How to start Dropshipping?

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Dawo77

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Hey guys,
I’ve been thinking about starting a dropshipping business for a while now, but I’m having a really hard time finding a niche or the right products. What’s the best way to go about this? Also, I’d like to know if it’s better to open my own Shopify store or if I should just dropship on Etsy or eBay. Are there any good tutorials online that actually help? Because all those YouTube and TikTok ideas are the biggest scam. I’ve also heard a lot that I should look at what works well in the US and just copy it here, but that’s easier said than done, how am I supposed to figure out what’s working well in the US? I’d appreciate any advice or tips. I’m currently a 21 year old student and want to make €500–1,000 a month (I live in Germany).
Best regards
 
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This seems to be the best channel I've found on this topic, and he doesn't come across like a scammer. I'm considering following his tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@theecomzone/videos

Hope this helps. 34 now, but I signed up for this site back in 2014 when I was your age, so I know the feeling of feeling lost and not knowing where to start! I STILL feel it, even, and it's why I've returned to this sub! Cheers!
 
There are alot of free courses on youtube to help you understand the business model more deeply, and i'd say look into organic ads instead of paid to begin with as sometimes you can expect to run ads for a good product and not get any orders. good luck
 
Dawo77 said:
Hey guys,
I’ve been thinking about starting a dropshipping business for a while now, but I’m having a really hard time finding a niche or the right products. What’s the best way to go about this? Also, I’d like to know if it’s better to open my own Shopify store or if I should just dropship on Etsy or eBay. Are there any good tutorials online that actually help? Because all those YouTube and TikTok ideas are the biggest scam. I’ve also heard a lot that I should look at what works well in the US and just copy it here, but that’s easier said than done, how am I supposed to figure out what’s working well in the US? I’d appreciate any advice or tips. I’m currently a 21 year old student and want to make €500–1,000 a month (I live in Germany).
Best regards
Click to expand...
Analyze the FB ads like which type of products are being displayed normally, it would give the idea of trending products.
 
watch some videos, create a course and start making money with people who still believe in the old fashioned dropshipping aliexpress+shopify
 
since you are in Germany @Dawo77, be careful with etsy. they ban dropshippers fast these days unless you do print on demand and even then it is risky. ebay is safer but margins are tiny. shopify is better but you need traffic.

to see what is working in the us, just get a vpn, set it to US and scroll tiktok or use the facebook ad library. you can filter by ads that started in the last 7 days and see what people are actually spending money on. i used to do this with a US proxy and it works fine to find trends.

also since you are in DE, don't forget you need to register a business and deal with packaging laws like Lucid. a lot of people skip this and get hit with fines. @wolfofdevstreet is right about starting with organic traffic, especially since you are a student and probably don't have thousands to burn on testing paid ads.
 
yeah the german market is tough because buyers there expect fast shipping and actual customer service. if you try doing 3 week shipping from china to DE you will get chargebacked to death. honestly, instead of just copying the US blindly, look at what is selling there and see if you can find a supplier with a warehouse in europe... poland or spain works fine. for finding products, i usually go to tiktok creative center and filter by high CTR ads in the US. gives you way better data than just scrolling. but yeah, start with organic tiktok first because paid ads will eat your budget fast as a student.
 
I wouldn’t start with Shopify right away tbh.

If you’re just trying to make €500–1k/month while studying, I’d first test products on eBay or maybe even Kleinanzeigen-style marketplaces before spending time building a whole store.

Etsy is not really good for normal dropshipping. It’s more for handmade, vintage, craft supplies, POD with your own designs, etc. If you just resell random supplier products there, you can get banned pretty fast.

For finding products, don’t look for some magic niche. Check Amazon US best sellers, TikTok ads, Meta Ad Library, eBay sold listings, Google Trends, then compare if the same product is already common in Germany. If it’s selling in the US but German listings are weak/overpriced/slow shipping, that’s where you may have a chance.

Also calculate properly before testing:
product cost + shipping + platform fees + returns + ads. A product can look profitable and still make no money after refunds and ads.

My advice: pick 5–10 boring problem-solving products, test them cheap, then only build a Shopify store once one of them actually gets sales. Don’t trust TikTok “winning product” videos, most are just selling courses.
 
Firts of all find a trustworthy platform. Choose from many. The most popular for now shopify, etsy + for digital only gumoad, ecomzy. Look for others too it's important to have a personal opinion. Next is read the their policy and rules and if it's fine for you you can give them your cash and start a business process huh
 
For DE I’d skip the “find a passion niche” stuff and look for gaps first. US trend only matters if Germans can actually buy it fast and without weird customs issues.

Use Meta ad library + TikTok creative center for ideas, but then check Amazon.de, eBay sold listings and Idealo. If the product is already everywhere with 2 day delivery, forget it. If US ads are pushing it hard and German listings look ugly, overpriced or slow shipping, thats more interesting.

Shopify is nice once you have proof. For first tests I’d rather do eBay/Kleinanzeigen style listings or a very simple landing page and see if anyone even clicks/buys. Etsy only if it fits their rules, normal AliExpress reselling there is asking for trouble.

Also @Nexora550 is right about Germany stuff... Impressum, returns, VerpackG/Lucid, GDPR, all that boring crap matters here. A €500/month store can still become annoying if you ignore it.
 
find a niche and solve their problems in it. find a product and build a brand around it
 
Dawo77 said:
Hey guys,
I’ve been thinking about starting a dropshipping business for a while now, but I’m having a really hard time finding a niche or the right products. What’s the best way to go about this? Also, I’d like to know if it’s better to open my own Shopify store or if I should just dropship on Etsy or eBay. Are there any good tutorials online that actually help? Because all those YouTube and TikTok ideas are the biggest scam. I’ve also heard a lot that I should look at what works well in the US and just copy it here, but that’s easier said than done, how am I supposed to figure out what’s working well in the US? I’d appreciate any advice or tips. I’m currently a 21 year old student and want to make €500–1,000 a month (I live in Germany).
Best regards
Click to expand...
Reach out to me if you're looking for suppliers, I can recommend award-winning products for you.
 
for germany i wouldnt start with shopify first unless you already have a product tested. try ebay/kleinanzeigen style testing, check meta ad library + tiktok creative center, but only pick products with eu shipping. 3 week china delivery in DE is asking for refunds.
 
I did the AliExpress dropshipping thing quite a few years ago and it was tough then. Eventually it led me to POD which I guess is a kind of drop shipping but with a bit more control.

One thing no one talks about is cash flow. If you don’t have money for order and returns you can be successful and run out of money.
 
Start by choosing a niche, finding reliable suppliers, and building a simple store with good products.
 
For a 500-1k goal i'd honestly worry less about finding the perfect niche and more about margin per order. Thats where most people quietly bleed out. You dont need some genius viral product for that number, a boring problem solver with a clean 3x markup does the job fine.

The delivery issue @CloudMerchant and @yetawise brought up is the real killer, but you can dodge a lot of it with EU warehoused suppliers instead of shipping direct from china. CJ has an EU stock option, BigBuy ships from inside europe too. Takes longer to find something good in their catalog but your refund rate wont eat you alive, which matters way more on a small budget.

Also on the ad testing... if your whole target is 500-1000 a month, burning that same amount every month testing paid creatives makes no sense. Either go organic first like @wolfofdevstreet said or make sure the product has repeat buys so one winning ad pays back over time.

And the Impressum/VerpackG/VAT stuff everyone calls boring is kinda a moat honestly. Most lazy dropshippers wont touch DE because of it. Set it up properly once and you just have less competition.
 
If you don't have any experience, I wouldn't launch with dropshipping today.
 
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