BrandsGateway states to be one of the leading platforms for dropshipping high-end fashion items, but is it true?
In this article, our goal is to look into everything that BrandsGateway offers, see the pros and cons of the platform, and answer whether the platform is worth using.
| BrandsGateway Overview | |
| Shopify App Store Rating | 4.0 out of 5.0 (22 reviews) |
| Trustpilot Rating | 4.2 out of 5.0 (137 reviews) |
| Pros | - Free plan for browsing the platform - The admin dashboard is easy to navigate - Access to 100+ luxury brands - 20,000+ available products at discounted prices - The products are shipped out fast - BrandsGateway provides you with resources for selling - There is an available return and refund policy - No minimum order quantity - Extensive integration options - Transparency about the available service - Extensive customer support |
| Cons | - One of the most expensive solutions - Product selection is limited - Dropshipping luxury items is not easy - Inconsistent inventory |
| Pricing | $307 per month |
| Shipping location | US / Europe |
| Shipping time | 4 to 9 days (depending on the shipping location) |
| Free trial? | Not available |
Let's dive right in!
What is BrandsGateway?
BrandsGateway is a dropshipping marketplace for high-end fashion items and luxury products sourced from more than 100 luxury brands worldwide.
From these luxury brands, you can find over 20,000+ products.
BrandsGateway's aim is to be the platform where dropshippers can get access to high-end luxury products.
This is reflected in their own slogan, which is, 'We bring the world's most famous brands.'
Looking at the available brands, we can see that almost all of the most famous high-end fashion brands are available:
- GUCCI
- Michael Kors
- Swarovski
- Calvin Klein
- Versace
- Lamborghini
- Armani
- Hugo Boss
And many others.
You can also find brands that are not considered 'luxury brands', such as Adidas and Nike.
The available products are divided into different categories, including clothing, shoes, bags, accessories, watches, and more:
BrandsGateway was launched in 2017 and has become one of the leading marketplaces for high-end products.
How does BrandsGateway work?
This is how BrandsGateway explains their process on their website:
- You choose one of their available plans and integrate your online store into their platform.
- You import products to your online store from BrandsGateway's product selection, and you then start selling the products.
- Once orders come in, BrandsGateway ships the products worldwide to your customers.
It sounds like the basic dropshipping model, right?
There are differences though.
Many times, with normal dropshipping, you work directly with the supplier.
BrandsGateway instead has warehouses where they ship their products to your customers.
It is BrandsGateway's job to stock their warehouses with the luxury products that they purchase from brands, licensees, and official distributors.
Almost all products they buy are overstocks, which is why they are able to list them with a big discount on BrandsGateway.
They talk about it here in a few sentences:
BrandsGateway makes all of this automatic with its integrations. Most sellers are looking for the Shopify integration, which is fortunately available on BrandsGateway.
To help you more with that, we will go through the setup process later on in this article.
The pros and cons of BrandsGateway
Next, we will go through the pros and cons of BrandsGateway so you get a better idea of what is available.
We will discuss the platform's overall performance and features here as well.
The pros
Let's start with the pros.
1. Free plan for browsing the platform
A strong point of BrandsGateway is the free plan that is available for browsing the platform.
Anyone can access it from BrandsGateway's home page.
BrandsGateway doesn't even ask for your credit card details.
The free plan is only made for browsing the platform, and for that, it's great.
Once you have your account created, you can see all of the available products and brands BrandsGateway has, as well as things like new product arrivals:
The only thing that isn't available is the actual integration with your online store and the ability to sell the products.
However, if you want to scroll and see what products BrandsGateway has to offer, the free plan is excellent for that.
You can also see the product prices with the free plan:
As a part of our review, we wanted to see how the admin dashboard of BrandsGateway works:
When you integrate your online store with BrandsGateway, you manage all incoming orders from your customers on the BrandsGateway admin dashboard.
All upcoming orders will be automatically synced into the 'Order's page.
If your customer places a return or refund request, the order will be moved to the 'Returns' page.
When you become a customer of BrandsGateway, you get access to premium content, such as videos and photos of the product, which can be found under the 'Dropshipping' category.
From the same 'Dropshipping' tab, you can also do the ecommerce store integrations.
If you want to scroll through the available products, you have to 'leave' the admin dashboard and head to the 'product catalog' page.
In a nutshell, that's what the admin dashboard view looks like.
It's pretty hard to get lost on the dashboard, which makes it ideal for new users.
