Taobao Dropshipping Shopify: A Non-Chinese Speakers’ Guide

Taobao dropshipping Shopify in short: pick a niche, find Taobao suppliers with strong ratings, import their products with a Taobao app such as Dropast, then edit and publish them in your store. Taobao is in Chinese, but Chrome translation and an import app cover the language gap. Check shipping time and cost to your market before you list anything.

As promising as it might sound, the Taobao website is 100% Chinese. This makes it more challenging to source products for your dropshipping store compared to AliExpress or Amazon, doesn’t it? But don’t worry! It’s totally possible to launch a Taobao dropshipping Shopify store even when you don’t speak Chinese.

In this article, we will show you how to dropship from Taobao to Shopify– from creating your Taobao account and finding products and suppliers to importing Taobao items to your Shopify catalog.

Let’s dive in!

1. What is Taobao? 

Being launched by Alibaba conglomerate in 2003, Taobao is now one of the most popular online marketplaces in China, with a Gross Merchandise value of 1 trillion US dollars. 

Thanks to its various product ranges and guaranteed quality by Alibaba, Taobao has gradually become a go-to choice for dropshipping product sourcing besides household names like Amazon or AliExpress.

However, unlike Amazon or AliExpress, which target the international audience, Alibaba dedicated Taobao specifically to the Chinese audience. That’s why Taobao’s website is in full Chinese, as in the following screenshot. But don’t worry! You can easily bypass the language barrier with a translation extension (we’ll show you next).

If you are looking for cheap shopping apps like Temu and AliExpress for dropshipping, Taobao is a great option.

2. How to start Taobao dropshipping Shopify?

Now that you have a better understanding of Taobao, let us show you how to launch your Shopify Taobao dropshipping store.

First thing first, as we mentioned above, Taobao’s website is in full Chinese. Hence, before visiting the site for product research, we recommend using Google Chrome since it has a built-in Google Translate function.

When you open Google Chrome and visit taobao.com, select the Google translation icon at the top right corner of your screen, then choose English as another language.

Afterward, the Taobao’s website will be automatically translated like this:

 

2.1. Create a Taobao account

Actually, you don’t need a Taobao account in order to import products on the marketplace to your Shopify store. That being said, Taobao will not let you view important information about the suppliers if you’re not a registered user. 

Therefore, we highly advise you to create a Taobao account so you can do better product and supplier research later on. Indeed, the sign-up process is quite easy.

On Taobao’s homepage, click on the “Sign up for free” link on the top left corner of your screen to register for a Taobao account. 

 

Next, enter your phone number and the verification code sent to you via SMS. Finally, click Agree and register to finish the Taobao account creation process.

 

2.2. Find products

After you have created a Taobao account successfully, the next thing to do is to find products to dropship. 

Step 1: Narrow down to a specific niche

If you’re just getting started with no branding yet, you should dropship products in a specific niche first. We’d recommend starting with an in-demand niche you are most passionate and knowledgeable about.

 

Step 2: Select products

After settling down on a niche, the next thing you should do is to decide which products you would want to appear on your Shopify store. 

Though there is no fixed recipe for what makes a product ‘winning’, based on our experience, stand-out dropshipping products on Taobao should have these characteristics:

1. High demand: Check on Google Trends, social media, etc., so you can know whether a product has consistent or growing demand or is just a seasonal item
2. Scarce availability: Do careful research and choose products that are unique or less common in the market compared to your competitors competing with you in the same niche.

 

2.3. Choose reliable suppliers

With a few product ideas in mind, let’s choose the suppliers you want to work with. To sort out credible suppliers on Taobao, here are a few factors you should look out for:

• Review seller ratings: Taobao features a rating system where buyers provide feedback on sellers. Aim to choose sellers with excellent ratings and numerous positive reviews.
• Check for “Top-Rated” badges: These badges signify sellers with a proven record of quality and reliable service.
• Assess the suppliers’ product listings: Carefully examine the product descriptions and images. A well-organized and detailed product page often indicates that the seller is committed to their business.

