Australian Retailers That Offer Drop Shipping
Don’t have room for cash for stock? Try Drop Shipping!
Have you ever wanted to start an online business? Worried about how you would deal with stock?
Where would you store it? Not to mention posting all the orders to all your customers
How about having a business you can do all from home?
If you have asked any of the above questions, then Drop Shipping is for you.
What is Drop Shipping?
Drop Shipping is where you advertise a product, sell the product to the consumer, then the supplier delivers the goods directly to the consumer.
This is the perfect business model don’t you think!
No need to do anything other than to build a website, pick the products, the supplier and finally advertise your products.
It’s not just build your business and forget; you will also need to focus on customer service and any information that potential and current customers have.
Make sure to choose companies with a good reputation and have previous experience in Drop Shipping. Some drop shippers might not deliver what was promised. It is easy to take advantage of someone when they have never seen the product in person, and of course don’t physically stock it.
Another issue could be communication with your supplier, when you pick your drop shipper make sure that you can easily communicate with them via phone or email.
One way to confirm how good a potential drop shipper is, Is to get sent a few test products to your house. This way you can see the quality of the products and how the business communicates with the customer. If you are happy with the test products, then you can negotiate a quote for the number of products you need.
I’ve used drop shipping companies to sell the following: t-shirts, garden supplies, and clothing.
Advantages of Drop Shipping
There seems to be many advantages to this business model, while there are so many great points, we want you to continue reading to make sure you are aware of some negatives too.
- Offers quality and popular products without making them yourself.
- Ability to change the type of products/style that you are selling quickly.
- Profits on products are usually around the 15-20% plus mark.
- There is no financial outlay for stock – You only pay the supplier when your customer pays.
- There is no need to store stock – The supplier keeps all stock at their warehouse.
- There is no handling or postage – The drop shipper is responsible for all postage.
- For an extra cost you can send the drop shipper your logo, stickers and other packaging items so that the products look like they come from you. Enquire when you are doing your research to see what the extra costs would be to have your own packaging.
Make sure to research all companies you are looking at for drop shipping – look at their costs, shipping, products, customer service and how they communicate with their customers.
Negatives to Drop Shipping
- Get test products sent to confirm quality and service – Some drop shippers show you a picture of the product you think you are selling but send the customer something completely different. Once you narrow down the drop shipper you wish to use, you are then trusting them to deliver what was promised and agreed to.
- Postage Times – One thing you really must consider with Drop shipping is that your postage time will be significantly longer if your supplier is not in Australia. You can either disclose how long items will take to deliver or find a local drop shipper to make postage faster.
- Communication – If suppliers are not located in Australia it might be hard to communicate with them. It is wise to do a few tests to see what drop shipper can offer the best communication. You the business owner, and your customers will need information about products and ways the supplier handle returns. Communication needs to be able to be understood on the phone and via email and answered within a reasonable time frame.
- Customer Service – Drop shipping is not a business where you just list products on a website and then they sell themselves. You need to put in a lot of time to market and advertise your goods and to be available for your customers. Good customer service can make the difference between a business who is successful and one that isn’t.
- Profit Margin – You might feel that you need to earn more profit for all your hard work. To help boost your profits, get products for a cheaper price per unit, and increase the cost per product.
- Competition – You might find that the niche that you choose has a lot of competition and it is hard to get customers. It’s hard to sell the same product that everyone else is selling for a profit. It is advisable to see what your competitors are doing and make a decision on your product and niche after your market research is complete.
I’ll let you in on a trick…don’t market your drop shipping site where everyone else does. Find where your customers live and market to them there.
Finding a decent list of reputable drop shippers in Australia has been hard to find in the past, but we have collated a list for you! Tell them we sent you!
Grab our e-book on How to Start a Drop Shipping Business
It has all the information you need to get started!
How to Set Up a Drop Shipping Store
Setting up a drop shipping store is super easy, I’m sure you will be so surprised at how simple it really is.
So, how do you do it?
