SaleHoo vs. Oberlo

Intro

We’re often asked what the difference is between SaleHoo and Oberlo. After all, they’re both quite similar. Both companies help you to run an online store. However, there are many differences between SaleHoo and Oberlo that you should make yourself aware of before making your decision. While both companies are able to help you dropship, they do so in different ways. Bottom line, we just want to know: Which is better, SaleHoo or Oberlo? Which product has the best features? And which will help my ecommerce business the most? Let’s dive in, shall we?

General Overview

Before we get into the details, let’s take a look at the major differences between SaleHoo and Oberlo. Besides the fact that Oberlo features a dropship tool and SaleHoo offers both a dropship and directory tool, there are other differences between the two companies which we will highlight below.

Features

On the surface, SaleHoo and Oberlo might seem similar, but when diving in to see what features are offered by each of their products, you’ll find that they offer different value adds to their members. We’ve conducted a side by side comparison of all the features that are offered by each of the products, and provide screenshots below as references so you can have an inside look of what you’ll be getting upon purchasing each product.

Dropship Tool

First up, we’ll do a side by side comparison of SaleHoo and Oberlo’s dropship tools. Both dropship products from SaleHoo and Oberlo offer an automated product import process from AliExpress to your Shopify store. Both are easy to set up provided you have an AliExpress and Shopify account, and both offer a one click import method. You can change the price, variant, image, title, and description through each product. Both SaleHoo and Oberlo’s Dropship products even allow you to organize your products through collections as well.

So where exactly do they differ? It all comes down to two things: Vetted suppliers and products and automated order fulfillment.

SaleHoo only offers products that have been vetted with trustworthy suppliers so you never have to worry about selling a low quality product or a product from a supplier with questionable business ethics. There are millions of products on AliExpress that you can dropship and if you choose a product that looks good in photos but turns out to be poor quality or defective when it reaches your customer, it could undermine the credibility of your business. Not only do you have to deal with refunds and returns but chances are, that customer won’t come back to your store to purchase anything else. This not only wastes time and effort with a sale that generated no profits, but damages your brand and your trustworthiness as a company. You can avoid all of this by choosing reputable products on AliExpress that are already filtered out by SaleHoo. Plus, SaleHoo allows you to further filter products from their vetted suppliers by price, shipping location, and delivery time, which is especially important in the business of dropshipping. Your customers won’t be happy if they’re waiting 40 days for a simple phone case. SaleHoo has got all of these pain points covered so you don’t have to stress over knowing exactly what your customers are going to receive when they get your order.

With automated order fulfillment, this is where Oberlo comes into play. If you don’t want to deal with purchasing each order on AliExpress directly, Oberlo can automatically fulfill this order for you with their dropship tool. However, users have been quick to point out that Oberlo does take a commission for each order. “Oberlo makes up to 6% commission on every single order that gets fulfilled through Oberlo,” says Michael Peter Y, a reviewer on g2, which could hurt margins or force you to increase your selling price. Plus, automated order fulfillment could be dangerous if information isn’t double checked and just simply automated, especially with such a wide product selection. The wrong product could be going to the wrong address, and you wouldn’t even be notified about it. Plus, are you going to ask that customer to put the time and effort into arranging a refund for a product that they never ordered? On top of that, relying on a third party for order fulfillment could be problematic if they encounter bugs or other types of issues. According to an Oberlo customer review on Trustpilot, “The app has a lot of bugs and issues. When I make orders, many of them don't fulfill so I have to manually enter in the address. I got this app to save time on fulfillment but it doesn't save me much. Customer service gives me the same copy and paste answers whenever I reach out for help.”

A few other differences to note are that SaleHoo offers 24/7 customer support while Oberlo doesn’t clearly state when their customer support is available. SaleHoo also promises 100% satisfaction guaranteed. With this policy, you are able to get a full refund within 60 days of purchasing if you are unhappy with any of their products.

Screenshots of Dropship Tools - SaleHoo vs Oberlo

Below are current screenshots of both the SaleHoo Dropship tool and the Oberlo Dropship tool. As you can see, both are quite similar in what they offer but like we mentioned, with SaleHoo, all of the products you can import directly from AliExpress to your Shopify store are vetted from trusted suppliers. With Oberlo, any AliExpress product can be imported to your store and you will be responsible for any of the consequences from that sale.

