How to Start Dropshipping in 2026: Real Startup Costs, Steps and Mistakes

For one US store, the cheapest stack we could verify costs $126 over the first 90 days at standard prices, before ads and products: Shopify Basic at $39 a month billed monthly, a domain from $9 a year, and DSers Basic at no charge. Vendor prices were verified on 10 October 2026 on each company's own site, in US dollars. The software is the small line. Your ad budget and the margin on each order decide whether the store survives its first quarter.

Dropshipping means you list a supplier's products, take the order and the payment, and the supplier ships to the customer. You never hold stock, so there is no inventory bill. What you do pay for is the store platform, a supplier tool, a domain, the ads that bring buyers and the samples you order to check quality. This guide prices each of those, walks through the steps in the order most beginners take them, and names the mistakes that cost the most in the first 90 days.

One comparison sets the scale early. Spocket's Starter plan is $39.99 a month, which is $0.99 more than Shopify Basic on monthly billing. A seller who buys both before the first sale pays two monthly bills for a store with no customers. Most of the savings in this guide come from delaying that second bill.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 6 dropshipping tools for its dropshipping ranking. That sample is small, so we use it as context and build the budget from vendor pages only.

What the first 90 days cost

Dropshipping removes the inventory bill, so the real costs are software, a domain, ads and samples. The table prices each one with its billing basis. Read it as a monthly bill first and a cash bill second. A yearly Shopify plan costs less per month, but it takes $348 out of your account at once.

Apart from the domain, the fixed software for the cheapest setup is one Basic bill a month. Everything else depends on the test you choose to run. We set the test at $300 as a round number for this example. No vendor sets it, and the right size depends on your margin and how fast you can learn from a product.

Four stacks and their monthly bills

Every stack below uses Shopify Basic on monthly billing and one domain for a year, so the 90-day figures compare directly. The only thing that changes is the supplier tool.

Zendrop's free tier looks like the cheapest supplier option. It includes $100 in order credits and unlimited orders, but it leaves out Automated Fulfillment, the feature that sends paid orders to the supplier for you. Pro includes it. If you start on the free tier, plan to move up before you run ads, because a campaign that works will create orders faster than you can place them by hand.

Step 1: Work the margin before you pick the tool

Price the product before you choose the supplier app. Profit per order is the sale price minus the product cost, shipping, card fees and ad spend per sale. A $40 order on Shopify Payments carries $1.46 in card fees, which is 2.9% plus 30¢. Route the same order through a third-party gateway with the same card rate. Basic adds a 2% third-party fee on top, and that brings the total to $2.26.

Run that sum with your own supplier prices for three candidate products, and drop any product where the number left after fees is thin. A dropshipping store does not fail because the software bill is high. It fails when every sale leaves too little to cover the ads that produced it.

Step 2: Open the store on Shopify Basic

Basic is the plan the cheapest stack uses. It costs $39 a month billed monthly, or $29 a month billed yearly. Billed yearly, you save $120 a year against monthly billing, but the year is paid in one charge of $348. Choose yearly only if you expect to keep the store past its first few months.

New stores get three days free, then $1 a month for three months on Shopify's current offer. The 90-day figures on this page bill the standard price for all three months, so they are a ceiling. Plan for the standard price from month four.

Card rates on Basic are 2.9% plus 30¢ for online sales and 2.6% plus 10¢ in person. A third-party payment gateway adds 2% on each Basic order. Our Shopify pricing guide puts those fees against sales volume, which matters once the store sells more. If you want to compare platforms before you commit, see our best ecommerce platforms guide. Our cheaper Shopify alternatives guide prices the main rivals, our Shopify review covers the platform in depth, and the Shopify tool page on Toolradar has its catalogue entry.

The Dawn theme is free in the Theme Store, so the theme adds nothing to the first 90 days. The domain is the one small annual cost. Shopify lists domains from $9 a year, billed annually, and notes the renewal may differ from the first price, so check the renewal line at checkout before you buy. Apps add to the bill too, so price each one before you install it. Our best Shopify apps list shows which categories are worth paying for.

Step 3: Choose a supplier tool

A supplier tool imports products into your store, syncs price and stock, and in some plans sends paid orders to the supplier. Compare the tools on three things: the store and product limits on each plan, whether orders go to the supplier automatically, and how long the trial runs. Our best dropshipping apps for Shopify list covers the wider field.

• DSers. The Basic plan is free for 3 stores and 3,000 products, which covers a first range of products. Advanced costs $19.90 a month for 10 stores and 20,000 products, and Pro costs $49.90 a month for 25 stores and 75,000 products. Paid plans carry a 14-day free trial. Our DSers review explains what each limit means in practice.
• Spocket. Starter costs $39.99 a month for 25 unique products. Professional costs $59.99 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly, which is $288 a year, for 250 unique products. Every plan has a 7-day trial. Read the Spocket review before you commit, check the Spocket pricing page for the current figures, and see the Spocket tool page on Toolradar.
• Zendrop. The free plan includes $100 in order credits and unlimited orders. Pro costs $49 a month or $399 a year, and Plus costs $79 a month or $549 a year. Pro includes Automated Fulfillment.
• AutoDS. Its pricing page lists a $9.90 a month auto-ordering add-on and a three-day trial for $0.99, but it prints no plan prices. We left AutoDS out of the cost table for that reason. The AutoDS review covers what the product does.

