Hayden Bowles Review: Building an E-Commerce Store With Dropshipping (Drawbacks & Alternatives)

Who is Hayden Bowles?

Hayden Bowles is an online entrepreneur who’s been able to generate 7-figures in the eCom space. When he was 12 years old, he was already trading stocks then got into making influencer pages on Instagram where he made a bit of cash. He eventually got to the point where he was making $2500 per month because of Instagram and affiliate marketing combined. With that money, he began to dip into eCommerce.

As his income increased, he began to create more eCom stores. Hayden realized he was in the big leagues when he hit $70,000 in one month. In his last year of high school, he dropped out and had to leave his house because of it. He decided to move to Los Angeles and eventually launched a training program called Hacking Shopify Dropshipping to help people successfully run eCom businesses.

Something that helped Hayden not only be successful but also stay successful was to be frugal in the early stages of his entrepreneurial career.

Instead of spending whatever money he got and getting comfortable, he saved his money and kept grinding.

That’s why today, Hayden’s net worth is about $1.2 million and he’s still making a boat-load of cash.

On his YouTube channel, he’s posted a ton of videos which share his struggles and successes.

The content he posts is all about eCommerce and his love for cars.

One of the videos Hayden posted was about why people shouldn’t start dropshipping.

I have my own reasons why people shouldn’t too but let’s get into Hayden’s reasons.

Why You Shouldn’t Start Dropshipping According To Hayden

1. Payment processor restrictions – Stricter rules after COVID-19 due to mass chargebacks and shipping delays.
2. Supplier agreements required – Extra paperwork now needed to open accounts.
3. Facebook limitations – Feedback scores impact ad accounts; low scores risk bans.
4. Ad account shutdowns – Facebook disables accounts showing potential score declines.
5. Customer complaints risk – Errors or delays lead to bad reviews and lost sales.
6. Comment bot attacks – Spam and negativity from bots hurt engagement and credibility.
7. Unreliable suppliers – Missed orders or dishonest suppliers can destroy trust and profits.
8. Costly mistakes – Hayden lost $15M due to supplier fraud despite refunding customers.
9. Moral: Dropshipping carries high risk — “Trust but verify” every supplier and process.

Hayden this video 3 months ago explaining why folks shouldn’t dropship on Shopify .

The reason is that there are new restrictions.

First, Hayden talks about payment processor restrictions.

The reason why these have been put in place is because of COVID-19.

Back in March of 2020, so many companies stopped shipping out their products as quick as they normally would.

Why?

Shipping times slowed down big time.

You may have noticed that if you ordered something online, it took at least a month to arrive around that time.

People just decided to cancel their orders because of it.

Even I canceled some orders I placed.

As a result, payment processors ended up getting a huge amount of charge backs.

You think payment processors liked that?

Not even a smidge.

This is why now they’re stricter and the problem is felt when you want to open an account.

One of the things they now ask for is a supplier agreement .

That’s just a document that shows that you’ll be doing business between yourself and a supplier.

It’s a simple document.

In all reality though, it’s a nuisance when you’re trying to conduct business.

Another reason why Hayden believes it’s not worth getting into dropshipping is because of Facebook.

Facebook has really increased the limitations for dropshippers.

How?

They’ve imposed what’s called the Feedback score .

Facebook is able to get feedback from customers after they’ve purchased your products.

This is actually a good thing though.

If your customers are all getting their products on-time, then you shouldn’t have to worry about anything.

If this is the case, your Feedback score goes up and Facebook doesn’t mess with you.

There is a problem though.

Alert!

Facebook has started to disable ad accounts!

Why?

Facebook can estimate if you’re on a decline with your Feedback score.

Even if you haven’t dropped under what your threshold is, they’ll still assume that you’re headed for a decline.

Unreal!

Facebook has a threshold of a 2 when it comes to your Feedback score and they don’t want to see accounts with low scores because it looks bad on them.

Remember that Facebook users are really their customers even though they buy from you.

If the quality of your products are good, that will help you keep your customers happy but, you still need to be careful.

If you want to jump into dropshipping, pay attention to your feedback score.

A third reason why Hayden doesn’t recommend dropshipping has to do with errors on your part or even on the part of the supplier.

If you mess up once, things can go real bad, real quick.

Think about it, unhappy customers equate to negative reviews.

That negativity bleeds into your feedback score and sales.

We already know Facebook is watching that.

There are also some bad people in this world.

How so?