3. Access to 100+ luxury brands
In total, BrandsGateway has over 100+ luxury brands available in their marketplace, and dropshippers using their platform get access to all of these brands.
You can find the complete list from BrandsGateway's brand page.
If you compare the brand list to BrandsGateway's competitors, it's one of the most extensive selections out there, with many available brands that competitors don't offer.
When you select a brand from the list, you can quickly scroll all the products they offer.
For example, we selected GUCCI and looked into what products BrandsGateway has for them:
4. 20,000+ available products at discounted prices
Out of the 100+ brands available on BrandsGateway, you can find over 20,000+ products that you can sell.
For a luxury item marketplace, that's a lot.
The products are divided into the following categories:
- Watches
- Sunglasses & frames
- Jewelry
- Accessories
- Bags
- Shoes
- Clothing
Under every category, you can find tens of sub-categories.
As you can see, the products are not limited to only clothing, which would be easy to expect.
For example, you can even find products from more uncommon categories, like luxury backpacks.
Another popular category inside BrandsGateway is jewelry, which has hundreds of different products available:
Obviously, the most popular category is clothing, with over 10,000+ available products:
If you go to the product page of any product, you can see more interesting information about the product.
For you as a dropshipper, the most crucial information is the price you can buy the product for.
The left price indicates the price you must pay for the product, and the right one displays the market price.
According to our research, BrandsGateway's market price isn't always accurate, but the correct market price is usually at least twice as high as what you actually pay for the product.
So, this would leave you with a profit margin of 200% per order.
BrandsGateway themselves say that the profit margins hover at around 250%, which may be true in many cases, but not always.
It's also good to keep in mind that BrandsGateway charges a shipping fee for the products, ranging from $10 to $60 per product shipment.
5. The products are shipped out fast
BrandsGateway has warehouses all over the world, which ensures that they can ship their products out fast.
According to BrandsGateway, it takes one to two days to dispatch the package and then three to seven days to ship out the products.
The shipping is even faster within the EU, but on average, you can expect a seven-day worldwide shipping.
Considering the fact that there is worldwide shipping available, that's definitely as fast a shipment time as you could ask for.
On top of that, all orders get a tracking number that customers can use.
6. BrandsGateway provides you with resources for selling
When you opt for a paid plan with BrandsGateway, they provide you with all the resources for selling the actual product successfully.
They call them 'premium marketing resources.'
The premium marketing resources include:
- Premium images and videos. For every product, there is a list of existing images and videos available that you can use to sell the products.
- Marketing strategy ebook. To help you step up your marketing game, BrandsGateway provides you with a marketing strategy book.
- SEO dropshipping guide. If you want to get organic traffic from Google for luxury products, BrandsGateway gives you a guide for that.
- Social media design templates. BrandsGateway gives you templates to get inspiration for your social media posts.
- Ecommerce Facebook Ads guide. For those using Facebook Ads to sell luxury items, BrandsGateway helps with that in their guide.
All of the above comes for free when you opt for a paid plan with BrandsGateway.
7. There is an available return and refund policy
A good return and refund policy is extremely important for luxury items because of their high price.
Luckily, BrandsGateway does have an available return and refund policy.
This is what BrandsGateway states about their returns and refunds:
Our return policy lasts for 14 days, starting from the day the package is delivered to your customer. Approved refunds will be made by bank transfer or via PayPal within 5 business days after receiving and approving the returns.
So basically, your customers have two weeks to return their products if they're not satisfied.
It's good to keep in mind that damaged products and late returns are your responsibility, and BrandsGateway doesn't refund those.
8. No minimum order quantity
There are quite a many luxury brand marketplaces that make selling hard for dropshippers because of their minimum order quantity requirements.
One example of this is TicDistribution.
What's good with BrandsGateway is that there is no minimum order quantity in place.
BrandsGateway clearly states this on its website:
For dropshippers subscribed to one of our pricing plans, there is no minimum order requirement.
What this basically means is that, no matter how small your customer's order is, you can use BrandsGateway as a supplier without any problems.
9. Extensive integration options
A quite common problem amongst supplier platforms is missing integrations.
For BrandsGateway users, this is not a problem as they provide integrations with the following ecommerce platforms:
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Shift4shop
- Wix
This covers the needs of most people.
As for marketplaces, BrandsGateway integrates with the following:
- Amazon
- eBay
- Farfetch
- Poshmark
This means that you can sell the BrandsGateway products on the above marketplaces.
For example, if you're doing eBay dropshipping, you can use BrandsGateway as your luxury item supplier.
