Dropshipping

In short, dropshipping is the moving of goods from a manufacturer directly to the retailer without going through the usual distribution channels.

In essence, this means that you would market products on your own platform, and once a customer buys that product, the manufacturer or supplier will send it to them.

Dropshipping is one way to earn a complete income online with truly little work and can be done remotely.

In this post we are going to go over several key factors to starting your own dropshipping business.

What we cover

  • Choosing a niche
  • Finding your first product
  • Dropshipping without a website
  • Best Ecommerce Builders
  • Best Ecommerce Integrators
  • How to sell your products
  • Additional tips for optimizing your Dropshipping Business

Choosing a niche

There are a ton of niches out there, and you’ll want to pick what’s best for you.

Although you can promote a bunch of different niches, focusing on one or two that you can put your time and effort into will most likely get you the best results, and additionally, save you some headache.

What do you love to do or love the idea of?

Maybe you have something you’re already familiar with doing (building websites, gardening, traveling, and taking pictures, gaming and communicating, fitness training and supplements, cleaning and organizing, couponing, teaching or coaching, etc.) that you can educated others on?

Ultimately, you’ll want to pick something that inspires you as well as something that you love to do.

Think of it as a business – the more time and effort you put into it, the more you get paid.

Some people use dropshipping as a side hustle, (maybe they just want a few hundred extra dollars a month) and some people want it to be a full-time income (and make more money than they could’ve ever imagined)– so it truly is up to you.

Decide how you want to treat it, and make it happen, so you can start learning how to make money online with dropshipping.

If you’re really struggling to find a niche, here are some other helpful resources that may help you make a decision about your nice.

Wikipedia

Head over to Wikipedia and scroll through their list of hobbies. This can get you closer to choosing something you’ll love to do.

List of hobbies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hobbies

Google trends

Google trends gives you an idea of what is trending currently. If you’re curious as to what people are searching for, this is going to be very helpful.

Consider a keyword research tool for a general insight of what people are looking for online.

Finding your first product

Once you’ve chosen your niche, it’s time to find your first product and make sure it’s going to be profitable.

Tips to finding your first product

When it comes to finding the perfect first product you’ll want to take some things into consideration.

After all, you want people to buy and love your product, but also, feel they need it.

Factors for a perfect product

  • It has a wow factor
  • It solves a problem
  • It’s high quality
  • Upselling is easy

Much like picking a niche, research is going to come into play here.

Fortunately, there are some tricks to finding your first winning product for free.

6 Best ways to find your winning Dropshipping product

#tiktokmademebuyit

TikTok is a fast-growing platform where users post up to 3-minute clips of trending videos of themselves, products they love, tutorials, and more.

#Tiktokmademebuyit is a popular hashtag people use to show others what TikTok literally made them buy.

Searching this hashtag in the TikTok app is going to help you see what others are buying, how many likes it’s getting.

Moreover, you’ll be able to see comments from other people and view their feedback about that specific product.

Facebook Ads

Another way to find a winning product is a Facebook tool called Dropispy.

Dropispy shows ads to products that are going viral right now.

Another one for Facebook is the My Ad Finder extension. This will show you which ads are getting the most attention.

Amazon Movers and Shakers

Amazon is another place to go to find a winning product.

Head over to Amazon and look at the Movers and Shakers category there.

This is going to give you more products that are currently rising in popularity.

Autofill

Another tip is to use the autofill in search bars in differently sites and platforms.

Basically, type in your niche, and see what comes up behind it in the autofill.

This will let you know what is most searched for by its users within your niche.

A few good places to check the autofill feature are Google, Pinterest, and Etsy.

Shopify Websites for Sale

Shopify is a great place to not only find a good product, but to see which sites are doing well.

Under the “websites for sale” at the bottom of the Shopify homepage is a good place to find what sites are up and how much revenue they’re making.

If you have no experience and need some ideas this may come in handy

Keyword Research Tool

Using a keyword research tool is a great way of finding a winning product.

In short, some can give you a full analysis of trending, low competition products and additionally, let you know what the probabilities will be of selling specific products successfully.

To view a detailed list of some great keyword research tools, check out our keyword research section.

Dropshipping without a website

With drop shipping, you’re typically going to have a website or a social media platform to “sell” (market) your products.

Luckily, there are some surprisingly good options for this, including social media platforms and pre-made websites.

Facebook Marketplace

Dropshipping on Facebook Marketplace from suppliers has become quite popular.

