Dropshipping and online selling

Dropshipping (selling a product that the supplier ships directly to the customer) is lawful in a precise structure: the fiqh forbids selling what one does not own.

The dropshipping principle

Do not sell what you do not have.

Abu Dawud 3503

• The forbidden model: selling a product (price and deadline promised to the customer) while one does not own it and has not yet bought it: a sale of the non-owned, forbidden by the hadith.
• Lawful model 1: the mandate (wakala): the online seller acts as the supplier's agent: the customer contracts with the supplier, the agent receives a commission: compliant.
• Lawful model 2: prior purchase: buy the product from the supplier (with legal possession: documented taking of charge, shipping), then resell: compliant; taking possession by delegation (the supplier takes hold of the goods on the buyer's behalf) is the jurists' recognized way for qabd.
• Lawful model 3: salam: sell a precisely described product (type, features, deadline, price paid in advance): compliant framed deferred sale.
• The contemporary verdict: the Jordanian Dar al-Ifta (fatwa No. 3754 on e-commerce dropshipping) details the forms: forbidden when the seller displays goods he does not own without mandate or guarantee; lawful when he is mandated by the supplier, or when he agrees a firm price with him and resells at an increase.

Dropshipping compliance conditions

• The honest description: real quality, origin, delivery time: kitman al-'ayb otherwise (see the najash page); misleading photos fall under the hadith of the hidden defect.
• The fixed price: no floating price at shipping time; the rule of gharar excludes chance on the price.
• The right of return: stipulate the khiyar (see its page) and honest after-sales service: the modern online sale recovers the classical khiyars.
• The lawful product: no dropshipping of forbidden items: the middleman shares in the sin.

Neighbouring models of online selling

Third-party storage (fulfilment): real purchase then shipping by a logistician: compliant (the seller owns). Affiliation (recommending against commission): this is samsara (see its page). Reselling services (agencies): wakala and ju'ala according to the structure.

Practical note on dropshipping

The Muslim dropshipper secures his model on 3 points: a supplier contract with documented transfer of ownership, an honest description and a realistic deadline, a written return policy. This is exactly what serious platforms already require: fiqh compliance here is good management.