How to break into eCommerce with no capital at all

I would suggest first using your skills and freelance to get some money to start. You definitely would need a budget to start dropshipping.

So maybe it's best to look out for some smaller online job and earn some with putting in hard working hours (What I mean for example is: creating graphics, writing text, translating … whatever you'r good at it)

You don't need to focus on drop shipping if you're on a shoe string budget. It doesn't cost money to setup accounts with manufacturers and distributors (just your time).

First you need to figure out what you want to sell and then start finding suppliers of those items.

In my experience it takes some capital to get things to happen.

That and/or relationships you have established.

A drop ship type setup functions on the margins between the wholesale and retail pricing.

When you have established relationships (i.e. paying suppliers regularly) it becomes easier to make money because you can negotiate better deals.

You may be best approaching future drop shipping suppliers and trying to build some physical offline business based on commission and head down that route whilst you try to get the online side going.

It's like once you start moving product and get some relationships going it gets easier.

Don't think ebay or other online suppliers first. Think about who you can approach who can back you up and who you can form a long term relationship with...better still a company you already have a relationship with.

If you have no cash to invest then try to find a way to connect some business you know with someone they don't know.

I used to do trading on ecommerce platform like ebay etc

Need to buy stock, keep stock, do packaging n arrange delivery...

Found it too troublesome n stock turnover very slow so nowaday switch over to do
affiliate & referral instead...

I would suggest you that you should check with some Chinese drop shipping companies and create your website only take orders at your own website and place them to the dropshipper's site and enjoy happy earnings

I'm going to sound real cheap here... but... way back when I started out, a Chinese supplier/factory agreed to send me ten free samples of a product I was looking to buy from them (for free, of course).

The samples took a while to arrive, but once they arrived I tested them then put them on eBay. I only sold them for around $5 each - but that was still $50 banked with zero investment (other than time) on my behalf. From there it snowballed.

I'm not going to lie, I've injected cash into the business since - but there's an idea for you if you're patient and you don't have a dime to invest.

when I first started out online I had no capital. So I went to selling some of my old stuff around the house on eBay. I had a shoe collection so I sold those. After a while when I get some experience under my belt I went onto selling electronics specifically cell phones.

I don't know if this business model can still be applied, but what I would do is search for a lot of cell phones on eBay and then sell each phone separately.

Another method I use was to purchase used phones locally via craigslist and then sell them for a higher dollar amount on eBay.

14 years ago I started my stores with $0 capital. It is possible, though since you don't say what sort of skills you have, it's hard to give you specific suggestions. I had a background in advertising, marketing, graphic design and web site production so it was an easy move for me. At the time, I was working for a web design company with their own servers and they let me host my stores for free.

If I were starting out today, I would look at one of the free hosted storefronts like ecrater, etc. (google "get an online store for free") There are a lot out there that are free for you to set up and list items for sale only charging you when you make a sale. This is a great way to learn the ropes without having to worry about building a site or paying for hosting. Expect for it to take some time to figure out everything like shipping, bookkeeping, inventory, etc.

Find a supplier or 2 for items you have an interest in as it makes it a lot more fun and something you will stick with. A dropship supplier or one with a low/no minimum order would be an easy start for you. List them in the storefront, set up free social media accounts, a free blog on wordpress, blogger, or tumblr and start promoting your items for sale. Some of the free shopping site services auto submit items to google and other shopping sites for you too - be sure to compare them to find the one that works best for you.

Once you have that up and running, you might try listing a few items on Ebay. You probably won't make much profit here, but it can give you a little boost in visibility (your ebay about page can include links to your storefront) and get some sales rolling. If your products don't require their approval, you could try Amazon as well though it doesn't have the marketing potential ebay does as they have more rules.

Once you start making money, you could look at adding other suppliers and expanding into a better storefront or hosting your own.

If you are serious, and want to work hard at it, I would be willing to work with you.
I will buy the domain, install the store, share my drop shippers list.- My only requirement, is that you have to follow some simple instructions, allow me to help market the website (because this will lead to sales), and in return I get 10% of the sales.

IM me - only if you are serious. - I do not have time for people that don't want to make money!

It does take some money to buy inventory, but if your budget is really 0, then look around your house for items you can sell on ebay and/or craigslist. After you have a little cash for inventory, you can move up from there.

I manufacture personalized gifts and wedding favors. I need someone to sell on ebay/amazon for me. Let me know if you are interested.

Setting up a store for free is easy. WooCommerce plugin is free and WooThemes also has a couple of WooCommerce themes for free. That's all you need to get a store set up and ready to sell. Then you need to decide what you're going to sell and find suppliers who will dropship. Purchasing product won't be something you could do without capital.

You don't need any capital at all to drop ship. I started dropping with $0 investment. I dropped on eBay, and I used a drop shipper that accepted PayPal. When my customers payed me on PayPal, I paid my drop shipper. The money left over was mine.

I will say that drop shipping is a hard way to make money. I quickly moved to private labeling.

If you're starting with ZERO capital, then just set up an Amazon account and start selling. You can resell products from Alibaba, Ebay, Amazon, wherever. Just call the suppliers and agree to a contract that allows you to sell their products on the internet. In many cases, they won't ask for a website.

If you have a couple hundred bucks to spare, then set up a Shopify store. Fill it out with some "out of stock" products, FAQ/Returns Policy/About pages, and a few blog posts. This will legitimize the site enough in suppliers' eyes, and IME makes it easier to get them to sign on.

Good luck!

Well, it sounds great that you are thinking about to start online business. In my opinion, first you think about the niche of the product what you want to sell. If it is decided, then you need to pay an attention over some SEO and SMM task and promote your website. Once your website will rank on Google first page, then folks will easily visit to your website and purchase the products from your website. And you can easily make a huge money by this.