- Sign up for Shopify Store (You can get a free trial – extended to 90 days due to COVID-19) which is an e-commerce platform that you can set up for drop shipping. After your free trial Shopify charge you $29 USD/month for a basic plan. Once you have your store all set up it is recommended to do some of the training at Shopify Academy to help your store rise to great heights.
- Now you have your Shopify Store the following apps: Oberlo and Modalyst are a must. They help you find products, and they both plugin and work seamlessly with your Shopify store.
I’ve used Oberlo and love the fact that it helps curate and promote my products. Both of these apps have free versions, but you can pay for the higher plans. - Select your drop shipper or shippers of choice and add the products to your Shopify Store
- Another top tip is to use the AliExpress Google Chrome Extension (AliDropship) this allows you to visit AliExpress and from the website click the little blue paperclip icon on the product, if you have Oberlo open at the same time this automatically adds the product to Oberlo but not immediately to your Shopify Store. You need to edit it in Oberlo first, add images, text, shipping and the prices. Once happy you can push it live to your Shopify Store.
- Oberlo allows you to search all different drop shippers or via a certain product as well. You can even narrow the search to a certain country only.
- And now to promote your shop and sell your products.
But I Don’t Want to Use Shopify?
There are many alternatives to Shopify, you can even use Facebook to sell your products. If you do decide to use Facebook be aware that you need to keep up with your products and know when you have low stock or have sold out. Using Facebook is a good way to test out if your business idea will work and also if the products you’ve picked will sell. If it is popular you can always switch to a dedicated e-commerce website.
Below are other options if you would rather not use Shopify:
- BigCommerce
- 3dcart
- Volusion
- Square Online Store
- PrestaShop
- Magento
- WooCommerce
- Weebly
- Wix
- Squarespace
DID YOU KNOW? You Can Get Ready-Made Drop Shipping Websites?
I can make my own website from scratch and have the skills to do graphics and make the website look fab, but like many people I’m a busy person and if I can speed up the process to start my business then I wouldn’t knock back a stylish and ready-made e-commerce website – why not make it easier for yourself.
These templates look very professional and as you all know, you need a stunning site to win over customers.
The good thing about websites are that they are a sale-able asset – so if you get ‘over’ it or don’t want to do it anymore – you can sell your store for a profit – so all that work you have put into your shop is going to make you a good return. Legally, you cannot ‘Sell’ a Facebook Page – so a website is a great idea.
There are a few places that make inexpensive ready-made drop shipping websites and they are definitely worth a look. Here are our fav’s:
A snazzy and glossy website really helps to make a good first impression!
Dropship For Sale
Dropship for Sale have affordable and stylish templates for your new drop shipping business.
Check out their Niche websites – You can pick from a starter site, a premium site or a custom site. Prices for a starter site start at $160 AUD.
Have a look at their ready-made websites in the following niches:
- Electronics & Gadgets Niche Website
- Hair & Wig Niche
- Fresh Coffee Niche
- Pet Niche
- Makeup & Teeth Whitening
- Baby Store
Dropship Me
Dropship Me is another platform that will provide you with a ready-built Drop Shipping Store – and also does all the research to ensure the products you choose will sell well. Picking your products is the hardest thing and one that if you can get some extra help it is wise to do so. Once you’ve picked your winning products, all you need to do now is to market them.
Dropship Me has beautiful photography; and great images sell your products… so this is a must have!
They do have a free version; the free plan lets you add 50 products. If you need more then you can move to different plan which would be a paid option.
List of the Major Drop Shipping Companies:
These are major Drop Shipping companies that work with Australia that focus just on drop shipping and offer a multitude of products. The only thing with the major drop shipping companies is that you usually have to become a member to see all of their products – however, they are legitimate (well these ones are!) – but always do your homework first before parting with any cash!
Plus, professional drop shipping companies will also take a small percentage of every sale for their services – BUT the advantage with using these companies is that you have access to literally millions of products instead of a limited range.
