Your own shop, with AliExpress and Alibaba.com built in
Start a dropshipping business with your own website
Dropshipping lets you sell products online without buying stock, packing parcels or renting a warehouse. You choose the products, put them on your own website at your own prices, and when a customer buys, the supplier sends the order straight to them.
We design and build the website and shop for you, and AliExpress and Alibaba.com plug straight into it, so you can find products, add them to your shop and send orders to the supplier from one place.
- £119a month, plus VAT
- £0to pay up front
- Built inAliExpress and Alibaba.com
- 12month minimum contract
What is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a way of running an online shop where you never hold the stock yourself. A customer buys a product from your website and pays you. You then buy the same product from your supplier at the supplier’s price, and the supplier delivers it to your customer’s address. The difference between what your customer paid and what the supplier charged is yours.
If you would like the full picture, with the pros and cons and whether it is legal in the UK, read our guide, what is dropshipping.
Your control panel, screen by screen
Everything is done from the back end of your own website, in the same control panel you use for your pages, your blog and your orders. These are the screens you use to run your dropshipping shop.
Link your AliExpress and Alibaba.com accountsComing soon
You link your own supplier accounts once. You sign in on AliExpress or Alibaba.com’s own page and come straight back to your control panel, so your password never passes through our system. Orders are placed on your own account, so the relationship with the supplier is yours.
Finding products for your dropshipping businessComing soon
Everything is done from the back end of your own website. You can search AliExpress and Alibaba.com by name, paste in a link to a product you have already found, or look at what is selling now. When you find something, you choose which photos to use, and a product that comes in several colours or sizes can go into your shop as one product with choices, or as a separate product for each. If the same item is cheaper from another supplier, your shop will show you, and you can keep the second supplier as a backup in case the first runs out.
Setting your prices and keeping them right
You decide how much you add on top of the supplier’s price. You can set one rule for everything, or different rules for different categories and price bands, round prices to the nearest 99p, and show a “was” price on offers. You also choose the delivery: the supplier’s cheapest to the UK, or their fastest.
Prices and stock checked every six hours
Your shop checks every product with the supplier every six hours. If the supplier puts a price up or runs out of stock, your shop knows, your prices and stock change with it, and you get a notification, so you are never selling something you can’t supply or selling it at a loss.
What happens when a customer orders
Your customer pays on your website, and the order appears in your shop’s orders screen as it always would. Once it is paid, you press one button to send it to the supplier, or you can switch on sending paid orders automatically. Before it goes, the delivery address is checked, so an order is never sent to a postcode that doesn’t exist. Any note your customer left goes to the supplier with the order. When the supplier sends it, the tracking number comes back onto the order, your customer gets an email to say it is on its way, and your website has its own Track your order page where they can see where it is, along with other products they might like.
How much does a dropshipping website cost?
A dropshipping website from us is £119 a month plus VAT, with nothing to pay up front and a 12 month minimum contract. That is the whole thing: the design, the build, the hosting, your domain and email, the supplier connections and our support.
Dropshipping website
Your own shop, with your products coming from AliExpress and Alibaba.com.
- Your own website and shop, designed and built for you
- AliExpress and Alibaba.com connected to your shop (coming soon)
- Find products and add them to your shop in one click
- Your own pricing rules, with prices and stock checked every six hours
- Paid orders sent to the supplier, with tracking back to your customer
- A Track your order page on your website
- Hosting, your domain and business email
- Priority support
A website from us, or building it yourself
You can build a dropshipping shop yourself on a shop builder, add a separate app to connect it to AliExpress, and pay for each of them every month. This is how that compares with a dropshipping website from us.
| A dropshipping website from us | Building it yourself | |
|---|---|---|
| Who designs and builds the website | We do, around your products and your brand | You do, from a template |
| AliExpress and Alibaba.com | Built into your control panel (coming soon) | A separate app, paid for separately |
| Your pricing rules and six-hourly price and stock checks | Included | Depends on the app and its plan |
| Sending paid orders to the supplier, with tracking back | Included | Depends on the app and its plan |
| Hosting, your domain and business email | Included | Usually extra |
| Help when you need it | From us, the people who built your shop | Help pages and a support queue |
| What you pay each month | £119 plus VAT, all in | The shop builder, plus the app, plus themes and extras |
Why start a dropshipping business on your own website
You can sell through a marketplace, but the marketplace takes a fee from every sale, sets the rules and keeps the customer. When somebody buys from you on your own website, the customer is yours. They see your name, your products and your prices, and next time they come back to you, not to a list of other sellers. Your own website can also be found on Google for the things you sell, and it is yours to grow: a blog, your own offers, your own email list.
