Set up DropZillaAI

Step 1 — What DropZillaAI is, and what you need

DropZillaAI is a Windows desktop app that automates the day-to-day grind of UK eBay drop-shipping: creating and syncing listings, sourcing from AliExpress, bulk re-pricing, running promotions, and tracking your fees and payouts for your tax return. Although it is an app you install, the screens you actually work in open in your normal web browser. The app runs a small private web server on your own PC, so your products, credentials and sales data stay on your machine and are never uploaded to us.

You bring your own accounts and keys — your eBay seller account, an AliExpress Open Platform app, and (for the AI features) an OpenAI key. DropZillaAI never sits between you and those services; it talks to them directly using your own credentials.

1. Check you are on Windows 10 or Windows 11. DropZillaAI is Windows-only and is not available for Mac, Linux or mobile.
2. Make sure you have a modern web browser installed (Chrome is recommended, because the optional browser extension in Step 8 is a Chrome extension).
3. Have a working internet connection — the app needs it to sign in, and to talk to eBay, AliExpress and OpenAI on your behalf.
4. Set aside about 15 minutes. Installing takes a minute; the rest is connecting your accounts, which you can also do later.

• Tip: You do not need administrator rights. DropZillaAI installs per-user, so it works on a personal laptop without IT involvement.
• Tip: Everything the app stores lives in %APPDATA%\DropZillaAI\ on your machine. That is also where it keeps automatic backups, so your data survives app updates.

Step 2 — Download and install

Download the installer from the DropZillaAI website and run it. Because this is a self-published app that is not yet signed with an expensive certificate, Windows SmartScreen will almost certainly show an "unrecognized app" warning the first time you run it. This is expected and is not a sign that anything is wrong — you simply need to tell Windows to run it anyway.

1. On the Download page, click the button to download DropZillaAI-Setup.exe.
2. Double-click the downloaded file to start the installer.
3. If you see a blue "Windows protected your PC" box, click the small More info link near the top of it.
4. A Run anyway button will appear — click it to continue.
5. Follow the installer prompts (accept the licence, confirm the install location) and let it finish.
6. Launch DropZillaAI from your Start menu. A small launcher window opens and shows a startup log.

• Tip: The SmartScreen warning fades away on its own as more people install the same version — it is purely about the app being new, not about safety. The download page also lists a SHA-256 hash so you can confirm the file is exactly the one we published.
• Tip: If a heuristic antivirus ever flags the installer, that is a known false positive for packaged Python apps. Email support@dropzillaai.co.uk and we will help you clear it.

Step 3 — Sign in to the app

Before the app will start, it asks you to sign in with your DropZillaAI account — the same account you use on this website to manage your subscription. You do not type your password into the app. Instead, the app opens your browser, you approve the sign-in on the website, and the app then unlocks automatically. This is what keeps the app tied to your subscription and respects your plan's device limit.

1. If you have not already, create your DropZillaAI account on this website and choose a plan.
2. Start DropZillaAI. The first window you see is the Log in screen.
3. Click Log in via dropzillaai.co.uk. The app opens a page in your browser and shows you a short approval code.
4. In the browser, sign in to your DropZillaAI account if prompted, then approve this device. Check that the code on the website matches the code shown in the app.
5. Leave the app's login window open. Once you approve in the browser, it detects the approval within a few seconds, closes the login window, and continues starting up.
6. When the launcher status turns to Running, click Open DropZillaAI to open the app in your browser.

• Tip: If your browser does not open by itself, the login window shows the web address and your approval code so you can open it manually in any browser.
• Tip: If you ever see "device limit reached", open your account page on the website, sign out an old device, then click Try again in the app.

Step 4 — The first-run setup wizard

The first time you open the app in your browser, a setup wizard guides you through connecting your selling accounts. Every connection step is optional and can be skipped, so you can finish the wizard now and come back to any account later. The wizard simply remembers what you have and have not connected.

1. Read the welcome screen, then work through the wizard one step at a time. The steps are: connect eBay, authorise eBay, connect AliExpress, and add your OpenAI key.
2. For any step you are not ready for, click Skip — you will not be blocked from finishing.
3. When you reach the end, click Finish to complete setup. The wizard records which accounts you connected.
4. If you skipped everything, the app shows a friendly reminder banner so you can finish connecting your accounts whenever you are ready.

• Tip: You can reopen the wizard at any time to add or change a connection — it is also reachable from the app's settings, so nothing is locked in on day one.
• Tip: The most useful first connection is eBay (Steps 5 and 6), because it lets the app pull your existing listings into the local database.

Step 5 — Connect your eBay account

DropZillaAI talks to eBay using your own free eBay Developer keys. You create an application on the eBay Developer site, then copy four values into the wizard. This identifies your app to eBay; the actual permission to act on your account is granted in the next step.

