How does dropshipping to Romania work with Chinese suppliers?

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

A Romanian merchant asks if using Chinese dropshipping suppliers (CJdropshipping, Sourcinbox) requires contracts with local couriers (FanCourier, Cargus), how to present shipping options at checkout, and how to offer cash on delivery (COD).

Key clarifications:

  • In standard dropshipping, the supplier ships directly to the customer; no Romanian courier contract is needed unless you receive and reship goods yourself.
  • At checkout, you set your own shipping rates (e.g., “Standard”/“Priority”) with names and prices; they don’t have to match a specific courier, since fulfillment is handled via the dropshipping app.

COD considerations:

  • COD (cash paid upon delivery) depends on whether the dropshipping supplier supports it; this can be harder to implement and requires checking with each provider.

Additional inputs:

  • One participant offered a direct delivery service via email.
  • Another recommended using an EU-based supplier to better support COD and faster delivery in Romania (claiming Romania is heavily COD) and cited 5‑day delivery and multiple payment methods.

Status:

  • No final decision or confirmation on COD support from CJdropshipping/Sourcinbox. Action item: contact chosen suppliers to verify COD and shipping options. Discussion remains open.
Summarized with AI on December 18. AI used: gpt-5.
7

Hi @Tavi

Ah OK I understand what you mean - so when customers place an order on your store, they have to pick a shipping company/shipping method right?

You would actually define the name and price of the shipping rates on your Shopify store. So for example, you could simply have 1-2 rates and call them ‘Standard Shipping’ and ‘Priority Shipping’ or something along those lines. You don’t necessarily need to define the exact shipping company, because you will be placing the order on behalf of the customer via your dropshipping app.

I realise you are not using Oberlo, however there’s a great article here on setting up shipping settings when dropshipping that I would recommend checking out. It would most likely apply to other dropshipping apps also, and it explains the various considerations to take regarding shipping.

You also mentioned cash on demand - do you mean the cash would be collected from the customer upon delivery? This might be trickier to set up, as it depends on if the dropshipping suppliers provide this type of payment option. For that sort of setup, I would recommend reaching out to the third party dropshipping service support directly, as they should be able to provide more context on that.