The UK guide to dropshipping websites
To run a dropshipping shop you need two things: a website for your shop, and a way of getting products from a supplier into it. We compare the best-known ones side by side: what they cost each month, where their suppliers are, and whether you build the shop yourself or someone builds it for you. Every price is taken from the company's own website, and we show the date we checked it.
UK Dropshipper is owned by Mediatopia Solutions Limited, a UK web design company. Mediatopia also sells its own dropshipping website, so we include it in our comparisons and mark it Ours every time it appears.
Every price is copied from the company's own pricing page, and we show the date we checked it. If a company only shows its prices in dollars, we show them in dollars and say so, and turn them into pounds where we add them up.
We go on facts you can check for yourself: who builds the shop, where the suppliers are, what it costs each month and which shop websites each supplier app works with. We don't give star ratings, and no company pays us to be listed.
Find the right one for you
Every dropshipping shop needs a website to sell from and a supplier app to bring the products in. Answer the three questions below and we'll suggest one of each, and tell you why we picked them.
How dropshipping works
The first part is your shop website. It holds your product pages, your basket and your checkout, and it takes your customers' card payments. The second part is the supplier app. It copies the supplier's products into your shop, and when a customer pays, it sends the order to the supplier, who posts it to your customer. Most shop websites need a separate supplier app for this. A few have it built in.
Compare them side by side
Tick the ones you want to compare and they appear next to each other, with the same information on each line, so you can see the differences at a glance. On a phone you can compare two at a time.
Tick the ones to compare
A dropshipping website designed, built and looked after for you by Mediatopia.
Source: mediatopia.co.uk, read 4 November 2026
An online shop you rent by the month. Shopify looks after the hosting and the card payments, and you build the shop yourself using one of its designs.
Source: shopify.com · apps.shopify.com, read 4 November 2026
Free software that adds a shop to a WordPress website. You pay for your own hosting and any extras.
Source: woocommerce.com · woocommerce.com, read 4 November 2026
A website builder known for its designs. All four of its plans let you sell products.
Source: squarespace.com, read 4 November 2026
A website builder where you drag and drop the pieces into place. Its paid plans include an online shop.
Source: wix.com · wix.com · support.wix.com, read 4 November 2026
An online shop you rent by the month, aimed at shops that are already selling a lot. Its plans are priced by how much you sell in a year.
Source: bigcommerce.co.uk · bigcommerce.co.uk, read 4 November 2026
What a shop really costs each month
The price a shop website advertises is only part of what you pay. To take orders, a shop on Shopify, WooCommerce or Wix also needs an app to connect it to AliExpress, a business email address and a web address, and someone has to build it. Move the sliders to your size of shop and each bar adds it all up, with the cost for the first year underneath.
Who is going to build your shop?
The shop website The AliExpress app Email and web address Card fees The web designer
Prices are from each company's own website, checked on 4 November 2026, before VAT. The AliExpress app is DSers at $19.90 a month. The email is Google Workspace at £5.90 a month for one email address. The web address is a .co.uk from IONOS at £10 a year. Dollar prices are turned into pounds at $1 to £0.74, the European Central Bank's rate that day.
Where your products come from
A supplier app is what brings products from a supplier into your shop and sends your orders to them. Tick what matters to you and we'll only show the apps that offer it, according to their own websites.
Showing 7 of the 7 apps
Free plan, or $19.90 a month for the Advanced plan
dsers.com, read 5 November 2026
Read about DSersFree to use. You pay for each product and its delivery
cjdropshipping.com, read 5 November 2026
Read about CJ DropshippingFrom £24.99 a month, plus VAT. Its free plan is for looking around
avasam.com, read 5 November 2026
Read about AvasamFrom $39.99 a month. Its free plan is for looking around
syncee.com, read 5 November 2026
Read about SynceeFrom $39.99 a month, with 7 days free
spocket.co, read 5 November 2026
Read about SpocketFrom $49 a month. Its free plan is for looking around
zendrop.com, read 5 November 2026
Read about ZendropFrom $26.90 a month, with a 3-day trial for $1
autods.com, read 5 November 2026
Read about AutoDSNone of the apps offers all of those. Untick one to see more.
How a dropshipping order works
You never buy or store any stock. Your customer pays you, you pay the supplier, and the supplier sends the parcel straight to your customer. The difference between what your customer paid and what you paid the supplier is yours.
They buy from your website at your price, and the money comes to you.
You pay the supplier's price and give them your customer's address.
The supplier packs the order, so you never touch the stock.
The tracking number comes back to you and is passed on to your customer.
Your shop's name is on the order, so next time they come back to you.
Profit per sale
Type in what you sell a product for, what the supplier charges you and what the delivery costs. Then choose who takes your card payments and whether you are registered for VAT, and we'll show you what is left for you from each sale. Change the figures to your own.
You keep from each sale
£11.79
47% of what your customer paid
Our own dropshipping website
Mediatopia, which owns this website, sells a dropshipping website that it designs, builds and looks after for you. It runs on the same system Mediatopia uses to run its own business. This is what its own website says is included.
Ready now: the connection to AliExpress, built into your shop's control panel, with AliExpress products already on sale through it. Coming soon: the connection to Alibaba.com.
Before you start selling in the UK
These come from gov.uk, written in plain English. Tick each one once you have sorted it, and watch the parcel fill up.
of 6 sorted
When a customer buys from your website, the law treats you as the seller, even though the supplier sends the parcel. That means you need clear information about delivery and returns on your website.
Customers who buy online can cancel within 14 days of receiving their order, and must be given their money back within 14 days of returning it. Decide where returns will go before you start selling.
If you earn more than £1,000 a year from selling, before your costs, you need to register for Self Assessment and keep records.
You must register for VAT if your sales go over £90,000 in any 12 months in a row.
When an order worth £135 or less is sent from abroad straight to a UK customer, the VAT is charged when the customer pays, not when the parcel arrives in the country, and it can be you who has to charge it.
Everything you sell must be safe. Toys, electrical goods and cosmetics have their own extra rules, and if a cheap product isn't safe, it is the seller who is responsible.
This is a summary to help you, not tax or legal advice. The gov.uk page next to each rule has the full rule.
Guides
5 November 2026Chargebacks: when a customer asks their bank for their money backWhat a chargeback is, why online shops get more of them, what each payment company charges you for one, and the records that help you win.Read it 
5 November 2026Delivery times: what to promise, and what happens if it's lateHow long the law gives you to deliver, what your customer can do when an order is late, and why a parcel lost by your supplier's courier is still your problem.Read it 
5 November 2026Products you can't sell, or need permission to sell, in the UKVapes, knives, alcohol, fireworks, cosmetics and medicines all have their own rules. What gov.uk says about each, before you add them to your shop.Read it Price alerts
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