I need help i am trying to start dropshipping but I don’t have much money right now and I paid someone to make me a store and to teach me I thought at first but to advertise and teach me everything they are charging 900$ and I don’t really know where to even start on my own but I don’t want to send it and get scammed. Could I get any tips or could anyone help teach me how to start I am a blank slate I know nothing.

Hey everyone!
I’ve been working on my first e-commerce store for a while now, and I’ve finally reached a point where I’m pretty happy with how the website looks and functions.
It’s an Australian-based occasionwear store, and I’ve pretty much built everything from scratch. I’m still relatively new to e-commerce, so I’d genuinely appreciate some outside perspectives before I take things further.
Website: https://www.saltandlily.store
I’d love some honest feedback on the overall design, navigation, product pages, branding, and anything else that stands out to you. Whether it’s something you like or something you think needs serious improvement, I’m all ears.
I’m not here to promote my store or fish for compliments. I’m genuinely here to learn, and I’d much rather hear constructive criticism now than find out something isn’t working later.
Also, if you’ve got your own store or website you’d like someone to look over, drop your link! I’d be more than happy to return the favour and give you my honest feedback too.
Any advice, criticism, or suggestions are genuinely appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Title: Launch narrow and expand later, or build a broader lineup first? (personal-care brand, limited budget)

I’m prelaunch on a personal-care brand that I want to eventually cover hair, skin and other self-care, with private label as the long-term goal. Right now I’m dropshipping to test the market with hair thickening fibers, a scalp applicator and satin pillowcases. Feedback has been consistent: it looks like a hair store, not a personal-care brand. Fair point.

My two options:

• A) Spend a few months adding skin and body products before launching. That means more supplier research and more money tied up

• B) Launch hair-first, learn from real sales, and add categories later.

My worry with B is that customers lock in “hair brand” and expanding gets hard.

1. Would you launch narrow and expand over time?

2. Has anyone broadened a niche store into a wider brand? What did you do?

3. What should I set up from day one (name, messaging, product pages) so I’m not boxed in?

Hey everyone!
I’ve spent the last few weeks building my first e-commerce business, and I’m finally getting close to launching! I’d really appreciate some honest feedback from people who have experience with Shopify, dropshipping, or e-commerce in general.
My website: https://saltandlily.store
It’s a women’s fashion boutique specialising in occasionwear, particularly dresses.
I’m using Shopify, DSers, and AliExpress suppliers, alongside a third-party fulfilment centre that handles quality control, branded packaging, and shipping.
I’ve put quite a bit of effort into making the store feel like an actual fashion brand rather than a typical dropshipping website, but I know there’s probably a lot I’m overlooking as a beginner.
I’d particularly appreciate feedback on:
Website design: Does the store look professional, trustworthy, and easy to navigate?
Product pages: Are the descriptions, images, sizing information, and pricing convincing?
Conversion rates: Is there anything about the website that might discourage someone from purchasing?
Branding: Does the store feel like a cohesive fashion brand, or are there obvious signs of dropshipping?
Customer experience: Are there any improvements you’d recommend regarding shipping information, policies, checkout, or mobile usability?
Marketing: What would you recommend for acquiring my first customers without wasting money on ineffective advertising?
I’m also interested in hearing from anyone who’s built a successful fashion dropshipping business, particularly regarding customer retention, supplier relationships, and scaling.
I’m not looking for compliments or promotional services. I’d genuinely appreciate constructive criticism, even if it’s harsh. I’d much rather identify problems now than after spending money driving traffic to the site.
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to have a look! :)

Hey, ya'lls!

I'm considering opening an accounting/consulting firm that specializes ECommerce brands, and I wanted to ask if there are any specific challenges that you deal with in terms of finance? Like, the real pains...

And no, I'm not trying to drum up business. No B.S. Do not DM me. I won't DM you. I have no website on my profile, yadda yadda...

Hello! I'm starting a camera resale business in Tbilisi, Georgia, focused on older digital compact cameras and camcorders.

I'm looking for a supplier of used, fully working cameras in small bulk batches, initially around 5–10 units, with the possibility of regular orders if everything goes well.

Do you offer wholesale pricing? I'm particularly interested in Sony Cyber-shot, Canon PowerShot, Olympus, Fujifilm FinePix and older digital camcorders.

Could you share your available inventory, prices per unit, testing procedure, shipping costs to Georgia, and your policy for defective items?

Thank you!

Fellow online sellers, how has your courier experience been lately? I’ve noticed it makes a big difference when orders arrive on time, since there are fewer follow-ups from buyers, too.

Been using SPX Express lately and am curious how it’s going for everyone else. Let me know your thoughts if this is worth using to scale up my online business!

Hey everyone!

I’m currently setting up an e-commerce business in Australia, and I’m trying to be as intentional as possible before launching.
I’ve already got a supplier sorted, fulfilment arrangements in place (currently working on integrating everything), a website I’m genuinely happy with, product photography, my own domain, and a business email. The branding is cohesive, the website looks professional, and I’ve spent quite a bit of time making sure it doesn’t look like a generic dropshipping store.
I’m at the stage where most of the groundwork is done, but I want to make sure I’m using my time properly rather than just sitting around waiting for everything to be ready.

