Are you looking for a personal review of Franklin Hatchett‘s drop shipping course, eCom elites? If so then you’re in the right place as I purchased the course, went through every video and shared my experience below. This is my eCom elites review, with no bullsh!t, just honest insights.
Why I bought eCom elites?
You might be curious why I went out and purchased eCom elites? Well, put simply there is a wide range of drop shipping courses in the market. Most are overhyped and cost $497 – $2997 and offer no real value over a lower priced course.
I watched many free Youtube videos where they would promote their courses. This ranged from kids flaunting leased supercars, to fakers wearing robes and acting like international hustlers through to professional looking business minds and low key entrepreneurs who actually seemed legitimate.
Passion 2 Profits Accelerator
The first two individuals I quickly skipped were Samir Chibane and Juan Valdez, who were clearly faking their wealth from drop shipping. Samir is a huge turn off and really arrogant. At $1,997 their course looked awful and other reviews suggest they only have a few hours of content, no thanks.
Drop Ship Lifestyle
Next was Anton Kraly and his drop shipping course, Drop Ship Lifestyle which appears to have the most established presence yet it’s regularly bagged online for offering low value for money. Other individuals got in at $250 – $500 and they use a ‘coach’ service to give you the hard sell.
Another turn off was the constant promotion of this course by people like Johnny FD who make absolutely no money from drop shipping but gladly promote it to their subscribers. #faker.
Product Winner Blueprint
Next, I looked at Tristan Broughton’s course which isn’t marketed as a drop ship course but reading reviews online it clearly is, he was offering a course for $197 which promises it will go up to $997 shortly if you don’t act soon. The course was interesting but other reviews said it lacked quality and value for money. I was still interested given the price, however, looked for other options and if eCom elites weren’t around I’d have taken this one.
Hacking Shopify Drop Shipping
I discovered Hayden Bowles course after watching a few of his courses, $497 for a rather short course. The problem was every one of his free videos was the same video rebranded as something else with clickbait. Major turn off for me, clickbait videos with no real information ensured I skipped his course.
Drop Shipping Crash Course
Then I found a course by someone called Sebastien Ghiorghiu who I’d never heard of. He makes clickbait style videos on Youtube and his course is called, Drop Shipping Crash Course which is $594. Strange price and definitely avoidable.
Alex Becker Shopify Course
Next was Alex Becker who is a serial ads guy, creates tons of products that he has no idea about, he simply redirects all course attendees so buy his Market Hero products which is a monthly subscription. He openly admits how his Shopify course is set up to upsell you on Market Hero. I just want to watch a music video and this guy pops up all over the internet sitting in his garage with his Pikachu Ferrari.
If clickbait and hype are what I was after then I’d throw $2000 toward’s Alex Beckers course. I actually wanted to start a drop shipping business so quickly skipped becker.
eCom elites
Lastly, I found Franklin’s course and he seems like the most genuine guy out of all the free Youtube videos I’d watched so far. His money back guarantee was 30 days and the course only cost $197. The sales page wasn’t full of hype and guru BS like supercars and Shopify dashboard screenshots.
I took the plunge and purchased ecom elites.
eCom Elites Review
The first thing that was appealing was how low the entry-level price actually was, only $197 and I could pay with Paypal or Credit/Debit card. My payment was processed instantly and there was no additional VAT or GST to pay.
I received my login details within 15 minutes. I was slightly anxious that my login details weren’t going to be delivered and contacted Franklin after 12 minutes and got a reply within 2 minutes. This was followed by my login details.
The membership site is hosted on member hub which is a good membership platform. On first login, you’ll see the members area with a blue stylesheet. There is a welcome video by Franklin which explains how to approach the course.
Course Content
The course is split up into 10 modules which are jam-packed with content. I quickly counted over 135 videos in total and each video seems to average 10-15 minutes with longer videos of up to 60 minutes where further information is needed.
When I first started watching it was clear, Franklin know’s his sh!t, excuse the language but it’s the easiest way to convey to you this guy actually knows what he’s talking about.
There is no BS with Franklin. After watching Samir Chibane on Youtube you’ll know what BS looks like, this is straight to the point and you will quickly realize you made the right choice, I sure did.