For a wider supplier list, including CJdropshipping, see our best dropshipping suppliers guide. This page keeps to the tools whose plan prices are published on their own pricing pages.

Step 4: Set the ad budget before the first sale

The ad budget is the largest cost in the 90-day scenario, and no vendor sets it for you. Spend it on a few products with a fixed daily cap and a stop rule written down in advance. Spreading the same money across a whole catalogue gives you no clear answer about any one product.

Break-even depends on profit per order. For the arithmetic here we assume $15 per order after product cost, shipping, card fees and ad spend. That is our assumption, not a market figure, so swap in your own margin. At $15, the Basic plan with DSers Basic covers its monthly bill with 3 orders. The Spocket stack at $78.99 needs 6 orders, and the Zendrop Pro stack at $88 also needs 6.

Mistakes that cost the most in the first 90 days

1. Paying for the supplier tool before the first sale. Spocket Starter costs more per month than Shopify Basic on monthly billing. A store with no orders should carry one fixed bill, and the free DSers tier can handle the first range of products.
2. Ignoring the third-party fee. Shopify Payments carries no third-party fee on Basic. Any other gateway adds 2% per order on top of its own card fee. At the same card rate, that turns a $40 order's $1.46 card fee into $2.26. Check the processor before you set your prices.
3. Assuming Zendrop Free sends orders for you. Automated Fulfillment is what sends paid orders to the supplier, and it is not on the free plan. Budget for Pro at $49 a month before you run ads.
4. Missing the end of a trial. Spocket's trial is 7 days, the DSers paid plans carry 14 days, and Shopify's current offer is three days followed by $1 a month for three months. Each trial turns into a bill. Put the end date in your calendar on the day you sign up.
5. Testing too many products at once. Ads spread across thirty products tell you nothing about any single one. Pick a handful, cap each, and drop the ones that do not sell within the cap.
6. Sending buyers into a checkout that loses them. Surprise costs and forced account creation waste the traffic you paid for. Our cart abandonment guide lists the checkout fixes to make before you spend on ads.

How to start, in order

1. Work the margin for three candidate products, using your supplier prices and the card fee on each sale.
2. Open Shopify on the three-day trial, choose Basic, and buy the domain on the same day.
3. Install DSers Basic, import the products you chose, and set prices with the margin in mind.
4. Write the product pages and the shipping and returns policies, then place a test order to check the checkout works end to end.
5. Set the ad budget, the daily cap and the stop rule before the first campaign goes live.
6. Review after 30 days: orders, margin per order, and what each stack has cost so far. Move to a paid supplier tool only when orders cover its bill.

How we built these numbers

• Prices. We read each company's pricing page in US dollars on 10 October 2026: Shopify, DSers, Spocket, Zendrop and AutoDS (for its add-on and trial). The domain price comes from Shopify's domain page and the theme price from the Theme Store.
• Scenario. One US store on Shopify Basic billed monthly, one domain for a year, no staff, over 90 days at standard prices, which is three monthly bills. The introductory $1 months are left out, so the total is a ceiling.
• Our assumptions. The $300 test budget and the $15 profit per order are set for the arithmetic. They are not vendor or market figures.
• Left out. AutoDS prints no plan prices, so only its add-on and trial appear above. CJdropshipping's membership tiers are not included because we have not verified them on its own pages.
• Refresh. We re-check these prices every 60 days and update the date at the top of the page when they change.

FAQ

How much does it cost to start dropshipping in 2026?

For one US store, the cheapest stack costs $126 over 90 days at standard prices: Shopify Basic billed monthly, a domain from $9 a year and DSers Basic at no charge. Your ad budget and product costs come on top, and in every stack above the test budget alone costs more than the software.

Can I start dropshipping for free?

Not the full store. DSers Basic is free for 3 stores and 3,000 products, and the Dawn theme is free, but the full Shopify store runs on a paid plan once the trial ends. Shopify's current offer is three days free, then $1 a month for three months.

Should I pay for Shopify monthly or yearly?

Monthly billing on Basic costs $39 a month, or $468 a year. Yearly billing costs $29 a month, or $348 paid at once. Yearly saves $120 a year, so it suits a store you plan to keep past its first few months and not a test you may close in six weeks.

Which supplier tool should a beginner start with?

DSers Basic at no charge fits up to 3 stores and 3,000 products, which covers a first range. Move up only when the product or store count stops fitting, and read the trial length before you sign up for a paid plan.

How many orders cover a Shopify and Spocket store each month?

At $78.99 a month in software, the stack needs about 6 orders a month if each sale leaves $15 after product cost, shipping, card fees and ad spend. The $15 is our assumption, so replace it with your own margin per order.

Does Shopify charge a fee on each sale?

Shopify Payments charges 2.9% plus 30¢ on online card sales on Basic. A third-party payment gateway adds 2% on each Basic order on top of its own fees.

Bottom line

For one US store, the cheapest verified start is $126 over 90 days at standard prices, before any ads or product costs: Shopify Basic, a domain and DSers Basic. Add a paid supplier tool only when the orders you already have can pay for it. Set the ad test and its stop rule before you spend, and check the margin per order against the fixed bill every month.

Cite this: Retailpresso, "How to Start Dropshipping in 2026: Real Startup Costs, Steps and Mistakes," October 2026.

Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.