There are many businesses that are getting involved with drop shipping in this day and age, which is a type of retail sales where the products are sold in one location and then sent straight from the wholesaler to the customer. Dropship product sourcing is increasingly popular among small businesses, online auctions and manufacturers of custom products. The dropship services do all the work of selling the products and dealing with customers, and the manufacturers focus on what they do best.
Drop shipping often occurs for small businesses when they sell in such small quantities that it would be disadvantageous to sell their product in a storefront. With dropship product sourcing they don't have to route the shipment through the retail store; the goods can be shipped directly to the customer on an order-by-order basis.
Drop shipping has also become very popular in online auction sites such as eBay, where the seller lists a new item and then has the wholesaler ship it directly to the customer with the highest bid. The eBay storefront can be very profitable for the seller if the difference between the winning bid and the wholesale price is large enough, and the price is also generally lower than it would have been in a brick and mortar location. Dropship services can list items that are not currently in their own possession as long as they follow eBay's pre-sale item policies.
Dropship product sourcing has become increasingly popular for custom product manufacturers as well, with the emerging trend of private label shipping. This is a type of dropship product sourcing where the manufacturer produces a custom item for a retailer and drop ships it. The dropship services might carry items ranging from simple key chains and t-shirts with custom logos to customized vitamin and nutritional supplement formulas for different customers. This way each customer can have a custom made product just for them, and the manufacturer can still turn a profit for these small-scale orders.