The right dropshipping supplier makes all the difference when it comes to operating a successful drop shipping store, and Spocket’s marketplace is made up of the best of the best.
To find a high-quality Spocket supplier that is held to a strict set of standards so you can stock your online store with some of the best dropshipping products available, you’re going to want to read through this Spocket review to discover why they’re one of the best dropshipping marketplaces out there.
Spocket Review: What Spocket Does
Spocket is a dropshipping marketplace that enables merchants to search and connect directly with dropshipping suppliers located in the US, EU, and in China helping merchants build an inventory of high-quality goods for their ecommerce store. It’s one of the Top 10 Best Shopify Dropshipping Apps and it’s easy to use: Simply install the Spocket app on your Shopify store, search through their catalog of products, select the products that you want to sell on your store, and quickly add them to your site.
Dropshipping as a business model, while advantageous in many ways, does have some downsides when it comes to profit margin potential, brandability, return policies and shipping guidelines which Spocket recognizes and has made a big effort to eliminate from their own dropshipping marketplace.
Fortunately, Spocket has suppliers from around the world, so you can choose products based on their quality, shipping time, or location. For example, if you’re looking to sell affordable products, you’ll want to install AliScraper to dropship products from AliExpress. However, if you’re looking to sell organic beauty products, you’ll want to browse Spocket’s US or EU beauty products to ensure natural ingredients. There are a few products that are best suited to certain locations. So do your due diligence to determine which location is best for the type of products to sell to customers.
Spocket Review: How to Set Up Spocket on Shopify Stores
Spocket directly integrates with Shopify stores, so it’s easy to get started.
STEP 1: CONNECT YOUR SHOPIFY STORE
Spocket integrates directly with Shopify (and ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, BigCommerce, and more) stores, so if you don’t have a Shopify store, head over to Shopify and click on the “Start a Free Trial” button, it only takes a few minutes.
Next, head over to the Shopify App Store and find the Spocket Shopify App. Click on the “Add App” button and complete the login information to connect Spocket to your store. The cool thing about Spocket is that they have automated order fulfillment, so you can reduce your workload while running your business.
Once that’s done, your Shopify store is connected with the Spocket app and you can start browsing their products!
STEP 2: TAKE THE TOUR
A short 4-step tour of the Spocket dashboard will start immediately so you can get to grips with where to start. Enter a keyword to search for specific products, search by product category, filter by price, search by location, select a Spocket supplier or check off the “Premium Products” box to only see Spocket’s best-selling products. Browse through the products to find something you want to add to your store or search directly by keywords and preferences to make things fast.
STEP 3: ADD PRODUCTS TO YOUR IMPORT LIST
When you see a product you want to add to your store, hover your cursor over it and a green bar saying “Add to Import List’ will pop up. Click on this button and that product will be saved to your “Import List” tab where you can review each product later before you add it to your store. You can edit any details for your drop shipping product, such as title, product descriptions, and even product photos. Or you can leave the original descriptions in there (but be wary because without original or long content you can be penalized by Google for duplicate or thin content).
STEP 4: PUSH PRODUCTS TO YOUR STORE
Once you’ve added some products to your “Import List” tab, head over to that tab and see what’s there. From your “Import List” tab you can customize the product details (or you can leave them as they are) and add the product directly to your store with the “Push To Store” button. Once you click on that button the product will be published to your store and your customers will be able to buy it.
STEP 5: YOU’RE UP & RUNNING!
That’s all there is to it, now you’re selling Spocket products on your Shopify store! Note that you’ll have to upgrade to one of Spocket’s paid plans to access their premium products, so until you do that you’ll only be able to add non-premium products to your store. And since the premium products are their best-sellers, it’s definitely worth getting. Also, if you’ve just set up your Shopify store for the first time, there will be a little more set up required to get your store ready to sell to customers (like choosing and editing your theme, setting up payments, and removing the password protection).
Spocket’s Features & Services
1. Free Plan Available
Spocket is free to browse so you don’t need to commit when you sign up to see what products are on their drop shipping marketplace. However, you’ll need a paid subscription to add products. On their Starter plan, so you can add up to 25 products to your store, you can receive an unlimited number of orders on those products, and you’ll also get access to their other important features like real-time inventory updates, currency exchange, global pricing, shipment tracking numbers and email support. For more features, to add more products to your store and for additional support options, you’ll have to upgrade to one of their other plans which do have an upfront cost. Their most expensive plan is $99.99 but you can add 10,000 unique products and 10,000 premium products.
2. Branded Invoices
As a dropshipping business, you want the shopping experience to be as authentic as possible for your customers and one way that Spocket prioritizes that is by enabling merchants to create custom branded invoices.
Depending on which Spocket pricing plan you’re signed up to, the features you’ll be able to customize on your invoices will differ. When you choose Spocket’s Pro or Empire plans you can have all of the features of branded invoicing. You’ll also be able to add your store’s logo, change the font, and structure of the invoice to make it personal and unique to your brand. With this feature, you’re not some random drop shipping business, you establish yourself as a standalone brand.
