Role Overview
Clients don’t hire a Supplier and Vendor Sourcing Expert just to “find products.” They hire you to be the barrier between risky suppliers and their reputation on TikTok Shop. Your role is to secure reliable sources—products that ship fast, meet quality expectations, and take margin pressures seriously. You are expected to think like the client: filtering for long-term viability, not chasing short-lived trends or unvetted deals. A strong product with a weak supplier is still a bad business decision.
This is not a passive research role, and it’s not about compiling Alibaba links. Clients aren’t paying for quantity—they’re relying on your judgment to protect their store from refund claims, poor reviews, and shipping violations, all of which can kill account standing. When you shortcut vetting or settle for “good enough,” the risks compound fast: fulfillment fails, customers complain, and TikTok penalizes the seller. But when you connect clients with dependable, scalable sources, you unlock the backend that allows aggressive front-end selling with confidence. That’s the real value you’re expected to deliver.
Standards You Must Meet
• Suppliers must be pre-vetted for speed, quality, and reliability — no links dropped without clear shipping times, cost structure, and communication proof.
• You’re expected to filter out vendors who don’t meet TikTok Shop fulfillment criteria — slow shippers and inconsistent inventory are deal-breakers.
• Product options should come with viable margin calculations — not just “moving items” but ones that allow sustainable ad spend and profit.
• Clients won’t chase you for updates — your role includes proactive follow-through on supplier replies, samples, and readiness to scale.
• Source lists must be curated, not bloated — three excellent options beat ten questionable ones every time.
• Every supplier you connect must be traceable and testable — no anonymous links, no vague claims.
• You must flag red flags early — if a supplier starts slipping, clients count on you to escalate before it impacts operations.
• A product passed to the client with a weak backend is a failed handoff — it must be sellable and fulfillable to count.
What You’ll Be Doing
• Conduct full supplier vetting including product quality checks, shipping speed validation, and communication proof before client handoff.
• Eliminate vendors that do not meet TikTok Shop fulfillment standards — zero tolerance for slow processing or inconsistent inventory.
• Deliver pre-qualified product options with accurate cost breakdowns, shipping quotes, and tested profit margins.
• Manage supplier communication end-to-end, including quote requests, sample tracking, and onboarding readiness.
• Build tight, curated supplier lists — no raw links, no guesswork, only options ready for test orders and scale.
• Confirm traceable contact and fulfillment history for every supplier recommended — no anonymous sources, no broken trails.
• Monitor all assigned suppliers for delivery lapses, stock movement, or policy shifts, and raise issues before they impact fulfillment.
• Use automation tools when possible to streamline repetitive tasks like quote tracking, supplier updates, or status reporting.
What You’ll Hand Over
• A curated shortlist of 2–4 fully vetted suppliers per product, including shipping lead times, MOQ, and communication logs.
• A margin breakdown sheet showing landed cost, shipping fees, selling price range, and breakeven thresholds.
• A supplier summary doc highlighting product quality proof (photos, samples if available), fulfillment history, and account readiness.
• A risk flag report (if applicable) outlining supply chain limitations, inventory warnings, or early signs of unreliability.
• A go/no-go recommendation per supplier, backed by real response data — not assumptions — so the client’s next step is clear.
Tools You’ll Need to Use
• Alibaba / 1688 – Primary platforms for locating reliable wholesale suppliers and negotiating direct sourcing deals.
• AliExpress – Go-to marketplace for product testing, quick dropshipping, and early-stage supplier validation.
• Shopify – Essential for monitoring supplier performance related to order flow, product relevance, and fulfillment sync.
• Excel / Google Sheets – Core tracking tools for managing supplier lists, pricing comparisons, and MOQ analysis.
• TikTok Shop Seller Center – Central dashboard for vetting supplier-readiness for TikTok-specific logistics and catalog compliance.
• CJ Dropshipping – Widely used fulfillment partner for integrating global suppliers and managing end-to-end delivery.
• DSers / Oberlo – Key platforms for connecting Shopify stores to vetted suppliers across multiple distribution chains.
Why Work Smarter
You don’t need to be a coder, but you do need to understand the basics. Workflow tools like Zapier, Make, and n8n are already being used by top dropshipping clients to streamline supply chain tasks. If you can’t automate routine actions — like compiling quotes, updating product data, or syncing supplier updates — you risk becoming a liability. Clients are not paying for manual labor; they’re paying for outcomes.
This skillset isn’t officially required today, but it’s already the silent expectation. At OES, we make that expectation explicit. Staying relevant means knowing how to work alongside AI and automation — not in resistance to it.
Why Your Work Matters
TikTok Shop is unforgiving when backend operations fail. A single unreliable supplier can trigger late shipments, refund spikes, and account penalties that collapse a store overnight. That’s not a distant risk—it’s a daily reality for brands scaling fast. This role exists to block those failures before they happen. You’re not helping the business—you are protecting it where it’s most vulnerable.
Clients rely on this role to keep their stores sellable, shippable, and sustainable. Every product they launch depends on your ability to connect it to fulfillment that works at speed, at scale, and under pressure. Profit doesn’t come from viral views—it comes from products that can be delivered consistently. If that chain breaks, trust is lost, spend is wasted, and growth stalls. At OES, that kind of breakdown is never acceptable—which is why this role isn’t optional; it’s operational.
What We Expect From You
As a Specialist-level Supplier and Vendor Sourcing Expert for TikTok Shop + Dropshipping, you are expected to bring discipline, foresight, and sharp commercial sense to every sourcing decision you make. You’re not here to just find suppliers—you are here to vet them through the lens of fulfillment reliability, evolving product trends, margin protection, factory-level accountability, and compliance with platform standards. You understand that one weak supplier can cost the brand trust, time, and profit. At this tier, your judgment must be grounded in data and your strategy aligned with supply chain realities specific to social commerce and high-volume testing.
You are the gatekeeper of product feasibility at OES. Clients, Account Strategists, and Product Researchers will rely on your sourcing logic, strike zone ranges, and MOQ strategies to build scalable catalogs without unnecessary operational risk. You’re expected to lead sourcing with an eye for long-term supplier partnerships, not quick-fix options. If quality deviations or delays show up, you know how to trace the flaw back and fix the system, not the symptom. This role is critical to wrapping trust, speed, and profitability into every product pipeline we launch.
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$500 – $1,070
OES salary standards reflect real market benchmarks, tier and experience level, ensuring fair pay for VAs and realistic expectations for clients.
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