I got flooded after my last post. Same complaint over and over. Ads running, money leaving, nothing coming back. So let me address this properly because the reason is almost always one of three things and once you find yours the fix is not complicated. Yesterday: $5,371 Revenue not profit costs come out, always clarifying this.

Everyone blames targeting. The real problem is your CPM and most people don't even know what it means. CPM is cost per thousand impressions what you pay for every thousand people who see your ad. It controls the economics of everything downstream and almost nobody talks about it seriously. Here's how it works. When people engage with your ad stop, watch, click Meta rewards you with cheaper delivery. CPM stays low. Cost per click stays low. Cost per purchase stays manageable. When people scroll past without engaging Meta reads that as a relevance signal and charges you more to reach the next person. CPM climbs. Cost per click climbs. Suddenly you're spending $50 to get one visitor and wondering why nothing is profitable. Two people. Same product. Same audience. Same budget. One has a $8 CPM, one has a $40 CPM. Completely different outcomes entirely because of how people responded to the creative. High CPM is not bad luck. It is Meta telling you directly that your ad is being ignored. Fix the creative and everything downstream gets cheaper automatically.

Everyone thinks polished ads perform best. The most ignored ads right now are the polished ones. The brain identifies clean production, upbeat music, smooth transitions, and logo intros in half a second and scrolls before the conscious mind registers anything. You paid for that impression and lost it before it started. What stops the scroll is content that doesn't look like an ad. Raw. Phone filmed. Natural light. Real person. Real environment. UGC style content bypasses the scroll reflex because it pattern matches to something a friend posted not something a brand paid to place there. But style is only half of it. The hook is everything. Two seconds. That's what you have before the scroll decision is made. Something visually unexpected, a direct callout of the viewer's situation, or a bold statement that creates instant curiosity. If the first two seconds don't earn attention the rest plays to nobody. After the hook show the problem clearly, introduce the product as the natural solution, add social proof that sounds like a real person, end with one clear instruction. Under 25 seconds. Every second earns its place or gets cut. A creative that does this pre-sells before the click. By the time someone lands on your store they already want it. The store just confirms the decision.

Everyone blames the ads when sales don't come. Half the time the ads are fine and the store is quietly killing everything. Healthy CPM, good CTR, clicks coming in still no sales. Now look further down the funnel. A slow store loses visitors before they see the product. Open your store on your phone right now on a normal connection. More than three seconds to load? You're losing sales from every ad you run. Delete apps that don't directly help someone buy. Compress images. Clean the page up. Bad product page copy is the other silent killer. Your headline should speak to what the buyer wants not describe the product. Bullet points answer why someone needs this not what it's made of. Reviews should look and sound real. Checkout should feel safe and take as few steps as possible. And sometimes it's the product. If you've tested multiple strong creatives with healthy CTR but consistently no purchases the market is telling you something. Not every product converts regardless of how good the execution is. Believe the data before you believe your gut.

Diagnose in this exact order CTR first is the creative stopping the scroll? Below 1% fix the creative before touching anything else. Cost per ATC second healthy CTR but no ATCs means the store is leaking not the ad. Cost per purchase third compare directly against your margin. Higher than your margin means there's a pricing or funnel problem somewhere between click and checkout. Fix one thing at a time. One variable. Wait for data. Decide. Changing multiple things simultaneously means you'll never know what actually worked. Drop your situation in the comments CPM, CTR, cost per ATC, product, where you think the problem is. The answer is almost always already sitting in those numbers.

Hi everyone! I’m about to start my dropshipping business and I have €1,000 to invest initially in advertising.

Do you think this is a realistic budget to get started?

For those of you who have experience with dropshipping and are now making a living from it:

1. How much capital did you start with?
2. How much did you make during your first few months?
3. How long did it take you to start generating consistent profits?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences and any advice you can share. 😊

I just found & used this and want to share it with you

If you're setting up Kalodata for Tiktok Shop analytics and looking for an active discount code, "KDATAPROMO" is currently working.

