How can I automate product uploads and order fulfillment in my dropshipping store?

[jimmybkc]

Hello all,

I hope you are well this evening. I am in the process of launching a dropshipping store and to begin with I have made use of the Shopify integrated 3rd party app such as Oberlo or Syncee to find products.

In my search for possible suppliers I have been contacting independent stores to see whether they would be interested in a dropshipping model. I have found a number of suppliers that would support this but they continue to ask whether we have Shopify Integration and automation (I am guessing this refers to automatically uploading products, stock and order fulfilment). They are also asking whether we us an API?

It seems the suppliers are less interested in a manual stock upload process which I do understand, as it can present challenges with changing stock levels etc. For me, I would really like to be able to meet their requests and I feel that limitations here could impact on my ability to source the suppliers. 

As you have probably gathered I have very limited knowledge in this area so please do go easy when explaining the technical stuff. 

What I would like to know please 

1) Is there a way to automatically upload supplier stock (both current and updating) to my store (If so how do I do this?)

2) Can the order process be automated (if a customer orders from my store can this be automatically fulfilled  - even if single orders include products from multiple suppliers.)

3) What the heck is an API? How do I get one, and would I need a separate one per supplier?

Thank you in advance for your response and apologies for my lack of technical know how!

James

[sweatfully]

Need help with this too! Any luck with your findings?

I'm currently trying to make that all happen with a Zapier developer and in talks with a middleware developer to just see the costs of integration!