Method

How to start dropshipping

Selling without stock is real. So is the rest: the delivery times that produce disputes, import VAT since 2021, and the fact that you answer for the product — not your supplier. The full method, and what kills most shops.

The principle

Four mechanics to understand before choosing anything at all. The fourth is the one launch videos leave out.

No stock

You only order the product once it's sold, and the supplier ships it straight to your customer. You advance nothing, you store nothing, you risk no unsold inventory.

Nothing up front

The supplier ships

They see your order, they pack it, they send it. You never touch the product — which also means you control neither its quality, nor the delivery time, nor what's in the box.

No control

The margin is a difference

Your selling price, minus the supplier price, minus payment fees, minus what the customer cost you. That last item decides whether the shop lives or dies.

Everything is here

What you sell is acquisition

The product already exists and anyone can sell it at the same price. What you bring is the audience or the advertising that delivers the buyer. It's the only asset you build.

The real job

That's why "finding the winning product" is the wrong question. The product is available to everyone, at the same price. What sets you apart is what you pay to bring a buyer to it — and that can be measured to the cent.

The method, step by step

Pick a problem, not a product

Start from a precise need and an identifiable audience. A product that solves a problem sells in one sentence; a merely appealing product needs brilliant advertising for every sale, and you will pay for that brilliance.
Check the demand already exists

Look at the search volume for the product and its variants, the reviews left on shops selling it, the questions people ask. If nobody is searching, you'll have to create the need — which costs ten times more than answering one that exists.
Test the supplier for real

Order the product to your own address, at the normal price, before any advertising. You'll see the real delivery time, the real packaging and the real quality. That's thirty euros that saves you three months of disputes.
Build the shop and state the real delivery times

A product page, sharp photos, the price, and the delivery time you have just measured yourself. Promising fifteen days and delivering in twelve makes a happy customer; promising three and delivering in twelve makes a refund and a bad review.
Test with a budget you accept losing

Set an amount, send traffic at it, and measure what a sale costs. Until you know that number you don't know whether you have a business: you have an online shop.
Decide on the number, not the feeling

If the acquisition cost exceeds your margin, you stop or you change one precise thing — the offer, the audience, the price. Not "a bit more budget to see", which is the most expensive sentence in the trade.

The four numbers that decide

None of them is hard to work out. The second is the one launch content shows least, and it's the one that settles the matter.

Gross margin: Selling price minus supplier price minus payment fees. It's the ceiling on everything that follows: if it's twelve euros, you cannot spend fifteen to attract a buyer, however good your advertising.
Acquisition cost: What you spend on advertising divided by the number of sales it produced. It's the most important number in your shop. A video announcing "€10,000 in sales" without giving this number tells you nothing at all.
Return and dispute rate: The share of orders refunded, charged back or lost. On imported products with long delivery times it climbs fast and eats a margin that looked comfortable on paper. Each payment dispute also carries a fixed fee.
Break-even point: The number of sales at which you've paid back the advertising, the shop subscription and the domain name. Work it out before you start: it's the difference between a test and a bet.

What kills most shops

Delivery time

A parcel promised in five days that arrives in three weeks produces a customer who asks for a refund, leaves a review, and sometimes disputes the payment with their bank. Each dispute costs fees and damages your merchant account.

Cause number one

After-sales service

You answer for the product, not your supplier. An item broken, non-compliant or never delivered is your problem, and the law makes it so — including the day your supplier stops answering your messages.

Always yours

The product you like

Choosing a product because you like it is the most expensive bias in the trade. What matters isn't that it appeals to you: it's that a stranger will pay more for it than you pay to reach them.

The costly bias

The obligations nobody reads

As far as your customer is concerned, you are the seller. Not your supplier, not the platform hosting your shop. That means the two-year legal conformity guarantee, the after-sales service, and the product's compliance and safety all rest on you. The day the supplier stops replying, your obligation doesn't disappear with them.

In the European Union the right of withdrawal runs for fourteen days from delivery, with no reason to give, and the refund must be made within fourteen days of the request, standard delivery costs included. You must also state a delivery date: failing that, the law sets a maximum of thirty days, after which the customer can cancel.

On VAT, the exemption for small imported parcels ended in July 2021: every import is taxable, and the IOSS single window exists to declare VAT on consignments up to 150 euros. For distance selling within the Union, an annual turnover threshold of 10,000 euros triggers the customer's country's VAT, declarable through the OSS window. And if you bring goods in from outside the Union, you may be treated as the importer, with the compliance obligations that come with it.

This passage describes the framework; it doesn't replace legal advice, and these rules change. It's here because a shop that takes money without knowing them ends up discovering them at the first dispute or the first inspection, and it costs considerably more at that point.

Common questions

Is dropshipping legal?

Yes, it's an ordinary commercial activity. What's illegal is failing to register the business, ignoring the right of withdrawal, advertising delivery times you can't meet, or selling non-compliant products. The model isn't the problem; the way it's run can be.

How much do you need to start?

Count the shop subscription, the domain name, one test product ordered to your own address, and above all an advertising budget you accept losing entirely. That last item dominates: without it you have no way of knowing what a sale costs you.

Do you need a registered business?

From the first sale, yes. In France the sole trader status is the simplest way to start and is registered online. Selling regularly with no status is undeclared work, and payment platforms report active sellers' data to the tax authorities.

Can you dropship without paid advertising?

Yes, by trading budget for time: content, search, short video. It's slower and you need to be able to write or film, but the acquisition cost falls to almost nothing. That's exactly the logic of our SEO niches.

What margin should you aim for?

Enough to absorb the acquisition cost, the returns and the payment fees, with room left over. In practice, a product with a gross margin under about twenty euros leaves very little room to pay for advertising.

What happens if my supplier disappears?

The orders in progress remain your problem: you have to deliver or refund. That's why it's better to have tested the supplier and found a fallback before you start advertising, not after.

The method, then the tools that go with it

The funnels already built, the niches already checked and the tools that track your work are in the member area. You move forward alongside people already doing it.

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