Starting an online business is a great way to gain your financial freedom. Nowadays, it costs very little to start one. So, let’s find out the exact amount.
Can you start dropshipping without money?
Well, theoretically yes, but in practice NO! For example, you can use AliExpress products on eBay to start free dropshipping. But even if you do this, there are some unavoidable costs, such as advertising costs. Therefore you cannot start dropshipping without money.
Even dropshipping is not free to begin with.
In fact, dropshipping is one of the cheapest ways to start a business right now.
Let’s see how much money you need to start dropshipping.
There are three main costs associated with starting a dropshipping store:
- Cost of having an online store
- Cost of testing and finding winning products
- Cost of advertising and marketing
1. The cost of having an online store
In this post, we will talk about the costs associated with two methods of starting an online store for dropshipping. We’ll talk about how much money you need to start dropshipping on a Shopify store.
Shopify is also a platform for building popular and beginner-friendly e-commerce stores.
How much money do you need to start dropshipping on Shopify?
Here is a breakdown of the basic costs:
- Shopify Basic Plan – $ 29 per month
- Buying a domain – 12 USD per year
- Oberlo dropshipping application – FREE
- Theme – FREE (Or, you can buy a paid theme for about 150 USD)
- Other applications for payment gateways, SEO, etc. – FREE OF CHARGE
Also, if necessary, you can call on experts, who will prepare your store for about $ 150-200. So you don’t have to worry about all the technical things you have to go through. It can also save you valuable time.
2. Cost of testing and finding a winning product
When it comes to dropshipping, you will not see or touch the product you are selling. Therefore, you need to be very careful about what you sell and your suppliers.
Once you’ve spent hundreds of dollars on ads, you don’t want to receive an email from your suppliers saying there’s a delay or something. I also know that you do not want to receive bad customer reviews, saying that the product does not match the description. Therefore, you need to spend some money to test the products and find the best dropshipping products.
How much money do you need to spend on finding winning products to start dropshipping?
I would recommend spending around $50-$100 to buy the samples of the products that you are planning to sell. So, you can evaluate the shipping process, costs, and product quality before selecting a winner.
3. The cost of advertising
When we talk or budget about how much money we need to start dropshipping, we often forget the importance of spending enough on advertising. In my experience, the largest amount of money you have to spend to start a dropshipping business comes from the advertising budget.
There is no point in having a fantastic site and the best products in the world in your store, unless you get enough traffic to your store.
Therefore, your top priority should be in advertising and marketing.
How much money do you need to spend on Facebook Ads for your dropshipping business?
It is very difficult to give a specific value to this question. There are hundreds of options that can affect your advertising budget. For example, you need to test different copies of your ads, audience demographics, and many other factors. Check out this Facebook advertising post for details.
Even with years of experience, sometimes you have to spend more than $ 150 on FB ads to find the optimal ad setup that works for my new products. However, in some cases, it may work even on the first try. Once you’ve found the best setup for your FB ads, everything is perfect.
So how much money do you need to start dropshipping?
The final calculation:
If you do it yourself:
- Building an online store – $ 45 for Shopify
- Product testing – $ 50 USD
- Advertising – $ 150 USD
Total: 245 $
Chances of success: Small 📉
Together it will cost you around $250 to start dropshipping, inclusive of everything. Now, come on, $250 is nothing compared to starting a regular type of business. Usually, starting a business would cost you more than $5000. So, $250 is peanuts compared to that cost. That’s why dropshipping has become a popular business method over the past decade.
If you pay some experts:
- Building an online store – $ 45 (for Shopify plan + domain)
- Payment for the store – $ 199
- Video ad: $ 40
- Facebook ads – $ 100
