DropShipping for Dummies: How to Start a Free Dropshipping in 2024

Sharline Shaw

Starting the dropshipping business is the easiest way to make money online.

The growth of well know dropshipping businesses and marketplaces show that it is an excellent way of earning.

Dropshipping has gained much popularity over the decades because of its lower startup cost.

And this shows that dropshipping is a highly competitive platform.

You can start the dropshipping for Dummies, either as a side business or a full-time job if you want to save your energy, time, and money by following the under given steps.

Dropshipping Business BeginneRs Guide

6 Steps to Building a Successful Dropshipping Business for Dummies

Dropshipping is a trendy business model, and it is an excellent opportunity for new entrepreneurs.

You can sell the products to the customers, set your prices, and market your brands. In dropshipping, you do not pay for the inventory until the consumer does not get the products.

The dropshipping website or store purchases the products from manufacturers and sells them directly to the consumer.

It will not only cut the operational costs but also gives you free time to focus all of your efforts on customer acquisition. The most attractive feature of dropshipping is that there is no need to store the inventory.

If you are going to start the dropshipping business, which can compete with the retail giants with a limited budget, then follow the six steps given below.

The dropshipping business does not require much startup cost, but it requires an immense amount of hard work.

·  Select A Niche

The niche you choose must be laser-focused and something you are interested in. It is a reality, what will you sell matters a lot. So, it will be better if you take some time and find the best dropshipping ideas.

Most of the time, experts recommend selecting a niche you are passionate about. But that cannot always be true. It is a combination of profit and passion.

It is a fact that the best dropshipping businesses’ ideas are, most of the time, profitable ones. It is entirely more comfortable to be passionate when you are making money.

It is crucial to select the most trending products for your online store. It is illogical to choose a niche with no competitors.

These days fashion wears, fitness, jewelry, beauty, technology, backpacks, and purses are in high demand.

If you are coming up with your own dropshipping business, keep in mind the following things.

  1. Google trends are the best platform to know whether a niche is on the upward or downward trend. Well, it may not be enough to determine whether a niche is viable or not through Google trends.
    Some niches can be on an upward trend but may not have good search volume to guarantee you the success of your business.
  2. You can also browse popular websites within your niche. You can also browse the bestselling products to find the best products to sell.
  3. Check the order volume of the products. For this purpose, you can search the products on the base of their order volume, and it will help you to determine how popular a product is.

The most profitable dropshipping ideas are not trends. Instead, they have trends within them. For instance, denim apparel is a trending product within the fashion niche.

Artificial eyelashes are a trend within the beauty niche. Similarly, marble phone cases are a trend in the phone case niche.

You can take the trends as the products, not as the entire store, especially if you are building a store for long term business. So, focus on all these factors while starting a dropshipping business.

·  Seek Attractive Profits

When you are running a dropshipping business model, you need to focus on marketing and customer acquisition.

Profit is not a PREFERENCE only for me. But everyone looks for decent profits. 

The amount of work required to sell the $20 item is the same as it would be to sell a $1,500 item. So, you need to select a niche with higher-priced products.

·  Appeals To Impulse Buyers

Try to focus on driving traffic to your website, and try to satisfy the customers. If the customers are happy, they will not only come back to your store but will also recommend your store to their fellows.

In contrast, if you make them angry, they will not shop with you again and will leave negative comments on your store.

Try to attract and trigger the impulse buyers. So, it is highly recommended to catch the impulsive buyers with financial stability. They will make a purchase, and you may earn a considerable profit.

1.Low Shipping Costs

Even though the manufacturer is handling the shipping, it is a crucial factor. It can help you to attract buyers. If the shipping cost is high, it will act as the customer replant.

You need to offer an inexpensive method of shipment. You can also provide shipping at low cost, or fee shipping can be an excellent way to get the attention of the customers.

Here you will have to absorb the cost as a business expense to attract more sales.

2.Faster Customer Service

It is easy to start a buy and sell online business model, but you may have many competitors. They can lower your profit margin.

To make your business successful, you need to have either a trending product or an outstanding customer service. Beside it, a good marketing strategy is a crucial factor to stand out.

Customer service gives you a chance to interact directly with the consumers. You can know about them, about their needs, and can also ask for feedback.

