Below you will find all the Oberlo questions that I could find! I answered them all for you.
Most of these questions are from people that are worried about starting a dropshipping store.
I hope that I can lift some of these worries after you have read this article! And don't forget that no question is ever stupid.
Important note: On June 30, 2022, Oberlo shut down completely and officially partnered with DSers to migrate its users. This article will show you the most asked questions people had with Oberlo, but you won’t be able to use Oberlo anymore!
If you are interested in more information about Oberlo alternatives and how to migrate from Oberlo to those alternatives, check out this article here!
1) Is Oberlo fake?
This question popped up: is Oberlo fake?
No!
Oberlo is just an app to make your dropshipping life easier.
With Oberlo, you can easily import products from AliExpress that you want to sell. It also helps you with a lot more things, like processing your orders.
This way you don't have to input all the information from your customer into AliExpress manually. Oberlo will do that for you.
All that's left for you now is to press the pay button.
If you want to learn more about that, I suggest reading Dropshipping With AliExpress: Importing Products & Processing Orders!
I used Oberlo for that article.
2) What are the alternatives to Oberlo?
Oberlo is great if you're just beginning, but if you want something else other than Oberlo or if you don't want to start (or continue) with AliExpress dropshipping, I've got some great alternatives for you.
I've got two articles that you're going to like for sure.
- 15 Best Oberlo Alternatives in 2024 (After the Shutdown)
- 15 Alternatives to Dropshipping With AliExpress in 2024!
But if you don't want to read another article (yet), I've got my top three top Oberlo alternatives for you here:
- Dropified - No. 1 Oberlo alternative if you still want to do AliExpress dropshipping.
- AliDropship - No. 1 Oberlo alternative if you want to do AliExpress dropshipping, but you don't want to use Shopify (with Oberlo, it's necessary to use Shopify, as you can see in the next question). You can read my review here.
- Spocket - No. 1 Oberlo alternative if you don't want to dropship from AliExpress (and want faster shipping times).
3) Can you use Oberlo without Shopify?
No, Oberlo is an app exclusively for Shopify.
Shopify even owns Oberlo. (Source)
I suggest you take a look at AliDropship if you want to start with AliExpress dropshipping but you don't want to use Shopify.
You can create an AliExpress dropshipping store on WordPress and WooCommerce with AliDropship!
If you want to learn more about AliDropship, I suggest clicking here to read my in-depth AliDropship review. Or you can click here to check out the plugin yourself.
4) What is the price of Oberlo?
Oberlo is free to use, but you can upgrade to a higher plan when you need more features like bulk orders or the affiliate program (more on that below).
You can choose between the Basic plan ($29.9 per month) or the Pro plan ($79.90 per month).
Check out the image above if you want to see what's inside each Oberlo plan, or you can click here to go to their website.
5) Is Oberlo only for AliExpress?
Yes.
They did have Oberlo verified suppliers inside the Oberlo app, but they discontinued that program on July 15th 2019:
Now Oberlo is exclusive for dropshipping with AliExpress.
If now you're thinking something like: "I want to import products from other sites than AliExpress as well," I suggest going with one of the Oberlo alternatives I linked to above.
6) Can I use an affiliate program for cashback when using Oberlo?
Yes!
You can use an affiliate program to get cashback from AliExpress when you're using Oberlo!
This means that you will get around 6-8% of your AliExpress order value back.
Awesome, right?
Well, if you think that's awesome, then you're in luck!
You can click here to learn how to get cashback on AliExpress and how to do it with Oberlo.
7) How does Oberlo make money?
Below you will find some of the ways that Oberlo makes money:
- Oberlo makes money from people who upgrade their plan to a paying plan (the Basic or the Pro plan).
- They've also got a popular YouTube channel. So they probably earn "some" money with that as well because they've currently got more than 300k subscribers!
- And last but not least, there are rumors that Oberlo earns an affiliate percentage every time you place an order with their app. You can read more about that here.
8) What is the difference between Oberlo, AliExpress, and Shopify?
This one is simple to explain!
Shopify is an ecommerce platform. Here you can host your dropshipping store. See it as renting a stand on a flea market. You pay Shopify a monthly subscription to host your dropshipping store there!
