Spocket Review: US Dropshippers’ Marketplace and Automation Tool

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Dropshipper looking for an updated Spocket review? This article is for you.

With the trade war between the US and China heating up, there has been concern among many dropshippers about the impact the punitive tariffs imposed on Chinese goods would have on the industry.

I’m not a practising economist (but I have a Bachelors degree in Economics) but like is the case with any business challenge, you have to adapt to thrive.

When punitive tariffs are imposed by the US, the cheap Chinese goods that you may be dropshipping may no longer be as profitable as they were before. For example, if you are dropshipping fishing lures and are selling them at a profit of just $10 per pack, perhaps it’s time you changed your tactic.

Moreover, online customers are getting sophisticated and want their items delivered not now, but RIGHT NOW. I mean, with Amazon delivering items in three days, do you think your customers will wait for 24 to 60 days to get the items you are sourcing from Chinese suppliers?

You already know the answer to the question.

And this brings us to today’s post; Spocket.

Spocket Review: Changing the Dropshipping Industry

For many months, I’ve always known I need to diversify my dropshipping sources. I mean, when everyone is using AliExpress to dropship, where can you get unique goods that can differentiate your brand on the market?

The answer to this question is Spocket.

What is Spocket?

Spocket is a dropshipping marketplace that connects product suppliers to store owners. Unlike a platform like AliExpress or eBay, where anyone can list their products, Spocket handpicks suppliers for their platform.

Suppliers need to meet and adhere to strict standards on merchandise quality and shipment times to be accepted in the Spocket marketplace. This is good news for dropshippers as you won’t have to worry whether the supplier you want to engage with is familiar with dropshipping and whether your customers will get quality products.

One of the things that attracted me to Spocket is that the marketplace is full of US and EU suppliers. Therefore, the marketplace solves two problems you may be concerned about as a dropshipper:

i)  Quality of products

The suppliers are US- and EU-based and, therefore, you can be sure of your customers getting quality products.

I don’t have anything against Chinese suppliers and I know there are a lot of quality products from China. But if you have been dropshipping for a while or have bought some Chinese goods, you know a good number of them are usually knock-offs and you can’t really be certain of their quality.

ii) Fast Shipping

The other advantage of Spocket is that since the suppliers are based in the US or EU, they ship fast.

On AliExpress, I’ve placed orders in the past where suppliers took three days to confirm and a couple more days to ship. So, an order can take 7 days to be processed and fulfilled.

I’ve found Spocket suppliers work fast, usually fulfilling orders within a day or two days. If you are shipping products to customers based in the US, you can be sure they’ll get their items in a couple of days rather than weeks, as is the case when sourcing for items from suppliers on AliExpress.

Getting Started with Spocket

So, you already know what Spocket is. How do you get started with it as a dropshipper?

Getting started with Spocket is easy and free. All you need to do is to register for a FREE account here.

After creating your account, you’ll have to install the Spocket app (if you are using Shopify) or the Spocket plugin (if you are using WooCommerce). Spocket will work if your dropshipping store is either built on Shopify or WordPress for dropshipping.

At the moment, the app does not support other selling platforms. But I know most of you are using either Shopify or WordPress (through WooCommerce), so this shouldn’t really be a big concern.

If you have signed up at Spocket, let me take you through an overview of how to install the app (for Shopify) or WordPress plugin (for WooCommerce)

Setting Up Spocket for Your Shopify or WooCommerce Store

If you have a Shopify store, go to the Shopify App Store and search for Spocket Shopify App. When you find the app, click the “Add App” button to add it to your store. You will have to provide your Spocket login information to connect the app to your store.

That is all.

For WordPress WooCommerce users, simply search for “Spocket” plugin in the WordPress repository. Install the plugin and activate it. You will have to provide your API key, which you will find inside your Spocket account, to the plugin to activate and connect the store.

That is how simple it is to install Spocket on either Shopify or WooCommerce.

Now, let’s get to using the app.

