Dropshipping

In dropshipping, a merchant runs an online shop without stocking the goods sold themselves: when an order comes in, they forward it to a wholesaler or manufacturer who ships the goods directly to the end customer – often from abroad. As a business model, dropshipping is legal and is also used by reputable merchants, particularly for very broad product ranges.

But the model also explains why fake shops are so easy to operate: without their own warehouse, a shop can be set up with minimal capital and in a short time, often with generic product photos and text copied from wholesale platforms. Typical accompanying signs are very long or unclear delivery times, product descriptions found word-for-word on many other shops, and prices barely above the wholesale price.

For buyers, expectations are what matter most. If goods are shipped from a third country, delivery times of several weeks are normal, tracking often breaks off en route, and orders from outside the EU may incur import charges that were not included in the shop price. Returning an item to an address abroad can cost more than the goods themselves – legally, however, the shop remains your contractual partner, not the supplier who sent the parcel.

A simple test exposes copied product ranges: copy two unusual sentences from a product description and search for them in quotation marks in a search engine. If the same sentences appear on a dozen other shops under different names, the text comes from a catalogue. The same works with a reverse image search for product photos – if they turn up with someone else’s watermark or on wholesale platforms, the shop is not selling anything of its own.

Further typical signs: translation errors in product texts even though the home page is cleanly written. A range that simultaneously covers tools, cosmetics and pet supplies. Size and measurement details that do not match European standards. And reviews that all appeared within a few days and sound linguistically alike.

The decisive distinction is this: with dropshipping the goods arrive – often late, often different from what was expected, but they arrive. With a fake shop they never do. A badly run dropshipping shop is a nuisance with warranty claims; a fake shop is a criminal offence. Anyone who, after several weeks, has received neither goods nor a solid answer and gets no response to enquiries should stop waiting and involve their payment provider and bank.

You can often spot dropshipping from the wording of the shipping page. Phrases such as “dispatched directly from our partner’s warehouse”, “delivery time 10–25 working days” or a note that items from one order may arrive in several parcels are typical markers. A catalogue of thousands of articles alongside a legal notice pointing to a private address rarely fits an own warehouse either.

A price comparison puts the supposed bargain in context quickly. Search for the same item at established retailers and on large marketplaces. If the shop price is slightly lower, that is ordinary competition. If it is a fraction of the usual price, there are only three explanations: it is not the original product, the goods do not exist, or it is a bait offer that turns out to be “unfortunately no longer available” after the order.

Withdrawal is where the model becomes unpleasant for buyers. The right of return applies to the shop, but the goods have to go back wherever the shop sends them – and that is often the supplier’s country of origin. It is therefore worth reading the withdrawal instructions beforehand: if they state a return address outside Europe, returning an item is possible but frequently pointless in economic terms.

Import charges come on top. If goods are shipped from a non-EU country, customs duty and import VAT may apply, collected by the parcel service together with a handling fee. The attractive shop price grows after the fact – an effect many only notice at their front door. Reputable providers point this out before the order; anyone concealing it is counting on your surprise.

If the delivery fails to appear at all, the same sequence applies as for any other default: set a written grace period, then involve the payment provider or the bank and report the case. Waiting never helps in this situation – the deadlines of the refund procedures keep running regardless of how patient you are.

Dropshipping alone therefore does not make a shop dubious. It becomes suspicious in combination with other signals: no realistic information about the origin of the goods, no shipment tracking, advance payment only, and a legal notice that does not match the stated company location. Anyone who still wants to buy from such a shop should do so exclusively with a payment method that allows the money to be reclaimed.