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When a provider fails to fulfill an order
Even outstanding suppliers make mistakes, and fulfillment failures are unavoidable from time to time. So, what should you do if your supplier sends the wrong item or none at all? Here are three alternatives:
Accept responsibility for your error. You should never, ever blame your drop shipper for a mistake. It will just confuse you and make you appear inept. The customer is unaware that the drop shipper exists. Instead, embrace the problem, apologize, and inform the customer of your plans to resolve it.
Make amends with the consumer. Depending on the severity of the issue, you may want to offer the consumer something in exchange for the error.
Inventory control and multiple suppliers
Most experienced dropshippers would agree that the most difficult aspect of running a dropshipping business is tracking the status of inventory across numerous suppliers. If you don’t do a good job at this, you’ll be frequently alerting clients that their order is out of stock, which isn’t a good way to attract repeat business and devoted brand supporters.
It is a hard procedure to properly manage inventory across your suppliers and distributors, as well as to reduce the amount of out-of-stock items you sell. Inventory can be synced via Shopify apps like DuoPlane and Syncee, or a web-based solution like Ordoro. This is a wonderful alternative when vendors offer real-time data feeds, which aren’t always available.
Dropshipping order fulfillment
Using numerous providers offers several advantages, as we’ve discussed: It enhances the possibility that items will be in stock, provides geographical diversity for speedier delivery times, and keeps you from being dependent on a single source for your products—a useful backup plan if your primary supply runs out of stock over the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend. But, with so many suppliers to select from, how can you know which one is the best? There are several approaches to consider:
- All orders should be routed to a chosen provider.
- Orders are routed based on their location.
- Orders are routed based on availability.
- Orders are routed based on pricing.
Security and fraud concerns
Keeping your clients’ credit card information on file might make reordering easier and potentially enhance sales. However, if you’re hosting your site, the security risks and responsibility are usually not worth it. To hold credit card data, you must follow all PCI (payment card industry) compliance regulations and security audits. This process is costly and complicated, particularly for non-technical business owners. Furthermore, if your server is hacked or compromised, you may be held accountable for the stolen credit card information.
Recognizing Chargebacks
When a consumer contacts his or her bank or credit card company to dispute a charge made by you, you will receive a “chargeback.” Your payment processor will temporarily deduct the disputed charge from your account and require you to provide proof that you provided the products or services to the customer. If you cannot provide proof, you will be charged a $25 chargeback processing fee and will forfeit the amount in question. If you receive too many chargebacks in comparison to the volume of orders you execute, you may lose your merchant account.
Handling Returns in Dropshipping
Before creating your return policy, make sure you know and understand how all of your suppliers handle returns. You may afford to be lenient with your terms if they offer a lax 45-day return policy. A tight return policy from just one provider may compel you to reconsider the terms you can afford.
Shipping problems
Dropshipping business owners may struggle to calculate shipping charges. With so many distinct products delivered from many places, calculating shipping charges for orders is complicated.
Provide client service
Take our word for it: keeping track of all your customer emails, requests, and returns on an Excel spreadsheet is not optimal. Excel, as good as it is, is not designed to handle customer service. Similarly, when your company and team expand, maintaining assistance with a single email account gradually breaks down, resulting in difficulties and service gaps.
Provide phone support
Whether or not to provide phone help might be a difficult issue. It’s a terrific approach to delivering real-time help, but it’s also one of the most expensive. You won’t be able to handle calls if you’re bootstrapping a business while working a 9-to-5 job. However, if you work full-time on your business or have a staff person who can, it may be a viable alternative. If you are unable to answer the phone throughout the day, you may always have your phone number go to voicemail and return consumer calls later. This isn’t a perfect answer, but it’s a solid start.
Concentrate on marketing.
Customers finding your store is ultimately what determines sales. To accomplish so, you must generate a consistent stream of traffic. As a new drop shipper, the greatest marketing channels to focus on are generally search engine optimization (SEO), Facebook ads, and Google Ads.
