It still works in India as a cheap way to test products, not as a business that runs itself, and it lives or dies on cash-on-delivery returns. The steps: pick an Indian supplier that holds stock and ships COD orders under your name (Baapstore's self-serve plans start at ₹9,999 and it handles shipping, tracking and COD settlement; Qikink prints your own designs only after an order, dispatches in 2 to 3 business days to 29,000+ pincodes and charges no RTO fee); order a sample yourself; open a Shopify store (₹1,994 a month, or ₹1,499 billed yearly) and connect the supplier; get a GSTIN before you list on any marketplace; then test one product at a time with small Meta ad budgets. Price for the parcels that come back unpaid and for ad cost per order before you scale. The rule: once a product sells steadily, buy stock and ship it yourself, because that is where the margin and the brand are.
Part of Dropshipping on eChai Explore.
6 resources, 5 India-specific, 6 link-checked.
A full Indian dropshipping walk-through: product research, Shopify store, Indian suppliers, COD and ads.
On youtube.com by Nishkarsh Sharma 35 min
A short comparison of Indian dropshipping suppliers and how to choose one.
On youtube.com by Nishkarsh Sharma 8 min
An honest primer on when dropshipping actually makes sense and when it doesn't, great for testing demand cheaply, weak as the foundation of a brand because of thin margins, long shipping times, and zero product control. We picked it so aspiring founders test with eyes open instead of treating dropshipping as a shortcut to a real business.
From Shopify Blog by Shopify Editorial
An Indian dropshipping supplier that holds inventory and handles shipping, tracking and COD settlement while you sell under your own name; self-serve plans start at ₹9,999.
From baapstore.com by Baapstore 5 min
An Indian print-on-demand partner: you upload designs to 350+ products (tees, hoodies, mugs), it prints only after a customer orders, supports COD, dispatches in 2 to 3 business days and charges no RTO fee.
From qikink.com by Qikink 4 min
Shopify's rupee prices for India: Basic ₹1,994 a month (₹1,499 billed yearly), Grow ₹7,447 (₹5,599 yearly), Advanced ₹30,164 (₹22,680 yearly), plus 2%, 1% or 0.6% on sales through a third-party gateway such as Razorpay.
From shopify.com by Shopify 5 min
The same ground, over in Find & validate your idea, our Starting Up track.
The same ground, over in Own the story, our GTM track.
Every founder hits these, so they sit in the wider founder hub.