Screenshots of SaleHoo

Screenshots of Oberlo

Directory Tool

When comparing SaleHoo and Oberlo as a whole, you’ll see that in addition to a dropship tool, SaleHoo also has a powerful Directory product which gives you access to 8,000+ trusted suppliers plus a powerful market research tool, SaleHoo Labs, used for sourcing hot products. You’ve probably heard about sellers spending endless hours searching for the perfect product or horror stories about sellers getting scammed. With SaleHoo, you can be confident that you’re only getting quality products from the most reliable suppliers.

You’ll also get access to a members forum and personal email support in case you need any help at any time. The directory has suppliers for over 2,500,000 products and brands and if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always contact their support staff directly who can help you find it. The SaleHoo Directory is a well known product that was launched in 2005 and has helped more than 130,000 people around the world start and grow their online businesses by connecting sellers with profitable products from certified, low-cost suppliers.

You can find suppliers that are dropshippers, wholesalers, liquidators, or manufacturers. You can even filter by location, if they ship worldwide or not, and their minimum order quantity. SaleHoo Directory has been a long time favorite for experienced online sellers. “SaleHoo’s directory is made up of authorized dealers, which means you are getting all the best sellers,” according to a review from bloggersideas.com. “It offers Better Business Bureau(BBB) rating for all the suppliers, thus eliminating the risk and ensures proper safety.”

Screenshots of Directory Tool

Price

When comparing the price of SaleHoo versus Oberlo, you can’t just look at the monthly or yearly price, but also the price that they potentially charge on each order in the form of commissions. For the dropship tool, SaleHoo charges $27 USD monthly to automate importing high-profit AliExpress products from trusted and vetted suppliers. You’ll get personal 24/7 email support plus 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back within 60 days. For Oberlo, you have a free option with limited features or a monthly $29.90 USD option which also allows you to automate importing AliExpress products into your store. Though the pricing looks similar, some users have expressed that the price of Oberlo is “high,” according to Farhan A, a reviewer on g2, “Its chat support is not responsive as it should be.” Another reviewer on the same site, Peter Michael Y pointed out that although the price looks attractive, “Oberlo makes up to 6% commission on every single order that gets fulfilled through Oberlo,” potentially lowering your margins or forcing you to increase your selling price.

As for SaleHoo’s Directory product, they offer a flat fee of $67 USD for a whole year or a lifetime fee of $127 USD. For their Educate product, which offers exclusive expert ecommerce training videos, they charge $47 USD per course. Again, if you’re unhappy with any of their products, you can get a full refund within 60 days of purchasing. SaleHoo’s quick 24/7 customer service applies to all of its products. “Their support staff are excellent,” according to Rober Rowling, a reviewer on bloggersideas.com, “they have a lot of listings and they are genuine. They provide a little extra, which makes their service worth subscribing to.”

Customer Service

Customer service and support is extremely important when you are new to dropshipping and want to get your online business off the ground as quickly as possible. You don’t want to be working on your online store, get stuck on something important, and have no one to turn to. Something that can be solved with an experienced customer support team shouldn’t turn into a frustrating nightmare.

Customer Service - Oberlo Trustpilot Review

When comparing SaleHoo and Oberlo’s customer service, there’s a big difference in terms of what is offered and responses from reviewers have reflected that. SaleHoo offers 24/7 customer service while Oberlo’s website does not clearly state when their customer service staff are available, which seems to have deeply affected customers’ experiences. One Oberlo reviewer on Trustpilot has stated that “If you have a problem, it takes them at least 24 hours to get back to you on the ‘live’ chat. Absolutely useless if you have a customer breathing down your neck.”

Customer Service - SaleHoo Trustpilot Review

In contrast, a SaleHoo reviewer on Trustpilot pointed out that having 24/7 customer service is very beneficial especially when you need to make fast decisions when running your business. “Very responsive,” states the reviewer, “professional, and gives you tons of information. The team answered all my questions and supplied a plethora of URLs to read up on all the answers I was searching for. With that said, it made my decision making simple and quick.”

SaleHoo vs Oberlo Reviews

Since both SaleHoo and Oberlo are widely used in the dropshipping and online business world, there are many reviews online that have rated both companies. Below we compare some of the ratings of the more popular review sites and look at what real users have been saying about each product.

	SaleHoo Sign Up Here	Oberlo
Trustpilot Rating	4.8 “Excellent”	2.5 “Poor”
g2	4.9	4.5
Better Business Bureau (BBB)	4.5	1.08

Top Oberlo Alternatives

Of course, SaleHoo and Oberlo aren’t the only players in the market. There are other products that SaleHoo can be compared to.