I’m in pre-launch of my shopify shop. I would like to sell products on my website that I physically not have. The product is at another company but basically I do the marketing online and offer a selection of their product on my website. I’m a bit confused with all that I’m reading. What should I use - the multi vendor app or customized fulfilment where I sent the order to a third party? How would that work - I receive the order and it automatically generates the order to the third party? Third Party confirms and ships order?
I would still like to be in control of the placement and content of the product of the website.
If I’m using the customized fulfilment, how does it work with paying a commission to the brands that own the product?
I’ve also read about drop shipping but I already have the products & brands in mind so if I understand it correctly dropshipping is buying from supplier plaftorms like Obero etc?
What you’re describing actually is dropshipping. You select, market and sell the product on your site, the supplier ships directly to the customer from their warehouse.
Multi-vendor means you are operating a marketplace (like Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc.) where you sign on vendors to your site and they select and market their products on your site and you take a commission per sale or per listing, etc.
If you already know what brands/products you want to sell, then it’s just a matter of connecting with those companies (whether its the manufacturer, distributor/wholesaler, etc.), verifying if they have a dropship program or are wiling to work one out with you, negotiating pricing, etc.
Once you’ve established all of this, you can set up automatic notification to your dropship suppliers from your shipping settings in your admin.
I’m pretty sure the brands don’t have dropshipping program set-up. How does it work exactly once you negotiated pricing and shipping etc? How do you set-up the dropshipping partner account in my shopify?
Unless you’re working with a wholesaler or distributor who has some kind of direct integration with Shopify, there’s not really a ‘dropshipping partner account’ for you to set up. It will just be a matter of selecting your products to sell, obtaining all of the product details and product photos, and listing them on your site. Then, when you have orders coming in, notifying the supplier(s) of the orders, paying them for the product(s) sold in the order, and having them fulfill/ship the orders out to the customers.
With companies that have direct integration with Shopify (through a Shopify app, or their own proprietary software), this can be mostly automated usually. Otherwise, its on you, working with the supplier to arrange the logistics of it all.
Hey if your supplier is also on Shopify, you can use multistore inventory synching app as Syncerize to connect two store inventories and forward orders to the source store for fulfilment.
If your partner/supplier is also using Shopify, you don’t necessarily need a complex multi-vendor or custom fulfillment setup. You can simply connect your store to theirs.
I recommend checking out Easify Inventory Sync. It handles this “direct partnership” model using a Source store and Destination store setup:
The Setup: Your partner acts as the Source store (holding the stock), and your website acts as the Destination store. You can import their products but still maintain full control over the content and placement on your site.
The Workflow: Inventory levels sync from them to you automatically. Crucially, when you receive an order on your site (Destination), the app automatically creates a corresponding order on their site (Source) so they can ship it immediately.
Regarding Payments: Just to be clear, the app does not manage payments or commissions, so it won’t be able to help with that specific part of your request. You would need to handle the financial settlement with your supplier separately.
It is a great tool to simplify this kind of partnership, and the support team is very helpful if you have specific questions about your launch
