Dropshipping is a fulfillment strategy where you keep no stock. People buy on your website, the order is pushed to a supplier, then the supplier ships the order to the customer.

Dropshipping is incorrectly thought of as a quick rich scheme because of the lure of little effort and high rewards.

The cons of dropshipping are:

1. It isn’t simple.
2. You have low profit margins, often 30% or less compared to 50% for private label.
3. There’s increased competition.
4. You have no control over the quality of the product.
5. It’s hard to build a brand.
6. Long shipping times confuse customers with expectations that make them angry, giving the business a bad reputation.

Dropshipping is legal because it is a business model of fulfilment.

How most YouTubers do their dropshipping is sometimes unethical, even illegal. They won’t have the proper business registration in their country. They’ll create dozens of fake reviews to increase social proof of a product, an illegal act in many countries. They breach copyright, reusing images and photos from other people.

When they’re not doing illegal activities, they’ll do unethical ones like use ChatGPT to make low-quality ebooks with laughable claims, like a 33-page one I saw called, “How to Make $1000k/day”.

You can use Google or dropship supplier directories like Worldwide Brands or SaleHoo to find wholesale suppliers.

Also check out the Shopify app store. There’s a category in the Shopify apps marketplace dedicated to finding products.

However, the best opportunities require good hard work. That may mean visiting trade shows in person, picking up the phone, or buying products wholesale to show you can sell. The easier it is for someone to sell a product, 1) the market shrinks and 2) the cost to get in-front of the market becomes expensive.