If you have limited investment but want to earn online, dropshipping is the solution for you. Dropshipping business that involves using a third party to store inventory and ship for you. You can also easily select from a wide range of dropshipping products.
When a customer orders an item from your store, you pass it on to your supplier to fulfill.
You can sell to customers without holding any inventory and you don’t need to pay for products upfront.
You don’t even need to pay for the inventory until it’s sold to an actual customer.
If you’re broke and want to start an online business, you’ve probably asked yourself how to start dropshipping for free.
If you put in the work, you can build a successful online store and start dropshipping for free. The bare minimum to start this business is a computer, steady internet, and your time. Follow our ultimate guide below on how to start dropshipping for free.
- If you want to learn how to start dropshipping for free without any investment, this guide is for you.
- Dropshipping is a business model in which you sell products without keeping the items in stock. You have your supplier fulfill the order and ship it directly to your customer.
- You keep your profit from the price difference. Your customer pays you first for the product and after that, you pay from that for the product.
- All you need to start dropshipping is time, a computer, and an internet connection. You do not need any initial investment. You can start for free.
- This ultimate guide will help you start and scale a drop shipping business for free!
This post will cover how one can start a dropshipping business for free. The key points we will be covered are below:
- What is Dropshipping?
- Perks of Online Dropshipping Business.
- Is Dropshipping Profitable?
- Is it Difficult to Start a Dropshipping Business?
- How to Start Dropshipping for free with Zero Investment?
- Create your selling idea and decide your niche.
- Research your competitors.
- Find a dropshipping supplier.
- Create a store (eBay, Amazon, Shopify, etc.)
- Start listing products online.
- Market your products.
- Collect orders and forward them to your supplier.
- Register your company to scale your business.
- Analyze Buyer’s Behaviour and Define Strategies.
What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a business model in which online retailers don’t keep goods in stock but rely on suppliers to deliver products when they are ordered.
Dropshippers order directly from wholesalers and manufacturers, so they don’t have to worry about storing or shipping their inventory. The dropshipping products are delivered straight to the customer’s doorsteps by distributors who hold onto said goods at their locations.
Dropshippers can avoid the expense of storing and shipping products by paying suppliers as soon as they sell their inventory.
Perks of online dropshipping business
Dropshipping is an appealing business model for those who want to start their own companies, save money on overhead costs, and make profits without leaving the comfort of their home.
Dropshipping can be advantageous in several ways.
- Less capital is required
- Easy to get started
- Low overhead
- Flexible location
- Wide selection of dropshipping products to sell
- Easier to test
- Easier to scale
No Upfront Costs: Since you’re not spending any money on inventory and other startup expenses, you can save money by buying direct from manufacturers at wholesale prices.
Storage: You don’t have to worry about storing or shipping inventory. Because it will be directly handled by the supplier you just have to focus on your sales and customer support.
Wide Range: As a dropshipper, you can select from a wide range of products, and can source from multiple suppliers. Selecting dropshipping products from a wide selection is the biggest advantage a dropshipper can have because you don’t have to stick with a single product. If one dropshipping product does not work for you, you can test others.
Cash Flow: One of the biggest pros of dropshipping is cash flow. You don’t have to worry if you are low or out of cash you will only pay your vendor when you receive an order. So, once you receive an order you will receive payment with that payment you can fulfill that order. In some cases, payment does not get released on time so you should have a little cash in your hand to fulfill your orders to avoid any inconvenience.
Is dropshipping profitable?
This is the most frequently asked question we get to hear. Dropshipping can be a profitable business model for merchants because you are not responsible for shipping, manufacturing, or storing any inventory.
It’s a low-risk business model that doesn’t incur huge costs like one would face when wholesaling and with the right suppliers, one can earn good profit margins. Many dropshippers make up to $100,000 per year with successful stores. So, if you want to be one of them and make six figures—you’ll need the right suppliers and a brand that people love.
At first glance, it may seem impossible to make enough money under these circumstances; however, the answer is simple:
By taking advantage of all the different ways you can sell your products online, and if you’re willing to do some research so that you understand how to manage your inventory effectively, dropshipping can work for anyone!
“The freedom to sell your product without dealing with fulfillment or shipping may sound appealing, but only if you’re making money!”
Is it difficult to start a dropshipping business?
Dropshipping is a very competitive field because you can start a dropshipping business for free. Many sellers sell similar dropshipping products at the same price point, making it difficult for the seller to stand out from its competitors.
You can make money in dropshipping even if you are not a genius. All it takes is doing the work and being patient while your business grows.
If you’re willing to put in the effort, anyone can start a successful dropshipping business. However, many people say “I want to be an entrepreneur” but never follow through with their plans.
This all depends on what type of business you want to start and what strategies you follow.
For more topics related to dropshipping visit:
Is Dropshipping Worth It?
Amazon Dropshipping: A Complete Guide
65+ Best Dropshipping Products to Sell in 2022
How to start dropshipping for free with zero investment?
If you have no money to start a business but want to earn online, dropshipping is the thing for you. This guide will carefully take you through the steps on how to start dropshipping for free.
#1. Create your selling idea and decide your niche
Firstly, make up your mind about what you intend to sell and define your niche. Just as if you were opening up a retail store and looking into the different locations, competitors, and trends; similarly, when researching a market niche that attracts you, it is important to investigate how profitable your business could be.
