Questions to Ask Dropshipping Suppliers
Questions for vetting a supplier who will ship directly to your customers under your store name, covering who they actually are, stock accuracy, dispatch and delivery times, defects and returns, branding, real unit costs, and what happens when an order goes wrong.
20 questions, each with the reason to ask it · includes a conversation guide
The questions
Open any question to see why it works.
- 1
Are you the manufacturer, a trading company, or an agent?
A factory usually makes one narrow category well. A trading company lists thousands of products it does not touch and adds a margin layer you cannot see. Follow up by asking which specific items are made in their own building.
- 2
Which of the products I want are physically in your warehouse right now, and how many units?
Many suppliers list catalog items they source only after you order, which is how a two-day dispatch quietly becomes three weeks. Ask for a unit count, not the phrase in stock.
- 3
How often do stock levels update, and can I get a feed rather than a spreadsheet?
Overselling is the fastest way to lose a marketplace account. A supplier emailing a weekly file cannot keep your listings honest, and the difference between hourly sync and manual updates decides how many cancellations you send.
- 4
What is your cut-off time for same-day dispatch, and which days do you not ship?
Dispatch speed is what customers judge and what platforms measure. Ask about local public holidays and factory shutdowns too, since a supplier can be closed for a fortnight without mentioning it until you are already selling.
- 5
Which warehouse will my orders physically ship from?
The address on the listing is often an office, not a warehouse. The shipping origin sets your delivery time, whether your customers pay duties on arrival, and where returns would have to go.
- 6
Which carriers do you use, and does every order get a tracking number that updates in my country?
Untracked economy post is the single biggest cause of chargebacks and payment disputes, because you cannot prove delivery. Some tracking numbers also stop updating once a parcel leaves the origin country, which is almost as bad as none.
- 7
What has the real door-to-door delivery time been to my main market over the last month?
Suppliers quote carrier transit time, which excludes the days a parcel sits before handover and any customs hold. Asking for last month rather than a general estimate is what separates a measured answer from a hopeful one.
- 8
Can you show me tracking outcomes for a recent batch of orders sent to my country?
This asks for evidence rather than a claim, and the response tells you whether they track delivery performance at all. A supplier who cannot produce it is not necessarily dishonest, but they will not be able to warn you when things slip.
- 9
What share of orders arrive damaged or defective, and who pays to replace them?
A supplier who says zero has not been measuring. What matters more than the rate is who absorbs the replacement unit and the second shipping cost, because that is the line item that decides whether a defect is annoying or ruinous at your margins.
- 10
If a customer returns an item, where does it go, and what do you do with it?
A returns address on another continent makes returns economically impossible for low-priced goods, which means you will be refunding without recovery. Settle this before you publish a returns policy you cannot afford to honour.
- 11
Will the packing slip and packaging carry your name or mine?
Customers open the box and find out who really shipped it, and some suppliers include their own promotional inserts. Ask what custom packing slips, logo stickers, or inserts cost and at what monthly volume they become available.
- 12
Do you dropship this same product for other sellers in my market?
The answer is almost always yes, and that is normal. What you are actually finding out is how quickly your listing will be undercut, and whether anything about your offer is defensible beyond price.
- 13
What is the unit price at my volume, and where are the next price breaks?
Suppliers often quote bulk container pricing in the first message and dropship pricing later. Ask for the price of a single unit picked, packed, and shipped, and ask what monthly order count moves you to the next tier.
- 14
Beyond the unit price, what else gets charged: handling, per-order fees, photography, custom packaging?
These small additions are where a workable margin quietly disappears, and they rarely appear in the first quote. Ask for a sample invoice for ten orders rather than a price list.
- 15
How do you want to be paid, and what recourse do I have if goods never arrive?
Wire transfers to a personal account and cryptocurrency leave you with nothing to dispute. Platform escrow, letters of credit, or a card payment all give you a route back, and a supplier's reaction to being asked is itself informative.
- 16
What compliance documents exist for my market: test reports, certificates, labelling?
This matters most for electronics, cosmetics, toys, and anything touching food. Ask for certificate numbers you can verify yourself, and check the certificate names both the specific product and the factory rather than a generic category.
- 17
Who is my day-to-day contact, on what channel, and during which hours in my time zone?
A twelve-hour gap turns a simple address correction into a two-day delay. Ask what happens when your contact is on leave, since single-person accounts go silent for a week at a time.
- 18
If you run out mid-campaign, do you substitute, backorder, or cancel?
Silent substitution is the risk here. A supplier who swaps a similar-looking item without telling you means you learn about it from a customer photo and a complaint, after you have already paid for the traffic.
- 19
Can I place a small paid order shipped to me as though I were a customer?
Nothing you can ask reveals as much as this. You see the real dispatch delay, the packaging, whether tracking works, and the product quality, and a supplier who refuses a paid test order has told you the answer already.
- 20
Tell me about a recent order that went wrong and how it ended.
After nineteen smooth answers, this one is hard to prepare for. A specific story with a resolution is a good sign, while a claim that nothing has ever gone wrong means either very low volume or an answer designed to close you.
Vetting a dropshipping supplier
Practical guidance for the conversation itself.
Test before you send them customers
Test before you send them customers
- 1Place a paid test order to your own address using a normal customer account, and time every stage: payment to dispatch, dispatch to first tracking scan, first scan to delivery.
- 2Order a second unit two weeks later. Consistency is the thing that matters and one good order proves nothing.
- 3Send a deliberately awkward message mid-order, such as an address change, and time the reply.
- 4Open the parcel the way a customer would, then decide whether the packaging supports the price you plan to charge.
- 5Ask for a refund on the test order to see how a returns conversation actually goes before a real customer starts one.
Working out your real cost per order
Working out your real cost per order
- Unit price, plus per-order handling, plus shipping, plus any packaging or insert fee.
- A defect and loss allowance based on their stated rate, not on zero.
- Payment processing on the sale, and the cost of refunds you cannot recover from the supplier.
- Currency conversion and any fee your bank adds to international transfers.
- Duties or import charges if they land on the customer, since those produce refused parcels and refund requests.
- The advertising cost of replacing a customer who will not buy again after a slow delivery.
Warning signs
Warning signs
- Prices quoted only over chat, with no written price list or sample invoice.
- Payment requested to a personal account, by cryptocurrency, or outside the platform where you found them.
- Claims of zero defects, zero lost parcels, or unlimited stock of everything.
- Refuses a small paid test order, or insists on a large first order before shipping anything.
- Cannot name the warehouse city, the carrier, or the cut-off time without checking.
- Product photos that appear on dozens of other listings with no ability to supply an original image of the actual item.
- Compliance certificates supplied as images with no verifiable number, or issued to a company name that does not match theirs.