Sourcing: Reddit Author: Yeezyons
Having My First Successful Dropshipping Store: Ask Me Anything
I was down at one point $1000 from this store but I made a few changes and it helped alot, I remember when I was down bad on this I wished I had a successful store owner to ask a question, ask me anything, I would love to help!
Comments:
C1
Hi, I haven’t launched it yet but what are some legal aspects we DEFINITELY should include in our store policies like return, shipping, and refund policy.
I also don’t know which address to use if customer has to return any item.
OP
You can use Shopifys templates and just go over them before you publish it, and the returns go straight back to the AliExpress seller
Won’t they know it’s drop shipping? Also thanks a ton for responding.
OP
At that point they are returning it, doesn't matter if they know it's dropshipping
Is it okay if I ask you questions in the future if I need to? Hopefully I launch mine in two days but I don’t know how to market it and how the fulfillment process exactly works
OP
Sure! DM me I can try to help you out
Me too please I'm launching soon :)
How important it is to get a paid template and design that in order to sell a dropshipping product?
OP
I never paid for one, I use free section builders like kava and smind they work great
I tried to figure out Shopify a few years ago and gave up. My full time job is a RN case manager I spend a lot of time after hours charting. I have 7 charts to complete tonight
OP
Good luck 🤞🏻
C2
i saw this one reddit post where a person just started drop shipping and was looking for people to invest in ads with him(like a partner). For context he had just made $1.2k. now my question is why wouldn’t he just use the $1.2k he just made to promote his products in ads and stuff? why would he be looking for someone? someone replied to my question, he said he isn’t really making any money but i don’t get it.
I can answer your question, I saw that post too and here is what’s happening:
1.2k is only revenue, that means ad spend, product cost, store management like apps and subscriptions cost. So let’s say that I made 1k from this store, with 100 orders at 5$, now already cut 500$ from the revenue, I spent 250 on ads, only 250 left, store cost me 100$ to build, that’s 150$ left as profit, it’s very very hard to make it scale or to be more profitable, let’s say you inject 500$ into the business from a partner, it makes everything a whole lot easier than just putting 150$ into the business again.
That’s why he wanted a partner, to grow faster, giving 15% of the business more or less is a good way to establish this kind of relationship, sort of like shark tank
C3
I design ads for a living and am very successful at bringing businesses profit, they all have pre-existing audiences though so I haven't the faintest clue on successfully targeting, just how to actually make functional creatives that capture attention.
How did you learn to target the right people? Is it just risk $$ and see if it works? Did you post on any pages to try to gain organic traction? Did you build up a social page for yourself?
Many thanks in advance.
Targeting isn't as important these days it's all about creative
C4
Hello,
I'm new to Facebook and Meta ads and just set up an account yesterday.
I haven't launched any campaigns yet and I'm looking for some advice on marketing strategies and product selection.
I'm also planning to start dropshipping and just bought a domain called homegoodshunter.
Any tips or things I should keep in mind before diving in would be greatly appreciated!
C5
Okay so I want to start a Shopify but have a few things. First, what supplier do you use? I’m on the free AutoDS subscription but I want to avoid paying something monthly if I can. 2) how do you post your ads / where? Tik tok? Facebook? I guess it depends the item (mine are going to be aimed at technology / projectors and kinda stuff like that) 3) as a beginner, should I focus more on a one product store and work from there or go straight to multiple items
OP
I use dsers and AliExpress no cost unless you upgrade, I use tiktok and Facebook ads, I started with a one product store, but you can do a general store to test products and if one succeeds build a store around that product
How are their shipping times for drop shipping or do you keep product on hand and mail the products yourself. You can’t drop ship or it’s hard with TT as products need to be shipped faster
OP
Shipping times when testing is 6-12 days, but once you have a successful product you start working with agents and do private label which gives you faster shipping and cheaper prices
C6
How do you get out of a shadowban? I have been shadowbanned since April for ripping content. Now every acct I create doesn’t gain traction!
OP
Never got Shadow banned not sure how to help, I guess open new accounts on a different device
What is shadowban?
When TT and IG limit your acct/posts’ reach
C7
Hello, what is the best way to advertise, promote your product? I finished everything about my store, and now its time to promote it. But I don't really know how to, because there aren't videos about my product on internet. Could you please help? Thank you.
Search on YouTube dropshipping with instagram and TikTok and search organic TikTok
Yeah or go to instagram Maps, majority of people who insta pics with locations have followers in 1000s, drop them a DM
Your best bet is to purchase the product personally and take pictures that you know will get attraction, most suppliers take really awful photos that just make you feel like the quality of the product is horrible
C8
Hey I was initially into blogging, ranked some pages, now it feels waste of effort upon AI taking over and comparing returns on investment and I was about to jump into dropshipping full time.
Could you please share resources on dropshipping so I could understand the ins and outs of dropshipping better. Some resources which could help me establish a store a profitable successful store.
I know easier said than done, but just don't want to suffer just because I don't know some stuff. So any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
C9
What techniques or strategies are you using to increase conversion?
OP
I added a sticky cart, more reviews, and constantly updating the site, I probably make 3-4 changes a day to my site at this point it looks very professional
Thats a lot of changes, what other kinds of changes do you make?
OP
Constantly producing more ads
C10
Organic or ads? And what's ur advice on staying motivates and disciplined
OP
Mostly ads, that's where I found success, nobody can motivate you just yourself, how bad do you want to be rich? How bad do you wanna be able to afford anything you want, that's what you gotta ask yourself everyday.
Awesome thank u and for ads do I create it on my personal fb page or do I make a whole new one? I keep getting mixed answers
And do u borrow from others or create ur own ads?
