The 9 Best Drop-shipping Websites for Selling Online (2024)

What is a drop-shipping business?

Drop-shipping is an e-commerce business model where products sold by an online retailer are manufactured, warehoused, and shipped by third-party companies.

Rather than purchasing large quantities of stock from a supplier, online stores that use drop-shipping will buy a single item from their supplier after a customer has placed an order. The supplier then packages and ships the order to the customer.

Drop-shipping has a ton of advantages for first-time business owners. In particular, drop-shipping helps those starting a business to save money, time, and resources that would otherwise be spent on inventory management.

Most drop-shipping websites perform similar functions, but they differ when it comes to costs, product range, policies, and ease of use. For this list, we reviewed the best drop-shipping sites by looking at:

Pricing:

Monthly fees, transaction fees, and any additional costs.

Inventory:

Niche specialization, product variety, and brand availability.

Shipping:

Where suppliers ship products from and to, and how fast.

Key Features:

Unique functionalities, integrations, and automation capabilities.

Best For:

Specific merchant needs and business models.

Shopify App rating:

Direct integration with the Shopify platform and reviews from Shopify merchants.

Note: Features and pricing can change, so always visit drop-shipping websites for the most up-to-date information.

How do drop-shipping websites help your store?

Since drop-shipping delegates much of the work of starting a business to a third party, it has lots of advantages:

Low overhead costs

When you drop-ship products, you only pay for products after you’ve made a sale, meaning you’ll never have to worry about sinking funds into over-stocking your inventory.

Less startup capital required

Startup costs for drop-shipping businesses can be kept lower since you don’t need to pay to have your products manufactured or stored. The added savings mean more budget can be allocated to assets like paid ads, helping jump-start your growth.

Location flexibility

Since stock is managed by your drop-shipper, there’s less need for you to be in a static location. You could work from home, your favorite cafe, or a secluded cabin deep in the woods (preferably one with decent Wi-Fi).

Fewer risks when testing new products

Most drop-shipping sites highlight their bestselling products, meaning you already know what’s currently in high demand.

Saves time

Securing stock, inventory management and shipping products takes a lot of time. With these tasks delegated to a third party, you can focus on marketing your products and building your brand.

The 9 best drop-shipping websites

1. Ali Express Drop-shipping

2. Spocket

3. SaleHoo

4. Zendrop

5. Modalyst

6. Trendsi

7. Inventory Source

8. Wholesale Centre

9. Worldwide brands

It can be hard to know where to start when starting a drop-shipping business. Even finding a drop-shipping website to suit your needs can be overwhelming.

To take the stress out of this process, we’ve reviewed nine of the most popular drop-shipping websites currently used by entrepreneurs.

What is the best way to start a drop-shipping business?

Let’s take a look at the steps involved in starting a drop-shipping store:

1. Find an idea

The first step to starting your business is coming up with a product idea. Remember that, with drop-shipping, you’re curating products around a brand, so your primary focus should be on the visual aspects of your brand.

Sometimes the drop-shipper itself can serve as inspiration. You could browse some of its products and see if any fit together or complement an under-served niche.

2. Perform market research

Once you have an idea, you’ll be able to identify your primary competitors and perform a competitive analysis. A competitive analysis is an in-depth exploration of your competitors’ business strategies, target markets, branding, key features, price points, and website design.

Doing this will help you evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and highlight opportunities to outperform them when developing your own brand.

3. Find a drop-shipping supplier

With your market research done, your next step is finding a drop-shipping supplier that carries the goods you need to build your brand. There are a ton of suppliers that can be found via the websites listed here, but keep in mind that you don’t have to use a single supplier.

Supplier directories like Wholesale Central and Worldwide Brands are great for finding retailers that carry specific products. They’re also good for brainstorming ideas and spotting under-served niches.

Many drop-shipping companies connect directly to products in your Shopify store, so you can sell products from drop-shippers alongside your own products.

4. Build your online store

With your drop-shipper selected, you’re ready to start your online store. Remember that maintaining your store will be an ongoing process, so you can evolve your product line and branding based on what’s working.

Check out this e-commerce store to make sure you’ve got everything ready for your grand opening.

5. Market to your audience

With your store live, it’s time to bring in traffic. If you’ve built a social media following or online community, you can direct your existing customers to your store. In most cases you’ll need to start identifying your target audience.

Find online communities dedicated to your product. Attend in-person trade shows and pass out business cards. If you don’t have any, use a free business card maker to create a custom one for the occasion.

Develop a social media marketing strategy to build your following online. And don’t forget to stay tuned to the news in communities that connect with your product for stories on trending products in your industry.

Check out this online store for your inspiration:

BloomBazaarshop.com

Drop-shipping websites FAQ

Which sites are best for drop-shipping?

These nine sites are the best for drop-shipping, based on product range, service charges, and reviews from Shopify merchants:

1. DSers-AliExpress

2. Spocket

3. SaleHoo

4. Zendrop

5. Modalyst

6. Trendsi

7. Inventory Source

8. Wholesale Central

9. Worldwide Brands

What is the cheapest drop-shipping website?

The cheapest drop-shipping site is Wholesale Central, which is free. However, Wholesale Central is a directory of drop shippers who carry specific products, so the drop shippers themselves may still charge fees.

The cheapest drop-shipping app is DSers AliExpress Drop-shipping, which has a free plan that lets you source suppliers and add a limited number of products.

What are the best drop-shipping products?

If you’re looking for the best drop-shipping products, most drop-shippers will list their bestsellers on their website. Keep in mind that how well your products sell depends on outside factors, such as your marketing and business plan.

How profitable is drop-shipping?

Drop-shipping tends to be very profitable because overhead costs can be kept low since you don’t need to store or purchase stock before selling it.

Can I drop-ship from any website?

No, not all website-building platforms include features to integrate drop-shipping. However, any website built on Shopify will allow you to integrate drop-shipping features.

What are the benefits of drop-shipping?

Drop-shipping has very low overhead costs because the stock doesn’t need to be purchased before it’s sold. Drop-shipping also offers more location flexibility, frees up more time, and makes it easier to test new products, in comparison to other types of business.