3. High-Quality Products
Spocket knows that dropshipping merchants are often frustrated by the lack of quality experienced in so many dropshipping products on the market, that’s why they so diligently focus on cultivating a marketplace of high-quality dropshipping products. Each supplier on Spocket is carefully vetted for quality assurance and reliability. You’ll find countless reliable suppliers in Europe and the US on Spocket who ship on time and ship products customers love.
4. High Dropshipping Margins
Spocket aims for merchants to have a 30%-60% profit margin window when typical dropshipping profit margins are usually around 15% – 45%. This means that you as the merchant have the opportunity to earn more with every sale that you make, which can help you grow your business and keep your cash flow in the positive. You’ll notice that each product recommends the ideal retail price to help you earn more.
5. Order Samples
It should go without saying, but you should never sell a product on your online store without first ordering a sample. This goes for any kind of online business whether you’re dropshipping or not. To make this easy, you can order product samples right from your Spocket dashboard in just a few clicks just to do your own due diligence and make sure you’re adding exactly what you want to be selling to your online store.
6. Automated Selling
The best part about running a dropshipping business is usually that you can automate the entire process! Spocket is no exception. Their goal is to connect suppliers and merchants together and automate everything in between so you can run you store day-to-day without being bogged down by manually sending orders to your supplier. Automation makes everything more efficient and means there are fewer possibilities for mistakes to be made, which leads to a better user experience overall. The only things you’ll need to manage is supplier sourcing, marketing, and customer support.
7. Fast Delivery Times
Outside of AliScraper, a majority of Spocket’s suppliers are located in the US and EU so delivery to your customers will be faster, easier, and more reliable than if you were to source from other popular dropshipping supplier locations around the world. This means that your store will offer a better purchasing experience for your customers, earning you better reviews and returning customers.
8. Extensive Supplier Vetting
Spocket has a very thorough vetting process when it comes to allowing prospective suppliers into their marketplace of products to choose from which, as a merchant, is good news for you because it means that you don’t have to do the hard work ensuring that you’re sourcing from a reputable supplier.
Here are the standards Spocket holds their suppliers to:
- By-Application Only: Suppliers have to apply to become part of the Spocket marketplace, and Spocket only allows them to join only if the supplier’s products suit the needs of Spocket’s merchants, if the products are in demand by consumers, if the suppliers are willing to ship products in neutral packaging (to make for a seamless dropshipping experience), and if they’re able to offer their products at a 30%-60% discount for Spocket merchants.
- Investigative Interview: Spocket also interviews each supplier before they invite them to their marketplace to learn more about the supplier’s business in depth and their history of sales. This is where the Spocket team is really able to get a grasp on what the supplier does and how they do it to ensure that they’re a good fit for the Spocket marketplace.
- Product Testing: The Spocket team also orders products from the supplier’s store to test out their products to evaluate the quality of the product, the packaging they use as well as the shipping time that it takes to receive the product. In this stage, Spocket is able to identify any factors that may be undesirable for merchants, like long shipping times or poor-quality products that may cause issues for them if they were to list the products from these suppliers on their own store.
Once a supplier passes these three tests, Spocket then confirms the other fine details required to sell on the marketplace to ensure that the suppliers agree to the return policy and shipping guidelines that all other Spocket suppliers adhere to.
Finally, when a supplier successfully becomes a part of the Spocket marketplace, Spocket monitors the supplier’s performance for the first two months to ensure that their on-boarding is smooth and that they continue to meet Spocket’s expectations. They do this to make sure that suppliers follow up with their end of the deal and to make sure that merchants are satisfied with their products, shipping, and service.
If, in the case that a supplier fails to perform to Spocket’s high standards, the supplier is deactivated and any merchants who list the supplier’s products on their own online store are notified.
9. Premium Products
Spocket’s suppliers range from local vendors to artisans to small manufacturers and mass suppliers so the product range in terms of price is well-rounded. Spocket’s Premium products are specifically curated products that are added into this category because they’re the best of the best that Spocket has to offer. As such, they’re only available to merchants on Spocket’s paid plans which makes them extra special and even more exclusive. Spocket’s premium products are best-sellers that lean closer towards the 60% side of the 30%-60% discount range, and they meet the fastest shipping and processing time requirements.
10. Return & Shipping Policies
When it comes to dropshipping, two of the major disadvantages are usually the return policies (or lack thereof) and shipping costs, carriers, and times. This is generally because, as a merchant who doesn’t have full control over these aspects, they’re often non-negotiable and they often don’t work out in your best interest. Handling returns can often be confusing and awkward (do they go back to the supplier or does the merchant become responsible for them?) and shipping usually just is what is it (the merchant generally has very little say in the process).
Spocket recognizes these frustrations. They maintain strict return policies and shipping guidelines that their suppliers must meet in order to be listed on their marketplace so everyone’s on the same page. So this is one of the Spocket features that merchants love.
