This page answers one question in pounds: how much does it cost to start dropshipping in the UK, for someone about to do it rather than read about it. Every figure links to the organisation that sets it and carries the date we checked it, 15 September 2026. Disclosure first: we build Orbit Commerce, an ecommerce platform, so we have a stake in you opening a shop. That is why each number points at a source you can verify without us.
Start with the correction, because it is the line most cost guides still get wrong. Incorporating a limited company online at Companies House costs £100. Not £12, not £50. The fee schedule was last updated on 2 July 2026 and lists £100 online, £156 same day and £124 on paper (Companies House fees, checked 15 September 2026). If a guide is still quoting £12, assume the rest of its numbers are the same vintage.
What is the genuine minimum to get a first order out of the door?
Under £50, if you trade as a sole trader and sell on a marketplace rather than your own site. Sole trader registration has no published fee. An Amazon Individual selling plan is £0.75 excluding VAT per item sold, with no monthly charge (sell.amazon.co.uk, checked 15 September 2026). So your only unavoidable outlay is the sample you order and the postage back.
That is a test rather than a business: no domain, no email list, nothing that belongs to you. It is still the cheapest way to find out whether anybody wants the product. Both Amazon and eBay publish drop shipping policies with real teeth, so read them first.
What does it cost to register the business, as a sole trader or a limited company?
Sole trader: nothing. You can trade straight away, and must register for Self Assessment once you earn more than £1,000 in a tax year, 6 April to 5 April (gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026). The £1,000 is income, not profit, so an active dropshipper crosses it in weeks. gov.uk publishes no fee for registering.
Limited company: £100 to incorporate online, then £50 a year for the confirmation statement. Same-day is £156 and paper £124, and paper is slower as well as dearer. Our guide to sole trader or limited company covers the part that actually decides it, liability and tax rather than the £100.
VAT registration is free. It becomes compulsory once taxable turnover in any rolling 12 months passes £90,000 (gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026). The dropshipping trap: if goods ship from overseas in consignments of £135 or less, you charge UK VAT at the point of sale whatever your turnover, dragging registration to day one. That sits in our UK VAT guide for online sellers and the UK dropshipping guide. Check gov.uk before relying on any of this.
Every startup cost for UK dropshipping, itemised in pounds
The whole list, each line with the page that publishes it. Nothing here is an estimate except where it says so.
| Cost | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Register as a sole trader with HMRC | £0, no fee published | gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026 |
| Incorporate a limited company | £100 online, £156 same day, £124 paper | Companies House, checked 15 September 2026 |
| Confirmation statement, online, every year | £50 | Companies House, checked 15 September 2026 |
| VAT registration | £0 to register, compulsory above £90,000 rolling turnover | gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026 |
| ICO data protection fee | A small annual data protection fee, tiered by size. Check the ICO’s fee page for your tier | ICO, checked 15 September 2026 |
| Store platform, Orbit Solo | £25 a month, £19 a month billed yearly, after a 14-day free trial with no card required | orbitcommerce.net/pricing, checked 15 September 2026 |
| Store platform, Shopify Basic | £25 a month, £19 a month billed yearly, plus 2% on orders taken through a third-party gateway | shopify.com/uk, checked 15 September 2026 |
| Amazon selling plan, Individual | £0.75 excl VAT per item sold | sell.amazon.co.uk, checked 15 September 2026 |
| Amazon selling plan, Professional | £25 excl VAT a month | sell.amazon.co.uk, checked 15 September 2026 |
| Return postage, one parcel up to 20kg | From £1.99 excl VAT (£2.39 inc VAT) | parcel2go.com, checked 15 September 2026 |
| Domain name | Varies by registrar and extension. Budget for the renewal price, not the first-year offer | No single authoritative figure, checked 15 September 2026 |
One thing that table deliberately lacks: an “average cost to start a dropshipping business”. That number is quoted everywhere and we could not trace it to anyone who measured it, so we will not repeat it. Add up the published fixed lines above, then choose your own test budget. Arithmetic rather than folklore.
What does a store platform cost, and what is free versus paid?
Expect £19 to £25 a month for an entry plan on a hosted UK platform, and read the transaction terms rather than the headline. Shopify Basic is £25 a month or £19 billed yearly and adds 2% on any order taken through a third-party gateway (shopify.com/uk, checked 15 September 2026). That surcharge on top of a card rate is the line that quietly doubles a thin dropshipping margin.
Orbit Solo is £25 a month, £19 billed yearly, with a 14-day free trial and no card required, no platform transaction fee on any plan, and card processing at 2% + 25p through Orbit Payments (orbitcommerce.net/pricing, checked 15 September 2026). Two lines a dropshipper would otherwise budget for are not there: the supplier directory sits inside Orbit, so no separate supplier-app subscription, and the Amazon and eBay plugins are free on every plan. Compare in the real cost of Shopify in the UK and what it costs to start an online shop.
What do you have to pay before you have any revenue, and what only bites after?
Four things come out of your pocket before a single order: samples, the platform subscription once the trial ends, a domain, and incorporation if you incorporate. Everything else is triggered by selling. That is why a 14-day trial with no card matters more than a £6 gap between plans: it lets you build the shop while your only spend is samples.
The costs that only bite after the first sale are card processing, marketplace referral fees, refunds, return postage, and VAT once you cross the threshold or ship low-value consignments from abroad. None appear in a startup budget and all appear in your bank account. We broke the payment side down in what it really costs to take payments on a UK online shop.
The costs nobody puts in the list
- Samples. Order one of everything you intend to sell. If you will not spend £12 to see the product, do not ask a customer to spend £30.