Basically, you’ll find a product or products that could sell well on Facebook Marketplace and then find use the listing photos and descriptions from those suppliers and upload them to the Marketplace.

When someone buys the product from you, then you will go to the suppliers website, purchase the item with their name and address, and the supplier will send the item to the customer.

However, there are cons to using Facebook Marketplace for drop shipping.

First, you’ll have to have some sort of reserve.

When a customer places an order from you, Facebook will hold their payment until the item has been delivered to them.

Second, Facebook Marketplace is an unsaturated market. This will allow you to have a lot of opportunity to get a lot of orders right away, with the right products.

This in turn will lead to you needing an even higher reserve depending on the cost of the products you’re dropshipping.

Third, dropshipping hasn’t been officially approved for Facebook, so getting caught could mean a suspension of your account.

Yes, a lot of people have been very successful with Facebook Marketplace dropshipping, and you may not have any issues with it.

Just don’t necessarily consider it a long term solution for a steady income.

Lastly, you’ll have to be on top of everything.

Once a customer has placed an order, you have only 72 hours to get the tracking number and input it to the Marketplace.

Offerup

Offerup is another platform that has grown massively.

With over 50 million downloads, Offerup could essentially be a great place to use for dropshipping your products.

However, there is a slight difference to dropshipping with Offerup verses some other platforms.

When it comes to drop shipping with Offerup, they want to know that you’re actually selling the product.

Therefore, when a customer places an order with you, Offerup will send you a shipping label to print off. Once you print it, you will have to send that tracking code to the customer.

Simply put, you’ll place the order with the customers address from the site you’re drop shipping from with the customers information (name and address) and then you’ll print the tracking slip, go to the post office, and send it to the customer.

An extra tip for shipping the label to the customer is to include a thank you note to them as well.

Currently, you’re only able to list from your phone, so if you’re looking for something you can do from your computer, you may want to look at other dropshipping options.

Alternatively, you can download the Bluestacks app,  which will emulate your phone onto your computer to make it easier.

Also, keep in mind that also like Facebook Marketplace dropshipping, it hasn’t been officially improved to dropship on Offerup either.

If you’re caught drop shipping, there is a possibility of getting a suspension on your account.

With that being said, also don’t consider this as a long term income. If you decide to dropship with Offerup or Facebook Marketplace, make sure you’re building up other streams of income as well.

Walmart Marketplace

Contrary to popular belief, with Walmart you’ll have to already have an Ecommerce store.

Furthermore, Walmart Marketplace also has more requirements that you’ll have to take under consideration before applying to sell products on their site.

In addition to already owning an Ecommerce store, they also require you to have an EIN number, upload your identification, and provide a W9 or W8 to start selling.

Much like selling on Amazon, Walmart does charge a percentage of the sales you made (15% as of now).

You can purchase an EIN number to apply for one on the IRS website here

After you’ve uploaded all documents and sent your Ecommerce stores URL, they will review your application.

The approval process can take anywhere between 30 minutes, or a few months.

However, becoming a seller may be worth it, considering it’s  the 2nd largest store for consumer purchases.

Etsy

Dropshipping is possible with Etsy, but under certain limitations.

First, the products you’re dropshipping must be vintage, digital, or hand-made.

Second, you’ll have to pay a $.20 listing fee on all your items.

If you’re looking to scale, and import a ton of products, Etsy may not be right for you.

However, if you are only looking to sell a few products and are confident they’ll gain volume, it’s very possible to successfully dropship with Etsy.

You will be able to dropship from many stores, including Amazon, Walmart, Etc., as long as they fit the criteria.

A helpful integrator for dropshipping with Etsy is CJDropshipping.

CJDropshipping provides products, shipping, free transfer and storage to the US, and integrates with Etsy, along with other platforms, with just a few clicks.

We will discuss other CJDropshipping benefits further along in this post.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many ways to dropship products without a website.

However, building an Ecommerce store does have it’s benefits.

8 Benefits to having an Ecommerce Store

  • You can choose your own domain name
  • There are no restrictions on which category you choose to sell in
  • It can be customized to your liking
  • You can obtain emails from customers
  • You have complete control of marketing
  • There’s the potential of building your own brand
  • Customers won’t be distracted by other sellers products
  • You can upsell, bundle, and provide discounts (on most platforms)

5 Must Haves for Building an Ecommerce Store

  1. A domain name
  2. A platform to sell on
  3. A host, if your chosen platform isn’t self hosted
  4. A integrator (to integrate products from suppliers to your store)
  5. A supplier (or several)

Getting a domain name

Although some platforms will offer a free domain name, they are only going to be free for the first year.