Spocket Review: Overview of the Order Fulfilment App

After activating the Spocket app on your Shopify store or the Spocket plugin on your WooCommerce store, it’s time to start importing products. But before that, you’ll be greeted by a short user tutorial covering the various sections of the Spocket dashboard, what they do, and how you can navigate them.

On the app interface inside your store, you have various options for finding products.

• You can search for products by typing keywords
• You can filter products based on category
• You can search for products based on location
• You can filter products based on price
• You can search for your favorite suppliers on the marketplace
• You can see premium products offered at the marketplace by clicking the “Premium Products” box

If you already know the products you would like to sell, search on the dashboard to see whether they are available. If you are looking for new products to add to your store, check my eBook on 100 most profitable eCommerce niches to get an idea of the markets with the most opportunities.

You can browse through the Spocket marketplace to find the products you want or speed up things by typing product keywords.

How to Add Spocket Products to Your Store

When you find a product that you’d like to sell on your store, the next step is to add it to the “Import List”. This step is simple and literally takes seconds.

Adding products to your store involves two steps:

• Select the products and add them to your “Import List”
• Push the products to get live on your site

Adding Products to your Import List

Hover the mouse cursor on the product you have identified on the dashboard and an “Add to Import List” pop up button will show. Click on the button and the product will be automatically imported to your store.

The products you import to your Shopify or WooCommerce store do not automatically go live. Instead, they are saved in your “Import List”, from where you can review before making them live on the store.

Pushing Products to Your Store

When you have some products on your “Import List” tab, you can review them before finally “pushing” them or publishing them on your site.

Navigate to the “Import List” tab to see the products you have imported. On this tab, you can customize the product details as you see fit. For example, you can change the copy, improve the descriptions, and so on.

I’ve found this step not really necessary since the suppliers you are dealing with are mostly from North America and Europe and, therefore, provide great descriptions. However, for the sake of SEO or to add your brand’s tone on the copy, you may want to change some things.

When satisfied with the listings, you can publish them on your store by clicking the “Push to Store” button. The item will immediately become live on your store and your customers can order it!

Spocket makes it really easy to add dropshipping products to your store. With the app, you don’t have to waste time adding product photos, descriptions, or coming up with the pricing. Everything is done for you.

Your job is to simply select the products you want and publish them on your store.

You will need to sign up for a paid plan to access the “Premium Products” feature, which gives you exclusive access to high-quality products with great margins. However, if you are not ready for the premium products, a free account is all you need to start finding unique dropshipping products from North America and Europe suppliers and start selling them on your store.

[wps_calltoaction style=”default” border=”all” title=”Spocket Installation & Setup Guide” align=”left” background=”#6ddbbe” color=”#535353″ radius=”0″ button_text=”READ NOW” url=”https://help.spocket.co/spocket-for-dropshippers/start-with-spocket/install-spocket/?ref=kevinharter” target=”blank” button_background=”#ed1f00″ button_color=”#ffffff” button_radius=”0″]Read the Spocket Setup guide and Installation instructions for comprehensive information on getting started.[/wps_calltoaction]

Now that you know what Spocket is, how to integrate it to your store, find products and push them to your store, let’s look at its features.

Spocket Review: Features & Pricing

Here are some features that impressed me with Spocket:

Free Plan Available

Spocket has a free plan that allows you to add up to 25 products to your store. Under the plan, you can also receive unlimited orders on the products you select.

The free plan also comes with the following features:

• Real-time inventory updates
• Global pricing
• Currency exchange
• Shipment tracking numbers
• Email support

The free plan is a great option if you have a niche with proven in-demand products. However, if you will want more than 25 products on your store, you will have to upgrade to a paid plan. The paid plans are affordable and come with even more features.

Branded Invoicing

Trust is an important element that contributes to the success of any online business. When you have a dropshipping store, you want your customers to have an authentic experience. One of the ways of doing this is by providing a branded invoice.

When using Spocket, your customers will automatically get a nicely formatted invoice with their order details. Depending on the plan that you have signed up for, you can customize the invoice with things such as your store’s URL, currency, and even add a personal note.

