Top 10 Things You Should Know About Oberlo
1 - When Orders are Missing
In the Shopify admin, never duplicate products, create manual variants, or delete and re-import with a CSV. All of the above scenarios will sever the sync with Oberlo, and those orders will then need to be fulfilled manually. The products won’t be affected by Oberlo-set automatic updates either. Essentially, Oberlo doesn’t know that these products exist anymore.
Here are the main reasons why orders do not show up in the Oberlo app > on the Orders page. (Further explanation here).
1- Order is not marked as paid in Shopify. Oberlo only accepts orders that are paid in full. Solution: capture the payment to see if the order appears in Oberlo.
2- Product is duplicated or imported via CSV. Solution: Unfortunately, the merchant will have to order products from the supplier manually. In order to avoid this issue in the future, use “Override” feature to resync product with Oberlo.
3- Product’s variants were created manually in Shopify. Solution: Override the product, as seen in point “2”.
4- Merchant uses a third-party app, for example, Quantity Breaks, which severs the product sync with Oberlo. Solution: same as the point “2” and stop using that third-party app.
5- Sync bug on Oberlo side. Try adding something to the "Notes" section in Shopify order to trigger the update. Sometimes this helps.
2 - Why isn’t the Chrome Extension Working?
Merchants must be operating in the Chrome web browser, and be using the Oberlo Extension if they plan on importing products from AliExpress. They do not, however, need the extension if they are importing products from Oberlo Supply. This extension works on desktop only - any iPhone, Android, Ipad, will not work. The extension icon is grey by default, this simply means that the extension doesn’t recognize any products to import - so this is normal. The icon turns blue only when you are on Aliexpress category or products page. Merchants usually contact support because the icon is grey and they think that the extension is not working.
3 - What is the difference between Oberlo Supply & AliExpress?
Oberlo Supply is an internal marketplace, where you can find a wide range of products from various suppliers, and dropship them using the app. Check out this doc, What is Oberlo Supply and How does it work for more details! You can explore the assortment of the products by going here:
AliExpress is an online retail service, that connects directly with the Oberlo app. It is a marketplace of vendors, mainly from China, who offers the sale of products internationally. The main thing to remember, Oberlo Supply & AliExpress, are two different types of supply.
4 - Advise Merchants to Request No Promotional Materials or Invoices
AliExpress tends to add promotional material in their orders. To make sure this does not happen, advise the merchant to always leave a note to the supplier - stating not to add AliExpress information or invoices. Also to note that they are a dropshipper.
If the merchant dropships products from Oberlo Supply Marketplace, there is no need to inform suppliers not to include invoices or promotional material, as these suppliers are already aware that Oberlo users are dropshipping.
5 - Why are my orders marked as fulfilled?
Note, that Oberlo doesn't make orders for merchants, therefore, merchants will always need to click on several buttons in order to process orders. The Oberlo app helps to sync all the information and processing orders quicker than doing this manually.Orders are marked as fulfilled in Oberlo/Shopify because of the two reasons:
- Merchant has clicked "Fulfill items" on Shopify > Orders page. The merchant does not need to do this on Shopify, as Oberlo will automatically do this for them later.
- An auto-fulfillment setting is enabled in Shopify. In order to fix this, go to Shopify > Settings > Checkout section.
As for the current orders, the merchant needs to cancel their fulfillment and place orders in Oberlo.
6 - Most apps do not integrate properly with Oberlo
Especially the ones that involve bundling, or any that revolve around order fulfillment. You will likely see errors in regard to this when troubleshooting! An example of this kind of app is Quantity Breaks by Bold.7- Once a merchant closes their Shopify store, Oberlo will automatically disconnect from the account.
Similarly, if you open multiple Shopify stores, you will a need separate Oberlo account for each store. Only one email per Oberlo store! This also means, that if the merchant was on a Basic/Professional Oberlo plan, deleted the app/closed the store and reopened it, they would then need to reactivate that subscription plan and start the billing cycle over again.8 - Oberlo is a free app, and automatically sets merchants up on the Starter plan.
This allows for 500 products, and 50 orders/month. If they exceed that limit, they will need to upgrade the subscription in order to process those remaining orders or import excess products. The merchant will also receive a notification when they are approaching their subscription limit. You can view the pricing here. You can also view the different plans & features in the app itself! Click the profile icon > manage subscription > select plan:
9 - How to import products:
On Oberlo Supply, the merchant can import products simply by adding to the import list! Click Oberlo Supply > Choose a Supplier & Preview Products > Add to Import List
On the AliExpress website, you’ll want to make sure the merchant has the extension installed. On the collection pages and product page itself, you’ll see the Oberlo icon, which you press and the product is then added to the import list.
Next, from the Oberlo app, click Import list > Push Product/All Products to store (after making desired description changes > And voila! The products are now in the Shopify admin! Check out How to Import Products on Oberlo for more info.
10 - How does Shipping work:
Check out this doc for more details on Various Shipping Options. But ultimately, the carrier we suggest using the most, is what is called Epacket. You can even Filter Products with Epacket on AliExpress. This is typically the most cost-friendly and efficient shipping service available. Keep in mind, this is not available for every single product, so you'll want to advise the merchant to research what shipping options are available when importing products into their store. Take a look at the example below, to view what types of shipping are available:
The merchant will pay the wholesale price of the product, plus the cost of shipping. We generally advise building the shipping costs into the product pricing and offering free shipping to create an easier workflow. The merchant should consider processing times and shipping times when letting customers know roughly how long the product will take to arrive.
When merchants have Carrier Calculated Shipping or Shopify Shipping, they should disable this feature. Because they are using Oberlo, the suppliers are in charge of packaging and shipping these products, so there is no need to ever purchase a shipping label. Have your merchant delete Shopify shipping, or remove CCS altogether and create Manual Shipping Rates. Shopify shipping is only useful when shipping the products themselves (to have access to the discounted labels), and have inventory on hand.
FAQ
Top articles on Oberlo Help Center:
- What is Oberlo and how dropshipping works: https://help.oberlo.com/welcome-to-oberlo/how-dropshipping-with-oberlo-works
- What is Oberlo Chrome Extension and how to use it: https://help.oberlo.com/welcome-to-oberlo/how-to-use-the-oberlo-chrome-extension
- How to set prices for products globally: https://help.oberlo.com/product-pricing/how-to-set-the-global-pricing-rules
- How to import products: https://help.oberlo.com/products/ways-to-import-products/how-to-import-products
- What is Oberlo Supply and how it works: https://help.oberlo.com/other-faqs/what-is-oberlo-supply-and-how-it-works
- How to order Oberlo Supply products: https://help.oberlo.com/orders/how-to-purchase-items-from-suppliers/how-to-order-oberlo-supply-products
- How to order AliExpress products: https://help.oberlo.com/orders/how-to-purchase-items-from-suppliers/how-to-order-aliexpress-products-using-oberlo
- Missing orders. Why I cannot see orders in Oberlo: https://help.oberlo.com/orders/missing-orders/missing-orders-why-i-cannot-see-my-orders-in-oberlo
- How to set shipping settings in Shopify: https://help.oberlo.com/shipping-and-delivery/how-to-set-shipping-settings-in-shopify
- How to change currency: https://help.oberlo.com/product-pricing/how-to-change-currency