How Much Capital Do You Need to Start Selling Online?

The question "how much do I need to start?" usually gets the wrong answer. In a cash-on-delivery market, you pay for stock, ads and shipping weeks before the carrier sends you the money — what keeps the store alive is working capital, not starting capital.

Where the money sits while you wait

• Stock: paid upfront, sold later.
• Ads: paid now, tested over days.
• Shipping fees: owed before cash collection lands.
• Returns: a returned parcel costs two shipments and earns nothing.

A simple planning rule

Budget enough to finance two full order cycles without touching the money from the first one. If your average cycle takes two weeks from ad click to cash-in-hand, plan for a month of expenses at your target volume. That is the honest number.

Start smaller than you think

Begin with a narrow product line, a free DzStore plan with 0% commission, and a modest ad budget. Prove the numbers — confirmation rate, delivery success, margin per delivered order — then scale the budget that already works. The stores that fail usually scaled a number they hadn't verified. Open your free store and we'll help you pressure-test it.