There are thousands of different products and programs out there that can help you with your dropshipping business. It can be a little confusing to know which ones will actually help and which ones are not worth the money (I’ve been ripped off several times!).
Below are the tools I believe can help your business as well as the tools which are best to avoid. I will continue to update this section regularly and add new recommended resources that I discover and remove tools if they are no longer the best options for you.
Just to be as transparent as possible, I am an affiliate for some of the products and programs I recommend. This means if you click the link to the products below and sign up or make a purchase, I may receive a commission.
I only recommend tools I believe are the best, if I don’t like something I will tell you. Almost every tool has an affiliate program so it is not an advantage for me to recommend certain tools over others.
These commissions come at no extra cost to you and they help support my website. Without such commissions, I would not be able to write free content for my readers. I would greatly appreciate that if you decide to make a purchase you use the links below. Thank you.
I have contacted all recommended companies and requested discounts for my readers. I will add any discounts, offers and promotions that are available to the links.
I would love to hear your experiences with the tools below, good or bad.
My goal is to create the ultimate tools resource for dropshippers so you can avoid the crap as there’s a lot out there!
I am considering creating a page for people who have been scammed, ripped off or just had a very bad experience with any of the dropshipping tools out there so others can avoid the same trap. If this is you, please contact me with your experience about what happened.
Best and Worst Suppliers for Dropshipping
The main benefit of dropshipping is you don’t handle any inventory, which means no storing, picking, packing or shipping your product. However, this also means you’re trusting others to do all this for you.
You can’t run a successful dropshipping business without a reliable supplier. These are my picks so you can avoid many of the problems I encountered.
Best and Worst Themes for Dropshipping
A clean and professional website provides trust and increases your product’s perceived value. Depending on your goals, a free theme may be more than adequate for your business.
If you want beautiful themes that are affordable, I suggest you check out Theme Forest. These are my picks for specific themes depending on your store type.
Theme Forest has themes for Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and much more.
Best and Worst eCommerce Platform for Dropshipping
Building a website is surprisingly easy and can be done within a couple of hours thanks to these website building platforms.
Shopify is the choice for most people, however, it may not always be the best choice. Click the link for my opinion on when you may want a different option.
Best Print on Demand Platforms
The number of Print on Demand platforms has increased dramatically over the past few years. This can make it confusing as each one is completely different.
These platforms vary in how they operate, their printing quality, product selection and much more.
Best and Worst Product Research Tools
There is an abundance of product research tools and most of them are unnecessary. I have used a few that have been valuable though.
Don’t make the same mistakes as me, if you plan to use product research tools, only use the best.
Best and Worst Email Marketing Companies
Don’t underestimate how important it is to have a huge list of potential customers you can retarget for future email marketing.
There are a lot of email marketing companies and some of them are a complete rip off, so choose carefully!
More Tools to Take your Dropshipping Store to the Next Level
A complete graphic design tool does what multiple other paid tools combined do. As an eCommerce store owner it can:
- Create a logo
- Customize Images
- Design a branded social media presence
- Create unique and branded emails
- Much more!
Keyword tools are often neglected by eCommerce store owners for some reason, however, they can help in multiple ways as I’ve noted below.
- Search demand within specific countries
- Help find gaps in the market
- List CPC (Cost per click) and PPC (Pay per click) for specific search terms
- Provide a heap of SEO information
- Heaps more!
KeySearch is by far the best value keyword tool I have seen. With the link below it will cost around $13 per month compared to some tools costing over $100 a month.
Most eCommerce platforms such as Shopify are self-hosted and you won’t need to worry about organizing hosting. Although, if you plan to use WooCommerce (which is a great option as it’s free) you will need to pay for hosting.
Bluehost is the best value option. It provides reasonable speeds, top support, it’s easy to use and with this link it will only cost $2.95 per month!
Glorify is similar to Canva, however, Glorify is specific to eCommerce stores. This is an excellent option if you want to create a brand as you can design unique images that can really boost your brand’s value. You will be surprised at how much better you can make product images look with no design skill using Glorify.
Fiverr can help your eCommerce business in so many ways with;
- Video testimonials
- Virtual assistants
- Dropshipping agents
- Website design and logos
- Much more.
Check out Fiverr here.
Best Free Dropshipping Tools
You can start a dropshipping business for a very small amount if you choose to avoid the paid tools. It will definitely be a little harder but it’s possible. Whilst there are some unavoidable costs, most costs are simply ways to give you an advantage or speed up the process. Below are some of the best free tools for dropshipping.
Asify
Asify is a useful tool if you plan to dropship from AliExpress. It’s a chrome extension that is completely free to use no matter how much you use it. It provides a lot of really useful product information which can help you decide whether it’s a viable product to sell.
Google Trends
I would never start selling a product without checking it out on Google trends first! Google Trends shows you if your product or niche is in demand, how seasonal it is and which countries search for it the most. Plus I trust data more that is coming directly from Google. If you are yet to check it out, it really is awesome!
AliExpress Dropship Center
AliExpress Dropship Center is free and a must if you’re looking for hot products to dropship. It gives you how many orders have been made and dropship orders, whether it’s currently trending and more.
Facebook Ads Library
Scrolling through the Facebook Ads Library will give you ideas for products. Type in some random keywords and see what ads are currently running and check out the stores to see what they’re doing right or wrong. Remember a store won’t run ads if nobody is buying.
Similar Web
Similar Web is a free Chrome extension used to get all kinds of valuable insights on other successful stores. You can see how much traffic other stores are receiving monthly, which platforms they are using to drive the traffic, the countries they are targeting and much more.
Unicorn Ads
Unicorn Ads is a website that allows you to view other successful eCommerce stores. You type in the niche you want to search for and you are given a list of stores within that niche you can checkout and even see their ads.
Answer the Public
Answer the Public will give you a bunch of keyword ideas and questions within your niche. This will give you an insight into what people are searching for within your niche. You can use the information to create a valuable resource for your customers.
Inventory Source
Inventory Source is a helpful free resource if you’re looking for dropshipping suppliers outside of China. If you filter the results for your country and dropshipping you will get a list of suppliers in a variety of different niches that you can contact.
Koala Inspector
Koala Inspector is a free Chrome extension allowing you to get some valuable insights into other Shopify stores. You can use it to see which Shopify theme they are using, the apps they’re using, the number of products stocked, best selling products and loads more.
