Are you looking for an eCom Lifestyle University review? If so you’re in the right place, I bought Ricky Hayes course on Shopify and drop shipping and today we’ll see whether it’s worth $297 or if it’s another course you should pass up on.
eCom Lifestyle University was launched back in January 2019 and claims to offer value of approx $5,998 for a one time low fee of only $297. Given other courses in the market, it’s probably priced at the lower end of the spectrum.
Until recently the course was priced at $497 but is now on sale, as Version 3 has been launched.
Who is Ricky Hayes?
Ricky Hayes is a relatively small Australian Youtuber who focuses on eCom and drop shipping. His 8,200 followers is relatively small but his videos do seem to get a lot of views. His premium course is of course, eCom Lifestyle University which is a bit of a bold claim, university? Yes, there’s no degrees or certificates for completing this course, other than improving your knowledge of eCommerce.
He regularly runs live streams such as his most recent live over the shoulder training which spanned across 7 days, $0-$1,000 in 7 days. Other videos are the usual clickbait but do offer lots of content.
You won’t find supercars and penthouses on his channel either which is a good sign.
eCom Lifestyle University Review
The course is a six module training course with two bonus modules, currently there is over 95 high quality videos, 18 hours of content, in the course. For readers who’ve checked out my other reviews on eCom courses, you’ll agree this is a reasonable course.
The first thing I noticed was how similar the sales page is to another course I’ve reviewed called ‘eCom Beast‘ by Harry Coleman. I had to run the sales page through Copyscape to confirm my suspicions and sure enough they are 46% similar, many sections word for word. Unsure if these two gurus are related.
Week 1: Welcome & Mindset
This module included a few videos on the introduction to the course and the mindset Ricky believes you need to succeed with eCommerce and ‘harness your true ability for success.’
This module includes videos on the common social myths and how to stay motivated.
There’s two videos in this section, the getting started video is 28 minutes long.
Week 2: Building Your Store A to Z
This module goes through the process of how to setup your very own Shopify store such as gow to create and setup payment gateways, connecting your Facebook pixel, Google Analytics, Dropified app, Aftership tracking, installing a currency converter and using discounted pricing bars.
There’s other videos on apps such as SMSBump, Bold Brain, Instant Search, Loox, Recart, Trackify, Wheelio and Klaviyo.
Other videos in this module which has 33 videos of the course include using print on demand, post purchase upsells and downsells.
It’s fair to say this section is the biggest in the course and there’s lots of different videos. Personally I wouldn’t install that many apps in your store, but it’s good to choose which ones will work for your business.
Week 3: Product Research Academy A to Z
The next module includes 11 lessons on how to do effective product research.
After watching the videos there is content on Aliexpress, Amazon, Shopify Stores and Facebook product research methods.
It would be great if there was product research tools such as Sell The Trend which make research a lot easier.
You go on to learn about product selection criteria and breakeven ROAS and Google Product Research.
Week 4: Building Your Brand
Readers of my blog know that I’m a believer in general stores first, brands later but Ricky suggests buying a brand and these four videos will show you how to build a brand.
There is also a video on Instagram brand building and influencer hacks as well as a Facebook brand building section too.
Week 5: Facebook Ads Academy
Module 5 has been improved and now has 27 videos on Facebook Ads. Most of these are over the shoulder and will guide you through the process of using Facebook Ads.
Videos in this section include using a Facebook Ads template strategy, interest targeting, creative setup, creating a $5 budget test and scaling.
There is also videos on creating custom retargeting, scaling techniques, retargeting strategies and lookalike scaling.
You also learn how to get repeat customers, skyrocket your campaigns budgets and edit videos for Facebook.
There’s also videos on manual bidding, when to kill ads, custom conversions, campaign based optimization and high converting video creation.
Lastly there are a few guides on reducing CPP.
It’s a fairly robust Facebook Ads section. It’s not the largest in the world of eCom course but it’s up their with some of the better courses.
Week 6: Team Management
A basic module on outsourcing your business to help you grow faster with a Virtual Assistant.
Videos include Upwork and communicating via Slack and Trello.
Another good platform to use is Toggle.
Week 7 (Bonus): Google Marketing
A new module that appears to have been added is the Google Ads module which focuses on using Google Ads and Merchant Centre to run ads to buyer related traffic.
You’ll learn how to use Google Ads, Google Shopping.
Videos here including setting up Google Ads, navigating around the platform, installing your pixel, running retargeting campaigns, keyword research and ad layout.
It appears Ricky has overhauled this section in version 3 and there’s not a large number of videos on this section.
You no longer need to purchase a full Google Ads course as you get the same level of value here.
Week 8 (Bonus): ManyChat Marketing
Another bonus on how to use ManyChat to interact with customers through Messenger and increase your sales. Fairly short module but does offer guidance on how to set this up and integrated with Zapier and Klaviyo.
The course concludes with a final video on thanks for watching.
Final Verdict
It’s a decent course, medium length with 97 videos but does offer insights into the world of eCommerce. There’s less bold claims here that you see in some other courses like, the proven system to make 7 figures which simply aren’t likely for you if you’re just starting out.
Given the price, $497 I’d say there are far better courses out there for less that offer more value. One of those is eCom Elites ($197-$297) which offers over 175 videos on the world of eCommerce drop shipping.
Last Updated on February 15, 2020 by Rhys Dale

Rhys is the owner and chief editor at Im Rhys and is living in Chisinau, Moldova. With over 15 years experience in eCommerce and Affiliate Marketing he has started many successful 6 and 7 figure businesses. After successes with USA and China dropshipping, he expanded into building 70+ micro affiliate websites in 30 different niches that generate money on autopilot. He now helps his wife to run her social media agency as well as travelling the world at every opportunity.
Scammer worthless course outdated and broken links and over charges
Ricky is very legit, no BS and offers a lot of high quality content.