Digital dropshipping is a business model where you can sell digital products online without holding inventory.

Digital dropshipping is an online business model where you can sell digital products without making them or holding any inventory.

While selling a digital product has become one of the easiest businesses to start, 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 this is you, then it’s time to start digital dropshipping.

What is digital dropshipping?

Digital dropshipping is when you sell digital products that you don’t create or own - instead, you promote and earn from other creators’ offers. It’s like traditional dropshipping, but faster, simpler, and often more profitable because there’s no inventory, shipping, or fulfillment to manage.

Here's how it works: you pick a niche you care about, create valuable content around it, and build an audience that trusts your recommendations.

Once you’ve built that audience, you partner with reputable creators in your niche - like course owners, tool builders, or membership founders - and direct your followers to their products through affiliate links or collaborations.

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.

How to start digital dropshipping

dropshipping

You can start digital dropshipping today - all you need is a niche, a skill, and a platform.

Here’s the short version:

  1. Pick a profitable niche: Choose something you’re genuinely interested in, like trading, sports betting, or personal finance. Passion matters because you’ll be creating a lot of content around it.
  2. Leverage your skills: Writing, editing, or design skills are more than enough to get started. These will help you make content that attracts and converts.
  3. Build an audience: Choose the right platform, post consistently, and create content that educates or entertains. Once you grow an audience, you can promote existing digital products and earn commissions, without owning them.

The best platforms for digital dropshipping

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

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.

Video content: YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels

These platforms are excellent for building trust fast. Short-form content is king right now.

You just need a decent phone camera, some basic editing skills, and a clear message. Focus on solving small problems or answering popular questions in your niche. 

For example, if you’re in the personal finance space, try a “3 things to stop spending money on today” video or “Why your savings account is losing money”. 

The key is frequency and relatability. Use trending sounds or formats, but always tie it back to your niche and the digital product you're eventually promoting.

Plenty of Whop creators have done just that for their brands and products, like Jride Flips for his whop, Deal Soldier. You can do exactly what they’re doing and promote their offerings through fan pages.

For instance, you might have heard of Luke Belmar. There are tons of YT channels out there that are clipping his content, and adding their own affiliate link to his community in their bios.

Here’s an example: Belmar Global.

If you want to make money through clipping, without having to rely on affiliate commissions, check out our guide to Whop Clips, and how you can make money with clipping in general.

Written content: X, Instagram, blogs, and newsletters

If writing is your strength, double down on it. X is great for fast, opinionated takes and educational threads. Instagram works well for carousels and infographics, especially if you’re good at design. 

Blogs and newsletters give you a bit more breathing room. You can dive deep, build SEO traffic, and capture email subscribers. Whichever you choose, your job is to educate or entertain first, and only then introduce a solution (i.e., the product). 

Try writing something like “Top 5 Tools for Beginner Traders”. Content like that builds credibility and curiosity.

Whop: The #1 platform for digital dropshipping

While Whop is a platform to help you build and sell your own 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.

As you can see on the screenshot above, getting an affiliate link from these is as simple as clicking on the “+” icon on the top right, or on the “Discover whops” button.

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, by just clicking on the “See all” button.

There are tens of thousands of creators who are doing just that. If you want to make that tens of thousands plus 1, simply create your Whop account, go to your Dashboard, and choose the whop you want to sell.

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

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

Potential 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.

As for legal considerations, you’ll want to cover your bases from day one, even if it feels like you’re just posting videos or writing tweets. First off, make sure the products you’re promoting are legit.

If someone buys a shady trading signal group through your link and loses money, they’re not going to go after the creator, they’re coming for you. 

That’s why partnering through a platform like Whop is so helpful. You’re picking from verified products with track records and real reviews.

Then, avoid making wild claims. You’re not a financial advisor (unless you are, in which case, carry on). So don’t tell people a course will make them rich or that a signal group is guaranteed to print money.

Use phrases like “helped me improve,” “gave me new insight”, or “what worked for me”. Keep it grounded, and you’ll stay out of trouble.

Finally, depending on where you live, you might need to report your affiliate income and pay taxes on it. I know, taxes suck, but they suck way more when you ignore them. So track your earnings, keep receipts, and consider chatting with an accountant if things pick up.

Tips to become a successful digital dropshipper

I asked YouTuber, expert digital dropshipper, and Whop’s Head of Marketing 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.” 

Read our full guide on how to start digital dropshipping.

Start digital dropshipping with Whop

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.

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

Join the Whop Affiliate program