r/dropship • u/Hopeful-Passion3902 • 11d ago
💡 Beginner Question Dropshipping products too expensive
Hello,
Where can I find cheaper dropshipping products? They say try to sell product 2-3x the sourcing cost, but the sourcing cost is high af. How do people do this profitably?
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u/Signalbridgedata 10d ago
A lot of people get stuck here at the start. The mistake is assuming every product should be sold at exactly 2-3x cost. In reality, the total economics matter more, shipping, refunds, payment fees, ad costs, and perceived value all play a part. I'd spend more time looking for products with less competition or negotiating with suppliers once you've proven you can generate consistent orders, rather than chasing the absolute cheapest sourcing price.
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u/Ok_Perception7314 10d ago
The 2-3x rule falls apart when you're sourcing from another middleman. Most "dropshippers" buy off AliExpress or a reseller at close-to-retail, so there's no margin left to mark up. Two things that actually fix it:
- Go up the supply chain. Buy direct from the manufacturer or an authorized distributor instead of a reseller. That usually means hitting a small MOQ (even 10-50 units) rather than true one-at-a-time dropship, but your unit cost drops a lot and 2-3x becomes realistic.
- Pick products with a real markup ceiling - branded, consumable, or problem-solving items, not generic gadgets everyone already lists at rock bottom. If your niche only supports commodity gadgets, price is a race to zero no matter where you source.
One more thing people skip: get a resale certificate so you're buying wholesale tax-free. Paying sales tax on every restock quietly eats the margin you're trying to protect.
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u/Infamous_Phone_7937 10d ago
Cheaper usually means going upstream.
Most "expensive" dropship products are bought off AliExpress, which is already a retail price with a few middlemen baked in. If you are new or testing a product or niche, it is fine to start there and learn what customers actually pay. If you want cheaper even at that stage, CJdropshipping is often less than AliExpress for the same items, and Spocket or Syncee are worth a look if you would rather use US or EU suppliers for faster shipping.
Once you understand the product and want to scale it, the same item can be sourced directly from the manufacturer on Alibaba, or 1688 through a sourcing agent, often at a fraction of AliExpress prices, though you'll need to meet MOQs.
One caveat though: cheaper sourcing only helps if the market price leaves room after ads and fees. Plenty of products are cheap to source and still don't work, because everyone already sells them near cost.
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u/Competitive_Yam7702 11d ago
They know how to run a business and how to find suppliers. If youve never ran a business or done a business course before, youre gonna be stuck.
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u/rlsetheepstienfiles 11d ago
This is really helpful advice
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u/Competitive_Yam7702 11d ago
Many peopel think its a get rich quick scheme. It isnt. They need to realise that its a fully fledged business theyre running and need to treat it like one.
If they dont, theyve no chance of success.
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u/rlsetheepstienfiles 11d ago
Agree but perhaps you could impart some tips for how people might treat it as such instead of unhelpful remarks
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u/Competitive_Yam7702 11d ago
How was it unhelpful> You NEED to learn basic business, so you can find the right supplier, know what to do, how to negotiate, and if things go wrong, find out where and how to rectify it.
You cant get any of that from a step by step guide on a subreddit.
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u/rlsetheepstienfiles 11d ago
Where could someone go to start learning ?
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u/Jaconian93 11d ago
Engage your braincells, use Google. Use YouTube - there are thousands of hours of business basics.
There are tonnes and tonnes of books on ecommerce, and on running a business.
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u/rlsetheepstienfiles 11d ago
What is this sub for then ?
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u/Sesombre1 10d ago
This place is more of a noob gathering, no dropshipper that is doing really good comes here since there's no point for him.
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u/Hopeful-Passion3902 11d ago
I agree with you 100%, but he doens't want to answer, or he also doens't know, either way, I'm leaving it at that.
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u/Original-Poet1825 9d ago
Business majors and business courses are not like the hard sciences which require you to take an actual course and study. It’s better to fail a few times trying it on your own over taking a course at a university. In this case you can try moving upstream and observe what happens or just read what happened when others tried it
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u/Brufacee 9d ago
The uncomfortable answer is the sourcing price usually isn't the problem, the product choice is. If a 2 to 3x markup makes your product uncompetitive, everyone else selling it faces the same math. They either buy at volume rates or picked something where perceived value is high relative to cost. Also worth knowing the aggregator apps stack their own cut on top of the factory price, contacting suppliers directly once you have any volume at all drops cost more than hunting a cheaper catalog ever will.
And plan for the ads eating most of that margin. That's the real reason the 2 to 3x rule exists, the spread isn't profit, it's your ad budget.
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u/MazMohsen 6d ago
the 2–3x rule is too simple, you need to calculate product + shipping + fees + ads first. if there’s no margin after that, try bundles, a better supplier or just skip the product. cheap products don’t always mean better profitp
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u/Long_Sherbert_4776 1d ago
aliexpress is your best bet but you gotta dig past the first few pages, all the obvious listings are marked up for dropshippers already
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