What are the start-up costs associated with starting a drop shipping business from US?

That depends on a certain number of factors but overall, it is a very low dollar amount. Shopify provides a free 2 week trial, and if you are able to design your store quick enough, there is $0 investment for the first 2 weeks. But even after that, the basic plan is only about $29/month.

Both Google Shopping and Amazon Product Listing Ads with come with free $100 and $75 credit respectively. Most of the time, that amount spent on advertising will be enough to get your first sale, however in the end that's dependent on your niche.

If you are able to build your store within 2 weeks, and use the free $100 and $75 advertising credit given by Google Shopping and Amazon Product Listing Ads, you can achieve your first sale with $0 in start-up cost.

All though Drop Ship Lifestyle works in almost every country, many of our international students decide to sale to the US market.  

Once you are ready to start your business we recommend you look into creating a sole proprietorship or LLC. The price for this varies based on what state you register in.

Additionally we recommend you sign up for a US bank account and register for a tax ID, both of these are typically free.

If you want to read up on the legal considerations of starting a drop shipping business check out this article on our blog - https://blog.dropshiplifestyle.com/legal-considerations-ecommerce/

While this is a generally a very simple process, we understand that it can be a little confusing for foreign students.  Luckily, Stripe, the company behind Shopify's payment processor has recently started a program to make this process extremely simple. 

https://stripe.com/atlas

This program will incorporate a business in Delaware (no sales tax), register a us tax ID, create you a US bank account, as well as provide general guidance about US law and taxes.   This service is currently in closed beta but is open for new user applications. 

You can have these services done individually for less than the cost Stripe is charging, but their service will help make the process effortless. 

Also, when applying for Stripe Atlas don't say that you're a drop shipper. Instead say that you're an online retailer. Check out this YouTube video to see why - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obiwoAWY6Kk&t=303s 

* Drop Ship Lifestyle has no affiliation with Stripes service.  We have simply used their payment processor for years and have been generally happy with the results.

If you are from outside the US, but want to create a US based store check out this link for the associated costs - https://dropshiplifestyle.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/212121838-How-much-does-it-cost-to-start-a-dropshipping-business-if-I-live-outside-of-the-US-but-want-to-create-a-US-based-store- 

Check out this blog article titled "Drop Shipping Outside the US - How much Does It Cost" - https://blog.dropshiplifestyle.com/drop-shipping-outside-the-us/

We actually had one of our coaches (Jon Warren from Australia) create a new course that's in the members area of Drop Ship Lifestyle that focuses on how to adjust the techniques in the course when selling in smaller markets.  It's called the Doing Business Abroad Course.  Here is a link to an article he wrote that’s on our blog - https://blog.dropshiplifestyle.com/drop-shipping-abroad/