Supplier Email Templates for Dropshipping, Wholesale, Alibaba & more!

Building a long-term relationship with your supplier will provide a win-win scenario for both of you, and it all starts with the initial email. A good first impression can set you up for success in the future as you are effectively seeking a partnership for your business.

If you want to know how to write a professional email to your supplier/wholesaler, this will be your ultimate resource.

The example emails below are not set in stone, alter them to suit your needs. You may want to come across as more professional or more casual, or you may want to add things or take away things.

Don’t be disheartened if you don’t get a reply, because you may not and this is completely normal. Companies receive so many spammy emails that they may barely notice yours at all or it may go into their spam box.

At least by sending an email you’ve made the first step and introduced yourself. You can then ring in a few days’ time and mention the email you sent. I have a complete guide to getting approved by dropshipping suppliers if you’re interested.

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Emailing Dropshipping Suppliers

When I first started back in 2016, one of my first questions was “How do you approach domestic suppliers about dropshipping?” This is how I go about it and has worked for me over the years.

Send a brief professional email introducing yourself, your business and that you are interested in their catalog of products and want to create an account with them. If you receive no reply, contact them 3 days later by phone with a script of questions and potential answers to their questions.

When communicating with a supplier/wholesaler, avoid saying “Do you dropship?” or “Can you dropship?”. Mentioning the word dropship altogether, either by email or by phone, unless they say it first.

Dropshipping has gained a bad reputation over the years with so many people selling low-quality products from China with long shipping times. This can be a red flag when corresponding with a supplier or vendor.

I have only mentioned asking a supplier to ship the products on your behalf in one of the emails, but I haven’t mentioned the word dropship.

In my opinion, asking them to dropship is better done over the phone. The way you word it and the tone and context in how you say it can be far more persuasive than in an email. An email is much easier to ignore!

It’s always a good idea to send an email introducing yourself and your business and follow up in 2 to 3 days with a phone call. I haven’t included it in the emails listed below, but you can add that you will follow up with a phone call in a couple of days. This makes them more likely to reply to your email and holds you accountable to actually call them.

As it can be more difficult to onboard a dropshipping supplier, it’s good to seem as professional and experienced as possible. This is why I have included the fact that you are a team of experienced online retailers. Most suppliers won’t work with an inexperienced beginner with a new business.

Many suppliers will accept you right away and send through an application form. This is great as it’s easy but this is also bad as it’s easy, it means they accept everyone and the products will be competitive.

I have mentioned that you have a website in the email. This is important as most suppliers will want to check out your website before accepting you. I would recommend creating a Shopify store and adding some images from other platforms on the store to make it look complete.

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This is just a demo store and doesn’t need to be finished. Simply create a home page, a few product pages and add some images from other marketplaces to make it look full and complete. This can be done in a few hours and will be worth it to secure suppliers. Write demo store in the top corner of the home page so the supplier doesn’t think you’re trying to mislead them.

If all this sounds too hard and contacting suppliers isn’t in your comfort zone, then you can check out dropshipping platforms such as Salehoo, Zendrop or Spocket, they accept everyone!

I have included 3 inquiry letter templates that you can use depending on how you want to approach your supplier.

Dropshipping Email Template 1

Hello (Their name if you know it)

My name is (Full name) I am the owner of (Your website) an eCommerce store specializing in (Your products).

We are a team of online retailers who are very interested in stocking your line of products on our eCommerce store. Your products would be a great fit for our business and customer base.

We are interested in establishing a supplier relationship with your business would like to know how to move forward with starting an account with your company. We believe this could be a mutually beneficial opportunity for both of our companies.

Please let me know if this is something your company would be interested in.

Kind regards

(Your name)

(Your phone number)

(Your Business)

---

Dropshipping Email Template 2

Hello (Their name if you know it)

My name is (Full name) I would like to introduce myself and our business. We are a team of online retailers who run (Your website) an eCommerce store that specializes in selling (Your products).

We are very interested in stocking your line of products in our store as we believe they would be a great fit for our business and very popular among our customer base.

We are experienced online marketers and are experts in various advertising methods including SEO, Google ads, Facebook ads, Social media marketing and much more. Promoting our products on multiple platforms means we have solid sales volume once our advertising methods have been fully optimized.

