There's a high chance that you've found this article because you want to create an extra income online, but you don't have that much money (if any).
And then you've found the term “dropshipping” somewhere on the internet and thought, “This is it.” I will dive deep into starting a dropshipping store with no money!
But is that really the case?
Can you start dropshipping without any upfront investment?
In this article, I will go in-depth on everything you need to know about starting dropshipping without any money!
Do you need to invest money to learn about dropshipping?
Let me start with this one.
There are a lot of “internet gurus” out there claiming that you will be rich the next day (or very soon) if you purchase their course and follow them step-by-step.
Maybe you have met them before. They are mostly found on YouTube.
The only goal that these gurus have is to sell you something, like a course. And trust me, a lot of people purchase these courses.
They make these people believe that they need their course in order to succeed with their dropshipping store.
No course? You can’t be rich!
Well…
I’m here to tell you that that’s absolutely not true. In fact, I can prove it.
I wrote two awesome articles with so many free resources to learn dropshipping for free in 2023:
If you want more information about who these “gurus” are and why they are selling courses, I suggest reading: Are Paid Dropshipping Courses Worth the Money in 2023?
Plus, I think this article is interesting for you as well:
How to Start Dropshipping for Free in 2023? (5 Unusual Tips)
Total money needed to learn dropshipping:
– Learning dropshipping costs: $0; there is so much information regarding dropshipping available on the internet for free! Just look at the articles I've linked above.
How much money do you need to start selling products on your dropshipping store?
Now you know that you can learn dropshipping for free, there is no need to purchase any courses from these gurus.
But what about the rest of the costs, like platform costs?
I will give you an easy to follow guide below on the most recent costs of starting a dropshipping store. Let’s see if you can start dropshipping without money in 2023!
Ecommerce platform costs
You will need a platform to open your dropshipping store.
See it like this: have you ever been to something like a flea market?
Opening a dropshipping store on an ecommerce platform is basically the same as renting a stand at a flea market.
There are three main options for you here.
One is to use an ecommerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce. (You can click here to view the best ecommerce platforms for dropshipping.)
Another option is to use Sell The Trend Shops, a new ecommerce platform that already includes a lot of features you would normally have to pay for!
And the last option is to host your store yourself. Most people use WooCommerce for this.
Upsides and downsides to using an ecommerce platform like Shopify
The big upside is that you don’t have to worry about a lot of things, like hosting. And a lot of things are pre-made for you and are easy to use for beginners.
But the downside is that it is expensive, definitely when you’re just beginning. You’re looking at around $39 per month for the cheapest Shopify plan:
Another upside is that there are a lot of Shopify apps available, but you will need money for a lot of these apps (except if you read this article).
Shopify app costs
If you decide to use Shopify (or maybe you’re already using it), then I've got a great article for you that will give you the 13 best Shopify apps for dropshipping beginners. I will give you both free and paid options to choose from.
The free options are great because this means that if you choose Shopify as your ecommerce platform, you won’t have any extra costs for apps at the beginning.
You can always use paid Shopify apps later on when you’re getting more and more sales. This will definitely help you with a lot of things.
Some will boost conversions, some will help you process your dropshipping orders easier and so on.
Total money needed if you're going to use an ecommerce platform like Shopify:
– Shopify monthly costs: $39 per month, but you can get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months here!
– Shopify app costs: $0, if you choose the right apps! I suggest reading the article that I linked to above.
Is Sell The Trend Shops a better alternative?
Sell The Trend Shops is a free ecommerce platform that allows you to start a dropshipping store in just a few minutes.
That's right, it's currently free to use!
It is created by Sell The Trend, which is one of the best product research tools out there.
With Sell The Trend Shops, you will basically have the following features without any cost:
- A dropshipping store ($30 per month value at Shopify)
- A complete store automation tool (+/-$50 per month value)
- A customer reviews app (+/-$10 per month value)
- A currency converter app (+/-$10 per month value)
Note: Interested in learning more about Sell The Trend Shops? Check out our complete review here!
Hosting a dropshipping store yourself
This will be less expensive per month, but you will need to take care of a lot of things yourself.
I suggest you take a look at the AliDropship plugin. It’s one of the best options to start dropshipping with AliExpress while not having so many monthly expenses (like the Shopify monthly subscription).