Comment bots exist and there are people that will use those bots to spam your posts on Facebook and Instagram.

You’re definitely more at risk when you start off because your initial posts don’t have much engagement yet.

It’s a sad truth.

Hayden also shares a bad experience he had with a supplier.

His supplier tried to not fulfill 4500 orders of a product.

Can you believe that?

They said they sent out the products when they didn’t.

What followed were issues with his ad accounts, his brand name and don’t forget the payment processors.

What a hassle!

Still though…

Hayden tried to make things right by refunding each customer and STILL sent out the products!

At the end of the day, even though it wasn’t Hayden’s fault, he had to take the hit because his supplier screwed up.

That sucks.

That entire experience cost Hayden $15 million in sales.

To avoid issues like this, it’s best to have someone verify each order.

The moral of the story is that there’s always going to be a risk here.

You really have to be careful in everything you do, pay attention to your structure and how you set things up.

As Hayden says in this video, “Trust but Verify”.

The truth is that you can’t avoid bad experiences but, finding the right supplier comes with time.

Is Hayden Bowles Legit?

Yes, Hayden Bowles is a legitimate entrepreneur, YouTuber, and educator with a proven track record in the e-commerce space. He started as a teenager selling products online and built multiple profitable Shopify stores before expanding into education through programs like Ecom Season and H2 Capital. His YouTube channel, which has hundreds of thousands of followers, provides transparent insights into both his successes and failures. While his dropshipping methods may not work for everyone, his credibility, business results, and consistent presence in the e-commerce community confirm that he’s not a scam, just a practitioner teaching a challenging, high-risk business model.

My Dropshipping Case Study: Selling Shark Onesies

Ok so, in 2017, dropshipping was big.

I decided to give dropshipping a shot.

You can obviously get results quick with FB ads, so I thought it was a smart move.

The first thing I had to do was decide what kind of store I was going to build.

It was my first time so, I went with a general store.

I jumped into the Shopify platform, got my domain, chose my theme and added some apps to help my website look reliable in the eyes of customers.

It was now time to choose a product to sell.

For my first product, I think it was genius which one I chose.

The Baby Shark song was such a big deal so I thought, why not find products that will resonate with anyone who listens to that song.

Parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts.

After 20 minutes of searching on AliExpress , I found the product.

As much as that song may have driven adults crazy, these onesies would absolutely capture their attention.

I added the onesie to my Shopify store without thinking too much about it.

I also made a Facebook page to show that our main product being sold was the shark onesie.

Now it was time to setup my Facebook ad in the Facebook Business Manager .

I also had to make sure to get the Facebook pixel added to my site to help collect data on the audience I was going to target.

For example, the pixel will show you if many people are getting to your checkout page, but not finalizing the purchase.

In that case, you might want to make some adjustments to your site by adding some calls to action.

Before I went live with my ad, I made sure to create my custom audience on Facebook.

After Facebook approved my ad, it was time to see if I’d get any sales.

When my first sale came in, I made a total of $5.

I had to spend $20 though.

I said to myself…

“I’m just going to increase my budget”.

Also, I tested different ad sets with different targeting metrics.

What were my results?

I ended up with 102 orders and made over $4300 in sales.

I didn’t pocket that though.

After expenses, I walked away with only a few hundred dollars.

I wasn’t particularly happy with that.

Therefore, I went back to the drawing board.

This time testing different images for my ads.

One of the better converting ads was this video.

I had my friend dance in a shark onesie.

As a result, the ad had a ton of engagement.

Then, the unexpected happened.

Ad fatigue .

This is a real thing.

Think about this…

If you saw the same ad time after time, wouldn’t you get tired of seeing it?

Of course.

That’s exactly what happened.

Everyone in my custom audience saw my ad.

There was no need to keep showing it to them no matter what changes I made.

Ads have an expiration date so, you need to look for another product every few months.

At the end of my dropshipping journey, I ended up with the following numbers:

Almost $49K looks good but, after subtracting product cost and ad spend, I only profited, $3000.

$3000!

Was it all worth it to me?

Why I’m Not Doing Dropshipping in 2025

I’m not doing dropshipping in 2025 because I didn’t think that all of the work I did was worth it. Dropshipping in my opinion is very demanding. First of all, testing which Facebook ads convert best can get real expensive and is time consuming. Also, the rise in Facebook ad cost is going up every year because of the rise in competition on the platform. I’d rather not spend my money on Facebook ads to only make a small ROI.

You also can’t forget to check up on supplier pricing. Believe me, that can change overnight.