It will also help you to create a lead for your business. The professional customer service is crucial to get an email, or phone numbers, it will generate a lead for your store.

3.Faster Shipping

Shipping speed with shipping costs is an essential factor in attracting customers. The consumers cannot wait so long to get their products, and they may cancel their order if you fail to provide their parcels on time.

You need to select a quick shipment method so that products can get their parcels on time. Most of the shipping services may take weeks to deliver the goods.

But if you charge a high amount, the customers may get the product on time.

4.Cheaper Shipping

Most of the time, customers search for cheaper shipping or total free shipment of products. It is an attractive feature for consumers. They not only search for affordable products but also free delivery.

Trend·  Activily Searching For Your Product

Winning products are SUCCESS. I have tested and tried this formula successfully.

Make sure that buyers are actively searching for your products. You can use the Google Keyword Planner and trends to get the typical search terms related to your potential niche.

If no one is looking for what you are going to sell, you are dead in the water before you even begin. So try to search and select the most searching product. It can ensure the success of your dropshipping business.

1.Use Keywords

The keyword helps to find the potential of your dropshipping business ideas, and also gives you an idea about the future. You can use the keywords for your domain or store. It will help you to get massive traffic to your store.

2.Trending Products

The best way to find or get the top-selling dropshipping product is through trending products. You can find trending products for your dropshipping business through different websites. These sites help to get the most demanding products, which can give you a high-profit margin.

Suggested reading:What To Sell Online: Top 20 Trending Products

Trending Products

·  Create Your Own Brand

Your drop shipping business will be of zero value if you create your brand. You can recreate your brand, whatever it is you are selling.

The customers do not know whether you are the manufacturer or a drop shipper. So you can ship the products with your tag and can crate your brand this way.

1.Create More Opportunity

Try to create attractive opportunities for the customers. You can also offer attractive deals like sales or discounts. It can attract customers.

2.Build your business quickly

Dropshipping is an attractive business model for all those who want to earn money quickly. You can select different ways to catch the attention of the buyers and build your business quickly.

3.Get Hired

you can get a large number of consumers if you have an attractive and appealing store. You can hire web designers who can create an appealing and beautiful store.

4.Improve Product Competitiveness

You can improve product competitiveness for the success of your business. And following are the tips you can follow to improve the product competitiveness:

  1. Move up the value chain
  2. Invest in the intangible assets
  3. Differentiate your company
  4. Strategies at a glance
5.Serendipitous Success

You can create your brand, and it can be a step towards your successful business.

Dropshipping offers you a chance to sell the products with your tag. And if you can successfully run your brand, you can become a successful dropshipper.

Create Your Own Brand·  The Product Is Innovative

You can assure the success of your business by selling innovative products. And the demand for unique products is increasing day by day. You can find original and unique products for your online store.

· Perform Competition Research

Well, it is highly recommended to research before you select a product for dropshipping. You can search for trending, demanding, unique and new products. Besides, you need to consider the demands of customers.

Try to provide the products according to the needs of consumers as it is the best option to make your dropshipping business successful.

You need to remember that you are competing with other drop shipping operations as well as retail giants like Walmart and Amazon. It is where a lot of potential drop shippers go wrong. The reason for failure is the wrong selection of products.

They try to select a product which has no competition. The product without any competitors will not have much demand, and therefore the profit margin will be quite less.

There are many reasons why the product does not have any competitors, such as high shipping costs, suppliers and manufacturing issues, or fewer profit margins.

You need to search for the products which have a massive number of competitors, as it is a sign of high demand for that product.  It also assures the sustainability of the business model.

Perform Competition Research

· Secure A Supplier

A supplier is a crucial factor in the success of your business. Try to find a trusted and reliable supplier for your dropshipping business.

And once you have selected the supplier, try to develop long term relations with him so that he or she can assure the continuous supply of products for your store.

Partnership with the wrong supplier can ruin your business. So, you mustn’t rush this step. Conduct proper due diligence.

Dropshipping suppliers are located overseas, thus makes the communication extremely important, both in terms of response and the ability to understand each other.

If you are not 100% confident in the communication abilities of the supplier, move on, and continue your research.

