Dropshipping from shopify store to a partners shopify store - will there be a double charge?

[SamaraJ]

We currently own/operate a Shopify store dealing predominantly in clothing merchandise where traffic is directed through from our social media channels.

We have a sponsor/partner who is also on Shopify but is selling their own specific range of gear (different to our clothing merchandise). We are wanting to add a portion of their range to our website so that we have the ability to tag their products directly from our store onto our social media posting (as with most social channels you cannot direct to another Shopify store when you already have one linked).

We have currently loaded an amount of their products onto our site but want this to function as dropshipping to their site but are concerned about there being a double charge. For example some products have very low inbuilt margins and so if Shopify takes 2% on our transaction and we then send the order to our partner and it takes 2% from them also, this will reduce the likelihood of this being a long term/viable option.

Are there any recommendations anyone has in this space as our store has relatively low turn over due to being focused primarily on knowledge sharing through socials and gaining traction as brand awareness. Paying large amounts of money for an app that might only be used once every 3 months or losing out on a % of revenue when there is minimal inbuilt seems like our only options so far.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[JoesIdeas]

I'm not sure what your question is exactly but a few ways I've done dropshipping (I used to own some stores, also worked with 100's of Shopify stores):

- Work out a deal with your dropshipper that they bill you once a week (or monthly, or daily it will depend on your relationship with them). Then send orders to them via email, csv, etc (you can use Order Automator for stuff like that)

- If the dropshipper has multiple Shopify clients or is interested in expanding their B2B customer base, they can create a Shopify app that you (and their other Shopify clients) install, that automatically syncs products, inventory, prices, orders, etc. It wouldn't make sense for you to create this app since you're just 1 client, but I've seen dropshippers that have multiple clients build the app, it's a positive ROI for them if they're wanting to make it easy for stores to integrate, which will help them sell more products.

- Purchase on the dropshipper's site factoring in the rate they give you. For example, if they give you a 20% discount, they can grant a 20% discount that only your account uses. Yes there is the transaction fee they will pay on Shopify, possibly meaning they will give you a slightly lower rate, but you could start like this to provide proof of concept, then when you're showing sales and start doing volume, you can have a conversation about how you can work together to improve the margin (volume based discounts, or integrating one of the strategies I mentioned above, for example).