Your own dropshipping website
- The customer buys from you, and comes back to you.
- Your name, your logo and your colours on every page.
- Your prices, with no fee taken from each sale.
- Found on Google for the products you sell.
- Yours to grow, with a blog, offers and an email list.
Selling on a marketplace
- The customer belongs to the marketplace.
- Your products sit in a list beside other sellers.
- A fee is taken from every sale you make.
- The marketplace sets the rules and can change them.
- Nothing of your own to build on.
How your shop works
- 01
We build your shop
We design and build your website and shop, on your own web address, with your pages, your logo and your colours.
- 02
Link your supplier
You link your own AliExpress or Alibaba.com account to your shop. Coming soon
- 03
Add products
You search for products from inside your shop, or paste a link to one you have found, and add it with its photos, sizes and colours in one click.
- 04
Set your prices
You set your prices, and your shop keeps them right as the supplier’s prices change.
- 05
Orders go to the supplier
When a customer pays, the order goes to the supplier, and the tracking number comes back to you and to your customer.
Sign up for your dropshipping website
Tell us about the shop you have in mind, then set up your plan by card: £119 a month plus VAT, with nothing to pay up front. Your answers come to us with your order, so we can start designing straight away.
A website that is designed for you
This is not a template you fill in yourself. We design your website around your products and your brand, build it, host it and look after it. Behind it is the Mediatopia CMS, the same system we run our own business on.
From one login you manage your pages, your blog, your products, your orders and your suppliers. You can add your own products alongside the dropshipped ones, and if you run more than one shop, the orders from all of them can be sent from one list. You can see some of the shops we have built on our ecommerce website designs page.
Things to know before you start a dropshipping business
When you sell a product, you are the seller, even though you never touch it. That means UK consumer law applies to you: your customers have the right to return things, and you need clear delivery and returns information on your website.
Products from overseas can take longer to arrive than people expect, so it is worth ordering a sample of anything before you sell it, to check the quality and the delivery time for yourself.
Once you are trading, you will need to tell HMRC and keep records for tax, and if your sales go over the VAT threshold you will need to register for VAT. Your accountant can tell you what applies to you.
Dropshipping business questions
How much does a dropshipping website cost?
£119 a month plus VAT, with nothing to pay up front and a 12 month minimum contract. It covers the design and build of your website and shop, the hosting, your domain and email, the AliExpress and Alibaba.com connections, and our support.
How do I sign up?
Answer the questions in the sign-up on this page, then set up your plan by card on our secure checkout. Your answers come to us with your order, and your checklist for the details we need follows by email.
Do I need to buy stock to start a dropshipping business?
No. You only buy a product from the supplier after your customer has paid you for it, so there is no stock to buy up front and nothing left over if a product doesn’t sell.
Do I need my own AliExpress or Alibaba.com account?
Yes. You link your own account to your shop, and orders are placed on your account, so the relationship with the supplier is yours. The AliExpress and Alibaba.com connections are coming soon.
Can I sell my own products as well?
Yes. Products you hold yourself and products you dropship sit side by side in the same shop, and your customers see one shop.
How do my customers pay?
Your customers pay you on your website, and the payment goes into your own account. We connect your shop to your own card payments when we build it.
When will AliExpress and Alibaba.com be connected?
The connections are built into your control panel and are waiting for AliExpress and Alibaba.com to approve Mediatopia. They switch on for every dropshipping website as soon as they do. Your website and shop are designed and built in the meantime.
Is dropshipping legal in the UK?
Yes. Dropshipping is a legal way to run a business in the UK. You are the seller, so the same rules apply to you as to any other online shop.
How long does it take to set up?
That depends on the size of your website and how many products you start with. Once you have signed up and sent us your checklist, we’ll tell you when your shop will be ready.
Related: What is dropshipping?Pay Monthly Ecommerce WebsitesEcommerce Website DesignEcommerce Website Designs
Start your dropshipping business for £119 a month
Your own website and shop, designed and built for you, with AliExpress and Alibaba.com in your control panel. Nothing to pay up front, plus VAT, 12 month minimum contract.