Dropshipping in Odoo: How It Works, Setup, and Supported Versions

Dropshipping in Odoo is a natively supported fulfilment method where a sales order automatically triggers a purchase order to a supplier, who ships products directly to the customer without the goods entering the seller’s warehouse.

This fulfilment model is increasingly adopted as businesses look to reduce inventory risk and operate with greater flexibility. In 2024, Asia Pacific (APAC) accounted for approximately 35% of global dropshipping revenue, reflecting strong adoption across fast-growing and cross-border commerce markets (Grand View Research). Odoo enables businesses to run dropshipping within their ERP platform, keeping procurement, fulfilment, and financial controls connected while avoiding on-hand stock exposure.

This article explains how dropshipping works in Odoo, how to configure it, which Odoo versions support it, and when native functionality is sufficient versus when custom workflows are required.

What Is Dropshipping in Odoo?

Dropshipping in Odoo is a built-in procurement and delivery route where customer orders trigger a supplier purchase and direct shipment to the customer, without warehouse involvement. Odoo manages the entire flow, sales order, purchase order, and customer delivery, while skipping internal stock handling.

Unlike basic dropshipping tools, Odoo manages dropshipping as part of a broader operational workflow. The workflow is embedded across Sales, Purchase, Inventory, and Accounting, ensuring that fulfilment, costs, and traceability remain consistent within a single system of record rather than being handled by disconnected apps or plugins.

From an operational standpoint, dropshipping in Odoo involves three core entities:

• Customer: Places the order through Odoo Sales or an integrated e-commerce channel
• Supplier: Fulfils the order by shipping the product directly to the customer
• Odoo: Orchestrates the workflow by linking sales, procurement, delivery, and accounting documents into a unified ERP flow

Key Benefits of Using Dropshipping in Odoo

• Centralised order management: Sales orders, purchase orders, and delivery records are connected in one system, improving visibility and auditability.
• Lowered inventory risk: Products are not received into internal stock, eliminating warehouse holding costs and exposure to unsold inventory.
• Integrated financial visibility: Dropshipping transactions remain connected to accounting, sales, and customer records, preserving traceability across operational and financial data.
• Scalability beyond simple eCommerce dropshipping: The same workflow supports multi-channel sales, complex pricing, and ERP-wide reporting as the business grows.

In short, dropshipping in Odoo is a built-in fulfilment workflow, allowing businesses to sell products without holding physical inventory. To see how this works in practice, the next section breaks down the end-to-end dropshipping process in Odoo, from sales order creation to supplier delivery validation.

How Dropshipping Works in Odoo (Core Workflow)

Odoo executes dropshipping by chaining sales orders, purchase orders, and delivery documents into a single transactional flow. At a high level, the dropshipping workflow in Odoo follows a clear and consistent sequence:

1. Sales Order (SO) creation

A customer places an order through Odoo Sales or an integrated sales channel. Once the sales order is confirmed, Odoo recognises that the product is configured for dropshipping and automatically triggers the downstream fulfilment logic.

2. Automatic Purchase Order / RFQ generation

Based on the confirmed sales order, Odoo automatically creates a Request for Quotation (RFQ) or Purchase Order for the assigned supplier. This document mirrors the customer demand, ensuring the supplier is instructed to fulfil the exact quantity sold.

3. Dropship receipt creation

When the Purchase Order is confirmed, Odoo generates a dropship delivery order. Unlike a standard receipt, this document sets the supplier as the source location and the customer as the destination, reflecting that the product will bypass the warehouse entirely.

4. Validation and delivery recording

After the supplier ships the product, the dropship receipt is validated in Odoo. This confirms that the customer has received the product and closes the fulfilment loop while keeping all related documents linked. 

5. No impact on on-hand inventory

Because the product is never received internally, on-hand stock levels are not increased. Despite this, Odoo maintains full traceability across sales, purchasing, and accounting documents.

This workflow allows businesses to fulfil orders efficiently while keeping procurement, delivery, and financial data synchronised inside the ERP. To ensure this flow runs correctly, the next section explains how to configure dropshipping in Odoo using the standard setup, including the required settings and product configuration.

How to Configure Dropshipping in Odoo (Standard Setup)

Standard dropshipping setup in Odoo requires enabling dropshipping routes, configuring products, and ensuring sales-driven procurement is active. These elements work together to ensure sales orders automatically generate purchase orders and dropship deliveries without affecting internal stock. These steps align with official Odoo documentation and adhere to standard ERP implementation procedures.

