How to Start an Online Store Without Inventory: The Best Ways for 2025
With proper preparation and research, starting your own online store without inventory is entirely possible in 2025. In this article, we’ll analyze some of the proven strategies.
The idea of generating a stream of passive income is tempting for many, and rightfully so. Even if you’re not in the 38% of US undergraduates who were awarded a student loan recently, you wouldn’t mind securing some extra cash along with the W-2 income from your day job, would you?
A disclaimer: we’re not advocates of get-rich-quick schemes, and you won’t find one here. Instead, this article will break down myths and address real problems related to starting an e-commerce business. We’re excited to see more people pursuing this path and hope to provide valuable insights along the way.
With proper preparation and research, starting your own online store without inventory is entirely possible in 2025. (Yes, over 30 years of the Internet enabled this!) In this article, we’ll analyze some of the proven strategies. We’re saying some, because it turns out, there are dozens of ways to do this—if you’re curious, tech-savvy, and ready to spend some time at your laptop.
Now, grab your popcorn, and get ready to dive into the world of inventory-free online selling!
Who Should Start an Inventory-Free Shop?
While we encourage everyone to start their own business, there are scenarios when an inventory-free store is especially lucrative.
- A creator looking to monetize their audience. Imagine you're an influencer with a loyal, established following. You've probably received requests to launch your own merchandise line. But you may not want the hassle of managing inventory or handling manufacturing. Still, you see the potential in offering custom T-shirts, hoodies, or mugs to your followers. An inventory-free model allows you to do this without any upfront risk.
- First-time entrepreneurs with free time, but no funding. You’ve got some free time, an entrepreneurial spirit, and exciting product ideas, but you don’t have the funds to invest in inventory. While an online store is never entirely risk-free, starting an inventory-free business allows you to enter the market with minimal financial investment—just your time and effort.
• Create barcodes for your products and upload an Excel file with item info.
• Print barcodes from BoxHero, whether with a thermal printer or a regular inkjet one, and stick them to products.
• Scan barcodes using the BoxHero mobile app to register product stock-ins and stock-outs.
This will help you establish an up-to-date product inventory for your online or offline store. We offer a 30-day free trial, so you shouldn’t worry about spending money without knowing the real value.
Sign up for the free trial and start enjoying your inventory today!
- A visual artist looking to further monetize their designs. Whether you’re a designer or an illustrator, you may want to test the waters by turning your designs into consumer products. Print-on-demand services make it easy to offer your artwork on products like apparel, accessories, and home goods without needing to manage stock.
In any of these cases, an inventory-free e-commerce store is the ideal way to get started.
Now, let’s speak about the main ways of selling online without inventory in 2025.
▶︎ Method 1: Selling Digital Products
Perhaps the most obvious method to avoid the inventory risk is to sell digital products instead of physical ones. If you’ve ever considered leveraging your existing digital content to teach or entertain others, you’re not alone. In fact, over 279,000 creators on Patreon are already doing it, earning a total of around $24 million in payouts every month.
As we spend more and more time online across a growing number of devices, the interface between you and your potential buyers will only continue to expand. If you think you have nothing significant to offer in an online course, remember that people are earning money by teaching everything from microdosing to applying ancient wisdom to modern-day problems. 🙂
Here are some practical tips to start selling digital products:
- Focus on your experience in solving everyday problems that many people face. For example, you could share methods you use to remember important appointments, how you manage international taxation while living and working abroad, or how you organized your spice cupboard. While none of these topics may seem life-changing, if they’ve caused you trouble, they could be just as relevant to others.
- Don’t limit yourself to just online courses—there are many other interesting formats, such as e-books, group webinars, or one-on-one consultations. Some creator monetization platforms like Sunroom even let you charge followers for messaging with you, per minute! After all, if time is money, why not take advantage of it?
Digital products are great, but in some aspects, they simply can’t compete with physical ones. After all, what compares to the joy of putting on a fresh set of bedding or assembling a Lego figurine?
Selling physical items, whether online or offline, can be overwhelming due to operational challenges. How do you maintain the right amount of stock for each season? How do you ensure that items are requested from the warehouse on time? How can you keep product packages intact when shipping to remote places? These are just a few of the challenges e-commerce founders face.
For example:
• The Low Stock Alert feature notifies you in real time, so you never run out of your best-sellers.
• With Analytics, you can easily track which products generate the most interest.
And that's just the beginning. Learn more about BoxHero's inventory management solution on our website and reach out to us if you have questions!
▶︎ Method 2: Dropshipping
What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is an inventory-free business model where the seller doesn’t handle inventory or shipping; instead, they partner with a supplier who does the fulfillment directly. The seller’s role is to attract customers to their online store, and when a purchase is made, the order is sent directly to the supplier for shipping.
How Does Dropshipping Work?