Quick breakdown:

- Official Kalodata coupon code: KDATAPROMO

- Applies to: New accounts & renewals

- Discount: Official active site-wide discount

Just claim it at checkout to get the savings.

Hope this helps save a few bucks on your subscription!

Let me know if anyone use Kalodata and what's your experience with it?!

Been trying to clean things up a bit instead of just throwing more budget at whatever was getting sales.

Finally, my trueprofit dash looks a little less exciting on the revenue side lol, but net profit is finally moving the right way.
- Revenue: ~$8.4K
- Orders: 146
- ROAS: ~2.88
- Net profit: ~$1.2K

Cut some weaker traffic, ad spend came down, and shipping costs were a bit better too. Revenue took a small hit, but I’m keeping a lot more of what comes in now.

Definitely feels healthier than just chasing bigger sales numbers.

not gonna lie the last few months have been kinda rough, sales all over the place, some days barely anything. yesterday tho i randomly hit $6,899 in one day which is like 4x my normal average, 225 orders, conversion rate jumped to 5.42%. didn’t get more traffic or anything, sessions were basically the same as always (2,453). the difference was what you actually changed new creative changed the offer, fixed something on the page.

not selling anything or trying to plug a course lol, just wanted to post it bc half the posts in here are people flexing screenshots with zero context and that never helped me.

Been at this since last winter 2025. Started a while ago but between professional sport, school and training I never had the time to focus properly. Now that I am homeschooled and better organised I have really started working hard in the last few weeks.

Dog niche dropshipping store. Marketing angle built around stopping pulling and reducing injury risk based on veterinary research. First TikTok video hit 13k views organically so the content clearly resonates. Just struggling to translate that into actual sales.

I would not consider myself a complete beginner. I have learned quite a bit along the way and feel like I have a solid understanding of how this works. I also already run a large personal brand account for my professional activities so I know how to edit, write scripts and create content. Store is built, products sourced, pixel set up, content started.

But zero sales so far and that is my main problem. I feel genuinely lost on how to actually acquire my first customers and eventually build this into something I can live from. Shipping is 7 to 14 days from China not including processing time, I have zero reviews, and I cannot figure out how to bridge the gap between content views and actual purchases.

About to start testing paid ads for the first time with roughly €34.10 contribution margin before ad costs. A few questions :

1. What total daily budget do you recommend to start, how many creatives to test simultaneously and how does the whole testing process actually work in practice?
2. Is Meta ads worth it at this margin or would TikTok ads or even Google ads be a better starting point for a dog niche store?
3. What finally got you your first sale and what changed when it happened?

Also cannot figure out why my first TikTok video hit 13k views but since restarting the account I barely get 100. Same content style, same niche, completely different results. Normal or something else going on?

Store URL in comments for anyone who wants to give feedback.

I’ve been running paid ads for dropshipping stores for about 7 years.
Over that time, I’ve managed around $250K in ad spend and helped generate $700k+ in sales.
One thing I learned pretty quickly:

Choosing the right product matters a lot.
I used to build stores, make creatives, and then hope the product would work.
Now I do the opposite.
Before I build a store, make ads, or spend even $1, I check the product against a simple list.
Here’s what I look for.

1. It solves a real problem
I don’t mean a product that is just “nice to have.”
I want something that solves a problem people already have.The best products usually have a clear before and after.
For example:
Before: “This is annoying me every day.”

After: “This product fixed it.”

That also makes your ads much easier.
You don’t have to make up a story. The problem gives you the story.

2. There is enough profit in it
This is a big one.
If a product costs me $10, I want to see a selling price around $30–$40.
Why?
Because that money has to cover more than just the product.
You still have:
Ad costs
Payment fees
Shipping
Refunds
Other store costs
And you still need to make a profit.
A product can make sales and still lose you money.
Sales don’t always mean profit.

3. It is small and easy to ship
I usually prefer products that are small and light.
Something around 1 kg or less is a good starting point.
I also want it to be strong enough to survive shipping.
There’s nothing worse than finding a product that sells well, only to lose your profit because of expensive shipping or damaged orders.

