AliExpress shows you star ratings. Sellvia shows you fulfillment speed. Banggood shows you reviews. But none of them show you what actually matters: will this supplier destroy my business?
You need a scorecard.
The scorecard criteria
Use this to grade every supplier you consider, before you import anything from them. Scoring: 0–10 per category. Below 6 overall? Skip them.
Fulfillment speed (weight: 25%)
Not their promise. Their actual average. Check 20–30 recent orders and count the days from order to shipment. If they say 5 days and you see an average of 10, they lie.
Anything over 14 days shipped is a dealbreaker for trending products. By day 14 your trend has already peaked.
Score: 8 if 5–7 days, 5 if 10–14 days, 2 if 15+.
Product quality consistency (weight: 25%)
Read reviews going back 3 months. What percentage complain about quality, sizing, or defects?
Look for patterns. If 3% of reviews say "product is smaller than photos," that's cosmetic. If 15% say it, that's a real problem.
Score: 8 if under 3% quality complaints, 5 if 5–10%, 2 if over 15%.
Return/refund rate (weight: 20%)
If they show it, great. If not, check the review comments. Buyers mention refunds when they're frustrated.
Anything over 5% return rate is a red flag. It means either the product is wrong or the supplier is fighting legitimate refunds.
Score: 8 if under 3%, 5 if 3–5%, 2 if over 5%.
Communication (weight: 15%)
Send them a message. Ask a basic question. How long until they respond?
If it takes 48+ hours, they're slow. If they ignore you, they don't care. If they answer in 4 hours and your question in detail, that's the one you want when something goes wrong.
Score: 8 if response in 6 hours, 5 if 24 hours, 2 if 48+ hours or no response.
Pricing flexibility (weight: 15%)
Can you negotiate on volume? Do they offer wholesale discounts for 50+ units?
A supplier who's willing to move on price is more likely to move on other things when you're a customer shipping volume.
Score: 8 if they negotiate and offer volume breaks, 5 if standard pricing only, 2 if inflexible and hostile to negotiation.
The math
Multiply each score by its weight, add them up.
Say you get: Fulfillment 8, Quality 7, Returns 8, Communication 6, Pricing 7
(8 × 0.25) + (7 × 0.25) + (8 × 0.20) + (6 × 0.15) + (7 × 0.15) = 2.0 + 1.75 + 1.6 + 0.9 + 1.05 = 7.3/10
That's a good supplier. You can work with them.
A score under 6? Skip them. There are better alternatives.
The template
Create a Google Sheet. Add suppliers in rows. Score each one. Sort by score.
Keep historical data. After you've worked with a supplier for 100 orders, re-score them. Sometimes they get worse (or better). The scorecard keeps you honest.
Why this matters
Most dropshippers pick suppliers based on price alone. They import from whoever has the cheapest wholesale cost. Then they wonder why their customers complain, why refunds are crushing margins, why they're restocking every three days.
A supplier that's two dollars more expensive but ships in 7 days instead of 14 makes you way more money. You move faster. Your reviews stay higher. Your refund rate stays lower.
Use the scorecard. It takes 10 minutes per supplier and saves you months of headaches.
Next: use this scorecard quarterly. Re-grade suppliers as you get more order data. A good supplier today might become a mediocre one in six months.