Alibaba is one of the most extensive online resources to identify and communicate with potential manufacturers and suppliers.

Try to ask questions and learn about their production capabilities, as it will help your business to grow exponentially.

You can also learn from the other drop shippers. There are many information sources available, from business to tech blogs; you can follow them to learn about dropshipping. It is a popular topic and can help you to avoid costly supplier mistakes.

Suggested reading: Is Alibaba safe and legit?
Suggested reading: Top 50 Trending Products To Sell Online

Suggested reading:How to Buying From Alibaba : Ultimate Guide

alibaba wholesale

·  Finding Suppliers

You can get a long list of suppliers to select from. To earn a huge profit margin, you need to find a supplier with whom you can make a long term partnership. The following are the most reliable suppliers for your dropshipping business.

Suggested reading: Alibaba vs Aliexpress
AliExpress

AliExpress is one of the popular dropshipping suppliers of Chinese goods. It is a RETAILER and wholesaler both for me. I even use it for dropshipping. 

Many people uesd to ask: Is Aliexpress safely? You can get cheap products of high quality here, with affordable shipping charges.

Suggested reading: Aliexpress Reviews

Suggested reading:AliExpress Dropshipping Guide

Some Tips To Buy Safely On AliExpress
SaleHoo

Salehoo is considered to be the best dropshipping website. It is a wholesale supplier directory.

They have got the diversity of products. Guess how many products do they have? I am 100% sure you’ll make a WRONG ESTIMATE. 

The marketplace provides more than 8,000 products from different categories.

Doba

Doba is the best dropshipping site and most comprehensive drop shipping service in the market. You can not only get the full directory of the suppliers and wholesalers but also buy the products directly from the marketplace.

Wholesale2B

Wholesale2B One of my favorites. I used it when I was in the early phase of my dropshipping career. 

The best dropshipping website provides products from a large number of suppliers at a single platform. So, you do not need to sign up with any supplier, and you can manage everything with just one click.

Wholesale2B
Worldwide Brands

It is a dropshipping directory that has been serving the customers from the last 20 years. They are a reputable company with an A+ rating. This dropshipping site gives you access to more than 16+ million plus products.

MegaGoods

Well, if you are searching for electronics, the company is an excellent choice to shop with. The site has a small inventory. It is a cheap drop shipping site, offering affordable products at economical prices.

Wholesale Central

Sometimes, you want B2B platforms for dropshipping. Am I right? Here it is Wholesale Central. 

It is a leading B2B platform and the best place to find the suppliers. The websites offer you various types of sourcing tools with the help of which you can search for the required products in a better way.

Sunrise Wholesale

The company is in this business since 1999. The company offers you seven days of the trial period, and here you can get $20 worth products free of cost. Beside it, you can sell anywhere in the world.

Sunrise Wholesale
Suggested reading: Best 30 Sourcing Websites

·  How to Spot Fake Wholesalers

One of the main issues you may face in the dropshipping business is a fake or scam supplier. You cannot differentiate between a real and a fraud supplier.

To spot or find the fake supplier, you need to keep the following points in mind.

1.They Sell Products To The General Public

It is not pretty easy to get the scams, but there are few ways to know about the fraud suppliers. They can make many mistakes, and you need to look carefully through all the process, so they you can learn about fake suppliers.

Above all, they try offering their products to everyone. They try to capture the attention of buyers just like other suppliers so that they can generate a lead for their store. And most of the time, they try to address the general public.

My views! 

Avoid all such conditions. Instead, it is better to research about this than waste time buying fake products. 

2.They Charge Ongoing Fees

They may ask you to pay the fake bills. This Is the most common type of scams you may encounter most of the time in dropshipping business. They usually charge higher amounts as compared to other suppliers.

3.They Don’t Want To Sign Any Contracts

The fraud suppliers do not want to sign the contracts. And mostly they sign a fake or irrelevant contract. The scammers may not be willing to develop long-lasting relationships with you, and it can be a way to find fraud suppliers.

·  How To Spot Legitimate Wholesalers

Try to avoid scam or fraud suppliers and, at the same time, try to find reliable and trusted suppliers. The supplier is the most crucial part of the dropshipping business.