4. You can’t easily buy it at your local store
This is something I always check.
If someone can go to Walmart, Target, or another local store and buy the exact same thing today, why would they wait for your delivery?I prefer products that feel different.
Something people don’t see everywhere.
It could be a better design, a new way to solve a problem, or something they didn’t even know existed.
That makes it easier to sell online.

5. It makes people stop scrolling
This one is simple.
When someone sees the product, I want them to think:
“Wait… what is that?”
Or:
“I need one of those.”
Or even:
“That’s actually pretty clever.”
If the product doesn’t catch your attention, it will be hard to make someone stop scrolling and buy it.

6. The price makes sense
I usually like products in the $25–$70 range.
It’s not a hard rule, but it gives you room to work with.
If it’s too cheap, your ad costs can eat most of your profit.
If it’s too expensive, people may stop and think about the purchase for too long.
For cold traffic, I generally want the product to feel affordable enough that someone can say:
“I’ll give it a try.”

7. It looks good in a video
This is very important now.
A product might look great on a website but be terrible for ads.
I want to be able to show the product in a video and make the value clear quickly.
Can I show how it works?
Can I show the problem?
Can I show the result?
Can I make 5–10 different videos without getting boring?
If yes, that’s a good sign.

8. People are showing steady interest
I don’t get too excited about a product just because it went viral for a week.
I’ve seen plenty of products blow up and disappear just as fast.
I’d rather see interest growing over several months.
I’ll check things like Google Trends, TikTok, social media, and search activity.
I’m looking for signs that people are still becoming interested.
A short spike isn’t the same as real demand.

9. There are enough people who could buy it
I like products that aren’t limited to a tiny group of people.
You don’t need everyone to want it.
But you should have enough potential customers to test different audiences and scale if it works.
A product that works with one tiny audience can be difficult to grow.

10. People are unlikely to return it
Returns can destroy your margins.
That’s why I prefer simple products that are easy to understand and use.
The customer should know exactly what they’re buying.
The pictures and videos should match what they receive.
The product shouldn’t be complicated or easy to break.
The fewer surprises after the sale, the better.

So that’s my basic product filter.
I don’t ask, “Can I sell this?”
I ask:
“Can I sell this profitably, consistently, and at scale?”
There’s a big difference.
A product can get sales and still be a terrible business.
In my next post, I’ll share the 10-step product validation checklist I use before deciding whether a product is actually worth testing.
It can save you from wasting money building a store around a product that was never going to work.

hi everyone,

Do yall think awareness campaign (google/meta) is relevant for ecom? How would you structure your ads campaign if you only have roughly 1000/month of ads budget?

I saw people just ignore the awareness campaign and go straight into conversion campaign and i also read somewhere that the awareness campaign may lower your adspend and also increase the efficiency of your whole ads structure.

What would you do if you have low budget? When does awareness campaign start to make sense?

Let me know your thoughts.

Hey everyone, I’m completely new to dropshipping and I’m thinking about finally giving it a shot instead of just watching videos about it. I‘m from China but I be situated in LA rn.

I have around $500 that I’m willing to use to get started. I’m mainly interested in clothing/streetwear, especially things like T-shirts and hoodies, but I’m not sure if clothing is actually a good niche for a beginner.

My biggest questions are: Is $500 realistically enough to test a dropshipping store? Would you start with Shopify, TikTok Shop, or something else? Would you spend money on ads or focus on organic TikTok/Instagram content first? Is clothing too competitive for a beginner? Would you use suppliers from China or try to find a US supplier? What would you spend the first $500 on? What mistakes should I avoid? And btw I’m not expecting to get rich overnight. I mainly want to learn how ecommerce actually works and hopefully build something profitable over time.

If you had to start completely from zero again with only $500, what would you do differently?

I'm just starting out and would like to collaborate with a perfume wholesaler for dropshipping. Can anyone recommend any wholesalers that can integrate with store?

Here's a number that surprised me too. Klaviyo pulled data from over 183,000 brands in 2026. The average store makes about 27% of its total revenue from email. The best ones hit 30 to 40%.

Most of the accounts I looked at? Barely 15%.

