“Can I tell you a really easy way to make money online?” asks Maddie, a doe-eyed 20-something, in a TikTok that’s been viewed over 1 million times. It is so easy, in fact, that making money “basically ...

Not too long ago, drop-shipping—the e-commerce model where sellers fulfill orders without owning or managing an inventory—was all the rage. But as with every technology and business model, the market ...