The right and legitimate supplier can provide you the high standard products, deliver the products on time. In this way, you offer a smooth buying experience to your buyers.

1.They Require You To Apply

The legitimate wholesaler asks you to apply for the application, and then the supplier will approve your request. And all of this will happen before you see the prices.

2.They Have A Minimum Order Size

It is common for the suppliers to have a minimum order size, especially for the first order. This is because suppliers only work with serious businesses, and that’s why the minimum order size helps to filter real buyers from window shoppers.

3.They Have Experienced Staff And A Dedicated Support Team

They have a well-experienced team. Whenever you make a call, you will talk to their representatives who know well about your niche. And if the representatives seem to be inexperienced, they may be hired without any training and can be a fraud.

4.Their Technology Is Up-To-Date

The legitimate suppliers will have a well and updated technology. They can offer you many useful features like real-time inventory, searchable order histories, and easy to use online catalogs. All of these features are useful and saves your time.

5.They Have Pre-Order Fees

A legitimate wholesaler will have a monthly fee and which usually ranges from $1 to $5 per order. The fees cover the cost of packaging and shipping since individual orders carry much higher prices than the bulk orders.

6.They Won’t Go Over The Top To Persuade You To Work With Them

The bad or fake wholesaler or supplier uses the sales tactics to get your money. While the real suppliers will do not use such types of tricks, instead, they ask for an application.

· Build Your E-Commerce Website

The fastest way to create your launch that supports the dropshipping business model is to use a simple e-commerce platform.

There is no need for a tech background to get up and run. Instead, they have plenty of apps to increase sales.

I hire web designers for beautiful designs. You should do this when you have the BUDGET. 

You can also hire a web designer if your budget allows you. You can also use the plug and play stations, especially at the start. Once you are established, and revenue is coming in, you can explore the additional website customizations.

Build Your E-Commerce Website
  • A Domain

In website formation, the domain is an essential and crucial factor. You need to select an attractive and appealing for your store. And it takes weeks to choose a beautiful name for the store.

  • A Hosting Provider

The website hosting services are the plot of internet land that your website storefront sits on. The hosting provider must be reliable and trustworthy so that he may offer you customer support and other services.

  • An Integrated Payment Processor

In the integrated payment system, the payments are entered directly into the accounting software and applied to the general ledger or credited to an invoice. The simple process eliminated human errors and double data entry. It helps to run an efficient business.

  • A Platform Or Tool To Build Your Store

The store must be attractive where you can display all of your products and can get the buyers. You can describe every product, and it will help the buyers to get their required product.

Suggested reading:How to find the best dropshipping tool?

Amazon Tools
  • Initial Capital To Create Your Products

The initial capital is quite low for the dropshipping business. You can start the dropshipping business very quickly, as you do not need to have millions of dollars. The only thing you require is a store.

  • Packaging For Product Shipping

The packaging and shipping cost should be included in the product cost. The packaging and shipping is the responsibility of the supplier. You can sell the products with your label.

The supplier will not only pack the products but will also label yours tend before shipping. And once the whole process is complete, the supplier will send products directly to the consumer or customer.

Suggested reading:Professional Packing & Shipping Service

International Package Shipping

· Customer Acquisition

Having a great product and a great website, but without customers, you are not going to have a successful business.

There are many ways to attract consumers, and one of them is to catch their attention through social media.

You can use many platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to start a campaign for the success of your business.

It will allow you to generate the sales and revenue right from the start, which will contribute to the quick scaling.

Facebook enables you to put the offer directly inform of the highly targeted audience. It can give your ability to compete with the largest brands and retailers immediately.

You will also have to consider the search engine optimization foe r the success of your business. And email marketing also plays an essential role in this.

You can collect the emails from the start and can set up an automated email sequence that will offer discounts and special offers.

It is effortless to leverage your existing customer base and generate revenue without additional advertising and marketing spend.

Facebook marketing
  • Sustainable

Customer acquisition is the way of bringing new customers or clients to your store. It is a very crucial factor for the systematic, sustainable acquisition strategy which can evolve with new trends and changes.

To create a sustainable acquisition strategy, you can evaluate your current acquisition strategy. And measuring your customer acquisition cost is a great place to start.

With traditional customer acquisition strategies like aggressive advertising and discounting are becoming inexpensive.

