Custom Dropshipping Sites with a WooCommerce Plugin

Because dropshipping is so similar to regular e-commerce, we love finding tools that streamline the process for suppliers and make business easier. AliDropship is one such tool, and in this review of AliDropship, we’ll describe what features are offered to help your business and if they’re worth checking out.

If you are not familiar with AliExpress you are part of China’s giant Alibaba company. Alibaba is similar to Amazon but dominates the Asian market rather than most of the western world like the Amazon.

Eventually, Alibaba launched a service called AliExress, which allows companies and individuals to purchase individual products or smaller batches for near wholesale prices. Because of this, many dropshipping plugins and apps are designed to instantly place AliExpress products in your online store.

AliDropship is one of these plugins, but with some differences.

How does AliDropship work?

You may notice that Shopify seems to have more dropshipping application options with AliExpress. This is one of the main advantages of AliDropship as it integrates with WordPress and WooCommerce instead of Shopify . You can also get hosting and build a complete site through AliDropship without developing the site yourself.

So essentially, AliDropship connects with your WordPress store and allows you to browse and choose AliExpress products. After that, products are automatically sent to your store with included product details, such as description, title, and photos.

You have two options to choose from when deciding to pay for AliDropship. The first is the custom shop , which allows you to develop your own dropshipping site on the AliDropship Platform . As mentioned, hosting is provided and you enjoy 100% ownership of your store. Also, AliDropship has a template library, so it’s not so difficult to make your online store.

The alternative is to consider the WordPress plugin. The plug-in looks and works similar to custom storage, but integrates with a previously designed WordPress site. So if you are already using WordPress and WooCommerce, or if you are familiar with this interface, the AliDropship plugin makes the most sense.

AliDropship Review: Best Features

The main feature with AliDropship is the one click plugin that turns your entire WordPress site into a fully functional online store with dropshipping options. You can also argue that custom sites are features, but this is more of a service than anything.

As for the features that really come with the plugin, here are some of the highlights:

Full Automation

Many automated tools are packaged with the AliDropship Plugin . One is to browse and import your products, with filters and a button to add the products to your site. Another help with price automation as it allows you to create your own rules for setting your own markups when price changes. We also like the options to automatically fulfil orders and submit order tracking.

A handful of awesome add-ons

From Google Merchant support to Facebook Business add-ons, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to add a fully automated solution to your store.If you want to get started quickly, we encourage you to read more about Dropship.me, an Alidropship add-on that eliminates the need for guesswork and time-consuming product research.

This plugin helps you find and import high-quality products from virtually every AliExpress product category.

Website Customization

AliDropship comes with several built-in themes so you don’t have problems with the code. There is also support for WooCommerce, a built-in image editor and product variations.

Marketing

The marketing section is one of my favourite parts of AliDropship because you rarely get it with drop shipping programs. For starters, AliDropship includes an option to share discount coupons with its customers. You can also set up an area for product reviews.

Email lists are possible if you want to receive emails, and the abandoned cart feature helps you get people back to your site.

AliDropship Review: The Price

Although the price for AliDropship is quite simple, there are several items you must decide between them, and the site also has some add-ons that you may need to consider in the future.

To get started, AliDropship sells its WordPress plugin for $ 89 . It is unclear on the site whether this is a one-time fee or whether you have to pay for ongoing support annually. Regardless, most plugins like this have the one-time fee and the upgrade for support. This payment includes upgrades, automation, unlimited products and all the key features we talked about.

If you would like to build a custom dropshipping store on the AliDropship platform, packages start at $ 299 and go up to $ 2899 for the Supreme Package . This is a one-time fee at which the store starts with 50 products (added to you) but then allows an unlimited number of products. The online store is designed for you, so there’s not a lot of development work on your side.

Other custom store plans cost $ 499 and $ 899. These upgrades have several benefits, such as promotional videos for your products and social media promotional tools.

Hosting is quite reasonable with AliDropship, seeing as it starts at $ 48 a year and includes a free SSL.

Here are all compared hosting plans:

• Silver – $ 48 per year for 3GB of space, unlimited bandwidth, a control panel, 20 email addresses, free SSL and up to five websites.
• Gold – $ 86 per year for 8GB of space, 40 email addresses, support for 10 sites and everything that came in the previous plan.
• Silver – $ 220 per year for 17GB of space, 80 email addresses, 30 site support and everything that came in the previous plans.
• Supreme Package – $ 2899 – one-time payment. This package is one of our favorites. Basically, you will have a business ready in 25 days. Comes with niche search, domain name (.com), 1 year Platinum hosting, custom design (mobile ready), Google Analytics integration, AliDropship plugin, 500 product to sell, unlimited products to choose from.

Addons for AliDropship

The only other expense with AliDropship is if you end up paying for some add-ons .

The add-on library doesn’t have many items, but it’s definitely a place to look if you need some kind of special functionality. For example, there is an add-on to a recent Facebook sales popup, countdown timer, and product catalog.

Some of the add-ons are free, but go up to $ 69.

What is the total cost of AliDropship?

For a custom AliDropship online store, the least expensive option – with hosting and all – is $ 347. This is not a bad rate as it is a one-time fee.

As for the WordPress plugin, you should only pay $ 89 unless one of the add-ons catches your eye.

AliDropship Review: Customer Support

AliDropship customer support is provided free of charge as long as you pay for the WordPress plugin or get a custom site created by AliDropship.

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A support email is the primary means of contacting the support team, so you will end up in a queue and get a response within a reasonable amount of time. AliDropship also has several social media pages. You can ask some questions in places like Facebook and Twitter, if that’s your style. The main reason I like social media for customer support is when you roll over and look at other people’s questions from before.

The knowledge base seems to have a large collection of articles for topics such as improving your store, add-ons, hosting, and more. Some of the articles have videos too, so this is clearly a bigger operation than a basic plugin that you would normally take for free and install on your WordPress site.

Finally, AliDropship offers a community forum to chat with other users, along with some guides and a full blog to learn about updates and tips that come directly from the company.

Overall, the online resources are quite impressive for a company that sells a WordPress plugin and ecommerce design services. I don’t notice phone numbers to call, but there is a live chat that is sometimes online.

Who should consider AliDropship?

There are two types of companies that should consider AliDropship . The first is a brand that wants to do dropship, but does not have the desire, resources or skills to shop online. In that case, you could contact AliDropship and order a custom dropshipping solution set up with access to AliExpress and all backend tools to start selling. These design services are reasonably priced compared to many other developers you’ll find online.

The other type of business that AliDropship should consider is one with a WordPress site already running. Or you may have experience with WordPress and WooCommerce and want to start your dropshipping store with this platform. In this situation, you would pay for the AliDropship plugin and install it on WordPress. After that, you can continue with your website design and start adding products to the store.

One reason you can avoid AliDropship is if you do not like the slow shipping times that affect AliExpress. It depends on the location of your customers, but I live in the United States and every item I bought on AliExpress takes weeks, if not months, to arrive. Other than that, the price is usually amazing.

If you have any questions about this AliDropship review, drop a line in the comments section below.