Step 1: Enable Dropshipping in Odoo Purchase and Inventory

Dropshipping must be explicitly enabled in Odoo’s configuration settings so the system can recognise and apply dropship routes during order processing. This is done within the Purchase and Inventory applications.

• Go to Purchase → Configuration → Settings and enable the Dropshipping option under the Logistics settings

• Go to Inventory → Configuration → Settings and ensure routes and logistics features required for dropshipping are enabled.

• Save the settings to activate the dropshipping workflow across Sales, Purchase, and Inventory

Once enabled, Odoo can recognise dropship routes and create dropship delivery orders when sales orders are confirmed.

Step 2: Configure Products for Dropshipping in Odoo

Once dropshipping is enabled, each product intended for dropshipping must be configured correctly. At the product level, Odoo uses a combination of sales, purchasing, and routing settings to determine how fulfilment should occur.

• Open the product from the Odoo Sales or Inventory applications
• The product must be marked as Can be Sold and Can be Purchased

• Assign at least one vendor in the Purchase tab, as Odoo relies on vendor information to generate the purchase order or RFQ.

• In the Inventory tab, select the Dropship route for the product.

This configuration tells Odoo that customer demand for the product should trigger procurement from the supplier rather than internal stock movements.

Step 3: Sales and Purchase Flow Configuration

With dropshipping enabled and products configured, Odoo automatically manages the dropshipping flow through linked sales, purchasing, and delivery documents.

• Confirming a Sales Order triggers procurement instead of a stock reservation

• Odoo automatically generates a Purchase Order or RFQ for the assigned vendor

• A dropship delivery is created and linked to both the Sales Order and Purchase Order

This linkage ensures that fulfilment progress can be tracked across documents without manual coordination. For detailed dropshipping configuration guidance, refer to the official Odoo documentation for each version.

Common Configuration Mistakes to Avoid

Even with dropshipping enabled, several common issues can prevent dropshipping from working as expected if not addressed early.

• Missing vendor: Products without an assigned vendor cannot generate Purchase Orders.
• Conflicting routes: Combining dropship routes with standard stock routes can cause unexpected fulfilment behaviour.
• Incorrect product types: Products not configured for both selling and purchasing may block the procurement flow

Addressing these issues ensures the standard dropshipping workflow runs as documented.

When configured correctly, Odoo’s standard dropshipping setup provides a reliable and repeatable fulfilment process without custom development. The next section explains which Odoo versions support dropshipping, including differences between Community and Enterprise editions and what remains consistent across recent releases.

Which Odoo Versions Support Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is a standard, natively supported feature in Odoo from Odoo 13 to Odoo 19, in both Community and Enterprise editions, with the core dropshipping workflow remaining consistent across versions.

Community vs Enterprise Editions

Dropshipping functionality is similar in Odoo Community and Enterprise. Both editions support sales-driven procurement, dropship routes, and supplier-to-customer deliveries. The difference between editions lies in usability, reporting, and the broader application ecosystem.

• Community Edition: Supports the full standard dropshipping workflow, including Sales, Purchase, and Inventory integration. This makes it suitable for businesses with straightforward dropshipping requirements.
• Enterprise Edition: Builds on the Odoo Community’s foundation with usability enhancements, advanced reporting, and access to a broader application ecosystem, which is typically preferred when dropshipping operates as part of a larger ERP environment.

Dropshipping Support Across Odoo Versions

Across all supported versions, changes primarily affect interface clarity and configuration experience, while the underlying dropshipping logic remains unchanged.

Knowing the details of version support is key to ensuring consistent dropshipping operations. The following section will detail Odoo’s approach to managing inventory and delivery records in dropshipping, specifically how it affects stock levels and maintains product traceability.

How Does Odoo Handle Inventory and Delivery in Dropshipping?

In Odoo dropshipping, inventory levels remain unchanged, and no warehouse receipt is created, while deliveries are still recorded from supplier to customer for full traceability.

Unlike traditional fulfilment, the product never physically enters the company’s warehouse. Instead, Odoo separates physical movement from system recording, allowing transactions to remain visible and auditable without affecting on-hand inventory.

Inventory and delivery behaviour in practice includes:

• No goods received into the warehouse: Odoo does not create an internal receipt in stock locations. There is no incoming picking to the warehouse, and no internal transfer is required.
• No on-hand stock increase: On-hand quantities remain unchanged because the product is never owned or stored internally. This avoids artificial stock inflation and keeps inventory valuation accurate.
• Delivery recorded supplier → customer: Odoo creates a dedicated dropship receipt that represents a direct delivery from the supplier’s location to the customer’s address. This document confirms fulfilment without warehouse involvement.
• Accounting and traceability remain intact: The sales order, purchase order, dropship receipt, and invoices remain fully linked. This preserves cost tracking, margin visibility, and audit trails even though inventory is bypassed.

