Running a dropshipping business with an individual online store is not easy, because you have to find the winning products, upload the pictures and descriptions, check the tracking numbers, etc. All of these should be processed timely, or potential customers may turn to your competitors.
Most of the process can be handed over to a dropshipping supplier for good, but the supplier cannot possibly tailor a sourcing plan for you because it has a great number of clients who are like you waiting for the supplier to fulfill orders. Therefore, it is necessary to find a private dropshipping agent.
What is a Private Dropshipping Agent?
Before running into a further discussion about how to find private agents, we first need to be clear about what private agents do. A dropshipping private agent can do the same thing as a dropshipping supplier, but a private agent can provide you with more tailored and unique plans for your business, especially in terms of sourcing products.
When running dropshipping business with a supplier, you have to browse and find the winning products by yourself; but with a private dropshipping agent, you can leave the sourcing process to your agent and wait for a response. Moreover, a private agent can negotiate with the supplier to provide you with a more competitive price.
In brief, private agents are just middlemen between you and the suppliers, and they can be self-employed workers or specialized companies. No matter who they are, the key to their competency lies in their access to a warehouse. To offer fast shipping, quality control, and customized packaging, private dropshipping agents cannot afford to let the factory or supplier ship the products to your customers directly.
Reasons for Choosing a Private Dropshipping Agent
- Finding winning products. Some private agents may have direct connections with factories or warehouses to provide a more competitive price and much better quality products.
- Tailored dropshipping business. They can provide a satisfying shopping experience for customers, including purchasing, pick and pack, shipment, quality inspection, etc. They can not only make your customers satisfied but also save your time and energy.
- More time for development. Private agents can save you a lot of time and energy. With the time saved, you can focus on more important issues like attracting more traffic and rising conversion rate.
Where to Find a Dropshipping Agent?
1. Join a Facebook Group for Dropshipping
Social media is a great place to find whatever you want. Dropshippers will share information and business-related issues on Facebook dropshopping group, You can just type the keywords related to dropshipping to find one. You should try out different keywords to find more groups.
As you join the group, you can find a private agent in two ways. First, you can create a post yourself and ask if the other members can recommend a good private agent. Here’s an example of the post:
“Hello,
I’m a dropshipper with 10-15 orders per day in the sports niche. Most of my customers are from the US. With daily work piling up, I’m running out of time and energy to scale up my online business. So I need a dropshipping agent to help me.
If you are a private agent, please send me a message. And any recommendation is appreciated!
By leaving the post on a Facebook group, you may receive messages from both the seasoned dropshippers and dropshipping agents. Some will share the experience with you, and private agents will come to you. But you have to be cautious of some deceived private agents who want to scam you. Also, be reminded of the group rules, or you will be removed or banned to rejoin for good.
Secondly, you can search “private agents” on the dropshipping group to locate who posts a request for finding a private agent, or the private agents advertising themselves.
2. Write a Post on Reddit
As a post on the Facebook dropshipping group, Reddit is a huge collection of various communities based on people’s interests. In those communities, people can share news, ask questions, and more.
The best and most popular subreddit is “dropshipping”. You can post a question on it and wait for comments. Or you can just search with keywords in the subreddit and locate posts, and sometimes you can find more useful suggestions in the comments.
3. Find Agents on Upwork
Upwork is a platform where you can find different freelancers in various niches. And dropshipping agents will post their experience and specialty. You can just simply search with the keywords to find a suitable private dropshipping agent.
On Upwork, you can find reliable private agents. You can find some extra information like work history, working experience, success rate, and salary. With these proofs, you can have an evaluation of the private agent and find the right agent to help you run the dropshipping business. You can also filter on location to find the person you want.
Besides, you can post a job with specific descriptions and requirements on Upwork. By doing this, any dropshipping agents who think they are eligible for your requirements.
4. Contact with AliExpress Sellers
AliExpress sellers are one of the most wildly-used agents by dropshippers. That’s because those AliExpress sellers are generally following the trends closely, and they are familiar with the dropshipping business model, so dropshippers can start with a minimum order quantity.
Usually, many dropshippers choose to partner with an AliExpress seller and go off-platform and deal with them directly after building a relationship.
One vital downside to working with AliExpress sellers is their shipment is extremely slow and shares a relatively low delivery rate for most of AliExpress sellers use ePacket. Another downside is that most sellers don’t directly own factories and are essentially retailers, so you might risk the business if the seller cannot provide stock for your orders.
5. Search for Companies that Offer Dropshipping Agent Services
Above all are ways to find individual experts who can work as your private agents, here are also several companies that can fulfill the task for you. They can be easily discovered through research on Google, such as HyperSKU, Gembah, EcommOps, and My Sourcify.
Take HyperSKU for instance, it’s a platform that is integrated extensive resources and cutting-edge technologies, allowing users to have access to effective methods from purchasing to shipping. With its automated system, you can enjoy services like product sourcing, order fulfillment, fast delivery, etc. It can serve as a private agent for your dropshipping business.
6. Use CJ Dropshipping Platform
CJdropshipping is not a dropshipping agent actually but a combined role of supplier and agent, allowing you to enjoy most of the benefits of working with a dropshipping agent and a supplier.
CJ owns warehouses and has access to different warehouses in various regions, so it can provide diversified products in kinds of niches. Besides providing winning products, CJ can provide more services, like sourcing products, order fulfillment, customized packaging, quality inspection, print-on-demand service, and photo & video shooting.
Its services cover what a single supplier can do as well as what a private agent can provide. It is a supplier but also an order fulfillment company to be your private agent.
Finally
Hiring a private agent or authorizing a company to help you can bring a lot of benefits. And we hope this article can be helpful to you. But please be reminded that some people may pretend to be professional agents in dropshipping, don’t turn over your business blindly. You need to do more search and inspection before making up your mind.
