Dropshipping arrangement with a business not on Shopify/App Network

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Store owner wants to list a friend’s complementary products (friend is not on Shopify) and offer them as upsells, with automated fulfillment handoff, payment to the friend, and keeping a small commission.

Suggested approaches:

  • Build a Private Shopify App (custom app for the store) to monitor orders containing the friend’s items and automate notifying the friend and/or handling payouts.
  • Use a third‑party app like “Vendor Payout” to pay the friend via PayPal for each order.

Key considerations noted:

  • Automation focus is on detecting specific item sales and triggering payouts; details of how fulfillment info is transmitted weren’t specified.
  • The request to retain a commission was not explicitly addressed, though payout tooling may facilitate partial payouts.

Outcome/status:

  • No final decision or implementation reported. The thread presents viable directions (custom private app vs. vendor payout app) and remains open for further details on fulfillment and commission handling.
Summarized with AI on January 12. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I’ve got a friend that has a company who sells products that are complementary to my products. His company isn’t on Shopify. I’d like to offer his products on my website, even offer some particular products as upsells when a customer buys a particular product of mine.

I’d like to make this as automated as possible so that when my customer chooses to purchase one of his products, he gets his part of the order for fullfiment. Money transfer would also need to be handled. If possible, I’d also like to take a small commission for the sale.

This scnario isn’t for companies that are on one of the third party App networks that source products.

How would I go about accomplishing this type of drop shipping arrangement?

2

It would be possible with a Private Shopify App, which would monitor sales of specific items. You could also try something like this, where your friend then gets paid out via paypal for each order:
https://apps.shopify.com/vendor-payout

I hope that helps!

@biznazz101