PrestaShop AliExpress Dropshipping {User Guide}

PrestaShop AliExpress DropShipping allows you to start your business by selling products of AliExpress on your store without actually having them in stock.

DropShipping is a very convenient & new concept in eCommerce which allows people to start their business with very little investment cost.

This module basically helps people with the PrestaShop store to start importing products of Aliexpress & start selling them on their own website.

As all the processes i.e., the product import, placing an order on AliExpress are automatic, the merchants will find it easy & convenient to start a dropshipping business.

Note

1. Module is compatible with PrestaShop version 8.x.x

2. The following functionalities are not working in the new AliExpress theme:

• An admin cannot import the products through cron.
• Admin can import the products to PrestaShop from product page but cannot import from the category page.

General

• Start an online business at a low investment cost.
• Import AliExpress products on your store with ease.
• One-click update system for your products i.e., name, price, images, feature, description and packaging details.
• A custom built “AliExpress Product Importer” (Chrome Browser Extension) is available on Chrome extension store.

Price Related Features

• Admin gets 4 options to select the pricing of the newly imported product. Those are same as AliExpress, custom price, add increase/ decrease impact on the products price.
• If the product price is in a particular range on AliExpress, then admin can select whether minimum price or the maximum price will display for the imported product.

Import Product Features (Check New Product Settings of the Configuration Section)

• Choose to create the product automatically in PrestaShop catalog after importing from AliExpress.
• Packaging details will display on the product page if AliExpress imported product has the pacakging details.
• AliExpress shipping time will also display on the product page if AliExpress imported product has the shipping time.
• Admin can decide the to fetch the parameters like name, price, images, feature, description and packaging details while importing product from AliExpress.
• Admin can predefine the associated and default category of the product imported from AliExpress.
• An admin can predefine the default tax rule, supplier, visibility options of the newly imported product from AliExpress.
• Admin can pre-decide the carriers to apply on the newly imported product.

Product Combination Image Feature

• Admin can decide whether to import product images with the combination images while importing products from AliExpress.
• If the admin keeps the option inactive, then only selected combination images will display.

Product Update Features

• Admin can choose to update the product information of the imported products when they update on AliExpress.
• An admin also has an option to select which parameters will to update.
• Admin can choose to update product name, price, images, features, description and packaging details.
• An admin can decide whether to regenerate the combinations of the imported product at PrestaShop end or not.

Automatic Update Feature

• Automatically update product quantity and price of the imported products when they are update on AliExpress by “Cron task manager”.

Order Automation Features

• Place the orders on AliExpress with a single click if you receive any order for imported products on PrestaShop.
• All steps from adding the product into the cart and entering the shipping information is automatic.
• Admin can choose to update the shipping information.
• The admin just needs to enter the payment information and click “Place Order” to place the order at AliExpress.
• Admin can keep a track of the orders of AliExpress.

Note

1. Works only on https websites.
2. There should be a live URL –  It will not work on local domains.

For running the Chrome extension, You need to follow the below-mentioned steps.

Latest version chrome extension available here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/prestashop-aliexpress-imp/iochebggflimfedlldfjjomnkpoikknk?utm_source=chrome-app-launcher-info-dialog

Need to run chrome in disabled security mode to by pass CORS origin policy of browser, below commands for respective OS:

1. Windows: chrome.exe –user-data-dir=”C://chrome-dev-disabled-security” –disable-web-security –disable-site-isolation-trials
2. macOS: open /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app –args –user-data-dir=”/var/tmp/chrome-dev-disabled-security” –disable-web-security –disable-site-isolation-trials
3. Linux: google-chrome –user-data-dir=”~/chrome-dev-disabled-security” –disable-web-security –disable-site-isolation-trials

To begin with import, firstly you will need to install the PrestaShop AliExpress Importer extension to your Chrome browser.

Please note that version 1.1.5 of the extension is compatible with the current version of the module only i.e. 5.4.4.

After adding the extension to Chrome, just refresh the browser to start using the extension.

Now, on the product page of AliExpress, you can find a blue icon to import the products into your PrestaShop store.

• Firstly, go to the module manager in back office and click on ‘upload a module’.
• After that, drag and drop the module file or select the file from the system.
• In this way, the module installation will be successful.

After the successful installation of the module, you can now proceed to configure the module.

The configuration page of the module has multiple sections & each section has multiple options in it. So, let’s just proceed to see each section one by one.

Extension Settings

Under the extension settings, you will find the credentials to configure the AliExpress importer extension.

In the next section, there is a clear explanation as to how to fill in these details & where you get the option.

Here, you also get an option to regenerate the “User Name” and “Password” which you need to enter while configuring the extension.

Now let’s proceed to the next section.

New Product Settings

In this section, you can configure the settings related to the import of products from AliExpress to PrestaShop.

