AutoDS: Dropshipping & POD

Edit April 28th: After writing this review I was contacted by the company who then offered me the refund, along with a free month if I wanted to use their service again along with one on one support. Their solution to the issue was satisfactory but I do think the refund should've been given without needing to write the review.

If I could give this app zero stars I would. When I first installed the app it never worked as advertised and none of the items could actually be successfully purchased from my store. I then deactivated my account and the month after was charged a "usage" charge .. on a deactivated account. I then contacted support to request a refund as I don't know how there would be any usage on an inactive account and they denied the refund request and said that I said my account was deleted (I didn't, I said it was cancelled IE. Inactive) and they recommended I deactivate my account to ensure I do not get invoiced anything further. Even though my account is already inactive... Horrible customer service and obvious billing issues on their system, charging inactive accounts for usage charges.

Hard to use not beginner friendly the site itself does what it says it does but the support is very below average.

I am experiencing a lot of issues with AUTO DS, but at least i am grateful that they provide an expectational support team. Sofia helped me out today with billing issues and price monitoring issues. I will be monitoring the progress of the price monitoring for my items

Products are nice but internal product delivery needs improvement. They need a truly automated inventory, payment processing and order processing mechanism that operates without monitoring by the store owner.

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.

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.

Not a big fan. Very expensive with limited products.

Lorain was a great representative, however. She was very fast and helped immediately

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!
--------------
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.

-----
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.

Honestly this has made my business run so much smoother. I had some learning curve at the start as you get used to a certain way of operating. But the more I utilize the system it really is a time saver. Like that I can do everything I need to from one location and support has been very helpful and quick to resolve issues.
Two Week Update:
I have been using the system now for a couple weeks and unfortunately I'm starting to have real doubts in the app. It does offer a lot of features that are helpful but the promises and featured advantages of AutoDS is just untrue. For example they state they will convert all TBA Tracking into bluecare express my experience has been that this only happens 3 out of 10 orders the rest will never be converted. I did contact customer service and everytime they just state they are unable to fix it. Which I know is incorrect as I have a trackerbot account and I'm able to manual convert all my TBA regardless of delivery status etc. Prior to AutoDS I had a perfect delivery rating with all converted, since converting to AutoDS I have multiple late deliveries and many showing TBA tracking which has increased my returns asked for as well as gotten the attention of my selling platform who is asking why I'm not providing valid tracking. Do not offer a service and promote it as it will help you reach top seller status if it really just never works. Hopefully these issues will be fixed and I will update my review in another couple weeks.

Update #3 (17th Nov)
Uninstalled this horrid piece of software, it could not work out if things were in stock or not on Banggood UK. After spending far too long proving to support that it was their issue and not mine, I gave up and spent more time looking for an alternative, I've found it, moved to it and it just works. AutoDS might work for more basic stores but for me it was a waste of time, money and sales. Also, that $266 price increase rubbish, thanks for all the strikes I got every time your app could not work out stuff was in stock and the price on my platforms shot through the roof, appreciate that.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Update #2 (27th April)
I've been testing out the app and by and large it seems to be working out, a couple of minor issues that are being looked into, but the most important part for me was that I could re-link my existing products back to their supplier (no one wants to recreate hundreds of listings again) this is working pretty much as it should so I'm happy :)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Update:
I've just has a long chat with Lior from AutoDS who called me later the same day after my review, starting Tue 20th / Wed 21st April '21 they will be adding support for EU/UK warehouses on AliExpress and Banggood. For me personally this will be a big deal as AutoDS is the closest replacement to ShopMaster, I look forward to giving it a try and all I shall update my review after some testing to let you all know how it goes.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Review:
Looks good and feature packed, lack of interest in supporting non US/China warehouses meant it was not suitable for my business model. Would reconsider in the future if support was added.