There are many other strategies that you can follow for sustainable acquisition like customer referrals, value ass marketing, strategic advertising, and brand communities.

  • Flexible

Your customer acquisition strategy should be flexible, as marketing and sales, and the way people respond to them always change.

The salespeople were the gatekeepers of the information about the product, and that is no longer the situation.

Consumers are skeptical of brand claims, and anything said about the product by the company or its reps.

In the recent HubSpot research study, it has been found that 81% of the consumers trust the advice of family and friends over the business.

Creating the customer’s acquisition strategy that only relies on the salespeople would put your company in a tight spot. You need to keep the approach pliable, and you have to be ready to respond to the market trends.

  • Targeted

All the consumers are not your best consumers, and customer acquisition can result in a crazy waste of the resources if not pinpointed toward the right people. Before the investment in any customer acquisition method, you must define who you are targeting with the said methods.

The targeted customer acquisition strategy requires taking a step back and figuring out what’s best for your business, resources, and audience. You can expect to see the real response to your customer acquisition efforts.

  • Diversified

Have you ever heard about the cross-pollination? It happens when the bees spread the pollen grains between a variety of plants. It brings variations among the species.

These variations help the plants to withstand in the hard times. In this case, marketers can be compared to the well-traveled bees.

When you will diversify your acquisition strategy and use various acquisition methods, you will have a higher chance of reaching new audiences. And it will generate new leads for your business.

When you are diversifying, your customer’s acquisition strategy creates a balance between the risk and reward. It means that if one channel fails, it will easy to reallocate funds for a new and better-performing method.

You know how to approach and organize your customer acquisition strategy, dive into some ways to acquire customers.

Suggested reading:Dropshipping Marketing: The Ultimate Guide

dropshipping marketing

· Analyze And Optimize

You need to track all of the information and data available for the growth of your business. It includes the Google Analytical traffic and Facebook conversion pixel data if that is your primary customer acquisition channel.

You can track every single conversion. It will help you to know where a customer is originated and what path they may take to on your website that will eventually lead to a sale. It will help you to get potential consumers, and you can leave the wonders.

You cannot have a set and forget advertising or marketing solution. You will have to test the new opportunities and fine-tune current campaigns. They allow you to know when to optimize or shift the campaign.

  • Returns And Refunds

The return and refund policies are beneficial tools to satisfy the customers. You can ask the supplier for its refund policies, as it will help you to make your rules for the refund or returns.

You can offer a complete refund in case if the consumer does not get the required products.

The consumers may ask for the return or refund if they get the damaged product. In this situation you can offer either a partial refund or you can also provide a performance too.

In online shopping, there is always a chance of scam, and customers may not buy due to their fear. So consumer satisfaction is paramount, and you can satisfy them through a refund or return policies.

Suggested reading: Alibaba Refund Experience
Refunds
  • Repeat Customer

The customers are significant for the success of your business. If you can make them happy and successfully satisfy them, they will shop again with you. They can talk about your shop to others.

They satisfied customers leave positive feedback and increase your rating. Product reviews or customer reviews are critical, and this positive feedback of consumers can assure you the success of your business.

The new customers used to follow the ratings and reviews of the consumers. If you successfully get the comments from buyers, you can create a lead for your business.

Suggested reading: How to Start 1688 Dropshipping Business?
Suggested reading: Top 50 Trending Products To Sell Online

Frequently Asked Questions

The drop shippers may encounter many questions while dropshipping from China. The following are the possible queries with the best possible questions; you can get through them to know about dropshipping.

Hopefully, all of these questions will help you a lot while dropshipping from China.

·  How Much Money To Start A Dropshipping Business?

The biggest perk for the dropshipping is that you do not need the front cost to start the dropshipping business. There will be a small startup cost, but you will not need to invest thousands in starting your online business.

The following are the startup and maintenance costs of the dropshipping business.

  1. Your online store
  2. Supplier fee
  3. Marketing cost
  4. Other business expenses

·  How Does Dropshipping Business Work?

You can open an e-commerce store and then fill it with the products you wish to sell from the vendors and suppliers. You can sell only those products which suppliers will allow you to trade in your store. The wholesalers will fulfill the store on your behalf.

