dropshipping

dropshipping

This is an order fulfilment method in which the dropshipper takes an order from a customer and then passes it on to a manufacturer who delivers the product.  Basically the dropshipper has no stock themselves but advertises other people’s product to get orders which they then pass on, skimming a little from the sale as it goes through.  People who dropship products can appear to be ordinary retailers by having display items in a bricks-and-mortar shop or by presenting items on a website as if they were their own. Dropshippers tend to disguise the fact that they are simply collecting orders because the customer, once alerted to the presence of the middleman, can find that it is cheaper to buy the item directly from the wholesaler.

The opposite of dropshipping is will call where the customer picks up the item directly from the wholesaler.