1. SaleHoo
SaleHoo has the very best selection of products for Drop Shippers – their list is HUGE. You can choose to pay a yearly $67 membership fee or pay $127 lifetime access. If you are not completely satisfied SaleHoo has a 60-day guarantee , all you need to do is to email your receipt and you will get a full refund.
The membership gets you access to their drop shipping supplier directory, members forum and all the research that will help you become a successful drop shipper.
- SaleHoo have more quality products for drop shipping than most of the others.
- Has over 2,500,00 products and brands.
- SaleHoo has been around since 2005 – so they are one of the longest running drop-shipping companies.
- All of the SaleHoo Sellers are real and authorised distributor of the products you are buying.
- If you can’t find products you are looking for, SaleHoo will refund your money.
See the SaleHoo Website
2. Factory Fast
Factory Fast stock so many amazing products and ones that you might not think of to sell. They have products for; DIY & Renovation, Furniture, Games, Outdoor Furniture, Toys, Sports & Fitness, Pet Supplies, Home Entertainment, Travel Goods, Baby Products and so much more.
Another HUGE plus is that they are Australian owned and operated, so getting products to your customers will be quicker rather than coming from overseas.
Not only do they drop ship, you can also become a reseller of their products. There is no membership fee – but their products are fairly limited unless you are into the above niches.
- Get $10 off your next order when you join their newsletter
- 96% of items are dispatched within 1 business day (this is great news as you know your customers will love getting their order faster)
3. Simply Wholesale
Simply Wholesale drop ship electronics, home and garden, health, homewares, beauty products, tools and equipment. However, when I was researching for this article, I found that many niches were not available, and some had hardly any products available. This could be due to COVID-19 and not able to get stock from overseas.
Ones that I found interesting were the 3D Moon Lamps and Ultrasonic Aromatherapy Diffuser Oil Led Air Humidifier (I have an Ultrasonic Aromatherapy Diffuser and love it!)
- Has over 100,000 products
- Has an easy 14-day returns policy
- Get a $10 coupon to spend on your next order when you sign up to their newsletter
Free Shipping Australia Wide
4. Wholesale2B
Wholesale2B are not based in Australia but do offer drop shipping to Australia and have warehouses all over the world. They have over one million different drop shipping products to choose from (these guys are one of the World’s largest drop shipping companies) – but if you are really serious about starting a small business doing drop shipping, you will need to sign up for one of their plans which integrate with Shopify and WooCommerce – or they can even help you assemble your very own Drop Shipping website.
You can sign up for a free trial that lasts for 7 days. After the 7 days you get charged $29.99 if you are connecting to a Shopify Website. For the trial plan and the monthly plan, you can import 10,000 products. Now that’s a lot to start off with…not sure you would want that much, but at least you have the choice.
If you decided to sell on eBay the costs would be $37.99/month, and this means you can browse over 1 million products and import the ones you want to your store. You can be on a yearly plan for $287.99/year and this is a saving of 40% for going yearly.
As you can see depending on your platform it is there are different costs associated and also what is offered.
If this takes your fancy you can sign up for free and see what you think.
See the Wholesale2B Website
5. DH Gate
DH Gate is another of the HUGE companies that have worldwide factories to get products to your customers. Their motto is ‘Buy Globally, Sell Globally’.
Their ranges includes:
- Wedding Gowns, Bridesmaid Dresses, Flower Girl Dresses, Mother of the Bride Dresses, Cocktail Gowns
- Phones and Tablets
- High-grade hair extensions
- Designer Kids Clothing
- Home Decor
6. Colourblocker
Colourblocker are Aussie and make Drop Shipping really easy with step by step instructions on how to go about listing and purchasing products for your clients. Having a local supplier is wonderful as you can communicate with someone in the same time zone and have products shipped quickly so that your customers don’t get annoyed waiting for their orders to arrive. This is also helpful for refunds as it is a local company that you would send back any items to.