You may want to do your research on the platform you choose and find out what it’s actually going to cost you to use their “free domain name”.

Typically, after your first year is up, they’ll start charging you an average of $15/year.

An alternative to this is signing up for a more affordable domain such as Namecheap which is an average of $6/year, sometimes even less depending on your chosen domain.

With Namecheap, not only do they provide a domain for an affordable price, but they include the security to your domain.

They also offer a free professional email specific to your domain.

Picking a platform

When it comes to picking a platform for your store, there are a few things you’re going to want to look for.

First and foremost, you’ll want a platform that is easy to use and affordable.

Secondly, it should easily integrate with your chosen suppliers.

Third, it should have excellent features and extensions to help grow your business.

Lastly, and equally important, it should be easily customizable to your niche.

5 Best Ecommerce Builders

  1. Clickfunnels
  2. Shopify
  3. Commerce HQ
  4. BigCommerce
  5. Wix

Another important factor to consider, is some platforms will be self-hosted, while others will not.

Fortunately, paying for hosting is incredibly affordable, and may be the way to go to building your Ecommerce store.

In fact, it may save you a lot of money.

First, let’s go over the Best Ecommerce Builders for Dropshipping.

Clickfunnels

If you’re looking for a one product store, you’ll may want to consider Clickfunnels.

With Clickfunnels, you’re bringing people to your one product directly, unlike Shopify where you’ll be bringing them to a store with multiple products.

Pros of using Clickfunnels

  • It’s easy to create upsells.
  • It’s self-hosted
  • Free templates available
  • Once someone buys your product, you can offer them a second related product, or offer a discount on their next purchase.

Shopify

Shopify is the most widely used for dropshippers and Ecommerce.

It’s been around for a long time and it’s typically the go-to platform for most users.

It integrates with multiple suppliers and has a ton of helpful apps to scale your business.

However, there are some cons to using Shopify.

First, lets take a look at the pros.

Pros to using Shopify for Dropshipping

  • It’s a Self-hosted site
  • Fast loads time
  • Free templates available
  • Multiple payment options for customers
  • Shipping labels printed right from the platform
  • Discount codes for customers available to create
  • Insights and analytics

Cons to using Shopify for Dropshipping

  • High costs
  • Although Shopify seems affordable at around $30/month for a store, there are many other features you’ll have to pay for.
  • When it comes to apps needed to scale your business, Shopify definitely has a wide variety.
  • However, every app you’ll want will cost you an extra fee.
  • Abandoned cart emails, countdown timers, extra payment options, one click upsells, etc will all have to paid separately.
  • You’re Only allowed up to 3 variants on each item (example: T-shirt sizes S, M, L OR Black,White,Gray)
  • Personalized items is difficult to do. (Example: engraving, names on shirts, etc) You will have to download a specific app or know how to input code into your site.
  • Transaction fees are charged when using any payment capturing besides Shopify Payments (1-3%)
  • Sales data isn’t included in the basic plan.
  • Only USD payments are allowed for customers, unless you pay for a separate app.
  • Shipping times aren’t displayed to customers if you aren’t using the highest priced plan

Shopify still is a highly used platform for dropshipping and does have it’s benefits.

However, if you’re planning on using Shopify keep in mind that you may have to upgrade, or pay for extra apps to make your site fully customizable to your liking.

CommerceHQ

CommerceHQ hasn’t been around as long as Shopify, but they have a variety of pros to using their platform.

Pros to using Commerce HQ for Dropshipping

  • SSL is included
  • Can sell up to $30,000 with their basic plan
  • No selling transaction fees
  • Multiple apps available for free
  • Themes are all free and high converting
  • Gift cards available for customers
    Easy migration from other platforms
  • Facebook Ad sets are available
  • Free print on demand service
  • Self-hosted
  • Product customization for customers
  • Fast load times
  • Advanced reporting is included
  • Related products are included
  • 1 click upsells
  • App available to use on mobile

Cons to using CommerceHQ for Dropshipping

  • Have to manually import reviews
  • Monthly subscription is higher than it’s competitors
  • Customer support only available through email

Bigcommerce

Bigcommerce is used by some of the larger brands and is built for store owners who plan on selling a lot of products.

