Dropshipping Startup Costs: How Much Money Does It Take to Get Started?
One of the most common questions I get is “How much does it cost to start dropshipping?”
The truth is, it can cost a lot– or almost nothing to start a dropshipping business…
And the honest answer is you’re better off with the option that costs almost no money.
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It Doesn’t Cost Much to Start Dropshipping the Right Way
To be honest, dropshipping can cost you a lot of money or it can cost you next to nothing. Contrary to what people will often say, the right way to get started dropshipping
The other
Companies that want to charge you to
Middlemen are the WRONG Way to Dropship
As you start doing research, you’ll come across companies that want to charge you a lot of money just to get started dropshipping. More often than not, these companies are nothing more than middlemen that are charging you for access to resources for building your site and selling their products.
Whenever anyone wants to charge you for things like that, especially when you're a total eCommerce beginner, they're only trying to make money off of you and your lack of experience.
Companies that want to charge you to get started are
Companies that claim
That's the wrong way to build any business.
Companies like this are not exactly scams. However, it’s a losing proposition for the person on the retail side. The third-party middleman is the one who is benefiting most from this system.
Now the other way to start dropshipping– the one that will make you profitable– is if you build your own store and get approved with real suppliers.
But how and where should you do that?
One word: Shopify
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Don’t Waste Your Money– Start Dropshipping the Right Way
Now the other way to start dropshipping costs almost nothing. Yes, you read that right.
Not only does this way cost next to nothing to get started, it’s the right way to build a long-term online business.
Let’s break down the startup costs of dropshipping:
Shopify Costs to Start Dropshipping
First off, when building your store this way, you’ll use Shopify.
This is the eCommerce platform we’ve been using (and recommending) for the past several years. It’s the only platform we 100% stand behind.
Shopify costs $29 a month, and that comes with a free 14-day trial. It’s well worth it.
Try Shopify Free for 14 Days Using This Link. After That, It's Just $29 a Month.
The process to building a good-looking drop shipping store isn’t complicated.
You don’t need to have the best designed, most beautiful Shopify store in the world to make 7-figure sales. All you need is a Shopify dropshipping store that people will visit and see is
For more information about building your Shopify dropshipping store, check out our tutorial.
LIVE Presentation: Learn the Secret Weapon That all 7 Figure Drop Shippers Know
Get My List of
237 Profitable Product Ideas
Attend my FREE training on how to drop ship
profitable and I'll give you my list of 237 Profitable
Product Ideas completely free!
Attend my FREE training on how to drop ship profitable and I'll give you my list of 237 Profitable Product Ideas completely free!
Dropship Supplier Startup Costs
As for as getting products to sell, remember you’re following the Drop Ship Lifestyle model. There is no upfront costs for sourcing products to sell.
The Suppliers You Want to Work With, Won’t Charge You Until You Send Them Orders!
The type of dropship suppliers you will work with following our model will never charge you for access to their products. That means you're not paying for these items until you sell them.
If you use real suppliers, they won’t charge you until you’re sending them orders. Then they'll charge you for the orders. It’s a win-win for you and your supplier.
Paid Traffic Costs
As far as some of the other typical costs of starting a dropshipping business, you might be wondering
The beauty of using the Drop Ship Lifestyle model is you can actually get $100 in credit from Google for running ads. By the time you spend that $100, you should definitely get at least one sale in your store.
Then you take that profit and reinvest, and
Bottom Line: The Startup Cost for a Shopify Dropshipping Store Can be as Little as $40
Dropshipping on Shopify Startup Costs:
Shopify comes with a 14 day free trial, plenty of time to build a store people will buy from, and it costs
For paid traffic, we recommend using Google
If you got value from this, please do let me know in the comments below. And if you have any questions, definitely post them as well! I’m always happy to continue the conversation there.
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hi, I got preety confusing, how to get the money after sell the product from Shopify? I mean, is it directly deposit our bank
account or should we need to open new account for Shopify?
It is deposited into your checking account :). You link your bank details when creating your Shopify Payments account.
I want to join your group. Can you help me?
Hi Mintu,
I’m assuming you’re referring to our private community.
If you’re a member of Drop Ship Lifestyle, you can find the link to join in our member’s area.
If you’re not a member yet, you can enroll here.
Thanks for the info. My concern around all of this is the ongoing monthly costs that you would incur even before you have a potential sale. Also obtaining products in a timely manor. Most people are experienced with online ordering and having products within a short time frame. I don’t see how this can be achieved if you use suppliers overseas.