The types of products you can drop ship from Colourblocker include:
- Kitchenware, Bakeware, Mugs, Food Storage and Preparation
- Gifts for men and women
- Novelty products
- Home and Living
- Eco-friendly products
- Electronics and Tech
- Baby Friendly Products
- Health and Weight Management Products
- Pet Products
Having a list of trending products is helpful so that you can keep your store fresh and interesting for your customers.
7. Dropship Australia
Dropship Australia has been around since 2005 – although they don’t themselves sell any products, they offer a supplier’s directory, membership forum and online business community for support and training for your drop shipping business.
They charge an annual membership of $97.00 to have access to the Supplier Directory.
8. Brands Distribution
Brands Distribution has been around since 2006, so you can see that it has stood the test of time. If you are interested in Fashion Drop Shipping this is the supplier for you. They have over 500,000 products from 120 fashion brands ready to be delivered and it is free to subscribe to their newsletter.
They offer drop shipping at 60% of the retail price with high-quality fashion brands such as:
- Michael Kors
- Versace
- Gucci
- Burberry
- Addidas
- Pierre Cardin
- Laura Biagiotti
- New Balance
- Armani
Countries outside the European Union the minimum order is € 1,000 ($1,811.31 AUD but might change due to exchange rates), and you need to sign up as a member before you can access stock which is about € 99 or $179 AUD per month (they are based in London but ship to Australia!).
9. Worldwide Brands
This is another large brand that doesn’t offer drop shipping products, but a list of suppliers for a fee. It’s a who’s who of drop shipping and having a list of who to contact is sometimes half the battle. Or maybe it is more like a match maker giving you the list of eligible bachelors…Taking the hard work out of your day is worth paying a little something for, right?
Worldwide Brands hand picks the suppliers they work with to ensure that they and their suppliers maintain a good reputation – even more so for smaller businesses who can’t afford for their suppliers to let them down. In today’s world where you are critical with everything, having a company guarantee that their suppliers are Spam Free, secure, authorised and promote that they only choose the best of the best of the best is reassuring.
They also have WBI Certification which means that they do factory tours to know each supplier and do a very extensive qualification process to ensure they are a top supplier in that market.
10. Oberlo
Oberlo is a subsidiary of Shopify and it allows you to drop ship products directly from Ali Express. It is a great application that allows you to find products, market them, and sell them on your own drop shipping website.
Oberlo works with Shopify, you can have it talk to many different suppliers to allow the products to be imported into your online shop. So, if you don’t want to use Ali Express you just add a different supplier to your list in Oberlo and then you can import these into your shop, and they will be live in Shopify as well. Once you have uploaded them, you will need to give each product a description, meta data, prices and images to showcase your products. Make sure to work on the text for the description and key words for your listing. This helps sell your products and allow customers to find you when they search for items on Google.
There are so many help videos and guidance on the Oberlo website to help you get started and once you have done a few products you will be a pro!
11. Belle Wholesale
Belle Wholesale is a Business to Business platform for brands, retailers and individual buyers to purchase women’s apparel, shoes and accessories that are trending worldwide. They have trendy and up to the minute fashion available. If you want to be able to offer the hottest item right now Belle Wholesale will have what you are looking for. They also offer drop shipping!
Our List of Australian Dropshipping Suppliers
Remember this list is updated constantly – so check back if you can’t find what you are looking for!!!!!
Our List of Australian Dropshipping Suppliers
Remember this list is updated constantly – so check back if you can’t find what you are looking for!!!!!
Australian Women’s Fashion Drop Shippers:
Now when you go to many of these websites, not all of them will have information about drop shipping on their site. Make sure you drop them a line via their contact page (and tell them we sent you!).
Coco Fashion
Coco Fashion have a fun and stylish range of women’s fashion, bags and evening wear. Not a massive range though. When I was researching, they didn’t have any bags to display, maybe they are currently out of stock? They are not located in Australia but do drop ship here.