- Return postage. From £1.99 excluding VAT for a UK parcel up to 20kg (parcel2go.com, checked 15 September 2026). You often pay it twice: once to get the item back, once when the supplier will not take it.
- The ICO data protection fee. Organisations using personal information, sole traders included, pay a small annual data protection fee unless exempt. It is tiered by size, so check the ICO’s fee page for your tier (checked 15 September 2026). A shop holds customer names and addresses, so assume it applies.
- Refunds you eat. Under UK distance selling rules the customer gets their money back from you whether or not the supplier reimburses you. Detail in our guide to UK returns law.
- Insurance. No honest single figure exists: quotes swing on what you sell. Get two with your actual catalogue in front of you.
Three 90-day budgets: minimum, sensible and funded
Same 90 days, three levels of commitment. Assumptions are stated so you can change them. None of this promises what you will earn.
| Line | Minimum | Sensible | Funded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business registration | £0 sole trader | £0 sole trader | £100 limited company |
| Store platform | £0, marketplace only | £62.50 (14 days free, then 2.5 months at £25) | £228 (Solo billed yearly at £19 a month, whole year paid up front) |
| Domain | £0 | £15 (assumption) | £15 (assumption) |
| Samples | £36 (3 at £12) | £72 (6 at £12) | £180 (12 at £15) |
| Marketplace fees | £22.50 (30 items at £0.75) | £0 | £75 (3 months Professional, £25) |
| Product photography and copy | £0, your phone | £0, your phone | £150 (assumption) |
| Advertising test | £0 | £300 (£10 a day for 30 days) | £1,500 (£50 a day for 30 days) |
| Return and refund allowance | £6 | £12 | £150 |
| ICO data protection fee | Tiered, check ICO | Tiered, check ICO | Tiered, check ICO |
| 90-day total | £64.50 | £461.50 | £2,398 |
Minimum, about £65. Sole trader, marketplace listings only, three samples, no ads. You are buying one piece of information: does anyone buy this at your price. If not, you have lost the price of a takeaway.
Sensible, about £460. Your own shop plus a small paid test. The platform line is low because the trial covers the build. Most of the money is the £300 ad budget, the only line that tells you something new. Add your ICO tier.
Funded, about £2,400. Incorporated, annual plan paid up front for the 25% saving, a proper sample run, photography, and a £1,500 ad test at a level where the data reads clearly inside a month. That is a bet that you already know the niche.
A worked order, so those budgets mean something
A £34.99 order with a UK-warehoused supplier, assumptions stated.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale price including standard delivery | £34.99 |
| Supplier cost, delivered (assumption) | −£14.00 |
| Card processing, Orbit Solo rate 2% + 25p | −£0.95 |
| Advertising cost per acquired order (assumption) | −£12.00 |
| Left before refunds | £8.04 |
| Refund allowance, one order in ten refunded in full | −£3.50 |
| Left per order | £4.54 |
At £4.54 an order, the sensible £460 budget is repaid by roughly 102 orders and the funded £2,400 budget by about 529. Argue with those before you spend, not after. If the supplier cost is £18 rather than £14 the whole thing stops working, which is why sourcing beats ad creative. Start with our shortlist of UK dropshipping suppliers, then whether dropshipping is worth it in the UK.
Can you start dropshipping with no money in the UK?
Not at zero, but close. Registering as a sole trader is free, an Individual marketplace plan has no monthly fee, and a platform trial carries the build. What you cannot do for free is order samples, and skipping them is the most expensive economy in this model. Budget £40 and start there.
Is dropshipping free to start, then? No, and anyone saying otherwise is usually selling the course. The floor is tens of pounds, the sensible entry a few hundred, and the gap is mostly advertising, which is optional until the product has proved it sells.
Questions people ask about dropshipping costs in the UK
How much does it cost to start dropshipping in the UK?
Around £65 for a marketplace-only test as a sole trader, about £460 for your own shop with a small ad test, and roughly £2,400 for a funded launch with a limited company. The fixed lines are all published: £0 to register as a sole trader, £100 to incorporate, £19 to £25 a month for a platform. Checked 15 September 2026.
How much does it cost to register a dropshipping business in the UK?
Nothing as a sole trader, and £100 to incorporate a limited company online at Companies House, plus £50 a year for the confirmation statement (Companies House, checked 15 September 2026). Same-day incorporation is £156 and paper is £124. Guides still quoting £12 or £50 for incorporation are out of date.
Can you start dropshipping with no money in the UK?
Almost, but not quite. Sole trader registration is free, an Amazon Individual plan charges £0.75 excluding VAT per item sold with no monthly fee, and a platform free trial covers the build. Samples are the one cost you should not avoid. Budget about £40 and treat it as the price of finding out.
Do I need to pay the ICO data protection fee as a dropshipper?
Probably yes. Organisations that use personal information, sole traders included, pay a small annual data protection fee unless they are exempt, and running a shop means holding customer names and addresses. The fee is tiered by size, so check the ICO’s data protection fee page for your tier before you budget for it.
What is the cheapest way to test a dropshipping product in the UK?
List it on a marketplace with no monthly plan, buy one sample, and photograph it yourself. That keeps your outlay under about £50 and answers the only question that matters early on, which is whether anyone buys at your price. Move to your own shop once the product has sold to strangers rather than friends.
If you want to run those budgets against a real checkout rather than a spreadsheet, that is the part we can help with. Orbit gives you a 14-day free trial with no card required, the supplier directory sits inside the dashboard so there is no separate subscription for it, and the Amazon and eBay plugins are free on every plan. Build the shop, price a real product, and spend on ads only once the arithmetic closes: start free.