What is digital dropshipping? [2025]

Selling a digital product has become one of the easiest businesses to start. But let’s face it. Not everyone can create a digital product. I’ll be the first to tell you that. I like betting on sports, but I don’t have the authority or expertise to sell my sports picks. I know a thing or two about courses, but I can hardly create, let alone host, one.

If you’re in the same boat, you might think there isn’t any other way to make money with digital products. Well, I have a little secret to tell you - it’s time to start digital dropshipping.

Digital dropshipping is basically your way to profit from digital products without actually making them. You can utilize all your other skills, be that writing, video editing, etc., and one of your passions (like sports betting or trading) to create content that refers users to already-existing digital products. And how do you get paid? Sweet, sweet commissions.

Is it that simple? Not necessarily. But we’re here to help you. Let’s look into how you can start digital dropshipping today.

First, let’s begin by reviewing the term and some examples.

What is digital dropshipping?

Digital dropshipping is a strategy that allows you to sell digital products without having created or owning any of them. It’s like traditional dropshipping, in a sense, but with many more benefits.

With digital dropshipping, you must first find a niche or a specific market. You’ll need to create content around that niche, so pick something you're passionate about or truly interested in.

Let me give you an example. You might like coding, but if you’re not a coding expert, you won’t be able to create a course. But, as a beginner, you can create coding beginner’s guides. What coding language to learn? What’s the best language to learn for web development? That sort of stuff. 

Once you gather a few readers/viewers/followers, find a reputable course owner in the coding niche and get affiliated with them. Then, funnel your audience into their course, and…that’s it. You’ve just “sold” a digital product without actually owning it or creating any of its modules.

There are plenty of benefits to doing this. For one, you don’t have to spend time creating a product. Sure, gathering a following needs lots of time and effort, but that comes with developing your personal brand. If you create great content, a follower remains a follower.

And anyone can do this. Anyone. You just need to be passionate about a lucrative niche and learn a skill to help you create content. Bonus points if you already have 1 or 2 skills, as you can start digital dropshipping today. 

But how can you do that? Fear not, just keep on reading.

How to get started

You might think that starting a digital dropshipping business will take a few months of preparation - it’s a business, after all. Well, there are some things you can do today to get started. Keep in mind that these are true if you’re starting from scratch. If you already have a large social media following, I’ve laid out everything you’ll need to start today right below.

For those still reading, the best thing you can do right now is brainstorm your skills and passions. Are you passionate about a niche like trading, sports betting, or personal finance? Those are pretty lucrative. Do you have any skills that’ll help you in content creation, such as writing, video editing, or graphic design? This will be more than enough to get started.

So, you have a niche and a skill. Now, it’s time to get a following.

First thing's first - choose your platform. For video content, go for YouTube (long-form) or TikTok (short-form). Or both to capture a larger audience. For written content, create your own blog, start posting on X or Instagram, or start a newsletter.

At this point, you’ll have to put the work in - this is the hardest part. Now, you will need to consistently post until you get a significant following (at least 1k followers, 5k+ for the best results). Try to make your posts or videos as informative as possible and keep on posting, even if you don’t get views from the get-go.

If everything’s gone according to plan, you should have a following that trusts you. The hard part is over. 

After this, you’ll need to find the best digital products in your niche with good commissions. Technically, this is the hardest part. But, as I said at the start, I've got you covered. You can find both the best digital products and commissions in one platform: Whop.

Whop: The #1 platform for digital dropshipping

While Whop is a platform to help you build and sell your own digital products first and foremost, it also allows you to dropship these for others. 

Through Whop, you’ll get access to thousands of different whops, communities, and digital products owned by some of the top content creators. If you’re passionate about sports betting, ecommerce, business, or trading, this is the place to be.

On Whop, you’ll have a few different options to help you with your digital dropshipping. For starters, you can get large commissions for every user you refer to specific communities and whops. This is an incredible way to earn some recurring revenue with minimal risk. All the top communities have thousands of members, so you won’t need to worry about them being a shill - the value they give to their community has been proven over and over again.

That’s not all, though. If you’re already part of one of these whops, you’ll still get the chance to dropship their offerings to your followers. So, if you really enjoy being part of a community, or if you found a course to be super useful, you can then sell it to your followers and see the profits coming in for as long as they remain members of the whops.

Of course, you might want to sell access to multiple servers or sell multiple courses through your X account or blog. Through Whop, you’ll be able to manage all of your referrals, see how much you’ve made, and check your conversion rate (you can check out your MRR and total link clicks).

The great thing with Whop is that you can take a more general route. If you create trading-related videos, you might not want to refer your viewers to a specific product but an entire category (the trading category, in this case). Yes, you can do that on Whop. For everyone who buys a product in that specific category through you, you’ll get a percentage.

