So what is blind shipping? To the younger generation of eCommerce entrepreneurs the term might be completely outdated and today blind shipping is commonly referred to as dropshipping. It is not the same thing though.
A blind shipment is simply a shipment that disguises the details of the shipper. It allows a 3rd party to send a shipment without the receiver knowing where the parcel came from.
As a dropshipper you want to ship blind. You want your supplier to “hide” their details as much as possible so that your customers do not know where the parcel originated from.
This might sound a bit “sus” but it most certainly is not. Everyone in ecommerce wants to hide the details of their supplier(s). In many ways this is your secret sauce.
Dropshipping and Blind Shipping
If you are dropshipping from China then it is incredibly important to your business to ship blind. The challenge is that if a parcel is sent from China, the shipping label will be a dead giveaway.
In the early days of dropshipping with Aliexpress this was not really a problem but the everyday public has now caught on to this and it is no longer the best way to build a solid ecommerce business.
Blind Shipping With Aliexpress
While it is almost impossible to avoid the Chinese shipping labels, you should speak with your Aliexpress supplier and make sure that they include as little information on the parcel as possible. You also want to ensure that they do not include any receipts of promotional material in the parcel.
Most Aliexpress sellers are now familiar with dropshipping and will accommodate you as best they can do make blind shipments.
Blind Shipping with an Agent
Some of the bigger shipping agents in China have a great solution to this dilemma. They would do daily shipments to the USA (for instance) in bulk. A bulk shipment allows them to ship to the USA in 2- 3 days. They would then redirect the parcel via USPS so that your customer receives a parcel from the USA.
This is by far the best dropshipping solution as it allows you to truly ship blind and disguise your supplier completely. Most agents that do this require a minimum of 50 orders per day and a certain limit per month as they carry some of the risk in filling their shipping quotas.
Blind Shipping With eBay
Dropshipping from eBay is still a viable solution but the profit margins are slim. The right way ti do this is to contact your eBay seller (supplier) and be upfront with them that you are dropshipping their products. Most of them will be okay with it. They also want to make money and boost their sales numbers with eBay.
You need to come to an arrangement and ask them to ship blind for you. Be very specific that there is no mention of eBay anywhere on the labels or packaging. This will piss your customers off like nothing you can imagine.
If you only use eBay to fulfill emergency orders, simply ship the order as a gift. Make a note in your order and ask them to exclude any invoices or promotional material.
Blind Shipping with Amazon
Those who dropship from Amazon are faced with a real dilemma. FBA products will always be in Amazon packaging. The best you can do is to fulfill your orders as a gift as that will exclude any pricing or promotional material.
Not all Amazon products are fulfilled by Amazon. There are a lot of FBM (fulfilled by merchant) products being sold on Amazon. They typically do not qualify for Amazon Prime but it will allow you to ship blind.
Be sure to contact the Amazon seller. Most of them would be happy to accommodate you as more sales means a lot to any Amazon seller’s rankings.
The Importance of Blind Shipments to Dropshippers
Blind shipping is incredibly important to the longevity of your dropshipping business. If your customer receives a parcel that is obviously from AliExpress they will probably be pissed off and never come back.
In fact, the customer experience when they receive their parcel from “you” is incredibly important.
It is for this reason that I recommend transitioning from dropshipping to your own warehouse as soon as you possibly can. The customer experience with drop shipped parcels is just not good enough anymore.