• Create product in catalog: Enable the option to create a product in catalog after importing the product.
• Product status: Choose whether you want to keep the imported product active or inactive in the PrestaShop catalog.
• Fetch product features, description, packaging & combinations: Enable the options to fetch these details while importing products from AliExpress.
• Display packaging: Enable to display packaging details on the product page of PrestaShop if the imported product contains this detail.
• Display AliExpress shipping time: AliExpress shipping time will display on the product page if the detail is available with the imported product.
• Associated categories: Select the default categories to associate with the newly imported products of AliExpress.
• Default category: Select the default category for the newly imported products of AliExpress.
• Condition: Select the default condition of the newly imported product as “Old“, “New” or “Refurbished“.
• Visibility: Select the default visibility option of the newly imported product as “Everywhere“, “Catalog Only“, “Search Only” OR “Nowhere“.
• Supplier: Select the default Prestashop supplier for the newly imported products of AliExpress.
• Options: Set default options for the newly imported product as Available for order, Show price, Online only (not sold in your retail store).
• Tax rule: Select the default PrestaShop tax rule for the newly imported products of AliExpress.
• Carriers: Select the PrestaShop carriers for the newly imported products of AliExpress.

Product Price Settings

There are basically four options to configure the price setting for the AliExpress imported products.

1} Same as AliExpress: If you select this option then the product will list on PrestaShop with exact same price.

In this case, you also get to choose the minimum price or maximum price for a product. Let’s understand this with a simple example.

• Suppose product A is available in the price range $10-$12.50 on AliExpress.
• Now, if you select minimum then product price will be $10 on PrestaShop.
• Whereas, if you select maximum then the product price will be $12.50 on PrestaShop.

2} Custom Price: Here, you can simply define the custom price for all the products that you’ll import from AliExpress.

3} Increase: In this condition, just enter the percentage by which you want to increase the price of the product on PrestaShop.

The minimum & maximum conditions will work in the same way as above.

4} Decrease: In this condition, just enter the percentage by which you want to decrease the price of the product on PrestaShop.

The minimum & maximum conditions will work in the same way as above.

Product Combination Image Settings

If you enable the option, then all the combination images will also display along with the product images.

However, if you disable the option then only combination images will display on PrestaShop.

Automatic Update Settings

• Update Quantity & Price: Enable these options to automatically update the price & quantity of product on every cron run.
• Select Cron Time: Select the time interval between two cron runs.

Product Update Settings

This block provides you with the option to choose whether you want to update product information on every sync or not.

After enabling the option, you can also choose what information you want to update on every sync.

Firstly, you need to visit aliexpress.com.

Before we go to the part where I describe the process to import products, let me clear out some things first.

After the addition of the AliExpress Chrome extension, you can also update the configuration and authentication details.

To update these two details, you need to click on the extension icon available on the upper left side of the chrome browser.

After clicking on the extension icon, a window with those two options open. Select any one of them & proceed accordingly.

Authentication Details: These details are already available under the extension settings on the configuration page of your module.

Just copy & paste them in the box that opens after clicking the “Update Authentication Details” button.

Update Configuration: On clicking this button a popup window opens. This window will help you to update the import settings.

In the screenshot below, you can see that the product import is in progress from AliExpress.

Now, the product import is successful & will now be available at the PrestaShop end too.

To see the imported products, go to the “Products” section under “Drop Shipping” tab on PrestaShop.

The same products from the “Product Mapped” section will also be visible in the catalog section.

After importing the product, they will now be visible to your customers too.

As you can see the customer placed the order for the above product on the PrestaShop. Now, let’s see how you can place this order on AliExpress.

After getting the order for AliExpress products on PrestaShop, you can also view it under the “AliExpress Product Orders” section.

On clicking the “View Products” button, the following page will open. The page will show the list of all the products that the order contains.

Just for the information, we’ve automated the whole process of placing the order on AliExpress in the current version of the module.

So, when you click the “Place Order” button on PrestaShop, you will directly land on the following page of AliExpress.

However, in between some other pages will also open. But, you need to be patient cause you’ll come to this page at last.

Now, here you may notice that the customer’s address is automatically filled.

In some cases, the details of customers coming from the PrestaShop end might not fill every detail in the address field.

So, here we are also showing you a window of customer address detail to help you fill the details manually.

After filling in the details continue to the next page where you can make the payment & place the order on AliExpress successfully.

So, this was all about the PrestaShop AliExpress Dropshipping module. I hope this document will help you in checking the functionality of the module in a better way. Also, do let us know about your views in the comments.

Are you looking for a module that helps you offer virtual files along with the product? If yes, then check out the blog right now to know more about the module.

For any kind of technical assistance or query, please raise a ticket at http://webkul.uvdesk.com or send us a mail at support@webkul.com

Also, please explore our vast range of featureful PrestaShop Addons.