Q&A: Online Store
Online Store
Question
Dropshipping is a business model in which products are sold to customers without holding inventory. Instead, when the customer places an order, the seller forwards the order to a third-party supplier, who is responsible for packing and shipping the product directly to the customer. The seller profits from the gap between the sale price to the customer and the cost paid to the supplier.
Dropshipping raises a question: on the one hand, is it morally legitimate, since it allows small entrepreneurs to enter the business world without significant financial risk and gives customers access to a variety of products at competitive prices? Or is it morally problematic, because it may mislead customers into thinking that the seller is directly responsible for the quality of the product and the service, while in practice he has no real control over that?
What does the Rabbi think about this? Is there a moral problem here, or is it fine just like any other business?
Answer
I don't understand. The buyer knows that the product is manufactured by so-and-so and not by the seller, who serves only as a middleman. So what's the problem? Is the middleman presenting himself as the manufacturer?
Discussion on Answer
And what practical difference does that make? The buyer doesn't know the seller or the supplier.
I didn't understand. So in your opinion is there a problem with it, or is it fine?
I don't see a problem.
Jeremiah, there are sites where the seller may not have control over the quality of the products, but in the end people come to him with complaints, and his excuses don't matter. The fees they'll charge him for his lies on PayPal will take time to recover from.
This is talking about a case where the seller knows the supplier and knows the quality of the products.
The middleman does not state that the product is not his, and the impression one gets is that the product really is his, but that is not written explicitly anywhere, so apparently there is no actual lie here.
(The middleman buys from a supplier who also supplies the products to Aliexpress and checks beforehand that the product is of good quality)