This separation between physical movement and system recording is what allows Odoo to support dropshipping cleanly at scale. With inventory and delivery behaviour clarified, the next section helps you decide whether Odoo’s native approach fits your dropshipping model or when more advanced workflows are needed.

Is Odoo the Right Platform for Your Dropship Business?

Odoo is suitable for dropshipping when fulfilment rules are clear and predictable, but customisation is required when fulfilment, sourcing, or pricing logic becomes conditional or multi-layered.

When Native Odoo Dropshipping Is a Good Fit?

Native Odoo dropshipping is a good fit when businesses need a clean, low-complexity fulfilment workflow that connects sales and purchasing without introducing custom routing logic or external orchestration.

It works best in the following scenarios:

• Small to medium product range: Products are relatively stable, with clear supplier relationships and limited variation in fulfilment rules.
• Basic supplier model: Each product typically has one primary supplier, or vendor selection does not require conditional logic based on price, location, or availability.
• Simple fulfilment logic: Orders are either fully dropshipped or fully stocked, without frequent splitting, prioritisation, or mixed fulfilment within a single order.

For businesses operating under these conditions, Odoo’s native dropshipping workflow is reliable, repeatable, and easy to manage.

When Custom Dropshipping Workflows Are Required

Custom dropshipping workflows are required when fulfilment decisions depend on conditions that go beyond Odoo’s standard product-level routing and single-supplier logic. These scenarios typically emerge as order volume grows, product ranges expand, or fulfilment strategies diversify.

Common situations that require customisation include:

• Hybrid stock and dropship fulfilment: Some products are stocked while others are dropshipped, or fulfilment decisions change based on availability, location, or lead time.
• Split orders and partial fulfilment: A single sales order needs to be split across multiple suppliers, warehouses, or delivery methods, often within the same customer shipment.
• Priority or conditional routing: Fulfilment must follow rules such as “ship from stock if available, otherwise dropship,” or prioritise specific vendors based on region, cost, or SLA.
• Multi-supplier and rule-based dropshipping: Vendor selection depends on dynamic logic, such as price breaks, minimum order quantities, supplier performance, or geographic proximity.
• Pricing and margin controls: Dropshipping costs must be evaluated against real-time supplier pricing to protect margins or enforce minimum profitability thresholds.
• Marketplace and 3PL integration: Dropshipping is coordinated across platforms such as Shopify or WooCommerce, or involves third-party logistics providers that operate outside Odoo’s native delivery flows.

In these cases, Odoo’s core dropshipping logic remains the foundation, but custom routing, automation, or integrations are needed to support the operational model.

In short, Odoo adapts well to dropshipping businesses as long as the workflow is clearly defined, either through native configuration or through tailored extensions when complexity increases. The next section addresses the most common questions businesses ask when evaluating dropshipping in Odoo.

Odoo Dropshipping – FAQs

Can Odoo do dropshipping natively?

Yes. Odoo supports dropshipping natively by linking sales orders to purchase orders and routing deliveries directly from the supplier to the customer without receiving goods into internal stock.

Which Odoo versions support dropshipping?

Dropshipping is supported natively from Odoo 13 through Odoo 19, with the same core workflow available across all recent versions.

Is dropshipping available in the Odoo Community edition?

Yes. Dropshipping is available in Odoo Community using the Sales, Purchase, and Inventory applications. The underlying dropshipping logic is the same as in Enterprise, with differences limited to usability, reporting, and the broader application ecosystem.

What are the differences between Dropship and Dropship Subcontractor?

Standard dropshipping delivers finished products directly from a supplier to the customer, while Dropship Subcontractor is used when materials are sent to a subcontractor for manufacturing or assembly before the finished product is delivered.

Odoo is well-suited for dropshipping businesses that need sales, purchasing, fulfilment, and accounting managed in one connected ERP. Its native dropshipping workflow keeps orders, supplier purchases, deliveries, and financial records aligned as volume grows.

This matters as dropshipping now accounts for about 23% of online sales, with over 27% of online retailers using it as their primary fulfilment model (Analyzify; Printful). Native Odoo works best for simple supplier and routing logic; more complex models may require configuration or custom workflows.

If you are assessing Odoo for dropshipping, request a personalised demo to see the workflow in action. As an official Odoo implementation partner in Australia, Havi Technology can walk you through the process and help determine the right setup for your business.