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 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. The Egyptian Dar al-Ifta (fatwa No. 21615 on electronic promotion and sales platforms) confirms that online trade is lawful in principle, the Shari'a setting safeguards that protect the consumer and the merchant.

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

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

The Muslim dropshipper secures his model on three 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.