As an online only business, we aim to create a long-term brand based around our store and build a community around our niche through social media which enables us to provide high levels of customer service.

I would like to discuss the opportunity to work with you further. Please let me know if this is something your company would be interested in.

Please note, we are not looking for any credit terms and will pay for everything in advance.

Kind regards

(Your name)

(Your phone number)

(Your Business)

---

Dropshipping Email Template 3

Hello (Their name)

I am inquiring about creating a reseller account with your company. We are an online retailer and very interested in stocking your catalog of products on our eCommerce store. Our store specializes in selling (Products) and think your products would be a perfect fit for our store.

We are experienced online marketers and have multiple methods of advertising online and think we could create a mutually beneficial partnership. We believe that given the opportunity we could provide high levels of sales volume which would benefit both our businesses.

Creating a brand around our store and providing high levels of customer service are important to us. This will ensure your brand’s reputation continues to be perceived highly.

As we are an online-only business, we do not stock any inventory ourselves. Generally, our suppliers ship the products directly to our customers and we incur the shipping costs. If this is an issue we can organize for our own courier to pick up the product from your dispatch area.

We are not looking for any credit terms and will pay for every sale in advance.

If this is something your company would be interested in, I would be happy to discuss it further.

Kind regards

(Your name)

(Your phone number)

(Your Business)

Emailing Wholesale Suppliers

Generally being accepted as a wholesale will be much easier than being accepted as a dropshipper. Suppliers are all set up to deal with bulk purchases, it’s what they do. Often you will instantly be sent an agreement contract without to much negotiation.

For this reason, you won’t need to try and persuade them as much. They want your business as much as you want theirs.

Although they will have certain conditions and these will be different for every supplier. They may only allow you to sell on certain platforms, have minimum advertised pricing (MAPS) and provide a certain level of customer service.

Feel free to ask them questions in the email as you need to make sure they are the right supplier for you.

Wholesale Email Template 1

Hello (Their name)

My name is (Your name) and I am an online retailer. I had a look at your website and I am very interested in opening a wholesale account with your business.

I sell on the following platforms (List platforms you intend to sell on). I am an experienced online retailer and will provide high levels of customer service assuring your brands will continue their reputation.

Please let me know what information you need from me and I will provide it as soon as possible.

Kind regards

(Your name)

(Your phone number)

(Your Business)

---

Wholesale Email Template 2

Hello

My name is (Your name) I am an online retailer and the owner of (Your business). I am very interested in selling your catalog of products and would like to open a wholesale account with your company.

Can you please provide me with the following information:

• What is your MOQ?
• What is your price per unit?
• Who incurs the shipping costs?
• Do you offer refunds and returns for defective items?
• (Any other questions you have)

I sell on the following platforms (List the platforms) and I provide high levels of customer service so your products will continue their reputation.

Please let me know who I speak to about this and how I move forward with creating an account.

If you have any other questions, please let me know and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards

(Your name)

(Your phone number)

(Your Business)

Emailing Manufacturers

Emailing the manufacturer or the main brand directly is a good idea. You can always put it out there and ask if they will work directly with you, but chances are they won’t. They will however give you the details of their main distributors and their contact details.

This way you can avoid other middlemen who may be reselling the product to you.

Manufacturer Email Template

Hello (Their name)

My name is (Your name), I am the owner of (Your website) an eCommerce store specializing in selling (Your Products).

I am inquiring about creating a resellers/vendor account with your company whether this is with you or one of your distributors.

I am very interested in stocking your catalog of products on my eCommerce store. I believe your products would be a perfect fit for my business and I could do some high solid volume given the opportunity.

Creating a brand and providing high levels of customer service are very important to me and I believe that is the key to a long-term business model.

Any assistance you can give me in creating an account would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

(Your name)

(Your phone number)

(Your Business)

Emailing AliExpress Suppliers

This is a common question among dropshipping beginners. How do you contact a supplier from AliExpress? Easy, you click on the supplier link on the product page then click contact seller.

This is important, if you don’t contact them before dropshipping, they may send your product with an invoice which your customer will see and feel ripped off when they see what you actually paid for the product.