While Amazon dropshipping is something we don't recommend in the first place, BrandsGateway states on its website that its products can be sold on Amazon, too.
10. Transparency about the available service
It would be easy to conclude that the luxury items provided by high-end marketplaces like BrandsGateway are fake.
However, for BrandsGateway, one of their biggest priorities is to verify that all products available on their platform are 100% authentic.
This is what BrandsGateway states about it:
The products sold on BrandsGateway are all 100% original and have been purchased directly from the brands, licensees, or official distributors. Each product comes with the original tag attached.
The authenticity factor is also visible on every company profile inside BrandsGateway:
On top of the Authenticity Guarantee, BrandsGateway is highly transparent on all of its social media platforms.
For example, looking at their LinkedIn, they're not afraid to show who's behind the company.
Plus, you can see their office and warehouse locations on their website:
If you want to know more about their processes, BrandsGateway encourages you to contact their customer support and ask more.
11. Extensive customer support
Good customer support is always important, especially with high-ticket products, which is what BrandsGateway offers.
For BrandsGateway, you have four different main ways to contact them:
- Website form. You can find BrandsGateway's website contact form on their website.
- Live chat. If you enter BrandsGateway's home page, the live chat option is available in the bottom right corner, even if you don't have an account created with them.
- WhatsApp. BrandsGateway has a public number (+1 844-235-2328) you can contact through WhatsApp.
- Email. For those using email, there is also a public email address that you can contact (support@brandsgateway.com).
On top of these four, it's also possible to book a call with the BrandsGateway team. You can book the call for three different reasons, for dropshipping, for bulk purchase, and for technical support.
It's rare to see this many contact options, which is the reason we wanted to highlight their customer support.
As a part of reviewing the platform, we wanted to give their customer support a try. So, we sent their live chat a question asking if they have 24/7 customer support.
It took around ten minutes to get a response from their team.
The response also confirmed the only downside of the customer support, which is that it's not available 24/7.
Regardless of that small minus, we think their customer service is excellent, mainly because of the multiple different ways you can get in touch.
The cons
Next, let's look into some of the cons we found for BrandsGateway.
1. One of the most expensive solutions
Because BrandsGateway is a platform that offers high-end products, the profit margins can be significant for their customers, so they are also not a cheap platform.
With prices starting at $307 per month, they are one of the most expensive suppliers out there.
If you're just starting out with dropshipping, this may be a turn-off for you.
2. Product selection is limited
The product selection of BrandsGateway is focused only on high-end luxury products, making it only suitable for dropshippers who want to stay in this specific niche.
If you think you want to expand to other niches than high-end luxury products, later on, you may want to select a competitor like Modalyst or AppScenic.
While these two alternatives are more general options, they offer some luxury products and brands.
3. Dropshipping luxury items is not easy
If you choose BrandsGateway as your supplier, you're opting to sell luxury items.
If you're a beginner dropshipper, dropshipping luxury items is not the easiest option.
Luxury items are considered high-ticket products. The nature of high ticket products is that they are sold at a high price, which equals higher expectations from customers.
The customer lifecycle will be longer, and it may be hard to gain the trust of potential customers.
It will not be enough to just set up a few Facebook Ads.
Related article: Can You Dropship Luxury Items or Big Brands? (Full Guide)
4. Inconsistent inventory
Due to the way in which BrandsGateway works (they buy overstock), you can't expect to select a particular product and dropship it for weeks or months on end.
You will notice that, especially when looking at high-end products like Gucci, BrandsGateway usually only has a few items in stock.
For example, this Gucci product in BrandsGateway:
If you look at the image, there are only two of them in stock.
Once these two are sold out, it's not likely that they will be restocked anytime soon, considering:
- BrandsGateway would have to find someone who wants to sell them for really cheap.
- Most of these products are already from the old collections, so there aren't many brand-new ones available anymore since everyone has started focusing on the new collection.
These things eliminate the possibility of doing 'normal dropshipping', where you don't have to worry about the stock that much.
BrandsGateway pricing
We have shortly gone through the pricing, but here is the full picture.
When it comes to pricing, you have two options. The monthly plan for BrandsGateway is $307, and if you pay yearly, you pay $1,947, which is a 52% saving.
The pricing system is unique, as there is only one plan available, and you pay it monthly or yearly.
With the one plan, you get access to all of the features.
With the paid plan, BrandsGateway also promises extra things, including fast worldwide shipping, premium marketing resources from their team, and personalized onboarding support.