Thanks for your good website and information!
You’re welcome! Happy to share 🙂
Also, if you’re new here to sure to check out my free training on how to build a highly profitable, semi-automated dropshipping store.
Hi. I’m at the very beginning of this enterprise. The one thing I cant seem to get my mind around is the actual purchasing process. When a customer orders something from my store and I then place the order with my supplier. Do I have to spend my own money to buy from the supplier or is the customer money paying for the order and I then make my money once the order has been been completed.
Hi Ashely,
You can either use your own money/credit card or wait 48 hours for Shopify to deposit the funds into your account.
Hey man I’m a young black Male trying to find his way with a burning hustle and there is something’s I just dont understand with dropshipping so to my knowledge you have too still put up nice amount of money to start dropshipping with shopify. AND CAN you tell me what you absolutely need this money for.
When a customer needs to return a damaged product, does the customer pays for the shipping?
Great question, Liz!
The answer is that it depends on your Shipping & Returns Policy. In Drop Ship Lifestyle, I share our templates for you to use on your store but as a general rule of thumb, the customer pays for return shipping (and sometimes a restocking fee) if they change their mind about the purchase. However, if the items arrived damaged then we will cover the return shipping fee + replacement. Sidenote: this is why insuring shipments is important 😉
Hi Anton,
Thank you for the very clear, informative and inspiring presentations you provide us free of charge. It indeed motivates us to sign up.
When a shipped product is damaged when received by a customer, will the supplier pick up the tab for the second shipping cost?
Great question, Liz!
The answer is that it depends on your Shipping & Returns Policy. In Drop Ship Lifestyle, I share our templates for you to use on your store but as a general rule of thumb, the customer pays for return shipping (and sometimes a restocking fee) if they change their mind about the purchase. However, if the items arrived damaged then we will cover the return shipping fee + replacement. Sidenote: this is why insuring shipments is important 😉
Are the Shopify drop ship partners pre qualified? How do I know that when a customer buys an item from my store that the supplier will send the item once I purchase it in a timely manner and get to the customer quickly and how do I know it looks exactly like the image and fits etc Are the suppliers through the shopify store proven quality?
Great question, Juliette!
You will need to vet all of your suppliers prior to reaching out to them to get approved.
I give you a list of suppliers, and show you how to confirm they are legit, inside of my Award Winning Drop Ship Blueprint.
You can learn more here: https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/webinar/
Hope that helps!
Very informative article.
I am a WordPress Developer so I want to develop my site by woocommerce. Even I have a web hosting, just need to buy a domain. So If I do this, is it the right decision for me? If not, why it’s a wrong decision?
I prefer Shopify over WooCommerce since their sole focus is eCommerce. They are leading the way with technology and they also have the best support.
Hi Anton, Great article. my question is regarding suppliers. Obviously as a new eCommerce business, my concern is how these established suppliers will work with me? Can you share what are some of the criteria needed/required from them?
Hi Ivan,
It’s really all about how you position your business. This is covered in detail in Module 4 of my Drop Ship Blueprint.
If you don’t already have access, you can enroll here:
https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/ecommerce-courses/
If you do have access, you can go here:
https://courses.dropshiplifestyle.com/lesson/4-0-introduction/
Hope that helps!
Hey Anton,
whats the cost pm to have a store , also do you charge a commision on each product shipped by the dropshipping process?
Hey Roz,
Can you clarify what you mean by “cost pm”?
And no, we do not charge any commissions to students of Drop Ship Lifestyle 🙂
It’s not clear on monthly charges. $24 and $100 every month?
Hi Monica,
Shopify is $29/month.
Regarding traffic, I recommend starting with free $100 Google Credit, getting profitable, and then reinvesting profits into more ads.
I’ll be covering this in my next webinar here: https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/webinar/
Hope that helps!
Anton
Hey Anton! I just wanna know if I use Google Ads specifically then I will get targeted sales, but after installing all the necessary apps etc. how much will be required to invest in order to get $1000 in profit? What’s that investing amount for a general store to get 1k profit? Any idea? So that I can start myself by watching and reading your free courses and then I can pay for your paid classes so that I can live a professional dropship lifestyle. #Q- What’s the minimum amount required to get 1k profits?
Hi Shah,
In my Drop Ship Blueprint, I recommend getting started with free apps.