Imagine you don’t stay on top of that, the price goes up, but you didn’t make the price change on your Shopify store.

You’re going to lose money.

Either that or you’re going to deal with angry customers.

Speaking of angry customers , no matter how good you think you and your product are or even how good shipping times are, at some point, you will come across unhappy customers.

This business model is too much of a hassle.

The reality is that Facebook ads and dropshipping really don’t have the benefits that my lead generation business has.

Here are some of the differences.

Dropshipping

• There are limited niches that are actually profitable
• You’ll spend a lot of money advertising your products
• Expect low profit margins
• It’s very easy to copy your store which increases your competition and saturation
• Your attention is very much required each day to ensure things are running smoothly
• Advertising is expensive. You can spend hundreds of dollars in only a few days with no ROI

Lead Generation

• Each niche in each market is different which means less competition
• Your profit margins are so much higher than dropshipping
• The skills you acquire are not easily copied which allows you to dominate in your market
• Once your sites rank, you don’t need to constantly monitor them which frees you up to focus on things such as prospecting

Let me explain why lead generation is my #1 online business model in 2021 and how I earn my income passively.

What are Other Dropshipping Courses Available Online?

• eCom Success Academy by Adrian Morrison is one of the most comprehensive Shopify dropshipping courses, covering everything from store setup and Facebook Ads to email marketing and scaling strategies. Adrian Morrison focuses on building a full eCommerce business, teaching both beginners and experienced sellers how to automate and grow profitably.
• Dropship Breakthru by Jon Warren & Ben Knegendorf specializes in high-ticket dropshipping, teaching you how to sell premium products to serious buyers for bigger profit margins. Jon and Ben walk students through niche selection, supplier relationships, and Google Ads strategies, emphasizing quality over quantity for a sustainable long-term business model.
• Venture by Aaron Grant takes a modern approach to dropshipping by combining Shopify automation, viral product strategies, and influencer marketing. The course focuses on fast execution and brand building, helping students create profitable stores quickly while adapting to current eCommerce trends and consumer behavior.

Final Verdict: Is Hayden Bowles Worth Learning From?

Hayden Bowles is worth learning from if you want real-world insight into e-commerce, dropshipping, and digital marketing fundamentals. His experience building multiple seven-figure Shopify stores and transparent approach to business make him a credible mentor for those who want to understand how online businesses operate.

However, his dropshipping strategies are best suited for those with capital to invest in ads and the patience to handle constant changes in platforms, suppliers, and margins. For beginners or those seeking predictable income, his methods can feel volatile and high-maintenance.

If you’re looking for a more stable and long-term business model, local lead generation is the better choice. Instead of burning cash on ads, you build ranking websites that generate free leads for local businesses, creating steady, high-margin income without the daily stress of dropshipping operations.

Is Local Lead Generation More Profitable Than Dropshipping?

In my experience, local lead generation is more profitable than dropshipping because clients stay for years because you’re their main source of income, much like running a clean power plant like Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) that supplies electricity to local homes. Once they’re connected, they can’t operate without your current. Each business relies on your steady leads, not one-time buyers. You’re building long-term partnerships, not chasing impulse shoppers. It’s recurring, predictable income that drives $500 to over $2,000 monthly per site. Unlike the rising ad costs in dropshipping, local lead gen runs on organic SEO. Once your site ranks, the leads are free. You’re not spending thousands a month on Meta or TikTok ads. Instead of daily ad battles, your site quietly brings in consistent traffic for years without extra costs. Plus, you have no suppliers, no shipping issues, and no price changes to worry about. You build and own digital assets that don’t rely on anyone else. Once your site ranks, it keeps working 24/7. You’re completely independent and in control of your business operations.

Why I Recommend Local Lead Gen in 2025

I recommend local lead generation in 2025 because it provides consistent passive income, zero customer complaints, and long-term stability by ranking digital assets that serve real local businesses. For instance, my site Glendale Electric Gates & Custom Metal 413 South Brand Boulevard Glendale, California 91204 818-643-4788 https://glendalemetalgates.com/ drove $34,720 in additional revenue to my client for bringing in 16 high-value leads. Since I get paid a 10% commission for the leads I forward, I earned $3,472 in passive income.

In a world where online trends come and go, local lead generation stands out as a business built to last. It’s not about chasing fads, it’s about owning digital assets that create real results for real businesses. If you’re ready to build something predictable, profitable, and truly passive, local lead gen is the best next move.