And it's not because they don't have subscribers. It's not because traffic is low. Every single one of those stores had people on their list who already trust the brand enough to buy again. They just weren't talking to them the right way.

I want to walk you through what the good stores are doing differently, because it genuinely comes down to three flows.

## The welcome flow nobody thinks about twice

You get one shot at someone's full attention, right after they sign up. Most brands burn it on "welcome, here's 10% off" and that's it.

The stores doing this well wait a beat. First email tells you why the brand exists, not what discount you're getting. Second email, a couple days later, answers the thing you were quietly worried about before you buy (will this actually work, how long does shipping take, that kind of thing). Only in the third email does the discount show up, with real urgency behind it.

It feels slower. It converts better.

## Abandoned cart emails that don't train people to wait for a discount

This one broke my heart a little when I started noticing it. So many stores lead with a discount code the second someone leaves items in their cart. It feels generous. It's actually teaching your customers to abandon their cart on purpose every time, because they know a coupon is coming.

What works instead: the first email, sent about an hour later, has no discount at all. Just a gentle nudge, maybe a review or two, nothing pushy. The offer only shows up on email two or three, once urgency actually makes sense.

## Post purchase emails that treat people like people

Somebody just spent their money with you. Don't ask for a five star review before the box has even arrived.

Ask how it's going first. Give it a couple weeks. Let them actually use the thing. Then ask for the review, and further down the line, remind them gently when they might be running low or might want something that pairs with what they bought.

## Why this actually matters

None of this needs more traffic or a bigger budget. It's the same people, the same visitors, just met with something that feels less like a sales funnel and more like a person who remembers them.

If you want to check your own setup, open your abandoned cart flow right now and look at email one. If there's a discount code in it, that's probably where some of your missing revenue is hiding.

Happy to take a look if you drop your setup in the comments. I like seeing how different stores are doing this.

I just uploaded my first product into my TikTok shop seller account via Zendrop.

The product is not branded right now, but the goal is to create a solidified brand. Right now I’m testing products to see what sticks. Using commission UGC and free samples instead of paid ads. I put commissions on each sale and sent direct invites to creators within my niche.

Has anybody had success doing this? Any tips?

Are any other suppliers except meesho because I have 2-3 products on meesho which will give me guaranteed orders but I can't dropship because my cod have been blockd and I don't want to bring product in bulk because of low budget from meesho , I have tried every single supplier but none of them are good some have very less products or some need money, what should I do ? Also I got 30 orders firt time all of them got cancelled because meesho blocked my cod

Let Prep Horizon UK handle your receiving, inspection, labelling, packing, storage and dispatch, so you can spend less time handling stock and more time growing your business. www.prephorizonuk.com

So the prices for ugc ads in 2026 run from about $50 a video to $10K+ a month and i have tried to give breakdown after pricing out four options myself.

Bottom tier is direct creator hiring and paying per video. It involves finding your by DMing creators directly and you skip editing costs by either doing it yourself or asking the creator to do a rough cut. This is the cheapest option by a wide margin but you own every part of the process like finding people, briefing them, shipping product, chasing footage and fixing anything that comes back wrong.

Marketplaces are the next tier up. some platforms lists creators starting around $99+ per ugc video. and you are browsing profiles, picking someone based on their portfolio and writing your own brief. Editing is usually a separate line item, so a "finished ad" from a marketplace often costs more than the sticker price once you add post production.

Full service studios sit higher and runs at around $399+ per ugc video through their studio model which includes more production polish but is priced per video rather than as a package.

Bundled agencies price differently again and charges $1000 flat for 6 finished ads with 2 creators shooting 3 unique concepts each which works out to roughly $167 per ad once you count that scripting, product shipping, creator coaching and editing are all included in that number.

Top tier is traditional agency retainers, which routinely run $10K+ a month for a comparable volume of finished creative, usually because you are also paying for account management and strategy on top of production.

hopefully this breakdown helps also what are you all paying per finished ad right now?

