empty"/nnOnline pharmacies are pharmacies which run over the Internet. Many such pharmacies are, in some ways, similar to community pharmacies; the main variety is the method which the meds are ordered and shipped. Some customers consider this to be more convenient than going to a community drugstore.

While many internet pharmacies sell prescription meds only with a prescription, some do not demand a pre-written prescription. In some countries, this is because prescriptions are not required. Some customers buy drugs from such pharmacies to avoid the inconvenience of visiting a doctor or to obtain drugs which their physicians were unwilling to prescribe. People living in the US may turn to online pharmacies because medical care and prescription drugs can be prohibitively expensive. Many of these websites employ their own in house physicians to review the medication request and write a prescription accordingly. Some websites provide medications without a prescription or a MD review.

In the United States, there has been a influence to legalize importation of drugs from Canada and several European countries, in order to reduce consumer costs. Often Americans gain lower-cost foreign drugs by driving to Canadian pharmacies, buying their medications when traveling overseas on vacation, or, buying from Canadian pharmacies that ship their orders via mail.