If you are on a paid plan, you have even more customization options, including using your logo on the invoice, structuring the invoice to be in line with your brand, changing the font, and so on.

Work with Trusted Suppliers

The best thing about the Spocket marketplace is that it is full of experienced and trustworthy vendors. One of the problems I’ve always had with dropshipping from China is language barrier. Sometimes, the vendor may not understand what you want them to do.

This problem has been solved by Spocket.

All the merchants at the Spocket marketplace are proficient English speakers and understand the dropshipping model. This marketplace is not a “free for all” platform like AliExpress is. Instead, the merchants are carefully vetted before they are allowed to sign up. Therefore, as a dropshipper, I can know that I’m working with professional suppliers.

Great Profit Margins

It’s all about the Benjamins, baby!

So, you started dropshipping from AliExpress but are struggling to break because of the rising ad costs and competition? Well, it’s time to start dropshipping from the Spocket marketplace.

The typical dropshipping margins are 15% to 45%. However, with Spocket, you get profit margins of about 30% to 60%. This means you will be earning more from each sale. Why wouldn’t you want this?

Product Samples

The quality of the products you sell on your store can make or break your business. If you are dropshipping, it helps to know the quality you should expect from your suppliers. In my past ventures, I’ve shipped product samples from China and I mostly found them to be okay. However, the shipping time takes like forever.

With Spocket, you can order product samples from the suppliers to gauge their quality. However, since these suppliers are mostly based in the US and EU, I find that their samples typically arrive faster.

This is important for me, especially when I’m going after trending products. You do not want to wait for 24 days to get a sample product from China while you could be riding the wave of a trending product if you got the samples from suppliers from the Spocket marketplace.

Automated Fulfillment

Spocket automates the ordering and fulfillment portion of your business. When a customer places an order on your site, the supplier gets a notification with all the details of the order and automatically fulfill it. You don’t need to manually send an order to a supplier.

You have more important things to do for your store. As you are out there marketing and driving traffic to your store, any orders on your store will be automatically fulfilled through Spocket.

Fast Shipping

Like we’ve mentioned before, nearly 60% of the suppliers on Spocket are based in North America and Europe. For me, this is very convenient as most customers that I target are in the US and EU. By ordering my products from suppliers in the Spocket marketplace, customers get their items fast.

The result? A better customer experience that leads to more reviews on my store and more sales!

Verified Suppliers

Not just any supplier can get listed on the Spocket marketplace. Spocket is very particular about the quality of suppliers that make it on their marketplace. This is done to ensure that dropshippers have the best experience and access to suppliers with high-quality products.

I’m a dropshipper but I dug around to find what Spocket does to admit a supplier into their directory. Here’s what found out:

• By Application Only. Would-be suppliers must apply to be approved on the Spocket marketplace. Moreover, applying does not guarantee that a supplier will be accepted. Instead, Spocket only approves suppliers with products that are in demand. Moreover, the vendors have to agree to ship their items to customers in neutral packaging as well as offer the items at a discount of between 30% to 60% to dropshippers.
• Investigative interview. Suppliers are also interviewed by Spocket before they can be accepted into the marketplace. Spocket looks at things such as sales history and the supplier’s business to determine whether they will be a good fit for the marketplace.
• Product testing. Another thing that the company does is checking the quality of the products produced by the suppliers. The team orders products from all new suppliers to check their quality, packaging, and shipping times to see whether they meet the set standards. Merchants with poor quality products and those with long shipping times are not accepted into the marketplace. This is good news for you as you don’t want to work with a supplier that takes ages to ship an order.

Suppliers that pass the above tests are further engaged to confirm whether they adhere to the marketplace’s shipping guidelines and return policies.

From the above, you can see that Spocket is all about making dropshippers happy. This is something that I’ve found lacking with other auto product fulfillment options on the market such as AliDropship.

