Dropship from China suppliers or suppliers in EU and USA, which is better? It totally based on your requirements and business status, as a dropshipper, someone prefer cheaper cost, someone prefer faster delivery time, someone prefer good quality products. There are generally 4 kinds of dropship supplier types available, Aliexpress supplier, 1688 Taobao supplier, China crossborder supplier and local EU USA supplier, each one has its own advantages and disadvantages, we can compare them via the poducts category, cost, delivery time, order fulfillment and aftersale 5 aspects to select the best supplier for dropshipping.

Aliexpress supplier

Aliexpress has hundreds of thousands suppliers sell from China to worldwide countries in different languages. It is the most easy way for startups to dropship, no inventory, very less capital requirement, free shipping available.

1688 Taobao supplier

1688 taobao have millions of suppliers with billions of product list at cheap cost, however, it is in Chinese language, in addition to the language issue, there are also payment, product quality, shipping and aftersale issues available for dropshipping from 1688 Taobao supplier.

China crossborder supplier

There aer many giant crossborder suppliers who have wrehouse in EU and USA with the trending products, products can be ship from warehouse to clients in 3 to 4 days. They mainly ship bulk from China to EU and USA warehouse via air and sea, and ship directly via overseas warehouse. For example, DHgate, Banggood, Chinabrands, Gearbest etc.

EU USA supplier

Local EU USA wholesaler and distributors who import bulk from China or Asia, the product niche usually very restricted and the price might be high, but they usually have stock for all the goods listed.

Pros and Cons dropship from China suppliers

Pros dropship from China suppliers

product categories

AliExpress 1688 and Taobao all covers 30 first-level industry categories including 3C, clothing, home furnishings, accessories, etc. Among them, the dominant industries are mainly: clothing and apparel, mobile communications, shoes and bags, beauty and health, jewelry and watches, consumer electronics, computer networks, and home furnishing , Auto and motorcycle accessories, lamps, etc.

apparel, beauty and health, jewelry and watches, lamps, consumer electronics, computer networks, mobile communications, home furnishings, auto and motorcycle accessories, jewelry, handicrafts, sports and outdoor products, etc. nearly all the product niches can be dropship from China are available.

product cost and shipping cost

The dropshipping cost from Aliexpress is low, mostly Aliexpress supplier offers free shipping which means you only need to pay product price. The product cost from 1688 might be even lower but the shipping cost havent included. The shipping cost from China to EU USA is higher than Aliexpress standard shipping.

Order fulfillment

When you dropship from Aliexpress you can apply oberlo to import products information and fulfill orders automatically, while Alibaba Taobao dropshipping order fulfillment is a bit difficult as they doesnt offer API access, and the product information are in Chinese. Thus import products information from Aliexpress and dropship from 1688 Taobao suppliers became more and more popluar.

Aftersale

More and more Aliexpress suppliers offer free return aftersale service. That’s pretty good for startups. While 1688 Taobao only offers 7 days free return service as it mainly focus on Chinese market, thus you will need to apply 1688 dropshipping service to help you handle the quality check and return for exchange.

Cons dropshipping from China suppliers

High shipping cost

Although Aliexpress suppliers offer free shipping service from China to EU USA, the delivery time might take 30 to 60 days. If you apply courier service or small package line shipping from China to EU and USA, the shipping cost will be very high especially for large weight volume goods. The international shipping cost has been increased 1 to 3 times after the COVID19 outbreak on Jan 2020.

Slow delivery time

Although small package line shipping from China to EU USA take 5 to 14 days currently, it is still slow compared to shipping from EU USA warehouse 3 to 4 days delivery. During hotsale season in September to December, the delivery time might be delayed.

Pros dropshipping from EU USA suppliers

Shipping delivery time

The shipping delivery time from EU USA warehouse to clients is truely faster and make clients happy as it only takes 2 to 4 days delivery after they placed order.

Order fulfillment

Since some of the products have stock, the orders can be shipped from EU USA warehouse nearby clients directly, order processing only took 1 to 2 days.

Aftersale

If client doesnt satisfy with the products or products have flaws can be returned to EU USA warehouse at low shipping cost.

Cons dropshipping from EU USA suppliers

Product inventory

Since all the products listed on the supplier website need to have stock in local warehouse, unlike millions of inventory in Aliexpress 1688 Taobao, the local supplier usually stock trending products from hundreds to thousands as the more products , the higher funds occupied.

Product cost

The product cost are usually higher than dropship from Aliexpress 1688 as the product cost need to cover product cost, shipping cost from China, custom tax, VAT, warehouse fulfillment cost, packaging cost etc.

From the comparision of the advantages and disadvantages dropship from Aliexpress 1688 VS EU USA suppliers, we can conclude the 4 stages of dropshipping business.

For startups, Aliexpress is the best platform as it requires very less invest, no stock and very easy to operate daily 1 to 20 orders;

For stable sales sellers, they usually have best seller products in store, in this case Aliexpress wont suitable anymore, 1688 Taobao would be the best dropshipping source for small moq, lower price and faster delivery. All can be done by 1688 dropshipping agent service for orders quantities from 10 to 10000 per day.

For niche products sellers with faster delivery requirements, they can work with the dropshipping suppliers in EU USA who have warehouse in local countries, the product quality and price should be high as the cost is also high.

For professional ecoomerce sellers who have team and company. They may plan stock both in China and Amazon FBA, EU USA warehouse for faster fulfillment while balance the product cost. their daily orders usually 500 to 10000 orders.

In short, dropship from Chinese suppliers or EU USA suppliers are totally based on your dropshipping business status and delivery time requirements, each suppliers have their own advantages and disadvantages, China suppliers usually have lower product cost to make your price competitive, EU USA suppliers deliver faster but with restricted product inventory and higher cost.

Dropship from Aliexpress and 1688 taobao suppliers or dropship from EU USA suppliers which is the best for you now?