From the operations desk
The week in numbers
This entry covers two weeks, 6–19 September, because the first week was quiet. Between 6 and 19 September we counted 100 distinct supplier requests. That count excludes 10 reposts and three posts that were not supplier requests. The previous window, 30 August–5 September, had 46.
Apparel and fashion led with 23 requests. Home and kitchen followed with 21, then electronics and gadgets with 14. Toys, kids and baby had six; pillows and sleep comfort and bags and travel had five each. Of the 100 requests, 26 named no product and 32 named no destination.
The United States led the named destinations with 18 requests. Europe without a country came next with 17, then Germany with 10 and France with eight. "Worldwide" appeared six times. It did not appear at all between 30 August and 5 September.
On terms, 30 requests asked for a long-term partner and 30 set a delivery-time cap or asked for fast shipping. No MOQ or single-unit orders came up 23 times. Quality checks appeared 17 times, store integration 15 times, and stock already in the destination country 14 times.
Day by day
- 6–12 September: 19 requests in seven days. Sellers wanted agents for Europe, Israel and the US.
- 13 September: eight requests, mostly Europe-bound home and lighting products for new stores.
- 14–16 September: 52 requests in three days, with 18, 18 and 16. The busiest days partly reflect collection, not a posting surge.
- 17 and 18 September: nine requests between them. Several asked for pictured products to be sent to Germany, Türkiye and Italy.
- 19 September: 12 requests, many from sellers asking for single-piece shipping to the US and Europe.
What stood out
Half the requests, 49 of 100, asked suppliers to tell them something. Unit price led with 28 requests. Delivery time followed with 26, catalogue or product list with 14, shipping cost with 13, and proof of past work and the service fee with 12 each. In all, 37 asked for a unit price or a delivery time. Between 30 August and 5 September, 24 of 46 requests asked for anything, and unit price led there too.
Eight requests wanted goods that carry someone else's brand or a replica. Eight is too many to ignore. These posts are the ones most likely to be refused by a careful agent or a marketplace.
Worldwide was the other change. Six requests asked for delivery to every market at once. No single shipping price covers every destination, so name the two or three countries that matter first.
Most of these asks already have an answer here. How to read a landed-price quote covers the unit-price question, and does a sourcing agent have a product catalogue answers the catalogue ask. Own brand, third-party brand or lookalike sorts the branded asks, and the sourcing-brief guide shows what to state so a supplier can quote the same day.
Sample and limits
Requests are gathered from public dropshipping sourcing communities. Every post was read and classified twice, independently, against fixed definitions, and disagreements were settled on a further reading. Posts are never quoted, linked or identified; contact details are never reproduced, and exact products are generalised to their family. Each post is dated to the day it was collected, so busy days partly reflect collection. Counts measure what buyers asked for, not what sells, and they undercount when the wording was unclear.