Get started with a dropshipping business

Open a business without the hassle of managing inventory, packaging, or shipping.

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Three product photos featuring a cosmetics spray, a white leather purse, and two tank tops on hangers.

How does dropshipping work?

No more up front inventory costs or shipping logistics. With dropshipping, products are sent directly from your wholesaler to your customers.

一个拼贴of two overlapping images. In the foreground, a product image of a man wearing a light grey hoodie. Below him, there is a tickbox labelled “fulfilled” along with an order number and a cost of $44.63, indicating someone has placed an order for the hoodie seen in the product image. In the background, a map is labelled “Tracking” and it has a picture of the hoodie, indicating the map reflects the tracking journey of the shipped item.

Step 1

Your customer places an order from your online store

Step 2

Your store automatically sends the order to your dropshipping supplier

Step 3

Your dropshipping supplier prepares your customer’s order

Step 4

Your dropshipping supplier ships the order directly to your customer

How to find products to sell online

Not sure where to start? Read the complete guide to finding, evaluating, validating and sourcing a product to sell online.

Read the guide

A search bar with the text of Trending Products hovers over three product images: a black t-shirt, classic sunglasses, and bright green running shoes.

Jumpstart your dropshipping business with Shopify

A smiling woman sits at a counter, smiling at a tablet device in front of her. There are two shoes to the left of her, and in the upper left, an order paid confirmation screen with a shoe, a description of “Running shoe - pink” and a cost of $166.05.

Launch for less

Start your dropshipping business with minimal costs. Using a dropshipping supplier means saving on inventory space, and not paying for products until you’ve sold them.

Work on what matters

Fulfill and ship orders with only a few clicks. Dropshipping suppliers free up time to perfect your products, optimize your marketing, and talk with your customers.

Test for success

Experiment with new products, suppliers, and sales channels. Dropshipping is a low-risk way to find what works best for you and your business.

Sell globally

Grow your business by selling to customers all over the world. Many dropshipping suppliers offer worldwide warehousing and fulfillment.

Learn more about dropshipping

Learn how to dropship

Free webinar that walks you through how to launch and grow your store.

Start your business

Get step-by-step instructions on building your brand and online store.

Explore Shopify Start

Keep learning

Browse a collection of free resources that will help set you up for success.

Visit the Shopify Blog

Our sales have gone up by over 20X in the past year. And it’s growing continuously month over month.

Meghan Lewis

Skinnydip

Frequently asked questions

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Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method where a business doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, the seller purchases inventory as needed from a third party—usually a wholesaler or manufacturer—to fulfill orders. Discover ourwhat is dropshippingarticle on the ecommerce blog.
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Dropshipping has the potential to be profitable. For starters, online shopping continues on an upward trajectory. Further, merchants don't need to make inventory investments upfront, so this keeps more capital at the ready for other purposes.
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Here's how to start a dropshipping business:
1. Choose a dropshipping business idea
2. Do competitive research
3. Choose a dropshipping supplier
4. Build yourecommercestore
5. Decide on a business structure
6. Get your finances in order
7. Market your dropshipping store
8. Analyze and improve your offering
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The best products for dropshipping have high demand and low market competition. For example, some dropshippers chose to sell trendy products like colored LED lights. Dropshippers might also chose more industrial products like heat lamps or car parts. Finding a great dropshipping niche usually includes market research and some experimentation.

Start dropshipping with Shopify today

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