And while I’m not allowed to make any income claims, I can say that we always strive to get a 10x ROAS (Return On Ad Spend).
That means I would be willing to spend $100 to get $1,000 in sales. It is also our goal to maintain a 25%+ profit margin.
With that being said, it’s not always about paid ads. I also teach how to get free traffic inside of my Drop Ship Blueprint 🙂
Hope that helps!
Dear Anton! It’s very good sounds that the Shopify startup costs are low but if you selling your course than all of this are expensive! This amount is in Hungary 2 months average salary. Please, note this also!
Hi Balázs,
Thank you for the comment! My advice to you would be to get started with my free training. Then, after you start making sales and money, come back and invest in my coaching program to fast track your results 🙂
Also, I’m not sure where you are from in Hungary but I had a great time in Budapest while I was there and I will be back this fall!
Hi where can I sign up for your free training?
Here’s the link!
https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/webinar/
Excellent ideas, I’ve been watching for years, I think now I’ll jump in
Looking forward to finally working together, Gerry!
Thanks so much for the info! However, the biggest cost newbies can expect to pay is for your DSL course, which is not mentioned. I think it is definitely worth the cost, but wonder why you don’t mention it unless you’re just providing a general answer, not one specifically aimed towards potential DSL clients.
That’s correct! While I highly recommend everyone who is serious about this enrolls in Drop Ship Lifestyle, it’s not a “required cost”.
It’s useful but details like actually doing what is needed, for a beginner like me is also needed. Every step even the smallest needs to be taken correctly so need guidance all the way. What about registering with tax authorities, registering the company is needed or not etc etc.
Agreed! And all of the details are covered in my coaching programs. You can learn more and enroll here: https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/ecommerce-courses/
Thanks so much Anton for all the work you put into informing everyone. This is great information, and I’m hoping to enroll soon.
You’re welcome, Greg!
Looking forward to doing business together and tracking your results 🙂
How much is $ your guidance gonna cost us?
Hi Lisa,
We have programs that range from $1,497 to $9,997 for a Done For You Service.
You can learn more here: https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/ecommerce-courses/
Does Shopify have its own ‘audience’? I mean like a ‘virtual Mall’.
Great question, Bren! We simply use Shopify to host our own stores. Our customers do not know we use Shopify, and we are responsible for sending traffic. If you’re brand new to this I’d highly recommend starting with my free training webinar. Here’s the link: https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/webinar/
Anton, I’ve been watching a lot of your videos and webinars, trying to get as much information as possible before enrolling in your course and starting my own drop shipping store. I’m mostly hung up on what licenses and permits are required. I know this can vary widely depending on location. I’m in Houston Texas myself. Is there any information on this topic in your course or do you have any suggestions on the best place to get that kind of information?
Hi Kevin,
I discuss this in the welcome module of the Drop Ship Blueprint.
You have a few different options when first getting started… they’re not difficult to get set up but it’s hard to explain in this comment. If you’re serious about getting started definitely join Drop Ship Lifestyle and watch my videos that cover the process from A-Z!
Thanks!
Anton
Short, but at lot of information I like it!!!
haha, yep! I try to get right to the point 🙂
How much do you invest per month to get your store flying in adwords? For about 2-3 months. YOu can`t put 100$ to test on just 1 product and the sale well there probably not gonna be enough sales to make you another 100
Hi Bogdan,
Testing and optimizing your Google PLAs is an ongoing process that will take place at least every 2 weeks while you run your online store.
With that being said, $100 is a good amount to start with and you should be able to earn a sale by the time that is spent.
Also just an FYI – Google will give you a $100 credit to get started with 🙂
Hope that helps!
Would you need to spend money before you’re qualified to use the $100 or will it just be given to you when you sign up?
Hi Alexix,
The $100 is a credit to your account. So when you spend $100 (or up to $100) it gets deducted from your free credit rather than billing you 🙂
Hi what are other ways to find suppliers to start making money and then scale up to afford your course?
Hi Leroy,
You should check out this free webinar that I’m hosting:
https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/ls/webclass
I cover lots of ways to get started (for free) there.
Hope that helps!
Hey. I was wondering if it is better to price your products above or below what other stores are selling. Thanks
Hi Julia,
It’s always best to price your products at MAP (Minimum Advertised Price).
You can learn more here:
https://www.dropshiplifestyle.com/minimum-advertised-price-policy/
Thank you!