今天收到老外的一封信:

I am interested in your products do you do dropshipping without putting your name on the boxes when you ship them out?

那么DROPSHIPPING是什么意思?该如何操作呢?

很简单，dropshipping 是供应链管理中的一种方法，零售商不需商品库存，而是把客户订单和装运细节给批发商，批发商将货物直接发送给最终客户. 零售商赚取批发和零售价格之间的差价.

对应于国内的零售业务，也可以把drop shipping 理解为“代发货”或者“转运配送”，作为零售商，你不必积压大量的商品库存，当你有订单的时候，把订单转交供货商或者厂家，由他们直接发货给你指定的客户，而你的利润就是你销售该商品的价格与供货商给你的价格之间的差价。

在电子商务行业，drop shipping 被大量地使用，一些大的购物网站使用的dropshipper数量通常多达2、300甚至过千。



请看Wikipedia 对drop shipping 的解析：
Drop shipping is a supply chain management technique in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to wholesalers, who then ship the goods directly to the customer . The retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price.

dropshipping如何操作？

Dropshipping 的操作跟一般的货物批发业务在运作上其实没什么特别不同。通常，批量的批发订单，你会整箱整箱发送给对方，而当使用dropshipping的时候，对方可能要求你把10件商品分别发送给10个不同的客户地址，并且要求在回执（退换货地址）上写上对方所要求的地址。这样，在你这边配送费用上会产生很大的区别，而且，通常单一商品直接到最终客户，一般不会使用海运这种运送方法。

对于外贸商户来说，你如果用dropshipping方式直接发货给海外的最终客户发货，那么该最终客户可能会面对关税等问题，不过，这不是你需要去处理的，所有对最终客户的配送、关税等等费用，都不是你需要去处理的，而是由零售商处理，你只需要按零售商的要求去发货就可以了。

DROPSHIPPING on Wiki:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping

Drop shipping is a supply chain management technique in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer. As in all retail businesses, the retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price.

Benefits

Two significant benefits of drop shipping are the elimination of upfront inventory and a positive cash-flow cycle. A positive cash flow cycle occurs because the seller is paid when the purchase is made. The seller usually pays the wholesaler using a credit card or credit terms. Therefore, there is a period of time in which the seller has the customer's money, but has not yet paid the wholesaler.

Drop shipping also eliminates some duplication of effort, since only one warehouse will pick, pack and ship the product. This approach can reduce total inventory management and shipping costs. These cost reductions can subsequently reduce the price to the consumer.^[6]

 Risks

As in any business, some risks are involved in drop shipping. For example, back ordering may occur when a seller places a shipment request with a wholesaler, but the product is sold out. Back ordering may be accompanied by a long wait for a shipment while the wholesaler waits for new products, which may reflect badly on the retailer. A good wholesaler will keep retailers updated, but it is the business owner's job to be aware of the quantities that the wholesaler has available.

Drop shipping has also featured prominently in some Internet-based home business scams.^[7] Scam artists will promote drop shipping as a lucrative "work from home opportunity." The victim who buys into this scam will be sold a list of businesses from which drop-shipment orders can be placed. These businesses may not be wholesalers, but other businesses or individuals acting as middlemen between retailers and wholesalers, with no product of their own to sell. These middlemen often charge prices that leave little profit margin for the victim, and require a regular fee for the retailer's usage of their services.