Benefits Disadvantages Is dropshipping for you?

8. Finding & Dealing With Suppliers
182
Handling botched orders
Dropshipping isn’t perfect, and there are lots of problem areas that you should be 
aware of. One of those issues: botched orders. Suppliers are bound to mess up an 
order here and there, especially if you’re dealing with a larger supplier who gets a 
high volume of orders.
Sometimes, this means the supplier sends the wrong item to 
the customer. Worst case scenario? They never ship the item at 
all. That idea can send shivers down a dropshipping merchant’s 
spine, so it’s best to be prepared for it.
There’s a 3-step process you can use for remedying order mistakes:
1. Apologize to the customer.
The first step is to admit the mistake and apologize 
for it. Do not blame your supplier. This makes you look like a poor retailer who 
can’t own up to their mistakes. And remember, the customer should never know 
you have a supplier! So apologize right off the bat.
2. Make it up to them.
After you apologize, you’ll need to correct the mistake in 
some way. The specific way you do that will depend on how big the mistake 
was. Sometimes you’ll just want to send the correct product to the customer. 
Other times, you might want to refund the shipping cost or include a small 
freebie, such as a small amount of store credit. In any case, you need to make it 
right with your customer.
3. Confront the supplier about the mistake.
Even though you have to correct 
the mistake, your supplier should pay for it. Typically, a supplier will cover the 
shipping costs to return a wrong item or even send out a new one. They usually 
won’t pay for any freebies or upgrades that you give the customer.

---

8. Finding & Dealing With Suppliers
183
So what happens if your supplier botches several orders within a short time frame? 
Nine times out of ten that means you have a bad supplier. Unfortunately, there’s not 
a whole lot you can do when dealing with a low quality supplier. Start looking for 
another supplier who has a better reputation for fulfillment. And if you do leave a 
supplier, make sure you explicitly let them know why!