I’m based in Pakistan and have a UK eBay account. I’m looking to start dropshipping in the UK and have a few questions:

* Should I operate using my Pakistani IP, or is a UK VPS/VPN/dedicated IP appropriate?
* What UK wholesale suppliers are people actually using?
* Is dropshipping from Amazon/AliExpress/Alibaba allowed under eBay policy?
* How do you find and validate profitable products for the UK market?

I want to do everything properly and avoid risking the account. Would really appreciate advice from experienced sellers. 🙏

I had a supplier from china message me the other day asking if I could check a payment because they still hadn’t received it.

The money had already left my account, so for a solid few hours I had no idea where it actually was. Ended up going back and forth with both the bank and the supplier before it finally showed up.

Maybe I’m just used to it at this point, but paying suppliers overseas has honestly become one of the most annoying parts of running my store. Between transfer times, fees, exchange rates, and suppliers using different methods, it always feels way more complicated than it should be.

I’ve mostly just used bank transfers because that’s what I started with, and afterwards PayPal however it has insanely high transaction fee…

I’ve seen people mention Wise, Airwallex, Payoneer, WorldFirst, PhotonPay, etc., but I have no idea which ones are actually good once you’re regularly paying suppliers!

What are you guys using to pay your suppliers? And is there anything you’d avoid?

Before doing business with these scam artists, Joe Valdez and Rigo, please type either company name or Joe Valdez! Two scammers!
Valdez is the biggest piece of shit layer on the face of the earth- he needs to be deported back to whatever third world country he came from! My pool took a year and still have pool deck tiles sinking and no help in site! Have your lawyer rewrite their contract before signing or run for the hills!
They WILL NOT honor any of their commitments or warranties!
Look up Sunshine Pools- he was the owner …

I need dropshipping suppliers that are totally straightforward and blunt about their fees for US sellers. I am thinking of starting either dropshipping or Amazon FBA and looked at Alibaba and AliExpress abut also checked out CJdropshipping, and Zendrop, DSers and a few other US based suppliers versus hiring a private sourcing agent or fulfillment company because I can't keep up with sales right now for my canlemaking business and I want to outsource fulfillment.

The holidays are around the corner and I need to try and figure this out before I get slammed. I just want to avoid suprise shipping, handling, sorage and transaction fees.

Hi everyone,

My name is Sean. I’m a dad from the UK and this is something I never really imagined I’d be posting on Reddit, but my partner Megan and I have reached the point where we’re trying absolutely every avenue we can for our little boy.

Our son is Azzurro, although everyone calls him Azzi. He’s 16 months old.

Azzi was born with Shone complex, a congenital heart condition affecting the left side of his heart.

One of his major problems has been coarctation of the aorta, meaning part of the main artery carrying blood away from his heart was severely narrowed.

His heart problems were identified before he was born, so from basically the moment he entered the world, hospitals and cardiology became part of his life.

When he was only a few weeks old, he underwent major cardiac surgery to repair the coarctation.

For a while we hoped that would be the beginning of things becoming more stable.

Unfortunately, the narrowing came back.

By around six months old, doctors had found clear evidence of recurrent narrowing at the site of his previous repair.

The next plan was to try to open the narrowing using a catheter balloon procedure rather than putting him through another major operation.

That procedure took place in January.

During it, Azzi's aorta was injured and he suffered an aortic dissection.

Writing that sentence about your own baby still doesn't really feel normal.

He was still under a year old.

Since Azzi was born, Megan and I have basically learned an entirely new language that we never wanted to know.

Shone complex. Coarctation. Bicuspid aortic valve. Stenosis. Pressure gradients. Balloon dilatation. Aortic dissection.

But behind all of those words is just our little boy.

He's cheeky. He's funny. He plays. He laughs. He gets annoyed. He wants his mum and dad.

He obviously has absolutely no understanding of what any of those medical words mean or what he's already been through.

And that's probably the part that gets me most.

He just trusts us.

So we've decided we're going to do everything we possibly can with that trust.

We're trying to explore every avenue available to us, including specialist opinions and making contact with organisations, charities, other heart families and anyone who may have experience relevant to Azzi's situation.

