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Dropshipping

Selling products you never touch - and the costs nobody puts in the video.

Money to start
$300-1,500
Time to a first sale
4-12 weeks, if ever
Length
12 lessons · 75 min

Written 31 August 2026 · checked 31 August 2026. Third-party fees and rules change; this course names what a cost is for rather than what a provider charges today.

What it costs before a single sale

Storefront subscription
Billed monthly by your platform
Domain name
Billed yearly by your registrar
One sample of the product, ordered to your own address
Its retail price plus shipping, paid once
Photos and video of that sample
$0 - you own a phone
Test ad budget behind ONE product
$300-600 you have accepted losing
Payment processing on every order
A percentage of the order plus a flat fee, set by your processor
Goods and supplier shipping, per order
Paid up front, before your payout clears
Refunds, replacements and chargebacks
Out of your revenue - never the supplier's
Apps, themes, courses, spy tools
$0 - skip all of it until one product works

Line items, not a price list. We do not print figures for anything a third party charges - subscription, domain and processing prices move, and a number frozen into a page like this becomes a lie the week after it changes. Check each provider's own pricing page on the day you sign up. The only dollar figures below are amounts you choose to risk.

Do not start this if

This list is the reason the free part exists. Every line is a real reason to walk away, and walking away after reading it costs you nothing.

  • The test budget is money you need. Ad spend leaves your account days or weeks before any sale arrives, and it does not come back when the ads do not work.
  • You need money this month. This is the slowest-paying start on the whole list once you count payout delays and the refund window.
  • You will not answer a stranger who is angry about a late package. Every complaint, refund and chargeback is yours - the supplier is not in that conversation and will not be.
  • You will not track cost per order to the cent. Without that one number you cannot tell a store that is working from a store that is quietly eating your savings.
  • You are under 18 and have no adult who will own the accounts. Payment processing and ad accounts are contracts, and the person named on them carries the liability, the refunds and the tax.
  • You want something passive. This is a job that starts by spending money, and the first weeks are the least passive part of it.
  • You are here because of the lifestyle videos. The videos are the product being sold to you. Nothing in this course will make them true.

The course

Part 1

Is this real?

Free

What the business actually is, what the money really does, why most of these stores die - and an honest go or no-go at the end.

  1. What this actually isThe mechanic in one sentence, where the money really moves, and why removing the inventory barrier is exactly what makes this the most crowded thing you could pick.7 min
  2. What it really costsEvery line item before the first sale, the five numbers that decide whether an order makes money, and the one cost you cannot predict.7 min
  3. Why most of these stores dieFive structural reasons, not five character flaws. Ad spend before revenue, weeks in transit, returns that land on you, no product edge, and the wrong stopping rule.7 min
  4. Go or no-goFour honest answers - not yet, no, no forever, and go - plus the one-week test that tells you which one you are.6 min

Part 2

Set it up.

Operator

One product, a supplier you have tested with your own money, the smallest store that can take payment, and pricing built backwards from what a customer costs.

  1. One product, not two hundredWhy a store with one tested product beats a catalogue of guesses, the filters that remove most items before you spend anything, and the categories to refuse outright.Operator
  2. Vetting a supplier before you owe anyone anythingOrder it to yourself first. What to time, what to inspect, what to ask before you commit, and why a second supplier for the same item is not optional.Operator
  3. The smallest store that can take moneyWhat a store genuinely needs, what to refuse to build, the anatomy of a product page that matches its ad, and getting payments approved without surprises.Operator
  4. Pricing, and the number you check every morningPrice backwards from what a customer costs, work out your break-even, and keep the one small spreadsheet that will disagree with your ad dashboard.Operator

Part 3

Get the first customer.

Operator

What a test budget actually buys, getting a first sale without paying for it, handling the complaint that is definitely coming, and reading the verdict honestly.

  1. Your first test, and what it is actually buyingThe budget buys information, not sales. Three creatives, one product, one decision date - and how to read which part broke.Operator
  2. Getting the first sale without paying for itPost the same creative for free, treat the comments as research, and fulfil the first stranger order by hand so you see every step break.Operator
  3. When it goes wrong, and it willThe where-is-my-order message, refunding fast on purpose, what a chargeback really costs, and the three replies to write before you need them.Operator
  4. Keep it, kill it, or spend moreRead the test against the rule you wrote, match the symptom to the lever, and understand why scaling multiplies losses exactly as fast as anything else.Operator

Parts 2 and 3 need an Operator account

Part one is yours already, with no account. The build half is on the Operator plan, $7/mo.

  • Part 2, Set it up — the accounts, the tooling, the pricing and the first thing you put in front of a buyer.
  • Part 3, Get the first customer — what to say, who to say it to, and what to do when it goes wrong.
  • Both parts in every course here, not only this one.
  • The rest of the Operator plan: the Growth-tier catalog, county-personalized playbooks, catalog search, and publishing your site at a live address.

Nothing on this page unlocks by waiting. Part one stays free for good, and it is genuinely enough to decide with.

Create a free account