Get started with a dropshipping business

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

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.

  1. Step one

    Your customer places an order from your online store

  2. Step two

    Your store automatically sends the order to your dropshipping supplier

  3. Step three

    Your dropshipping supplier prepares your customer’s order

  4. Step four

    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.

Jumpstart your dropshipping business with Shopify

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.

Sell globally

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

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.

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.

Keep learning

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

Dropshipping success stories

“The first sale was an incredible experience. Even the 100th and 300th sale was fun.”

Karolis | Dropshipping entrepreneur
“Our sales have gone up by over 20X in the past year. And it’s growing continuously month over month.”
Meghan Lewis, Skinnydip
“Shopify is 100% the best platform. We have loved our experience with Shopify and will never leave.”
Wyatt Thurston, Raging Mammoth

Learn more about dropshipping

  • Dropshipping is when you sell products to customers but use a third party to hold your inventory and ship your orders. Dropshipping business owners focus on the branding, marketing, and customer management part of their business while a third party handles their logistics for them.

  • 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.

  • 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 your ecommerce store
    5. Decide on a business structure
    6. Get your finances in order
    7. Market your dropshipping store
    8. Analyze and improve your offering

  • 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.

  • You can browse millions of products on Oberlo, a dropshipping marketplace and toolkit for entrepreneurs all over the world. Oberlo is essentially a virtual warehouse packed with products from thousands of suppliers. It uses analytics to help you find the rising stars, high-potential products, and hidden gems. In just a few clicks, you can select your goods, customize the details, and list them on your site for sale.