Because dropshipping doesn’t require you to house and fulfill orders, you’re able to focus more time on reaching a wider customer base. However, running a dropship business requires a lot of communication between your network of suppliers, manufacturers, and customers. Dropshipped orders can have such a complex life cycle that keeping track of statuses can become a full-time job. You need systems that streamline the flow of information between suppliers, vendors, and customers. 

That’s why ShipStation is proud to announce Dropship Manager. Whether you’re new to dropshipping or just looking to improve processes, using Dropship Manager alongside ShipStation provides convenient features and automation that allows you to devote more time to growing your sales and vendor networks. 

What is ShipStation Dropship Manager? 

ShipStation’s Dropship Manager is a ShipStation add-on that allows your ShipStation account to send orders to your vendors. It simplifies communication with your network of vendors who fulfill the orders. It also provides customers with your preferred branded delivery experience despite vendors shipping the orders. Dropship Manager communicates fulfillments from your ShipStation account to your vendors’ShipStation accounts. It provides a streamlined way to view and transmit order details, vendor information, fulfillment statuses, and shipping notifications. This helps you replace manual entry with automation—thus greatly reduces the risk of shipping errors. 

“Our relationship with these [vendors] is stronger for the fact that we’re able to communicate very clearly through Dropship Manager. They can accept orders, they can reject orders, we have visibility on all the orders that have come in and that have been pushed out to our retail partners so that we know exactly where they are in the in the fulfillment cycle.”

Ben Fritz
General Manager, Cocktail Courier

What is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is an order fulfillment model where the business selling an item doesn’t handle their own physical products. Instead, orders are fulfilled and shipped by vendors or fulfillment warehouses that receive their inventory directly from a supplier or manufacturer. 

How Dropshipping Works  

  • Step 1: Your customer places an order on your online store
  • Step 2: Your store automatically sends the order to your dropshipping vendor
  • Step 3: Your dropshipping vendor prepares your customer’s order
  • Step 4: Your dropshipping vendor ships the order directly to your customer

Benefits of ShipStation Dropship Manager

ShipStation’s Dropship Manager provides businesses with a centralized view of all of their dropshipped orders that are fulfilled by their network of vendors. But it also offers many more features. ShipStation is a powerful, customizable shipping platform that helps businesses of all structures and sizes fulfill their ecommerce orders. Dropship Manager just adds a new layer of possibilities to ShipStation. ShipStation’s automated shipping process, shipping discounts up to 87% off, and 100s of integrations are all there, but you now gain powerful dropshipping functionality. 

What ShipStation Dropship Manager Offers

  • Communicate your branded shipping confirmation to your customers
  • Gives you easy-to-view insight into orders’ fulfillment statuses
  • Connect to as many vendors as you’d like
  • Competitive pricing*
  • Provide vendors with your preferred shipping methods 
  • Know which vendor is fulfilling each order
  • View reports and other information about your dropshipped orders 

* Dropship Manager is an additional $150 per month + $0.03 per shipment that exceeds 1,000 monthly shipments

What Are the Requirements for ShipStation Dropship Manager?

Dropship Manager requires you to have an active ShipStation account. You will also need to purchase the ShipStation Dropship Manager feature. This is available for both existing and new ShipStation accounts on any paid, non-trial plan level. Additionally, any vendor dropshipping your orders must also have their own, separate ShipStation account. 

If you are already a ShipStation user, you can add Dropship Manager to your existing account. If you are not yet using ShipStation and would like to know how ShipStation can improve your dropshipping business, reach out for more info!

James Messer
James Messer

James Messer is a copywriter specializing in shipping, logistics, and ecommerce.

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