Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a model where the seller lists products without holding inventory and, upon a sale, has a third party ship directly to the customer — tightly restricted by Amazon's policy.
In dropshipping, the seller never stocks the product. When an order comes in, the seller buys the item from a supplier who ships it directly to the buyer. The appeal is low upfront capital and no inventory risk; the downside is thin margins and little control over quality or delivery speed.
Amazon's Dropshipping Policy permits it ONLY if the seller is the seller of record, removes all third-party packing slips, invoices, and branding, and handles returns. Buying from another retailer (e.g., Walmart) and having them ship to your Amazon customer — "retail dropshipping" — violates the policy and is a common cause of account suspension.
Because compliant dropshipping requires a genuine wholesale/supplier relationship and full branding control, most successful Amazon sellers use FBA or FBM with held inventory instead. Dropshipping on Amazon is far more constrained than on a self-hosted store.
A compliant dropshipper takes an order, forwards it to their contracted manufacturer who ships in plain or seller-branded packaging with no competing invoices, and the seller manages any return — staying within Amazon's dropshipping policy.