OP
If you want to look like a professional brand use a new account with the brand name and logo
Yes but created a business page in my personal page > create business page or new fb page > create business page? Sorry for all the questions just confusing
Business page on personal acct. is fine
C11
I've just closed my store because i haven't used it to be honest. Had the most basic shop/site. My question is, where can I learn to make a professional shop/site? And would you have more than one product there? Thanks.
OP
I have only done one product so far, I would say watch YouTube videos and use section builders to make it unique
C12
How did you find the product? What research methods did you use and why did you end up picking it?
OP
I use the TikTok method, I have a account that gets recommended dropshipping videos
What’s the TikTok method?
TikTok> search tiktokmademebuyit > look for products you want to sell price range> filter to Bedt Sellers
how do you identify which videos are by dropshippers?
OP
You can tell, especially by checking the site
C13
How did you get your first sale and how long did it take?
OP
Don't remember exactly but I think 2 days, then I had some tough stretches where I was losing lots of money everyday, but with time I became more and more profitable
So was it paid ads that led to your first sale?
OP
Yes 95% of my sales are paid ads
C14
How much should I have to start with? Should I pay for the auto order fulfillment? Auto DS?
OP
You can start with $500 and pay for auto fulfillment if you get a lot of orders, but expect to lose the $500 chances are your first store isn't going to make any money
Minimum $5000
I’ve started profitable stores with $350, so it depends on
C15
How much budget is it required to fully start?
OP
Depends how much your willing to lose you probably aren't going to make any money starting out
C16
I'm very happy for you, my friend. I just had success with my store in Germany. After three months of losing, you should never stop believing in yourself.
C17
Do you fulfill orders through Aliexpress or do you have a stock and ship them directly?
OP
I use dsers
How can I find the drop shippers in AliExpress. I just see makeup or jewelry when I search
OP
Find a product you wanna sell Ali Express probably has it
C18
First of all, congratulations and thank you for your time. I have 2 specific questions :
- Do you have any information in terms of ads in order to maximize ROAS ? In other terms how do you differentiate among competitors ?
- Do you have worldwide operations on a specific country ?
Thank you again for your time and kinds advices.
OP
If you have a good ad and good site you'll get roas, that's really what it gets down to, there is no secret settings it's all about the video, I mainly do us I just started with UK
C19
How long does shipping take?
OP
6-12 days once you start with private supply it goes down
C20
Marketing??? I feel like I have a good product/store/brand
OP
Check on YouTube for help with marketing and you'll get a understanding
Classic Reddit post. Offers advice, directs to YouTube 💀💀💀
OP
You want me to write down a essay on how to market?
C21
How would you stertising a niche store ? My store is ready, I want to start creating ads, kinda not sure where to start cuz I usually had one product stores.art adv
OP
I would say run a ad for every product and see which ones succeed
C22
1.After how many days of running ads did you get your first sale?
2.After getting your first sale how long did i took to get consistent sale ? Meaning second and third sales and up
3. What was your daily ad budget ?
4. Also is your account new or a account with atleast 1k spend before selling your current product
OP
It took me 2 days if I remember correctly , it took me a few days to get consistent sales, I reset my daily budget everyday I use a strategy called surfing, you double your ad budget every hour all day if the ad is successful
I use new accounts
If it wasn’t for that probably would have took a long time not gonna lie
C23
How's your thinking when your deciding a sell price. What margins are you striving for etc and how much do you aim at spending on ads?
OP
I usually do minimum 50% of the product cost, let's you the cost is after shipping $15 I'll charge 33-36 so After ads cost you should be at around 50% profilt margin
C24
I can’t seem to get conversions when I make my ads
OP
I'm guessing your ads aren't that good, it's that simple, good ads = sales watch your ads and think if someone watching this would be interested in it
C25
Do you make the videos or you have someone that make them for you? Some advice for high quality videos ?
OP
I use other people's videos they post online, but I edit them alot so it isn't copyright and they don't get upset
C26
What products are you drop shipping?
OP
Portable projector, it's very saturated which is why I don't mind sharing it at this point I'm going to start a new store soon until I find the next product I'll continue to dropship this but there are so many people dropshipping it already I wouldn't recommend starting with this
C27
Meta ads?
OP
Mostly TikTok
C28
Payment gateway? Stripe doesn't allow dropshipping.
OP
Use Shopify? Not sure your question
I don't have Shopify payments available in the country.
I had a similar issue with payment options in my country. I found UniqPayments really helpful for getting access to global payment solutions. It allows you to process payments even in regions where Shopify payments are not available. You might also want to check out Wise for international banking and Payoneer for cross-border payments. These tools can really help you out.
Thanks, I have wise already so I could get my funds on that. The payment gateway is the problem. I will look into Uniq Payments.
C29
what Payment gateway Provider did you use?
OP
I use Shopify payments
Thank you for the answer! And what about advertising? Do you use FB or TikTok or Google…?
OP
I use fb and tiktok
Do you have the FB problem with account closure? And if so, how to solve it please?
OP
Starting out do tiktok Facebook is hell to deal with, they'll close your account randomly and there is no customer service
Here are some related articles that may interest you：
1. How I Did 700K in Total Sales WITHOUT ADS (upvotes: 557)
2. Found my first 10k+ winner! (upvotes: 221)
3. Here's how to find a "breakout" product (upvotes: 191)
4. Fast Dropshipping Supplier's Guide (upvotes: 41)
(Should the author find this article objectionable or distressing, kindly reach out to us for its prompt removal.)
Having my first successful drop shipping store, ask me anything
byu/PewDiePieNine indropshipping