 

After you have found a few Taobao suppliers you are most interested in, hover on the supplier’s profile and click Contact me so you can get more details about:

• Shipping times: Ask about the estimated delivery times to your target markets and the shipping methods they offer. For instance, standard express delivery from Taobao to the United States typically takes 15-30 days, while express services can range from 5-10 days.
• Shipping costs: Similar to shipping times, remember to inquire with the suppliers about the shipping costs to your target markets so the shipping costs won’t eat into your profit margins.
• Order fulfillment: Some suppliers may offer warehousing services or collaborate with fulfillment centers to streamline the process. Hence, discuss the supplier’s order processing times, minimum order quantities, and their ability to handle bulk orders

 

Alternatives to a Taobao agent

A Taobao agent is one way to buy from Chinese sellers. If you would rather not use one, you have three other routes:

• Sourcing agent: a person or company that finds suppliers, negotiates and inspects goods for a fee. Get the fee in writing first.
• B2B marketplaces such as 1688 and Alibaba.com: both belong to Alibaba Group. You contact the supplier yourself and may face minimum order quantities.
• AI sourcing tools: software that searches supplier listings from a text or image description. They shorten the shortlist but do not vet the supplier for you.

Before you order from any supplier: ask for a business licence, order a sample and compare it with the listing, get shipping time and cost to your country in writing, then place a small test order.

2.4. Import Products 

Now that you have picked your products and suppliers, let us show you how to import Taobao dropshipping Shopify products to your store.

As of the time being, here are the 3 most popular apps that support importing items from Taobao to Shopify:

App name	Rating	Pricing
Dropast ‑ Taobao, Tmall & 1688	4.1/5.0 (8 reviews) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	$49/month
BuckyDrop‑1688 Dropshipping	4.2/5.0 (23 reviews) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	$0 – $29.90/month
AliPrice Dropshipping	5.0/5.0 (1 review) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	(Product value + China Shipping Fee) * 5%

In this demo, we will be using Dropast for its ease of use and great importing as well as syncing capabilities. 

First, login to your Shopify account (if you haven’t registered yet, go ahead and apply for the free trial program). Then, go to Dropast on the Shopify App Store through the link we provided above, click Install and confirm installing the app to your Shopify store.

 

After you’ve approved the subscription, you will be brought to Dropast’s admin dashboard. Herein, you can import products to your Dropast list by going to the Import tab > Paste the URL of the Taobao item > Click the Import Product button.

 

After a few seconds, the Taobao product will appear. Since all the product information is auto-translated from Chinese to English and the product prices are converted from Chinese Yuan to USD, remember to review carefully:

• Cost: This is the price of the product on Taobao and does not include any additional local or international charges.
• Local shipping: The local shipping fee displayed here is determined by the Taobao seller to cover the product delivery from the seller to the Dropast warehouse.
• Fee: This is the fee charged by Dropast for handling purchases, set at a fixed 10% of the Taobao product price to align with the standard rates in the Chinese market.
• Quantity: Obviously, this is the number of items available at the time they are imported.

If you are satisfied, click the Add to List button to import the product to your Dropast list. Then, navigate to the List tab > Go to the product you’ve just added to the Dropast’s import list and click the Export icon to import the Taobao item to your Shopify store.

 

Next, edit the product information before pushing it to your store. You can edit the title, description, images as well as selling prices and compare-at price. 

 

After editing your product selling prices and other important details, click Add to Store > Select Import and you are all set– you’ve successfully synced Taobao products to Shopify. 

 

Besides Dropast, you can also source Taobao products for your store using other solutions like BuckyDrop. This Taobao company agent is famous for their value-added services such as customized packaging, product labeling, etc.

Nevertheless, these services come with certain fees, which could quickly add up. Also, compared to Droppast, BuckyDrop comes with a generally steeper learning curve.

💡 Relevant reading: How to start a dropshipping store

3. Why should you dropship from Taobao to Shopify?

Despite the language barrier, dropshipping from Taobao can be an awesome idea for your Shopify store thanks to Taobao’s:

1. Wide range of products: Taobao offers millions of products across diverse categories, from trendy fashion items to unique electronics, home improvements, and more. This means you can introduce more products to your store and scale up later.
2. Reasonable pricing: Taobao products are known for their affordable prices, allowing you to offer your customers competitive pricing while maintaining healthy profit margins.
3. Guaranteed quality: Taobao maintains strict quality control for all the items listed on its website, so you can rest assured about your dropshipping products’ quality. 

4. Conclusion

As one of the most popular online retail marketplaces, Taobao has a wide range of quality products from suppliers of all shapes and sizes. This makes it an ideal destination for dropshippers worldwide to source products and do effective inventory management.

If you want to launch a Taobao dropshipping Shopify shop, eComStart team hopes this guide can equip you with the necessary information to set up a proper shop that sells.

Don’t forget to explore eComStart.io, where our eCommerce gurus give you free tips, tricks, and tutorials to scale up your online business. 

5. Frequently asked questions