There are tens of thousands of creators who are doing just that. If you want to make that tens of thousands plus 1, simply click below, choose the whop you want to sell, and start selling today. 

The best products for digital dropshipping

Now, you have an idea of how to start. But where do you start? What are the best products for digital dropshipping? Here are my top picks across all niches.

Courses

Many of our creators on Whop have created some amazing courses that they host on their whops. If you don’t have enough expertise or authority, creating a course is a no-go. But selling a course to your followers is much easier.

Again, you’ll need to find a specific niche and source the best courses within it. But that’s easy to do through Whop, as you’ll find quality courses that are sure to be a hit with your audience. Plus, you can partner with the creators in just a couple of clicks, and then it’s all about promoting them through your videos and posts.

Memberships

I believe communities are the future of the internet. That’s why memberships are one of the best digital products to dropship. When you’re part of a great community, it’s only a given that you share it with others, and, well, you can make some good money off that.

Most communities on Whop sell memberships to their Discord, Telegram, or whop, so you have plenty of creators you can partner with.

Ebooks

Yes, many are still selling their ebooks through Amazon. While you can partner with them through that platform, you’ll find plenty of excellent ebook authors and creators on Whop, where the process is a lot simpler.

You just have to partner with them and start selling their ebooks to your viewers and followers. Then, you’ll earn a recurring or one-time commission for every sale. It’s that simple.

Trading signals and sports picks

It might seem weird to put trading signals and sports picks together, but they’re pretty similar. We have thousands of creators you can partner with who actively sell their signals or picks. Many of our top communities and the ones that have the best commissions are within these niches.

So, if your content is all about sports betting or trading, you’ve got a bunch of folks you can partner with on Whop right now.

Software

Dropshipping software and apps is pretty lucrative. There’s some great software out there that goes under the radar. These guys will give you huge commissions. You can also find plenty of creators on Whop with whom you can partner and start selling their software and apps.

Podcasts

Everyone has a podcast nowadays, so there are endless podcasters who will happily partner with you and give you a high commission for every new user you bring them. Many podcasts might be amazing, but they still need their first few viewers that’ll help increase their visibility.

That’s where you come in. If you have a large audience, you can share these podcasts with them, raking in the profits in the process.

• The best products for digital dropshipping

Potential challenges

Here’s the thing. Digital dropshipping is great, but it does have some potential challenges. It’s a business, after all, and every business has its risks.

One of the main risks of digital dropshipping is referring your audience to a bad product. One bad product can make them lose trust in anything else you’ve shared. That’s why you’ll have to share digital products only from trustworthy creators that you’ve tested.

Of course, this brings us to our next risk. Since you don’t own these products, you can’t control how good they are. So, a course might be great and affordable now, but the creator might increase the price in a few months, making it bad value. Thus, you must consistently review these to make sure they’re always up to par.

And there’s always the challenge of standing out. As a content creator, you’ll have to make sure your content speaks to your audience, is useful, and doesn’t mislead them. The only way to do that is through trial and error. See what sticks and go with the flow.

Tips to become a successful digital dropshipper

Now, look. Many will try to be digital dropshippers, but, as with any business, few will succeed. That’s why you need a few expert tips that you can implement from the get-go to help you be one of those few. 

I asked YouTuber, expert digital dropshipper, and Whop’s Head of Affiliates Brett Malinowski to share some of his best tips. Here’s what he had to say:

Your brand is your #1 priority

“Make sure you are actually helping people achieve their goals. Your brand is a reflection of the value you provide in your content.” 

Short-form algorithms are your best friend

“The first video you make can get a million views on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. You no longer need followers to go viral, so don’t overthink it and just start posting.” 

Analyze your performance

“Look at the data after you post. Retention curves will tell you what your audience does and does not like in your content. Review your data, take notes, and make the next post better.” 

Double down, even if you get no views

“Making good content is a skill, and every post is a new challenge. You need to constantly try new things and test different angles. Don’t stop, because you will only get better as you go.” 

Digital dropship and earn healthy commissions with Whop

Regardless of its challenges, digital dropshipping is one of the best businesses or side hustles you can start. It’s not as time-consuming as creating and constantly optimizing a digital product and can help you tap into this market.

The best place to start your digital dropshipping business is Whop, hands down. All the whops are owned by experts, so you only need to find the ones that fit your niche and then grow your audience. And, even if you don’t want to partner with a specific whop, you can still make some money by referring your followers to one of our many categories.

Ready to get these commissions with Whop? All you need to do is sign up, choose who (or what category) you want to partner with, and start sharing them with your audience, all in just a few minutes.