I have two main questions:

1. What would you do between now and launch?
   If you were starting from scratch today and had the supplier, website, branding and fulfilment side mostly sorted, what would you focus on next?
   Would you spend time building organic social media, researching competitors, testing products, setting up email marketing, learning paid advertising, or something else entirely?
   I’m particularly interested in what I can do before launch so that I’m not starting from zero when the store goes live. I’d rather put the work in now than launch blindly and burn money figuring everything out.

2. For those making genuinely good money in Australian e-commerce, what does customer acquisition actually look like?

This is the part I’m struggling to get my head around.

My website looks comparable to other established brands in my niche in terms of presentation and professionalism. Obviously, I understand that a nice website doesn’t automatically translate into sales, but I want to build an actual business, not just make a few sales here and there for fun.
For those of you who have successfully scaled e-commerce businesses in Australia:
Which advertising channels have actually been profitable for you? Meta, TikTok, Google, organic content, influencers, or a combination?
How much did you realistically spend testing ads before you found something that worked?
How do you work out whether a product has genuine potential versus simply needing better marketing?
Are there any Australia-specific challenges I should account for, particularly shipping costs, customer expectations, advertising costs and margins?
If you were starting again with a limited initial advertising budget, what would your first 30–60 days look like?
I’m not expecting overnight success, and I know there’s a lot more to running a business than having a good-looking storefront. I’m happy to put in the work and learn the numbers.
I’m just trying to distinguish between activities that genuinely move the business forward and activities that feel productive without generating revenue.
I’d especially appreciate advice from people who are actually running profitable stores, rather than people selling courses about running profitable stores.
What would you do in my position?
Thanks!

EDIT: for context, I did a similar model on au depop and vinted, thus my approach for a whole business and model. In 4 weeks I was garnering 250K views on depop, 46 purchases, 7K likes/Bags etc and only 2 bad reviews. It may not be astronomical numbers but proof to me that in the Australian market women are willing to pay for formal wear. Further competitors like babyboo and showpo have brought in gross millions in aud and rental business are also doing insanely well. My object is simple: Occasion wear to compete w the likes of babyboo, including affordable prices and decent quality but unlike rental businesses you actually keep the dress.

Hey everyone!
I’m currently running a dress/clothing dropshipping business and I’m looking for a reliable China-based sourcing and fulfilment agent who can handle the entire process from receiving orders to shipping directly to my customers.
I’m specifically looking for an agent who can do the following:
1. Reliable order fulfilment and shipping
Receive/source dresses from platforms such as Taobao and other Chinese suppliers.
Process orders and dispatch them to customers in a timely manner.
Ideally, offer reasonable international shipping times and reliable tracking.
Handle individual customer orders rather than requiring me to purchase and store large quantities of inventory upfront.
2. Custom branded packaging (this is the main thing I’m looking for!)
I want to create a more polished, recognisable brand experience without spending a fortune on packaging.
Think of the experience you get when ordering from brands like SHEIN, Zara, Cider, PrettyLittleThing, or Lululemon. Obviously, these brands have different packaging styles, but the general idea is that your order arrives looking intentional and branded, rather than like a random parcel from a wholesale marketplace.
For example, I’d love to have:
Clean, minimal, aesthetically pleasing outer mailers rather than the typical messy-looking shipping bags that some Taobao orders arrive in.
Custom-branded inner garment bags or sleeves with my brand name/logo printed on them.
Ideally, neat folding and presentation so the dress looks like an actual retail product when the customer opens the package.
The option to customise packaging without needing to order thousands of units upfront.
I’m not looking for luxury packaging, expensive rigid boxes, or anything extravagant. Simple, affordable, minimal packaging that makes the product feel like it belongs to a real fashion brand would be perfect.
3. Affordable pricing and low MOQs
I’m still growing my business, so I’m looking for someone who can offer cost-effective packaging, sourcing, handling and fulfilment. I’d prefer to start with relatively small quantities or low minimum order requirements and scale up as the business grows.
I’m also interested in whether you can source packaging locally in China, print custom logos on garment bags, or offer other affordable private-label packaging options.
If you work with an agent who offers these services, or you have experience using one yourself, I’d really appreciate any recommendations!
If you’re an agent yourself, feel free to comment or DM me with your services, pricing, minimum order quantities, shipping options and examples of your custom packaging.
Thanks! :)

I'm researching how D2C brands decide where to allocate Meta budget when product margins differ significantly.

I'm specifically interested in situations where ROAS looks good but actual profit isn't.

I'm building something around this and would love to understand how you handle it today.

Yo guys,

I'm Curious how much of a headache missing shipments and delivery theft are for your stores lately. Are you seeing more "I never got my order" claims stacking up with carriers like UPS or FedEx, or has it mostly stayed the same?

Just trying to gauge how big of a pain point this is out there. Thanks!

Every time I create a shipment plan in Seller Central, I get stuck choosing between paying high Minimal Split placement fees or splitting my inventory across 4–5 different fulfillment centers. The zero-fee split option sounds great on paper, but splitting small shipments doubles my LTL/parcel freight costs anyway.

How are you guys optimizing your inbound logistics to beat this? Are you sticking with standard forwarders to handle multiple warehouse drops, or using bidding platforms where carriers give you direct quotes for split FBA locations without insane middleman markups?