The plugin is currently $89. You can then use it for the rest of your life! So, no monthly costs like with Shopify and DSers.
Awesome, right?
If you're interested in the AliDropship plugin, you can click on the link below to read my full review!
AliDropship Review: Is It Worth Buying This Plugin?
If you don't want to do dropshipping with AliExpress, then another great tool is Spocket. I've talked about them a lot already as a perfect Shopify dropshipping app, but they also have a WooCommerce version available.
In case you don't know what WooCoomerce is, I suggest watching the video below.
It's basically an ecommerce platform for free! Although they have a lot of paid extensions available, they run on WordPress, so you can use any WordPress plugin (if they are compatible with WooCommerce) that you want. (More information about that here)
If you want to see more WooCommerce plugins like AliDropship and Spocket, then I suggest reading this article of mine. That article contains 11 plugins that help you connect your WooCommerce dropshipping store to various dropshipping suppliers!
The costs of hosting your dropshipping store
The other thing you will need is hosting. I suggest you search around a bit to see what fits you most, but I do have a few great suggestions for you:
You can find my hosting suggestions in this article here!
Hosting will be, depending of course on which hosting company you go with, around $50 – $100 per year. I say depending on which hosting company because some are way more expensive than $100, but I personally don't think you need that yet if you're only expecting a few visitors per day.
So, hosting yourself will cost you a bit more upfront (because you will most likely need to pay per year), but will save you money later on.
Total money needed for hosting your dropshipping store yourself:
– Plugin to process your orders: $89 (AliDropship), or starting at $25 per month for the basic plan. (Spocket)
– Hosting costs: Around $50 – $100 per year, depending on which hosting company you choose.
How much is a domain name?
If you decide to go with Shopify, you can use their subdomain for free. This will be: store-name.myshopify.com
This means that you won’t have to spend anything on domain costs, but if you have a bit of budget, I highly suggest you buy a domain name for your store.
Preferably a .com domain, which is one of the most popular domain extensions. (Source)
You will gain so much more trust with mystore.com instead of mystore.myshopify.com, and it looks so much better!
But don't forget that there are other extensions out there – a great example is a .store domain:
I suggest you check out Namecheap. It's got one of the cheapest prices for domains, and it offers free privacy protection.
This will keep your name and information private for anyone searching who owns the domain.
So, yes, you can use a free domain, but for less than $11 per year, you can have your own professional domain name! (Which you can then use as a custom email address as well.)
Don’t forget to check for coupon codes on something like Honey! This could bring the price down even more.
Click here to see if your domain name is still available.
Another option is Porkbun. This is a great option if you're looking for a domain registrar with cheaper renewal fees. (Usually, the second year is more expensive than the first year)
If you're not sure yet what to call your dropshipping store or how to name your domain name, I suggest going to a domain name generator like this one.
Plus, I suggest reading 10 Tips to Choose the Best Name for Your Dropshipping Store
But what if you decide to host it yourself?
Some web hosting companies, like Bluehost, offer a free domain when you purchase one of their hosting plans.
Otherwise, you will need to purchase a domain yourself, as I talked about above.
Total money needed for having a domain name for your dropshipping store:
– Using the free domain name from Shopify: $0
– Purchasing a domain name: Less than $11 per year (and this could be even less with the use of coupon codes!)
Marketing expenses
I've got good news for you.
You can advertise your dropshipping store or your products for free. No need to invest money into that, but do keep in mind that these methods will take longer and will take more effort.
I suggest you read my other article here to learn 8 amazing ways to get free traffic to your dropshipping store.
It will include all the things you can do to get free traffic to your dropshipping store. This is perfect for you to get your first sale or sales!
So, yes, you don’t need any money to advertise your dropshipping store, but if you want to get sales faster, and if you want to quickly see if a product is selling or not, then you will need to have a budget for marketing.
Paid marketing strategies
I've got four great articles for you regarding advertising your dropshipping store so you know how to start (when you're ready).
- 10 Ways That You Can Advertise Your Dropshipping Store – This one covers everything – except Facebook Ads because a lot of people think Facebook Ads are the only way to advertise a dropshipping store. With this article, I hope to open your mind to the idea that there is so much more possible!
- How To Quickly Test Products With Dropshipping? – I will go over a tactic that you can use to quickly see if your product has the potential to sell a lot or not!
