You’ve probably done this on AliExpress, you filter all the results to only get products that ship from the US, Europe, the UK, Australia, or wherever you’re from. You then get a list of all the products that are currently being stored in local warehouses so you can receive fast shipping…
Except, the shipping times from these domestic warehouses are all over the place, some arrive in 7 days whilst others arrive in 37 days. It’s confusing as 37 days is too long if it’s being shipped locally but if it is being shipped from China 7 days is too fast!
So what is REALLY going on?
In this article, I’m going to explain what’s really happening with AliExpress shipping and why you are probably being deceived if you think your products are being shipped from your local country.
AliExpress may have inventory in warehouses outside of China but it is very limited. The majority of products are still being shipped from China but AliExpress suppliers are generating domestic tracking codes and local shipping service labels to give the perception it’s being shipped locally.
I’ll explain in more detail exactly how they are doing this below.
Where Does AliExpress Ship From?
The vast majority of suppliers from AliExpress ship their goods from China. However, there is a small number of suppliers who may use a fulfillment service outside of China but most of the products that are listed as being sent from other countries are actually being sent from China.
Does it really make sense that AliExpress would have thousands of worldwide warehouses based in the US, the UK, Europe and Australia?
It would require constant inventory management with thousands of staff and products being shipped in and out of warehouses all to save dropshippers and shoppers a few days of shipping times. This is what a fulfillment center does and AliExpress is not a fulfillment service.
There are thousands of suppliers offering shipping from outside of China and only a small fraction of them actually have inventory in other countries.
Does AliExpress Have Warehouses in the UK and Europe?
Although AliExpress does have some warehousing outside of China, it’s not common. I will explain what really happens but I’ll use the UK for this example, however, this applies to all countries.
Let’s say a customer orders a product on AliExpress but chooses to have the product shipped from the UK instead of China. Usually, the product will start off with the tracking number from the shipping carrier in China and then it will generate a Royal Mail tracking code (also called last mile tracking code) once it has left China for the customer to track their order.
However, AliExpress suppliers are shipping the products using the Royal Mail tracking code only and until the Royal Mail tracking code has been generated they will often notify the buyer they can’t upload the tracking code until the processing times are over. This is purely to buy time until the tracking code has generated.
When the package arrives in the UK it goes through a UK warehouse and gets a Royal Mail label attached to the package. This gives the perception the package has been shipped from a UK warehouse.
As long as the shipping times are within a similar timeframe to a product being shipped from the UK, often nobody knows including the dropshipper. But there are a few problems with shipping times which I’ll discuss below.
Why are Shipping Times on AliExpress So Long if it’s Shipped from Domestic Warehouses?
When AliExpress suppliers started using the tactic of having their products look like they were being shipped from the US, the UK or Europe, it was working initially.
The reason it was working was the suppliers doing it had access to premium shipping lines such as, YunExpress, 4PX and CNE Express and they were able to receive fast shipping which made it appear as though it was being shipped from a US or EU warehouse.
Many shoppers and dropshippers assumed this was legit and started ordering products this way and it became lucrative for the suppliers who had access to these shipping lines. Over time, other suppliers who did not have access to these premium shipping lines started implementing the same tactics but with regular slow shipping. Check out my article here as to why AliExpress shipping is so slow.
Now it’s starting to become very clear to users that products claiming they are being shipped from the US to the US and actually being shipped from China. Suppliers are barely making an effort to give the perception of it being shipped from a US warehouse anymore.
Below is a screenshot of the first product I checked which is being shipped from the USA to the USA. The product is showing it will take over two months to be delivered yet the option above is coming from China and will be delivered over a month earlier. This clearly makes no sense if it’s being delivered from the United States.
I have an article on whether AliExpress’ estimated delivery time is accurate if you are looking for more information on shipping times.
How to Filter by Shipping Country for US, UK & Europe Warehouses
I think we’ve established most of the suppliers who claim local fulfillment are simply trying to deceive you. If you still want to search for the chance of souring a warehouse outside of China with inventory or just a supplier who does have access to special lines, this is how to go about it.
Click on the “ships from” dropdown menu and then click on the country that supposedly has inventory stocked in the specific country. Each product will have several shipping options to choose from with one of them being the domestic option.
Should You Dropship From AliExpress Using Domestic Warehouses?
I’ll use Europe for this example although it applies to any country outside of China. Let’s say you are dropshipping to Europe and you happen to find an AliExpress supplier who genuinely has stock in a European Country. Should you use them for dropshipping?
It’s not safe because chances are the supplier has very limited stock and is not usually stocked with thousands of the same product. Remember, AliExpress was not built for dropshipping, it was built for shipping and it would not make sense to have thousands of the exact products when they can have a large range.
Let’s be generous and say a supplier has 500 quantities of a product in a European warehouse. As soon as you scale your business you will easily be selling at least 30 units per day, meaning you will be out of stock in 17 days, meaning you need to start sourcing from China again!
It would make more sense to order a bulk shipment yourself and have a fulfillment center manage the process for you.
Alternatively, if you find a supplier claiming EU shipping but they are genuinely using a premium shipping line such as, YunExpress should you work with them? If the product looks like it’s being shipped from the EU and it’s reaching your customer in 6 to 8 days then what’s the problem?
You should utilize the company as long as you know they’re really shipping from China. Many dropshippers use these suppliers but think their products are actually being shipped from Europe. The problem arises during holiday times such as Q4 and Chinese New Year.
All of a sudden, local EU shipping is taking 27 days instead of the usual 7 days and you’ll have a ton of angry customers. As long as you know it’s being shipped from China you can plan for these circumstances and prepare your customers for the delayed shipping times.
For more information, I suggest you read my article on AliExpress shipping times.
Summary
If you’re in the dropshipping space, you’ve probably heard a ton of eCommerce experts online talk about their secret to receiving fast shipping from AliExpress using US-based fulfillment. To be honest, I’m not sure if they know the truth themselves or if they are also being deceived.
You need to remember for an AliExpress supplier to ship products to a warehouse based in Europe or the UK, they need to pay for the products to be shipped, stored, picked and shipped again. Why would they do that when they can just give the perception it’s being shipped from the UK?
I hope I haven’t disappointed any dropshippers who thought they were using local fulfillment to sell to their local customer base.
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