Theoretically, with a zero-prepayment vendor agreement and fully automated toolchain, drop shipping can be started in 20 seconds and for a price of zero. For example, using Shopify’s free trial (14-30 days) combined with the Oberlo add-on ($29.9/month but free for 30 days), users can do the following in 19 seconds with AI tools such as Dropship Copilot:
Selection: Pick high-margin products on AliExpress (e.g., Bluetooth headphones for 15, buy price 3.8, shipping $2.2), AI selects products with profit margins ≥300% (±2% error);
Site building: AI-created product pages (with 6 SEO keywords at 4.3% density), published using free templates (e.g., Spotify Theme);
Order processing: Bind supplier apis (e.g., CJdropshipping) for automatic order synchronization (delay ≤0.8 seconds).
Data validation case: @EcomHacks sold a 19.99 (price 4.5+ freight 3) LED cosmetic mirror in 2023 using TikTok free traffic (average daily natural views 52,000), and the conversion rate for the first order was 1.3312.48 (the price paid was 0, since the supplier preferred “cash on delivery”).
Here are the following limitations to be considered
Traffic cost: The natural traffic’s average conversion rate is as low as 0.7% (avg paid AD is 3.2%), and if you rely on free traffic, you need a minimum of 12,000 exposures a day to receive 1 single;
Supply chain risk: No prepaid providers (e.g., AliExpress vendors) have an average lag time in delivery of 12 days (industry average 3-5 days), and customer complaints can rise up to 23%.
Compliance expenses: Failing to register a company, payment gateways such as PayStripe charge you up to 4.4%+0.3 (2.90.3 for business accounts), profit squeeze of 8%-12%.
Zero cost alternative for the technology tool chain:
Construction of sites: Use Wix free version (500MB space +1GB bandwidth), but the loading time is slowed to 3.8 seconds (industry standard ≤2 seconds) and the bounce rate is increased by 18%.
Selection: Manually pick AliExpress’s “0 prepaid” label products (just 3.2% of platform SKUs), but need to spend 1.5 hours a day to refine keywords;
Logistics: Negotiate an “order settlement” contract with the supplier (chance ≤7%), but the monthly order must be committed to ≥50 orders (or the freight will increase by $1.2/piece).
Direct calculation of actual ROI: Zero-cost start-up scenario assumed, 15 orders (unit price paid by customer 25) through natural flow within the first month, net income 285 (margin 38%), but cost in terms of time up to 40 hours (equivalent rate per hour 7.1, under US minimum rate of 7.25). Therefore, “Zero cost in 20 seconds” is suitable only for geek players who have a good technical setup and high risk tolerance, and the average entrepreneur still needs to spend a 50-100 test budget to cope with volatility.