1. Sign in at developer.ebay.com/my/keys (a free developer account) and create an application keyset for the Production environment.
2. Copy the App ID and Cert ID (Client Secret) into the wizard. For a production keyset, the App ID contains -PRD- and the Cert ID begins with PRD- — the wizard checks this and warns you if a value looks like it was pasted into the wrong box.
3. Copy your Dev ID (it looks like a long code with dashes, e.g. xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx) into the wizard.
4. On the eBay User Tokens page, copy your RuName (the eBay Redirect URL name) and paste it into the wizard. A production RuName contains -P-.
5. Click Test. The wizard asks eBay to confirm your App ID and Cert ID are a valid, active pair before you continue.

• Tip: The RuName is the name of your redirect configuration, not a web address. Copy the value labelled "RuName (eBay Redirect URL name)", not the title or the accepted URL.
• Tip: If the test fails, double-check you copied the production keyset (not sandbox) and that the App ID and Cert ID are not the same value pasted twice — that is the most common slip.

Step 6 — Authorise eBay and connect AliExpress

With your eBay keys saved, you now grant the app permission to manage your listings and orders, and you connect AliExpress so the app can source products. Both use a "click to authorise, then come back" flow.

1. Authorise eBay: in the wizard, click the button to open the eBay authorisation page. Sign in to your eBay seller account and approve the requested permissions (listing, orders, marketing and analytics access).
2. After approving, eBay shows you a page with a code, or sends you to a redirect URL. Copy the code (or the whole URL) and paste it back into the wizard, which exchanges it for the tokens it needs. Do this promptly — eBay's authorisation codes expire after about five minutes, but the wizard can always generate a fresh one.
3. Connect AliExpress: create a free app in the AliExpress Open Platform and copy its App Key and App Secret into the wizard.
4. In your AliExpress app's settings, set the OAuth Callback URL to the hosted relay address the wizard shows you: https://auth.dropzillaai.co.uk/aliexpress/callback. This is a small public page we host that simply hands the approval back to the app on your PC, so you do not need your own website.
5. Click Authorise with AliExpress, sign in, and approve. You are returned automatically and the app saves your AliExpress access — no copying and pasting needed in the usual case.

• Tip: AliExpress Open Platform access is granted to ordinary AliExpress accounts straight away — you do not need a business licence or a multi-day review to start. Create the app, copy the keys, and authorise.
• Tip: If the popup is blocked or the redirect does not return cleanly, the wizard offers a "paste the URL" fallback that works in any browser.

Step 7 — Add your OpenAI key for AI features

The AI features — generating listing titles and descriptions, detecting categories, filling item specifics, and the product-discovery tools — run on your own OpenAI account. You add one key and the app uses it directly, so there is no markup on usage. You only pay OpenAI for what you use.

1. Sign in at platform.openai.com/api-keys and create a new secret key.
2. Copy the key — it always begins with sk- — and paste it into the wizard. The wizard rejects anything that does not start with sk-, which catches most paste mistakes.
3. Click Test. The app makes a tiny call to OpenAI to confirm the key works and reports back which models you have access to.
4. Once it tests successfully, continue. You can change this key later from the app's settings at any time.

• Tip: Set a monthly spending limit in your OpenAI dashboard so AI costs can never run away from you. For a small seller, typical spend is only a few pounds a month.
• Tip: No OpenAI key yet? Skip this step — eBay and AliExpress syncing still work, and you can add AI later.

Step 8 — Install the Chrome extension and connect it

The optional browser extension adds "Add to AI Queue", "Overview List" and "Instant List" buttons directly onto AliExpress product pages, so you can send a product into DropZillaAI without leaving the page you are browsing. It talks only to the app running on your own PC.

1. Make sure DropZillaAI is running and you are signed in to it in your browser.
2. In Chrome, open chrome://extensions/ and turn on Developer mode using the toggle in the top-right corner.
3. Click Load unpacked and select the extension folder that ships with DropZillaAI. The extension now appears in your Chrome toolbar.
4. Click the extension icon and, in the Server URL field, enter http://127.0.0.1:5002 (the same address the app opens at). The URL saves automatically.
5. Open the app tab and sign in if needed — the extension connects to it automatically. Check that the extension popup shows a green Connected pill.
6. Visit any AliExpress product page and confirm the three DropZillaAI buttons appear on the right-hand side.

• Tip: If the app could not use port 5002 (because something else was already on it), it moves to the next free port between 5002 and 5011. Check the launcher window for the exact address and use that in the extension's Server URL.
• Tip: The buttons only appear on individual product pages, not on search or category pages. If they are missing, refresh the product page and make sure the extension is enabled.

Step 9 — Where to go next

That is the whole setup. From here, the dashboard is your home base: pull in your existing eBay listings, map them to AliExpress suppliers, run bulk re-pricing and promotions, and feed orders into the finance tracker. To learn each feature in depth, head to the full Use Guide.

1. From the dashboard, use Fetch eBay listings to pull your current inventory into the local database.
2. Explore the sidebar — pricing, promotions, shipping times, the AI queue, and the finance tracker all live there.
3. Read the Use Guide for step-by-step instructions on every feature. It is the detailed companion to this quick start and is available to paid members.

• Tip: Which features you can use depends on your plan. If a feature is greyed out, it is part of a higher tier — see pricing to compare plans.
• Tip: Stuck on anything? Email support@dropzillaai.co.uk and we will reply within a business day.