- Influencer Marketing and Your Dropshipping Store in 2023! – If you're interested in using influencers, for example Instagram, to promote your products, then I suggest reading this article. It contains everything you need to know about influencer marketing when dropshipping!
- Facebook Ads for Ecommerce Stores: A Beginner’s Guide – In case you want to use Facebook Ads for your dropshipping store, then this article is great for you. It contains everything you need to know as a beginner.
The budget that you will need for marketing all depends on your experience.
If you have a lot of experience already with things like marketing, ecommerce and creating ads, then a great budget to have is around $250. You can read here why in a guide that Oberlo made.
But what if you don't have any experience yet in any of these things?
What then? What if you still want to do paid advertising? Well, I do then suggest you save up some money because you will need to learn a lot.
You will make a lot of mistakes, but you will learn from them (hopefully).
Some people will need the same budget as I said above (the $250), but some people will need way more than that, like $1000-$2000, before they see any success. Or even more.
So, do think that through if you don't have that much money yet. If you don't have a big budget yet, you can start, for example, with free traffic while learning more about paid advertising in the meantime.
This is great for you to do while you save up a bit for your marketing budget and while you learn more about how to do paid advertising correctly.
I've got one more great article for you. It answers one of the biggest questions people have when starting with dropshipping:
How many products do you need before starting with dropshipping?
I will also give you in that article an easy-to-follow guide on what to do with the products that you’re testing and how many products I advise to test at the same time.
Total money needed for advertising your dropshipping store:
– If you start with free traffic only: $0
– If you want to do paid advertising: $250 – $2000 (It depends on your skill levels and it depends a bit on luck because if your first product is selling well, you can pay the upcoming advertising costs with the profit that you've got from selling that first product).
Testing dropshipping suppliers
This depends. I suggest you test your products by shipping them to yourself before dropshipping them to your customers.
This way you know how it will get delivered, how it looks like, how the quality is, and how long it took before it was delivered to you.
You can even use the product now to make your own unique advertisements, or you can use it for a giveaway!
But if you don’t have any money, you can skip this step if you want, but don’t forget to do this before scaling to more sales!
Because if your product is low quality or something is wrong with it, you will want to find that out rather sooner than later.
I suggest reading this here if you want to learn more about this.
Yes, in that article I do talk about AliExpress dropshipping suppliers, but you could also use these tips if you don't use AliExpress.
Legal costs
This is another one to think about.
You will be opening a business. Like I said before, you need to treat your dropshipping store like a real business and not as a get rich quick store.
You will need to find out how much it costs to start a business in your country. For example, how much does it cost to register a new business?
Also, don’t forget to think about the extra costs of having a real business, like hiring a bookkeeper if you’re not that good at doing taxes yourself.
If you're interested in learning more about this, I suggest reading the article I've linked below:
Extra costs that you could have for your dropshipping store
Below you will find some extra costs that you could have when starting your dropshipping store.
These are costs that you could have but are definitely not necessary if you don’t need them or want them.
You could get a logo for your dropshipping store
I suggest you check out Fiverr. You can get a logo there for around $5-$20. Another option is to create something yourself or to not have any logo yet.
Don't forget about other design stuff, like your Facebook cover photo on your Facebook profile (if you have one).
If you're interested in learning why a logo is important, you can read this article here. That article also contains more tips on how to get a logo for your store.
You could purchase a theme
This will be $150 on average. You can check out this article here with the best Shopify themes for your dropshipping store. It also includes the best free theme for when you're just starting with dropshipping or if your budget is tight!
But keep in mind that you don't need a paid theme when you're just beginning with dropshipping.
Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the core staples in digital marketing channels. It’s also one of the first to create the digital movement. The return on investment exceeds most other digital marketing strategies due to its low-cost effort.
If you're just beginning, then take a look at Klaviyo. Their free plans allows you to send 500 emails, and have 250 contacts.
If you're interested in learning more about Klaviyo, then check out this article here. Plus, that article covers seven other email marketing service providers.
And if you're interested in learning more about email marketing, I suggest reading this complete beginner's guide here.
Extra costs that you could have for your dropshipping store:
– Hiring someone to design a logo for you: Around $5 – $20 on Fiverr.
– You could purchase a theme: On average $150, but I suggest sticking with a free theme at the beginning of your dropshipping journey.
