Oberlo was removed from Shopify and is shutting down

Shopify's Oberlo is shutting down – what happened?

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Tomas Janu

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July 26, 2024

Shopify's Oberlo is shutting down – what happened?

Oberlo is the most popular dropshipping app on Shopify, and it's being shut down. It's no longer available on the App Store, and neither can you install it from other sources. Learn what happened and what you should do if you are an Oberlo user.

Oberlo is one of the most successful Shopify apps having over 100 000 active installs. Merchants were using the app to fulfill their dropshipping business via AliExpress. You can add products from the Chinese marketplace to your store within a few clicks and have the original seller fulfill the order.

In 2017, Shopify acquired it for around $15 million from a Lithuanian startup. And that's why many users were surprised when they couldn't find it on the App Store anymore. It was delisted on May 12^th, 2022. We have decided to compile publicly available information and provide answers to some of the common questions.

Why was Oberlo delisted and shutdown?

From the communication, it's not clear what the reason is. The official Oberlo FAQ page used to say:

Shopify's top priority is doing what is in the best interest of merchants. his product deprecation, which is a routine occurrence, is in pursuit of providing merchants with the best solutions to reach their customers wherever they are.

Is Oberlo closing for good? Is there any chance it will be available in the future?

Based on the information gathered, it doesn't seem very likely that Oberlo would become available again anytime soon.

The official Oberlo website is no longer offering the dropshipping service. It became a general online mag site with random stories making money from the Shopify trial promotion.

How to install Oberlo if it's not available on the App Store?

Unfortunately, there is no way how to install Oberlo to your Shopify store. On May 12^th, 2022 the app has been delisted from the Shopify App Store and it won't be coming back.

There isn't any custom installer available either.

Can you use Oberlo if you have it installed?

Yes, but only until June 15^th, 2022. After that date, the app will no longer be accessible even for the current merchants. The FAQ page even says that the app will be automatically uninstalled from your Shopify store.

What are the best Oberlo alternatives?

There are several dropshipping apps doing almost the same job as Oberlo. However, Shopify actively recommends Oberlo users migrate to the DSers app supported via automatic migration.

Oberlo chose to partner with DSers because they have all the features you need to continue to grow your business. DSers offers a tight integration with AliExpress, provides bulk order fulfillment, and has more than 150k merchants. Oberlo worked closely with the DSers team to make the migration from Oberlo to DSers as seamless as possible.

We have tested multiple dropshipping apps, and our recommendation is AutoDS. It combines dropshipping with print-on-demand and offers over 8 million products. The app has over 9.000 reviews on the Shopify App Store and 4.9 average rating.

GET AUTODS

If you are not sure and what to explore more options, make sure to check out our list of the best Shopify apps for dropshipping.

Tomas Janu

Tom loves writing about upselling, conversion optimization, and e-commerce trends. He is one of our co-founders, and you can sometimes talk to him if you contact our support team. Make sure to follow him on LinkedIn for more Shopify-related tips and news.

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