Researching the global market share gives you a general idea regarding the demand for the niche you’re about to choose. To decide on your niche, there are a few ways.
Google search
You can run a google search for finding the best niche to start dropshipping for free. For this, you may use Google Trends which helps to identify if a specific keyword is trending or not over time.
You may also identify certain problems you face and search for dropshipping products that may help with that and might also be helpful for others with the same problems.
Search social media such as Facebook marketplace to find specific niches.
To dive in more, you may use different online tools such as Keyword everywhere which shows data such as monthly search volume for a keyword and many other aspects as well.
#2. Research your competitors
Once you’ve decided what you are going to sell by dropshipping, it’s time to look at who your competitors would be and understand how they are working. Competitors play a vital role in the success of your store.
If you pick up clues from your competitor’s way of working, you’ll be able to learn a lot and devise a strong marketing plan as well. You may also search on Google and make a list of the top 7 competitors in your niche.
You may also use other online tools to help you find results geographically as well. Several spying tools like Similar Web and Commerce Inspector help you know what your competitor’s social media profiles are, what their website traffic is, and who their competitors are.
These things will give you a head start and you can draft your business plan accordingly. You may also search social media platforms to gather data.
The most important part of this step is to align and organize all the data of your competitors in a neat way that contains everything such as their name, period of presence, location, products, prices, reviews on Trustpilot, etc., marketing methods, and their overall reputation.
#3. Find a dropshipping supplier
Suppliers are the backbone of any dropshipping business. Therefore, one must be very careful during this critical step. The supplier may either make you boom and lead to skyrocketing sales or it may be the reason for your dropshipping business to end for good.
The things to keep in mind are that the supplier must be authentic, sell high-quality dropshipping products, offer excellent customer support, and offer fast shipping without your customer knowing the product they ordered from you is being drop shipped to them from the supplier.
This is where DailyDealsCo steps up the game. DailyDealsCo offers a dropship program that provides a wide range of products to select from for dropshipping and also provides a seamless experience for your business to succeed.
DailyDealsCo offers high-quality products and fast blind shipping which means the products are shipped out in blank boxes and without any receipts with any logo so your customer would never know the product was drop shipped to them and not shipped by you.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding DailyDealsco visit its FAQ’S.
#4. Create a store
The next thing you would need to start a dropshipping business for free is an e-commerce platform like Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or Woo Commerce. It is up to you whichever platform you’d like to go with.
Our suggestion would be to build a dropshipping store on Shopify as it is the easiest and cheapest among all. Other platforms have a higher fee which builds up an upfront expense without any incoming revenue.
Shopify offers a free 14-day trial which can be extended for one time only by chatting with the Shopify support agent. After that, it has a fixed fee of $19/month for the basic plan which goes up to $299/month for an advanced custom plan with many more features.
Another reason why we prefer Shopify is that you just select your desired theme and they create your store for you. The Shopify fee also covers website hosting, design, sales reports, dashboard, payment gateway, and website security.
#5. Start listing products online
Once your Shopify store is up and live, you can start listing products. You can either list all products carried by your supplier or choose some specific products as you like. It depends on how you wish to control the flow of orders and sales.
#6. Market your products
Now it’s time to market your dropshipping products so more and more people can know about them and buy from you. There are a few ways to market your products and attract a bigger audience.
SEO
SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization and it generally means optimizing your online store so it gets ranked higher in Google search results and there could be more traffic on your site which ultimately means more sales.
Social Media Marketing
Social media has billions of active daily users so you can run social media ads in addition to SEO to gain more traffic to your website. You can build your website’s social media profile and promote it according to your targeted platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, etc.
You can also run Google shopping ads but they might be more costly.
Blogging
Write content about your products that you believe would attract an audience and engage them to purchase from your website.
Email Marketing
You can send emails to introduce your website and the dropshipping products you offer along with promotional discount coupons to attract customers. This is a very effective free marketing method.
Worried about how to get your SEO & Marketing Done?
#7. Collect orders and forward them to your supplier
Once you start getting orders for different products on your website, forward them to your supplier so they can start packing and shipping your order as soon as possible to your customer.
#8. Register your company to scale your business
While running a business in the US, you must remain within all legal guidelines and work accordingly as a responsible US citizen.
After a certain threshold, it would be necessary for you to register your business in the US for legal and tax purposes.
Since a dropshipping business is run from home, you would want to contact your local authorities and law regulators to see if anything is required or not.
You will also be required to collect sales tax from customers ordering from your state only if your state collects sales tax.
Analyze buyer’s Behaviour and define strategies.
Once you’ve completely learned how to start dropshipping for free and have gained some experience, it’s time to start analyzing results periodically. Through analytics, you can view what dropshipping products customers mostly tend to buy and what sell seasonally.
You can know what dropshipping products bring you more profit and which ones are not performing so well. Whether you need to rank your website more to gain more traffic or not.
What is the geographical location of your customers and geographically which dropshipping product sells more in a specific area of the country?
You can also understand which marketing channel works better for you so you can put in more effort in that channel and stop bleeding money into other channels.
Collectively, you can devise a perfect plan for how to move your business going forward with better selling tactics and marketing strategies.
Conclusion
This article, How to start dropshipping for free now has come to an end. By applying some of our pieces of advice to your business you can build a dropshipping store.
Yet, you must keep in mind there are many other factors involved in building a profitable dropshipping business. Keep pushing yourself and find good products and market them and you shall achieve good results.