Suppliers that make it on Spocket are monitored consistently for the first two months to ensure they meet the expectations of the marketplace. Those that fail to reach the standards are barred from the marketplace. This means that only suppliers that have proven themselves to produce quality products and have fast shipping times are allowed in the marketplace.

Customized Product Information

When you import a product to your “Import List”, you can customize it to be in line with your brand of import it “as is” onto your store.

Some of the things you can edit include the title, description, shipping costs, images, price, collection and more. Check the video below to see how you can customize your imported products.

Premium & Made in USA Products

Spocket has a wide range of suppliers, from artisans to vendors to wholesale suppliers and manufacturers. At the marketplace, you will find something that is suitable for your audience.

You should check out the premium products as well as the discounted products on the marketplace.

Premium Products

These are products that are curated by Spocket team as the “best of the best” of what is available on the marketplace. To access these products, you’ll need a paid Spocket plan.

The margins of Spocket premium products are around the 60% range and their shipping times are the fastest.

Discounted Products

Discounted products are items that are offered at a discount against their original list price. These products are great for making quick sales, especially if you are in a market with price-conscious customers.

You can experiment with the different products to see which ones make the most sense for you based on your business goals and audience needs.

Made in USA Products

You also have an option to select products that are made in the USA. These are high quality products from vendors based in the USA and, therefore, you can sell them with confidence to your customers. You’ll need to have a paid plan to access the Made in the USA products feature.

High Inventory

You can also select products that are available in massive amounts. These products are already produced by the manufacturer or can be produced within a short time. The high inventory items are great if you are holding a sale on your store or want to launch a campaign, perhaps using Vyper.io, to raise awareness of your store and get more leads.

Returns & Shipping Policies

One challenge I’ve often had when dropshipping items from China is returns. In most cases, the suppliers have stringent returns policies. For example, most suppliers require that you send back returned items in their original packaging and pay for the shipping costs. Some only accept returns for wrong items ordered.

For returns, I usually just leave the customer with the item they bought and ship them a new one from my pocket expenses. However, this is not a sustainable way of running a dropshipping store. Imagine if you have 20 returns a month, how much will be you spending out of pocket of new purchases? Quite a lot.

With Spocket, I no longer have to worry about returns thanks to the marketplace’s policy. Suppliers listed on Spocket have to adhere to strict shipping and returns policies. Here’s what’s required:

Spocket Return Policy

Suppliers are required to offer one of the following:

• No returns
• 15-day returns
• 30-day returns

When your order is fulfilled, Spocket will hold the funds until the supplier’s return days has elapsed. Therefore, should a customer return the items within the stipulated time frame, you will get back the money you paid for the item.

The returns process is also easy for both customers and suppliers. For instance, if a wrong item was shipped or the product was damaged, the customer will be sent a replacement product or be refunded immediately. Moreover, the customer may be allowed to keep the item or Spocket would provide a return shipping label so that the customer does not incur any fees on returns.

This is one of the value propositions you can offer on your store to encourage loyalty and more sales.

Spocket Shipping Policy

Spocket has a flat rate shipping policy for domestic and international customers. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about implementing different shipping rules on your store for customers in different geographical locations.

Depending on the product that is being shipped, suppliers can use FedEx, ePacket, USPS, or DHL. The shipping times for products varies depending on the location of the suppliers and customer. Like is the case with other fulfilment options, there are factors that cannot be controlled by suppliers, (for example, customs and duties processing time), which can affect the shipping time.

However, you will get an overview of the expected processing and shipping time of a product that you want to add to your store. This information should help you know what to expect.

Real-Time Inventory Updates

When you have activated Spocket on your Shopify or WooCommerce store, the suppliers’ inventory will be automatically updated in real-time. Therefore, you can never sell an out-of-stock product.

Since you are dealing with different suppliers, it can be difficult to keep track of all the inventory. Moreover, you don’t want customers ordering products that are no longer being produced. Spocket has solved this issue by ensuring the inventory is updated in real time.

