drop ship

verb

To deliver goods for a business directly to its customers, as though the business owned a relevant inventory, but with the manufacturer as the real source of the delivery.

“If you drop ship the orders, then you don't need to own the products; thus, fewer of your customers suspect you're acting as a middle man.”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbdrop ship (third-person singular simple present drop ships, present participle drop shipping, simple past and past participle drop shipped)

present singular third person drop ships · participle present drop shipping · participle past drop shipped · past drop shipped · alternative dropship · alternative drop-ship

  1. transitiveTo deliver goods for a business directly to its customers, as though the business owned a relevant inventory, but with the manufacturer as the real source of the delivery.

    If you drop ship the orders, then you don't need to own the products; thus, fewer of your customers suspect you're acting as a middle man.

    1 more example

    Rowan also experimented with dropshipping. This entails setting up an online storefront that ships products from third-party retailers to customers, profiting on the difference.

    2019 November 29, Taylor Lorenz, “Here’s What’s Happening in the American Teenage Bedroom”, in New York Times

Translations

Dutch dropshippen
  • dropshippento act as a middle-man while lacking own inventory
Indonesian pesan antar, pesan pasok
  • pesan antarto act as a middle-man while lacking own inventory
  • pesan pasokto act as a middle-man while lacking own inventory
Spanish dropshipear
  • dropshipearto act as a middle-man while lacking own inventory
Cite this entry
APA

drop ship. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20ship

MLA

“drop ship.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20ship. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drop ship,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20ship.

Source: drop ship on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.