If you decide to cancel your plan, you have to contact BrandsGateway's support. They don't promise any refunds for the subscription packages.
How to start dropshipping with BrandsGateway
Now that you know what BrandsGateway is, its pros and cons, and more about the pricing, it's time to go through how you can get started using it.
Let's go through the process!
1. Sign up for the platform
The first step of starting with BrandsGateway is signing up for their platform.
Fortunately, they have a free version available that you can access from BrandsGateway's homepage.
From the homepage, click on one of the signup buttons.
This will lead you to the registration page, where you must fill in your name, email, and password.
Here, BrandsGateway asks you if you're dropshipper or retailer.
For most people, the right option is to select 'Dropshipper,' but if you want to buy larger product quantities as a retailer, you should choose the 'Retailer' option.
Once you have filled this out, you will have access to the BrandsGateway platform!
Once this is done, you're ready to move on to the next step.
2. Integrate BrandsGateway with your ecommerce platform
As we mentioned previously, BrandsGateway integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and Shift4shop.
For each option, the integration is a bit different. For WooCommerce, the integration can be found right inside the BrandsGateway admin dashboard.
For Shopify, Shift4shop, and Wix, the integrations happen from the App stores of those companies.
For example, you can find BrandsGateway from the Shopify App Store:
Because Shopify is the choice for most dropshippers, let's review how the integration works.
For this to work, you have to have your Shopify store set up.
Once set up, you can start the integration by clicking on the 'Install' button from BrandsGateway's Shopify App page.
From the page that appears, you just click on 'Install app.'
At this point, BrandsGateway asks you to select their paid plan. They only have one plan available, which you can pay monthly or yearly.
If you select yearly payment, the savings are 52%.
Once you have selected the plan, BrandsGateway asks you to go through a process where you get to choose the brands you want to dropship.
If there are brands you want to exclude from dropshipping, you can do that.
Once done, you can click on 'Save & Continue'.
After this, you have the basic integration setup done between BrandsGateway and Shopify!
At this point, you should see the BrandsGateway app inside your Shopify.
Note: If you don't have a Shopify store set up yet, you can take advantage of our special deal with Shopify and get a 3-day free trial for Shopify and the first three months for just $1 per month.
3. Import BrandsGateway products into your online store
Once the integration is done, it's time to import products.
This can be done right inside Shopify. If you use another ecommerce platform, the process will be almost identical.
From BrandsGateway App settings, you will find a section called 'Category Mapping.'
Category mapping is the process of matching BrandsGateway's categories with Shopify's manual collections.
This step is necessary when starting to sell with BrandsGateway and takes around a few hours.
Once done, all of the BrandsGateway products will be visible inside of your Shopify admin dashboard.
If you want to get a detailed view of how category mapping works, we would recommend you read BrandsGateway's detailed guide on it!
4. Start advertising your products
After you have imported BrandsGateway products into your online store, you're ready to start advertising your products.
Obviously, you have to take steps in between, such as designing your store, but we will not focus on those things too much here (since we have written articles on them already).
To get you started with advertising luxury items, we encourage you to read the following articles done by our team:
- Marketing for Dropshipping: How to Pick the Right Method
- 14 Ways to Advertise Your Dropshipping Store (No Facebook!)
- Facebook Ads for Dropshipping Stores: A Beginner’s Guide (2024)
The advertising will differ from selling low-ticket dropshipping products, but the key is to test as much as possible.
With available data on what works, you can focus your strategy on the things that actually work.
What do other users say about BrandsGateway?
With the help of review apps, we’ve collected what other users say about BrandsGateway.
BrandsGateway has a rating of 4.1 out of 5 on Trustpilot, with over 100 reviews.
Their customer service was mostly praised, but they also received complaints regarding their inconsistent inventory.
Here is what we found on their Trustpilot profile:
- Customers praised the customer service at BrandsGateway. Here are a few reviews:
Their customer support team is top-notch. They were highly responsive and resolved my queries promptly. They have earned my trust as a reliable source for quality products and impeccable service.
The customer support agent Elena is always ready to help and she does her best to always solve all the issues fast.
- Some users mentioned the problems that come with the inconsistent inventory. Here is what one of the customers wrote:
What you don't realize before subscribing is that they only sell leftovers. That means, these products are unique pieces, usually there is only 1-2 products are available and only from one size. Preorder is not possible for another sizes.
FAQs about BrandsGateway
To help you better understand BrandsGateway, let's look into a few frequently asked questions about the platform!
