Hey everyone,
I’ve been noticing a pretty big shift in dropshipping lately especially with fulfillment times and supplier communication. A lot of new (and seasoned) store owners on Shopify seem to be hitting the same wall products look great on paper, but reliability falls apart when orders start coming in.
A few things I’ve seen in my own journey:
- Many “fast shipping” suppliers actually batch-ship only twice a week
- Hot products on TikTok often have unstable inventory
- Some marketplaces give vague tracking that frustrates customers
- Test orders sometimes arrive nothing like the product photos
- And the classic one: response times get slower as soon as Q4 hits
I’m curious how others here are handling it.
For example, I’ve been testing a workflow where I source products from verified catalogs instead of random marketplace listings. It’s helped a lot with consistency. I still use tools to manage the product data and vet suppliers one I use in my process (DropXL) has been useful for filtering products based on shipping history and supplier stability, but I’m still experimenting with a mix of approaches.
But I wanted to open this up because dropshipping changes fast, and what saved me last month may not work next month.
What are you all doing to reduce:
- Order delays
- Bad quality shipments
- Unresponsive suppliers
- High refund rates
Are you sticking to AliExpress? Moving to local fulfillment? Using private suppliers? Curious to learn what’s been working for other Shopify store owners in 2025.
Looking forward to hearing your strategies!