The D-word is not liked on the forum but as you asked, here is the Amazon policy.

This is completely ignored by Amazon if you are a big seller.

https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G201808410

There are two main types of drop-shipping.

A) where you have an agreement in place with a manufacturer/distributor that they will fulfil any orders you get (which could be just on Amazon, or could cover multiple selling platforms). When an order is placed, you forward the details to the manufacturer, who sends the item to the customer, showing you as the seller of record. You can do this by agreement with Amazon. I don’t think that would cause any problems on these boards.

b) sellers who hold no stock. They use software to create listings, at an inflated price, often creating a duplicate page in the Amazon catalogue. If they get an order, they fulfil it by ordering from another seller at a cheaper price and pocketing the difference. They will order for direct delivery to the end customer, and in some cases may submit false INR claims. All aspects of this model are against Amazon policy. This practice, and the fact that Amazon do little or nothing to prevent such drop-shipping, creates much outrage on these boards.

Paul

Please note that one of the Ebay T&C’s state that the other company must approve of being a forwarding company (which using them as a dropshipper without their consent is clearly not) and there will still be the issue of using their picture and wording without their consent (many of these products are trademarked/handmade and pictures taken by themselves). In general many of these companies do not like ‘being used’ and will make it damn difficult for you (especially if they clock that you are doing it without their consent…

As for the Amazon side, well check out the link that Rugsy kindly provided for you and section b of bookfind4u1 above…

No, you’re not! And it’s not allowed on Ebay either.

As noted, it’s not sanctioned by Amazon unless you have a prior agreement with the supllier but many do it and get away with it…for a while, at least. You might also get away with it if you’re lucky (or have, ‘ahem’ special contacts at Amazon) but you will get little support on these boards for such a venture.

Thanks everyone for your input

It is in fact against eBay’s policies, they’re just not enforced enough.

As a general rule “dropshipping” is only allowed if you make an agreement with the original seller before you begin to list their products and they indicate that you are the seller (not themselves), they can still indicate that they are the supplier for the goods.

You can share the customer’s data with anyone without informing them or asking their permission as long as it is required in order to complete delivery of their order, a common example of this being used in practice: giving the couriers the customer’s address and phone number, however this can be extended to your suppliers/etc.