[tssge]

I think you have misunderstood what dropshipping means.

In dropshipping the business won't have any foreign made inventory and neither will they have any in their country. Instead they will hook you up with a Chinese outlet without telling you.

The Chinese outlet will handle shipping, returns, etc with the dropshipping business just taking a cut for essentially spending money on Facebook Ads. This is the part where you'll deal with a Chinese outlet regardless of your preferences, because the dropshipping company basically did this to you without your knowledge.

They don't have a local stock to replace items under warranty. They don't have a local warehouse to return your item to if you're unsatisfied. They might've never even seen the product themselves and thus cannot even provide support regarding it's use.

So that's why I think it's important to point out dropshipping. It's a completely different thing than keeping a foreign-made inventory. There isn't really any good reason to buy from a dropshipper, because you'll deal with the Chinese outlet behind it regardless.

[jeffbee]

> They don't have a local warehouse to return your item to if you're unsatisfied

Yeah well that's their problem and not yours. That's the value they are providing! The person who sold you something can't disclaim responsibility for selling it to you, at least under American law.

[tssge]

What value? What kind of logistics value could they possible provide if they don't have logistics in the first place?

It of course is problem of the consumer, as consumer is the one returning the item and the one who ultimately has to deal with a Chinese company that may not even speak English, not to mention the time the package takes to get there for a refund.

While it's the seller's responsibility in theory, yes, they make it very clear that you'll be dealing with a Chinese seller in their terms. Yes, it is your job to read the terms before you buy, however if you do read them, why wouldn't you just go buy from AliExpress after that? Absolutely no extra value buying from the dropshipper once identified.