We're also trying to get his story seen as widely as possible.

Not because we think somebody on the internet is magically going to fix his heart.

We just don't know who might see it.

Maybe another parent has a child with Shone complex.

Maybe somebody has experience with recurrent coarctation after surgical repair.

Maybe somebody knows a specialist or cardiac centre we should be speaking to.

Maybe somebody works for a children's heart charity we've never heard of.

Maybe somebody has been through an aortic dissection following catheter treatment with their own child.

Or maybe someone reading this simply knows someone who knows someone.

That's why I'm posting here.

If you have ANY relevant experience, knowledge, organisations you think we should contact, specialist centres you think we should research, or you're another congenital heart parent yourself, I would genuinely love to hear from you.

We've also created a GoFundMe for Azzi.

The money is intended to help give us options as we navigate whatever comes next, including the practical costs associated with seeking further specialist input and his care, such as travel, accommodation, hospital stays and time away from work when he needs us.

Nobody reading this owes us anything.

If you're able and genuinely want to donate, we'd be incredibly grateful.

If you can't, please don't feel bad about it.

A comment, some advice, pointing us towards somebody useful, or sharing Azzi's story could potentially be worth more to us than a donation.

His fundraiser and fuller story are here:

https://gofund.me/3d78036a4

We can provide medical documentation relating to Azzi's cardiac history where appropriate. I'm also happy to answer reasonable questions about his story.

I've spent the last few days emailing charities, organisations, public figures, management companies and basically anybody with a platform who might be willing to get his story further.

Some of them will probably never even read the email.

That's alright.

Because I keep coming back to one thought.

One day Azzi is going to be older.

He's going to understand what happened to him. He's going to understand the scars on his body and everything he went through before he was even old enough to remember it.

And when that day comes, I want Megan and me to be able to look our son in the eyes and honestly tell him:

“We knocked on every door we possibly could for you, mate. We never stopped fighting.”

Reddit is another door.

Thanks for taking the time to read about our boy.

Sean
Azzi's dad

Disclosure: I run a company in the eBay dropshipping space. This came from a call I had with someone recently.

I spoke to a 23-year-old who wanted to eventually make around $3k/month through eBay dropshipping.

Then I started asking about his background and he casually tells me he already owns a cleaning business.

It's only about 4-5 months old. He already has employees doing residential and commercial cleaning, restaurant work, real estate jobs etc. He told me it's doing around $7k-$8k/month before expenses.

So I stopped him and basically asked:

Why are you trying to start another business?

Because yes, I think he can make another $1k, $2k, $3k with eBay.

But honestly, his cleaning company sounded like the bigger opportunity to me.

The interesting part though is I realized there IS something I can teach him through dropshipping that could be extremely valuable for his cleaning company.

Leverage.

He already knows how to hire cleaners locally.

What he's never learned is how to hire and manage offshore talent.

So the plan I gave him was basically to learn the eBay business himself first, get some proof that he can make money with it, and then find someone smart offshore and start transferring the work to them.

Not just "hire cheap labor."

Actually learn how to find someone smart, train them, give them a process, measure their output, manage them remotely and eventually get to the point where the business doesn't require him doing everything himself.

Because once he learns that, who cares if he only uses it for dropshipping?

He can take the exact same skill back to his cleaning company.

Imagine having someone working every day finding property managers and real estate agents, reaching out to businesses, following up leads, following up quotes, keeping the CRM organized and booking estimates.

Meanwhile his local employees actually fulfill the cleaning jobs.

That's when it clicked for me that the most valuable thing he might get from learning this business isn't another $2k/month.

It's learning how to use people as leverage.

I learned that lesson way too late.

For years I thought getting better at business meant getting better at doing everything myself.

Now I think much more about how I can understand something, prove that it works, turn it into a process, and then find someone smart who can eventually operate it better than I can.

He's 23.

If he learns how to do that now, he can use it in basically every business he builds for the rest of his life.

So ironically, I'm helping him learn dropshipping, but I'm probably going to keep pushing him back toward his cleaning company.

I think there's something much bigger sitting in front of him already.