If you are into drop shipping, you’ve probably thought about using Wish. It’s an online marketplace that has been around since 2010 and is known to offer a variety of products from fashionable apparel to electronic gadgets. But entering the platform as a seller has its own downsides and this review aims to shed some light on this aspect.
1 – People Expect Discounts
One glance at the product listing will more or less tell you the type of customers that would shop on Wish – bargain hunters. They come from all over the world, with the highest traffic coming from the US. Just look at how ridiculously cheap these prices are and you’ll get what I mean.
Some offer about 16% and some are up to 96% off! What makes it even more irresistible is that most of the shipping only costs $1 per item, so it’s almost like buying from the thrift stores except that one has to wait about 30 days (or more) for delivery time. And mind you – some people are actually willing to wait for that long.
Therefore, in order to suit the expectation of the buyers AND still make a profit, there are basically two criteria to become a noticeable seller. First, you need to source from multiple wholesalers that can supply in bulk to keep the cost really low. Most of the time, you can expect them to come from China.
Secondly, the setting of the price has to be attractive – the lower, the better. In fact, Wish claims that merchants can potentially boost their product impression and promotion by 50% if they lower the product prices AND keep them that way.
Hence, if you are thinking about selling something unique or handmade which often fetch higher values, don’t bother using Wish. I don’t think anyone would be interested and even if they do, they may not want to pay for that kind of price either.
2 – Expect Stiff Competition
Cheap products are generally easy to source and as a result, you can expect many people selling the same item within the platform. It’s not uncommon to see redundant results when doing a product search like the one below.
All three items are exactly the same, but they have different discount levels. In order to attract buyers, the first two sellers strategically lowered their prices further and dominate a higher position through advertising. Do you see the small box with the word ‘ad’ inside? That’s what it’s all about.
Judging from the number of pieces sold, they are probably still new to the platform and the only way to boost sales is to pay for ads to outrank the third seller who has sold over 5000+ pieces. It makes sense why they would do that, but advertising also means paying to be visible. It’s a good strategy, but you need to be careful not to over discount to the point you run into deficit and couldn’t cover the cost for the ads.
The competition also exists elsewhere for similar products on different platforms. Take this makeup bag, for example – one sells on Wish and another, on AliExpress, a more dominant marketplace that also sources from Chinese wholesalers.
While there’s not much difference in terms of pricing, take a good look at the number of reviews, shipping options as well as payment information between the two. The latter obviously has a better system in place that promotes trust and safety to the buyer’s eye, wouldn’t you agree?
Competition in masses is inevitable when it comes to the business of drop shipping and sellers are just going to continue to slash prices as shoppers hop around different platforms to compare their options. The one that’s cheapest and with the most benefits is usually the winner.
3 – Share Your Revenue
Most bargain marketplaces allow free product listing because they want to attract as many sellers as possible. Wish does the same thing too, but the catch here is that they will take a percentage – as much as 15% – from each sale plus shipping. Apparently, this fee covers for hosting and whatever internal works that they do to promote your product listing.
Well, I can’t say for sure if that’s true because if you look at the main marketplace web page, what is being featured is only the images and prices. There is not a single product title that should be there in the first place. How is that even considered an eCommerce optimization?
If you look at Etsy or Amazon, all products have a title, followed by star ratings (not the number of purchases) and then the prices. This information – I believe – is far better for promotion as well as for natural product ranking in a marketplace.
Besides that, they don’t really offer a well laid out personal store. There’s no place for description, business logo/location and also no channel for you to communicate with potential buyers.
So, that begs the question, is it worth sharing the 15% revenue with Wish? That’s something to really think about.
4 – Negative Reviews
How often do you screen a marketplace before you shop online? I do that all the time, especially with sites that I am not familiar with. That’s what I did with Wish and guess what I found. A ton of negative reviews from customers who are either unhappy with the product qualities, ordered but never received the products or failed to get their refunds altogether. Something is beginning to look fishy here.
And then, there were more from the sellers, complaining about a high refund rate, no customer support from an actual person and product pricing were changed without the seller’s knowledge. People are actually losing money on both sides – now THAT is a red flag. If you don’t believe me, you can search online yourself.
So, Can You Make Money With Wish?
In the beginning, I thought the marketplace is only an under-optimized site. However, after reading all the negative reviews, backed with my own suspicion, I have the feeling that this site is not even legit. Think about this;
- Some of the products are so cheap, it sounds too good to be true. Maybe there weren’t any actual products OR sellers, to begin with.
- Compared to what you could get on other reputable marketplaces, the percentage of revenue sharing is just ridiculous.
- There’s very little quality – in terms of products, web page or people behind the scene – that can be appreciated. Everything seems to be a bit fake.
In my book, to sell on Wish is a bad idea so I wouldn’t recommend using it. You are likely better off with other marketplaces in growing your online business. Before you log off, remember to check out my recommended platform for online making-money tips and if you have anything to share, please leave them in the comment area below.
Honestly speaking, everything you can find on the WISH can also be found on AliExpress or Light In The Box. All their products are coming from China and most probably from the same wholesaler/seller. WISH appears to have a lot of refund problems and take a long time to settle unlike AliExpress that keeps the fund in their escrow account to expedite the refund process.
For me, I wouldn’t use it as an online shopping portal or even as a seller.
Once, I was looking for a sport bra and found it on Wish, but was quickly taken back by the low price ($6) and free shipping. It was doubtful and when I dig further, I found it to be an unreliable site. Luckily I didn’t proceed with any check out.
I have friends who buy items on Wish and for some reason, I’ve always been put off by the idea. Now I know my gut feel was accurate. Your review save me the trouble from doing the research. I certainly never would have considered selling goods on Wish. Who wants to enter a price war? And it almost goes without saying that the quality of the goods is going to be suspicious. I find it super weird that you can find the exact same product at different prices on the same site.
I’ve always been suspicious of Wish as an online marketplace. The products are so cheap, it sounds too good to be true. There’s very little quality – in terms of products, web page or people behind the scene – that can be appreciated. Everything seems to be a bit fake. Compared to what you could get as a seller on other reputable marketplaces, the percentage of revenue sharing is just ridiculous, in my opinion.
I’ve been thinking about doing drop shipping so this article is timely. The review of this platform shows me the reality of this business. I am surprised by the stiff competition and how the items are priced at such huge discounts. How do people even make money there I wonder…
I have bought from Wish and continue to buy. As for legit, I have never had a bad experience. Yes, orders take a little while, but usually they do come. I had an order that never arrived after 60 days and without asking, I was refunded. The products almost always do not look as good as in the picture. However for a few bucks, what can you expect, right. As for selling, I would first like to see how much others are actually making before going out and purchasing a big order from China. It’s always about buyer beware.
I will have to agree with you on this one – there seems something too cheap about the overall setup of Wish.
I’m a big fan of baggie beannie hats, and the Grey one that the woman is wearing in the redundant search image looks like it’s half decent quality – I can’t see how they can sell something like that for as little as $4 (which is under £3 over in my country!).