Just because someone CAN offer you dropshipped products for your company doesn’t mean they SHOULD be a dropshipper. I look at it like having kids or pets; anyone CAN buy a dog, it doesn’t mean they SHOULD own one.

Here’s 7 Things Dishonest Dropshippers Do, in no specific order:

1. Steal your customer data - technically, it’s not THEFT because you gave them the information so they could ship the order to your buyer. But the problem starts when they use your customer data to compete with you, behind your back. Or, super awful dropshippers will compile lists of your customers data and sell these lists to companies, without your knowledge or your buyers. I can’t even tell you how many times a week our wholesale company is contacted by people trying to sell us these customers lists. We have never bought them because I am adamantly against “spam” and I feel like contacting people without their permission is flat out wrong. However other companies are quick to jump and pay for YOUR customer records… without you ever making a dime off it.

2. Newbie and/or Overwhelmed - If you’re a parent you probably understand at least two of the three. When you were a new parent you likely had no friggin clue what you were supposed to be doing… I sure didn’t! And this can lead to becoming quickly overwhelmed. Either way, you end up running around like your house is on fire and the end result is confusion and mistakes. The solution to this is to make sure the dropshipper you are working with is EXPERIENCED. It takes many years to gain experience, so it is wise to avoid new dropshippers. You can usually find out how long a company has been in business by reading their site or looking at their business registration that is filed with the state they are located in. You can also simply look up their domain name on TuCows WhoIs. *NOTE: If the dropshipper changed the name or url of their company, records will only reflect the time duration since the name change. For example, from 2005 - 2019 our company was WorldsSexiestWholesale.com. In 2019 we rebranded everything to BigBrandWholesale.com, so our WhoIs records for BigBrandWholesale.com say our site started in 2019, which IS true, but it does not say that we have been in business since 2005:

But if you know the prior company name you can also look that up:

As you will notice this domain was created in 2009, which still does not mention that we started our company on eBay and Bogger in 2005, but all signs do point to our wholesale company being over 12 years old.

3. Lazy Dropshippers: The only thing as bad as a scam business is a lazy business especially when it comes to dropshippers because you are relying on them to earn you a happy customer and hopefully a solid 5-star review. But a business is only as good as it’s owner. If the owner doesn’t want to be open on weekends and you need their assistance on a Friday after 5pm, you are stuck waiting until Monday or after for help. This means your buyer is also in a bind waiting on you, who is waiting on the dropshipper. Equally, if the dropshipper doesn’t have any speedy way to communicate with them, you may have to wait 2, 3 or 4 days to get a response even if it’s during the week.

As someone who has been in business since 2005 I can absolutely assure you that it is NOT acceptable to force customers to wait on a reply. We strive to respond within an hour during business hours (we prefer to reply within minutes!). Of course, being here in Michigan and operating on Eastern Standard time, if a customer sends a message at 9pm their time it’s midnight or later here so they will have to wait until we wake up to get assistance, but this is beyond reasonable and 99% of people are completely fine with not getting help at 1am.

4. There’s also lazy dropshippers when it comes to actual shipping. They either cut corners to ship as cheap as possible which leads to broken merchandise and super slow transit (or worse; super slow transit AND broken merchandise) or there’s dropshippers who just take forever to get the merchandise in transit. Just because you receive a tracking number 10 minutes after you place the order with the dropshipper DOES NOT MEAN IT’S TRULY “SHIPPED”. I have personally noticed a massive influx of sellers on Amazon (and eBay as well as .com sites) rushing to give you a tracking number, then weeks pass and the merchandise STILL isn’t actually IN TRANSIT. Here’s a prime example:

Although I received my tracking number on May 19th because the seller printed postage, the seller still hasn’t released this parcel into the mail stream. Today is currently June 12th and now this parcel isn’t expected to be delivered until JULY. Yes, I am livid because when I purchased it, it said it would arrive within 5 days… now it’s MAYBE going to arrive in 2 MONTHS total… maybe.

You can try to prevent problems by reading the dropshippers FAQs / Terms. These sections should clearly outline when it will ship. And if the dropshipper doesn't abide by their own Terms, STOP USING THEM ASAP!

5. Shipping Scams - This is just like what we just discussed however the dropshipper actually isn’t shipping it at all. It could be because the dropshipper is literally using a dropshipper or because the dropship company was a scam all along.

When you contact them to ask where the F the product is they tell you “it was lost in transit. We will reship right away” - but clearly it was never lost in transit because the tracking number never activated.

6. Dishonest Ship-From Location - Although the dropship company might be located in the USA you absolutely MUST know if the actual products ship from the USA or from China (or outside the USA in general… but usually it’s China). The reason is because if the dropshipper is located in Michigan and your buyer is located in Florida, the order should ideally arrive within a week of purchase. But if the Michigan dropshipper is having the item shipped from China it can take weeks or even months to arrive. It makes everyone furious when they buy a gift for a friends birthday party that is taking place in 14 days and the item doesn’t arrive for 60! 

7.  And lastly, there's dropship poachers.  These are the types who INTENTIONALLY include THEIR business cards or promotional materials to try to steal the buyer from you.  For example, they might offer your buyer 50% off their next order if they visit the dropshippers .com website that YOU don't know about.  

A great way to check for poachers is to run a "sting operation" on the dropshipper.  Have a friend or family member place an order through you, then you order through the dropshipper just like you would with any other order.  When the order arrives to your Aunt Sue, have her open the parcel and check it out.  

Be sure to run this sting every now-and-then using different ship-to addresses.  

Are you looking for dropshippers?  Check out our list of 59+ Companies that dropship and offer spreadsheet databases or learn more about the dropshipping industry.