– Email marketing: This depends on the email marketing service that you go with. It's free up to 500 emails per month and 250 contacts with Klaviyo.
Summary
Well done, you've made it to the end! Or maybe you've skipped to this part, I will never know.
Let’s recap to see if you need any money to start with dropshipping in 2023:
You don’t need any money to learn about dropshipping. There is a lot of information about dropshipping on the internet for free.
To get you started: You can check out this article with a lot of dropshipping and ecommerce blogs, and this article with a lot of free dropshipping courses.
You do need money if you decide to go with an ecommerce platform. The costs are different depending on which platform you choose, but if you go with Shopify (like I recommend you do), then it will be $39 per month, but don't forget to check out these Shopify alternatives.
To get you started: You will get a free 3-day Shopify trial if you click here!
You don’t need any money for Shopify apps. Most apps that you will need at the beginning are free or have a free version to use.
To get you started: Check out this article here for the best Shopify apps for dropshipping beginners.
You do need money if you decide to host your dropshipping store yourself. Hosting will cost you around $5 – $10 per month in the beginning, depending on your hosting company (keep in mind that you will most likely need to pay per year).
To get you started: Check out this article here that contains all my hosting recommendations.
You might need money to process your orders if you decide to host yourself. You will need a plugin to process your orders.
If you want to start with dropshipping with AliExpress, I suggest you look at the AliDropship plugin. It's $89 for a lifetime license, so no monthly subscription costs like with Shopify.
If you don't want to dropship from AliExpress, I suggest you look at Spocket. They've got a lot of dropshipping suppliers in the US and in Europe.
To get you started: You can click here to read my complete AliDropship Review, and you can learn more about Spocket here. Or you can view all the plugins here.
You might need money for a domain. You could use the free domain name offered by Shopify (if you're going with Shopify), but I highly recommend you purchase a domain name. It will look way more professional, and it’s less than $11 for one whole year.
If you decide to host it yourself, the only way to not need any money for this is to look for a hosting company that offers a free domain when purchasing a hosting plan.
To get you started: You can check if your domain name is available here on Namecheap. Or you can get 10 tips for choosing your domain name here.
You don’t need any money to advertise your products or dropshipping store, but as you'll have read above, it will be easier to get sales once you have a budget for marketing available.
To get you started: You can click here to see all the ways to get free traffic to your dropshipping store, and you can click here to learn all the ways to do paid advertising.
You don’t need any money to test your products before dropshipping them to your customers, but I do highly recommend doing it if you have the budget because you can check so many things this way; most importantly, the quality of the product that you’re selling.
You might need money to register your dropshipping store as a business in your country. You will need to check how much it costs to register a business in your country. Don’t forget extra costs like having a bookkeeper if you’re not that good at doing taxes yourself.
Conclusion
So, do you need money to start dropshipping in 2023?
Yes, you do need some money to start dropshipping because you need to pay for your domain and ecommerce platform. All the other things, like advertising and learning about dropshipping, can be done without money!
I hope you now know if your budget allows it to start a dropshipping store or not (or maybe you have already started, but you just wanted to know what kind of costs you can expect).
If you've got the budget and you're motivated now to get started with dropshipping, I suggest reading my complete guides below:
- Shopify Dropshipping: A 20-Step Guide to Starting Your Store
- AliExpress Dropshipping: A 20-Step Getting Started Guide (2023)
And if you've got any questions regarding dropshipping, please let me know by commenting below or contacting me directly by pressing the “Contact Us” button at the top!
I wish you so much luck if you're going to start a dropshipping store, and don't forget that my blog called Do Dropshipping has a lot of articles that will help you on your dropshipping journey!
Also, don't forget that success takes time and effort. It doesn't come overnight!
16 Comments
Nice article
Hi Dayo, thanks for the comment! Good luck with your dropshipping store!
Thanks for information but i have a question about “Namecheap” domain name provider after i have seen very negative reviews about it in “trust pilot”, is it legit? most of reviewers commented that they do not allow dropshipping and they close the accounts of drop shippers!
Hi Billy,
Great question! I personally never heard of them banning someone because they were dropshipping. I went through their Trust Pilot reviews were I could only find one review that stated that they got banned for doing dropshipping.
I will keep an eye on it though, and I’ll update the article if I think it’s better to go with someone else. In the meantime, if you don’t trust it, then you could always take a look at GoDaddy, or you could purchase your domain straight from Shopify (if you’re going to use Shopify)
Good luck with everything, and let me know if you got any more questions!