Pros to using Bigcommerce for Dropshipping

  • Quick product uploading
  • No additional selling fees
  • Self Hosted
  • More variants available to your customers,  (sizes, colors, etc.) up to 250 to be exact.
  • Easy to sell digital products
  • Free professional reporting
  • 15 day free trial
  • Integrates with other currencies automatically
  • Shipping rates are customizable
  • Includes SEO features
  • Has a mobile app

Cons to using Bigcommerce for Dropshipping

  • Will need to pay for an app for dropshipping specifically such as Spocket, Modalyst, Inventory Source, or Alidropship.
  • Automatically upgrades your plan once you hit a certain sales volume
  • Only 12 very similar free themes
  • Can occasionally be buggy
  • No free email marketing without a paid app
  • Customer support isn’t as good as some of it’s competitors
  • No shipping discounts are available with any plan

Wix

Wix used to be a platform specifically for blogging. Now, they have upgraded to a more ecommerce friendly platform.

Pros to using Wix for Dropshipping

  • Self-hosted
  • Easy navigation
  • More affordable than it’s competitors
  • More free templates available
  • 5000 free emails included with their basic plans
  • Good for beginners
  • Print on demand is available

Cons of using Wix for Dropshipping

  • Gift cards are not available for customer purchase
  • Selling internationally can be difficult if you’re not based and selling in the US.
  • The refund process is more difficult if you don’t like the platform
  • Domain names purchased on other sites are hard to integrate
  • Domain names provided on Wix are more expensive than other domain providers
  • Site security not included
  • Slow load times
  • Slow order processing times

Now let’s talk about Integrators.

Basically, integrators are the bridge between your store and supplier. They are used to source your products and place them onto your website.

6 Best Integrators for Dropshipping

  1. CJ Dropshipping
  2. Salehoo
  3. Inventory Source
  4. Sourcinbox
  5. Udroppy
  6. Eprolo

CJDropshipping

CJ Dropshipping is like a combination of Oberlo and Shopify. Within their site, they take care of just about everything. They also let you start without a setup or monthly fee.

CJDropshipping integrates with multiple platforms to be able to sell your products. WooCommerce, Shopify, Ebay, and Etsy to name a few.

Other benefits include a no minimum order quantity, multiple location product sourcing, and free shipping from overseas.

Additionally, CJ offers custom packaging, print on demand, and a level-based benefit reward points system to keep you motivated.

Salehoo

Salehoo is another easy to use platform that integrates Shopify and Aliexpress specifically.

Their $27 plan allows for the sourcing of 500 products, whereas their $97 plan allows for 3 stores and an unlimited number of sourced products.

Inventory Source

Inventory Source is a full-featured dropship automation platform. They are used by 1000s of sellers and have been around for 15 years.

With Inventory Source, you don’t have to take care of any updating of prices, paying any extra fees or commissions, or hassle with contacting suppliers.

Inventory Source also integrates with many sales channels including Ebay, Amazon, Big Commerce, WordPress, Shopify, and Walmart.

What’s more, they offer a large number of exclusive brands and high-quality products.

Inventory Source offers a free plan with limited features, and their pro plans start at $99/month for their Basic Plan or $199/month for their Full Automation Plan.

Eprolo

Eprolo and CJDropshipping are very comparable in several ways.

It integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Ebay, Amazon, provides a print on demand service, and no monthly fees.

Additionally, their shipping time is pretty good too, at an average of 5-7 days.

However, with Eprolo you do have a limited number of products, which is something to keep in mind if you choose them as your integrator.

SourcinBox

Much like CJDropshipping and Eprolo, SourceInBox is another platform that makes it easy to import products into your store.

However, they only integrate with Shopify and WooCommerce, but if you’re using one of these builders to sell your products then this integrator may be right for you.

Oberlo

Oberlo is an integrator that is one of the most popular for Dropshipping.

It specifically with Shopify and sources their products from Aliexpress.

uDroppy

uDroppy also only integrates with Shopify stores, but you’re able to source your products from the US, Spain, Italy, or China from a simple dropdown filter.

With uDroppy, you can also sign up for a free plan.

However, the free plan only allows for 5 orders per week.

Upgrading to the pro will allow you unlimited orders, stores, and a merchant success manager, which could be highly beneficial if you plan on running multiple stores.

However, if you’re just beginning you may want to start with a more affordable plan, as the pro plan for uDroppy runs around $150/month

Spocket

Spocket is a great integrator if you’d like to source your products specifically from the US.

Because they’re based in the US, they tend to have a much faster shipping time compared to it’s competitors.

However, they will have less product selection for importing your products.