AliExpress is an online store with a lot of different sellers. You can almost say it's the Amazon of China. AliExpress has a lot of sellers that sell their product for really low prices (most are factory prices with a slight markup) without the markup that most western stores already apply to their products.
Your profit will be the markup that you add (the price that you add to the product). You can read here more on how to price your dropshipping products.
Oberlo is a Shopify app that connects your Shopify dropshipping store to AliExpress. Oberlo will help you with things like importing products easily from AliExpress to Shopify and processing your orders.
9) Who uses Oberlo?
Like I said above, a lot of people who start with AliExpress dropshipping choose Oberlo as their dropshipping app.
If you want to read some Oberlo success stories, then I suggest clicking here!
10) Can you do blind dropshipping with Oberlo?
Yes!
But first, if you don't know what blind dropshipping is, then this is for you.
Blind dropshipping is making sure that there is nothing in the package for your customer that could lead to them thinking that you're dropshipping.
For example, no advertisements and invoices from your dropshipping supplier!
If you want to do this, you should put in an Oberlo a custom note that will automatically be written at checkout:
We’re dropshipping. No promotions & invoices, please!
It's also wise to contact the AliExpress seller before ordering any orders to be 100% sure that they don't put anything (other than the products haha) in the package.
Getting started with dropshipping in 2024
So, are you ready to get started with dropshipping? Or maybe you have already started, but you're looking to get some inspiration?
If so, I will link a few of my best articles below for you. This will help you to get started and stay motivated while beginning your dropshipping journey!
Just don't forget that success takes time. Keep improving each and every day!
- How to Find US Dropshipping Suppliers on AliExpress?
- The Complete Guide: Can You Start Dropshipping Without Money?
- 12 Reasons Why Most People Fail With Dropshipping | Beat Them!
- 23 Awesome Shopify Dropshipping Store Examples
Also, if you want to get started with Shopify, then you can click here to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months!
Conclusion
So, there you have it! 10 awesome Oberlo questions answered in 2024!
I hope that one of these Oberlo questions was on your mind as well and that that question is answered now.
If you've got any more Oberlo questions for this list or if you have any other questions regarding dropshipping, let me know by commenting below or contacting me directly by pressing the “Contact Us” button at the top!
I wish you the best with your dropshipping store!
6 Comments
Hello. As far as dropshipping, what about the return address?
Hi Shae,
Great question! The return address will either be your business address (the address where you are located – so most likely your home address), or the address of your dropshipping supplier. Another option is to let them return it to a fulfillment center.
Most people who are dropshipping from China either decide to let their customers return their orders to their own home address or they just refund their customers and let them keep their product. (But that’s only if the product isn’t that expensive) Because shipping the product back to China is way more expensive than the other way around.
You can learn more about refunds and returns in the article I linked to below:
Dropshipping Returns & Refunds: Everything You Need to Know
I hope that helped you further, and let me know if you ever got any more questions!
– Richard
I have a product that I want to put on my Shopify store. Problem is….. I have not created a Shopify store yet. My questions is: What should I do first. Do I create my Shopify Store first or do I contact a dropshipper and get my product ready for shipment? (It’s a chicken and egg dilemma – which comes first). LOL!!
Hi Josie,
Thank you for your comment! That’s a great question 😊
It indeed depends, for example, if you’re going for a one-product store and that’s the only good supplier that you can find for that product, then yes, it’s great to see first if you can work with them or not.
And if you’re going for a niche store, then you build out most of the store already, since you can always change the product(s) to a different product in your niche.
What you can do is contacting the supplier first so you can see already if you can work with them or not. For example, they might have a few requirements before you can dropship their product(s).
Then with that information, you can decide if you’re going to build a store around that product/niche or not. (Or if you’re going to find a different supplier)
Let me know what you think, and good luck with everything!
– Richard
Do you have an example of a dropshipping letter template that I can send to my dropshipping warehouse when I am ready to order my product?
Hi Josie,
Great question! I think you’re talking about a dropshipping agreement template, correct?
If so, we currently don’t have one yet, but there are a few on Google – for example, this one here.
Good luck with everything!
– Richard