Hi
What a great posting with so many tips and advice. I will keep this and sub links.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for your comment! That’s awesome to hear 😊
Good luck with everything!
– Richard
Hey there,
Article was super informative and definitely have a lot to learn. I just wanted to know for your drop-shipping such as Aliexpress, WooCommerce, or Spocket. Do you need capital upfront when you make sales? Like, let’s say you put up a product from Aliexpress and at cost to you it is $4.99 but you sell it on your shopify store for $16.99. Now, once the customer purchases that product off of your store will Aliexpress charge you the $4.99 or will that be deducted from the $16.99 that the customer paid? Also, if you do have to pay it upfront are there payouts every week or every month?
Hi Angie,
Thank you for your awesome comment 😊
Great question! I’ll use your AliExpress example to try and explain it really simple to you:
1. You got a dropshipping store (on, for example, Shopify) with a cute cat product that you imported from AliExpress 😊
2. If someone places an order on your store, then they pay you via a payment method that you set up on your store (For example, PayPal or Stripe)
3. After you notice that there is an order placed on your store, then you go to AliExpress and order the product with the information from your customer, then the AliExpress seller will ship the product straight to your customer!
4. Conclusion: AliExpress doesn’t have anything to do with the payment you got from your customer. You place your order on AliExpress as if it was your own order while paying the order with your own preferred payment method (AliExpress has multiple payment methods)
On a side note, there are apps out there that help you automate step 3 so you don’t have to fill in everything manually! For example, Oberlo or these Oberlo alternatives.
Regarding your last question about when they payout. Take, for example, PayPal, you can see them as a separate bank account. You receive your money on that account and you can withdraw whenever you want (plus, you can pay with PayPal as well) – Although, it might take a couple of days before you receive the money!
I hope that helped you further, and let me know if you ever have any more questions 😊
– Richard
Hey Richard !
thank you so much for all this information. I ve been doing research and i can tell you’ve put a lot of time and effort producing this content.
Cheers for that !
I have a question. I live in Argentina.
i want to sell in the US, and i am interested in selling US made products.
Do you know what do suppliers need from me to do this?
Do you recommend this ?
Hi Felipe,
Thank you for the compliment; that’s great to hear 😊
I’m not sure if you need to do anything special if you’re from Argentina and want to dropship in the USA, but one thing to keep in mind is the taxes. (You can find more about that here)
Other than that, I suggest talking to a few suppliers (for example, with this 7-day trial for SaleHoo) and say where you’re from to see if they need anything extra.
And yes, you can read the reasons here why to dropship from the USA!
Good luck with everything and let me know if you got any more questions 😊
– Richard
Thanks for this information.
but I have one question?
can I start drop shipping when I was only 15 years old.
Hi, that’s a great question! Unfortunately, that depends on the country that you’re living in. You will need to research from what age it’s legal for you to open an online store.
Sorry that I can’t help you further with this, but I wish you the best with everything!
– Richard
Hey richard,
Nice article, keep that up.
My question is this. I’ve read your blog posts and am kinda confused. Taking all the possible costs required to start this business, including advertising, hosting, plugins, extra costs, what’s the minimum budget we should have before we start out with this? (shopify dropshipping)
Hi,
That’s a great question! I understand it could cause some confusion. The reason that I added a lot more different options to this article is that not everyone wants the same things.
For example, some want to start on Shopify while others prefer going to WooCommerce. The same goes for the Shopify apps (because you said Shopify dropshipping), most are okay with the free apps, but some prefer paid apps.
That’s why I didn’t include a minimum in this article, but I did go over the minimum of the advertising costs, which is one of the most important (and most expensive) factors of the costs of running a dropshipping business. Although, as I said in the article, you can also advertise for free, but again; not everyone wants this.
I do want to give you one more tip; dropshipping isn’t a way to get rich quick, I suggest you have an income stream on the side, so you have enough money for your advertisements. Definitely if digital marketing in general is completely new to you.
I hope that helped you further, and let me know if you got any more questions!
– Richard
do you recommend an already pre store?
Hi Roma,
Thank you for your comment! Great question; you can find our in-depth article about pre-made stores here.
Let me know if that helped you further, and good luck with everything!
– Richard