:

Test Shipping Process

To get an idea of the actual shipping experience for your customers, you can place test orders using different shipping methods to evaluate the delivery times and service quality firsthand. This will help you assess which offers the fastest and most reliable shipping.

Verify Shipping Provider Reputation

If you have not enough money to test orders by yourself, assessing the reliability of shipping methods could be an alternative.

When you find a shipping method that suits your need, remember to check its tracking history to learn whether it has a good performance as you expect. What’s more, you can look at the user reviews to know which one stands out from other shipping methods that cause the least history of delayed or lost items.

Preset Requirements for Shipping Methods

When your supplier provides multiple shipping methods that may have various combinations of shipping cost, shipping time and tracking availability and more, it is energy-exhausting to match them to your products one by one. One possible solution is to take advantage of the DSers Shipping Preset tool to preset your desired conditions for shipping methods and apply them automatically when you place orders to the supplier.

5 Best Shipping Methods for Dropshipping in 2023

Through our careful investigation, we have the following 5 best shipping methods for dropshipping that you can choose:

1. AliExpress Standard Shipping

AliExpress Standard Shipping is a shipping method offered by the online marketplace AliExpress. It is commonly used by sellers on AliExpress to ship products to customers worldwide. In general, it can take anywhere from 15 to 45 days for the package to arrive. And it typically comes with tracking information, including the tracking number and a link to the carrier's website. It can be used for both domestic shipments within China and international shipments to various countries.

2. Expedited Shipping

Expedited shipping is a faster shipping service designed for time-sensitive or urgent shipments. It offers quicker delivery times, usually ranging from 1 to 5 business days for domestic and international deliveries. Customers can track their packages in real time, but expedited shipping comes at a higher cost compared to standard options. This service is ideal for last-minute gifts, perishable items, urgent documents, and any situation where timely delivery is crucial.

Common Expedited shipping methods include UPS Expedited Shipping, USPS Expedited Shipping, DHL Expedited Shipping, etc.

3. Alphastline

Alphastline is a one-stop logistic service that cooperates with the Cainiao logistics system, to cover major countries to provide domestic collection, international delivery, logistics details tracking, and logistics dispute resolution. And its solutions can care for category and weight.

Currently, it provides 3 routes, covering 9 core countries: Alphast Line Express, Alphast Line Standard and Alphast Line Standard (BAT).

4. ePacket

ePacket is a cost-effective shipping service offered by China Post for small and lightweight international e-commerce shipments, commonly used between China and the United States, and available for select other countries. It provides faster delivery times, generally taking 7 to 20 business days, with tracking services and limited insurance or buyer protection. Packages must weigh less than 4.4 lbs (2 kg) to qualify, and it covers various product categories. However, delivery times can vary due to customs and local postal efficiency in the destination country.

5. Local Shipping

Local shipping refers to the transportation of goods or packages within a specific country or region. It plays a crucial role in supporting local businesses, meeting customer expectations for quick delivery as it is faster and more cost-effective compared to national or international shipping since the distances involved are shorter.

Common local shipping options include local courier services, same-day or next-day delivery, and in some cases, self-delivery by the supplier.

TIP: Suppliers who have local warehouses can ship goods to your customers within a proper time frame, so you can map suppliers that have warehouses in your end customer’s location for your products.

Utilize DSers to Automatically Apply the Best Shipping Method for Dropshipping to Your Orders

When you have multiple orders that need to be matched with shipping methods or want to set shipping methods according to specific criteria such as shipping destination and shipping cost and time and so on, it can be inefficient to set shipping methods one by one. Don’t worry, you can use DSers, a robust dropshipping tool, to automate your shipping method settings. Check below to learn how it works for you on the shipping front.

Automatically Apply the Preset Shipping Settings

Once you have collected shipping requirements for your preferred shipping methods, you can set a shipping template based on selected countries or regions accordingly ahead of time. That’s where the DSers Shipping tool comes in handy.

You can follow this guide to set your desired shipping methods for specific countries or regions step by step. Once done with that setting, DSers will automatically apply the shipping methods that comply with your settings to your orders, which helps you place customer orders to suppliers as fast as possible.

Set Unique Shipping Methods for Specific Products

You may encounter situations where your products have a big size or your customers require a specific shipping method regardless of shipping fees. For those cases, you can take advantage of the DSers Add Global shipping method based on product feature to set product-specific shipping methods to achieve the best dropshipping shipping service for your customers.

To learn detailed steps, you can refer to this article.

Conclusion

As discussed in the article, before you make a final decision to pick the best shipping method for dropshipping, there are many factors you need to take into consideration and various shipping options that you can choose from. Therefore, be sure to figure out what you want to highlight in providing your shipping methods to suit your business needs and improve the customer experience. For other eCommerce tips, tools or practices, feel free to check DSers Blog.