Free tool

Niche scorecard.

No tool can hand you a niche. What this does is force the seven things that actually decide one into a single weighted score, so a niche you like for one reason cannot hide a fatal flaw somewhere else. The weighting is shown in full below — nothing is hidden, and no market data is invented.

Your honest read

Niche

Expected average order value (USD)

Landed product cost (USD)

Product + shipping. Gross margin: 72.5%

Competition · 15% of scoreHow crowded the niche already is on the platforms you would sell on.Repeat purchase / passion · 15% of scoreWhether buyers come back, and whether they care about the category.Seasonality · 10% of scoreHow much of the year the demand actually exists.Shipping difficulty · 10% of scoreSize, weight, fragility and anything that restricts transport.Ad-policy risk · 10% of scoreHow likely the category is to be restricted or rejected by ad platforms.

Viability score

out of 100

Gross margin25.0/25

72.5% of order value · scores 100/100

Average order value6.2/15

$39.99 · scores 42/100

Competition7.5/15

3/5 — Normal — real competition, room to differentiate · scores 50/100

Repeat purchase / passion7.5/15

3/5 — Occasional repeat, or a hobby people follow · scores 50/100

Seasonality7.5/10

4/5 — Mild seasonality, sells all year · scores 75/100

Shipping difficulty7.5/10

4/5 — Small and durable · scores 75/100

Ad-policy risk7.5/10

4/5 — Low risk — normal consumer goods · scores 75/100

Worth testing

This niche scores 69/100. Its weakest factor is average order value at 42/100 — fix or accept that one first.

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How this is scored

Each factor is scored 0–100, multiplied by its weight, and added up — the panel above shows that arithmetic line by line for your own inputs. The weights are ours and they are arguable; they are printed here so you can argue with them rather than trust them.

Gross margin — 25%: (AOV − landed cost) ÷ AOV × 100, then 25% scores 0 and 70%+ scores 100; The heaviest weight, because margin is what pays for the ads. Under about 25% gross there is nothing left to buy traffic with once fees are out.
Average order value — 15%: $15 scores 0, $75+ scores 100; Margin percentage on a $12 product is still only a few dollars, and a few dollars does not cover a paid acquisition. Order value and margin are separate problems.
Competition, repeat purchase — 15% each: Competition sets your ad costs; repeat purchase decides whether one acquisition can pay for itself twice. Both are ratings you supply, on a 1–5 scale converted to 0–100.
Seasonality, shipping, ad risk — 10% each: Individually survivable, collectively fatal. A heavy, seasonal, ad-restricted product can score well on margin and still be unworkable — which is exactly what the weighted total is for.

What this is not: market data. Five of the seven inputs are your own judgement, so the score is only as good as your read of the niche — it makes that read explicit and comparable across niches rather than replacing the checking. Nothing here calls an API or randomises a result.

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Want this checked against live market data?

This scorecard is your judgement, organised. Dropship Spy goes and looks: it analyses a product against current demand, sourcing, pricing, competition, buyer-intent and risk data and returns a verdict — Worth Testing, Caution or Skip — with a private evidence trail of source receipts. Then it writes and renders the video ad, and builds the landing page.

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