The suppliers will not only provide you the required products but will also store the inventory for you. It’s the supplier who will pack the goods and ship them to your customer’s address. The supplier will also provide you the tracking information when you place the order with them.

Once you receive your first order, you will transfer it to the supplier for production or manufacturing. You will pay the supplier only when the customer will get the product.

The following are steps involved in the dropshipping business:

  1. Little or no capital is needed
  2. Select a niche
  3. Choose the products for your store
  4. Offers a flexible scalability
  5. Contact the supplier
  6. Get the first order
  7. Start earning money
dropshipping model

·  What Is The Dropshipping Supply Chain?

The supply chain is a network consisting of different companies, which are directly involved in bringing the end products to the consumers.

The chain typically starts with the raw materials, manufacturing units, suppliers, and consumers. It involves a series of steps to provide the product to the final consumers.

These steps include moving and transforming raw materials into the finished products and distributing them to the end-users.

The whole process involves the supply chain, which provides for producers, vendors, wholesalers, shipments, distribution centers, and consumers.

The elements of a supply chain include the functions which start with receiving an order to the meeting the consumer’s request.

These functions include product development, operation, marketing, distribution networks, and finance, and customer services.

Supply chain management is a crucial part of the business process. There are different links in this chain which requires skill and expertise.

When supply chain management is active, it can lower the company’s overall costs and boost profitability. If one links break down, it can affect the rest of the chain and can be costly.

·  What Are Some Examples Of Free Dropshippers?

You can find many free drop shippers in both general and niche categories. Drop shippers charge fees, and mostly only ask to pay the cost of the products you are shipping to the customers—some charge additional costs or charges.

You can find many drop shippers across all the niches which can offer dropshipping with no sign-up charges or monthly services. The following are examples of the free drop shippers.

  1. Nordstrom (clothes, shoes, jewelry, home decor)
  2. Pout in Pink (children and infant boutique clothing)
  3. COOKOO (smartwatches)
  4. Koehler home décor (home décor and furniture)
  5. Aulola (toys and electronic accessories)
Suggested reading: China Shoe Manufacturers

·  Is Dropshipping Still Profitable?

In the past couple of years ago, the dropshipping model of business has seen a massive rise. With awareness and knowledge in the palm of your hands, the world has become a global village.

Dropshipping is considered to be the most popular money-making online opportunities. The following are the reasons for the success of the dropshipping business.

  1. You can make money by selling physical products without holding or storing the inventory
  2. You can start making money right away because you can traffic with the FB ads
  3. The online store creation is effortless
  4. You can scale your biz fast because increasing traffic is simple as increasing FB ad spends
  5. You can capitalize on the current trends

So, dropshipping is still profitable in 202, and you can start it to earn a considerable profit margin.

Suggested reading: How to Make Money With an Online Dropshipping Business?

How to Make Money With an Online Dropshipping Business

How Leeline Sourcing Help You Find The Best Dropshipping Suppliers And Wholesalers

For progressing firmly to the dropshipping business, you need to find reliable dropshipping suppliers.

The suppliers should coordinate the production and deliver the on-time products with quality as given.

Dropshipping markets are overgrowing. The increase in e-commerce business has led to a rise in the demand for dropshipping.

Companies tend to focus on essential elements while outsourcing inventory to the drop shippers.

Finding a reliable dropshipping supplier is quite essential. Dropshippers will manage stock and inventory, so you must find someone safe for the seamless proceedings.

Suggested reading:Top Free Dropshipping Suppliers:Ultimate Guide

Verify Thermometer Suppliers

Final thoughts on Dropshipping Business

Dropshipping business is an excellent way towards entrepreneurship. You can sell products to customers without storing the inventory.

Beside it, you can set your prices and can build a successful brand. It is an excellent platform for earning money.

If you are planning to start the dropshipping business, you are on the right path. Go ahead and start earning huge profits.

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Sharline

Article by:

Sharline Shaw

Hey I'm Sharline, the founder of Leeline Sourcing. With 10 years of experience in the field of sourcing in China, we help 2000+ clients import from China,Alibaba,1688 to Amazon FBA or shopify. If you have any questions about sourcing , pls feel free to contact us.