To understand dropshipping, let’s break it down into the roles of a dropshipper, supplier, and customer:
- Dropshipper: The dropshipper creates an online storefront and markets products to potential customers.
- Customer: When a customer places an order, the dropshipper forwards the order to the supplier. This may be done manually by the dropshipper when the number of orders is low enough, or automatically when many orders are coming in.
- Supplier: The supplier, which could be a manufacturer or wholesaler, handles the inventory and ships the product directly to the customer.
Why Would Manufacturers Partner with Dropshippers?
It may seem counterintuitive for a manufacturer to rely on an individual dropshipper to distribute their products, especially since they have other options, such as working with big-box retailers, wholesalers, or selling directly to consumers. The latter, as we’ve found out in our article, becomes easier when you own the manufacturing side.
Despite these avenues, partnering with a dropshipper allows manufacturers to reap other benefits. It helps them reach new markets and demographics to which they may not have access to, without investing in marketing or customer service.
Dropshipping vs. Brand Partnerships
Unlike traditional brand partnerships or affiliate marketing, where the purchase might occur through a retailer or affiliate’s site, dropshipping allows the transaction to happen directly through the dropshipper’s storefront. This gives the manufacturer the freedom to focus on what they do best—manufacturing—while the dropshipper handles the customer-facing aspects of the business.
However, dropshippers are responsible for customer service, including addressing complaints. This added responsibility contrasts with brand partnerships, where the brand manages customer interactions. On the flip side, dropshippers often enjoy higher profit margins because they have more control over pricing and sales.
Where You’ve Seen Dropshipping Before
If you’ve ever purchased from websites like AliExpress, you’ve likely participated in a dropshipping transaction. Many sellers on platforms like these use dropshipping to fulfill orders without managing inventory.
▶︎ Method 3: Print-on-Demand
What is Print-on-Demand (POD)?
Print-on-demand is a service that enables you to create on-demand custom designs for T-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and many more products. Some POD services boast hundreds (!) of different goods available for on-demand printing.
When your customer orders one of these products, the POD provider prints your design on the item and ships it directly to them. The entire “physical side” of the transaction is handled by the POD provider.
POD is an ideal solution for creators who want to sell custom-branded products, but fear the very words “inventory” and “warehouse.” It’s also a good idea for designers and illustrators who want to test how their visuals will sell when printed on consumer products.
Just remember to choose your POD provider wisely, as they are responsible for managing the quality of the final product. Fortunately, many POD services offer free test samples to potential sellers before launching the line.
Print-on-demand is essentially a sub-form of dropshipping. The key difference between the two lies in the nature of the products being sold.
| Dropshipping | Involves selling products that are pre-made and stocked by a supplier. |
|---|---|
| Print-on-demand | Specifically applies to custom-designed products. In POD, the products (such as t-shirts, mugs, posters, etc.) are created only after an order is placed. |
▶︎ Method 4: Affiliate Store
What is an Affiliate Store?
An affiliate store is a platform where you promote and sell products from other companies. When a customer purchases an item via your unique affiliate link, you earn a commission on the sale.
Who Uses Affiliate Shops?
Affiliate shops have become increasingly popular with influencers, as they allow them to monetize their audience without inventory, through automated affiliate links. The only thing the creator has to do is to launch an affiliate storefront on one of the platforms, like Amazon or LTK, and add products there.
Every time a purchase is made through the link, the creator earns a commission.
This commission is typically quite low. For example, for most product categories on Amazon, it’s less than 5%. But for influencers with large audiences, it will be compensated by the sales volume and the ease of setup.
▶︎ Method 5: Live Commerce
What is Live Commerce?
Live commerce, or live-stream shopping, is a newer form of e-commerce where sellers promote and sell products in real-time through live video. Customers can watch the live broadcast and purchase products directly during the stream.
This online e-commerce model is hugely popular in Asia, where hosts manage to sell millions of dollars worth of goods in single streams.
Just like in the affiliate model, hosts earn a commission for each sale made through their unique affiliate links, but live commerce adds an interactive element, allowing hosts to engage with their audience, answer questions, and showcase products in a more personal and immediate way.
How to Start Selling Goods in Live Streams
In the US, platforms such as Instagram Live, TikTok Live, Facebook Live, Whatnot, and Popshop provide live commerce features for creators. This inventory-free model of online selling demands a strong follower base and excellent hosting skills to keep viewers engaged and drive conversions.
Conclusion
In this article, we went through the strategies of selling goods online without inventory. This business model is most suited for social media influencers, dropshippers, and visual artists looking to scale.
Most strategies, such as print-on-demand, affiliate stores, and live commerce, primarily rely on a loyal online audience to be implemented.
For those who want to avoid physical goods and their associated risks, selling digital products like online courses remains an option.
If you’re ready to try out selling physical goods and managing the inventory on your own, BoxHero is here for you. Our solution is already used by over 200,000 users worldwide.