Is BrandsGateway legit?
Yes, BrandsGateway is a legitimate high-end fashion item supplier. BrandsGateway was founded in 2017, and since then, they have become one of the fastest-growing B2B fashion marketplaces. You can find products from over 100 luxury brands.
Is BrandsGateway available on Shopify?
Yes, BrandsGateway is available on the Shopify App Store. When you integrate BrandsGateway with your Shopify store, you can import high-end luxury products and sell them on your own store.
Are the BrandsGateway products authentic?
BrandsGateway has something called 'Authenticity Assurance,' where they commit to selling only products sourced directly from authorized dealers. This ensures that all of the available products are authentic.
BrandsGateway alternatives
BrandsGateway stands out as a good supplier for selling high-end luxury products, but there are also some great alternatives.
Let's go through three good options that you should consider!
1. BDroppy
BDroppy is a fashion dropshipping supplier, enabling dropshippers to access luxury brands like Calvin Klein, Burberry, Versace, and Tommy Hilfiger all from one platform.
Like with BrandsGateway, BDroppy offers a Shopify integration.
For pricing, BDroppy's plans range from 99€ to 199€ per month, making it a more affordable option than BrandsGateway.
BDroppy has a more affordable monthly plan but fewer luxury brands available.
2. Spocket
When comparing Spocket to BrandsDistribution, it's more of a platform with products from all categories, not just high-end luxury products.
The reason we listed them here is that they also have high-end luxury items available in their category. Here are a few examples:
We want to note that Spocket is not focused on providing products from luxury brands, which is what BrandsGateway does.
That's the most significant difference of the two.
In terms of pricing, Spocket pricing plans vary from $40 to $299 per month.
If you want to learn more about the platform, we encourage you to read our review of it here!
3. AppScenic
AppScenic doesn't have as many luxury item suppliers as BrandsGateway has, but if you're looking to dropship high-end furniture, jewelry, or popular brands like Nike, it's an excellent alternative to BrandsGateway.
The product selection is more extensive, with over a million available products.
AppScenic is more of a general supplier rather than only a high-end supplier.
When it comes to pricing, AppScenic is more affordable, with the paid pricing plans ranging from $29 to $89 per month.
There is also a Shopify app for AppScenic!
For related dropshipping suppliers, check out our list of the 9 best luxury dropshipping suppliers here.
Related reviews
Not sure yet about using BrandsGateway for your online business? Or are you interested in seeing what other companies are out there?
We’ve got you covered! Check out the reviews below to find great companies that will help you:
- CJdropshipping Dropshipping: How To Start (+ Review)
- Gelato Review: Is it the Best Print on Demand Supplier?
- DSers Review: Is It the Best App for AliExpress?
- Syncee Review: Does It Have the Best Global Suppliers?
- Supliful Review: Everything They Don’t Tell You!
- SaleHoo Review: Is It the Best Supplier Directory?
- Sellvia Review: Does It Have the Best US Suppliers? (2024)
And for more reviews, visit the review hub!
Taking action
Reading and absorbing information and knowledge is great (definitely if it’s free!), but do you know what’s even better?
Taking action!
So, to help you with taking action with what you have learned in this article, take a look at the bullet points:
- Decide what you want to dropship. Do you want to focus solely on dropshipping high-end luxury items? If that's you, then BrandsGateway is a great choice. However, if you want to dropship more general products, you may want to select another supplier.
- Compare the available solutions. There are quite a few high-ticket dropshipping suppliers you want to be familiar with before you opt for BrandsGateway's paid plan.
- Register for the free BrandsGateway plan. BrandsGateway has a free plan available that you can use to browse the platform. This will give you a better idea of the products that they have to offer you.
- Opt for a BrandsGateway plan. If you end up wanting to go with BrandsGateway, you have to select their monthly or yearly plan to get started with.
- Integrate BrandsGateway with your online store. Once you have your BrandsGateway plan selected, the only thing left is to integrate it with your online store. We went through the process earlier on the 'how to get started' section, so be sure to check it out if you need help!
Conclusion
That's it!
Our review of BrandsGateway, a luxury item dropshipping supplier platform.
While it's not the most affordable option, they do get you access to more luxury brands than any other platform out there.
If you're a dropshipper who wants to focus on this specific niche of high-end luxury products, then we can definitely recommend BrandsGateway as a platform.
For those looking for high-end products from all kinds of niches, you may want to check Modalyst and Spocket.
Good luck with your dropshipping journey!
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