Spocket Review: My Thoughts on Spocket

Spocket is a growing marketplace with many US and EU based suppliers for your business. Here is an overview of what you can do with Spocket.

• Spocket integrates with the top dropshipping platforms (Shopify and WooCommerce). You can use it to sell products in any of these platforms.
• The marketplace has many suppliers that are based in North America and Europe (over 60% of suppliers are from these regions). This means you can be sure of the quality of the products you will be selling to customers.
• You can use Spocket to sell to customers all over the world
• The currency configuration setting allows you to sell products in your store’s default currency
• With real-time inventory management, you will not have to worry about selling products that are out of stock
• The marketplace is huge and has a range of products for your dropshipping store
• Integrating Spocket into your Shopify or WooCommerce store is easy and fast. You will be all set and running in just a few clicks
• The thorough supplier vetting process means you will have access to suppliers that are reliable and have high-quality products
• Spocket is expanding rapidly and adding new suppliers regularly. This means more opportunities for dropshippers
• You can customize the Spocket invoice to inject your brand and personality in them. This will make your store look more professional in the eyes of your customers
• Spocket has a free plan that allows you to import 25 products and fulfill unlimited orders to start. Paid plans are available at an affordable fee
• The margins from Spocket marketplace are quite high, ranging from 30 % to 60%
• You can order sample products from Spocket suppliers from your dashboard
• Orders placed on your store are automatically fulfilled. This leaves you with more time to concentrate on other projects you may have.

Apart from the above, Spocket aims to make dropshipping easy for everyone. The company has developed an online course for beginner dropshippers. According to Spocket’s CEO, Saba Mohebpour, the company spent thousands of dollars to create the online course to add value to entrepreneurs that are struggling with dropshipping.

With that said, there are a number of improvements I would like to see on Spocket. These include:

• Additional selling platforms. At the moment, Spocket can only be integrated with WooCommerce and Spotify. It would be nice if they could allow selling on other channels such as Etsy, eBay, and Amazon.
• No custom packaging. At the time of this review, Spocket does not allow customization of the packaging. It would be nice if dropshippers could have customized tabs, packaging, and branding products added.
• Cannot contact supplies. At the moment, you cannot contact the suppliers directly. However, the Spocket team is available to answer all your queries.

Spocket Pricing: How Much Does It Cost?

The Spocket app comes in three price options:

Check the table below for an overview of what is available under each price tier.

[wps_table style=”stripped”]

Basic Plan (FREE)	Standard Plan ($29/m or $348/yr)	Professional Plan ($79/m or $948/yr)
Up to 25 unique products	Up to 250 unique products	Unlimited products
Unlimited orders	Unlimited orders	Unlimited orders
Email support only	Premium products	Premium products
Real-time inventory updates	Branded invoicing	Branded invoicing
Currency exchange	Email and chat support	Email and chat support
Global pricing rules	Real-time inventory updates	Real-time inventory updates
Shipment tracking number	Currency exchange	Currency updates
	Global pricing rules	Global pricing rules
	Shipment tracking number	Shipment tracking number

[/wps_table]

Spocket Review Conclusion: Should you Buy It?

Well, by now you already know that Spocket is a marketplace with an app that allows you to find products from US-based and EU-based suppliers for your dropshipping store.

Buying the app is not a requirement for you to have a successful store. However, if you have a store, you know how time-consuming uploading photos and writing descriptions manually can be. Moreover, if you are doing things manually, you will have to fulfill the order by yourself and keep track of inventory from different suppliers. All these activities can eat into precious time that you could have used to market your business.

Spocket helps you to reclaim time in your business by automating things such as uploading of products, fulfilling, shipping and more. Moreover, the Spocket marketplace gives you access to vetted suppliers from North Americ and Europe who produce quality products. This means your customers will be happy with the products, not to mention the faster shipping times.

I’ve been using Spocket for one of my eCommerce stores and I cannot imagine how much time I would be wasting if I was adding products manually. For the price, this is an absolute must-have for any dropshipper.

Sign up for a free Spocket account and check out the capability of the app.

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