AutoDS: Dropshipping & POD

This is my first time using AutoDS. I had created another store and deleted it. I followed the instructions on a You Tuber site and created another store using AI. They were supposed to be linked together. I spoke with Carlos today and he explained they were not connected and sent me the link to assist. I contacted support because my drafts would not import. I hope to have it up and running today.

The app seems to have everything, but I don't have any true directions on how to automate everything, and being my first time, it is really difficult to navigate. There is no one available for the live chat to help, I need help with this process.

Sandy was amazing at searching for solutions to my issues and knowing the solutions to common ones. However, the Shopify and AutoDS backend integration settings and help articles for this sync should be improved by both companies.

Update: AutoDs contacted my store through WhatsApp after seeing my review. They offered to refund my balances, invited me to try their service again with some assistance on managing fees, and offered me 1 month of free service with personal 1 on 1 service for questions on WhatsApp. I waited to update this review for the refunds to clear and am considering trying them again - the refunds took my 1-star review to a 3-star review and will be upgraded to a 5-star If I try them again and have a better experience.

My experience with AutoDS has been overwhelmingly negative due to a variety of issues related to cost, hidden fees, and poor customer support.

Cost Issues:

High Subscription Costs: The platform requires users to pay substantial monthly or yearly subscription fees. Even with these payments, many essential features remain locked behind additional paywalls.

Additional Charges: Key features like AI rewrites of product descriptions and automatic order fulfillment require purchasing additional tokens. This makes the overall cost of using AutoDS significantly higher than initially expected.

Managed Balance Requirements: Users must maintain a managed balance to cover each order. In my case, I was charged over ten times the cost of a product due to various hidden fees. These fees are mentioned in the agreement but are buried deep, making them easy to overlook until it’s too late.

Customer Support:

Automated and Unhelpful: The customer support chat is primarily AI-driven, directing users to submit tickets without providing meaningful assistance. When I sought clarification about the overcharge, the response was dismissive, citing "taxes and fees" without providing a detailed breakdown.

Non-Refundable Balances: None of the balances on the platform are refundable, turning it into a money pit with so many hidden costs and fees that maintaining competitive pricing is nearly impossible unless you sell at a loss.

Conclusion:
Due to the combination of high costs, hidden fees, and inadequate customer support, I cannot recommend AutoDS to anyone. It has proven to be an unsustainable and frustrating experience.

Its alright. So far I have had issues with sourcing request and creating a smooth system flow.

Apparently, mentorship is not a priority! According to their reply when I asked a question for a mentor. I can't attach a screenshot of their email in the review but below is the link to the screenshot. I suggest not advertising mentorship advice if you can't offer it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xyTkolyS_dqhXtFvXsxoB21vJfkwOp85/view?usp=sharing

The tracking is not updated in time. Sometimes, it updates the tracking on time, sometimes it doesn't. When I asked why, they got back to me after 3 days. Given the short shipping window for TikTok and amazon, that's too late.

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Adding another star, almost entirely for Dorina, who has helped me so much. Without her, I'd never be able to process a basic order. Thank you Dorina!
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Adding an extra star for Dorina, who has been extremely attentive and helpful.

Still, heed my warning, no matter who you signup with:

1- Nothing is "automatic."
(!New!) 1a- Orders cancelled by suppliers with no notice or reason given.
2- Expect problems. & there are exceptions to everything.
3- Don't believe a word of marketing, esp. Shopify's drivel (trust me, I worked in Marketing for a few companies and wrote this stuff).
4- ChatGPT 4 is excellent at generating apology emails to customers.
5- Thank the heavens I haven't started marketing my site yet. I guess, deep down, I knew to expect issues. And wow... was I right.

I'll continue to adjust star ratings as things progress.

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Pure, buggy garbage. Can I give it 0 stars?

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Half my orders end up in "error" state, and when I ask why, I get the standard ".... the order was cancelled by the supplier or customer (whatever that means)," and/or "we have no control over anything" (that much is clear). If (and this is rare) an order actually ships, the shipping times are pretty abysmal. There is literally no useful support.

In summary, a lot of big promises, and massive under delivery. I'm actively trying to find a competent replacement, but my fear is that this is as good as it gets (which leads to bigger questions about "the side hustle." Who is this really benefitting anyway?... hmmm...").

Shopify and AutoDS have turned my initial excitement and exuberance into a daily, dread-filled check of my email and Shopify balance, followed by a slew of apology emails to customers and discount codes they'll probably never user, because their initial experience was so poor (and so out of my control).

I would do anything to start over again with a completely different infrastructure. I can't believe I'm going to have to start PAYING these people money soon, unless I just pull the plug, of course.

there is people out there who can't do their role as support and there those that can. I recently was having issues with verifying my account on auto ds and i spoke to 2 agents and they haven't done what the last agent i just spoke to did.

Changing this review from 1 star to 3 stars because Dorina from cusomter support worked really hard to help me get the refund and I had a good experience with her. This happened after leaving 1 star review.
Really disappointed with Auto DS
1. signed up for ¨mentorship program¨, got in touch and never got a response, somehow AutoDS still made me pay and told me it´s non-refundable, for a service I never got! And careful, because when you signed up for it, they never clarified there was a cost nor how much is the cost.
2. their network of suppliers are super small, expensive and super slow to respond (2 or 3 days or not ever), so I didn´t use their supplier network
3.. had to manually fulfill the order because the automatic doesn´t work (then the customer support used this excuse to not refund me ), try to understand the why and the reason, OK?
4. at the end, I filed for a refund for over a week and never heard back, just HORRIBLE customer service