You don’t need to persuade AliExpress suppliers as they work with anyone and everyone, it is however important to ask some questions before you start working with them.

For more information, I have a guide to contacting AliExpress suppliers for dropshipping.

AliExpress Email Template

Hello

I am looking to dropship some of your products. I may be doing some large volume as my business progresses and I have a few questions before I order.

1. Do you do Blind dropshipping? ( NO invoice or marketing materials to be added to any order)
2. How much inventory do you stock? I need to make sure you have enough if I start doing large volume.
3. What materials are your products made of?
4. (Any question you may have)

Hopefully, we can build a long-term business partnership together.

Kind regards

(Your name)

(Whatsapp or WeChat number)

Emailing Alibaba Suppliers

Alibaba is the sister company to AliExpress but it generally deals with selling in bulk. Like AliExpress, everyone gets approved but there is far more negotiating with Alibaba.

Making a bulk purchase is far riskier, you may be spending several thousand dollars and you want to make sure you are not being screwed over in any way.

If you’re making a bulk purchase, always order a sample first. There can be a lot of inferior products from China and you can only tell so much by a picture. They may charge a high price for a sample but it is negotiable and worth it. You can always ask for the cost of the sample to be deducted if you make an order and often they will agree.

You want to sound as professional as possible in the email, this will give the impression you are not some new business to be taken advantage of. It will also give them the impression you are a big business and more likely to do large sales volume which may provide a lower price.

For some more help contacting Alibaba suppliers, I suggest you read 7 Inquiry Letter Templates for contacting Alibaba suppliers.

Alibaba Email Template

Check out this article on Alibaba suppliers and how to avoid being scammed before contacting them. If you’re ordering in bulk you want to be sure you’re dealing with someone reputable. Another option is to work with a dropshipping agent in China who speaks the native language and can deal directly with the suppliers.

The email example below is used as a branded dropshipping supplier template if you’re seeking to build a brand around a specific product.

The below email template will make you sound like a professional and that you know what you’re doing. If you sound like a beginner you’ll get treated like a beginner which only increases the chances that they will rip you off.

If buying in bulk from Alibaba is a little risky for you, I suggest you read my article on how to dropship individual products from Alibaba.

Hello

My name is (Your name), I am the purchasing manager for (Your business name). We are an online retail company and we are interested in (Product name).

Can you please provide the following information:

1. What are the following specifications of the product, size, weight, color and materials?
2. What type of packaging can you provide for the product?
3. Can you add promotional and marketing materials to the packaging?
4. Can you customize and add a logo to the product?
5. Are you a manufacturer or a trade company?
6. What is the cost of a sample to be sent to the US with express shipping?

Please provide pricing for the following quantity of units:

1. Price for 500 units:
2. Price for 2,000 units:
3. Price for 5,000 units:

Can you please include the manufacturing time, shipping time and shipping cost for each of the units? The order will be sent to (Add your country and zip or postcode).

After our initial order, we will make larger orders which will depend on the sales volume. Hopefully, we can build a long-term and mutually beneficial partnership.

Please feel free to contact me and discuss this further via Whatsapp, WeChat or Email (Add your details).

Kind regards

(Your name)

(Your Contact number)

(Your Business)

Dropshipping & Wholesale Email Examples

Below are two inquiry email examples that could be sent to a prospective supplier.

Dropshipping Email Example

Wholesale Email Example

FAQ’s

Summary

Most people are a little nervous and apprehensive about calling and trying to secure suppliers. Often sending a procurement email is the next best thing and often you’ll be approved via email.

Obviously, you will not need to contact a Chinese supplier by phone, but calling a domestic supplier is generally preferred. However sending a feeler email out to introduce yourself is a great option, I wouldn’t send a follow-up email if they don’t reply.

This is my advice for sending an email:

• Keep the email reasonably short, often if they’re too long, suppliers won’t read them.
• Sound professional but actually sound like a person. Don’t come across all salesy.
• Don’t be disheartened if you don’t get a reply, this is totally normal.
• If Chinese suppliers don’t answer your questions in the email, move on to the next supplier as they’re not serious about working with you.
• Don’t mention you’re a beginner with a new business, suppliers are far less likely to want to work with you.