How to advertise your products

When it comes to advertising your products (which is key to building a profitable dropshipping business), your main focus is going to be social media.

Luckily, there are tons of social media platforms out there, and almost everyone uses one platform or another.

Social Media platforms to use for advertising

Facebook

If you’re planning on building a brand, you should have a Facebook Business Page. Not only will this help people find your products, but it will help you build a brand that looks professional.

Plus, you can build a following here for fans that love your products.

However, if you’re only going to be dropshipping one product, Facebook is going to be best for using Ads.

Instagram

Instagram is great for showing off your products because it is based around sharing photos.

An app like PlaceIt is great for Instagram, as you can use it to showcase your products on different people and in various settings.

TikTok

Tiktok is going to be great for using your products in videos and expanding your reach with your product or brand.

You can also get quite creative with TikTok, by using Canva and making videos yourself or hiring a professional to create Ads for you.

Depending on what your products are, and whether you’re building a brand or just testing out products will depend on how you can market them.

See more about advertising with Social Media

Get creative and use the best platforms that suit your dropshipping business.

Additional Tips to Optimizing your Dropshipping Business

There are other helpful tools that can help you with automating your business and ultimately get you more sales.

It’s a good idea to have some form of an email marketing campaign, subscription service, and a way to automate your social media posts.

Not only can these things help scaled your business, but it will save you a lot of time and energy as well, so you can focus more on your store and fulfillments.

Helpful plugins and extensions for your E-commerce Dropshipping store

Ecommerce image downloader chrome extension to download images from your suppliers listing  

Zeedrop chrome extension to list to multiple marketplaces at once with a copy and paste feature

CMCommerce to send follow up emails about abandoned cards, coupon codes, or new products.

Zapier to keep track of your sales (integrates with Quickbooks and HubSpot)

Modalyst chrome extension to easily integrate products onto your store

ListPerfectly to cross-post products from other marketplaces

Trackipal to sync your tracking information with PayPal

TopDser to fill orders quickly, get faster shipping, and lower production costs.

Alisave chrome extension to allow you to download all images from Aliexpress with one click to list to your store

Fiverr to hire people for marketing, store creation, product promotion, and video ads.

LeadDyno to pay others to advertise your business

Ryvue (app on store) to pull reviews for the product you’re selling and integrate them into your store

PlaceIt for extra marketing pictures if you are creating digital designs for merchandise

Tips to Ad Creation and Marketing for Dropshipping

Using Video

Video in marketing has become increasingly popular and is almost a must-have to be successful in dropshipping.

When creating videos, try to use high-quality videos, 1080p if possible.

Furthermore, show the item being used by multiple different people when appropriate (kids, moms, teens, etc.)

There are some apps you can use to create videos yourself pretty easily.

Canva is a good example and can be used not only for creating videos but a ton more.

They have a free version and a 14 day free trial to test out their pro features.

Giphy could be useful if you could use GIFs in your marketing plan, and it’s also free. Giphy is an app that allows you to turn your videos into GIFs or to create them yourself with the wide variety of available to use templates.

See video editing software programs.

Alternatively, there are people out there that can create video ads for you at a reasonable price.

Bandsoffads and ViralEcomAds, for example, are sites  that you can go to have custom video creations made for you. You will simply send them information about your product and they will get started.Purchasing Video and Video Ads

Another similar company is Billo.

Billo has 1000s of people online that will create a video ad actually using your product.

In short, you will send them the product, and they will create you a video ad of them using it.

They also have a 30 day money back guarantee if you’re not happy with your video ad.

Their prices start off at $59/per video, but you are able to save some money if you’re planning on using multiple videos.

Fiverr is another site to check out, as they have a wide variety of people on their platform that are able to do almost anything when it comes to digital design and marketing.

Saving Money and Time

BeFrugal, Rakuten, and Honey chrome extensions to save money on tons of websites, subscriptions, or products

In addition to some of these helpful apps, you can save a lot of time by investing (or getting a free version) of a social media scheduler.

Within this post, you should now be ready to take the next step into starting Dropshipping.

Moreover, it can seem overwhelming at first, but once you pick the right platform, learn how to import your products, and conquer marketing, you’ll be well on your way to earning an income online.

Alternatively if you’ve decided dropshipping isn’t for you, you may want to check out selling digital products instead.

Digital products are a great option if you’re someone not wanting to fulfill orders or constantly list products.

With digital products, you only have to make them once and see the profits for years to come.

To learn more about creating, marketing, or selling digital products, check out our Digital Products post.