The course as stated is divided up into 10 modules with 180 videos and these modules include a wide variety of topics including:
- Welcome Introduction
- Sourcing Products
- Setting up Your Store
- Facebook Ads
- Instagram Traffic
- Organic SEO
- Email Marketing
- Business & Sales
- Top Secret Videos
- Ongoing Updates.
Module 1: Sourcing Products
I’ve used Aliexpress and other Chinese drop shippers before and while they do work, I tend to favor local suppliers. In New Zealand, there really isn’t many drop shippers to choose from so I focus on Australia which has more drop shippers and blind distributors.
Franklin offers well over 2 hours of videos on product and niche selection, how to find products using various different websites but with a focus on drop shipping from China. If you’re looking for local product sourcing you won’t find much in this course.
Franklin includes a couple of bonus videos which were quite helpful including a print on demand (POD) which is a good way to make money online in 2018 and a small selection of tools he uses such as niche research software. There’s also a video of his product where he made $100k+.
After watching all of Franklin’s sourcing videos, I decided to contact an Australian drop shipper. Despite what Franklin says to do about China drop shipping, I want my customers to receive their products within 1-2 days, not 1-2 weeks.
Module 2: Setting Up Shopify
I’ve used Shopify before, it’s so easy to get started as they offer a free 14-day trial, no credit card needed. While I’ve used the platform I’ve never really created a big store as the free templates suck ass.
Franklin recommends his premium theme (eCom Turbo) which you can add to your order for only $97. If you’ve checked out the premium Shopify themes you’ll know these cost $180 so it’s a big saving.
I’ll write a personal review about eCom Turbo in a future post but I couldn’t be happier with how my store turned out. There’s a wide variety of videos in this section by Franklin on how to set up your Shopify store.
Franklin doesn’t spend hours configuring Oberlo or Dropified, there’s plenty of free videos out there on Youtube. In fact, unless you’re running a huge store you probably don’t even need these apps.
There was 13 videos in this section and more recently a video on creating a sales funnel.
Module 3 & 4: Facebook Ads
Before buying this course I knew jackshit about Facebook Ads. All I knew was you could easily make a fortune or lose a lot very quickly given the volume of traffic Facebook can deliver.
I’d seen many videos online about the magical $5 per day budget to test your ads but I knew it was going to be far more challenging and require a far higher investment to actually get started. Franklin recommends you use the $5 a day method too.
The first few videos were quite basic, even for a Facebook Ads novice like myself but it became clear this was a course that holds your hand through the entire process. You’ll see this through the 43 videos Franklin has spent hours and hours creating.
I had to split this section up into 4 different sessions as it was definitely information overload, even for a techie like myself. The last few videos were interesting using advanced targeting and copying Franklin’s 100k product blueprint.
I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in Facebook ads but I’ve now learnt how to setup manual bidding, conversions, retargeting, pixels and creating look a like audiences.
Module 5: Instagram Traffic
Franklin covers Instagram marketing and many of those ‘gurus’ out there recommend starting with IG influencer marketing, especially if you’re just starting out. I’d say Facebook Ads was a far better way to start for me as IG seemed to be more like taking a punt or a gamble.
There are websites out there where you can go and find influencers, the problem here is that many accounts are simply purchasing fake followers and faking their engagement. While the same can be said for Facebook, you can target and drill down into specific details making it easier to get results.
Franklin shows you how to setup Instagram, find influencers and what you should be paying. There are a couple videos in this section, it’s definitely not as detailed (or in my opinion as interesting) as the Facebook ads section either.
Module 6: Organic Google Traffic
This module was interesting as I quite like SEO and organic traffic. If you can make money naturally without paying a third party for traffic then your average net profit will go up. I was a bit skeptical as to what I would learn with Franklin’s course but as usual, he didn’t disappoint.
Franklin shows you how to organize and purchase PBN links for your store.
Module 7: Email Marketing
I’ve used email marketing before and the saying goes, the money is in the list. Franklin agrees and will show you how to get started with GetResponse. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this company and opted for Email Octopus instead but you get the idea.
There are 12 videos in this section with 2 being bonuses on how to use coupons to win customers back and analyzing and reading into your data for better conversions.