- Spocket’s Return Policy: All Spocket suppliers must offer one of these three return policies — either they offer no returns, 15-day returns or 30-day returns. It’s important to note that Spocket also holds the supplier’s funds for the period of the return policy so in the event that a return needs to be made, you’ll get the money back that you paid to the supplier for their product. For example, if the supplier offers a 15-day return policy, Spocket keeps the funds in their account for the 15 days until the return period has passed.
In the case of damaged products or if your customer receives the wrong product, you’ll be refunded immediately or sent a replacement product, whichever you choose. In addition to that, Spocket sometimes will not even require the product to be shipped back to accommodate the customer or will provide the return shipping label so the customer does not have to pay for the return out of pocket.
This is one of the best return policies we’ve seen when it comes to dropshipping because it favors the merchant, not the supplier.
- Spocket’s Shipping Policy: When it comes to Spocket’s shipping guidelines, they also make it as easy as possible for merchants to implement on their own store. All Spocket products are offered with flat rate domestic and international shipping, which you can take into account when you outline the shipping rates for your own store.
Spocket suppliers usually use DHL, USPS, ePacket, and FedEx to ship their products to ensure that items are delivered quickly. While shipping times vary, every product on Spocket includes an overview of the expected shipping and processing times in their product description, so you do have access to that information before you list the product on your store.
Spocket Review: Pros & Cons of Spocket
Pros
- Sell On the Top Ecommerce Platforms: Use Spocket on Shopify, WooCommerce, or many other popular ecommerce platforms
- Suppliers Located in the US & EU: 60% of Spocket’s suppliers are located in the US & EU which is ideal in terms of product quality and shipping times
- Available Worldwide: Spocket is available to use, ship, and sell to around the world
- Currency Configuration: Products listed in Spocket are in USD, however, when you add them to your own store the currency will automatically revert to your Shopify store’s base currency
- Fast shipping: Due to the location of US & EU products, and the carriers required by Spocket suppliers, merchants can count on fast delivery times
- No Stock Issues: Spocket automatically updates inventory levels in real-time so you’re never caught out selling sold-out or discontinued products
- Massive Product Marketplace: Choose from a huge range of products to stock your online store shelves with
- Direct Integration: Import Spocket products directly to your Shopify store easily with just a few clicks
- Thorough Vetting Process: Spocket does the hard work to make sure the suppliers on their marketplace are reliable and high-quality
- New Suppliers Added Regularly: New suppliers are being added daily so you always have more products to add to your store
- Branding Options: Use branded invoicing to make each order more on-brand
- Free Plan: Get started with Spocket easily by signing up to their free plan!
- Great for small businesses: With so many parts automated, an individual can run a dropshipping store with tens of thousands of customer orders by themselves. As your business grows, you can choose to outsource parts like customer support
- Ideal Profit Margins: Spocket works with suppliers to keep margins within 30%-60% which well exceed the typical 15%-45% dropshipping profit margins
- Order Samples: Test out Spocket suppliers’ product by ordering a sample right from your dashboard
- Automated Order Processing: Orders from your store get sent automatically to the appropriate Spocket supplier so you don’t have to do it manually
- Bulk checkout: Spocket allows you to process orders in bulk, to help you save time in managing order fulfillment
Cons
- Can’t Sell on Some Platforms: Spocket products can be sold on sales channels like Shopify stores, Facebook shops, Instagram, YouTube, blogs, personal websites, and Pinterest but cannot be sold on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Wish or Groupon
- Customs Duty & Taxes Not Included: As customs duty and taxes vary from place to place, they are not included in Spocket prices
- No Package Customization Available: At this time, customized tags, packaging or branding products is not available. But remember that you can customize invoices.
Spocket Review: Spocket’s Pricing
The Spocket app is available in three pricing tiers:
- Starter Plan: $24.99/month
- Up to 25 Unique Products
- Unlimited Orders
- Real-Time Inventory Updates
- Currency Exchange
- Global Pricing Rules
- Shipment Tracking Number
- AliExpress dropshipping
- 24/7 Customer Support
- Pro Plan: $49.99/month
- Up to 250 Unique Products
- Up to 25 Premium Products
- Unlimited Orders
- Branded Invoicing
- Real-Time Inventory Updates
- Currency Exchange
- Global Pricing Rules
- Shipment Tracking Number
- 24/7 Customer Support
- AliExpress dropshipping
- Empire Plan: $99.99/month
- Up to 10,000 Unique Products
- Up to 10,000 Premium Products
- Unlimited Orders
- Branded Invoicing
- 24/7 Customer Support
- Real-Time Inventory Updates
- Currency Exchange
- Global Pricing Rules
- Shipment Tracking Number
- AliExpress dropshipping
Conclusion
If you’re looking for dropshipping products to sell online, you can’t go wrong with Spocket. They’re dedicated to helping merchants build high-quality dropshipping businesses by only working with reliable dropshipping suppliers and creating an environment on their marketplace where merchants and suppliers can thrive together. After all, regardless whichever business model you choose to sell your products by whether it’s dropshipping or otherwise, the customer experience comes first and with Spocket’s marketplace of great products and high-quality suppliers, merchants are able to provide that outstanding experience for their customers.