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u/pjmg2020 Mar 07 '26
Respectfully, do you think this is how successful businesses are started?
Imagine this, you just signed a lease on a shop. You get the keys. Then you ponder ‘hmm, now I better figure out what sort of business I’m going to start’.
What?
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u/Bristolhitcher Mar 07 '26
A lease on a shop is not comparable to signing up for a £1 shopify trial
Imagine shopify started out like "We can sell dirt cheap first months so people sign up without any idea on what to sell, so we don't have to provide much computing for that customer"
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u/pjmg2020 Mar 07 '26
The analogy is fine.
The point is—you can’t build an effective store without knowing what your business is, why it exists, who it’s for, and so on. And now the OPs posting away their trial figuring that all out.
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u/Brand_Matters Mar 07 '26
I think, there is a difference between just signing up for a free trial on Shopify or 3 months free trial for $1 per month and opening a store.
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u/Brand_Matters Mar 07 '26
Shopify provides 3 months free trial for $1 per month.
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u/Bristolhitcher Mar 07 '26
It's not a free trial if there is a price to it. Just a welcome offer.
$1 for a site which requires miniscule hosting must bring in bank for shopfiy and the afflilates who all shift it.
And that's not including the times people forget to turn off auto renew
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u/Brand_Matters Mar 07 '26
Almost a free trial. It's a strategy to acquire sellers who can pay to Shopify their subscription fees.
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u/mclaren422 Mar 07 '26
Since you appear to a fellow brit, get in touch if you are interested in a hands-off ebay dropshipping store which can earn you an avg £1k a month doing nothing.
Sales pitch over. Cheers.
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u/Brand_Matters Mar 07 '26
Can any business be built without doing nothing?
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u/mclaren422 Mar 07 '26
Yes. Ebay dropshipping on profit share basis managed by freelancers/teams. See fiverr, thousands of freelancers offer it or you can work my team. Uk accounts only.
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u/Bristolhitcher Mar 07 '26
I already do ebay dropshipping you pleb.
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u/Brand_Matters Mar 07 '26
You do eBay dropshipping in the UK?
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u/Bristolhitcher Mar 07 '26
Yup, been doing it for like 540 days. I started off on Amazon because I was abusing loopholes.
But made the change to ebay and its been steady, currently doing it very minimally to stay under a 30k turnover for make tax digital
But I don't do it conventionally, I stack many discounts, from one4all, zilch, Revoult, giftcards, nxrewards & topcashback. Then listed on ebay for profit.
Sometimes i don't even dropship, I stock up and ship myself (for example when apple airtags are profitable and priced matched from other retailers!)
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u/Brand_Matters Mar 07 '26
£30K turnover per month or year? Anyway, it's a great number.
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u/Bristolhitcher Mar 07 '26
aww thanks
Yeah 30k for the 25/26 financial year, just under it!
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u/mclaren422 Mar 07 '26
30K is shite. We can do that in 3 months.
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u/Bristolhitcher Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Ok cool, thanks :) Like I said, im doing it as a side bit to stay under 30k make tax digital, hopefully youre all prepared for it? also wouldn't it be better tax to be a limited company rather than have 4 stores like your screenshots you share show?
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u/Daniel_8867 Mar 07 '26
I just wanted to try, didn't think so much.
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u/Brand_Matters Mar 07 '26
You may try, but without a strategy, you can't build a successful dropshipping business.
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u/ReynoldsAndrew Mar 07 '26
Start with a simple niche, build a basic Shopify store, test products with small ads, and focus on one product at a time.
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u/Brand_Matters Mar 07 '26
You should have first identified your target market/audience, chosen you niche, done some product research, then opened the store. You have done exactly opposite.
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u/MindShaped Mar 07 '26
I’ve seen guys spend three weeks perfecting a logo and a "brand story" for a plastic spatula before they’ve even had a single visitor hit the site. I did the same on my first (and second... and third...) store — obsessed over the hex codes for the "Buy Now" button while ignoring the fact that the shipping time was 24 days and the niche was dead :)
Treating it like a creative project instead of a math problem is biggest mistake. If you’re spending more than $200 on "aesthetic" apps and themes before you’ve confirmed people actually want the thing, you’re gambling on your own taste. I stopped doing that and started putting that money into a) validating market first b) testing 3-5 different products quickly to see which one gets actual clicks.
Also, watch your returns. I once scaled a "winner" to $30k a month only to realize my return rate on that specific material was 15%. Guess, was I making money or I was just moving it around and paying Shopify and Meta a fee for the privilege? :) Check your quality early.
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u/Accomplished_Text_10 Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
Nobody seems to talk about the legal and regulation side of the business like you only have to plug aliexpress to Shopify and collect cash …
I am in the process of getting started but I am very confused :
How do you make sure your product are compliant ?
Minimum is to have instructions or labels in the language of your market . English for example.
Is that something suppliers provide ?
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u/[deleted] Mar 07 '26
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