Module 8: Business & Sales
This section includes four videos on how to set up your business and improve your sales. I was skeptical it was going to be some random videos of Franklin giving us a motivational speech but thankfully it wasn’t.
The videos included how to scale your business quicker, hiring and using a virtual assistant and having a business goal and working towards that goal.
It would have been great to see more videos on setting up and keeping track of income, expenses, and profits. Maybe using a platform such as Xero or MYOB would be a good idea?
Module 9: Top Secret Videos
This section included some videos that Franklin classifies as a secret. All secrets exposed, here is what the mystery section includes. I enjoyed watching these and it gave me some new ideas for my own funnels and stores. I specifically enjoyed the use of warranties as most people never claim them!
- Crush it with warranties
- Crafty coupon tricks
- Using review websites for leverages
- Building huge fan pages/email lists
- Facebook Ninja Spying
- Sneaky Youtube Niches (Spying).
Module 10: Update Module / Weekly Videos
The update module section includes videos that Franklin updates as and when he posts new content.
The weekly videos included seven Q&A sessions with Franklin. There’s also a motivational speech which was actually surprisingly watchable. Lastly (at the time of writing) there was a video on flipping websites on Flippa.
Facebook Mastermind Group
Before joining the course I was a member of Franklin’s free Facebook group which is called ‘Online Samurai’s’ and surprisingly learned quite a lot. After signing up for eCom elites, I joined the premium mastermind group which at the time of writing included 1250 members. There is definitely lots to learn in this membership group and for $197 it’s definitely a good investment.
My Drop Ship Journey
After watching all 180 videos within the course, I started my very own drop ship store using a local Australian drop shipper. The course cost was $197 followed by $97 for the eCom Turbo theme. Shopify was $29/mo. The total setup fee was $323. If you compare that to the other courses in the market, I created my entire business for less than their signup fee.
I initially started with a general store which is something Franklin recommends if you’re just starting out. Don’t waste time building a brand especially if you’re unsure if the product/s will actually sell well or not.
I hand picked 10 products from my supplier and created video ads using my Macbook. I simply used iMovie and downloaded images from the supplier’s website, or downloaded stock footage and then mixed them all together. Be sure to add text to the video as no one uses sound on Facebook.
I created 10 x $5 per day ads as Franklin suggests and then set these up with PPE ads. I created pretty basic interest targeting, simply copying my competitors targeting using a trick Franklin recommends for doing so.
I wheedled out my ads that were not performing before finding some winners and converting them to WC ads after I had to materialize my pixel with 50 sales. Some gurus recommend using WC from day one but following the course, I opted for PPE first and it worked for me.
When sales came through, I accepted the payments using Stripe (No Paypal) and forwarded the order to my supplier using CSV format. No fancy Oberlo or Dropified plugin needed. I then integrated with Aftership to handle trackings.
I set up a retargeting campaign to target those who had left without purchasing and those who had added to cart but didn’t complete checkout. Using advanced plugins that Franklin recommended I was able to set up an email campaign too to target those who didn’t complete checkout.
Lastly, I was able to make over $20,000 in sales revenue (Yes revenue, not profit.. no Lambo’s yet) within my first 6 weeks of starting the course. My costs were approximately $14,000. Yes, that’s the bit guru’s leave out of their sales pitch, the costs of doing business. Still, $6,000 for 6 weeks work, is a great start and proves the drop ship model still works!
Is eCom elites worth $197?
I looked high and low for the best dropship course for 2019 and finally found eCom elites. There are so many jokers and fakers out there creating Shopify and Drop Ship courses it’s hard to distinguish who is real and who is not. Thankfully I can say hands down Franklin is the real deal. This money was very well spent and I saved $1000’s over the other courses in the market.
Where Can I Sign Up?
If you felt my eCom elites review was helpful and you’d like to join me in the members’ area and the private Facebook group then you can click on the link here or the button below and signup. The price is currently $197-$297 but there is a rumor this will be increasing at any time in the future.
I’m an adventurer, traveller and thrill seeker who loves to explore the beautiful country of New Zealand. When I’m not writing articles for Ki-Wi you’ll find me driving jet boats, hiking and riding my motorcycle. New Zealand is an amazing country to live, work, travel and explore.