How To Start Dropshipping With $0 (2024 Beginners Guide)

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Introduction

There's absolutely tons of drop shipping tutorials out there, but most are outdated, 30 minutes longer than they need to be, taught by someone who probably never attempted drop shipping, or they're just trying to sell you a course. In this article, I'm not here to do any of that or waste your time. I'm going to make it simple and walk you through how to set up your store, find a winning product, and hopefully make your first sale — all for free.

I know it sounds wild, but I myself began drop shipping with just $ 0. If you don't know me, my name is Brian, and I am documenting my drop shipping journey to provide you with guidance on how to start your drop shipping store as a complete beginner so you don't fail like I did in my first attempt. Let's hop on the computer.

Finding Your Winning Product

Before we do anything else, we need to find our winning product. To find our winning product, we'll use TikTok because it is the most popular and easiest app to use.

  1. Create a Second Account: Create a burner account on TikTok.
  2. Search for Trending Products: Head to the search bar and type in "TikTok made me buy it." You'll see a bunch of products as you scroll.
  3. Filter by Likes: Go to the top right, click on the filter section, and filter by the “like count” within the last month. This helps us identify trending products over the past 30 days.
  4. Select a Product: After some scrolling, I found a cool fan. Ensure it has a wow factor or solves a problem. In this case, it does solve a problem as it is summer, and it's getting hot in many places.

Validating Your Product

Next, you need to make sure your product can be ordered both from your drop shipping supplier and Amazon.

  1. Check on Amazon: Go to Amazon and type in your selected product. Make sure it’s available.
  2. Order from Supplier or Amazon: If you find it on Amazon and your supplier (in this case, ZenDrop), order it to your home.

Setting Up Your Shopify Store

Now comes creating your Shopify store:

  1. Sign Up for Shopify: Head over to Shopify and start your free trial, enter your information, and set up your account.
  2. Login and Dashboard: After signing up, you’ll be taken to the Shopify dashboard.
  3. Import Your Product: Go to apps, type in "ZenDrop," and sign in with your email. Import your product to your store.

Customizing Your Product Page

  1. Customize Title and Description:

    • Call your product something simple, like “Polar Bear Fan.”
    • For the description, use ChatGPT to rephrase your supplier’s description into a professional, compelling copy.

  2. Set Your Pricing:

    • Your cost per item might be $ 6.55, so price it at around $ 29.99 for a decent profit margin.
    • Use a compare-at price for a sale effect, such as $ 59.99, to create urgency.

Creating Your Website

  1. Choose a Theme: Under the online store section, choose a free theme like “Dawn.”

  2. Customize Your Logo: Use Canva to create and download your logo. Import it into your Shopify settings under themes, then logos.

  3. Design Product Pages:

    • Edit your page in Mobile mode.
    • Use Canva to create images and GIFs showing your product in action.
    • Use the template features (video, multirow, slideshow) to add more content describing your product.

Creating Content and Driving Traffic

  1. Create TikTok Content: Start a new TikTok account for your product. Post three to five times daily.
  2. Utilize Instagram: Since you need 1,000 TikTok followers to have a link in bio, use Instagram initially.
    • Create an Instagram account, place your product link in the bio, and link your Instagram to TikTok.

By consistently creating compelling content, you could start seeing sales within a week.

Keywords

  • Drop Shipping
  • Winning Product
  • TikTok made me buy it
  • Product Research
  • ZenDrop
  • Shopify
  • Canva
  • Polar Bear Fan
  • Price Setting
  • Mobile Mode
  • Product Page
  • Content Creation
  • TikTok Followers
  • Instagram

FAQ

What is Drop Shipping? Drop shipping is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn't keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, it purchases the item from a third party that ships directly to the customer.

How do I find a winning product? Using TikTok is a great way to find trending products. Search for "TikTok made me buy it," filter by like count over the past month, and look for products with a wow factor that solves a problem.

How do I validate a product for dropshipping? Ensure the product is available both on your drop shipping supplier (like ZenDrop) and on Amazon. Order it to verify the quality before selling.

How do I set up a Shopify Store? Sign up for a free trial on Shopify, import your product using ZenDrop, customize product titles and descriptions, and set your prices for a decent profit margin.

How should I drive traffic to my store? Create TikTok and Instagram accounts specifically for your product. Post regularly on TikTok, link to your Instagram where your product link resides until you reach 1,000 TikTok followers.

Is it possible to start with $ 0? Yes, with free tools like ZenDrop, Shopify’s free trial, Canva, and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, you can start drop shipping without initial investment.