Daring Diva Australia
Finding stylish clothes is sometimes a hassle, Darling Diva Australia has great Plus Size Women’s Clothing from sizes 14-28. They also stock a range of shoes, handbags and jewellery. All their stock is sourced from the United States and United Kingdom.
- Offers Women’s sizes from 6 to 28
- Shoes from sizes 6 – 28
- A beautiful range of women’s handbags
Check out their Look Book for an idea of their range.
Catch
Did you know that you can use Catch as a Drop Ship Supplier? I personally had no idea! Use Catch’s huge website and products as a draw card to market your own products. Catch is HUGE and a good name for great deals.
Here’s how simple it is to use Catch for your drop shipping website:
Advertise their products (with a markup of course), then once someone has made a purchase, you log in, purchase that product – and then get it addressed to the person you sold it to and pocket the difference…. Nifty huh.
Not too many websites allow you to do that – but Catch is one of them – and they often have a great range of women’s fashion, plus everything in between.
DH Gate
DH Gate has everything under the sun on their website, Electrical, Accessories, Fashion, Shoes, Health & Beauty, Hair and Styling Accessories, Apparel, Kids Toys, Baby & Kids, Bridal Wear, Ball Gowns, Bridesmaid Dresses and Flower Girl outfits. Not Australian but does ship to Australia.
Swimwear and Active-wear Drop Shippers:
Arkhe Lane Activewear and Neyku Swimwear
To contact Arkhe Lane Activewear about drop shipping opportunities, please contact them here.
Bobbi Sunshine
Bobbi Sunshine is a drop shipper of children’s swimwear.
Elysian Swim Australia
Elysian Swim Australia is a business run on Instagram. They offer a range of luxury women’s swimwear for babes who love the ocean.
Lisa Maree Swimwear
Lisa Maree Swimwear has a beautiful range of crocheted swimwear. Contact them to discuss drop shipping arrangements.
Custom T-Shirt Drop Shippers:
Have you ever fantasied about being a super successful t-shirt designer? I know I have. This fantasy can become a reality with the fact that the technology is available for anyone to design their own t-shirt masterpiece. See below for some great suppliers of t-shirts that you can sell at a profit.
Dropshirt
Dropshirt makes it easy for anyone to to sell customised t-shirt from any website – drop shipped straight to your customer. The Dropship platform can be integrated with shopping carts such as Shopify, Woo Commerce and Magento. This is perfect for your new e-commerce website.
The Print Bar
The Print Bar allows you to sell t-shirts and other merchandise without any expenses or storage needs. The Print Bar also sells the following items; tea-towels, drink bottles, lanyards, notebooks, pens, umbrellas, badges and usb sticks.
The Print Bar is based in Brisbane, Queensland
Tee Junction
Tee Junction is a platform that allows you to design your t-shirt, open a simple store, and they print and send your orders on demand (this allows you to not have to buy a whole lot of shirts that you might not sell).
You get a 20% commission on all sales.
Tee Junction have T-Shirts for men, women and children, and also have organic and free trade t-shirts available.
Beauty, Cosmetics and Perfume Drop Shipping Suppliers:
Dropified – Everything You Need to Run A Successful Perfume Drop shipping Business
Home Decor & Furniture Drop Shippers and Resellers:
- Dasch Design
- I Heart Wall Art AustraliaColourblocker
- Hartldn (Cushions, Prints, Children’s Product’s, Bedding, Candles)
- Tribal Beach (Round towels and beach bags)
- Simply Wholesale has brands such as Bambury, Fanola, Avantree and Mozbit.
- Theo & Joe
- SK Designer Living
- Wholesome Habitat
Sporting Goods and Exercise Drop Shippers:
Surfboards Direct
Sell surfboards on your Facebook Page or website – and take a commission through Surfboards Direct.
Adult Product Drop Shippers:
Check out our article on ‘Where to Buy Wholesale Vibrators to Sell at a Profit’ we have a huge list of all sorts of adult products and where you can drop ship them or buy them wholesale!
Want to be included? Find out how!
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