How To Start Dropshipping Without Money on eBay

We are reading about the lucrative dropshipping business where people are doing colossal success. To start with dropshipping, you usually need money, but what if you have a minimal budget? Can you start dropshipping without money on eBay?

Hi there, my name is Richard, and you will now learn how you can start dropshipping without money on eBay. 

You have probably read about dropshipping and watched youtube videos where you are told to start a Shopify store and start doing dropshipping. 

You have also seen all the gurus in front of their supercars and beautiful women. It's very tempting to start since we all usually want more money so we can live a life how we want to live it.

But Shopify isn't free. Shopify has a 14-day free trial, but the trial ends when you open your store. Then you need to pay $29/month. You also need to advertise your products, and most courses recommend you to do Facebook advertising or using Instagram influencers. 

I don't know about Instagram influencers, but I have spent a lot of money on Facebook ads. I also know many people that have spent more than me before they found the winning product that made them money.

Dropshipping can be very expensive because of the advertising cost. Most people give up before they learn correctly how to do it and have success. 

How to do dropshipping for free on Ebay

If you are on a budget, you can't do advertising, and you can't run your own Shopify store. So you need to find an existing platform to run your business on. You also need to find places where people are so they will find your product. There is no use to put your products for sale, and no one will find them. 

So I recommend you to take a look at eBay.com. On eBay, you can list a limited amount of products for free each month. You only pay a fee when you are selling your product. So you will receive your money before you have to pay for products. 

The step by Step process on how to Sell on eBay for free

To start selling on eBay you need to do 6 main steps described below. Some of them are easy, some of them need more work. I will walk you through the steps below.

Setting up your eBay and PayPal accounts

First you need a Paypal account, and I recommend you to start a business account. The steps on creating your business account are straightforward, and there is a lot of help articles at Paypal if you get stuck. 

When your Paypal account is up and running, you need to register at eBay. Follow the steps and add your information at eBay. If you get stuck, ebay have lots of guides.

Remember that you don't want to pay monthly in the beginning. You have to pay some extra fees, and you are more limited in the number of free monthly listings with the free account. When you start selling products regularly, you want to upgrade to this option to save money. You need to make money to save money, so its best to wait. 

Finding the best products to sell on eBay

Now it's time to create your listing so you can start earning money. You need to find products that are already selling. 

Ideally you want a product with high demand and few suppliers. The issue is that if the demand is high, you will usually see many suppliers and you will see yourself in a price war where you will not make money. So you need to find something in the middle. 

I also recommend that you find something you know a little about. Or start learning about that niche. That way you will be more knowledgeable and more easily spot the products that you want to sell that will be profitable.

To start with, you should try to find a product around $40 and a profit margin on $8-$10. That way you will have a little profit after all the fees. 

A smart method is also not to list the same product, but create an offer. That way you will not sell the exact same product, and you will not need to set your price the same as the other listings. For this to work, you need to make an agreement with your supplier.

To create an offer, you add a small product or an information product to your main product. The additional product needs to help them use the main product or be related. 

Sourcing for dropship suppliers

You have now found a product you want to list, but for dropshipping, you need a supplier that wants to work with you. If you are lucky, you may find the product on Walmart to a lower price. If you do, you can buy the product on Walmart and send it to the customer. This is not real dropshipping, but the main advantage of dropshipping is that you don't have storage. And with the Walmart method, you will not have storage.

You most likely want to search on google after a supplier. I recommend you to find the ones that are smaller and most likely is more hungry after a sale. To find them, you need to dig a bit lower on the google search results. The bigger suppliers are probably higher on the rankings and will follow a procedure regarding how they sell and work with other companies. 

You can also check out if there are some in your city that is willing to work with you. Find smaller stores and producers that may want to work with you. If you do, you may need to send the orders yourself. Again, the goal is not to have a storage and not order products before you have sold them. 

International Communication

If you find suppliers in other countries, you need a free method to communicate with them. You can use email, but most people prefer a more direct approach to communicate. 

Today we have many options, skype, google hangouts, Facebook messenger, or WhatsApp is popular methods. Find out what they want to use, and you are ready to negotiate the price and delivery. 

Remember you often need to prove that you can sell before you can negotiate a lower price, so try to show you can sell before you try to improve your margin. 

Setting up a legal entity

If you are in contact with suppliers in the US, you often need to have a legal entity first. Some may work with you without an entity so you can try without first. To register a legal entity cost money, so be prepared to work with suppliers in foreign countries. 

When you are earning some money, you need a legal entity. Both for safety and for paying taxes. What the limits are before you need to pay taxes is different from countries to countries. So you need to check this out with professionals. 

Designing eBay listings

Now the fun part. You need to register your product. I recommend you to find an existing product and model what they are doing and then try to write it better. In general, this is to add benefits to the product and maybe have a unique approach. 

You may also do some testing before you find an approach that will resonate with the people searching for a product on eBay. 

And you probably need to test multiple products. 

Conclusion

It is possible to do dropshipping for free, but there is a disadvantage to create a business for free. And that's you need to work harder. There are two methods to start a business. You need to earn yourself inn or pay yourself inn. Most people choose a bit from both worlds, but now that you want to work yourself in only. It demands more from you, and it takes a longer time. 

If you want to learn more and are willing to shorten your path to success, I have some dropshipping courses I recommend for you here. 

Whatever you choose, work hard, and you will reach success. Consistency is a critical factor for success.